Happy 26th Tara!

Dear Tara,

Thank for all you do and have done! You're making the world better, one refugee at a time! Happy 26th Bestie!!

I crafted Tara's birthday present again this year. She's received so many handmade gifts, I have to get creative with her presents these days! This year, I altered a set of Moleskine notebooks for her. She's also the most driven person I've ever met and for some reason that bulls eye paper reinforced that idea to me. Plus, can't beat the navy, red and yellow color scheme!

I created the flower using a two diecuts cut from my Slice. I chalk inked the edges and curled them upwards to give it some dimension. Thanks for stopping by yall!

xxbesos

j.leija

{All} Week 2 Challenges

I'm back with the newest challenges from Ch{all}enges Masters! You have until the end of the month to complete as many challenges as you like :) And this week's challenges are just as good as last's! You can click on the challenge name and it will take you directly to that challenge over on Ch{all}ange Masters. Or you can click the the challenger's name and either visit their profile or blog.

Ad Challenge by Mary Jane

Last month, I received a JoAnn's ad in the mail that I thought would be perfect inspiration for some paper crafting. I wanted to use the shapes and colors on my own project and thought maybe everyone else would be able to find their own inspiration in this ad.

Blade Master Challenge by Cindy Blair

For this month’s ch{all}enge I want you to do a layout or card where you make your own embellishments and borders with decorative edges. You should be able to do this with scissors, punches, or die cutting machines. The only requirement is they must be your own, not purchased.

Color Challenge by Sally C

The color combo for this month: lime green/orange/aqua/purple. You may add a neutral as well: white/black/cream/brown but I'd love to see the colors listed as your main colors used.

Go Green Challenge by Jackie W

This week I want you to scour your KITCHEN. Go in there, take a look in the cupboard, fridge, etc. and see what you can find that you can recycle and use on your page or cards. You'll be surprised at what you can find :)

Hybrid Challenge by Me

My hybrid challenge for the month of July is to print onto something other than plain paper. In my example layout, I layered masking tape over my background paper and printed directly onto that. I think it has a really awesome texture and effect. I love that you can still see bits of the patterned paper vaguely underneath.

You can vary this challenge plenty of ways. You can print journaling, titles, digi elements onto transparencies, envelopes, brown paper bags, recycled packaging, canvas. Skies the limit!

Kitchen Keepsakes by Suzanne

Do you have special drinks that you usually only have in the summer time? Show me a layout with your favorite liquid summertime refreshment! Mine just happens to be my fav alcoholic beverages, but it doesn't have to be.

Recipe Challenge by Karen G

Here is your challenge for this month:

1 Butterfly
2 Photos
3 Papers (can be a mix of patterned and cardstock)
4-5 flowers

Additionally – I want you to think outside of the traditional journaling box and do something different with your journaling (put it in a shape, make it hidden with a pullout tag, make a pocket for it, whatever you can come up with!).

Surprise Challenge by Colette

One of my favorite techniques is to crop several smaller images and fit them into the space allowed for one photo. The images don't have to be the same size, you can vary them as you need. And, they don't even have to be all of the same event or time frame. In fact, the pictures I used in my example were taken randomly over the period of more than a year. But, there are a couple of guidelines to follow to make it work.

1. No matter how many photos you use, they need to fit into the rectangle shape you're working with. Meaning, they all need to line up around the outside edges. It's okay if they have to overlap somehow 'inside' the edges ... but, you're going to want them to appear as one photo that has a straight top, bottom and sides.

2. I find it's visually appealing if you have one photo that is dominant. Dominant can mean that it's larger than the others or perhaps it's in color and your other 'supporting' photos are black and white. This isn't a hard and fast rule ... but, it's good design to create a focal point, and that's true in this instance, too.

3. Mat your grouped photos. Having them all on a photo mat will make them appear as a single element. It will reinforce the appearance of a single photo in your page design.

The rules for all of the Ch{all}enge Master challenges are as follows:

• Each submission must be a newly created project specifically for the challenge.
• Only one entry per category.
• Challenges may be combined, but each submission is one entry no matter how many challenges are entered.
• Each submission must be uploaded to the proper folder in our gallery no later than 11:59PM ET on July 31, 2010 to be eligible for the random draw.
• Each submission must follow ALL requirements of the challenge to be eligible for the random draw. For example, if the challenge states blue must be used, then there must be some blue in the project in order to qualify.

So there you have July's Week 2 Challenges! Click on each challenge title to get ALL the details, as I simplified for the post a bit. Be sure to stop by and take a gander at all that's going on with the Divas! And perhaps participate in a challenge or two :) Happy Scrapping!

xxbesos

j.leija

The Darcy Fanclub

Now if there's anything that can and will immediately transport me to a different time and place, it's the movie Pride and Prejudice. But not in the way you think. While I adore the movie and get so wrapped up in the intricacies of 17th century English life, the pining love of Mr. Darcy for Elizabeth Bennett and the strength of dear Lizzy's character, that version of England isn't the one I'm referring to. I'm thinking more 21st century London to be exact.

I'll let my journaling tell the rest:

You could call us the Pride and Prejudice girls and we'd be ok with it. That's what you get when you share a flat with 3 other girls, utter estrogen! I mean we're girls, right? We love to dress up, get made up, talk about boys, dream about falling in love, all that gooey girly stuff. And it just gets magnified when you throw 4 of us together! Truth be told, none of us are very girly girls, but somehow we bring it out in each other.

P&P became the official mascot of Ability Towers, Flat 10. Not because we were a flat full of girls but because of dear Zahra. Now I adore that movie, but P&P is Zahra's favorite book. And when Zahra likes something, she loves it! Thus, the movie verison of her favorite novel was playing almost non-stop for the 6 months that we lived with each other. People would come in and out and remark every time, "hey weren't you watching that last time I was here?" Yes, we'd reply. We were. It was near constant background noise and I believe every one of us can quote it from beginning to end.

But I guess you can see how a movie about love can never get old, especially to a flat full of girls. [SPOILER ALRET!] No matter how many times I see the movie, I still get excited when Lizzy and Mr. Darcy get together in the end. It's such a timeless story. As four girls living in a big city, and a laregly romantic one like London to boot, it's no wonder P&P got so much play time. We were just four girls in a big city, looking for our own Mr. Darcy's.

The Darcy Fanclub

Clearly, Pride and Prejudice was such a big part of my life in London, that I couldn't not include it in my scrapbook! I've always wanted to create a page about it, but didn't really know how until the 4th of July when I got to see my bestie Kori Hale for the first time since London. She graciously (let's face it she practically threw it at me) returned the copy of Pride and Prejudice that had been left in her DVD player. But, since I couldn't live without it, I'd already re-purchased my beloved film shortly after my return to the US. Thus, I now had an extra. And the original copy to boot! The one that got played literally hundreds of times in our flat!

That DVD became the focus and the inspiration for the page. The colors, the layout, the repeated shapes are all derived from it. American Crafts' Botanique line was practically made for this page, with its green and orange color scheme, so I couldn't not use this sheet of sunflower/daisy things.

I've also been hoarding this sheet from Collage Press' Christmas line, for the eventual page I was going to make of P&P. It's text directly from the book! How fabulous is that?!?! I only did minimal embellishing on this part, because I wanted the words to be the focus.

I'm so jazzed to have finally created this page about one seemingly tiny part of my life in London. But I will forever be connected to those girls and that movie. I love them all so much! Maybe one day we'll all be in the same room together again. I can only hope!

Happy Scrapping Yall!

xxbesos

j.leija