Lots to share

It's going to be a lengthy post today, so grab yourself a cup of coffee and if you make it all the way down, you'll see a little RAK that just might be coming your way ...


Song Bird Scraps May Challenge
Friends Forever

First things first, the new lyrics for the first May Challenge over at Song Bird Scraps are up, and I'm sure you'll find they provide plenty of inspiration. Do try and join us in the fun this month, there's some pp to be won that I'm sure will be a much needed (LOL) addition to your stash...

These are the lyrics:

Joshua Radin - Friend Like You

When I had no one to call

All the world had shut me down

I showed up at your door so blue

I thank God I had a friend like you

Many times I’ve gone without

A home, a meal, a pair of shoes

If you had 3 you’d give me 2

Their ain’t no other friend like you

Angus & Julia Stone - Bella

There goes the gal in the pretty skirt

With the Golden smile that made you feel new

Like when the marching band strolls the street

You know another years come too soon

So you took her hand and she gave a look that sent you to the moon

And there you spoke the words of a gentleman

Can I have this dance with you?

Can I share this dance with you?

I used the first set of lyrics for my DT example.

This is me on the right (having an extremely bad hairday) and my best friend. We only met about one and a half year ago. I had never thought to find my very best friend at the age of 35...

Not only was I inspired by the lyrics, I also added some extra stuff for the NSD challenges over at Studio Calico. One challenge was to use fabric as a background, which I had never done before, but I love the look of it so much I'm definitely going to be trying that again! (Didn't win btw). The other challenge was to use cute little animals from a pp in the LO. I used the little birds at the bottom of the page (Basic Grey/Offbeat/Carefree paper) and the little bird flying near the sun (Sassafras paper). Now I so love challenges like that, because I have to admit, I never would have thought of adding these to a page by myself, I definitely need something like that to get my creative juices flowing, I just don't have the fantasy/creativity to come up with ideas like that myself. The results of that challenge haven't been posted yet, but I doubt wether my little birds will have done the trick ... still, I love this addition to the page, so I've won already LOL.


Fun

The next LO I want to show you is a bit different. Actually, I didn't like it at all at first, but I didn't hate it enough to start all over again. However, after I kept it in sight for a few days, I grew used to it and now I'm starting to kinda like it.

There's something not right with the colours, I know, I tried to fix it but couldn't.
Anyway, I based this LO on the April sketch over at Prima's Build A Page. I submitted it for the challenge too, but it never even made it to the gallery LOL. I did ask up front if it was okay to submit a LO which didn't have Prima Products included, and it was, but I guess they figured this to be a bit too ... can't find the right word here, ugly maybe LOL.

I had never worked with a sketch before, and I found it quite difficult, don't know if I'll ever be trying that again. I like to do my own thing, and I find it harder when I have a preset image in my mind, because it never ends up the way I had envisioned it, which can be quite disappointing.

The sketch however was perfect for these pics I made in a theme park on my son's birthday, so it had to be a boy's page, because this is going in my son's album. I do love the stitching I did, I think the design was perfect here. So I don't hate all of it LOL.

The journaling reads:
When we told Yannis he could either give a party or visit Bobbejaanland for his 9th birthday, the choice was easily made. The Typhoon was the absolute favorite attraction of both Yannis and Chloë. Christina didn't want to go in at first, but by the end of the day she decided to give it a try. This to my regret, because it meant I had to go too to accompany her ... their idea of fun, not mine!


Dreamgirls Challenge / Artastic Challenge
There is no me without you

On the next LO. This is the LO I made in the middle of the night (remember my previous post ...).


The pic is crooked, the LO itself is not!
I was inspired by quite a few challenges for this one. I made this for the NSD All Day Challenge over at scrapbook.com. The assignment was to make a LO about ME, not my favorite topic! I cheated a bit though, because though it's about me, it's about my love for my kids, so it's still about them too LOL. I got the idea for this LO when I saw the challenge over at Dreamgirls, which was to create a LO about a mother/child relationship. Over at the Artastic Challenge Blog, there is a challenge going on this month wich is inspired by a beautiful painting by Salvador Dali (Landscape with butterflies). As it happens, the colours of that painting matched my pic beautifully, so I used those colours for my LO and that's how I got the idea for the butterflies.

Just a little note: this was the first time I used ink (Tim Holtz distress inks) on my chipboard alphas, and I just have to say, the result of that IRL is stunning!!!! Probably not a new thing to any of you, but to me it was a revelation LOL! The butterflies are Tim Holtz grungeboard (Nature) which I inked with distress inks as well.

The journaling reads:
What I feel for my kids is so much more than mere love, it's a kind of love that's hard to describe. It's a kind of everlasting being in love, a constant feeling of butterflies in my stomach. I would be lost without my children, they are the reason of my existence.

RAK

Well, only just the little matter of my RAK left.
My sweet friend Jane Smith started this little RAK-game, which has but one rule: if you win this RAK, you are to go through your stash and put together a little RAK of your own. This might be items which have been used already, they don't have to be new or complete! The idea is not to spend money here, it's to share stuff you'll probably won't use yourself anymore.

If you win, on receiving your RAK you will need to post a photo of your give-away, and link back to the previous RAK-giver. Here's the link to Jane's post.

My RAK:

I encluded some chipboard alphas, foam stickers, ribbon, felt dragonflies, tags (file folder style) and some playing cards. Like I said, it's not much, but it just might make someone happy.
Depending on the shipping costs, I might also include this stamping set:


This set is still in the packaging, as I have it double. If you want to see what the stamps look like, I used these alphas for my title in my "there is no me without you" LO.

What I would like you to do in order to receive this RAK is of course leave me a comment concerning this blog post, and to give me some advice, either about my scrapping or about my blog. For example, what do you like/dislike about my work, do you have a favorite LO/technique you'd like to see more of, do you have any suggestions to improve my blog, etc... Don't be shy, I love compliments but now and again I feel it's necessary to receive some constructive criticism as well!! I'm curious for your comments ... You have until Sunday 10th, I'll be posting the winner on Monday.

Like I said, I do love comments, so spread the word of my little RAK. I do hope you'll join this fun game! Oh, forgot to say, this is open for all countries!

Wow, I made it, and hopefully, so did you! Thanks for reading all the way through till the end!
Love xxx Peggy