So, Just What is S.W.A.T?

A few days ago I posted to my Facebook page that I was asked to be a member of the design team for a BRAND NEW challenge blog called S.W.A.T (Scrap Warriors Advanced Training). We are spending the last couple weeks of January introducing ourselves before the first official challenge kicks off on February 2nd.

Today is my turn ... you can pop over to the SWAT blog for my bio - if you're a follower of mine then you probably know it all already! While you're over there be sure to start following the blog and our FB page so you won't miss out on any of the challenges. Each designer is sharing 3 of their favourite projects and while the pictures of the projects are included in my intro, I thought maybe a little background on why they are my favourites would be nice. A little context goes a long way!

My first favourite is this layout I did of my 3 girls - they are definitely my favourite scrapping subjects!!

In July of 2011 I became a Demonstrator for Stampin' Up! so this was created to showcase some of the products in a catalogue that was coming out. If you're interested in seeing detail shots you can visit my old SU blog by clicking here. Sometimes our vision meets our needs in an extremely pleasing manner. This was one of those times. I loved the colour combination. I loved how fun the giant accordion rosette was. I loved the way my title turned out and of course, I loved this picture of my girls. In fact, I loved this so much that I framed it and it sits on my kitchen windowsill ... see ...

(The small tile in front is an encaustic tile I made at a class offered by my store - The Upstart Crow. If you are local and crafty, you've got to check out their calendar of classes! I may even get to teach some eventually!)

My second favourite project led to a discovery. Here's the layout.

It was made during LOAD1012 and the prompt was (I think) to use a wood grain or wood element. I didn't have one that I felt went with the photos I wanted to use, so I made one! This was a regular piece of kraft card stock that I added white paint onto using a 1.5" foam roller. To get the wood grain lines I used a combination of a piece of cardboard - separated to show the inner folds - and the end of a paint brush. Here is the paper before adding the pictures etc.

I have since used this same technique to tone down a particularly bright piece of orange card stock.

Pretty cool, eh? Next time you're faced with a garish colour of paper, try putting a paint wash over top! You may be pleasantly surprised at the effect you discover.

My third favourite was a set of cards I made for a class I was promoting during my Stampin' Up days. I'm not the biggest card maker but every now and then I do enjoy the challenge of making cards. I find it a challenge anyway! Here are the cards.

I realize you can't see all the cards in this picture very well and if you're really interested in close ups of them all then please visit my Flickr Gallery here. Why are these a favourite project? Well, I put a lot of time and thought into these cards and I was really pleased with how they turned out. In fact, I think I will be sending them to my kids PAC as a part of a silent auction item for our Parent Dance next month. Assuming I still have them all that is!

Well, thanks for stopping by to check me out! I am looking forward to working with the talented set of designers Lanette has put together and to seeing what you guys come up with!