Pion Design Giveaway!

Hello ladies...

Just dropping in to share an amazing giveaway over at the Pion Design blog!

This fall marks the five year anniversary of Pion Design papers and to celebrate they

are giving away FIVE complete collections of the brand new collection called

'Siri's Kitchen'!

All you have to do is share the new collection on your Facebook and then leave a comment on the Pion Design blog which you can find right here.....

Good Luck!

'52' A new layout for Evolution-Scrap

Hello! The weekend is almost upon us....Are we all dreaming of some scrap-time?

I know I am....I spend all week daydreaming of colors, photos, paints.....

I was asked by the lovely girls at a brand new Russian blog called Evolution-Scrap to be a Guest Designer as part of their very first challenge called 'My Personal Style'. They wanted me to create something that really shows my favourite style and techniques so I printed another beautiful black and white photo and let my imagination go....

'52'

I used some of my favourite papers from 7 Dots Studio, a new Prima stencil, some Finnabair glass beads, and some chipboard from Blue Fern Studios to create a backdrop for my photo by Lewis Carroll of the Liddell sisters, Lorina, Edith and Alice. 

Some of you may have noticed that I am in love with a lot of Russian scrappers...There are some that scrap in such a unique way, very light and ethereal, and others that have 'old-world' style that I really admire with lots of rich textures, ribbons, laces, pieces of twine, twigs, doilies, flowers, all wrapped up together and styled so beautifully. Although Google translation can be tricky (or downright hilarious) I found reading what the girls at Evolution-Scrap had to say about their new blog to be so creative and enthusiastic, and really shows how passionate they are about creating a place to inspire others and to share our 'art'. 

Here are a few closeups of my layout....

Thanks so much for letting me share!

Hope you all have a wonderful, creative weekend....

Hugs, Lisa xo

'May Russell'

Hello lovelies!
Hope you are all well....I have a new challenge for you to start out the week.....

The girls at Scrap Africa were so kind to invite me to be a Guest Designer for their new challenge with a vintage theme. Well, you all know this is 'right up my alley' so I was so pleased and honoured

 to create something for them....

'May Russell'

Here is some info about the challenge today at Scrap Africa...

Welcome to Monday and I hope that you had a super, restful weekend.

Today is the start of a new challenge and it's a vintage theme!

Create a card, layout or OTP project in vintage theme!

We would love to hear your stories and journalling about your projects too, so please be sure to share that with us too! ;-)

I saw this image on Pinterest too and thought I must share it! ;-)

I found these vintage photos on line here, and I was totally fascinated. They are photos of people being booked for committing a crime.....Who are these women? What brought them to be arrested? The stories they could tell......

I chose this lady named May Russell, but there are so many photographs in this collection that are just captivating to look at. Even in their sad disheveled state, these women are beautiful.

I used some gorgeous vintage papers from Prima's Time Traveler collection together with some bits of an old magazine from my stash, love the effect that vintage ephemera gives my layouts. I love my designs to look like old tattered and worn pages from an old diary with lots of textures and paints.

I also used some Prima flowers, Prima metal trinkets and some Blue Fern Studios 

chipboard pieces (the key and keyhole) that I painted white and gold.

Thanks so much for taking a look, and I hope you have found a little inspiration 

to dig out some old family photos and join in the challenge!

Until next time, hugs, Lisa xo

'tell your story'

Hello girls! I hope everyone is having a great week so far.....

We are in the middle of a heat wave and the muggy heat is making me long for autumn.....

Soon enough I suppose....but I love it when the air is crisp and cool...

So today is exciting, the lovely ladies over at Paperdvizhnik have invited me to be this month's Guest Designer. What an honor as I am always in awe of the gorgeous work on their blog. Their sketches and challenges never fail to spark an idea in my head!

'tell your story'

So one of my favourite artists of late is Rulya, you can find her blog here. She creates a lot of the sketches on Paperdvizhnik and I adore her style. I tend to lean to the 'more is more' philosophy...(just one more flower, one more splash of ink! lol) where Irina seems to me of the 'less is more' mind set. There are fewer design elements on her layouts, but they are so well done, and so powerful in their simplicity, that they are always stunning.  

Here is one of her layouts that I think is just all kinds of beautiful.....

I wanted to keep my layout simple and fresh and not too busy, but keep some of the 

vintage touches that I love so much.

The challenge is to use this color palette......

My take is to use a much softer color scheme.  I used some Lindy's Stamp Gang mists and some Blue Fern Studios chipboard that I altered a bit with crackling medium, mist and gold paint.

It's always fun to try to step outside your own 'box' and be inspired by another artist that you love.....

I hope you find a little inspiration here today to try something different....;)

Until next time...

Hugs, Lisa xo

Sweet

Hello! Thanks so much for stopping by....

I wanted to share my layout I created for the Scrap the Boys September challenge....

'Sweet'

The challenge this month is to scrap our boys with a 'Domesticated' theme...cooking, cleaning, in the kitchen etc. I went digging through some photo albums and found these photos of Liam making cookies...so...sweet!

You can find the more info about the challenge here...please check out all the wonderful design team work, there are so many talented ladies on the team, each with their own unique style. And there are some great prizes to be won!

Here are a few close ups...

After I had printed these photos I saw they were so dark I was really stuck as to which direction to go with them. The very next day I received a beautiful box from Prima, the monthly kit they are offering and I was so happy to see it was jam-packed full of gorgeous papers and embellies, what an incredible bargain! I highly recommend it. This month's kit it was full of Engraver and Printery, two of my favourites. So as soon as I saw this gorgeous Engraver paper with all the lovely words that fit my photos,  I knew what to do! The paper is so bold, the only way to go is to get messy! 

I used some Blue Fern Studios chipboard called 'Heart Panel' that I embossed in copper, and also used one called 'Sweet Dreams' that I painted white. All the gorgeous Prima flowers came from the 'Special Delivery' box which I thought all the rich browns and creams kind of reminded me of chocolate? I love to bake with my little boy ;)

So thanks for looking, you have until the end of this month to enter...

Let's scrap our boys! 

Hugs, Lisa xo

Blue Fern Studios September Sketch Challenge

Hello! Hi there.....another month, another gorgeous sketch up on 

Blue Fern Studios! So this time I got out my set of gelatos and started playing 

with the colors and just can't believe how bright and pretty they are.

The pinks remind me of cotton candy, so light and sweet ;)

I started with a piece of paper called 'Shannon's Dream', created my background, and then added some pieces of the 'Roman Clock Set' and also 'Circle Flourish' that I painted with my gelatos to match my background.

Here is the sketch for September...

Please visit the Blue Fern Studios blog here for more info on the challenge.

Here are a few close ups of my layout....

Thanks for taking a look, I hope you join in the fun!

Hugs, Lisa xo

'purple rose'

Hi everyone...I am up on the Pion Design blog today with my latest layout....

'purple rose'

I have used some really gorgeous Pion Papers here called 'Purple Rose', 'Borders' and 'Purple Wallpaper' from the collection called 'Alma's Sewing Room' and and old family photo. For more info about these beautiful papers please go to the Pion Design blog here....to see more of the design team work please visit their blog here....

Here is a closer look....

I really love the muted purples in this collection, very classic and so elegant. I did a lot of masking and layering, adding lots of splashes of ink. 

This is the first time I used some handmade flowers, I love how they turned out. I used the Sizzix die Tattered Flowers and a glue gun, just love how they will always match the papers perfectly ;)

Pion Design papers are available at the following retailers here in the USA:

C'est Magnifique Kits

The Flying Unicorn

The Rubber Buggy

Thanks for taking a peek!

Hugs, Lisa xo