Playing with Negatives

Okay, be prepared to see some really old papers and some even older photos. Not sure if it's even okay to use papers from 2009, but that's exactly what I did. Hope you can forgive me ;-)

There is a fun challenge on October Afternoon's blog (yes, I love OA). It's called Negative/Positive and it is about using both positive and negative parts of a punched/cut out shape. That is something I do all the time and I think it might be my favorite technique right now, but I still wanted to challenge my self. I didn't want to do what I usually do i.e punch something out and then use it together with it's negative part, because then it wouldn't be a challenge, right? I wanted to come up with something else. Then I remembered! In my old OA stash I had a sheet with journaling cards from old Road Map collection. I pulled them out and came up with this:

I layered journaling cards behind my photos and used the negative "leftovers" to make my background more interesting. I have attached the negatives using 3d dots for more dimension. I took it further and used some negatives from the alpha stickers sheet. If you put aside the fact that I have used some really outdated papers (even though I still LOVE them!) I like how this one turned out :-)

These are one of the first pictures of us from the time when we were still dating (11 years ago!). We met on a frashman pranks party, and that's pretty much everything that we were doing the first couple of years of our life together - partying :-) In this photo, we are sitting in our (okay: his) classic Volkswagen minibus, a real party bus I'll tell you! It had a sofa and a table with holes to hold beer cans in place! Oh, and not to forget - it was yellow with cool surfing waves on both sides LOL Those were the days...

Thank you for taking your time to stop by me today. Hope you enjoyed your trip to the past ;-)

♥

Sluuurp!

I live with two huge milk consumers. Linnea drinks water only when she is thirsty at night, and that's only because we won't give her anything else. Not that she didn't try...

Sometimes she wants to drink with a straw. I love when she lays her head on a side, closes her eyes and sluuuuurps. Oh, and that "ahh!" when she's done! It cracks me up! You can really tell she enjoys her milk :-)

I have mixed October Afternoon Modern Homemaker and Sidewalks to make this layout. This is my take on OA'a Thursday sketch from the last week. I loved it! Check it out if you've missed it. It's really fun! 

Thanks for stopping by and for leaving me your love. And THANKS for encouraging me to apply for My Scrapbook Nook's DT call. It means a lot to me. I probably will. I mean, what do I have to lose? (besides my self-confidence LOL)

Have a lovely day!

♥

The Cutest Neighbor Ever!

My husband and my daughter are two true bird lovers. I think it comes from my mother in law. I love birds too, but I simply can't memorize their names and songs. It's beyond my brain capacity. I've learned a few species that we often see in our neighborhood, but as soon as we get out in the woods I'm lost. I guess my husband will be the one to teach our kids zoology. I'll take the math! ;-)

We have this cute little bird nesting house outside our kitchen window. We all enjoy watching our neighbors eat and play while we have breakfast. (Our bird neighbors, that is. We are not that strange!) In wintertime all birds use it as a food table. And when Spring comes I am always so excited to see who will move in and make it a home. Last year we had this little guy as our neighbor. (Yep, I know it's a blue tit! Yay!)

I made this layout for Lilith's class over at My Scrapbook Nook board. Lilith is one of my favorite scrapbookers at the time. Everything she makes blows me away! So inspiring!

I used the March kit featuring My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Dolled Up  line. The more I create with it, the more I like it. It's so soft and beautiful, but still vibrant and bright. Love it! My Mind's Eye just never disappoint you. Here are some closeups.

So, did you know that My Scrapbook Nook is having a DT call? My heart starts to jump just thinking about it... I was a guest designer for 4 months shortly after I started to scrap, and it was the best scrap related thing that ever happened to me. Can't even describe how much a regular DT spot would mean to me. I love that place! I love the kits, I love the people, I love the atmosphere on the board. You could call it my scrap-home. It's the one place I always return to. Even though I hate the feeling of being rejected, especially when something means this much to me, I think I'll have to take down my shield, put my self out there, make my self vulnerable and give it a try. I know I would regret it if I don't. Sigh.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you like my cute little neighbor. 

Have a nice day my dear creative friends!

♥

I am back!

With a layout! :-)

My plan was to share some pictures from our vacation today, but I just couldn't resist scrappin'. So, instead of editing photos I spent time playing with pretty papers. I've been missing them so!

I admit, I have to take back everything I said about spending the first days of Spring skiing. It was awesome! We had a blast! The weather was perfect with lot of sun and almost no wind. I even got my first tan for this year. Only in my face and with a white line on top of my forehead, but still, a tan is a tan :-) The best part was to see that big smile on Linnea's face. This was her first ski vacation and I am so happy that she enjoyed it. We signed her up for lessons in the Ski School and she loved it! I have to share at least one photo so you can see her. She was so happy and so proud :-)

When she wasn't at the school, she was skiing together with her dad wearing one of those ski harness for kids. She was so cute, singing most of the time (I am not surprised)! My favorite memory is when she was not only singing but actually doing "Head and shoulders, knees and toes" heading down the slopes LOL 

Now to the layout! I used the March kit from My Scrapbook Nook to play along on the Nook board. Every month there is a sketch challenge where you can win a guest design spot at the Nook. This month I wanted to give it a chance. Here is how the sketch looked like:

And here is my take on it:

I love this photo of Linnea. I am so happy that I managed to catch her passion when she was dancing (which she does a lot!). The March kit features My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Dolled Up collection. So lovely ♥ I used a rub-on on this huge wooden butterfly and then placed my title on it.

Phew! It felt good to get some scrap energy out of my system! :-) I hope you like the result!

Thank you so much for taking your time to stop by!

♥

Taking a week off

Hi there my creative friends!

Tomorrow, we'll be heading off to snow and mountains for a week of skiing. If you ask me, I would rather be enjoying the first signs of Spring here at home. I am dying to start planning all the work we need to invest in our backyard this year, now when the snow is finally gone. But nope, instead we are going to travel to find some more of it. Yaaay! (yes, my excitement is slightly fake :D) I am trying to cheer up because my dh and dd are really looking forward this trip. I am sure that the big smile on her face will save me once we get there :-)

I am going to miss scrapping (and chatting about the same), but don't give up on me... I'll be back in a week! (hopefully in one piece) ;-) Hope to see you then!

♥

I Simply Enjoy You

There are days when I wish Linnea could remain my little baby girl forever. But on the other hand, I love seeing her grow and the older she gets, the more fun we have together.

This lovely winter day we took a trip to Mälaren, the third largest lake in Sweden. We are fortune enough to have this beautiful place just around the corner. The lake was so quite and peaceful. It was really cold sitting there next to the water, but luckily we had hot chocolate with us to keep us warm :-) I love those moments. Moments when I actually get a chance to take a snapshot of my life, take a good look at it and remind my self how lucky I am; moments when I simply enjoy my family.

I made this layout inspired by a Lily Bee sketch. At first glance the layout looks nothing like the sketch, but let me explain it to you :-) Okay, here is the sketch:

Now, flip the sketch so that you have your photos at the bottom. Then take one large photo instead of three small ones. Make scalloped edges inspired by those scalloped stripes in the sketch. Switch circles for hearts. Place title to the left above your photos. Add an element on the left side of the upper edge. There you go, you have a base inspired by the sketch. Can you see it now? I added couple of things to make it mine, but that's part of the game :-)

The hearts are hand-drown using a chipboard negative as a template. I painted one of the hearts using a brush and some mist. It is hard to see but it's all cute and shimmery :-)

I had this lovely layered Prima flower, but I never know how to use big flowers on my layouts. To make it more my style I removed the center and cut it in half (sorry all flower lovers!). 

I hope you like this one. I am pretty happy with it, but it could be because I am in love with that photo of us. I could have used nothing but plain white cardstock with it, and I would probably still love the result :-)

Thank you so much for taking your time to stop by! I LOVE all the sweet comments you are leaving behind you. They make me wanna keep scrappin' forever and ever and ever... 

♥

EDIT: I forgot to add that I have used Lily Bee Picket Fence collection to create this layout. I am playing with the things I have in my stash while waiting for the new lovely lines to reach my mailbox :-)

Looking Forward

My sweet friend Danni posted a challenge on October Afternoon's blog that got me going the second I read it. Don't you just love it when it happens?

The challenge is to make a layout (or card) using one of Dr. Seuss quotes. I chose the quote: "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." This quote is perfect for where I am today. I've cried rivers when they shut down the entire R&D of St. Jude Medical here in Sweden. It was my second home and the people I learned to know there was my second family. In some of them I've found friends for life. I have finally come to the point where I am not crying any more. Yes, it's over, but everything happens for a reason. Maybe it was time for me to see something different, something new. And yes, St. Jude is gone but my friends are not. After all, they are those who made the place special. And they are still here, enriching my life. So... yes... I can look forward now. And when I think back, I do it with a smile. Just as Dr. Seuss said :-)

Here is how the layout turned out.

I have mostly used OA Sidewalks but I added a tiny little touch of old Modern Homemaker and even older Road Map.

I printed the quote on a Jenni Bowlin journaling card and cut it in stripes.

I framed the page with stripes cut from the Marbles paper which I adhered using 3d dots. This little One Way sign felt perfect here. Forward is the only way to go now.

Thanks a bunch for visiting me today! I hope you enjoyed your stay ;-)

♥

My Faves

I love pretty shoes! It doesn't mean that I have many of them, but I have a few that make my heart jump. Like these:

When I saw MME Miss Caroline papers I instantly thought of my favorite pair of shoes (my husband thinks I'm a weirdo, but I am sure many of you like minded people can relate :-)) I just had to make a layout about them! I was lucky enough to find a beautiful photo of them in one of the Noa Noa catalogs, so I didn't even have to photograph mine. I mean, these are my favorite every day shoes. Meaning, I've had them a lot! I did Paris wearing them! They are not only pretty, but very comfortable too. My pair is no longer looking this fresh, so I was extremely happy when I found this photo online :-)

This layout is my take on the MME Blog Challenge #33. This is how the sketch looks like. Inspiring, isn't it?

Here are some closeups of the layout. LOVE these colors!

Thank you so much for taking your time to stop by and visit me. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate it!

♥

Lovely

Lovely March kit from My Scrapbook Nook. Lovely little fairy. "Lovely" - sometimes a layout title doesn't need to be more complicated than that :-)

March kit features brand new My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Dolled Up collection. The kit is loaded with butterflies! Needless to say - it's adorable! I cut out all these butterflies from a patterned paper and made them form a circle. I mean, butterflies and circles are two of my favorite elements to work with. Do I need to say that I had a LOT of fun making this one? :)

I won one of the New Year crop challenges over at the Nook and I got my prize together with this kit. Among all the goodies, there was this pretty yellow ribbon from Crate Random collection. It matches the kit perfectly! Thank you Pam from My Scrapbook Nook! 

One last close up just because it'a fun...

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! 

Thanks for stopping by and making me smile!

♥

Never too Cold

Or too sick

Or too tired

To swing!

She loves it! Okay, I know that this doesn't make her unique in any way and that 99% of the kids loves to swing, but anyway... I think it's worth a layout ;-) These pictures were perfect to document her love. She is smiling her biggest smile even though she is sick and it's a cold winter day outside. As long as she get's to swing...

I made this layout inspired by the last week's Thursday sketch over at October Afternoon's blog. I have mixed Holiday Style, Sidewalks and Modern Homemaker collections. Love how all OA lines look great together, new as old.

Here is the sketch that inspired me:

First I switched five circles for chevrons. Then I added five circles as well. And then... I added a few more :-) Couldn't resist! But still, I think one can see the sketch in my layout.

Now to something different. I received a new Liebster award! Yay! I love to hear that there are suuuuuper talented ladies out there that actually like and appreciate my work! Makes me so happy! This suuuuuuper talented lady that passed the award to me is Katja Schneider. I first discovered Katja's blog via Lily Bee since she is one of Lily Bee's awesome designers. And I loved her work! She is SO good! Be sure to check out her blog! Thank you Katja for putting a big smile on my face! 

Here is a little more about Liebster award. 

The origins of the Liebster Blog Award are unclear but the word translates from German as "darling" or "beloved". The idea of Liebster award is to bring attention to blogs with fewer than 200 followers.

Here are the guidelines for the Liebster Blog Award

1. Acknowledge the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

2. Give this award to 5 other bloggers, who must have less than 200 followers, and let them know through a comment on their blog.

3. Post the award on your blog

4. Best of all- bask in the glory, have fun, and share the love!

I would be happy to spread some love to 5 inspiring girls.

1. Kate Vickers - Love her free and artistic style!

2. Sophie - She rocks the clean card design! So cool!

3. Ann Cicilie - Love, love, love her style!

4. Monique Liedtke - Love all the little details on her pages!

5. Helena/Willea - Her style is soooo different from mine, but I just can't stop admiring her work. Amazing!

Hope you will have time to visit these girls and leave them some love! They are all so sweet and so, so talented!

Thanks for stopping by my little place! Hope to see you soon again! 

Pretty Vernal Colors

Don't you love spring? I know I do! I need sunlight to feel alive. Winter always makes me feel tired and all grey. But spring... spring brings back the pink to my cheeks! :-) Last year I couldn't handle all the spring feelings I usually get this time of the year. They took over at the expense of my scrap time. I was out running or taking long walks. I was cleaning, throwing away hidden junk, polishing windows. I was planning our summer vacation. I totally forgot to scrap! I'll try to keep my passion for pretty papers alive this time. It's become too important to me. Consistency, Alex. Consistency.

I saw this pretty color challenge over at Crate's blog, I pulled out my Crate stash and came up with this:

These are the color palettes (this time they had two to choose from):

It was okay to use all four colors, which was exactly what I did. I have mixed Crate Random, Peppermint and Emma's Shoppe.

The layout is about Linnea's love for birds. She has never been afraid of them, not even of the huge Canada Goose. She enjoys feeding them, something we try to do every winter. She wants to get really close to them and I'm sure she would be the happiest girl in the world if they let her pat them :-)

I did my title in Photoshop. I used the same heart brush from the title to make all these hearts. I printed them on patterned paper and then cut them out.

Sigh... Imagine how much easier my life would be if only I had a Cameo! ;-) 

I feel sooooo inspired! I could scrap constantly 24/7 if only the life would allow. Tonight maybe... Thank you so much for taking your time to stop by! I LOVE and appreciate all the sweet comments you are leaving behind you. 

♥