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Friday, September 30, 2011

Sketch #17-11

Hi Everyone!

I have an extra special treat for you today as we end the month of September and close out the current S:CY Design Team's term. Can you believe how quickly April to September has passed? Yikes! But, wow... here we are!

S:CY Senior Designer Ann Seleshanko has created one of her amazing layout sketches to highlight the end of September.

Ann's Sketch has both horizontal and assymetrical elements... plus some well placed circular embellishment areas for us to "play with!" Let's see it, shall we?

Sketch #17-11 created by
S:CY  Senior Designer Ann Seleshanko
We have eight Design Team Member creations based on Ann's sketch to share with you today. They are each unique and special... Enjoy them!

 "Missing your hugs" layout created by
S:CY Design Team Member Mandy Harrell

 "Wait for me!" layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Tammy Pyette 
[Credits: BG 4 and 6 from RPENN_expressyourself, vine is mcato-monkeyingaround-vine and Element_FancyFrame was used to frame picture as well as a layer mask to make the border on the bg layer.]
"2011" layout created by
S:CY Design Team Member Maggi Harding 

"New reader" layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Heather BridgesTopich

"Going Home" layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Cheryl Casas 
Journaling reads: It is such a great feeling to be on the corner streets of my house. That means I am close to being home.
[Credits: Cheryl used the September kit from www.scrapsofdarkness.com]

"Summer Fun!" layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Heather Getson

 "Why Scrapbook? Moments like These" by
 S:CY Senior Design Team Member Ann Seleshanko

"Des Jeans Bleus" layout created by
 S:CY Team Leader Ali MacDonald
 Journaling reads: Bryan started school in the year 2000 and he learned the "Jeans Bleus" song with Mme. J. O'T. He called her "Dam O'Toodle" **Grin** Here is some artwork he created that year. It was a self-portrait, and in it, he is wearing his "Blue Jeans" and telling about some of the things he liked at the time:  his teacher, the French book characters "Dina" and "Dinomir," and school. So cute! WTG, Bryan!
Warm Appreciation:

I want to take some time now to say a special thanks to our current Team, who are completing their S:CY Design Team Term (April-Sept 2011).

Each of your has done a special job of interpreting Sketches here at S:CY, and sharing a little of yourselves & your lives as you do so. Thank You so much~  Ann and I wish each of your much success in your future scrappin' endeavours!

I have linked each of the out-going Design Team's names to the S:CY Spotlight Feature individually written and published here on the Blog during their term.

Warm Thanks to the outgoing S:CY Design Team:

Amy Manis
Cheryl Casas
Heather Bridges Topich
Heather Getson
Helen Hollinger
Jackie Plank
Lindy Rabenstine
Maggi Harding 
Mandy Harrell
Michelle Sheehan
Patchi (Patricia) Moussatche
Renee Hagler
Sylvia Galindo
Sylvia Tomala
Tammy Pyette

And... a HUGE "Thank You" hug to my right-hand girl, Ann Seleshanko, who will continue to fulfill the role of  S:CY Senior Designer here on the Blog.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

The next time we see you, it'll be Oct 1st and we will be announcing and introducing our October Guest Designer! You will be as excited as we are when you see who it is!

The beginning of October will continue to be fantastic... on October 3rd, we will be introducing a smaller, yet still very multi-talented new S:CY Design Team!

See you soon again, here at S:CY! Are you a "Follower" yet? Make sure you are!

~

Friday, September 23, 2011

Card Sketch #7

Hello Everyone! It's that magical day here at S:CY: FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!

That means we have a little something new to share with you all! Today, it's a card Sketch! In addition, we have a set of Design Team interpretations... and as you will see, this week, the sketch inspired more than cards!

 Onward..... to the Sketch!


Sketch #7 by
S:CY Team Leader Ali MacDonald
 As I kinda "hinted," the Team has some really NEAT interpretations of Card Sketch #7 to share with you this week.

"Adore" Card created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Lindy Rabenstine

"Hallowe'en Card" created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Amy Manis
"It's been forever"  card created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Renee Hagler
Tammy had fun with the Card Sketch and used it as inspiration to create a layout of her kids using photos from this summer!

"Summer Happy" layout created by
S:CY Design Team Member Tammy Pyette
[Credits: The titles of the elements I used were "bg__flowery slurp" (the floral part of the background) and "Title__be happy" (happy botton on bottom), unfortunately I did not label them with a website so I'm not certain where I found them on the Web.]

"There's Magic..." card created by
 S:CY Senior Design Team Member Ann Seleshanko
"Merci" card created by
 S:CY Team Leader Ali MacDonald
It's a thrill to see cards representing a variety of seasons, themes and styles in the DT submissions... Plus, to have a layout inspired by Card Sketch #7 is a little "extra" treat! Great job everyone!

Please try the Sketch on the next card or layout you create and leave us a link to it in the "Comments" section here on the S: CY Blog (see below) so that we can all go visit! Our Team love to see YOUR interpretation and would be sure to leave you a note! 

Special thanks to each member of the the S:CY Team  who provided us with their creations for today's Sketch. It's always so much fun collecting and sharing them all with our Blog readers. I think I have the most enjoyable job of anyone on the Team! LOL

Have a wonderful weekend and week ahead. Ooooh, BTW....psssst....Next week, as we approach the very end of September, Ann has a  great layout Sketch to share with us. Don't miss it!  

~

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Designer Spotlight: Tammy Pyette

Today we are putting S:CY Designer Tammy Pyette in the spotlight here at S:CY as we get to know a little more about another of our Team Members.

S:CY Design Team Member Tammy Pyette
(with adorable baby Rilla)
Tammy is someone I know IRL, so  this is an easy one to "put to paper," so to speak!

In her current career, Tammy is wife to a guy in the Royal Canadian Air Force and "Mama" to 4 kiddos (really cute...). She's also a photographer. She does a lot of my younger 2 kids' photos... and with her quiet way, has a special gift in getting great shots of my littlest guy,  who has special needs.

Along the topic of photography, I asked Tammy what she'd choose if someone told her that she could ONLY scrap photos of scenery-- what would draw her in and become her favourite? She replied "Mountains. You can find a little bit of everything in the mountains. Trees, rock, glaciers, snowy caps, wildflowers, water falls, rivers, rapid runs, calm mornings, brilliant sunsets....it's all in there."  Tammy shoots with a Canon Rebel as well as "a couple different Nikons. Depends for what and where."

Like many Moms, Tammy's favourite subjects to scrap  are her four kidlets! "They do and say the darnedest things!" says Tammy. 

"Snowshoe: Valley View Provincial Park"
created by Tammy Pyette
[Credits: I made the background, ribbons, etc. using Photoshop brushes.]
Tammy is a digital scrapbooker. Always on time with every S:CY assignment, she's also creative in many other areas. As she tells it "I would like to build each of my pages completely from my own stuff….unfortunately time doesn’t always allow for that so I have a collection of digital papers to draw on and I almost always search for premade brushes before I take the time to create my own. With a toddler, a preschooler, and 2 kids homeschooling (one of whom has special needs) I have to do all I can to save time. When it comes to wants (rather than needs) fast and free usually wins out."



"Zac with his 'Miss Riss'- New Best Friends" layout created by
S:CY Design Team Member Tammy Pyette
using S:CY Sketch 01-11 below
[Credits: papers and embellishments from packages found at Shabby Princess except for the paw prints which were created using Photoshop brushes. Some of the papers and embellishments are as you see them on the Shabby Princess site, others have been altered.]

Sketch 01-11 created by
  S:CY Team Leader Ali MacDonald
Tammy's favourite way to build a page is to "use a location shot for the background, add the favourite pictures from there to the page, and any elements (flowers, etc) from location pictures."

For “go-to” stock resources, Tammy  gives us the addies of several sites that she likes:
Paper - http://www.shabbyprincess.com/

A bit of everything - http://www.deviantart.com/

Brushes - http://www.brushlovers.com/, http://www.brusheezy.com/
 http://myphotoshopbrushes.com/brushes

Fonts - http://www.1001freefonts.com/ http://www.dafont.com/

Quotes - http://thinkexist.com
http://www.quotegarden.com
http://www.quotegarden.com

Tammy quips that although she has given us three sources for quotes, most of the quotes she uses lately come from her kids!

Like many scrapbookers, Tammy has other intereswts anbd skills. One of her hobbies is sewing. I have seen her work- she's awesome at it! She's been teaching her eldest daughter, Brielle, how to sew, too. Brielle made her own Christmas dress one year. 

Tammy also does counted cross stitch. I'll let her tell you about that in her own words. She explains it best! "Although I have decided to go completely digital with my scrapbooks, I do like more traditional crafts. I like to satisfy my need for hands-on crafts with things that I can't do on my computer, such as cross stitch. I'm never satisfied with the published patterns and almost always alter them to be more personal.

Cross stitch on right side of screen created by
 Tammy Pyette
 "In this (above) cross stitch I changed the little girls teddy from brown to white, because my daughter's special bear is white. I also took the old fashioned hat and suspenders off the boy, lightened his hair colour, and personalized his toys. He is carrying a fishing pole with Nemo on the end of it. My oldest son loves fishing and always use to tell me he wanted to 'catch a giant Nemo fish!' I also took the hankie out of the pocket and put in a train engine named Skarloie (one of his fav. characters from Thomas the Train). I'm still not quite satisfied with the boys hair, I may still go back and add a bit more red, but for the time being it is done. (I haven't stretched and framed it yet so you can see the fabric creases in the photo, but I won't be doing that for a while.)" 

Tammy organizes her layouts chronologically... "by date. By the month for sure, then by day unless they don’t flow well that way. For example, I'll move things around within the month to arrange for certain pages to face each other."

In terms of storing her digital layouts, Tammy told me that she has them printed into books! What a great system. "I’ve printed most my albums at http://www.photobookcanada.com/ but I think I actually prefer http://www.heritagephotobooks.ca/ .
The glossy covers are much nicer. I’ve got a couple new printing places I’m looking into. I’ll probably try a new one next year."

Tammy doesn't make mini-albums, but she has a very interesting "TAKE" on the concept that makes a creative gift idea. "I make 'year in review' calendars for grandparents, great-grandma, and one of my Aunts. I don’t tend to mail them any photos throughout the year, since they like printed rather than computer screen images, so they get a year's worth every Christmas."

Tammy has some wonderful thoughts on the concept of being "caught up" with scrapbooking her photos. "I am as caught up as I want to be, :o)" she says. "The first couple weeks of each month I work on doing pages for the previous month, so by mid-January my album for the previous year is ready to print!" 


"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun"
layout created by Tammy Pyette
[Credits: All the papers, elements, and masks were from different areas on the freebies list at http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com.]  
The layout above has a special story. The photo was taken just this summer (2011) while at her sister's wedding. Tammy explains that Brielle and Xander were "picking flowers in the Devonian gardens! ...ooops. Throwing them into the stream! ...ooops. But the kids sure had fun! And it kept them happy while the photographer took pictures. (I think it's my favourite photo from the whole wedding!)" Tammy also asked for help from the Team and our readers re: this LO. She says "I'm not thrilled with the quote I've got on there so if anyone has any other suggestions which fit that moment I would love to hear them." (You can post any suggestions in the Comments section right here on the S:CY Blog.)

As mentioned, Tammy has 4 kids. She plans separate albums for each. As she explains..."I plan to make a separate, more individually personalized album for each child, but I’ll do that when they’re in their teens and I’m sitting around waiting for them to come home in the evenings. For now I just want a yearly account for me, complete with cute sayings and precious moments, right now, when they're fresh in my mind."

 
"Pretty Lilla Rilla- 6 months" created by
 Tammy Pyette
[Credits: Everything is from www.shabbyprincess.com vintage florals collection.]
There is a LOT to be said for making sure those precious memories are captured quickly, because as cliche though it sounds, those kids do grow WAY too fast!

Tammy, thanks for sharing your creativity with us here at S:CY for this feature today. An extra big Thank You for allowing us a brief window into the world of a digital scrapbooker, crafter, military wife, and Mom. Keep up the great scrapbooking work we've been witness to this Term!! ~

Friday, September 16, 2011

Sketch 16-11

Hello everyone, welcome to another Friday at S:CY.  :o)  I am so happy you popped by!

The fact that it's Friday means that we have a new Sketch to share with you all!

This Sketch can be adapted easily for cards or layouts, as you will see in the DT interpretations. Additionally, it is  a multi-photo sketch, one that can help you to scrap the piles of pics (or virtual piles of digi pics) that are no doubt building for many of us--because we ALL love to take photos, right?! 

Let's get to it and see what the S:CY DT came up with.

Sketch 16-11 created by
 S:CY Team Leader Ali MacDonald

"I love Christmas" card created by
 S:CY Design Team Member
 Amy Manis

"Beach Day 2011"  triple-page layout (A, B & C) by
 S:CY Design Team Member
 Heather BridgesTopich


"Grammy's Paint Box" layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member
Patchi Moussatche

"Ella Grace" layout created by
S:CY Design Team Member
 Michelle Sheehan

"Lake Izac Tavern" 2-pg layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Lindy Rabenstine 

"Steam Age" layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Maggi Harding

"What an Artist" layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Heather Getson

"Japan" layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Tammy Pyette
"Beach Baby" layout created by
 S:CY Design Team Member Tammy Pyette

"Christmas Morning" layout created by
 S:CY Senior Designer Ann Seleshanko

"Christmas Decor" layout created by
 S:CY Team Leader Ali MacDonald

WOW, just look at what we have this week: Bright LOs & subtly-toned LOs... a "steampunk-styled" vintage LO, a "triple pager," a yummy card, "digi" LOs, two "double-pagers," Christmas LOs, a baby LO, a "crossing-cultures" LO,  traditional paper LOs... oh, the list could go on! So many categories and ways to express art! 

Once again, a BIG thanks to the entire Sketches: Creatively Yours Design Team for their excellent creations. I love what you did with the Sketch!

Have a great week everyone! You deserve it. Be sure to take some special time just for you. Hmmm....I think I will take a trip to the library for some "new" books. You?

~

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Designer Spotlight: Sylvia Galindo!

Today we're shining a spotlight on S:CY Design Team Member Sylvia Galindo, who hails from Copperas Cove, Texas, near Ft. Hood.  Sylvia enjoys where she lives, saying she's been there awhile and likes "the small town atmosphere."

This gal is one busy professional! As she tells it... "I work in Radiology. I work in 2 hospitals. I do CT scans Monday thru Friday. I also work in another Hospital about an hour away every other weekend. I do CT scans and x-rays there. I am also studying for my Quality Management registry."

S:CY Design Team Member
 Sylvia Galindo 
 As the hard-working Mom to a daughter who loves to dance, Sylvia  has a ready-made source of scrappy inspiration literally right at her fingertips. As she tells it: 'My daughter is my favorite subject to scrap. She really is the apple of my eye. She dances so beautifully so that I will always have another beautiful dress or pose to scrap."

In fact, one of Sylvia's Dance layouts featuring her daughter Irene was part of her application to the S:CY Design Team in March 2011. She joined us here in April.

"Beautiful Dancer" layout created by
then-S:CY DT Applicant
Sylvia Galindo
Sylvia  says she's not sure if she has a certain 'scrappin' style.' She told me that she feels that her pages reflect more of the subject in the layout. She also mused..."I do a lot of inking though. Maybe I have a shabby style?"

Sylvia calls herself a nighttime scrapper. "I am definitely a night-owl. The ideas and inspiration really seem to flow at that time. I can't scrap in the A.M. at all although sometimes I will just sit there and stare at my scrappy supplies or think about a picture that I may want to scrap later."

Sylvia loves to scrap but she also loves to read and watch favourite TY shows.
She told me that "When the mood strikes I have been known to crochet a blanket or two, and when Irene's dance season starts I'm taking her to dance conventions and competitions and making dance goodies for the team."

Like most of us,Sylvia is a gal with definite preferences. I asked her about some of these... and here are her answers!

Fave COLOUR of all time: "I like a dusty subdued pink the best."

"Irene" layout created by
 Sylvia Galindo
Fave EMBELLISHMENT Company: "Prima flowers are on a lot of my layouts."

"Fall Fun: Count your Blessings" layout created by
 Sylvia Galindo 
Fave CARDSTOCK company:  "I like the weight and texture of Bazzil's cardstock the most."

Current camera:"I have a Canon rebel DSR. I want to get a small point and shoot, though, that I can easily carry with me so I won't miss any photo ops".

There's no way of getting around it... like MANY of our S:CY Designers, Sylvia and her daughter Irene are animal lovers.  As Sylvia tells it... "We have 3 dogs and a bunny. A husky/shepherd mix name Boo. She is 9 1/2 years old. She is very vain and dainty and always likes to put her best foot forward. A rottweiler named Joker. He is also 9 years old. He loves loving. If you give him a little snuggle he starts prancing around like a puppy. A German Shepherd named Rocky. He's the baby at 7 months old. Believe it or not he actually tries to eat rocks. I am also trying to teach him German! Our bunny is a girl named Daisy. She's so soft and cute and we love it when she gives us little kisses."

"Lady" layout created by
Sylvia Galindo 
 Calling herself "the ultimate procrastinator," Sylvia loves deadlines because they help her get to work. "A close deadline really gets me into gear and I get busy." If a scrappin' ' rut decides to make an appearance in her creative life, Sylvia generally walks away from what is blocking her and "I move on to another project." She says that new pictures and paper help to inspire her.


"All Smiles" layout created by
 Sylvia Galindo
The amount of time Sylvia spends on a layout varies. "It depends on the layout. I've done 2 layouts in a single night and have had layouts take a week. I will stop in the middle of a layout and come back to it several times also if I'm not 'feeling' it" says this busy scrapper.

Sylvia absolutely loves to make mini albums and has a great storage tip to go along with them. She explains, "I love to have them themed ie. about a certain event or day. I love how I can open them and actually feel the paper and embellishments rather than inside a plastic sleeve. I like to make them super chunky and not necessarily contained by having embellishments coming off the page. I store them in the vintage looking empty hat boxes and cases I can get from Micheals." (Love your storage idea Sylvia!!! It's perfect!)

In terms of organization, Sylvia explained how she keeps order in her albums. First of all, like 'Yours Truly,' she likes a certain type of album. "I really love the We R Memories Keepers 3-ring binders. My layouts are really, really chunky and these are perfect. I can easily add and remove pages depending on how quickly I fill up the album. I won't lie, my post-bound albums looked ridiculous the way I had them stuffed full!"

Sylvia organizes her layouts by theme. "If I have a theme that encompasses more than one year then I go by year in the theme." Because of Irene's chosen activity is dance, Sylvia says "My daughter has a dance album for each season that she's been dancing. If I need more than one album for a season then I match the album color. If I have a variety of layouts that don't have a theme then I try to match the time frames the pictures are from."

I asked Sylvia how a person can pass on, or let go of, things she thinks she will no longer use. She replied "I'm not sure how a person can "let go" of scraps or stuff she knows she won't use. I'm still trying to figure that one out for myself! I always think if I get rid of something then I'll have a layout that will be missing that one thing to make it perfect. So yes, I have stacks of 'a little somethings' all over my scrap space."

Sylvia is very fortunate, because her daughter likes to scrapbook! "My daughter will scrapbook and make altered projects when the mood strikes her. She blows me away with the amazing things she comes up with. She's a true artist." Her daughter also understands her need to scrapbook! Says Sylvia, "Everyone else just looks at me like I'm crazy when I tell them it's my scrapbook time."
"True Beauty lies within" layout created by
S:CY Design Team Member Sylvia Galindo
using Sketch 06-11

Sketch 06-11 created by
  S:CY Team Leader Ali MacDonald
Sylvia is continuing to pursue her hobby and is fine with the probability that she will never be 'caught up.' As she says "I don't think anyone can ever be. Unless they stop taking photos. I don't mind never being caught up though. I have plenty of paper I am itching to use!"

Sylvia, I think we ought to form a club for scrappers with lotsa paper they're itchin'  to use up!  *wink* Thanks for allowing the S:CY Spotlight to shine on you today, and for showing us some more of your work... it's always so nice to learn a more about the members of our Design Team! 

~