Friday, May 29, 2009

"The Next Step" LO and some awards!

Hi my blogging friends!

Let me start by showing you my entry for the May challenge over at The Next Step, "I love you as far as the moon ... and back".



Ever since the fabulous Lucy announced that she would be starting a challenge/tutorial blog - The Next Step - I decided for myself that I would try to enter every single one of their challenges. I was a bit disappointed that their very first challenge had to do with stamping: painting using stamps as a guide. Those who know me or have been following my blog know that I have a fear of stamping, and as a result I don't own all that many stamps, and I don't own any that could be used for the challenge. However, I asked if I could draw something in stead of using a stamped image, and that was fine too, so the only problem left was figuring out what to draw.

I didn't have to think long though. I've been wanting to scrap about my bedtime ritual with my youngest daughter for so long now, and this was the perfect opportunity. I used to read her a story "Guess how much I love you" by Sam McBratney. It's a lovely story about a papa rabbit and his son Hazel. Hazel keeps telling his daddy how much he loves him, for example "I love you as far as I can reach", but of course his daddy can reach higher, and that's how it goes the whole story long. Finally, Hazel thinks he has found something his daddy can't beat, and he tells him as he falls asleep: "I love you as far as the moon". His daddy softly says "That is far, that is really far". But then he cuddles next to his sleeping boy and says "I love you as far as the moon ... AND BACK". Isn't that the most wonderful story ... I hope the translation didn't diminish the loveliness of this story. Anyway, every night we have a ritual that goes like this:
Me: "I love you"
Christina: "I love you too"
Me: "as far as the moon..."
Christina: "and back"
She absolutely refuses to go to sleep without having done this, and to tell you the truth, I don't mind one bit!!!

The images that go with this story are absolutely adorable, and I copied the one where Hazel is asleep in his fathers arms who is looking to the moon. I took pics of the different steps of my LO. I used aquarelle paints.




In this last photo, you can see the original image I copied my drawing from.
I really like this LO, thank you so much to the ladies of The Next Step, I would never have started on anything like this without your challenge! And what's more important, Christina loves the LO as well, I think this one is going on the wall in her room, so she can look at it before she goes to sleep.




Okay, what else...

I received the following awards from my sweet friend Jocelyn:

The rules of the Lemonade Stand award:
Comment on this blog. Cut and paste the award logo and use it in your own blog. Nominate 5 to 10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude. Link to your nominees within your blog post. Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award. Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

And here's a little about the Friends award:
These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to five bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Thank you so much Jocelyn, I appreciate them both, especially the second one, as I'd like to think I've made some real friends here. I'd like to pass on these awards to:

Maryangella - for being the lovely person she is. I've only known her for a short time, but she touched my heart already, she's just that kind of lady.

Mandy - she is one of the first who made this beginning blogger feel right at home with her ever encouraging and enthousiastic words. She never fails to leave a comment, though it's a mistery to me how she finds the time to do so, given the amount of wonderful artsy creations that arrive on her blog on a daily basis!!!

Cathy - for encouraging me to tell more personal stuff on my blog. I haven't done much of that in the past, but I intend to in the future, and Cathy's blog is my inspiration. She shares so much of her life with us, and I so enjoy reading her stories ... she's one sweet lady who always finds the time to leave an equally sweet comment!!!

Lucy - for unselfishly sharing all of her techniques with us and always offering support and further explanations when asked. I so appreciate that, there is so much to learn and it's not always easy doing it alone, thanks Lucy!!

Julie - this incredibly talented woman caught my eye from the very beginning, and totally won me ever with her sweet personality. The fact that she wrote me a message once starting "Hey gorgeous..." didn't hurt either LOL.

Lisa - what can I say about Lisa ... we all know Lisa don't we?!!!! And if you don't, head on over to her blog, you don't want to NOT know Lisa, I tell ya!!! Love you Lisa!!!!!!!!

April - last but not least, April, my sweet and very first online scrapping friend, I love you dearly, you deserve every award possible in my eyes!

Jocelyn, if you hadn't sent these awards to me, you know you would have been on my list too!!
I have been seeing these awards regularly, so if you had already received them, I'm sorry, I didn't check beforehand...

That's it for now. I'm still working on my Song Bird Scraps LO, so I don't have any sneak peeks to show you just yet. The LO has been lying here on my desk, waiting for inspiration to hit me ... sometimes I think it would be nice to finish a LO in an hour or so ... yeah right LOL!! Keep on dreaming...

Love you all, TFL!
xxx Peggy

16 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for your sweet words, Peggy!! That really made my day! :)

    And your layout!!! WOW!! I am so impressed with your painting and love how you used an image from a favorite book!! What a treasure for your daughter! LOVE IT!!!

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  2. Ok, I am sooooo in love with this layout Peggy. It's absolutely breathtaking! You are so talented my friend and I'm just in awe right now. You've inspired me greatly...

    Also, thank you for the awards you sweetie pie you! Your little description of me made me tear up. :) You were my very first online scrapping friend too and you have a special place in my heart. I'm so lucky to have found such an amazing, thoughtful, encouraging lady like you to be a part of my life and I thank you for that...

    (((Hugs)))
    - April

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  3. OH MY Goodness!!! I love your creation. I mean I LOVE YOUR CREATION!!!!! You did an awesome job!!!!! I know that you would have sent me the award!!!! I just want to take this time to tell you ........you are amazing and I am so glad that we have found one another!!!! Have a great weekend!

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  4. WOWSER Gorgeous this is just stunning I so love it. It is one of Missy A's favortie books too.

    Thanks heaps for the awards and the nice comments.

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  5. Hi, I'm playing on Next Step too and came to see your layout. First of all, I LOVE that book! So do my girls! Second, that is an AMAZING layout! You are such a talented artist! Truly gifted! It's a pleasure "meeting" you!
    - Amanda

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  6. Oh. My. Word. This layout is breath taking! I have been following The Next Step and wanting to try out the challenge, but Peggy, with this one you did what we call "knocked it out of the park"! The fact that I love this book and your precious, precious night time ritual...let's just say you truly touched my heart. And I so wish you lived, ummmm, like a few thousand miles closer. I have a stamp stash like no other. It is just begging to be used and I can't think of another person I would rather share it with. :)

    Thank you so much for thinking of me with these awards. I feel honored and totally grateful! You are one super sweet lady. I've loved you from the day I "met" you. I'll always remember one of the first comments you left for me. It was on my "Assume the Position" post. You know, the one about uh-hmmm relieving myself. At first I thought I had offended you. You wrote "Why on earth would you ever write about something like that". Then I realized you were teasing when you told me to not ever stop. LOL! You have a very special place im my heart girl!!! And I am over-joyed that you took Cathy's advice. I look forward to hearing more and more about your lovely family and I always love your art work. Hope you have a wonderful weekend dear one!

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  7. You are such a sweetheart Peggy! Love you to bits girl! Sooooo, thanks so much for the award
    Your watercolour work is fabulous!! And I'm totally in love with your LO! How super CUTE is that!!!!
    Adorable!
    xx

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  8. OMG... What a masterpiece!! You're awesome Peggy!!

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  9. Wow Peggy! You're an artist! The page is amazing!

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  10. WOW Peggy, dit is zooooo mooi!!! Wat heb je dat super gedaan zeg!! En die titel, zo lief!!
    Ik ben ook helemaal 'verslaafd' aan challenge-blogs, geeft me zoveel inspiratie! Ik ga ook eens even een kijkje nemen op The Next Step..
    Trouwens...heb jij al een kijkje genomen op mijn blog?? Ik heb een leuke GIVE-AWAY!!
    Fijne zondag verder!
    Groetjes, Jenneke

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  11. WOW WOW WOW...love your painting...i tried to do one of those prima paintables with watercolours and it was just a disaster!! I am so jealous! xxjodie

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  12. peggy, if i send you the cards back, will you send me a watercolor painting? girl, you freakin' RAWKED that!!!! i'm just joking about the cards...i love them and i love you!

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  13. wow youre an amazinggg painter! Such a sweet bed time ritual you and your daughter have too! :)

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  14. OMG-what talent you have-the perfect LO!

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  15. Wow. Wow. Wow. That layout is amazingly beautiful. I hope that you submit it to be published because it is really awesome. Thanks for playing along!

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  16. wow peggy, die pagina heb je even gaaf gemaakt!!!! wow over creatief gesproken. hihi

    groetjes
    daisy

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