Winter Fun Sketchabilites Nr 84

 It is the 30th of the months and Karen has created yet another wonderful sketch. Here is my take on it.

 Here is the sketch: 

 I took those pictures on our first visit to the "Christkindlmarkt" -  a little market just for the Christmas season. It was pretty cold, but we all had lots of fun.

This layout is quite 3dimensional and I want to share a few techniques I used on this layout. 

First of all, I did not have a paper that matched DD's jacket. So I created my own paper. 
Here you see the picture - in iphoto, I just cropped the part of her jacket. 

Then I printed this section as big as possible on normal white paper, ran it through my cuttle bug using a Tim Holtz die and the swirls were done. 

I also used the cute little Prima Canvas resist flag, inked it, got it really wet, laid it between a few pens and dried it with a heatgun. 

After a while it looked like this: 

Thanks for stopping by! 
All the best, 
Elisabeth

Family Photo Take 3

Yesterday, I had was a very, very lucky girl! My LSS  Scrap Me held a crop just around the corner from where I live and I had 5 hours of scrapping, chatting with my wonderful friend from work and enjoying the company of so many creative people. It was pure bliss. My DH took care of our children and they gave him a very hard time!  

Amongst others, I finished version 3 of the same photo, with the same Serenade papers from Bo Bunny with the same sketch. 

This time, I went with the distressed look, a bit of stitching and some inking. Last night, DD had the honor to decide which layout goes in which album (hers, DS's or the parent's album) 

Today, we will have the children's party in honor of DD's 7th birthday. So I better get going, put away the folded laundry and decorate the living room. 

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best, 
Elisabeth

Family Photo take 2

After my last post, here now the same photo with a different take on the same sketch by "my creative sketches" 

I am so sorry that the quality of this picture is not better. I leave to work when it is still dark and when we come home, it is dark again!!!! I am ready for Spring!!!!

This time, I really focused on different textures. Here are some close ups. 

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best, 
Elisabeth

Treasure the Moment

I am working on three albums at the same time - and of course, all the important events have to be in all 3! To make it easier on me and my limited time, I decided to scrap the same photo with the same sketch in three different ways. So here is the first one:

This time I tried to go clean and simple with color blocking.

MBo Bunny Serenade collection. 

The occasion was the celebration of the 7th birthday of our DD last Saturday. First we went sledding, then we gathered at my sister's house to sing for her, eat cake and she finally got to open her presents. She had to wait for 4 extra days, since her birthday was on Wednesday. These days were very long for her LOL.

This layout is based on a sketch by http://mycreativesketches.blogspot.co.at/

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best,
Elisabeth

Bad Hair Day

Last Sunday, we had to take DS to the emergency room with a really high fever and a middle ear infection. He was given antibiotics,  sweated really badly all night and the next morning his hair was soooo funny! He was actually fine the next day! 

I based it on Let's capture our memories Nr 3

Today we finally celebrated DD's birthday as a family. 13 people but boy did we have fun! 
First we went sledding

then we celebrated at my sister's apartment

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All the best, 
Elisabeth

Waterfall card for a sweet girl

I was asked to design a card for an 11 year old girl who loves pink, birds, teddy bears, cats, dogs and nature. 

My first choice was Little Miss from Bo Bunny. I have used the waterfall technique several times and since I could not decide which of the cute little pictures to use, I used them all!

 

I just love this technique

 

I hope she will like it!

In other news, DD celebrated her 7th birthday!!! To make this day special, I took her out for breakfast.

We celebrated in class

and took her to her favorite Pizza restaurant in the evening. 

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best, 
Elisabeth

tiny finger

 Reveal time for sketchabilities sketch number 83! Again, Karen created the most beautiful sketch which made this layout fall in place almost by itself.

Here is the sketch: 

This is my son, 2 days old. This was just over a year ago! I went with the soft colors of his baby clothes and the blanket. I added the feathers for extra softness.

Don't forget to hop over to SKETCHABILITIES and see what the other girls have created. 

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best, 
Elisabeth

38

From time to time, DD (almost 7!!) wants to take photos. Since DS is not cooperating anymore, it is my turn to hold still. I love how this one turned out - both the photo and the layout. I had this done it 2x 45 minutes.

I based it on the DCWV January Stack-a-holic template challenge. I used the Garden Party Stack, which I have been hoarding for a while.

 

I fussy cut quite a bit and played with Washi tape. I covered the beige part of the paper with 3 layers of washi tape. This made an interesting background, then I added the DIY alpha stickers and sprinkled it with atc glitter. 

I love mixing flowers, fussy cutting and ribbon to a cluster. 

Thanks for stopping by!

All the best, 

Elisabeth

One more Christmas Layout

Sometimes, I start with a sketch and all at a sudden the finished layout has very little to do with the inspiration! Do I still link it up with the challenge site or not? 

That's what happened to me on Saturday. Thanks to an extended lunch time nap of DS and help from my husband in the evening (he tucked in DD), I was able to scrap! The layout was done in just over 3 hours. 

This is the sketch I started with. I will leave it up to the girls from "Let's get sketchy " to decide if this is too far off the sketch. 

I loved the idea of the oval shape, the cluster and the layers of paper. I had to flip the sketch because the picture is orientated the other way. 

I used the border punch on the inside of the frame. This left a bit of a mess in the corners, which I covered up with flowers. 

Beads are wonderful on layouts. They are easy to use and add a different texture to it. I used it around the title and on the edges of the flower cluster. 

Scoretape worked great to add the little "waves" to the Webster's bookmark. Love the velvet!!! 

All papers and embellishments are from the December kit from Swirlydoos. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All the best, 
Elisabeth

Teacher's planner front page

A few weeks ago, I showed you the back page of my homemade teacher's planner -  here is the front page!!!

I have already orders to make teacher's planners for next year !!! Some girls in the staffroom got really excited about it. I laminated everything and added sticky Velcro to the front to attach my favorite pens! So far I have not lost them, yet.

Lots and lots of fussy cutting here! 

Note to self: Take a picture BEFORE laminating it... sorry for the glare!! 

So, I have survived my first week back. It was actually really nice. So many kids came to me, gave me hugs and really made me believe they missed me, although I had a brilliant teacher to replace me. The handover went so smoothly - the way it is supposed to be. 

The only thing that is really bugging me - my scrapping time is reduced to an hour on Wednesday night and an hour on Saturday night. I am soooooo tired an I need the evenings to prepare everything for the next day. DS seems to be very, very happy with the day Nanny - a big relief for me. I can drop him off in the morning without guilty conscious. 

I have a few blog entries scheduled but I do hope I can make time to scrap. 

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me comments. I really enjoy reading them. 
All the best, 
Elisabeth

hanging in there

So, my first week back to work is almost over. So far everything is going smoothly. Every night, I have to prepare for the morning just like for a fire drill - all clothes laid out, breakfast done as much as possible, washing machine set on timer, clothes done, all items by the door. It takes me up to an hour to get everything ready. But then in the morning, I just fly on auto pilot, ticking my tasks off on my "control journal". Quite a change after 15 months of "vacation" LOL. 

I finally got some scrapping time last night. I had this layout unfinished for over a week. Unfortunately, I had to take a picture inside - I leave for work when it is still dark and we we come back, it is dark again..... 

So this is my take on the current OUAS challenge. Use the sketch and the theme was "something new". Well, our Christmas was something new for sure - with our DS having his first Christmas! And this celebration also marked the end of my maternity leave and the start of my old/new job.
I started with the sketch and then got off track. Sometimes layouts just go in a different direction!


Hidden journaling reads: "Our first Christmas with Michi was truly special. First we watched Sarah in the nativity play, then we all celebrated at Ruth's house. What a wonderful family event"

I played with the stitching a bit by adding tiny gold beads. I love the effect!

 

I mixed  the "collectibles" with old brads and the ribbon which was in my December kit from Swirlydoos. 

 

I have to dash and fix breakfast, weak up the kids and start my day. And it is raining, sigh!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best, 
Elisabeth

Christmas Layout

This year was a special Christmas celebration. The first as a family of 4! It was really special, but also exhausting. Around 9:30, I fell asleep on the living room floor at my sister's house and slept for an entire hour. Only then was I able to drive us home LOL. 

My nephew is quite a talented photographer. He took several pictures of our family. This year, I just made sure everybody had matching clothes - I know a bit cheesy. But I loved it and besides, this way it is easier to scrap the picture....

 I used the December Swirlydoos kit and the sketch 241 from Creative Scrappers.

I had fun playing with the Dusty Attic title

Added some clusters

And had to add that cute Christmas tree

Now this photo is the "official" photo but guess what our little sweet one did.......

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great week
All the best, 
Elisabeth

Attack!!!

Despite the fact that our children are 6 years apart, they do play together! Most of the time in a very rough way..... Here our little boy tackles his big sister. She almost wet her pants from laughing! 

 I used the current sketch challenge from Artful Delight. Lots of fussy cutting and stitching! 

 
During our last days of Christmas break, we did a lot of activities. One was the big kid's festival at the city hall. For three days, the entire, huge building is just for kids. All kinds of indoor sports, games, crafts and shows. Here DD plays land hockey - in the most beautiful surroundings. 

 And DS discovered the pleasures of finger paint. I timed it just before bath-time .... I have learned from my first child!!!

Today, we will take the tree down. January 6th is the end of the Christmas season for us. This is the Rathausplatz (city hall square) 

 I don't know how much time I will have to craft and blog in the next few weeks. 
Thanks for stopping by and leaving such nice comments. They sure make my day!

All the best, 
Elisabeth

Wish

My sweet DD loves to take photos. This is another "self portrait". 

 

I finally got the "little Miss" collection from Bo Bunny. I wanted it for a long time and now I finally got it. The colors and motifs are divine. There is hidden journaling (pull out tag) underneath the flower at the bottom right.

Here is a close up of the flower cluster. A wild mix of flowers from my stash. The chipbord is from WOW (words or whatever) which I won from a challenge over at Frosted Designs. 

 

I used my craft knife to cut up the paper - I really did not want to cover up that sweet bird cage. I stamped some birds (kaisercraft) on colored paper and used pop dots to adhere them to the birdcage.

The title was made using the frames from Kaisercraft Periwinkel and one of those cute brads from the Little Miss line. I love using pearl swirls from ZVA creative. They just add that special touch.

 

Yesterday, DH stayed home with DS and I took DD ice skating.  I like this photo, although it is half cut up!

Thanks for stopping by!
All the best, 
Elisabeth