Monday challenge

Gee I wish I was a little more computer literate! There was a paint tutorial on Studio Calico's blog that I want to show you so that you can try this challenge, and I'm not quite sure how to link it up! Frustrating!! lol
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I1y7LS31yk0/S_iY8eBs_II/AAAAAAAAA7s/38SXZEmoME4/s1600/20100522_3122.jpg
I'm hoping that this will somehow work. If not, google Studio Calico, and if you check on the left hand bar of the page,under May's posts, it's called Paint Effects Tutorial. My challenge to you is to try something this fun! Play with paint and ink and stamps on a plain background.

I had so much fun with this! I actually tried it several times, and here are two to show you. Try using a black background and a white gel pen. I tried that the other day, and instead of stamping, I used white embossing powder. I love the fun, messy look of these layouts, you could never duplicate these entirely if you tried. There are a million different paints and backgrounds you can use! Different sized circles, or stars, or squares... I seriously love this look. I'm up to my elbows in paint, and love it!
Have a good week! Have fun trying something new!

~RonniH.

Another sneak before Tuesday!

Can you believe it is almost June??? I cant! Here is my final sneak peak of the June Kit for you. I hope you enjoy the kit!

Ronni's Secret Kit!

Now Available for pick up... what a great project to hang in your home, or to give away as a gift. All supplies included except the packing tape for the packing tape transfer that is done on the bottom middle square & trust me, the sample is so much more in person. Stop by & check it out. All only for $35.85.

Enjoy & have a great weekend everyone...hope you all got some pictures of our white stuff this morning.

Kari

Hello Friday!

So I'm heading off to Calgary again this weekend, but this time, just for Saturday. I have a mock practical exam to help me prepare for my licensing exam at the end of June. I'm getting a little nervous, but I keep reminding myself that it's what I do all day, every day. The worst part of being gone this weekend, is that it cuts into my scrapping time. lol

Have you had a good look at the kit that I've designed for this month? It's useful for more than just the project. I took the one page and lifted it, to show you how versitile they can be.This is just the left hand side, and I followed a similiar scheme as before, just used different colours, and changed placement of the title and and photo.It was niec not having to come up with a new scheme, cause lately, I haven't had as much time to scrap as I would like. And I also loved the design the first time around.

So think about picking up a kit, and using it for more than just what it was intended for. And then have a look at some work you've done already, and see if you can scraplift yourself too.

Have a good weekend! ~RonniH.

What I've been working on...

I have a quick moment, and thought I'd show you what I've been working on this week. A simple lo of my girls and I. I used a scrap piece of paper, and traced around it with paint., and added paint to the edges of the photo too.I love the new embossable cardstock. It's black with a blue core. So I traced out a three, and distressed the edges. As well, I stamped lettters onto the blue side with my new Tim Holtz stamps, and punched out some butterflies, and traced and cut out a heart. Inked the edges of them too. To the heart I added some eyelets, and threaded 3 strings of floss and tied 'em up. I totally love that new Basic Grey paper, I had to be careful not to drool on it, lol. What can I say, I'm special with a capital R (as my daughter would say)
Anyways, don't forget to check out Tammy's challenge, and have a good week! :)
~RonniH.

Dont forget

hey good moring, sure is wet out there!!!!

just a quick reminder ....

Make n' Take It friday's ...we always have a cute little project ready for you put together.
We look forward to seeing you!!!

challenge

hey everyone, challenge was not forgotten for this week, just didn't want to bump mel's sneak peek down too quickly so u all got a chance to see it....

so the challenge for this week is to use different size pics on you layout...

in this LO i used 2 -8x10's, some 5X7's , 3x5's and some 2x3's , i also used the small ones that come as the proof sheet....

have fun with this, i love mixing up my sizes to get more pics on a page.

enjoy the challenge, have a great week.

~tam~

sneaky peaky :)

here are a couple of sneaks for the June kit. Hope you like!

A wedding gift for a friend...

One of the girls I work with is getting married next week. Her house is decorated in lime green and brown (like mine!). She is a scrapbooker, so I knew she would appreciate a homemade gift. She is a little sweetie too, so I wanted to do something special for her.



Viola! Her gift (and yes, she already has it as she is now on holidays for a couple of weeks).




I made a 16x20 canvas for them. I used some of my favourite Basic Grey origins line, flowers, glimmer mist, flourishes, Prima bling, buttons, ink and printed the "love is kind" quote from 1Chorinthians. The big brown mat is sized for her favourit 8x10 photo of their wedding....I told her she had to print it in B&W lol

I love how it turned out. This photo is good (she took it for me as I forgot to take one to share with you all before I gave it - duh!) but it doesnt do it justice. In person, it looks absolutely amazing (if I do say so myself)! All the bling and textures and size and colours....yum!

She already knows where it will be placed on the wall.....I love when a gift is appreciated and put up/used right away :)

Hope you are all enjoying your long weekend. ps keep an eye open for sneeks on the June kit ;)

~~Melanie

Hello Friday!

I love your card Tammy! You know I'm card-making challenged, so I'll definitly be copying that one. Very pretty!
I'm so happy to see the weather finally starting to warm up, but then that means it's time to start gardening. Now, I don't have much interest in gardening because it usually involves sweating, but in typical female fashion, I love flowers.
Know what I grow the best?Yep, dandilions.My yard doesn't (luckily) have a lot of them right now, but at this rate, it won't be long. :P

Fortunatly, my parents both have green thumbs, a gene they decided to omit to give to me, so I'll be over there soon taking photos of their roses, and other pretty things that I don't know the names of or can't spell.

What about you? Do you garden?

Take care everyone, and thanx again for all the kind words on being published. :) See you soon!

~RonniH.

Happy spring

good morning!!!!!

Big congrats to ronni for getting published!!! so awesome!!! cant wait to see what is next gurlie!!!!

so what are your plans for the long weekend??? going camping ? staying home and scrapping?? working?? doing yard work??? what ever u are up to dont forget to take your camera, now is time for some great spring pictures....if you are doing yard work how about before and after pics???

not much going on with me, my gurls have 5 days off for the weekend...mite get some scrappin done for the july kit, and a little yard work, maybe some bedding out plants etc...we may do a pic nic at chain lakes with hubby's family.

what ever u are up to have a great, safe weekend....drop by the store and see what kari has new i know she got an order in this week, should be some fun stuff to play with...

card supplies: basic grey paper, magenta peel offs, chatter box felt flower and button, basic grey alpha's, and bassil cardstock.

enjoy!!!

~tam~

Ronni is PUBLISHED!!!

Again! *woot woot*

The Summer issue of Canadian Scrapbooker is at the store and Ronni's layout is on page 29... CHECK IT OUT!!!!

~~Melanie (for Kari, who had issues signing in to post :p )

Edited, ( to say thanks to Mel, gremlins attacked my computer & i could not get on here)

Pssst....

Guess what I picked up today at the store.....

The June kit stuff! It is looking so awesome! I cant wait to share :) Watch for sneeks coming up :) It is so fun, it is so versatile. Ohhhhh its good!!!

~~Melanie

Challenge for this week!

Good morning!!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, isn't it awesome? I've actually started digging out my warm weather clothes. For the first time this year, this weekend I wore shorts. Well, maybe not short shorts, but my legs did start to see some sun. Can't hardly wait for summer!

So if we've ever met in real life, you know that I think it's really important to document yourself. No one knows you better than you. And even the littlest details are important to remember. I want my future generations to know me.

This week's challenge is to take a self-portrait, and scrap it. Doesn't matter if the details about yourself are big or small. Doesn't matter at all. Just take a photo of yourself, that you took of yourself, and scrap it. Easy peasy right?

I have a large mirror in my living room that is perfect for when no one I know will let me take photos of themselves. I used up some Basic Grey that I've been hoarding, and some wonderful little letter stickers for the title. I'm not sure how well the title reads, but it says "Whatever you are, be a good one." ~Abraham Lincoln.

The butterfly, I stamped on a transparency with Staz-on, and cut it out.

And you know I love my Tim Holtz products.... these dog tags that say imagine, journey, and wander were perfect.

There you are then, go off! Create! Have fun! See you again later this week!

~RonniH.

Canadian Scrapbooker Winter Calls

Get your stuff submitted! We have so many creative and amazing customers. I believe each and every one of you need to get your stuff in to the magazine!!!!


Canadian Scrapbooker wants to see and publish your work. If you have an unpublished, original layout that you want to share with others across Canada, please send it to us! It’s simple. Below you’ll find a quick guide on how to submit your work. Call For WINTER – Deadline July 15, 2010

We are currently looking for pages in the below themes:

■Layouts that use the colour NAVY BLUE
■Layouts inspired by stained glass
■Projects with an "I Love You" theme
■Diamonds are a girl’s best friend – i.e. layouts that use diamond shapes or that are about diamonds
■Christmas ornaments
■What are you reading?
■Going green for Christmas
■General winter and Christmas
■Scrapbooking your faith

We are also looking for that perfect photo for our Winter 2010/11 cover. If you have a photo that you have taken and you feel it would look fantastic on our magazine cover, please send it to us!

Deadline for the Winter 2010/11 page call: July 15, 2010

working on something

So I've been working on a super secret surprise project. Can't tell you what it is, other than to say when Kari told me about said super secret surprise project, I was really excited. *grin*

What can I show you instead? How about some pictures that are inspiring me right now?This one was taken on Mother's day. It's me and my sister and sister-in-laws, and my mom. Momma looks pretty proud huh? I can't wait to do something special with it.

And this one is special too. lol. Me, my brothers, and sister. Don't ask what we're doing, I couldn't tell ya. But it was fun to hang out with them, and just visit. By the way, we're on the couch, from oldest to youngest, starting with me. :)

Take care this weekend, and I hope you get some scrapping done! :) I'm getting back to work asap on my super secret surprise project, I can't wait to show you!

~RonniH.

p.s!

BTW! My layout came back from Canadian Scrapbooker today, and they mentioned that the magazine will be out soon. So as soon as I know where I am in it, I'll let you know! :)

inspiration for the week.

hi everyone!!! i did forget about posting again...bad me!!! this boot camp is gonna kill me yet....me and 5:00 am dont get along to well , at all.

so here is your inspiration for this week.... again u can use the colours our the shapes what ever you get from it and turn it into your own piece of art...enjoy!!!!

~tam~

i havent forgot ...

i will be back a little later today to post some inspiration for you all.....

here is a question for you....

do you enjoy the art style type inspirations ???
The girls at the crop really put allot of effort into the the last one, with the pink, black and white circles with the dripping paint(remember that one??) We have a few posted in the store , drop by to see the awesome Layouts they created.

My thinking was that one Monday a month we would put up an art challenge her eon the blog ...you can run with the colours, the shapes, or what ever inspiration you get from the picture..

drop us a line here and let us know what ya think about the the art inspirations....

chat later
~tam~

Make it a scrapbook weekend!

Scrapbooking with friends is one of the most amazing things! You can share stories, memories, laughter, tears, ideas, creativity, everything!

I have the best scrapbooking friends in the whole entire world. It is a warm fuzzy feeling when we get together. I have a group of friends that come down from Calgary to scrapbook at the store. We try to get together once a month or so. We make a weekend out of it - meals out, movies, photo trip around the city (and sometimes out - this weekend they went to Waterton for the day while I was working). We stay up late, eat snacks through the night and drink pop (something I normally dont do).

This weekend, they came down. I had one project - a wedding gift - that I HAD to complete. Not only did I get that done, but I completed (including titles and journalling) 4 double page layouts and some cards. It felt soooooooo good to be productive. The past few get togethers have been very frustrating for me as I havent had any mojo whatsoever :( This weekend, it all came back!

I will share some of my projects over the next few weeks. I didnt leave any at the store this time....but if Kari wants them for display, she will ask lol

Did you know that you can book the classroom for a group of friends (when no classes/crops are running)? Better yet, for a nominal fee, you can book the amazing room downstairs with the comfy chairs and lots of table space to have a more private time. Bring in snacks. Come for Friday and Saturday or just all day Saturday.

Talk to Kari and plan a girls crop with your friends. They are an amazing getaway from the everyday. Book a room at a local hotel nearby and really make it a girls getaway weekend!

Seriously, one of the best things I have recently done.

~~Melanie

Questions about cameras...

A question was asked on the blog today about what kind of camera someone should buy for in their purse.

My previous job was at a camera store. I worked there for 3 years, 3 years ago. And my personal preference is for Olympus, but really, the major brands, Cannon, Nikon, Fuji, they're all good.

My best pieces of advice is to ask questions, do some research, hold the cameras, and think about what you really want from your camera. Do you want something that won't get wrecked in the rain? Are you looking for something very durable? Are you klutzy? Do you want to be able to take movies? And these are all good questions for either a p&s or a dslr.

I have an Olympus that fits in my purse. It's waterproof (cause I don't want to ruin my good dslr if it starts raining) It can be dropped up to 5 feet... that camera literally lives in my purse, and I want it to be able to put up with a lot of abuse. It does take movies, but not very well. My reasoning is that if I wanted a movie camera, I'd BUY a movie camera. I want a camera for taking photos. And that's another reason why I went with Olympus for my dslr. Some of the newer Canon's and Nikon's take movies, that's not a selling feature for me at all.
Hold the camera. See if you like where the dials are. See if it's too heavy or too light. You often get what you pay for. My Olympus dslr takes BOTH xd cards AND compact flash. Love that!

There are lots of websites to go to compare cameras. dpreview.com is where I used to send customers all the time.

Olympus is just MY personal favorite brand. All of my cameras are Olympus, and I have 5. I don't have anything againest any other brands, mostly. Just ask the retailer lots of questions, it's better to go someplace knowledgeble, like a camera store, rather than a box retailer.

So I hope there's some good advice for you. If you're comparing a couple of cameras, please don't hesitate to ask my opinion. I'd be happy to help. :)
~RonniH.

3 weeks ago...

this was the scene in my backyard. See that? Grass, and it was green. No snow. No ice. No Ronni wearing a jacket cause the weather was ugly outside. *sigh* Well this weather can't last long, right? I'm looking forward to the weather getting better this weekend. I just keep repeating to myself that there was still snow in June last year, so we shouldn't be surprised that there's snow now....
My mom did a cool layout of the last big snow that we had, so maybe I should suck it up a little bit, and look for the good side. If it's cold out this weekend, I can just stay in my jammies and scrap all day, right?
Have a good weekend!
~RonniH.

thinkin Mother Nature is PMSing!!!!

well enuff of the snow already , im so done with it..we arent even gonna get to enjoy spring cause we are gonna rol straight into summer. Spring is my favorite season, I enjoy watching all the plants come to llife after hybernating under the snow. well my daffodill's are unhappy rite now.

So what ya working on rite now??? tell us what projects u got going??

rite now i have 5 mini books on the go
the july kit which im so in lovvvvvvve with the paper

i dont remember the last time i did a layout??

well enjoy your week,
we are off to the ranch on saturday for branding

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mom's out there, big huggs

~tam~

Challenge Time!

Sorry so late! But here's your challenge for this week: Use stars on a layout, but you're not allowed to use them on a night themed layout, just to make it tricky. I'm evil, I know. :P

Here's a layout I did from a self portrait, with 3 chipboard stars. I know you can't see it very well, but I used spray ink on them, so they have a light shimmer to them. There ya go then, easy peasy, go try this challenge for yourself. :)
~RonniH.

Stay tuned...

Hey guys, I'll be posting a challenge for this week later today. I didn't forget, but I'm afraid I'm running a little behind today. :)
~RonniH.