SS Challenge week 12

Hello everyone! I'm back with our layouts for the challenge by Anka - "make a page using photos when you were 15-16 years old".

I could probably win a contest who has least amount of photos when I was young - but that wouldn't stop me from telling my stories. So, I finally found a picture of myself being 16. Took a picture of it and reprinted on my home printer for the LO. Here is my page "I didn't know":

Katya made a lovely page this week again. I totally agree with the ones who said it doesn't look like Katya's second page! I like how she divided her page into two different colors for the background and added embellishments in clusters. It looks really good. Here is Katya's "Sweet 16" page:

You can't help but smile looking at Anka's page. She proved that 16 was a fun age for her. I love pages with lots of photos. They help tell the story, but she also did write a complete paragraph on her page. I also like that she stayed away from blue colors and made it look a lot softer. Like all the details! Here's Anka's page "Cousins A&J":

Lora made an 8.5x11 page this time. I almost completed mine in that format too. I like how Lora added the feel of the past by adding a clock to the page. She always takes time to write her journaling and that's what I like about her pages. Lora likes to think outside the box and that's why she made a page about teen years instead of concentrating on sixteen. Here is Lora's layout "Teen years":

It was Lora's turn to pick our next challenge. Here is what she said: "Next week's challenge is to dedicated a page to someone you want to thank, honor or admire".

See you soon!

Loving PRT

On one of the PRT Episodes (Paperclipping Roundtable), panel of scrapbookers discussed their page making process and different approaches they take. I realized that I always had two different ones just like Stacy Jullian explained. One that will be slow cooking for days, weeks or even months before I finally decide on how I want to tell that story in words and pictures. And the other one usually happens pretty quickly. I get inspired either by papers, pictures, product, someones work or just by cleaning my work area. Today's layout was one of those quick pages.

I was actually looking for paper on my scraps drawer to add for another layout. Got a blue strip that Lora shared with me, grabbed some green that I had in my stash. Found this word strip in the same drawer and it all seemed to go well together. The first set of pictures I pulled was "ducks feeding". All I had left to do is rearrange a few item on a page and write a paragraph.
Thanks for stopping by here and hope to see you again very soon!

Yes, one more thing, if you've never listened to PRT, it's a great source of information, inspiration and laugh. There are many benefits of listening. I always listen to the show while cleaning the kitchen (since it's not very fun). I get double benefits - kitchen is clean and I'm all inspired to go work on something creative!

Now, see you later!

Random

Let's start from the most exciting news. There was a giveaway for Kelly Purkey's class this week on a number of sites. Kelly has a fun and outgoing personality and she is an amazing scrapbooker. I really wanted to win a spot in her class, and Cindy Tobey was very nice to pick ME!!!

Sketchbook 3 is a four week class filled with fresh sketches, easy instructions, beautiful examples, and lots of fun! It will run from April 4th to April 29th. During this time a PDF will be delivered to our inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so we can work at our own pace. Some of my very favorite scrapbookers contributed for this class along with Jennifer McGuire showing us how to make cards based on Kelly's sketches. The class will also include a private message board for questions and sharing ideas, as well as two scheduled chats - all on the awesome Studio Calico website. I'm so excited to start working on it!

A new episode of Roundtable was uploaded on Paperclipping.com today. I love listening to those. It was so much fun, as usual. The discussion topic was about routines that help you feel more creative and about different modes of creativity. To add to the discussion, I should say that I usually can't concentrate when I have some type of events scheduled on the week. That's what happened last week. We had two of those. I had to finish my SS challenge on Monday, and felt so creative, that I got three more projects started that day. None of them are finished yet, but they are "slow cooking" on the table.

To listen to that episode or any of the previous ones, visit their site at http://www.paperclipping.com/

Also, I forgot to mention that Lora will be picking the challenge for next week. Meanwhile, I hope everyone is working on their lo's this week. One of you have already sent it in. Got to go finish mine.

SS Challenge week 11

Here we go again. The challenge for last week was to make a winter page. For some reason I really enjoyed working on a winter page, even though I am so ready for Spring. I had three different pages in my mind that I wanted to complete. My first choice didn't work because the paper I planned to use didn't go with the pictures.

I decided to use some of my favorite pictures from this winter. Pink for winter is a little unusual, but I think it worked. Here is my page:

I would've never mixed greys and browns on the same page, but for some reason it didn't look wrong here. Before deciding to use them both. I realized my pictures had both of those shades in them. So I gave it a try.

Title came from the same sheet of stickers I shared last week. I used them on four layouts in a row. This set is a must have!

Rhinestones and winter. I just love that. This page doesn't have any expensive embellishments. Punched circles from pattern paper.

I'm so glad that I'm the first one to see everyone's page. I love getting emails with new pages each week. Anka made a page with a family Christmas photo.We had the same color choices this week. I like how soft her layout looks with torn vellum on. Rub-on words add something special to the page and snowflakes complete the mood of winter themed page. Here is Anka's layout:

And now, let me introduce to you Katya. This is the first time she participated in our weekly challenge (and hopefully not the last). Her page speaks winter from pictures to colors to title. I really like how white lacy borders has that frosty snowflake feel. Title over pictures was a nice way to connect them all together. Here's what Katya made:

I never know what to expect when I check Lora's email. I like that we all try to experience different styles to figure out what is really "me". She made a lovely page with craft background which adds calm and soft feel to it. Very creative letter O, which I believe was hand cut. And if you know me I love pages with a lot of journaling (I don't always like to be the one to write it) so, she did a nice job on that. Here is Lora's page:

Last week I let Anka pick our next challenge. For SS week 12 she chose - a layout with a picture of you when you were 15-16 years old. It's so fun to be on this side for a change. I know it will not be the easiest for me, but challenge has been announced and my mind starts working.

Good luck everyone and hope to see your work soon!

Really???

A little over a year ago, we got a little kitten. It wasn't really our choice. We have a number of relatives who decided that we needed a pet. My husband has never been a big fan of animals living inside of our house, but kids wanted him to stay. This creature was delivered to our house and stayed with us ever since.

From the first day, he became the a good friend of our youngest daughter. I don't know why he picked her. Maybe he was choosing by size. But he seemed to like her a lot.

He was following her. Waiting for her while she was sleeping.

We were trying to find him a perfect name, but couldn't choose one that would fit his personality. He was getting bigger by the day, and we finally decided to name him "Mufasa".

Liana and Mufasa... Every day there was a new story to tell about these two.

Poor little kitten... what did he have to go through?

Besides being loved, he was also pulled by the tail... picked up by his head... stepped on... thrown from the stairs... hit with a ball... stuffed into drawer... sat on... carried in not the most convenient position... given rides in the laundry basket... dressed up in hair clips... and more loved.

These are some of my favorite pictures of them two. Lots of hugs:

and kisses:

Everyday in our house you could hear hundreds of times "Liana don't touch the cat!" This cat had an extraordinary patience. Despite all the trials he survived, and seems to like her so much.

One day, when Liana was crying, he came over and started going around her feet trying to calm her down. I thought it was a coincidence, but it has repeated a number of times since.

Well, all of that was only an introduction. Now, comes the real story. Or I should say, that story takes a different turn.

Our Mufasa was getting big and fat and lazy. Winter time. Don't we all gain weight during winter months? But then "he" was starting to act a little weird. That's when our first thought of "what if this is not really a HE", and two days later Mufasa surprised as with this:

What?

Really?

Are you sure?

Yes. I guess whoever told us that "he" was a boy, was really wrong. No, we are not planning to give her a different name... We're just gonna have to find a lot of new homes for these kittens later, where they can be loved, at least as much as Mufasa is loved here.

See you later!

Not related...

While my winter page is slow cooking on my desk, I decided to share something that has been cooking in my kitchen. I has been forever since I cooked drumsticks. I tend to go for chicken breast instead. But, I really wanted to cook something different for a change. My family loves cabbage in any forms prepared. That's when decided to combine the two. Here is what I got:

A few pictures along the cooking process:

They went into the oven afterwards.

Vegetables for topping:

I used a whole bad of sauerkraut (drained):

Which was added after the fresh vegetables were a little browned. You'll need about 2-3 tbsp of brown sugar, to make it not so sour.

Topped drumsticks with cabbage and placed in the oven.

I served it with "kartoplyaniki". But, it will go better with mashed potatoes. So, if you have a favorite recipe and wanted to share, send me your pictures. I don't have intentions of turning this blog into cooking site, but it's nice to share something we love, whatever it is.

See you later!

SS Challenge week 10

I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed looking for color inspiration this week and having it as a starting point. It was hard to pick one, since I kept finding more and more. Anyway, here is what my end result looks like:
Have to say, that I didn't have pictures in mind at the beginning. I made my decision on color combo, chose papers according to that pallet and then was trying to think what pictures could I use with it. My color inspiration picture was found in Grandin Road magazine:
These are the papers I pulled to match colors on picture:

Here they are all together. I didn't end up using all of them, but I also didn't go back to look for more or different papers. Kind of saved time on that.

Anka's page is so fun as usual. I love her background paper. Click on the photo to see all the detail she has here. Wire border is perfect for "boys" page. Tilted part kind of adds movement, which also adds to this layouts theme. Another thing that I liked about her page this time is that she actually has a lot of journaling! Here is her page:

Her color combination came right from the book she was using at that time.

And this book seems like a lot of fun. (Anka, I have to borrow it for a week, since I don't have that one. Becky Higgins is such a talented scrapbooker and organizer.)

When I scrapbook, I have difficult times going for winter photos. Am I the only one? It gets even harder when summer gets here. So, for our next challenge, WEEK 10, we are going to be making a winter page, since it's still kind of cold outside. Good luck everyone and ... ANYA IS GOING TO PICK OUR NEXT CHALLENGE!

Another one of those

I decided to finish the page that came together totally unexpectedly. I was cleaning the surface area of my creative corner and was so excited to begin our challenge last week that I just started placing pieces of paper together. Colors and patterns that reminded me of my childhood, without a picture or story in mind. I didn't even sit down. (new pictures. Forgot my key sticker the first time. Not a big deal, I know, but now it's there)

Half circle has some stickers on from my new pack I got at Jo-Ann's. Title came from the same sheet. I love when stickers have very common and often used words in an often used color. These are chocolate. (Doesn't it sound better than brown? Well, it is very dark brown, which makes it chocolate. Right?)


This is one of my very favorite color combinations - shades of pink and peach with browns. Have to use new color combination for this week's challenge. I do have a few options, but now I have to decide what picture or story could go with one of them.

I hope you have a great day!

8е Марта и долгожданная страничка

Happy woman's day everyone. We don't really celebrate this holiday, but I happened to have flowers at my house today, because one of my friends brought me this lovely bouquet for my birthday. Since my birthday is so close to this holiday, I have flowers for both occasions.

I decided to post this "лучше позже чем никогда страничку" in a separate post for two reasons. Number one - I don't want people to miss this page. If they come over and see the same old post they will not know to scroll down to check for new page. And number two - to reach our goal (Lora this is for you) of anniversary post.

Anka's page just makes me happy. I love how she incorporated memorabilia into her layout. I don't know if she used real report card of a copy, but it adds so much to this page! Again, just like Lora, she uses ruler. And the rest of the elements on the page like random numbers, lyrics from a school song and even that white border, which totally reminds me of "манжеты" -make this page so complete. Great job. Here is Anka's page:

I really hated to cut a piece of her layout, but that black background was so destructive. Girls, I don't want to make it more complicated, but if you can, try taking a picture against white or light background. Thank you so much.

And just one more random thing for today - Oh, how much I love my new 50 mm lens! It is amazing. It seems like weather was dictating me when to take pictures inside the house. Not anymore. Here is just one of the pictures I snapped of my youngest "two" children:

No editing on this one. I used to add light to all of my pictures taken indoors.

See you soon!

Scraplift Sunday - week 9

Back with Scraplift "Monday". For the last week's challenge we were doing a page about our childhood memories. Lately it has been one of my favorite subjects to scrapbook. I had so many ideas, but decided to make a page I wanted to do for a long time. I was touched by lyrics in one song, and here is my page featuring those words:

I've said it before, and I will repeat it again. I LOVE how working on a page can take you all the way back, not just in miles but also in time! I couldn't afford to buy a ticket and visit Ukraine last week, but scrapbooking made it possible. I really took time working on this project, not because it was complicated, but because I like working slow on this type of layouts.

Lora's page was so lovely this week again. There's just something about our childhood pictures that makes these pages extra special. I love her design with all the strips of patterned paper. She underlined her pictures with alphabet line at the top and ruler at the bottom of her pictures - the key elements for this school themed layout. Tilted frame grabs your attention for the focal point of the page:

And now, for our SS Challenge week 10, we are going to be using a color inspiration. I want you to find something with a color combination that you like (it may come from a magazine, clothes, home decor, flowers, nature and more), make a page with same color choices and send me pictures of both - your color inspiration and a layout.

I hope to see your work soon!