Love is...

A couple who are sweet friends... always considerate of others, very warm and friendly to all, not to mention fun-loving... are having their 11th wedding anniversary. They invited me to go out of town with them for an event they wanted to share with me but I declined. this event would encompass the celebrating of their anniversary. Since I would miss it I decided to make a gift to send along for them to open on their special day. I made them a framed 8x10 digital photo collage. Of coarse I had to make them a personalized card too. So here they are...


The card is made using an Ivory colored cardstock for the base (supplier unknown), cut to a 5x7 size. I used Stampin' Up for the (Chocolate Chip) cardstock on the bottom, the (Sending Love) patterned paper on the top, (Rose Red) cardstock for one heart and the new Pinking Hearts Boarder Punch to make the detailed ivory cardstock strip in the center of the card. The ribbon is from Close To My Heart. I cut the hearts using the Cricut (George and Basic Shapes). The rose cardstock heart was also dry-embossed using a Fiskars embossing plate with the Big Shot Express. The verse was printed on the ivory cardstock heart using Word on my computer. Inside the card says "Happy Anniversary".

This is the digital layout that I put together on my computer using Photoshop Elements. I had found this photograph of the swans on the lake in an email someone sent me a while ago. I saved it in my photos but later noticed the resolution quality was not the best. So for this I used a special effect to make it look more like a colored pencil drawing, which made the photos pop a bit more than if the background had just been another photo. I loved the swans swimming towards each other amidst the beauty of color as my background.

So Happy Together

My Step-daughter is building her own little family now. She has the sweetest baby boy and has recently found a wonderful guy to help raise my darling step-grand baby. They are so happy together, when I saw this photo I just had to do something special with it. So for Christmas I made up this layout and gave it as a gift to her new fella, welcoming him to the clan, and letting him know that he is in a place of love... on many levels. Being this was a gift to a guy, again I went for that rough, masculine style that comes so beautifully from a little distressing and the right color combinations. (Sorry the photo of this layout is a little out of focus). The verse is an original of my own reflections that reads:
Love is the Truth of who we really are.

Yet we must choose to express this Truth.

When we choose to spend time with
others living as love each moment becomes a great gift.

Moments become memories through which we feel togetherness.

Together we become FAMILY.

Family love is a great gift that anyone can choose to share with another... but most of all it is the greatest gift we give to ourselves.

Family Framed

To add to my husband's wall of photos in his "home away from home" for work, I thought he might like this 5x7 photo of his parents, siblings and their children. So I did up this simple layout and put it in a 8x10 black frame. I wanted it to be somewhat masculine for him but added a little glitz with a rhinestone embellishment and some foiled adhesive rub-ons. I love rub-ons!... and was thrilled to find the perfect title and verse for this layout. The already uneven looking background paper was distressed a bit more using Tsukinek Walnut Ink Antiquing spray.

Boyz 2 Men

My boys love to challenge each other and show off... all three of them! So I decided to do up a Scrapbook Layout and frame it for my husband to put up in his apartment in Alberta, where he is working away from home. I figured he would enjoy seeing a display of the fun he and the boys have together in the love and play they share when they get the chance. I highlighted the colors they wore in the photos to do the layout; (black, blue,red); and put the finished product in a black wood frame. I distressed the photos by sanding the edges and tore the background paper to give the layout a more rugged, masculine look. The playful title was made up of sanded paper covered chipboard and painted Grungeboard for the "b" and the "m". I also added clear embossing to the raised textured stripes on the Grungeboard to show off the dimension better.

Friendship Framed

This is a photo of a gift I made to give my husband's best friend and his wife as a moving away present. It is a Scrapbook style layout that I framed for their new home to remember us by.Because my husband has another very close friend that was included in the photo I decided to make another version of the same idea as a friendship gift to them. Now they too are looking at moving away.I'm glad our friends can take us along wherever life takes them... in their hearts and on their walls.