They Got the Job Done!

I promise this will be the last word on the Olympics, but DID YOU SEE IT? 

They got the job done for us and are coming home with an Olympic Silver Medal, just 1.23 seconds behind Germany who take home the Gold.  We were watching it in our house texting to family who were also watching it in England...awesome technology.

As happy as we are with the winning of the silver medal, we musn't forget that every one of the athletes at the games are Olympians.  They are the best of the best in their sport from their country and to be at the Olympics is a mighty long rut filled road. They are supported by many people to attain their goals and even if they don't go home as decorated Olympians, they are Olympians nevertheless. 

Hats off to my nephew Brian's support team.  His wife who has kept the home fires burning, caring for their two children, running a business and home in Brian's many absences.  Allowing him the opportunity to compete in not one, but two Olympics since their marriage.   And to his immediate family who have supported him for the long haul as he has competed in three Olympics and a wide range of World Rowing events in many different countries.  He could never have been on the podium without all of you.

Thank you also to all the awesome people who emailed their good wishes to the store prior to the race.  You too are part of the Canadian athletes support team.   

Now down to business for us too.  Don't forget to take advantage of the special that starts tomorrow and goes until Monday.  Scroll down to the end of the last post to see it.

I promised that I would show you some of the crafts that Linda and her girls have been busy at this summer.  The girls made some lovely stitched bracelets for themselves and when you are nine almost ten this was a lot of work and a lot of stitching, but you have to agree, that it was well worth the effort. 

Rachels is the green and Emilys the purple.

Linda also made one in browns.

It didn't seem to matter what colour beads you chose they are all very lovely and summery. 

Does it make you want to crack open your beads and try one of these delightful bracelets.  Linda will be happy to share the "how to" with you if you ask her below in the comment box.

Here also is a look at the scrapbook pages I told you I was working on.  Layouts can often take me some time to complete as I'm so indecisive.  I'm always in awe of those who attend our crop weekends and are able to turn out many stunning layouts over the weekend.  My hat is off to them, I'm just not made that way, even when I know how to get it done, my indecision gets in the way.  That said I was pleased with the speed and yet pleasure I drew from this layout.

I was able to use 12 photos in this layout, albeit some of them small in the film strip, but still able to draw memories from.  We wanted a shot of us all on the huge chair at the Collingwood village.  Yes we could have asked a passerby to take the shot, but it was so much more fun creating the shot ourselves. From helping each other up into the chair, to setting the camera on the barrel while Jonathan ran to get into place.  A happy, happy time.

Here are a few close ups and explanations of the techniques I applied. 

For the title I used Basic Grey chipboard letters.  The main word I left white, but for the "is" and dots I coloured them black with my Permapaque pen.  the balance of the title "family" I added that onto the photo before I had it printed.   The arrow and border I cut strips from my paper and mitred the corners to direct the eye around the page.

 

For the flower trim I designed a cut file on my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine.  I took the flower from one cut file and the scallop border from another and merged them together into a new cut file which I saved.  This was a ten minute process that made me happy.  I then applied Glossy Accents into the petals to give them a more epoxy kind of look.  The final touch was the rhinestone bling that I coloured red with my Identipen Marker to tie the colour into the layout.

The filmstrip border was another cut file I designed on my Cameo.  I could probably have purchased one from the Silhouette store, but I got more pleasure from creating it myself. From a simple rectangle, I cut away portions to give the appearance of a film strip, duplicating and merging the file. A little more time consuming, but still within a half hour I now have a cut file to use again.

You can also see in the shot how I wrote a sub-title below the film strip.  I have another subtitle at the opposite corner.  I really don't like my handwriting, though I do try to put it on some pages.  For this though, I typed and printed the words I wanted onto computer paper.  Took a pencil and scribbled over the reverse side to create a graphite transfer.  Placed the paper onto my scrapbook page and went over the words with a stylus which caused the graphite to transfer onto my cardstock. I then took my Micron pen and went over the light words creating the sub-title.  Easy peasy and nice look too.  The font I used was called Sweetly Broken, a lovely free font I picked up from the Internet.

If you look carefully at the photo of Jonathan running to get into the shot, you will see how before I had the photo printed, I placed a white circle around the camera on the barrel and also added into the photo a close up of his face as he ran,  drawing attention to these points.

My final technique, actually it was the first thing I did before anything else.  I started with plain kraft coloured cardstock as the background of the page.  I didn't want it so plain and boring, so I took thinned black paint and an old toothbrush and spattered paint here and there over the cardstock creating an interesting textured background.

So there it is for another day.  Hope Linda, her girls and I have been able to inspire you to try to create something new to you.  If you have any questions, please use the comment box below to ask us and we'll help you out with anything you're unsure of.

All you have to do is go to the comment box...ask the question or make a comment...there's a box below that says "comment as".  Just click on the arrow beside and a dropdown box will offer you choices.  If you don't have blogger or any of the choices, then click on "Anonymous" as your method of publishing.  Don't forget though to put your name at the end of your comment so that we know who you are.  We'd love to hear from you.

Until later...Happy Crafting

Lilian