CHRISTMAS CARDS

With The Christmas Season being officially on its way, I thought I'd share some cards with you. They were all made using a Sizzix die-cut but you could easily dupplicate the base for the card without the die.The idea is to punch two holes on its side to embellish as you wish, you can also create a "peekaboo" card ( a fav. of mine ) by punching the top card with a circle punch. Hope these can give you some ideas.

C'est officiel,nous entrons dans la periode de Noel. J'aimerais partager quelques cartes avec vous. Elles ont ete faites avec un die de Sizzix mais vous pouvez tres facilement reproduire cette idee puisqu'il s'agit de faire deux cartes avec deux trous dans la marge dans lesquels on passe un joli ruban. Je vous laisse les decouvrir en esperant qu'elles vous donneront quelques petites idees.

Papers and Embellies by My Little Yellow Bicycle: Sharon Ann Christmas magic.

A WINNER

or should I say "une gagnante" since Nathalie won the set of mini stamps. Bravo et merci a toi Nathalie pour ta participation et ces belles lignes qui pourraient tres bien decrire mes sentiments sur le sujet.
Nathalie said...
Je sais bien que c'est traditionellement le moment propice pour penser a toutes les choses qui nous remplissent de gratitude MAIS, ce sentiment me prend vraiment a tout moment de l'annee, a n'importe quelle heure du jour ou de la nuit, c'est un moment qui vient et qui passe... une prise de conciensce. Une promenade sur la plage, deux enfants pris d'un fou rire, des parents en bonne sante, le commentaire positif d'une maitresse qui vous rend fiere, un conjoint toujours la pour vous aider, ...bref je suis pleine de gratitude pour tous ces jours ou le verre est a moitie plein :)
I can definitely relate with Nathalie when she says that gratitude is "a moment that comes and goes" and that she feels grateful for " all the days she sees the glass half full". It really is an attitude isn't it? Thanks to all of you who participated, I've really enjoyed reading what you had to say. Merci de vos mots, j'adore vous lire et cet exercice m'a beaucoup touche!

GRATITUDE

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

I'm not going to ask you what you are grateful for but I'm interested to know whether you do feel grateful or not and how does that impact your daily life? Drop a line or a paragraph to enter today's give-away=> one of my favorite mini set of stamps and gems.

C'est la Fete de Thanksgiving et meme si vous ne la fetez pas, je suis sure que vous avez votre mot a dire sur le theme de la Gratitude. Ecrivez moi autant que vous le souhaitez sur ce sentiment afin de pouvoir remporter ces petits tampons=>

THANK YOU ~ MERCI

CHRISTMAS PROJECT 1

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! And so to start off a series of "Christmas Projects" here is my December Diary. The idea comes from the talented Ali Edwards. It's a simple concept really, well my take on it is going to be any way:

- one day=one picture + one story, on one page. Of course you can make yours any shape or size you want. It could be about the traditions you like to observe or the more mundane aspect of everyday.


Personally I'm doing it for these four reasons:

1. the challenge of keeping it up for 25 days
2. keeping a trace of 25 consecutive days in our life
3.recording our favorite traditions
4. in the hope to slow down and be more "aware"of that special time.



En voyant celui d'Ali Edwards l'annee derniere, je m'etais juree de le faire ce Noel. Le concept est simple: 1 jour=1 photo+1 petit texte, le tout sur une page. J'ai utilise des tampons acryliques et des punches pour faire les petites etiquettes de chaque jour.

All supplies used are from My LYB Sharon Ann Christmas MAGIC Collection except for these tags that I made using acrylic stamps and two punches.


I often add a see through cover to my minis. I like how it adds both dimension and some protection to the whole project. The title is on the other side of the red medallion:

I'll be showing some inside pages next week...Thank you!

Je montrerai quelques pages la semaine prochaine...Merci!

RENCONTRES MAGIQUES

Il y a des rencontres magiques dans ce joli monde du scrap et de la "blogsphere". La connaissance de Hime en fait partie et je ne dis meme pas ca parce qu'elle m'a couverte de cadeaux fait main, non, non. C'est juste que chacun de nos echanges est tout simplement "vrai" et donc precieux. Le mini album qu'elle a execute avec brio est une super bonne idee, je lui laisse l'honneur de le partager avec nous toutes sur son blog.
Maintanant si seuleument le facteur pouvait REtrouver mon petit paquet que je lui avais envoye il y a au moins trois semaines ce serait TOP!

If you haven't had the pleasure of visiting Hime at Scrapissime, go go go! She has the biggest heart, she's a lot of fun, she scraps with talent and her blog is bilingual...( French / English). I had this incredible surprise in the mail this afternoon, all the way from Paris! I told you she had the biggest heart!

ACCORDIAN HAUNTED HOUSE ALBUM

I'm so happy to say that the new site for My LYB is officially OPEN! I had the pleasure of making an accordian album for the kick off. If you'd like to view it, CLICK HERE.

Ca y est le site de My LYB est en place et j'ai eu l'honneur de creer une maison hantee pour l'ouverture. Alors, n'hesitez pas a aller jeter un 'chti coup d'oeil, c'est par la!.

HOMONYM

What Lily said to me is quite funny but also almost impossible to translate. The word "couche" has several meanings; it can mean "diaper" or "layer". In this conversation we had, Lily drew me and then said she made me wearing a "diaper"( she meant layers of clothes ). I do wear layer upon layer of tops when the weather turns cold and so both the misunderstanding and the good observation were quite funny. I just love scraping a moment like this one with a funny exchange of words and a big bonus: a drawing!

Avec une petite conversation rigolote et un dessin, je ne pouvais que me rejouir de faire cette page toute acidulee. Les papiers sont beaucoup mieux "en vrai". En revanche les photos...hmm, pas top, c'est certain, mais je tenais a avoir les photos qui correspondaient a ce moment. Parfois capturer l' instant tel quel est le plus important.

Si ces instants de vie vous interessent autant qu'ils me fascinent, je vous invite a faire un petit tour sur mon tout nouveau blog CAPTURING THE ORDINARY . Merci pour tous vos mots!






Supplies:
p.p, embellies, title: Making Memories'Hullabaloo
acrylic stamp ( date): Creative Imaginations
ribbon: my own
Fiskars paper-trimmer and corner punch.

TENACITE

Good morning my friends.I had a problem with my sidebars which had dropped all the way below the posts and after working on fixing it for about 40 hours I was able to succeed! I had gone to the "help" section and posted a link to my problem not thinking I would get an answer but this amazing blog Doctor came to the rescue and with his instructions I was able to find what was wrong and fix it! I'm exhausted and elated at the same time, I'd like to share the link to his site, you know, just in case!http://www.blogdoctor.me/

Ca y est la tenacite a du bon, enfin je ne dirai peut-etre pas ca dans quelques heures alors que la journee commencera et que je n'aurai pratiquement pas dormi! Donc avant d'aller faire un minuscule dodo, je voulais vous donner le lien du "docteur" qui m'a aidee a regler ce probleme de sidebar: http://www.blogdoctor.me/
OUF! ca va mieux! ( un grand merci a Hime qui m'a beaucoup aidee et que je tiens ici a saluer !)

ALL YOU NEED IS...

CHOCOLATE....HMMM,Love too! How about both, such as: chocolate for your Love. Don't wait until Valentine's Day to surprise him / her with a little home made box filled with some chocolate and don't forget the most important part: tuck a LOVE LETTER.

bon l'effet n'est pas le meme en francais mais la surprise c'est a vous de la creer et de l'offrir avec une petite boite ( plus c'est petit, plus c'est mignon )quelques carres de chocolat et biensur un billet doux!





They were both made using My Little Yellow Bicycle Love Letters Collection.Thanks!
Tous les papiers et embellies viennent de la collection "Love Letters" de My Little Yellow Bicycle. Merci!

WHY NOT WEDNESDAY 2

When I received this beautiful red envelope and invitation in the mail the other day, I first thought it was a shame to not reuse it somehow. And that's when thought " why not use it as a template and create dozens of envelopes and cards ? "... So my friends, next time you go through your mail, why not look at all that junk with a different eye? There are templates, cards,tags awaiting you in that box of yours...it's in the eyes of the beholder remember?!

"C'est dommage de ne pas la reutiliser". C'est ce que je me suis dit en jetant un dernier coup d'oeil a cette belle enveloppe. et puis "ding! ding!" ( ca c'est quand une idee sonne)et pas si vite cette enveloppe et son invitation peuvent servir de patron pour de nouvelles creations. Alors, toute a l'heure, quand vous ouvrez la boite a lettres, regardez bien s'il n'y a pas une future petite merveille deguisee en pub qui vous attend. Pourquoi pas?

TWO AWARDS? POUR MOI?!

Un enorme MERCI a Chrystelle ainsi qu'a Virg. pour leur recompense qui me va droit au coeur. Crystelle sait marier la broderie au scrap, un vrai regal pour les yeux; quant a scropine Virg. un seul mot me vient a l'esprit pour decrire son talent: PURETE, tout ce qu'elle touche se transforme en un voile de douceur,decouvrir une page de Virg. c'est comme gouter un macaron Laduree pour la 1ere fois...ca a l'air simple mais c'est tres complex et ca transporte... bref du grand art!

I've been fortunate enough to receive this award twice today! A big thanks to Chrystelle and to Virg. Chrystelle 's has multiple talents, she's a textile designer, her pages and needle work are fantastic! Virg. symbolizes Purity to me, her photography and her pages are always special, very very French to me.



Les gagnantes doivent:
1- Mettre le logo sur leur Blog
2- Mettre le lien de la personne qui les a nominées
3- Nommer 5 Blogs
4- Laisser un message aux nominées

And the winners are, les gagnantes ( pas facile car certaines ont deja ete designe plusieurs fois)

Hime son talent est egal a sa gentillesse, une scropine au coeur d'or, a laquelle je donne rendez-vous au Trois Hibous du Bon Marche le 15 avril a 15heures!
Flo car j'ai hate de mieux la connaitre. Son style C & S me plait!
Maya her projects are wonderful, I find her blog to be very inspirational and I love her style!
The Purl Bee who not only is incredibly talented but also extremely generous in sharing the instructions to her marvelous knitted works. ( ca vaut le detour!)
Little Cotton rabbits her creatures are like no other.( don't tell anybody but I'm pretty sure she's Mama Claus!)

Merci mes amies!
Thank you my friends!

TAKE TWO

Maybe I needed a "take one" to finally come up with a L.O I like? This one feels right to me , you know right as in "this is me", it resonates somehow...
I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome the new visitors, yes! YOU!and YOU! Thank you for your feedback which is so motivating for me. And to my faithful friends,I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoy getting "to know" you a little better post after post.

En quatre mots:" OUF J'AIME MIEUX". Voila tout est dit, enfin presque, je me retrouve mieux en cette page, plus epuree; dirigeant, je l'espere, l'oeil sur l'essentiel.J'en profite pour souhaiter la bienvenue a toutes les petites nouvelles visiteuses qui prennent le temps de sortir de l'ombre! MERCI! et a mes scropines habituelles : MERCI~MERCI~MERCI, vos commentaires m'inspirent et me motivent.





Supplies:
p.p: Basic Grey, Daisy D's
dry-embossing: Cuttlebug
die-cut machine: Sizzix
embroidery: Bazzill
title: Quickutz " Abigail "
brad: American Crafts

KEELAN'S STENCIL ART

Keelan is only thirteen but has been fascinated with "street art" for years now. Stencil Art is very unique and not seen too often here in Chicago where graffiti and murals are more common. It originated in Paris in the early 80s and whenever we go back, Keelan and I scout them out! He had a first go at it this Summer and I was surprised to see how easy it was for him to know what and how to draw the face itself but also what to cut and leave out. This one was done Sunday late afternoon on the kitchen table. When Keelan showed it to me , holding it over a piece of white paper, I was mesmerised by the endless reflections...and so I'll leave you with what I like to call the magic of art, the unexpected treats a simple cut card stock and a little paint can bring:

In case you're wondering, no, we did not vandalized the streets of Chicago!

The last one was spray painted on our driveway.

Thank you for each of your comments, I know Keelan will love reading them!and me too ;)

TAKE ONE

Struggle. For some mysterious reason this L.O was so difficult to come "to life", I was determined not to go to bed until it was FINISHED! AARGH! The worst part I suppose, is that I'm not very happy with the result. So as you can guess by reading the post title, there might just be a "take TWO" coming soon near you!

Heureusement que ca n'arrive que tres souvent, cette page etait a se "cogner la tete contre les murs" et en plus je ne suis pas convaincue du resultat! Et vous savez ce qui se passe quand Bibi n'est pas satisfaite? et oui, il se pourrait bien qu'une version numero 2 pointe son nez tres tres prochainement!



Supplies:
cardstock: Bazzill
p.p: Daisy D's, Making Memories
stamps: Inkadinkado
brads: American Crafts
embossing powder: Clear
corner and border punch: Fiskars
title: Making Memories
small grenn leaf brad: Making Memories
embossing heat tool: Marvy

WHY NOT WEDNESDAY 1

Why not start something new today?Every Wednesday I'll share something a little nutty, a little crazy, a little different or just plain silly, goofy...well, you get the idea. For the first " Why not Wednesday?",why not reuse a pretty packaging and try to transform it into something fun? This is what I tried to do with this box of ice cream sandwiches. I cut it open, removed the top and bottom,poked 2 holes on the spine,attached some scrap paper,some elastic ribbon to hold the pencils...
Lily really liked it but now she wants to know when she can have an ice cream sandwich?! ( They were DELICIOUS by the way! )




Nouvelle rubrique, bon en francais, on va dire "le pourquoi pas du mercredi?", c'est sure c'est moins cool! Donc chaque mercredi, je partagerai une idee ou un projet un peu "different", histoire de casser le train-train du milieu de semaine. Alors, pour notre premier " pourquoi pas", pourquoi ne pas transformer un joli carton vide en un petit cahier de dessin? C'est rigolo et Lily a plutot bien aime mais ce qui lui ferait vraiment plaisir maintenant ...eh oui! une glace-cookie-sandwich ( faut dire qu'elles etaient bonnes!)

A FIRST

While I've often been tempted to scrap a 11 x 8 1/2 page, I'd never taken the leap up till now! Before I go any further, I'd like to express my most profound respect for every one's point of views. I realize some of you might not share my enthusiasm for the new administration but I also think it is important for me to be honest. I feel that not sharing a L.O with you because it touches the political realm would be dishonest and misleading. I'm not a militant, I'm just deeply moved in a very positive way for what this incredible country has been able to do by electing Barack Obama. I thank you for you understanding; please feel free to leave me a comment about this or anything else you see fit.



Je ne veux pas faire beaucoup de blabla pour rien, en ecrivant ces lignes plus haut, je tenais simplement a vous dire combien je respecte profondement les idees de chacun. La Politique aux Etats-Unis c'est comme la Religion, il est tres delicat et meme deconseille d'en parler ouvertement. Bien que je ne fasse aucun proselythisme, j'estime qu'il serait malhonnete de ma part de ne pas partager certaines pages, photos sous pretexte qu'elles touchent a la politique. Comment ne pas esperer et ne pas desirer partager cette esperance apres ce que nous avons vecu ici mardi dernier?

PEEKABOO CARDS

When I spotted these adorable felt animals I knew they'd be perfect for some "peekaboo" cards. I used a Sizzix die-cut for the card itself and then two different embossing dies from Cuttlebug ( happy birthday / dots ) to add texture to the cardstock. The brown border on the birthday card was made using a border punch ( Martha Stewart ). The window is punched with a circle punch smaller than the scallop punch. The border for the window is made by punching a circle and then going back on that negative shape with the bigger scallop punch (to see an illustration of this click here). The message inside was written with Rub-ons from American Crafts.

Ils ne sont pas trop mimi ces petits animaux en feutrine? Pour faire ces cartes, j'ai utilise un die-cut Sizzix pour la forme de la carte, des dies de Cuttlebug pour faire la texture, un punch border pour faire le bord a pointes, un punch scallop pour agrementer la fenetre et des rub-ons American Crats pour le message a l'interieur.

CATCHY

SURPRISE!

BON ANNIVERSAIRE MAMAN! Keelan a fait la caricature de chacun d'entre-nous afin de faire rire sa Mamie qui souffle une bougie aujourd'hui!

Keelan drew this card for his Granny's birthday!

MARK & JACK

This a page is for my husband Mark who took his Dad to Nova Scotia for his 80Th Birthday. The sketch is Ali Edwards' ( a week in my life )and is part of this week's Full Circle Challenge at my local S.S : Windy City Scrapbooking. The stamps used are from Making Memories. Thank you my friends.

Voici une petite page double extrement simple faite pour mon mari qui a emmene son Papa en Nouvelle Ecosse pour ses 80 ans. Ils avaient fait ce voyage en 1988 et j'ai donc pense qu'il serait interessant de laisser Mark faire le journaling et comparer les 2 visites. Le sketch est d'Ali Edwards et la page repond egalement au challenge de la semaine de Windy City Scrapbooking. Merci.

A NEW BEGINNING...

This is what I saw...



...and now perhaps we can start afresh, we can start fixing things, rebuilding, there's a lot of work ahead of us but when you meet a taxi driver from Nigeria holding an American flag telling you that it's "Peace around the world NOW" how could you not have HOPE?!

VOTE !

Take part in History, go vote, take pictures, scrap later!

8

It's just a great number, isn't it? You turn it on its side and you have the infinity! So instead of picking just one or two or three winners, I've chosen the first 8! Yep! These ladies will soon receive a little homemade "WINTER MINI BOOK" to use with photos or to jolt down notes throughout the season and one of yesterday's" MINI GIFT BOXES"! Here is the list of the lucky winners, please email me your address so I can send you your package.

Parce que j'aime ce chiffre et que je n'allais tout de meme pas choisir une ou deux gagnantes non mais! Envoyez-moi un petit mail avec votre nom+adresse afin que je puisse vous faire parvenir votre petit paquet "fait main et avec amour!". Voici les noms des gagnantes:

* Busir
* Neatfreak
* Hime
* Nathalie
* Sassy Ali
* Virg
* Andrea
* Genmanou


To all the others who haven't won this time around,no worries, we'll do it again, I promise! THANK YOU! MERCI DE VOTRE FIDELITE!

MINI GIFT BOXES

The other day I bought some eye-shadow and when I took it out of its box, an idea hit me ( don't you love it when that happens?! Since this past week's Hero Arts Blog has been about MINIS, how about reusing this tiny eye-shadow box as a mini gift box and showcasing a mini stamp in its window?!
How about showing you every step of the way before I post it at Hero Arts? It's really easy you'll see, just follow the pictures...

J'adore quand une idee me vient comme ca, d'un coup! Cette fois, c'etait en sortant mon ombre a paupiere de sa boite! Hero Arts avait dedie la semaine aux MINIS et donc en voyant cette petite boite toute mim avec une fenetre, je me suis dit que ca ferait une petite boite toute mimi avec un petit tampon a la fenetre.
Pourquoi ne pas vous montrer chaque etape de cette aventure toute riquiquie?!:

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Are you still there?! THANK YOU , have a wonderful Sunday and be sure to come back tomorrow. I will announce the winner(s) of the 100th post give-away then!
Merci de m'avoir suivie jusqu'ici! Revenez demain, j'annoncerai la ou les gagnantes de la 100eme!