Reminiscing ~ Gali & Lucy's Story (my scrapping years 2011 - 2013)

Do you ever look at your layouts from years ago and spend time reminiscing like I do?  

From 2011-2013, I was beginning to venture into the world of scrapbooking. 

  

I'm very comfortable, content and happy with my present scrapping style.  

I'm exactly where I need to be, just as I was back in 2011.
I treasure every page I've ever created because they all have special meaning for me.

This post is about my two adorable Birmans, which by the way are officially given a name at birth based on the "Birman alphabet year".  We have Miss Gali (born officially as 'Galadrial' in 2009 which was the 'G' year for Birman names) and her last precious daughter, Lucy (born officially as 'I Love Lucy' in 2011 - the 'I' year for Birman names).  They are exactly two years to the day apart in age - both born on April 14th >^..^<

All Birmans are born pure white. Full maturity of coloring takes around 3 years.

I have selected special pages that I scrapped in 2011-2013.
Starting with their history and photos from the breeder 

when Miss Gali was still in charge of her lively brood of 4 big boys and 1 tiny little girl, Lucy.  

We brought Gali (age 2-1/2) & Lucy (3-1/2 mos) home on Aug 5, 2011.  
I hope you enjoy viewing these pages! 

Here are Galadrial's gorgeous parents (Lucy's Grandparents)!

Her stunning mother, "Edie", is a Seal Lynx Point Birman.

She was the first breeding queen at LesJeunes Birmans (Houston, Texas) where Gali & Lucy are from. 

Miss Gali gets her stunning and such sweet eyes from her mother.

Her handsome father, "Zona", is a Lilac Birman from SinhSoul Birmans in East Texas.

(just some simple punching, inking and layering)

Now for Lucy's phenomenal parents!

Lucy's MaMa, the ever gorgeous "Miss Gali" is a Chocolate Seal Point Birman (as is Lucy too!).

Her quite handsome father "Hey Jude" is a Lilac Birman from BumbleBe Birmans in Victoria, Texas.

Lucy's beautiful markings are of course from her mother and 

I can't help but believe that the mischievous side of her absolutely must be from her father >^..^< 

(continued with punching & layering)

On April 14, 2011, Galadrial had 5 sweet babies consisting of 4 big boys and 1 tiny little girl, our Lucy!  

Here they are at 8.5 weeks old!

I wanted to show you how small Lucy is in comparison to her brothers!

Find the tiniest kitten and you've found Lucy! So CUUUUTE!

(learning to die cut and heat embossing a stamp)

8/6/2011 (Day #2 in their new 'forever home')

I just couldn't believe that the shy Miss Gali exposed herself on day #2!!

Gali was 8 lbs when she came home with us.....but today is a gorgeous, healthy 9.5 lbs!

Remember though, she had a litter of 5 to feed and tend to which takes a lot from a MaMa.

(using ribbon in a different way and lots more flowers & brads)

8/6/2011 Lucy on Day #2 is so very comfortable in her new home!

I'm going to frame this one!  It has always been one of my most favorite layouts (and photos).

Lucy was born with very striking, phenomenally stunning eyes!

(I used Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst color Hydrangea Blue on the Prima flower;
keeping the layout clean & simple, allowing the print on the paper to be the main decoration)

8/13/11 This one just HAD to be shared because it's when I started the new nickname of Lucy The Bad!  

After one week with us, Lucy's hilarious, playfulness emerged.  

Lucy is 'spying' on her MaMa Gali - the flash from the camera makes her look like a little alien!  
Just that tiny head is peeking around the corner!  LOLOLOLOL!!!

Then you can see the sneaky progression Lucy makes until she reaches her MaMa, who doesn't even acknowledge her. Awwwww.  Poor Lucy!  Foiled again!

(using fun flowers, stickers & punching)

10/12/11 - 

Lucy has been so photogenic throughout her entire life! This photo has always grabbed my heart!

(punching a full frame and using ribbon accents)

11/19/11 - It's still very hard to this day to get a really good photo of these two together!

  You can see that Lucy's true colors had quite a ways to go to darken to full maturity.

(I had just bought a gorgeous set of alpha dies & the gorgeous 2-in-1 rose bush punch; 
loved using rub-on butterflies and incorporating metal into the mix).

3/3/12 - Gali looks like a statue!  LOL!

(I stitched on a layout for the first time; learned how to punch my own doily 

and even got 'fancy' with some ripping and curling : )

7/1/12 - A lovely photo of Miss Gali as she lounged on the counter in the scrap area!

(there's those pretty rub-on butterflies again & even a metal one)  : )

8/30/12 - I still say to Lucy "What the World?!" (instead of 'What in the world?')-LOL!

Lucy kept 'doing her bad deed' even though I was right there snapping photos one after the other!

  She is HILARIOUS!  Thank God she no longer mutilates the toilet paper roll!  LOL  

Below this layout, I've provided a photo to show you the outcome of her dastardly deed!

Yes - she tugged & ripped every last piece off the roll - LOL!  She is such an awesome JOY!

(I was enjoying dimensional stickers on this one & a new set of alpha dies)

5/12/13 - Bird watching together. I just adore this photo of my girls! 

(I was learning how to stencil)  :)

Aug. 2013 - One of Lucy's nicknames today is "Brown Toe" - LOL!  

And I actually still tell her and then do it - 

"I'm gunna kiss your brown toe!" 

Kitty toes are ultra soft and cushy >^..^<

(in 2013 I started using more paper collections & learned how to make paper rosettes)

The rest of Gali's & Lucy's layouts are all posted on my blog as I created them.

My life is wonderful because of them & being able to design and create great memories through scrapbooking!

Thanks so much for taking time to view and hopefully read some too : )

Have a great week!  Lisa : )

My Top 10 Favorite Creations for 2016

The idea to post my Top Ten Favorite 2016 creations comes from a very talented, sweet lady Karine Gagnon . What a novel idea to test myself with this!  Since I love everything I create, to some degree, I was a little apprehensive at first, but in the end I was able to pick out ten personal favorites rather quickly.....
however, I'm unable to pick my very most favorite of the year because I have several. : )

In order by creation date here are my 2016 Top 10 faves with links to original detailed posts:

BFF Easel Card - 
I consider this my first easel card. It has very special meaning in my heart because I made it for my very best friend of 41 years - Carmel.  She is my sister at heart, my earthly angel & I love her to the depth of my soul. 

Sniffs of Spring - 

This one brings joyful memories and big smiles watching my little Lucy close her eyes and raise her nose to sniff the air as she sat at the open window on a breezy, beautiful Spring day!

Until one has loved an animal - 
This one is self-explanatory.  It brings out joy and heartache all at once because there is nothing in the world like loving an animal and being loved by them in return. The emotion it evokes is just remarkable.  Thanks to my sweet friend Carrie for sharing this wonderful Pinterest photo with me!

You Melt my Heart - 

Capturing Lucy's striking eyes in the right light is always such a gift! She seems to look right through to your soul.  This layout has been my FaceBook cover since it was created. I plan to keep it there quite a long time >^..^<  

Portrait of Lucy - 

Lucy's pose is awesomely perfect!  I ADORE this photo of her.  

Pepper - Then & Now  - 

My little "Pepperoni", "P-Baby", "Crazy"....what a sweet little dog.  She turned 12 in 2016.  We love her to death!

Portrait of Galadrial - 

Any time I'm able to capture Miss Gali with her eyes open wide, I consider that photo a keepsake treasure!  She is such a gorgeous, timid and loving cat.   

Feeding the Pigeons in Venice - June 2000  - 

How wonderful to be able to catch a pigeon just beginning to land on Brianne's (my daughter) hand to feed!  I am especially happy that I was able to mimic the brick and stone in the photo!  The terracotta and blue tones look great together!

Pretty as a Rose - 

I am so very proud to have had such a beautiful mother.  I'm so pleased with my handmade frame and how all of the colors coordinated so well together!

Butterfly - 

This last creation in 2016 exhilarates me!  The color combination is spectacular and I'm very partial to butterflies.  I'm a purple-holic so entering this in a challenge with an outrageously gorgeous color scheme of purples, black, grays, white drew me right in!

Thank you for dropping by and I hope you all have a very Happy, Healthy & Loving New Year in 2017. Lisa : )

Butterfly

I created a canvas layout solely to enter in The Dusty Attic December 2016 Mood Board Challenge!  

Purple in any shade or tone is my very most favorite color, so this mood board was extra inspirational for me!  

I chose to make butterflies the centerpiece because they are among natures most natural beauties. 

I used varying tones of purple and included gray, silver, white and black.  

What a fabulous color combination of this moodboard! WOW! 

http://dustyatticblog.blogspot.com.au/

My 12 x 12 white canvas board was prepped with clear gesso; then randomly sprayed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst color Tea Pot Purple. I love its lavender tone! Finnabair Antique Silver Crackle Texture Paste was used to strategically stencil a small floral design on the layout.  Lavender rhinestones were added to the stenciling.

My design includes cut pieces from The Dusty Attic 12x12 Geometric Panel. 

These pieces were gesso prepped and then heat embossed with Lindy's Stamp Gang color Silver Moon Orchid.  

It's a beautiful silver-gray that has a lavender shimmer to it.  

(Just as I linked it I noticed that they are retiring this color - phooey!!!)  

I started first by gluing on these pieces according to my design.

The Dusty Attic Monarch Butterflies set is truly magnificent with perfect wing details of this type of butterfly.  

I first heat embossed the middle sized butterfly in the set (approx. 2"x2") 

using a gorgeous deep black/purple - Lindy's color Midnight Violet. 

I glued a backing behind the butterfly so mini prills could be added inside the wing design cut outs.  

This made a beautifully stunning butterfly embellishment! 

I twice sprayed this piece with low odor Krylon Clear Matte Finish to seal the prills in place.  

Once my photos (stunning photo found on Pinterest) were adhered, 

I was ready for my favorite part of designing....the flower arrangements!  

They are made up of gorgeous Wild Orchid Crafts mulberry flowers & a few bead berry sprays, 

along with die cut leaves in Jet Black Specialty glittery paper.

Enjoy viewing the close up photos of these arrangements : )

Thanks so very much for your visit and please come again!

Happy New Year!  Lisa : )

Products used:

The Dusty Attic - 

Geometric Panel

Monarch Butterflies

US Artquest - Mini Prills - Rock & Roll collection - Plum Crazy

Prima 6x6 Stencil - Tubaroses

Prima - Finnabair artExtravagance Silver Antique Crackle Texture Paste

Tattered Lace Dies - Ornate Leaves

Wild Orchid Crafts - 

2-tone Lilac Gysophila

Jet Black Open Roses-20mm

Purple Open Roses - 20mm

Purple Mix Cottage Roses - 30mm

Silver Bead Berry Spray

Purple Bead Berry Spray

Lindy's Stamp Gang - 

   Starburst spray - Tea Pot Purple

   Embossing Powders - Midnight Violet & Silver Moon Orchid

Michael's - 

   Recollections lavender rhinestones 

   Jet Black specialty glittery paper

   Krylon Low Odor Clear Matte Finish

Joy - a card for the More Than Words mini challenge

Hi everyone!  I made a 6x6 card for the More Than Words mini challenge and the word to use is "Joy".  

As 2016 comes to a close and we look for a brighter future in 2017, 

I can definitely relate with this word because if you just look around, 

there is always joy to be found!

Here is my card:

Maja Design Nyhavn collection set the tone for the color palette of gray and pink.  

Its pattern enticed me to apply diamond shaped silver bling with gray pearls in between.

I acrylic painted the Want2Scrap chipboard word 'Joy' in Gunmetal Metallic Gray, 

then made the decision to create a hanging ornament with it.
After cutting a circle, I decorated the diameter edge with silver Stickles.
The word was centered and some clear mini bling was randomly adhered.

After making the pink pearl strand for the ornament, 

I used the same design in varying lengths below the floral arrangement.  

I also made some dainty hat pins with pink & silver beads to place with the flowers.

Using my most favorite die, I cut rose leaves in the same Maja Design papers.

Lindy's Stamp Gang Glitz Spritz in Scintillating Silver made the beautiful Wild Orchid Crafts cottage roses shine!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!  Lisa : )

Products used:

Maja Design - Nyhavn Collection - Strolling along the Canal

Front side

Backside

Tattered Lace dies - Ornate Leaves

Prima Flowers - Gillian Cinder

Wild Orchid Crafts flowers - Pink Mist Cottage Roses (25mm)

Want2 Scrap chipboard word - Joy
Lindy's Stamp Gang - Glitz Spritz spray - Scintillating Silver
Ranger - Stickles - Silver
ColorBox Pigment inks - Shabby Pink & wild Hare
Michael's - Head Pins, Beads, Clear Rhinestones, Silver Glass Beads, Gunmetal Gray Metallic Acrylic Paint