Throwback Thursday: 3 years ago...

It is always fun to see how your scrapbooking style evolves through time and today, after a quick search through my photos I found this page from October 24, 2010, exactly three years ago:

First thing I noticed was the black transparency, which tells me that I did this page for the Transparent Touches Kit club (long gone), my very first design team. Apart from the transparency, I think the design is still pretty modern and I could use it again... nowadays, I would most likely use a mix of alphas to make the title, add more layering especially behind the large photo and embellish a bit more… oh, and perhaps tilt one of the small photos to make the ensemble less rigid…
How about you, what were you up to creatively three years ago? If you'd like to play along with me and take a look back at your pages, please link me in the comment!

Throwback Thursday: 5 years ago...

Hello! I am currently working with my September Citrus Twist kit but since I cannot share any of it with you yet, I decided to look back... 5 years to the day... I didn't have a blog then so this project has never been shared here:

On August 29, 2008 I just finished this mini album created with oval coasters from our favorite restaurant and a Transparent Touches kit (my very first DT, now long gone) filled with Scenic Route papers... oh how I loved Scenic Route...

I still love this mini as it features 1st day of school photos of my oldest for each grade of elementary school. It reminds me that I should probably make one for my youngest too! :)

You are my sunshine

Hello Monday! Today I have a page created with the November Transparent Touches kit #2 (Times and Seasons collection from Echo Park) that I have not share with you yet because it was a Christmas present for my brother who wanted to frame the photo:

Hello lundi! Voici une page créée avec le kit de novembre de Transparent Touches (collection Times and Seasons d'Echo Park) que je ne vous ai pas encore montré (car c'était un cadeau de Noël pour mon frére qui souhaitait encadrer la photo):

It was based on this great sketch by Shimelle. I just loved the extra large photo!

I will be back soon to share my January Burlap and Buttercups projects! Thank you for your visit!

Je reviens trés prochainement pour partager mes projets de janvier pour Burlap & Buttercups! A bientôt!

Thank you Santa!

Here is another post-Christmas page I just created for Transparent Touches. I had so much fun with this one! Can you tell? :) Have a great weekend!

Voici encore une page post-Noël créée pour Transparent Touches. je me suis vraiment amusée avec celle-çi, ça se voit non? Je vous souhaite un trés bon week-end à toutes!

Supplies: Transparent Touches December kit #1 (Echo Park Holly Jolly), AC Thickers and Jillibean Soup corrugated alphas

Holly Jolly Christmas

Being on design teams, it is not often that I get to scrap Christmas photos right after Christmas but thanks to a little delay with the December kit at Transparent Touches, I have just been able to do so this past week. Here is a 12x12 page using the Holly Jolly Christmas collection from Echo Park and a sketch from pagemaps, with photos from this Christmas:

and the sketch it was inspired from:

Je n'ai pas souvent l'occasion de scrapper Noël immédiatement aprés Noël mais comme le kit de décembre de Transparent Touches avait un peu de retard j'ai pu le faire la semaine dernière. Voici une page réalisée avec la collection Holly Jolly d'Echo Park et un sketch de pagemaps, ainsi que des photos de ce Noël :)

A bientôt!

End of school and Halloween with Echo Park

As I just finished working with my December Transparent Touches kit (more Echo park papers!Yeah!), I realized that I had a few projects from my November kit that I had not shared with you yet. Here are two of them:
Alors que je termine mon dernier projet avec mon kit Transparent Touches de décembre (encore des papiers Echo Park! J'adore!), j'ai réalisé qu'il me restait quelques pages faites avec le kit de novembre à vous montrer. En voici deux:

Are you planning any year long projects? There are so many out there that I am having a tough time committing to any of them! I am thinking of maybe doing some kind of 12 on the 12th for 2012...
Avez-vous commencé un projet annuel? On en trouve tellement sur le web ces jours-çi que j'ai du mal à me décider! Je vais peut-être tenter de faire une sorte de "12 on the 12th for 2012"... on verra...

Gifting: Stationary set

I really enjoy giving handmade presents to people I know will appreciate them. I just gave this card gift set to my favorite co-worker and friend so I can share it now. You can make it too in an afternoon.

I used my November Transparent Touches kit (Echo Park Times and Seasons) and a bit of this tutorial (sorry it is in French!) but I improvised at some point to make a bigger pocket on the left side for my envelopes and added a pen holder:

J'aime beaucoup donner des cadeaux fait main et je viens d'offrir ce set de cartes à une amie donc je peux maintenant vous le montrer. Je l'ai réalisé en un aprés-midi avec mon kit de novembre de Transparent Touches (Echo Park Times and Seasons) et je me suis basée légerement sur ce tuto mais avec quelques modifications: il me fallait une plus grande pochette à gauche pour mes envelopes et j'ai ajouté un stylo au milieu :) Et vous, offrez- vous des cadeaux fait maison ce Noêl?

Discover

I hate to leave my little blog to the side for so long and I hate the fact that my Google reader has more than 600 unread posts (I am sorry if I have not visited you in a while!) ~ It is not only the time of year but also the fact that I worked hard to have all my DT assignments turned in on time! The good news is that I have quite a few projects to share with you in the upcoming days!
I will start with this 8.5X11 landscape* page based on the latest Sketchy Thursday sketch and using the November Transparent Touches kit #2 (Echo Park Times & Seasons):

*I can't say it enough, if you are stuck, or short on creativity, switch your format! Always works for me!

Here's the sketch that inspired me:

Je n'aime pas mettre mon petit blog de côté si longtemps ni le fait que j'ai plus de 600 posts à lire dans mon Google reader (je m'excuse de ne pas vous avoir rendu visite!) ~ C'est la saison mais aussi le fait que j'étais trés occupée à finir mes devoirs de DT! La bonne nouvelle, c'est que j'ai pas mal de chose à partager dans les jours qui suivent!

Je commence donc avec cette page basée sur le dernier sketch de Sketchy Thursday et réalisée avec le kit #2 de novembre de Transparent Touches.

Je ne le dis pas assez: si vous êtes bloquées au niveau inspiration, il n'y a rien de tel qu'un changement de format, cela marche pour moi à chaque fois!

Sew lovely

It is pretty unusual for me but I created not one but two pages with photos of myself with my October TTT kit! You saw the first one in my previous post and here is the second one:

C'est rare mais j'ai créé deux pages avec ma photo avec le kit d'octobre de TTT! Vous avez vu la première dans mon post précédent et voici la deuxième:

It was based on this sketch by Shimelle:

Elle est basée sur le sketch de Shimelle que voici:

Thank you for stopping by and make sure to go check out the November kits here and here! I am having a lot of fun with the kit #2 right now (Times and Seasons collection from Echo Park!) :)

Merci d'être passée par ici et ne manquez pas d'aller voir les kits de novembre ici et ici. Je suis bien occupée avec le kit #2 (collection Times and Seasons d'Echo Park!) en ce moment :) 

A bientôt!

Today

Hello Monday!
I have another page for you today that I created at the beginning of the month with the October TTT kit #1. I was very much inspired by this tutorial by Marcy Penner and had to try a chevron pattern. The sentence starters were found here.

Click on photo if you wish to read the journaling

Bonjour!

J'ai une autre page à partager avec vous aujourd'hui. Créée au début du mois avec le kit d'octobre (#1) de TTT, elle m'a été inspirée par ce tuto de Marcy Penner et par les débuts de phrases trouvés sur cette belle page.

I wish you all a great week!

Passez une trés bonne semaine!

PS: For those who asked about the third photo in my previous post, it is of the "fake" volcano in front of the Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas ;)

Sequoia Park

If you are in the US, let me start by wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you are all enjoying some time with your families. Appropriately, the page I am sharing with you today is about our visit to the Sequoia National Park where we spent our Thanksgiving a couple of years ago:

Si vous êtes aux US, je viens tout d'abord vous souhaiter un Joyeux Thanksgiving. J'ai pensé que ce serait le bon moment de partager avec vous cette double page à propos de notre visite au Sequoia National Park où nous étions pour Thanksgiving il y a deux ans:

It goes with this page but it was made with a different kit (Transparent Touches October kit #1)
Cette page accompagne cette autre double page mais elle a été réalisée avec un autre kit (le kit d'octobre de Transparent Touches)

I'll see you back here on Sunday.
Je reviens dimanche avec des photos.

Which would you choose?

Today was the DT reveal on the TTT blog and gallery for the October kit, so I am now able to share with you a recent creation that puts a smile on my face. Here's the journaling: "Maman, between having a hobo as a roommate or being married to a mannequin, which one would you choose?" Just an example of the choices you give me on a regular basis these days! I don't know how you come up with them!

Click on photos to enlarge them

Aujourd'hui les projets de la DT avec le kit d'octobre de TTT sont visibles sur le blog et la galerie, je peux donc maintenant vous montrer cette création récente qui me fait sourire. La traduction du journaling: "Maman, entre avoir un clochard comme co-loc et être mariée avec un mannequin de magasin, qu'est que tu choisirais?" Juste un exemple des choix bizarres que tu me donnes en ce moment! Je ne sais pas comment tu fais pour inventer ça!

It was partly inspired by the "Laughter is the best medecine" challenge at The Paper Variety. Have a great week!

Elle est inspirée en part par le challenge "Laughter is the best medecine" sur le blog The Paper Variety. Passez une bonne semaine!

Tutorial: 2012 Personalized Hanging Calendar

Last year, I made this star desktop calendar (which, as I said before, is by far the most popular post on my blog) and I just created a new one for 2012 with the September TTT kit (still available here). Here is the tutorial I wrote for the TTT blog:

L'année dernière j'ai créé ce calendrier en étoile (qui est de trés loin le post le plus visité sur mon blog) et je viens de créer un nouveau calendrier pour 2012 avec mon kit de septembre de Transparent Touches (disponible ici). Je vous montre ici le tuto que j'ai écrit pour le blog de TTT (je ne l'ai pas traduit mais n'hésitez pas à me demander si vous avez des questions!):

Today, I will show you how you can easily create a calendar like the one I made with the TTT September kit #2. As soon as I saw this paper (Simple Stories It's Your Day) in the kit, I knew what I was going to do with it!

You will need:
- the paper above (or a similar 2012 calendar, some printables can be found online)
- at least 3 sheets of patterned papers
- 12 horizontal photos sized to 3.75x2.5
- about 12 inches of wire and mini clothespins
- nose plier

1/ Cut the twelve months out of the It's Your Day paper:

2/ Cut twelve pieces of patterned paper to 4.25x6 inches:

3/ Adhere each month on the bottom portion of your patterned papers and handwrite (or stamp) the numbers for each day (looking at a 2012 calendar online):

4/ Trim your photos to 3.75x2.5 and adhere them on top of each month card (the width should match):

5/ Using about 12 inches of wire and a nose plier, bend it until it looks like a hanger but don't close the top part before sliding 2 mini clothespin through it:

6/ Attach your twelve month, in order, with the clothespins and decorate with ribbon and bingo pieces (in the kit). Here is a side view:

This one will be a Christmas gift to my parents as I always make them a photo calendar every year :) Let me know if you end up making one!

A bientôt!

Going back to Summer with a long lost page...

I created this page back in August for the Transparent Touches Transparency Tuesday blog feature but I realized that I had not shared it here. So let's go back to Summer just for a day:
J'ai créé cette page au mois d'août pour le blog de Transparent Touches et je viens de réaliser que je ne l'avais pas montrée ici alors je vous propose un petit retour en arrière vers la fin de l'été:

a close up with the TTT transparency:

Thank you for stopping by! I'll back soon to share some new pages from my Learn Something New journal!
Merci d'être passée par ici! Je reviens trés bientôt pour partager quelques nouvelles pages de mon journal "Learn Something New Everyday"!

September TTT kit reveal: two pages

It's Friday! Yeepee! For tonight, I have two pages created with my September Transparent Touches kit:
C'est vendredi! Yeepee! Pour ce soir, j'ai deux pages créées avec le kit de septembre de Transparent Touches:

This first page was inspired by one of my pins (from the blog of the talented Marcy Penner who I have become such a fan of!).

Cette première page m'a été inspirée par un de mes pins (par la talentueuse Marcy Penner dont je suis fan).

...and yes, the little origami bug I included on the page was made by one of my sons :)

...oui, la petite cigale en origami a été créée par un de mes fils :)

I almost don't want to share the second one because I don't really like it.... but I figure it is worth sharing the good AND the bad! (if only to make the good look better! funny logic I know!). To tell you the truth I had a lot of trouble with it from the start. First, it was a 12X12 but I didn't like the look, then I cropped it to an 8.5X11 and then... yes, you guessed it, I made it into a 12X12 AGAIN! Maybe the problem is my head being in there once too many!!!!!!!

Je n'avais pas vraiment envie de vous montrer cette deuxième page parce que je ne l'aime pas...mais je me suis dit que ça vallait le coup de montrer une page pas trop réussie pour faire ressortir celles que je trouve réussies! ha, drôle de logique, je sais... en fait j'ai eu beaucoup de mal dés le départ. Ce fût d'abord une page en format 30X30 mais ne l'aimant pas, je l'ai coupé en A4 américain pour ensuite... oui, vous l'avez deviné, la retransformer en 30X30!!! Peut-être que le problème vient du fait que ma tête y est une fois de trop!!!!!!!

Have a great weekend! Allez, passez un bon week-end!

Transparent Touches contest: Make a card from your kit scraps

I just posted this card on the TTT blog for the October contest that I am hosting. The challenge I am offering is to use your kit scraps to make a card. Easy peasy right?
I used scraps from the fabulous March kit #2 (For the Record). If you have a TTT kit somewhere in your stash, I hope you'll join me!

Je viens de créer cette carte pour le concours d'Octobre sur le blog de TTT. Je vous propose de créer une carte avec les restes d'un kit. Facile, non? Mes bouts de papier et autocollant viennent du kit de mars (For the Record). 
Donc si vous avez un kit de TTT qui traîne quelque part, j'espère que vous voir participer!

Fun with printables: 4th of July decor

I wrote this post yesterday for the Transparent Touches blog and thought I would also share it with you here.

J'ai écrit cet article hier pour le blog de Transparent Touches mais j'ai pensé le partager aussi avec vous ici. Nous fêtons l'Indépendance des Etats-Unis avec un long weekend de trois jours :)

As you might already know from previous posts and projects, such as this banner tutorial from last year, I love to play with free 4th of July online printables which are abundant at this time of year. I also rarely use them as-is and add my own touch. I know that the 4th is very close but you should already have pretty much everything and they are all super easy (even the kids can help!):
First, I found these little straw flags by Tweedle Dee Designs (via Tip Junkie) and decided to use them to create a quick banner. As I did a year ago, I chose to print them on off-white cardstock which gives them a little vintage feel:

I also used a printable clip art from MarthaStewart.com and created a decor for our front door. I roughly followed her instructions (I did not enlarge but rather trimmed the print out) and added a few embellishments on top. I then attached it to criss-crossed mini flags.

There are lots of sources for subway art to print and frame (here, here and also here) but rather than doing what everyone else is doing, I chose to frame a vintage postcard found here. They have many darling examples to choose from, I picked this one:

Lastly, I created some "tissue fireworks" which you can do even if your printer is out of ink ;)

 

For this, simply cut pieces of tissue papers roughly 8"X16" and fold them in half. Then cut fringes on them (don't cut all the way):

next roll each one around a bamboo skewer (you can paint them before hand). Apply glue at the start around the skewer and at the end to close it up.

Then I just stuck them into a jar I had previously altered (for a project I did with a TTT kit two years ago!) and placed it as a center piece on our patio table.


I hope you feel a little inspired by these simple projects and I wish you all a wonderful 4th of July!

Shimelle 4X6 Photo Love: Lagoon Day

This is my fourth layout for Shimelle's monthly free class over at 2peas called 4X6 Photo Love. For the April class, we had to scrap four 4X6 photos following her design which had a fun "lift-the-flap" element to hold the title and cover the fourth photo:

Supplies: mostly Basic Grey Wander collection from past TTT kit + TTT journaling tag transparency

Voici ma quatrième page pour la classe de Shimelle "4x6 Photo Love" sur 2peas. Pour la classe d'avril, il fallait scrapper 4 photos de format 4X6 (inches) en suivant sa mise en page qui incorporait un volet portant le titre et cachant la quatrième photo.

 Once open, you can see that I actually added a fifth photo which is the poster (hard to see) that my son drew in class for this field trip:
Une fois le volet ouvert, on découvre que j'ai en fait utilisé une cinquième photo (pas claire ici) qui est le poster que mon fils a dessiné pour cette sortie scolaire:

School is over now and I will show you soon some sneaks of what I have been busy doing with my July Burlap & Buttercups kit! :)
L'école est finie maintenant et je vous montrerai trés bientôt quelques "sneak peeks" de mes projets avec le kit de juillet de Burlap & Buttercups! ;) A +