THE GREAT BIG SWAP OF VERY SMALL THINGS

Sian, from the lovely From High in the sky blog had the awesome idea of organizing a swap, a big one all around the world, filled with little things. hence the name, the big swap, of very small things. I loved the idea and of course decided at once to participate. The package i put together was sent to Abi, an english student/crafter/tea lover whose blog is awesome. She just shared the goodies i sent her, it's right here if you want to have a look. 

As for me, the lovely Natalie, who lives all the way across the ocean in San Diego, California (aka the city i want to move in to!)- and yet speaks perfect french!- sent me this awesome huge parcel of goodies. First, this lovely card with the loveliest flair ever. And then an incredible number of goodies: a dear lizzy phrase stamp (boy i've wanted this since forever!), more stamps, gold glittery thingy!, stitched frames (looooove those), die cuts, washi.... She pulled a major move here and basically sent me all the items i had been considering buying lately. So THANK YOU Natalie, and thank you Sian of course :)

THE FALLS' FIREWORK

I have mostly been scrapping 4*6 photos lately, so when i saw the latest Glitter Girl adventure on scrapping bigger photos i jumped to my printer and got this one of the fireworks. 

We did not know it at the time, but on Fridays evening there are beautiful fireworks at the Niagara Falls. "Lucky" us we got stuck 3h in a traffic jam near Toronto and arrived there at sunset. We probably wouldn't have seen them had we arrived earlier, (and those 3h spent stuck in the car we the crappy French Canadian radio? probably the most fun part of the trip too!). I LOVE fireworks! And somehow, while enjoying them as much as possible, i also managed to take a couple decent pictures of them (low light photos - my personal nightmare!). Obviously, those are not the type of photos you want tiny prints of. It had to be big. And so was perfect for this glitter girl challenge! 

 For the supplies, i picked a few of my favorite new items from my recent Two Peas order: the blue background is from the Story Teller pad and the watercolored floral is from The Pier (god this collection is GORGEOUS). The transparent alpha is from Heidi Swapp and awesome (i need more! in pink pretty please!), some bits and pieces from Chic Tags, Elle Studio and Studio Calico and them Sequins (love those, get ready to see a lot more on the layouts to come!). And that was it! Super fun and quick to put together!

Did you give this adventure a try? I would love to see some more layouts!

25 BEFORE 25

1.    Decide where I want to live
2.    And go there
3. Read 10 new books
4. Make a quilt
5. Open my cooking books 
6. Buy a new DSLR
7. Master the M mode
8. Go back to the gym
9. Less is more: get rid of what i never use
10. Get a driver license
11. Save money to pay back my student loan
12. 5 posts a week
13. 2 new tattoos
14. Go on a Road Trip
15. Get a job
16. Go to the sea
17. Fall in love
18. Make sushi
19. 3 new regular features for the blog
20. Learn Web Design
21. Get a few plants…
22. …Keep them alive!
23. Sunday Yoga
24. Healthy breakfast
25. Have fun!

See you in a year, hopefully with a full list crossed off!

HELLO 24

Well, Happy Birthday to me.To me, birthdays are kind of like January, 1st or September. The chance at a new beginning. A moment to sit back and think of what happened, didn't or might in the future. It's not a day i particularly celebrate, except for the eating as much chocolate as i can part (obviously). Honestly, i don't remember most of them. I could not even tell you what i was doing last year on this very day. And i'm pretty sure i won't remember this one either in a year. But it doesn't matter. What i want to remember are the 364 other days in between. I want this time to count. Because it's crazy how fast it comes and goes. Six years ago i finished high school. In 6 months i'll have officially graduated from my Master. Then, i don't know. Where will i be in 6 years? What will i be doing? Well, probably getting drunk, i heard 30 is a pretty big number to swallow.Until then, i'll try to have some fun. That's all it is about!And i'll be back tomorrow with a little list of things i want for myself in the coming year. To keep me motivated through the days. And because making list is fun. See, i'm already having fun! 

SPOTTED: MAY EDITION

Last month's list was super fun to put together, so i decided i'd do it again this month. Here's what i've been liking / wishing i had / been inspired by lately!

This camera! I am so ready to move on to a DSLR. Just wishing my bank account was ready too... 

These quotes. The first one is way too awesome, and clearly true. Or is it just me? The second one is a quote from this song by Fun. Love this group!My Little Box! In France, boxes full of beauty/cooking/ lifestyle ... items that you can subscribe to and get each month are super popular. And there's nothing i like more that happy mail so i ended up subscribing too! I just got my first box, and i love it! It was full of beauty products for the summer, these awesome glasses, a coral nail polish and lots of other cute stuff. Is this a popular concept where you live too?

The Macy bag by Nat&Nin (a french brand). I've been dreaming ofthis one for a while, and yep, it is mine!! (i got it as an early birthday present!) I might have a thing for bags... i haveway too much (but always end up using the same... obviously!)

 That's it for this month, hope you enjoyed! Do you have a similar list? I'd love to take a look!

LOOK UP

Oh boy i love it when the mail man shows up to my door with 3 boxes full of scrappy stuff. Especially when it means getting the Maggie Holmes collection, my Studio Calico kit, their new Atlantic collection and a hundred more things! Obviously i had to do a layout right away with all of my favorite items.

It all started with two papers: the constellation one (i loooove it), and the yellow flowery one from Maggie Holmes (it's the 6x6 version). Then i decided i wanted to created some sort of a border around that yellow square, so i picked lots of bits and pieces from Elle's Studio and Story Teller, plus a few elements that where sitting in my scrap bowl. I also liked the idea of using a page from a book (perhaps because i just received my Happy Little Moments kit!), and even though by the end only a little bit of this book page is showing, it's okay because something "wonderful" happened. I realized the last line of this page i had randomly picked ended with the sentence "that's wonderful". Awesome right? I love when that happens!

Aaaand moving on to the embellishments. Same thing here, i picked all of my favorite from my order: circle wood veneer from the Sundrifter collection, cork arrows from Atlantic, enamel dots, punched butterflies. And the new Heidi Swapp transparent letters for the title. Love them (i'm saying that a lot, am i not?). Anyway, that's pretty much it. the layout with all the things i currently love (including the photo!)

PROJECT LIFE WEEK 17

Week 17. I'm a tad behind i think, but that's ok. I havn't really been in a creative mood lastly, hence the lack of posts. The weather is terrible here in France, it looks like Mid November, which is highly depressing. And also gives terrible photos, sorry about that! Anyway the good thing about beeing beyond is that i get to scrap  a week where the sun was actually here, and the sky really blue. I really like this spread, i think lots of white on my spreads is really working for me.

The spread is pretty simple, only used my Studio Calico PL kit. I just received my May Kit, and boy i do not regret a single minute getting the PL stamp add on! That 3x4 photo frame stamp is AWESOME. Especially when combined with neon pink embossing powder! i looove neon! Best cure for a grey sky!

I'll be back tomorrow with a cute layout i somehow managed to do Saturday (that might have something to do with the excitement of receiving 3 boxes full of scrappy goodness on the same day!)

HAPPY

I don't know about you, but the sky is pretty grey over here. So i thought some pink flowers and a bluer than blue photo would do everyone some good. Especially me.

I did this layout as part of the NSD festivities. The challenge was to get inspired by a Garden Girl. And i chose the sweet and talented Wilna.  I picked a background, a piece of pretty paper i loved and a LOT of embellishment, which i assembled on a line. Not really my usual style but super fun to put together! I added some stitching a few days later because i felt like something was missing. And i think this extra blue is cute.

What do you think? Did you also tackle this challenge? What Garden Girl did you pick?

2 for the work of 1

Do you ever put together a little kit with a layout in mind, but then end up with a fairly good deal of scraps that definitely would be enough for another layout? Except you're not sure you want to use this exact same kit, fearing that the two layouts will be too similar because the supplies are the same? Well, fear no longer, because Glitter Girl came to the rescue in one of her recent adventure: 2 for the work of 1.

Creating a kit before i make a layout is something i try to do more and more, because i clearly have scrappy commitment issues and change my mind way too much if i don't. So i did it. And i wasn't alone. 3 other adventurer scrappers are joining me this week to show you how different two layouts can be with the same base of supplies: Toni from Life Scrapbook, Repeat, Claire from Adventures in Singapore and Senorita Scrapper from SenoritamI

And here's the result of my experiment:

THE KIT:

I put together a little kit with two backgrounds paper (the two grey ones - it's better to go with a neutral if you're not sure yet which pictures you'll use - like me), and a few full or partial sheets of some of my current motifs and colors: blue, yellow, purple and pink. On to the most important part: the alphas :). Again, i picked a fairly neutral one: the white glitter thickers by Maggie Holmes, plus two other ones with more colors (i couldn't decide in terms of size, but i ended up not using the pink one at all). Of course you could have only picked one alpha, but i love them too much. Finally i picked my embellishments: all the stickers i have from the Yes Please collection, a few flairs, tags, wood veneers, enamel dots, washi... I'm not sure if that looks like a lot to you, but i have wayy more lol.

THE LAYOUTS:

This layout was extra simple to put together. I took my grey background, then all of the other papers i add selected and started cutting: three rectangles to mat my photo and create a central frame, and three sets of smaller pieces with the other papers: the purple and blue one; thus creating my little visual triangle. I started picking embellishments to go in this areas: stickers, arrows veneers, a few dots, one of the flair... Added my title (i had to pick another white alpha for the "you are" part because i would have been short on some letters from the glittery one). Super simple. And i had indeed lots left from my kit. o off to the second layout —>

Different right? Yet the supplies are from the same kit: that yellow and blue are the same... I just insisted more on some colors, like that light green which i din't use in the first kit. and the design is completely different (and inspired by this crazy beautiful layout by Maggie Holmes). Little detail: that grey star piece at the top was not from the kit, and wasn't not supposed to be on the layout except that i realised i had cut a lot circle of that grey background, right of the edge, so i could not have even use the green tag at the bottom because i didnot want it so close to the edge. Hence the grey stars. To which i might add sewing at some point, not sure yet! The rest of the layout is super simple: more stickers, another flair, some star veneers, same alphas for my title and some threads i had put in the kit and though would bring a little something else to the layout. 

THE CONCLUSION... AND SOME MORE

I love both of these layouts, and i have no issue whatsoever with the fact that they are both going to be in my Ottawa album!!

Off to the 6 other layouts that are waiting for you!

Senorita Scrapper managed to create two full layout with a similar kit, using way much more papers than i do on my layouts! so if you're like her and like layering and using every bits of pieces, go check out both of her awesome layouts. but first a little peek ;)

Toni loves all things October Afternoon so she added to the challenge and put together a kit composed of five different collections by OA, to see how well they could mix together. a little clue? crazy well, her layout are beautiful. Here's a look at one of them, her layering is gorgeous! Go check her kit and other layout right here

Claire put together two layouts of her beautiful daughter, including a 2 page layout! So yep, that means 3 layouts with one kit. I guess she won (or are we counting? ^^). Here's a look at her first gorgeous and delicate layout, and then off to her blog to see the rest!

Hope you had fun and are feeling inspired right now <3

IS THIS HOGWARTS?

Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day, and let me tell you that i took that day very seriously! 

Lots of scrapping, lots of chatting, and lots of instagraming! I was following along on Two Peas, Studio Calico and Shimelle's, which mean that this first layout is a mix of a lot of different challenges: refer to your pins (aka i scraplifted a layout from my Pinterest), use 5 different patterned papers, embrace the power of three and use a 4x6 photo. To that i added a personal challenge of mine: get out of my comfort zone and use color i am not comfortable with: orange, green and kraft. Mix all that together, and you get... Is this Hogwarts? 

I kind of adore this new layout, because it has everything i love: pretty papers, glittery thickers, sewing (boy my fingers still hurt from all that sewing, at some point i even had to go through 5 layers to stitch... ), lots of layers and wood veneers <3. 

Here's a closer look at the details:

 So, did you guess who's the blogger/layout i scraplifted? Her layout is GORGEOUS, you can see it here, or you can try and guess in the comments ;)

 

PROJECT LIFE WEEK 16

On to Week 16, boy this year is flying by way too quickly! For my week card i wanted to both document my favorite breakfast but almost my current favorite combo, so i picked a grey background and then some aqua, pink, and green. I really like this card!

I was also inspired by this spread by Elise Blaha to pick some kind of a weekly theme and theme use letter sticker for each day. I love taking pictures with the #fromwhereistand tag with my daily outfit (or maybe it's just a feet obsession thing) so i picked four and lined them up on my spread, then added the initial for the days (french days, in case you're wondering which day might start with a J lol).

The top left card i filled with a piece of vellum, i thought it might be nice to introduce some kind of new texture and look in the album, and since the rest of the spread was pretty full i thought a bit a empty space might be good!

And that's it for this week! Hope you had a great scrappy (or not) weekend!

NSD 2013

Happy scrapbooking day everyone!

Hope you are all having as much fun as i am right now!! And that you are scrapping, of course!!

There are a ton of challenges out there today, i am focusing on three blogs/websites:

Shimelle has lots of challenges up on her blog, with tons of pictures of her layouts + guest bloggers, not to mention some glitter girl/shimelle video. Awesome source of inspiration if you are looking for one

Two Peas, as every year has an awesome program. A Pinterest challenge, tons of scrappy challenges, chat with Garden Girls...

And finally Studio Calico, with nine super cool challenges, and a cool giveaway contest on their Instagram page, go check it out! 

As for me, i am dedicating this entire day to making layout, even though it is super sunny outside and i have a 30 pages report due in a week. It's all about Priorities ;)

I won't be posting my layout here right now, but i am instagraming like crazy as i work. My username is Alinor89 :)

COME WHAT MAY

To celebrate the 5th month of the year, I thought I'd make a list of 5 things I am grateful for in May:

1. May is my birth month. I will be turning 24 on the 27th of May. 24 sounds like a big number to me, like really close to 25 which is... you know, really close to 30! Feel like this is a decisive year as I finished my studies and need to figure out my future. And May is the month were i finally get to sit down, think and make plans. i love to do that!

2. Days are finally super long. There is good light till at least 8.30 pm which means I can do so much more once I'm back from work! in other words, Winter truly is over for a good 6 months!

3. In France, May is the perfect month. There are a lot of holidays, 4 to be exact, so no one works much haha. It's usually super warm and beautiful, as opposed to rainy March & April and too hot July and August. There's blossoming flowers everywhere. Pink and white and purple, gorgeous. i LOVE spring <3

4.Inspiration. I think because Spring is the season where everything comes back to life, i have this awesome urge to create. So right now i am working on: a new blog, a photography class (i'm trying to learn how to use my Manual mode thanks to the very talented Kara @ Classes Kara made), lots of layouts, learning a few things about Web Design and i signed up for the next Maggie Holmes class @ Studio Calico (i mean, how could i resist this gorgeous kit.)5. Movies! Cinema, films, movies, call it what you want. It's a big part of my life. And May means that it is almost time for the Cannes film festival! Which also means that a lot of awesome movies are going to be released the same week in the French movie theaters. I absolutely can not wait for the new Winding Refn, Luhrmann, Sorrentino, Coppola and so many more! Not planning on getting a lot of sleep in May. But that's ok! No doubt, May is my very favorite <3What about you? what are you grateful for?

LAYOUTS WITHIN LIMITS - A BLOG HOP

Hello, and welcome to part 3 of how i made a kit and used it to create 3 layouts, all thanks to the lovely Glitter Girl! Choosing supplies and sticking to that choice (instead of changing your mind four times in 30 min for instance *true story*) is something a lot of people have a hard time with apparently, and so today i am not alone in sharing my layout. Three others scarpbookers - senoritascrapper from her blog senoritaml.wordpress.com, Danielle Higginbottom-Brown from piperloo.blogspot.com, and Toni from her blog Life, Scrapbook, Repeat - have joined and i strongly invite you to go and check their awesome layout!

But first, here's a complete look at mine:

You should be able to recognize a lot of elements from the last layout i showed you Quiet, empty streets, like the yellow and purple papers, and the lettering (i had to swith the stickers from the pink to the green version because i was missing some letters for my title). The two layouts are still very different i would say, and won't even go in the same album (this one is of Washington while the other is about Ottawa). And i got to used supplies i loved twice. Lots of stamps too, which was in fact the first step of putting this layout together. I marked where the pictures would go and from there created a diagonal of stamp to embellish my background in a more subtle way (plus i have way too much stamps, need to use them!) I used the grey ink from Hero Art Shadow Ink. A few little embellishments here and there and that was it! What do you think?Before you go, here's a little peak at Senioritascrapper, Danielle and Toni's layouts:

Did you say 4 photos and a one page layout? Yep, she made it!

Did you say awesome corky background? yep, it's awesome! 

i NEED geotags. i every color! check that layout!