Sunday, November 27, 2016

Citrus Twist Kits

Hello hello!

Wow Christmas is approaching so fast and I am so busy!! It's a good busy, but it's still busy. :)

I don't know if you've followed along on Instagram/Facebook, but last week I received my car! I have been waiting 4 months to get it. 4 months in a new country with only one car for the family to share. I have to say that I had the car all the time except these 2 random days where I didn't have it and then I realized how I missed my car!!


So anyway, I was happy to pick up my car, as you can see here. Like, over happy! I was so nervous to get there and drive in the big city of Prague for the first time (I've been driving around school and the house only up to then).


So overjoyed that I even took a picture while taking gaz for the first time. Yep, you can roll your eyes!

And well, I was that happy until 20 minutes later, when white smoke started coming in the car and it started to smell like burnt breaks. That's when I was really really happy that a friend came with me! She told me where to park and we then asked for help...because we couldn't,t open the hood! Yep, roll your eyes as much as you want. The two men we asked also took a good 5 minutes to get it open. ;)

And then, we had a discussion.... in Czech! Well, they were speaking Czech. Like a waterfall! I caught a couple of german words that were thrown in there and they said that it was normal for a new car. No Problem. This seems the be the words when a Czech can't speak English. So we drove home, with all the windows open.

When I got home I called the garage and the salesman told me it was No Problem. Of course not. He said to drive the car a couple of days and within 3-4 days, the smell should disappear. And that if it didn't, I should just drive to the garage and they would check it out. Insert an emoji with really big stunned eyes right here!

And then I remembered that when he gave me the car, between all the words he said, the man said that if I had any problems with the car, battery or what ever, I should call Mazda assistance. And that's what I did. From home, I called them.

The girls who took the phone call spoke English. Phew!!! I explained and she didn't say no problem. She said: "I'll send you a towing.Tomorrow." See, that's what happens when a Czech can speak English. :) So the next morning, I didn't have my car for a full day yet, I saw it go away...


It was a very sad and grey foggy morning.

To make this already too long story short, the car had nothing. The salesman drove my car (What?!! The car didn't go to the service? Apparently not...) and said it was No Problem. I picked up my car the same day. And it smelled like...burnt breaks. No smoke this time. 4 days later I have a nice blue car. It almost doesn't smell anymore. Everything will be ok. No Problem!


And so that story (and the headaches that came with the fumes) prevented me to do my layouts for Citrus Twist Kits earlier. But I did them this weekend and here they are! :)


Using a white background, I stitched (not without difficulty) 2 frames with golden thread around my photos.


I wrote the place with my calligraphy brush pen.


Added a title with my beautiful foam thickers. And added some really cute accents such as this golden leaf shaped paperclip! How cute is that?!!!


For my second layout, I used a black background. I'm still not sure about the look, but my foggy picture somehow screamed for it! And I backed the picture with some viid colors so I guess it makes the black background disappear a little.


I really love all the little bits and pieces that were in the kits this month. Wood, cork, ribbon, twine, puffy stickers, sequins, golden metal. Just perfect!




I really like all these fall colors when standing together.


I printed my journaling with the computer onto vellum. It lets the background show just a tiny little bit. It also helps keep the black in proportion.


What do you think if we stop here for today and I'll show you two more layouts this week? I think so. :)

So thanks for stopping by and see you again real soon!

Marie-Pierre 



Sunday, November 20, 2016

Pretty Little Studio | December Daily

Hello everyone!

My goal this November was to finish my December Daily from last year (2015). I had to stop doing it when I left to visit my parents in Canada and left it untouched at day 12, knowing that I would want to finish it this November to get in the Christmas spirit! If you can remember, last year in November I re-did my 2009 December Daily and I really enjoyed the process of looking back and of slowly getting fired up for the coming Christmas. Read all about it here.

This year was a different situation though. I was pretty busy with the Christmas collection coming out in November so I felt like I had to catch up and I was afraid I could never do it! But today (I'm writing this blog post November 18th) I can tell you that I did reach my goal. Last night in fact I made the finishing touches to the last pages! :)

Today on the Pretty Little Studio blog, you can see the pages 13 to 17. Here are some pictures of what you'll see over there. Please head over for a list of the products I used and more detailed shots. :)





One thing I particularly enjoyed this year was to use my own collection Winter Joy which you can pre-order right here. I hope you'll check it out.


All right, see you later for some more December Daily updates. :) 

Marie-Pierre

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Pretty Little Studio | 4x4 layouts

Hey everyone!

Look at these cute tiny 4x4 layouts I made with my collection Here Comes The Sun!


The paper containing 4 4x4 squares was PERFECT for that! It made the perfect backgrounds!


Here's my first layout with a space for my friend to put a picture of us. I only attached the empty photo paper with a paperclip so it will be easy to substitute.


I added lots of cute die cuts and Wrote part of the title on this small pink banner and the rest I spelled with tiny letters from Maggie Holmes.


I really love the multiple borders of stitching all around the small canvas. :)


I made my second page similar to the first one starting with a background paper and building on top of it with embellishments.



I love that space in the circle frame to write the journaling. I used the vellum tape to add some words to the title.





I stitched my title and curled the top and bottom of it to give it lots of dimension. I really like them in real life. They look really cute and I can't wait for my friend to get them. :)

You can find a list of the specific products I used on the Pretty Little Studio blog post or you can simply visit the Pretty Little Studio shop and pick and choose what you like most from the collection. 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Marie-Pierre