I am so pleased to announce and congratulate Brooke Gorrell on being chosen as our guest designer for December.  Brooke has been a big fan of the Love is in the Details packaging and goodies departments since they opened last spring.  I asked her if she would like to be our guest designer highlighting some of her favorite products from these departments.  Brooke graciously accepted, chose her products and got busy creating.  I am so excited for you to see all of her amazing creativity and designs.

Quoting Brooke ~~ “The LIITD packaging goodies are perfect for any kind of gift wrapping! I also wanted to show how the products could be used as embellishments on scrapbook pages and cards.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “The white leaves, bakers twine, music note paper, doily, and white tulle are from the packaging line.  I hand threaded the mini heart banner and layered some cardstock, patterned paper, a doily, tulle, and vintage sewing patterns. The light yellow strip of chevron paper behind the photo is a free “patterned paper printable” that I found online then printed out on cardstock.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “A simple Christmas card using a chipboard snowflake from the LYB half pack that Lori has made available.  The Sentiment is “Merry Christmas” in German. (The card is for my boyfriend’s parents, who are German.)”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “I have an unusual love of glassine bags.  I love that LIITD carries 3 sizes! This is the 3 3/4 by 6 1/4 size. The doily, tulle, music paper, satin ribbon, and twine are from the packaging line. And does anyone recognize that flower?? Yup, one of Norine’s gorgeous creations.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “A closeup of the details and layering. Silver paint has been my best scrapbooking friend lately. I love the homespun, imperfect look it gives to edges.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “My sweet cousin Mila’s Christmas gift. I made the cream flower from die cut felt flowers and a vintage button. The doily, tulle, scrunched seam binding, and twine are from LIITD. I love every shade of the seam binding! It’s so rich and makes ANY project look more polished.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “A closeup of the silver edges and the stacked packages. Anyone want to guess what’s in the packages?”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “Pillow boxes are so perfect for little gifts and goodies! I used the Kraft corrugated box and lightly sponged some silver paint over the ridges. The flower was made using various sized scalloped circles that I cut with my Slice machine.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “The detail of the scrunched flower.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ ” Doily, manila tag, olive seam binding, satin ribbon, snowflake and tulle come from LIITD. I love the manila tags because they are so versatile. Perfect as a neutral on any project!”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “This is a “peekaboo” gift because I didn’t really think my dog would be offended by seeing her present before Christmas. Mini puppy cupcakes!”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “Another scrunched text flower. This one measures 4 inches across and was also made with my Slice. This would definitely work with circle punches or other circular shapes! Twine, tulle, and white leaves are from the packaging department.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “Close up of detail/tulle.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “Scrunched seam binding adds that perfect bit of texture to projects. I had just finished wrapping this package and just felt that something was missing, and it was too plain for my taste. I tied a small length of Java seam binding to the twine bow and immediately loved it. :)”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “Tulle, taffeta ribbon, small white doily, music note paper, and white leaf are from LIITD. I think that it’s worth it for me to buy the packaging goodies JUST for the gorgeous vintage sheet music pieces! I love that stuff.”

Quoting Brooke ~~ “Another one of Norine’s creations with a pearl adhered to the middle. I stickled the edges of the circles for added texture.”

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Wow, wow, wow Brooke, your creativity ROCKS!  Everything is so beautiful and the details are just outstanding.  I absolutely love each and every item, your layering techniques are amazing, your scrunched flower is just freakin’ fantastic, the card, the pillow box, absolutely everything ….. everything is just fabulous and gorgeous.  Thank you so much for being our guest designer, you truly are so very talented and an inspiration to all.  I just have to say it one more time ….. Wow, Wow, Wow Brooke!  Your creativity is stunning!

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To continue with December blog posting tradition, I asked Brooke to send us a recipe of one of her most favorite Christmas goodies.

Quoting Brooke ~~ “This is the recipe for my Baba’s Christmas cookies that are famous in our family. She makes a huge batch every year and sends them to us at Christmas time. (with a lot of red and green sprinkles!)”

Baba’s shortbread cookies
1 lb butter
1 ¼ cup icing sugar
3 cups flour
1 cup cornstarch
Beat butter until frothy; slowly adding icing sugar. Sift flour and cornstarch together several times and fold into butter and sugar dough.
ROLL INTO LONG ROLLS and refrigerate for 2 hours. Slice and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 275°F for 15 to 25 mins. Cookies should NOT brown.

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Enjoy your Sunday ….. only one week from today and it’s Christmas!

Posted under Christmas, Guest Designers, Recipes

Woohoo - That’s right Guest Designers are back at LIITD - and I’m excited to introduce you to ….. Tracy Ullman … aka *slicegirl* …

I met Tracy at one of our big crops, and throughout that day, I had the occasional brief chat with Tracy, but near the end of the evening, I had the opportunity to sit and visit with her and see some of her creativity.  Over the last few years, Tracy and I have become friends, good friends.  Tracy is such an amazingly talented, fun, and gracious woman, and I can’t wait for all of you to get to know her better.  I have asked Tracy a few questions …

Tracy, tell us a little about yourself.

A little about me, lets see - the best way to explain it is, I am one of the original “House Wives of East Selkirk.”  I know there are probably others out there, I’m just willing to admit it.  I am married to Robert - for almost 19 years.  Now that sounds long, but it doesn’t feel like it.  We laugh everyday, even when I’m crying.  He was a slippery little fellow at first (I chased him until he caught me) but then he saw the light - maybe literally, he had a snowmobile accident, banged his head and came around to calling me.  So I just make sure every day he doesn’t bang his head again.  LOL
We live out in the country and I love to garden in the summer and entertain on the deck. I think I am spoiled because Robert really lets me do pretty much what I want to do, as long as I take care of him, feed his tummy, he is one happy guy.  (Although as I was preparing for this guest designer challenge, I have to admit, I kind of reneged on my duties, he had to do some laundry, first time in 19 years he has folded his t-shirts.)  Thank you Lori!

How did you first became interested in scrapbooking?

As I was growing up I clipped things out of the newspaper and saved it in a scrapbook.  Funny, I must have followed in my late Dad’s foot steps.  He had newspaper clippings on the basement wall about some of his friends that were in politics, so I come by it honestly I think.  Then in about 1996 the “bug” bit me and I was hooked.  Of course it was all about the stickers and scissors then.  But, I wouldn’t change those albums now for anything, because they show my growth.  I don’t feel embarrassed about the early years, I know some do, but its no different then when I make mistakes on my layout, I always tell myself - “A blind man would be happy to see it.”  So don’t fret it.  (Ha! Can’t believe I just said that)

Where do you find your inspiration?

I find inspiration everywhere.  When I take a class or demo it just makes me want to make a hundred of what ever I learned.  It just fires me up, I love to learn new stuff.  TV commercials - many times are helpful.  Going  back over my previous stuff reminds me - oh yea that was cool, I should do that again.  Of course the LIITD gallery and forum has so many talented people here, I love looking at their work. Our fearless leader Lori, inspires me as well, her excitement and her drive makes me want to “go for it.”

What is your most favorite scrapbooking item?

Now do you mean tool, or product?  My fav tool is probably my little exacto knife - that was one of the first things I ever bought.  Fav product, well hello Tim Holtz!  I have to mention I am an avid stamper too!

What is your most favorite technique?

When I scrapbook I am not happy until I have some type of technique on my pages.  Just using fancy papers, pretty flowers and rubons are not enough, I don’t feel complete until I get something unique on my page.  I try to strive for that, so much so, some of my scrapping friends have called me the technique queen.  Ha thats me, the queen, probably because my pantyhose say so!

What do you consider to be “a perfect day” in the life of Tracy Ullman?

Now my perfect day would be coffee by day and wine by night, lawn chair, favorite scrapbooking magazine, sunset with anyone that is giving off good energy…Now thats a pretty cliché.

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I am so excited to showcase Tracy’s work and her love of scrapbooking.  Tracy chose Bo Bunny’s Timepiece line and I sent her off a package focusing on this line and some other things I thought she would enjoy adding to her designs.  You may also view Tracy’s Guest Designer goodies in her April gallery here and you can see all of Tracy’s work in her albums in the LIITD gallery here.

Have a Wonderful Day ~~ Quoting Tracy ~~ "For this card I used the Bo Bunny Timepiece stamp set, some bling and a strip of the black and white checked wrap that I ripped into a strip."

All because two people fell in Love ~~ Quoting Tracy ~~ "I used crackle paint on the frame around the cutout - "All because two people fell in love." I embellished the card with a flower from the Bo Bunny Timepiece collection and added old fashioned glitter glass to the flower."

Enjoy the Journey ~~ Quoting Tracy ~~ "This card was made from an acetate sheet, so you can see into the inside of the card."

A step back in Time ~~ Quoting Tracy ~~ "I had these awesome black and white photos of my Mom when she was the costume designer at Lower Fort Garry. I was excited to use the Time Piece Line from Bo Bunny to showcase these photos of her. I am making and album for her of her sewing while she was there - I guess a type of portfolio for her - this was fun. I crackled the paper and made an epoxy sticker out of one of the cutouts from the paper line. Love the Glossy Accents."

Portraits of the Past ~~ Quoting Tracy ~~ "Another layout completed for my Moms sewing portfolio. I made 2 flowers out of zippers."

Postcard of my Mom ~~ Quoting Tracy ~~ "This a postcard of my Mom when she worked for Lower Fort Garry, how cool was that - my Mom on a postcard. This is a canvas I altered to highlight this postcard of her. I prepped the canvas with Gesso, before applying the paper to the canvas, used the stamp set in the top corners of the patterned paper. The trinkets added such a nice nostalgic feel."

How to Catch a Wife ~~ Quoting Tracy ~~ "How to catch a wife is my husband fishing at 4:30 in the morning. I used a journaling card to hold my title which also holds my fishing rod with the" bling" bait. Alphabets are from a sheet from the cardstock stickers which are called defining moment. I also have journaling on the back piece of a recycled Bo Bunny package and I tucked it into an inked envelope. I had to recycle something to make my "boss" smile. She will be so proud. LOL"

Yesterday's Memories ~~ Quoting Tracy ~~ "This paper line was so appropriate for this photo that I have had for years. It worked out just the way I wanted it to. I dry brushed Gesso as a frame around the large photo mat. Of course distress inks are my Fav' and I inked both photo mat and journaling mat with distress inks. Journaled with the computer. "

Here is where our story begins ~~ Quoting Tracy ~~ "The Bo Bunny Time Piece collection had so many pretty Trinkets and buttons and the wraps (ribbon) made great embellishments. P.S. that's me and my sweetie!"

Tracy, Wow!  Seriously ….. Wow!  This was an unbelievable display of creativity - you ROCKED these goodies to their fullest.
~~The cards - look at the techniques in your cards!  I love that you take the time to do so many wonderful techniques on your cards.  Outstanding work!
~~The album pages for your Mom - firstly - what amazing pictures - what amazing history - what a cool story!  The pages are gorgeous, every one of the little details is absolutely perfect.  The different textures - just fabulous.
~~The canvas - is there another word for WOW!!!  How cool to have your Mom on a postcard, I agree.  This canvas is stunning, the color combination is perfect ….. details, details ….. wicked awesome!
~~Your layouts are dazzling and divine, full of techniques and beautiful creativity.  You can tell that you really put so much time and thought into each one - a true story with each layout - I love it.

Tracy, thank you so much for taking the time to be a Guest Designer for us.  Everything you create is a true piece of art and I hope you realize what a wonderful knack you have for *putting things together.*  You truly are an inspiration!

Posted under Guest Designers