pretty little somethings

Time for a break

2011-12-19T18:32:00.000-06:00

Hello my friends! I just wanted to take some time to tell you that I am taking a short break from scrapbooking and my commitment to my design team. Life has gotten a bit overwhelming for me lately and I am having creative block. I need to get my focus back in the right place. I am so thankful for such understanding "bosses" and the support they give! I love designing for SOUS!

My wish for you all is to have a Blessed Christmas, and to remember the true meaning of Christmas. I hope to see you in Feburary over flowing with new mojo and totally refreshed, creatively speaking!

This Dress ~Stuck on U Sketches!~

2011-12-08T23:10:00.001-06:00

Happy December! Its so hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner! I hope you all are more prepared then I am! I need to pull up my boot straps and get down to business! Today's sketch is provided to us by our own talented Sandi Clarkson specifically for SOUS! I used some older Bo Bunny winter paper that I had been hoarding for a while. The little girl in the photo is my own daughter, Jerica, at the age of 18 months. The story behind this layout is about the dress she is wearing. I made this dress for her using my High School graduation dress. I am not a seamstress by any means, but had done some sewing here and there.

To make the circle I used a circle chippie by Dusty Attic and used white crackle paint and then rubbed in a bit of Seedless Preserves Distress Ink from Tim Holt'z fall seasonal series. I really like this purple! I stamped on the circle with a script stamp and Black Archival ink. I punched some holes in the circle with my Crop-a-dile and threaded some plum tulle through the holes, finishing off with a little flower.

Here is the sketch by Sandi!

For the edges of the photo I stippled a thick textured paste with a paint brush to simulate snow.

In this flower cluster I used some Prima blooms, and some little white roses from I am Roses, and the 2 pinkish flowers I made using Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die.

I used some Thickers for the tittle, and the journaling reads" I had so much fun taking apart my grad dress and sewing 'This Dress' for my sweet little girl!"

I used a Prima flourish with bits of lace attached to it, cutting it up to get more 'bang for my buck'!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed this layout as much as I enjoyed making it. Please stop by Stuck on U Sketches and check out what the other girls have done with the sketch and please join in!

Have a safe happy weekend, everyone!

Hugs,

Enjoy the Moments... Reveal Friday!!

2011-11-24T22:58:00.000-06:00

First off, I'd like to wish all my American people a Happy Thanksgiving!! We Canadians had ours last month so we are now gearing up for Christmas. Welcome to reveal day at Stuck on U Sketches! This weeks sketch is brought to us by Pagemaps. I used the color palette from The Color Room, Palette # 85, but didn't have my time zones accurate so I am too late to enter it. How sad am I!

So! I will introduce to you, "Enjoy the moments"! This layout features my daughter and son-in-law on their wedding day!

This layout is brimming with techniques, and a few of them new for me. I used Websters' Pages Trendsetter paper collection

Here is the cute sketch we got to work with. My layout seemed to take on a life of its own, but if you look closely you will see some resemblance!

I used Prima's brick wall stencil together with texture paste, and then inked over it with distress inks. I love how it blended into the background of the photo!

I took advantage of the existing window ledge in the photo to add my Prima resin window on to. I made a whole bunch of rolled flowers..... they are addicting after a while! On some of them I used Clearsnap Glue Gloss by Donna Salazar as well as some of her Fairydust glitter! I love them both! I also used a Dusty Attic vine that I inked with distress stains and used stickles over top. I tried something new that I saw Gerry Van Gent do, called an inverted scalloped circle. She is one talented lady!

I used a Dusty Attic Phrase for my tittle and I first used Picket Fence Distress stain so I could have a white "canvas" if you will, so my color of ink would be more true and so I could vary the intensity of the raspberry ink. I love how it turned out!

Here is a close up of my main flower cluster. I used a Prima flower for my main flower and surrounded it with some more rolled flowers I made, and some Websters' blooms.

I also used some I am Roses leaves, and mini roses that I colorized for the color palette I was using.

So that's it for today! Thank you for stopping by! Please go to the Stuck on U Sketches blog and check out what the other girls designed for your viewing pleasure! Have a good weekend and stay safe!

~Adorable~ My Creative Sketches Challenge- Sketch #2

2011-11-14T14:17:00.001-06:00

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a delightful weekend! Today I want to share with you a layout I made for My Creative Sketches. They are running a Big Sketch Contest and this is based on Sketch #2. The prizes that you can win are to die for! Make sure you check it out!

The feature on my layout is the photo of my sister-in-law when she was 2 yrs old. I saw this photo the last time we were visiting and I knew it was a photo I really wanted to scrap. I was so happy when she gave me the go ahead to use it! The first thing I did was add a touch of pink to the flowers and the bow in her hair. I used a q-tip with distress ink. I used Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden

This is sketch #2, and it is made by Kim Keane. Its a gorgeous sketch to work with and has many possibilities! I flipped it to work better with my photo.

Drool Worthy @ SOUS!

2011-11-10T23:00:00.001-06:00

Welcome fellow scrappers, bloggers and lovers of all things beautiful and crafty! It is Reveal Friday at Stuck on U Sketches! Today's sketch is brought to us by our own lovely and talented Nanne! I snagged some really cute photos of my Great Niece Lucia Tait off of Facebook a while back and now was the time to use them. Let me introduce you to "Drool Worthy"!

For this sketch I decided to flip it to work with my photos better. I used papers from Websters "ladies & Gentlemen" collection. I really like the colors of this collection.

Here is the sketch provided to us by Nanne from Nanne's Creations.

Just the other day I bought a number of packages of these really cute Prima Alphas that are made of canvas and are small. Yummy! I used Crystal Stickles to outline the title.

The larger fabric flowers are Prima flowers, the roses and leaves from I am Roses, and the small dark pink are Petaloo. The resin bird is Prima. I used a black marker and doodled around the outer edges.

I used a layer of a Dusty Attic scroll frame that has two parts. This is the bottom layer that didn't have any details. I used an idea that I got from Gabi Pollacco that she put on the Dusty Attic website. It is about giving your chipboard a 3-D look, but I will tell you, her's is much better than mine! lol. I used Liquid Pearls to draw on my dimension and once that was dry I painted over everything with white paint. Then I took some Glimmer Mist in Dragonfly, I believe, and painted it on with a paint brush. I then added a second layer in a green and brushed it on and let it pool in the grooves and dried it with my heat tool. I accented the dimension with crystal Stickles.

If you look closely at this photo you will see Lucia's chin wet with drool, and hence where I got my title for this layout! A little play on words.

I used a paper doily for the circle and I painted the flowers, leaves and background with Distress Inks/Stains and a paint brush. The little white bird house is from Prima's resin collection.

Just a close up of the flower cluster in the upper right hand corner.

Thank you so much for dropping by so I could share my layout with you. Its always a pleasure to share my passion with others! Don't forget to stop by SOUS and see what the other designers have prepared to share with you. We have such a wide variety of styles in our group I am sure you won't be disappointed!

Have a Blessed weekend!

Tutorial ~Rusty Butterflies~

2011-11-01T23:00:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I promised you a tutorial on my rusty butterfly, so here you go! This is what your finished product should look like.

I used this butterfly on my latest page called "Lil Cowgirl". I added some pearls for the body and a piece of Prima pearl flourish for the trail!

Supplies needed: white die cut butterfly,[I used my Martha Stewart punch] Vintage Photo distress stain/ink, Aged Mahogany Distress Embossing Powder, Distress Embossing Ink, tray or paper, tweezers, heat resistant mat, and heat gun.

Apply a light to medium coat of the Vintage Photo to your butterflies.

Cover the butterflies first with the Embossing Ink, then place in the tray and cover generously with the Embossing powder. Make sure you shake the Distress embossing powder first to distribute the release crystals evenly before you apply to the butterflies.

lightly tap off the excess embossing powder from the butterflies. Hold the butterfly with your tweezers so you don't burn yourself. Heat the embossing powder till it darkens and takes on a very light sheen. You can't burn this stuff, so don't be scared to heat it good!

Let the butterfly cool and then with your finger gently rub the butterfly to release the crystals that are supposed to be removed, giving it that distressed look.

If you want, you can add more Vintage Photo on top of the distress powder. I did for these particular butterflies as I felt I hadn't put enough the first time. There you go! You now have Rusty Butterflies!! I really like how the Aged Mahogany Distress Powder gives it a deeper, richer color!

Let me know if you use this technique as I would love to see you use it! Obviously it works for much more than butterflies. I see it being used for keys, locks, hinges and even flowers! Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs,

Face lift

2011-10-31T22:34:00.000-05:00

I know, its about time, isn't it? I've been visiting so many blogs that have been up lifted with a new look that I decided to take the plunge and give mine a new look. Not exactly sure if it will be staying like this, but for now it will do! What do you think?

test

2011-10-31T19:40:00.001-05:00

Lil Cowgirl ~Stuck on U Sketches!~

2011-10-28T00:02:00.002-05:00

Its Friday once again, and better yet, its Reveal Friday over at Stuck on U Sketches! I always get excited when it gets close to reveal day, as I just love sharing with everyone the great sketches we get the privilege to work with! I also love to share any new things and new ideas! This weeks sketch is brought to us again by our very own Leah! Being the time of year that it is, the sketch is based on Halloween, but it isn't a holiday that I celebrate so I decided to keep on my theme of my Great Nieces! (in case you were wondering)

I got some papers from Creative Imaginations, not really realizing they where a horse theme, and wasn't sure how I would use them. Then I came across this photo of GN Austin who is ga-ga over horses! Perfect match!! For a while I had wanted to use a photo and cut it up as I did above. I think it looks real neat. I used a Prima 12x12 mask with distress ink.

Here is the sketch created by Leah.

I was at a weekend crop this last weekend at Love is in the Details, my LSS, and Lori had put up a Dollar store for us, on location. She had some pretty sweet items there, and the white doily behind the butterfly is just one of them!

I used die cuts from Tim Holtz's Tatered Floral die and inked it with Weathered wood distress inks and put this flower together. I used a Dusty Attic doily and painted it with white distress crackle paint and inked the edges. This cool rusted birdhouse and flower button are just a couple more items I got from the LIITD's Dollar store!

I used Tim Holtz's barbed wire mask with distress ink and then outlined it with black and highlighted it with a white pen. I also water distressed the edges of the strip of paper that is horizontal.

I used my Heartfelt Creations Swirly leaves stamp set to create the leaves, which I then inked with various green distress inks, and distress stickles. Once it was dry [ yeah! for my heat gun!] I scrunched them a bit.

The pearl flourish I have cut up into 2 pieces and used on this layout are from Prima. I love the 2 toned colors and the glittered flowers on this flourish!

I hope you all have a great weekend and stay safe! Thanks for stopping in for a look see and please check out SOUS and see what the other designers have created for you. Don't forget to give the sketch a go and increase your chance of winning some awesome goodies!

NOTE: stay tuned for a future tutorial on the rusted butterflies I made for this layout!

Going Altered!

2011-10-17T19:27:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! For quite some time now I have been wanting to try my hand at altering an object. Over the past year or so I've picked up so object like this round box at our local thrift store. The time has come and this is my result!

I used papers from Websters pages that I got in a kit from My Creative Scrapbook quite some time ago. I thought since winter is coming *cough* I thought I'd do a wintery one. I like it that the colors aren't your typical wintery colors. I *think* the paper collection is called Winter Wings, or something similar.

I did some distressing to the box by swiping on some distress ink and dry brushing some white paint.

The large pinky flower and the crystal flourish are both from Prima.

The little white roses with the blue edges are from I am Roses as well as the leaves.

I cut out and rolled up some Christmas music papers from Tim Holtz, and distressed them with ink, paint and then sprinkled Diamond Glitter on them. The pearl ribbon trim I purchased from Wal Mart and I glued it around the top of the lid and the bottom of the box.

Last but certainly NOT least, I use a whole lot of Helmar's 450 Quickdry adhesive to glue the embelishments and the ribbon on. I love getting my hands all gooey!

Now that I know that altering objects isn't as scary as I thought you will be seeing more from me! Thanks for looking and please leave a comment!

You belong..... Stuck on U Sketches

2011-10-14T00:02:00.001-05:00

Are you ready for another fabulous Friday Sketch reveal from Stuck on U Sketches? Ready or not, here it comes! This is my take on the sketch, and it is titled "You belong among the Flowers", and it features my husbands parents. I have not been feeling well this week so my work may reflect that a bit. Sorry! I still hope you enjoy!

I used Bo Bunny's gorgeous Gabrielle line for this layout. I scalloped the edges of the base pattern paper and then backed it up with a black/brown cardstock. I also used my Martha Stewart Doily punch on the matted paper behind the photo.

Here is the sketch, and it is brought to us by our very own Leah!

This flower and the bling spray are both by Prima.

I used some sheer lace and ruffled it and adhered it to the bracket frame, and then outlined the bracket frame with some Lagoon Stickles.

These flowers and leaves are from I am Roses. They were white and inked them slightly and then sprayed with with a pearl Glimmermist. The little fairy stick out of the top of the flowers is by Pink Paislee, and it popped it up with Helamars' Scrapdots!

This butterfly is a chippie from Dusty Attic, and I altered it with Distress stain, and Distress Stickles.

Here you can see that I curled the paper strips on and angle giving it a unique look.
I distressed all the paper edges and inked them with Distress ink in Brown Corduroy. Thank you so much for stopping by and looking at my work! Please go to Stuck on U Sketches and check out the other designers work! I am sure you will be inspired as they never fail to deliver amazing work!

Sketch contest at My Creative Sketches!

2011-10-04T18:25:00.000-05:00

Hello fellow bloggers and followers! Have you check out My Creative Scrapbooks new sketch blog? They are having a Fall sketch contest and they prizes are amazing! I know this from experience! Here is my take on the sketch.

This layout is of my daughter on her wedding day. Her now husband was her first and only boyfriend, High School Sweethearts to be exact. They dated for 6 yrs and Jerica waited so patiently [ ok, not always] for her wedding day. That is why I titled the layout "At Last". I used Webster's Pages 'Country Estate' paper collection. I loved they way they seemed to compliment the surrounding area of where this photo was taken.

This sketch was created by Kim Keane, and it was a very enjoyable sketch to work with.

I used Deco scissor to cut out the matting for the photo. I used some of the black paper that comes with the Dusty Attic pieces.... it all comes in handy! For the title I used puffed alphas from SEI. The color is called Blue Raspberry. I did lots of fussy cutting and lots and lots of layering !

I just totally love the Dusty Attic circle with the flourishes on it! I wanted this piece to go a long way, so I cut it in half, saving the rest for a different layout. I tried a new technique that I had seen on the DA message board. I soaked the edges of the flourish with water and separated the layers and then took my heat tool and dried it. I love that distressed look! I then used White Picked Fence Distress Crackle Paint by Ranger and gave the DA piece a good thick coat. Once that was dry I sprayed this as well with the Moon Shadow mist, and used some distress inks on it. I love the way it turned out!

I used some half pearls from Prima, [ I think!] pearl strings for the butterfly flight path that I got at my local thrift store. The punched butterfly is from Martha Stewart and I inked the edges and covered it with Rock Candy Crackle Paint. I also used the same crackle paint on some of the fussy cut flowers.

I did a bit of stamping, here is the date of their wedding, and I did some stamping in the upper corners of the back ground paper.

The little roses are from I am Roses, that I purchased in white, and then use Distress Inks to color them the color I wanted. The blue Bloomers are from Petaloo, and came in off white and are mistable. I used one of my blue Distress stains and dabbed it on. To lighten the color abit I sprayed it with water and then pressed paper towel on top to remove as much of the color I wanted to get it to look just like this!

I used my Gypsy/Cricut to cut out the scrolled fence boarder. I cut out three layers and glued them together to make it more dimensional . I then I sprayed it with Moon Shadow Mist, Shimmerz, and white crackle paint.

I made this flower with my large Retro Flower punch and paper from the collection. I used a rose from I am roses for the center. You can see here the stamping I did and also the machine stitching. The tension wasn't set correctly but I found that it added to the charm of the layout.

And finally, a close up of the happy couple! The photographer is a cousin of the groom, who did an amazing job for only having photography as a hobby! His name is Brendan Heppner, and I give him credit for all the wedding photos!

Thank you for taking the time to look at my work and hopefully you enjoyed looking as much as I enjoyed creating! Don't for get to check out that contest at My Creative Sketches!

~Wedded Bliss~ Friday Reveal Day at SOUS!

2011-09-29T23:21:00.000-05:00

What?!? It's Friday already??? Wow has this week flown by! It's reveal day at Stuck on U Sketches!! I'm excited to show you the layout I created to show off the great sketch by Liz Qualman! I had the pleasure of Guest Designing last year for Liz and had a blast working with her sketches! Be sure to check out her blog!

This layout is called "Wedded Bliss", and features my daughter and new son-in-law. I just love this photo! I needed to take the color saturation down a bit so it worked better with the papers I had on hand, so in real life, the flowers are brighter.

Here is the sketch by Liz, and you can tell I stuck pretty close to her design. Here are some close ups.

I stamped on the letters for the word bliss with a word stamp and black Stazon ink.

I made the large plum colored flower with Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral die, and the tiny roses are from I am Roses, the others are by Prima.

I used some Dusty Attic chippies on 2 of the corners of the photo. I altered them by inking them frist with a violet ink, then I used Clear Distress Crackle Paint, and once that was dry I used a touch of plum ink and a whitish ink.

I used a Martha Stewart border punch of the 3 paper strips, and used a scalloped deco scissor on the matting of the 3 small photos.

I distressed the outer edges of the photo with a sanding block and inked the edges as well.

The leaves were made with my Heartfelt Creations Swirly leaves stamp and I used my Distress Stains and Rock Candy Distress Stickles for texture.

I did some doodling around the outer edge of the solid cardstock, and I made the black swirls with my Gypsy/Cricut.

Thanks for looking and please remember that this is your last chance to get your name in the drawn to win the blog candy that is being provided by Alda from Flying Unicorn! Make sure your layout is new as of today and most of all, have fun! Please check out the work of the other design team members! Be Blessed!

mixed media canvas

2011-09-24T21:19:00.000-05:00

I want to share this mixed media canvas I made at a class last weekend! Its so fun getting your hands all messy and full of paint and ink, and matte medium as well!

We used Claudine Hellmuth paints and gesso. I used red, teal, purple and a bit of yellow.

I used some rub ons and stamped the butterfly with gesso.

The pattern paper I used was by Bo Bunny, and I used a chicken wire stamp by Prima. The ink I used was black Archival ink by Ranger.

The tiny butterflies where punched out with a Martha Stewart punch, and the Bo Bunny papers.

I had lots of fun using bubble wrap and stamping it on with gesso, and also some red mixed with gesso to make the pink. The flowers and punched butterflies where then out lined with a black sharpie. The words that I used were just printed on white copy paper off the computer.

Thanks for taking a peek at my canvas, and please feel free to comment! I always love reading your comments!

Reveal Friday at Stuck On U Sketches!

2011-09-15T23:29:00.001-05:00

Yay! The weekend is here! I am sure for a lot of you that's a good thing! Well, fall is in the air here in Manitoba where I live. I haven't decided if I like that or not! I sure hope we don't get snow for a long time!

I want to share with you my layout I made based on a sketch by the Flying Unicorn for Stuck on U Sketches. For some reason I had a hard time putting this layout together. I love the sketch, so it wasn't that. I guess it was creative block, but I pushed my way through and came up with this layout called "Sisters".

I've had this picture of my Great Niece's in my photo stash for a while now and thought now was a good time to scrap it! I used a kit from Scrapthat!. They always put out awesome kits, I highly recommend you check them out if you haven't already!

Here is the sketch we had to work with. Isn't it a beauty? Flying Unicorn designs awesome sketches!

I used some yummy Dusty Attic Chipboard from my stash. I used the title "sisters", and the foliage. For the foliage, I used Distress stains and Rock Candy Distress Stickles. The flowers came from my stash.

For the title chipboard I first painted it with an acrylic antique white, then splattered Rangers Espresso paint with an old toothbrush, and then splattered some green Distress stain. When that was dry I put a thick layer of Glossy Accents on top. Once I adhered the title to my layout using an awesome new adhesive I got recently by Helmar [450 quickdry] I outlined the title with a black marker! Let me say, this adhesive is amazing! I am really loving it! I used it on all of my embellishments and it really dries fast!

Helmar also has another amazing product called Liquid Scrapdots. I used it on the above bird I fussy cut and also in the next 2 photos of the the fairy's and the mouse and the bunnies. This is truly a cool product!. Seriously, you need to check it out! I used a pearl flourish by Kiasercraft that came with the kit.
HINT: If you have difficulties with your bling sticking to your layout, give it a good blast with your heat gun and press it down. It won't be going anywhere now!

You can really see the dimension I got with this unique "popdot" in a tube!

In this photo you can really see the texture on the Dusty Attic foliage. The pink flowers with the orange centers are flowers I took off of some of my mom's many silk flower arrangements after she passed away. Its nice to look back a see little pieces of her here and there.

Thank you all so much for coming to look at my work. I just love sharing it with all of you! Hopefully you will be inspired to try out the sketch and get your name in for the amazing prize being offered this month! Remember, for each challenge, it has to be new as of that date and you have 5 chances to get your name in the draw! Make sure you stop by the SOUS blog and leave the other designers some love! Hugs!

Wedding creations

2011-09-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, my daughter got married not long ago, August 6 to be exact. I had the privilege of making some items for this special day! Now that I have the photos I thought I would share those items with you!

Here is one of the invitations that I made. We wanted to keep things simple, as we are not fancy people. The invitations were not all alike. We had found a pattern paper that had some of the colors she had chosen, but it came in a paper stack. We decided we would use some of the other papers in the stack that coordinated with her favorite paper of the stack. The paper stack was by DCWV.

I wanted to do something unique in place of a guest book, and came up with the idea of using a "sharing" tree. I cut tags with my Cricut, using the same papers as the invitations. Now what is a "sharing " tree, you ask? Well, I first heard about it as a caring tree created by Grace, over at Grace's Scrap Attic. She used her's to display the cards she made, and I took it a step farther by displaying the kids engagement photo's on it!

This is what the tree looked like at the wedding before the guests signed the tags.

This is what it looked like with the tags hanging on the tree! The reason I called it a sharing tree is because people were supposed to sign their names and "share" a blessing or prayer or best wishes to the happy couple. At first I wasn't sure what I was going to use to actually hang the tags on the tree. I thought of the hooks for hanging Christmas decorations on a Christmas tree, but this was August, not December! I got the brain wave of twisting a paper clip, making into a S shaped hook and it worked perfectly, and inexpensive, too!

I love what the photographer did with the wedding rings in this photo! I cut out, inked, glittered, stickled and doodled 300 of these cute 1 inch flowers!

Here is a basic table number card I had to make at the last minute! Thank goodness for the Cricut!

Here is one of the place cards I made for family. Pretty basic, I just dressed it up a bit with a stamp and ink.

And here is what our family now looks like! The tall guy on the end is our son!

Thanks for sharing in on this special day with us!

Friday reveal at Stuck on U Sketches!

2011-09-02T00:02:00.002-05:00

Welcome to reveal day! I am so excited to show you what I did with this weeks sketch! I used Webster's Pages' 'Trendsetter' Collection. I love the bright fun colors in this collection. I took this cute photo of my GN, Madden, on the day we were having a wedding shower for my daughter.

When you where a child did you ever pull the petals off a flower and recite the saying " He loves, He loves me not...."? I know I sure did! When I saw this photo I knew exactly what I was going to do! I got out my Dusty Attic stash and took out the long stemmed flower I recently got, and the circle ring as well.

This weeks sketch is brought to us by our own Sandi Clarkson! This was a really nice sketch to work with, and I had a lot of fun doing so! I flipped the sketch to suit my photo better.

I did some recycling on this layout. The ribbon came from my corsage I wore at dd wedding, the daisy flowers[Prima] were on the wedding cake, and the light pink flowers I made for the sharing tree for dd wedding as well! Feels good to be able to re use these items!

I created the leaves with my leaves stamp from Heartfelt creations. First I stamped the image with Distress ink, and then I filled it in with a watered down Distress stain, layering to build up color.

I inked the DA circle with Distress Stain, and then covered it with Stickles. I used Distress Crackle Paint to "white out" some of the background paper so the title would show up better.

I scattered petals off of one of the Prima flowers and scattered it around the layout as if they had been pulled off intentionally.

I used pink Smooch ink on the Dusty Attic long stem flower, and on the stem I used Distress stain and Distress Embossing powder. To create the ruffle around the Dusty Attic circle I cut strips of pattern paper and punch along the edge with a Martha Stewart border punch. I think gathered it and glued it behind the circle.

Thanks so much for checking out my blog and layout! Make sure you check out the other designers work at SOUS and leave some love! Also, just a reminder about the amazing September Blog give-away! Each time you complete one of the 5 challenges with a NEW layout you will get your name in the draw!

Stuck on U Sketches September blog candy!

2011-09-01T14:41:00.000-05:00

Oh My Word, ladies! Look at this fabulous blog candy that you have an opportunity to win at Stuck on U Sketches!

This generous give-away is being donated by Alda Stevens at the Flying Unicorn Store www.flyingunicornstore.com. The candy includes a an 8x8 Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime paper pack, a pack of Melissa Frances Chandelier Drops, a pack of Melissa Frances vintage embellishments, Imaginarium chipboard oval frames, a package of Pink Paislee Mistable muslin ribbon and a Zva Creative crystal flourish. Oh how I wish I could play! LOL

Anyway, there are 5 challenges in September, so there are 5 opportunities for you to get your name in the hat! To get your name in the draw, submissions are to be NEW as of the date of the challenge. If you play all 5 challenges, your name will be added 5 times! Should be fun!

Can't wait till tomorrow to see what the rest of the sketch design team has come up with! I can't wait to see what YOU do with all the challenges this month!

Bubbles - Shabby Chic at Stuck on U Sketches

2011-08-19T00:02:00.002-05:00

Happy reveal Friday! I am happy to report to you that the Wedding was a success and I have been a Mother-in-law for almost 2 weeks! We saw the kids this past Sunday after they got home from their Honeymoon and they looked very happy and relaxed.

On with the layout! Our sketch was provided our very own Leah, and this one really got me thinking. Its totally not my style, and once I got past what her theme was, it was really fun for me!

I snagged this photo off of my sil's camera. Here is Nila again, [love her] and I knew this would be a fun one to scrap. I wanted to keep it in the same color family with the different shades of pink, with pops of green in the foliage and Prima flowers. This photo was screaming SHABBY! I had to oblige!

Here is the sketch by Leah

This is an interesting angle....you can see the different layers of Dusty Attic Chippies I've used. The little pink flowers I had made for a sharing tree for Jerica's wedding, and once it was over I carefully picked the flowers off the tree and now will use them in my layouts! I made 300 of them following this tutorial by Grace and Grace's Scrap Attic.

I had been saving these Prima flowers for quite some time, and knew this was the time to break them out. I also used the Prima vine with the acrylic flowers and leaves. I took my Picket Fence Distress Crackle paint and touch areas of the vine with it, giving it a really cute look.

I love Dusty Attic Chippies so much! I used the gate on my layout and I painted it with Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint by Ranger. I lightly rubbed some Vintage Photo distress ink over it, wipe most of it away, and added a few touches of pink. Beautiful!

I recently purchased this Dusty Attic Vine. I inked it with Distress stain, and then embossed it with Distress Powder, and then added some Distress Crackle paint on the edges. The paint was white, but since the distress inks are reactivated by water, the paint took on a green shade. I love how this turned out!

Here you can see the title I made using Thickers. Again, Prima flower with DA vine. I used crinkled ribbon that was hand dyed by my good friend Lori Patterson who is the owner of Love is in the Details, my main 'hangout' that I found when I first started scrapping.

Close up of Nila and the other goodies!

Thank you all for stopping by. I hope you all with stop by SOUS, and try out the awesome sketch challenges PLUS the new Die Cut Challenge they have added! The design team for the DCC does awesome work with their Cricuts!

I hope to have some photos of the items I made for the wedding, and a photo of the Bride and Groom! Now go spread the love!

Embrace ~ Girlie Grunge style!

2011-08-05T00:02:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday, everyone!! It's reveal day at Stuck on U Sketches once again! Our sketch today was brought to us by our very own Leah! I really had fun with this one! I tried to accomplish a style called Girlie Grunge, that Donna Salazar is known for. Hope you like!!

This is a photo that was taken of dd and her now fiance`, then bf. I think it was my niece Dayna that took it. Its such 'in the moment' totally not posed for photo, that I fell in love with it! I used pattern papers from Bo Bunny's Gabrielle line. I had so much fun with Gesso, crackle paint, inking, masking and using some metal embellishments.

Here is the gorgeous sketch by Leah. I flipped it to work with my photo better.

I hand made all the flowers, starting off white and using watered down distress ink to build layers of color.

Here you can see the Dusty Attic butterfly that I used Distress Crackle paint and the metal clock by Tim Holtz.

I love the Melissa Frances key and lock, and thought it really brought out the feel I was trying to create! It's hard to see in this photo, but the bottom corner of the corrugated cardboard, has glitter on it. I sprinkled it on while the Gesso was still wet.

Some more Dusty Attic goodness! I just got the chicken wire from them and couldn't wait to use some! I used Distress Stain and Puffy paint. I fussy cut the big butterfly out of the paper and used
Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint, and then some Patina Stickles. The lovely white flourish is from NiklinDesigns1225 on her Etsy store.

Here is a close up of the masking I did with a Prima mask, the DA chicken wire, and the script stamp in the top right hand corner that I stamped and embossed with distress embossing powder!

And there you have it! My take on Girlie Grunge! It was fun getting my hands dirty! I will definitively will be doing this again! I am thinking of mounting this layout onto a canvas and giving it to my daughter to hang in their house once they are married! I can hardly believe TOMORROW is the big day!!!

Be Blessed!

We have a winner!

2011-08-02T19:21:00.000-05:00

Hey people! Did you enjoy the blog hop? It was my very first one to take part in and it was a blast! It was so interesting to see which album everyone chose! I want to thank all of you who left comments and joined up on my blog, and YES! we do have a winner!..

........

.......

...................................... ELIZABETH! You are the lucky winner of my RAK! Please send me an email with your address and I will get your prize out to you after my daughters wedding.{Aug 6] g d f b l f [at] m t s [dot] n e t.

Summer mini album blog hop!

2011-07-29T06:00:00.014-05:00

Welcome!

I hope you all are as excited as I am about our Mini Album Blog Hop that we have teamed up with Creative Cuts and More to share with you! The hop will running starting now, till midnight July 31/11!

You should of arrived here from Becky Voth's blog.

Now, I will be giving away a small prize to one lucky person! All you have to do is leave me a super sweet comment, AND, if you aren't already, become one of my blog followers! This will be my first give away so I am excited about it!

This amazing blog candy has been sponsored by Creative Cuts and More and,

for more information stop by SOUS after the hop.

The theme we were to use was 'summer', and I chose to focus on butterflies and flowers! Both of which I love very much and use alot of in layouts! I took part in a butterfly ATC swap about a year ago, and I used a few of the ones I received in my mini. The first one is on the cover.

This close up is of the chipboard scalloped frame that I chose from Creative Cuts and More, and I used crackle paint, distress ink and finished it off with a rub on.

I chose this oval scalloped frame in white cardstock. I used Smooch ink to color it and but the focus on the butterfly.

Supplies used:

chipboard mini album: Creative Cuts and More

Scalloped rectangle and oval frame: Creative Cuts and More

pictures and images: printed from the internet

pattern papers: Prima Fairy Flora

embellishments: all from my stash

Thank you again for stopping by and taking a look at my mini album, i hope it has inspired you to want to make one of your own....

Your next stop will be

Danielle Ryerson's blog

and don't forget to leave some love...... :)

I'm so excited!

2011-07-27T09:36:00.000-05:00

My Bloom layout was picked as Layout of the Week over at My Creative Scrapbook! This is such an honor ! Thank you so very much!

Bloom Reveal Friday at SOUS!

2011-07-22T00:46:00.001-05:00

YAY! It's Friday! I can't believe how fast the weeks fly by and summer is half over! I can't believe my daughter is getting married in 2 weeks! Today I want to share with you my take on the sketch that our own Nanne Harry created for us on the Stuck on U Sketches blog! Its a beauty! My layout features my great niece Nila, sitting amongst the flowers. Her mom is the photographer of this sweet photo!

I used Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden pattern paper and did lots of inking, masking and distressing.

Here is the sketch created by Nanne. Isn't it gorgeous?

I used some Prima flowers, made the little ones with the blue center with my small retro flower punch, and the pink one is from Dollarama that I inked. Check out the metal butterfly I got from Wal-Mart nestled in the leaves!

I used some of my decorative scissors that hadn't been touched in a while to cut out the matting around the photo, and used some liquid pearls on it, and of course, inked the edges. To make the bird cage on the paper stand out I used turquoise Stickles and outlined it. I got some new Thickers the other day and used them on the main part of my title.

Here is a close up view of the flower cluster. If you look closely at the pink flower you can see that I made a flower from and vintage book and placed it under the inked flower . I had made these quite some time ago and am happy to finally put them to use! I'm loving all the dimension and layers!

How do you like the fairy peeking out from behind the photo mat? I fussy cut her out of the paper and inked the edges and put a bit of Stickles on her wings. I stamped the floral image above her head. The stamp is part of the Butterfly Garden collection.

This is a close up look at the rose/pearl strand circle I made. The roses are from I am Roses, that were white to start with, and I inked them with Worn Lipstick distress ink. I used my MS leaf punch and glued the roses and leaves around the machine stitched circle I had made prior. Now I knew it need one more thing, so I got my stash of pearl string that I got at my local thrift store and wove it in and out of the roses. Love it!

I want to remind you of the blog candy that is being given away this month. Plus, the mini album blog hop is just around the corner! Its going to be so exciting! My first blog hop! Thank you all for coming to look at my work. You will never know how much your words of encouragement mean to me! I just love sharing the things I learn with everyone! I can't wait to see what you girls do with the sketch!

Cherished is a daughter - Stuck on U Sketches!

2011-07-08T00:58:00.000-05:00

Is it really Friday already? I love reveal Friday at Stuck on U Sketches! I can't wait to share with you the sketch we got to work with this week! It is an original by Nanne herself! This one came really easy for me, and everything just seemed to flow right. Gotta love that when that happens! I finally got my hands on Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden Paper Collection and I am in love! These papers are so gorgeous, and the paper collection contained 4 sheets of each design! Yes! 4!

This gorgeous girl is my daughter who is getting married on August 6/11. This photo was taken during a engagement photo shoot with Cheryl Wolfe Photography., who happens to be my sister! There will be more layouts from the engagements photos to follow.

Here is the sketch that Nanne did, and I kept pretty true to the design. Why mess with a good thing?

I did a whole lot of fussy cutting, and the 2 butterflies are part of that. I covered them with Rock Candy Distress Stickles and layered them once they were dry. I used pop dots under the wings to help them stay in the position I wanted them to be in. I used a strand of pearls for the butterfly trail.

For the title I used white Thickers and slightly overlapped them, and I also used MM mini alphas. I used my sewing machine to add the gorgeous detail of the stitching. Through out the layout you will see areas where I have used touches of white Puffy Paint. Love that touch!

I used a Dusty Attic piece that I painted with Gesso, then Rock Candy Distress Paint, and finally a touch of Tea Dye Distress ink. I hand made the flower, adding many touches to add character. The leaves were made with a stamp from Heartfelt Creations. I inked it, cut it out, shaped it and glued it in place.

Here you can see the dimension of the little roses tucked under the fussy cut flower, and the touches of stickles I used.

I cut the brown flourish on my Cricut/Gypsy, inked it and then embossed it with Walnut Stain Distress Embossing powder. Don't forget to rub it once its cool to get rid of the release crystals and discard them! More touches of Stickles on the butterfly and to highlight the roses in the pattern paper.

In this photo I wanted to show you the dimension of the butterfly and its pearl trail as it loops around the flowers.

Please head on over to Stuck on U Sketches to see what the rest of the design team has come up with, and take a look at the goodies you could win if you participate in the 2 sketch challenges!

Looped Flower Tutorial!

2011-07-01T00:02:00.001-05:00

Good Morning! I'm here today to share with you all what I call the looped flower that I made on my last layout for SOUS!

Supply list

Mother's Day Bouquet Cartridge

2 - 2 " loop flower

2 - 1 3/4" loop flower

2 - 1 1/2" loop flower

button or center of your choice

embroidery floss

adhesive

Glimmermist

distress ink

blending tool

foam pad

stylus or paint brush

scissor

I used Aged Mahogany to ink the edges of my flowers.

Take each flower individually and press the stylus into the flower following the shape of the flower on the top side[ on your foam mat] This will give it a cupped look.

Take your Glimmermist and lightly mist the flowers, I used a clear pearl color just for some glimmer.

Start gluing your flower together starting with the largest to smallest, staggering the petals.

Take your embroidery floss of thread and tie it to the button. I used embroidery floss, not separating the threads until after I tied it. I gives it a fun look.

Take your adhesive and glue the button onto the top of your flower. You can leave it like this, as I did on my latest layout "Shh..." OR

You can take a squire and roll the edges of each petal down for a more polished look. Ta DA! You are now done! Pretty easy, eh? The flower is limited only to your imagination. Thanks for joining me today! I hope you all give this flower a try and use it on your next layouts!

Shhh...! Its Friday Reveal Time!

2011-06-24T00:02:00.001-05:00

Hello all you lovely followers! Today I want to introduce my great niece, Lucia Tate, all on her own! Last time you met her with her big sister Cassidy. I'm sure the two of them will be best of friends when Lucia gets a little older. The sketch this week at Stuck on U Sketches is brought to us by the lovely Liz Qualman! I always enjoy working with her sketches. I decided to use the Graphic 45 kit I got from ScrapThat!, I believe it was their March kit. I just love this kit, and the papers are soo gorgeous!

I did some machine stitching, and used my Zutter Distrezz It All. I love the white paper doily I used to represent the circle! I've been having great success in buying them at my local thrift store! If you don't already, you should check out yours and see what goodies you can find!

Here is the sketch by Liz.

Look at these flowers I made using my Cricut! I bought the Motherday Bouquet cartridge to make some flowers for my daughters wedding, and I just love that cart! There are so many different flowers you can make with it! I made 2 of these flowers with that cart, and the larger on with Plantin School book.

The letters I used came with the kit and I believe are Thickers.

I will be making a tutorial on this flower and be presenting it on July 1 at Stuck on U Sketches, as well as here on my blog.

I purchased some new stamps by Pink Paislee from their Butterfly Garden Collection. I used a few of the stamps on my layout. You can see here I used "le jardin".

I did some paper tearing and stamped some flora stamp inside and a dragon fly using Ranger Archival Ink in Coffee.

You can see on the corners of the photo, I used my corner loopy punch by Martha Stewart, used some Webster bloomers that came with the kit, as well as some pink half pearls along the top of the picture matting.

I did a bunch of fussy cutting of the flowered pattern paper, and made a double banner with the garden fairies. I raised them up with pop dots.

Here are some close ups of the banners. I used some bakers twine as the string.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you can join along and try this sweet sketch! We'd love to see your take on it, and there is candy to be had!!

Hugs!

She's Got the Look at SOUS!!

2011-06-10T00:27:00.000-05:00

Another Friday reveal over at Stuck On U Sketches and we have a beautiful

sketch by Beggahuna. I love her sketches, as they usually always challenge me from my normal scrapping style, and this sketch was no different! As soon as I saw this sketch I knew exactly which photos I was going to use! This is my great niece Cassidy, and she instinctively knows what to do in front of a camera!

I had so much fun making this layout! First I want to tell you about the flowers I made! They are peonies, and I got the Peony tutorial from Tammy [simply me] at Swirlydoo's. The great part is that you get to use your Cricut! I used my Cricut to cut out the letters for my title [the look] I used Pink Paislee's resist paper and various distress inks to highlight the areas where I was placing my photos and embellishments.

Here is the sketch from Beggahuna .

Here is a close up of the peony flowers. I made them from white cardstock and then inked them with my distress inks. I used 3 of my Martha Stewart punches for the borders and ran a strip of daisy ribbon down the center.

Another close up of one of the flowers.

In these close ups of Cassidy you can she her impish grin and her pouty lips. For a 3 yr old she knows how to work it! The black scroll flourish I got from Nicklin Designs 1225, and cut it up to suit my needs.

I used some more Dusty Attic's Foliage that I inked and used Crackle Distress paint in Rock Candy. Love the way it looks!

Just another angle. Over all I was quite impressed with myself with all the white space I left and think I did a pretty darn good job with this sketch! Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a look! Please leave a comment, as they surely brighten my day! Don't forget to check out the other design team members work over at SOUS , and leave them some loving too! Hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Summer Kick off Blog Hop!

2011-06-05T00:02:00.001-05:00

Featuring the blogs of Practical Scrappers, Stuck on U Sketches, Getting Cricky, Frosted Designs, Papercraft Star, and Pile it On! The hop runs until June 11!

Practical Scrappers (starting point)

Papercraft Star (go here next)

Pile It On

Stuck on U Sketches

Getting Cricky

Frosted Designs

Our give away[StuckonUSketches] has been donated by Floren at www.GenerationsCrafting.com and includes some yummy Bo Bunny Cambridge, including a mini album and assorted Cambridge papers as well as 3 dimensional stickers and matching brads.

Sandy will choose a winner from those leaving a comment on our June 5th post and will announce the winner on June 12th. The winner will have one week to claim their prize by contacting her at slclarkson at sbcglobal dot net.

Two are better than one!

2011-05-27T00:02:00.001-05:00

Its reveal day again at Stuck on U Sketches, and I am so excited to share this Friday's sketch and my interpretation with you! Since my dh and I just celebrated our 25th anniversary, I decided it would be fun to scrap one of our wedding photos again. This photo is of us sitting in the back of the limo and its a fav of mine.

I used Basic Grey's Curio pattern paper and loved how it went with my photo.

here is the sketch by our own Ness.! Its gorgeous and just one of her many beautiful ones. Be sure to check out her blog!

I made the large flower with my Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die and used a I am Roses flower for the center and the smaller roses as well. They started off white and I used distress ink and water and colored them. I like to do it this way as then I can make them any color I need. The green flowers are from Prima's E line. I used some Dusty Attic chippies behind the flowers that I had used Distress Stains and then covered with Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint.

Here you can see the pattern paper that looks like black lace.... I love it! I use a string of pearl to separate the two patterns. For the title I used some sweet Thickers that a scrappy friend brought to my attention and then let me buy them from her!! Thanks Thelma!

I can't tell you enough how much I love Dusty Attic chippies! This vintage hanging lamp post is just gorgeous! First I covered it with walnut distress stain and then walnut distress embossing powder. I put a piece velum behind the chippie to look like glass. I used my new MS wild flowers PAP that I got for Mother's Day around the edge of the background paper and inked the edges to define it a bit more.

In this photo you can see the technique I used on the photo. First I sanded around the edge of the photo to give it a worn look, and then I got a brain wave to used Distress Embossing powder! I am sure others have done this as well, but it was the first time I thought of it. lol I used 3 smaller doilies behind the photo, and left it plain. I know! Shocking isn't it? I didn't add ink or anything!!

At the bottom of the photo I used a strip of paper that I had used my MS doily punch and ruffled it. I love the soft touch it gives.

Mixed Media fun and cards?

2011-05-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well. I wanted to share some stuff I've done that is new for me! I've been wanting to try some mixed media on a canvas for some time, and did a small one for a friend for her birthday this past December. I bought a 16 x 20 canvas at the local Dollar store for $2, and figure I'd just give it a go! I didn't know what I was going to do, but I did know it would have butterflies on it! So, this is what I came up with!

I used so many different products that I have! Starting off with gesso; a mask I made with my cricket for the butterflies on the branch, and stencil for the branch with the cherry blossoms. In the center I used a mesh bag for added texture. I glued some pages from a vintage book around the edges with white glue, and once that was dry I spritzed it lightly with water and rubbed my finger over it take some of it away.

This floral area I used a TH stamp with Distress Embossing Powder and Stickles.

close up of butterflies

I used my new Martha Stewart butterfly punch to make the butterflies with the white pearls as their trail. I used a lot of stamps on here. My Martha Stewart butterfly stamps, music stamp, script stamp, some Tim Holtz stamps. I stamped with distress inks and some white paint, I sprayed the background with Maya Mists, Smooch Sprays, Moonshadow Mists,. I Used Stickles , Smooch Ink, Distress Embossing Powder and Distress ink. Almost everything but the kitchen sink!

I used a script stamp I have by Heartfelt Creations on the white letters and spritzed a bit of Shimmerz Spray on them so they weren't quite so "white".

I used alcohol inks in a variety of colors on the word changed to signify the changes a butterfly goes through. Hope you enjoyed looking at it!

Now I want to share with you the cards I made over the weekend while I was at an awesome weekend crop. Not only was the crop amazing, but the fact that I actually made cards that is amazing!!

This card everyone made for a make and take. It featured Tim Holtz and some of his products, mainly the distress inks and embossing powder.

We had a few sketches we could do to put tickets into a draw for prizes, [I didn't win:(] These 2 cards and done based on the sketches. I was surprised that actually enjoyed it! So, who know? You just may see more cards coming from me!

I used some of my left over pieces of my March kit from ScrapThat! to make this card. I had to borrow some stamps with sentiments as I don't make cards! lol All in all, it was fun and I am sure I will try it again.

Thanks for joining me, and come on back Friday morning as I will be revealing my next layout based on a sketch by Ness!

I adore you - Reveal day at SOUS!!

2011-05-13T14:43:00.000-05:00

Sorry this is late.... had Blogger issues and couldn't upload yesterday! We have another sketch challenge for you over at Stuck on U Sketches! The sketch is designed by our talented Ness, designed only for SOUS! Let me tell you, this was one fun sketch to work with!!!

This layout features another of my Great Nieces, Odessa. I cropped the photo and changed it to b/w so it worked better with my papers. I used some Basic Grey and DCWV, and Dusty Attics flourishes and birdhouse, machine stitching, distressing, inking and just plain had a blast making this layout!

I wanted to share a close up of the dusty attic flourish chippie I did. I used a technique by Natasha Aranjo Aguirre found here on the Dusty Attic forum. This was alot of fun to do! I didn't use the exact supplies she did, as I don't have any Glimmer Mists as of yet. I also added some Liquid Pearls drops to the flourish.

I made this flower using my TH Tattered Florals die and distress inks. I edged the petals with white puffy paint and then assembled the flower. I wanted to bring a aqua blue shimmer to the flower to tie it into other area of my layout, so I used my Treasured Island Aqua Moon Shadow Mist by lindy stamp gang. These mists are awesome, especially for vintage layouts. They have an amazing shimmer combined with the sepia tones.

I hope you enjoyed my layout! You have 2 wks till the next sketch challenge so get to work and lets see your layouts! Thanks for coming!

25 yrs and counting.....

2011-05-10T14:12:00.000-05:00

Hello faithful followers! Today I am going to get a bit personal and share some joyous news with you! Today, my husband and I celebrate our 25th anniversary!

First,I want to share with you a layout I did of the 2 of us on our wedding day. I think I had been scrapping less than 6 months when I did this. You can see I liked using pink right from the get go! This was a lift of one of Gabi Pollacco's lovely layouts.

Now for the story behind these 2 small bottles of sparkling wine.......

On our wedding night, these 2 bottles of wine were waiting for us in our Honeymoon suite. We decided right then and there that we would save them, and open them on our 25th Anniversary. At the time, it seemed like 25 yrs was a lifetime away. We had no clue how fast time would fly! We both took our vows very seriously, and divorce was something that we both never considered as an option. We have stuck together through thick and thin, good times and bad, sickness and in health. We have faced many challenges and we know that if it weren't for the fact that we both have a relationship with God, and that He is apart of our marriage, we would of become a statistic like many others.

God has blessed us with 2 amazing children, Jerica is almost 22, and Jordan is 19. Both kids love the Lord and we couldn't be more proud of them. In 3 months, we will be adding another member to our family as Jerica marries her High School sweetheart, Jaret! Exciting times to come!

So, tonight..... we will open our 2 bottles of wine[which are probably vinegar by now] and thank God for giving us 25 yrs!

Happy Mother's Day to me!!!

2011-05-09T21:32:00.000-05:00

Did all you fabulous mother's out there have a great MD? I love it when my kids take my suggestions on gifts! [scrappy, of course!] DD and her Fiancée came home from Wpg for the weekend and brought me home this wonderful Martha Stewart Punch around the page border punch! Its called Wild Flowers, and is a deep punch.

Here is a close up!

I just love the edge this punch set gives! Can you say, doilies?? oh MY! Be prepared to see this punch a lot of my work coming up!!

Gentlemen's Quarterly, SOUS style!

2011-04-29T00:02:00.004-05:00

Its reveal day! We got another awesome sketch from Page maps! Surprise surprise! There is no pink on this layout! I have a hard time doing a masculine layout, and this week I was determined to scrap some photos of my handsome son! These are photos that my sister took of Jordan last summer at his high school graduation.

I kept very close to the sketch, just flipping it so it worked better with my photos. I did some heavy distressing with my Zutter Distrezz it all - great little machine, and pink too! The flourish I used is a Prima stud flourish, and I used alcohol ink and blending tool to change it to blue.

Here is what the sketch looks like.

Here is a close up of some of the masking I did with my Tim Holtz mask of clocks and cogs and wheels. I used a few colors of TH distress inks. The chipboard butterflies are by Mayaroad and I left them naked with inked edges. I'm still trying to keep this layout masculine!

The flower embellishment I made consists of the flower, inked and misted ric rac , and some dark brown burlap I found at my local thrift shop. See last photo for a close up on the flower with some more details.

In this photo you can see the distressing and inking I did on the photo, using a sanding block and my handy dandy TH distressing tool, and distress ink in black. I did some stitching with the sewing machine as well.

This is a close up of the flower I made, using leftover strips of paper that I used on the layout. It was alot of fun to make, and I plan on doing a tutorial on it in the near future. I wanted to make a masculine flower, and this was born!

Thanks for checking out my layout, and head on over to SOUS and see what the rest of the team came up with! Make sure you spread some love!!

WOOT WOOT!!

2011-04-21T14:19:00.000-05:00

I just received an email from Practical Scrappers that they have published one of the layouts I had entered in their category little girl projects! Check it out here! How exciting! Thanks Practical Scrappers!

Fab Friday with Stuck on U Sketches

2011-04-15T00:02:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday everyone! The weekend is here! Saturday night my daughter and her Fiancée will be out for their weekend [Sunday, Monday]. I love spending time with the fam! My daughter is getting married in August so there is always something to discuss! Head on over to Stuck on U Sketches and check out the other design team members work!

Today I want to share with you this lovely layout I did of my massage therapist daughter, Avery! Yes, I get my photos any way and any where I can!! lol This photo is taken by Personal Expressions Photography , a local photographer who does amazing work. I toned down the brightness of the yellow to go better with my papers.

I used Prima papers from their Fairy Flora line [love it] You can't see it in any of the photos, but on the yellow background paper I used a very fine glitter pen over top of the swirls. Trust me, IRL it looks awesome! The crystal flourish is by Prima as well.

This is the sketch we were given to work with, by Liz Qualman. Her blog My little Sketch Blook

is really fun, and I did some Designer Guest work for her in 2010.

Here is a close up of the floral corner I made. The main flower I made using Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral die, white card stock, distress ink, distress stickles and puffy paint. The tiny bird with the kissing cherubs [look close] is a chippie by Tattered Angels that I bought when I first started scrapping because I loved the colors and shapes but had yet to use any. I had resigned myself that they would never be making it onto any of my layouts. Glad I could finally use some!

Don't you just love doilies? I find myself using them more and more! I've been lucky and been able to get them really cheap at my local thrift store. I got my Pink Paislee artisian elements and Smoock ink out and inked the edges in this nice blue that you can find in small accents through out the layout.

I used the same Smooch ink on the chipboard letters.

Here is another Tatter Angels chippie I got to use from the same collection, only this time its a dragonfly! I covered it in Rock candy distress stickles.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear? :)

Its Friday at Stuck on U Sketches

2011-04-01T00:02:00.000-05:00

Welcome back! Todays sketch is by the talented Beggahuna! I've worked with numerous sketches by her in the past and I just love them! Its going to be really interesting to see how each girl at SOUS interprets the sketch! For my layout, I used at kit from Scrap that! .called Once Upon a Spring Time. This kit is truly amazing, featuring Graphic 45 papers with a mix of Basic Grey, and lots of embellies! Click on the link and check it out for yourselves!

Big Sister

This layout features the newest member of our extended family, Great Niece Lucia Tate, and her big sister, Cassidy! I did not take this photo.

The papers from this kit called for lots of fussy cutting, so I had to indulge myself! Make sure you have the right kind of scissors, as it makes all the difference!

Here is the sketch by Beggahuna

These pretty roses are by Prima, and I love the glass shards on them.

I just loved the white lace ties that I found at my local thrift store, I think they were the perfect touch for this layout. If you look closely you can see on the fussy cut flowers that I used Tattered Rose Distress Stickles to give them more dimension.

I did some layering of the fussy cut flowers, and you can see the dimension by the shadows they cast!

I love the fairies in theses papers, and on this one I used some Smooch ink to and some shimmer, though you can't see it in this lighting. I love her being nestled in with the fussy cut tulips watching over the girls.

For the title, I wanted to emphasize the fact that Cassidy is the big sister, so I took the large chipboard letters I had. They were in the wrong color, but no problem! I painted them with a white acrylic craft paint. When the paint dried, I put a really thick layer of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. I helped it dry by using my Ranger heat gun [I am impatient, what can I say?] So, now that the paint has crackled I took Tattered Rose distress ink and rubbed it into the cracks and Viola! The cracks pop and the letters look awesome!!!

Another close up of the flowers, and I wanted you to notice on the edges of the pattern paper I used the Smooch ink that came with the kit, and you can see the smattering of pearls I 've place around the layout.

In this photo I wanted to show you how I layered the photos. I had a 5x7 and a 4x6. I put pop dots behind the 4x6 and layered it on top of the 5x7. I sanded the edges of the 5x7 a bit with my sanding block. Then I matted the photos on to the pattern paper that I had distressed.

Thanks so much for looking at my work, and please leave a comment as I love to hear from all of you! Remember to check out SOUS and take a look at what the other members of the design team have creative. I can guarantee you will not be disappointed!!

Blog Candy over at Pages Scrapped!

2011-03-31T14:06:00.000-05:00

Scrappy friends, feast your eyes upon all the scrappy goodness before you! Look at all that Dusty Attic laser cuts, and the Tim Holtz goodness! I suggest getting on over to Pages Scrapped, become a follower and check out what you have to do to win all this Candy!! I know I sure did!

my scrap space - Up and running!

2011-03-25T20:18:00.001-05:00

Welcome to my scrappy place! I've waited a long time to be able to set up this space and though it isn't 100% done, it feels great! So, come with me and I will give you "the tour"!.

This is what you see once you've walked down the stairs into the basement. I have these 2 tables set up in a L shape, with one against the wall, the other open to where the rec room is.

Hang a left and you will see this shelf and my 2 carts. In the wooden basket sitting on top of the carts I have my punches that I don't have room for on the shelf above it.

Turn to your left again, and you will see my Cricut/sewing nook. My hubby is building an open cabinet that will be mounted on the wall above the table for storage of albums etc.

I inherited this cut wire shelf stand recently. It was my mom's, but now that she has passed on, and I have a great spot for it, Dad let me take it! :) I'm not sure what will all go on it, but I am sure I will think of something eventually!

Here is a close up of this shelf. My dad made it for me years ago, but I hadn't been using if for quite some time as I didn't have a place for it. I painted it and am using it for my mists and spray inks, hanging my ribbons from it and have some of my punches on it!

Here is a close up of some more shelves my dad made for my mom when they lived in Alberta. They were just hanging out in the garage now as they had no place for them. I painted them white and use them for my Stickles, alcohol inks, embossing powders, and crackle paints.

Here you can see my clip it up, cutting center, and my MM Carousel.

Here is a close up of my working station. I have my distress ink handy and my bending tools. Its were the magic happens! The cute little bird cage I bought at Winners. I have this vintage wooden crate that sits on the table in front of me where I store my inks, and on top of it in the wire basket are the flowers I've made, and of course Gypsy Girl.

These stacked drawers hold my cardstock and pattern paper. The cute bear paper towel holder you see is something I made for my MIL years ago when I did Folk Art painting. I inherited it back after FIL passed away and MIL moved into a Seniors Care home.

Thanks for dropping in ! Next time bring your scrappy goods and we can scrap together! As you can see, I have room for company!

Something a little different SOUS!

2011-03-18T00:02:00.086-05:00

Hi there Friends! I hope you have been enjoying the sketches from Stuck on U Sketches as much as I have! The sketch for this week is from pagemaps, and is something different for me.

This time I wanted to get out of my comfort zone a bit and try something different. This photo is of my brother kissing his newly married daughter on the cheek. I just love the expression on Dayna's face! She has a flare for the dramatic and tackles everything with passion. I love this about her! The photo was taken at Banff, Canada, where their reception was held. I didn't do any editing to the photo and with its slightly over exposed look[that was planned] I knew exactly what papers and techniques I would use!. Just a note to add that I did not take this photo, but I do not know the name of their photographer.

Here is " Daddy's Girl"

I started off with white cardstock and got out my Smooch mist inks. I wanted to get that splattered look that is popular these days. Prima papers were perfect for the photo, and of course, PINK! I also slapped on some Gesso in a few places for added texture.

I refrained from using my TH distessing tool [ you have no idea how hard that was!] but just could not NOT ink the edges! I think its impossible to see in the photos, but I used a fine glitter pen and out lined all the papers and photo. I used some pink bling to go with the pink theme.

I rolled the edges of the blue strip of paper, and made the cute daisy like flower.

I used a paper doily and inked it with a couple of distress inks. The tittle, Daddy's Girl is from Dusty Attics [which I love] I inked it with a raspberry/burgundy ink, and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I took 2 tickets from Pink Paislee, put the wedding date on one and inked it abit. I made this flower as well.

Here I used a border punch on the piece of paper, put some pink flower ribbon and some fibers just under the paper, and tucked in a ticket and , of course, a butterfly. I rarely make a layout with out a butterfly. They are special to me, as they are my reminder of my mom who passed away 2 1/2 yrs ago, and the reason I started scrapbooking to begin with!

Here is the sketch by pagemaps, I hope you have enjoyed looking at my ' not so normal for me layout' as much as the fun I had making it! Don't forget to check out the SOUS blog and see what the other designers came up with, and please leave them some love too!

Now, who is interested in some BLOG CANDY????? Like what you see? Floren at Generations Crafting is giving away all these goodies in this photo! For details head on back over the SOUS!

Stuck on U Sketches and another SWEET layout!

2011-03-04T00:02:00.009-06:00

Hello faithful followers! Have I got an awesome layout to show you today! It's all because of this awesome sketch blog I am designing for! First I will show you my layout, and then the sketch.

Welcome to "Sweet - the most beautiful girl" This is another layout of one of my Great niece, Madden. This girl knows how to strike a pose and is extremely photogenic! I didn't take this picture...it was taken by Madden's mom.

This sketch was designed by Suepup, so click on her name and check out her blog. She has alot of amazing layouts etc that are sure to inspire!

I did another first, and made a banner. I'm not a big fan of them, but thought it lent its self very nicely to my layout. I simply free hand cut the triangles and with scalloped scissors cut out the scallops across the top. I used letters left over from a Swirlydoos kit. I put pop dots under the triangles to make them stand out better. I was very pleased with my first attempt!

TIP: to make the circle with the string of pink glittered pearls, I placed a luncheon plate upside down where I wanted the circle of pearls to be. I then took my Zip Dry adhesive and traced around the edge of the plate with a line of the adhesive. Then I took the string of pearls and placed it around the plate, taking care to note where I was placing my flowers etc so that if I didn't have enough pearls to make a complete circle I could use flowers etc as filler. Form the pearls around the plate and hold in place and leave the plate till the adhesive dries. Take the plate away and VIOLA! you have a perfect circle of pearls!

This dimensional glitter tag is from MME lost and found collection called Pretty, as well as the darker pink paper that I used my MS loops punch on.

I used my leaves stamp from Heartfelt Creations, stamped them on white card stock, fussy cut them and then inked them with various green inks.

I had a fun making the tag, which I stamped with a Prima music stamp, inked with Distress Inks, stamped the butterflies with Aged Mahogany and then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. I then covered the tag with Rock Candy distress Stickles and when that was dry I added some white ribbon along the bottom.

In this photo you can see the tag and the flowers I made, minus the large flower which is a Prima bloom.

I took one of my MS butterfly stamps and stamped it with Archival Ink on white cardstock. Then I coloured it in with my Sakura Glaze pens. Then I put a generous layer of Diamond glaze on it and let it dry over night. I cut it out and then bent in between my fingers, cracking the glaze. If you click on the photo you will be able to see the crackle effect much better.

I used one of my Prima stencils along the bottom and left side of the layout and used Walnut Stain distress ink. I then took my Rangers Dimensional paint in Espresso and tried to follow the lines in the stencil. I will admit that I am not overly crazy about how that part turned out, but was adviced by some one I would consider a Mentor that it looked great. So, I will trust her and take her word for it!

Thank you for looking and I hope you have been inspired. Please take a look at all the other fabulous designers at Stuck on U Sketches and leave them some love! I can hardly wait to show you what the next sketch is like and my interpretation of it looks like!

Pink Paislee Giveaway at Practical Scrappers!

2011-03-03T15:53:00.000-06:00

This is from Practical Scrappers website:

Pink Paislee creates some gorgeous scrappy products and today we're here to share some projects featuring them. Thanks to all of you who sent in beautiful submissions, it was fun to look thru them! Pink Paislee was generous in providing a prize pack for one of our readers...so keep reading to find out how you can qualify!

Carolina

Olga

Aymee

Kimberly

Jannike

Carolina

Bev

Christine

You can get up to four entries to win the prize pack.
The only thing you have to do to get an entry is make sure you are a follower here and leave us a comment telling us your favorite line from Pink Paislee. The way to get a second entry is to become a follower of Pink Paislee on their blog or a fan of theirs on facebook, and make sure to let us know you did it. You can get a third entry by posting about this giveaway on your blog and leaving us a link in the comments. And lastly, you can get a fourth entry by posting any project of yours on our facebook page. Those are some serious chances to win some great stuff! Deadline for entry is Friday, March 11th.

Don't miss this opportunity!

Dusty Attic Giveaway!

2011-02-24T14:16:00.000-06:00

Check this out DA fans!

Vicky Alberto is now a Canadian Dusty Attic retailer! How sweet is that? She'll be carrying DA in her ETSY store. To celebrate this, she is giving away a very sweet prize!!

Stuck on U Sketches!!

2011-02-18T00:02:00.004-06:00

I'm SO excited to announce to you all that I have been chosen to be on the design team at Stuck on

You Sketches! This is the first design team I've had the pleasure to be on, and what could be better for me than a sketch one! I LOVE sketches! This is the sketch they sent me for their bi-weekly sketch and,......

this is my take on it!

In order to use the photos I wanted [she is my cousin's sweet daughter] I had to flip the sketch so Madelyn was swing into the layout, and not out! I used some more of my Prima pattern paper from the Fairy Flora line.

I did some pleat folding in the upper left corner to reveal some making I did behind it, and embellished the folds with purple pearls and a purple gemmed brad.

This is a close up of some of the flowers I made out of card stock and some of the Prima pattern paper, accenting with a pearl in the middle. I added a cardstock butterfly and use a small piece of a pearl strand intertwined .

I wanted to follow this sketch fairly closely and wanted to add th photo in the circle, so I made this Gerber daisy and used Madelyn's photo, in black and white, for its center.

This is a side view of the flowers to show you the dimension.

I did a bit of misting with pink and teal Smooch ink. I made a vine with purple rose buds and some curly tendrils, and nestled in my other handmade flowers and pearl strand .

For the sub title I wrote the words on cardstock and cut them out and inked the edges.

I did some hand stitching on the sides of the strip of pattern paper to give it a bit of punch.

I used pink glitter letters for the title.

Thanks for looking at my layout and be ready for more scrappy goodness coming for Stuck on U Sketches!

Member Spotlight

2011-02-07T15:54:00.000-06:00

I get to toot my own horn for a bit! I have the honor of being in the member Spotlight over at Love is in the Details!

Love is in the Details was the very first contact I had with in the scrapbooking world. It turned out that the store was only a 30 minute drive from where I live, and there are a good number of members that live within 1 1/2 hr radius. In winter we try to get together monthly for a scrappy day, and in spring and fall , Lori, the owner and her team but on a marvelous day of food, fun, fabulous prizes!

This is the place where I learned the basics,, where I slowly gained confidence to open my wings in this new world of scrapping , and start to SOAR! Love is in the Details will always be home to me no matter what.

From the bottom of my heart, Thank You!!!!

Here is what they wrote:

Welcome to the very first of our Member Spotlights for the Month of Love!!! We are so very excited to be able to showcase a member of our forum, show off some of their work, and ask them a few questions!!!

The lucky #1 is our own CINNABON... aka Bonnie Bonnie is a 'newer' scrapper, but you would never know it by looking at her creations.... she has a very true to herself style and her layouts come from the heart with minute details that others would never have the patience for!

First off, let's see what Bonnie had to say in regards to the questions thrown at her

1. You have been scrapbooking a relatively short period of time. Would you say your style has changed since beginning?

Yes! I definitely think my style has changed since I first started scrapbooking. I knew nothing about scrapbooking when I started so I didn't really have a style, and I still struggle with a name for my style.

2. What is your favorite technique that you apply to your pages?

I can only choose one? My favorite technique that i use on all my layouts would be distressing with ink and my Tim Holtz edge distresser. For me I have to do both!

3. If you owned your own scrapbook company, what type of embellishment/s would you like to focus on?

If I owned my own Scrapbooking Company I would definitely focus on a Tim Holtz meets Prima meets Websters Pages type of embellishments. Definitely flowers, vines, laser cut chipboard like Dusty Attics, and inks, LOTS of inks!

4. Where are all of your layouts kept, and do you show them to visitors or are they more private?

I only have 3 albums right now, that I keep in my living room, and the rest I have put in a big clear plastic container. I share them with anyone who is interested, and probably to some who aren't!

5. What advice would you give to someone that is just starting out in the scrapbooking area, and just doesn't know where to start?

I would have to say start researching on the internet. There are so many wonderful blogs and websites, you are bound to come across something that appeals to you. Also that there are no "rules". You don't have to scrap a certain way. I was first told that I had to have my pages matching each other when my book would be opened. I quickly realized I am not a 2 page scrapper, but a one page scrapper. Scrap in what ever order you like, weather chronologically or whatever suits your mood that day. Hook up with people from your LSS or some on line community. Love In The Details is a great place to start!!

Here is Bonnie's very first layout that was uploaded into her gallery...

And a gorgeous layout of her mother, that showcases her work with flowers that is so beautiful...

One of her most recent layouts, she posted that she applied almost every single technique that she has learned onto it... and the results are gorgeous...

Please head over to Bonnies gallery and take a browse through all of the beautiful layouts... you won't be disappointed!!
http://www.loveisinthedetails.ca/photog ... ?cat=10394

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, Bonnie!!

Tu-tu Cute!

2011-01-21T22:03:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I Hope you are all surviving this cold, snowy winter we are having! I am happy to announce that I have completed my first layout of the year and want to share it with you! First off, I was so excited when I got a package in the mail yesterday! It contained 4 Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger, and a whole bunch of #8 tags. I am proud to say that I now own all 36 colors of Distress Inks! You will be able to tell on this layout that I put them to good use!

I want to say thank you to my cousin Karen for letting me use this adorable photo of her daughter Madelyn! I distressed the photo with a sanding block, and my scrappy friend Lisa G put on the sweet fairy wings using her amazing talent with Photoshop! Thanks, Lisa!!

I purchased a new embossing folder in a damask pattern and used it on the bracket diecut that I made with white cardstock and inks!

For Christmas I got a Circut Lite cartridge called Botanicals and I just love the images on it. I used the purple cone flowers and flower/butterfly in a large scale for this layout. I cut them out of white cardstock, and inked them with my Distress Inks. I dribbled some water droplets on to the cut outs and it achieved this mottled, water color look. I stamped the flowers with a script stamp and embossing ink, then embossed Distress Embossing powder. I absolutely love the effect it gave! I tipped the ends with Tulip Puffy paint.

I made circle from a corner punch by Martha Stewart and white cardstock, which I then inked with Antique Linen Distress Ink. The title is made with Prima Flocked Alphas.

Here is a close up of the photo and the distressing.

I made this flower using Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die and used the butterfly punch from MS and a pearl flourish for the butterfly trail.

I made the vine myself, as well as the pink flower the butterfly is sitting on. I also got my sewing machine out again and did some curvy stitching on the background paper. I used my MS doily punch around the edge of the Prima Fairy Flora pattern paper.

I used pop dots to raise up this flower/butterfly diecut to give it more dimension.

Thank you all for being so patient with me and not giving up on me. My health has been taking its toll on my mojo and my scrapping area is NOT working for me. I am in the process of trying to get my new space set up in the basement where I will have loads of room and my creativity will be able to bloom! TTYL!!!!!

Happy Belated New Year!

2011-01-21T00:03:00.000-06:00

Hi all! First off I just want to say I am sorry that I have been MIA for so long. We've had lots of craziness happening at home, and I've just haven't had the energy to be creative in any sense of the word! My mojo is finally showing its face again, and I hope to share with you a layout that I have been laboring over. I hope it will be worth the wait, and you will enjoy looking at all the different techniques I've used as much as I had in creating them!

Expect another update, hopefully tomorrow. Lord willing and the creek don't rise! Rest your eyes as they will be busy looking at all the details!! Chow!

A home at last!

2010-12-07T23:17:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I want to share with you all something I made to store my many ink blending foams! Now I didn't come up with this idea, my scrappy friend Lisa made one of these first so I will give her the credit! Take a look!

I used the cover of a book, and covered it with Basic Grey 's 'Green at Heart'. I wanted my book to be colorful. On my last layout I used a paper doily on it, and I had a few "practice" doilies left over and I thought it would be cool to use it on the cover as well. I used a tape runner to tape all the paper down, and then gave it 2 generous coats of Mod Podge, inside and out. I knew that the book had great potential to get inked up [knowing me]and thought it would good to protect it.

Now, in my defense, I must say that I realize I put the foams on the 'wrong' side. I am left handed and it is my time to rebel against society and mount them in a way that is comfortable for this lefty! lol! I used 3 sheets of transiencies and put 9 foams with velcro circles per page. I then made labels for each color [even the ones I don't have yet] all 36 of them! I only need 5 more!!!

If you look closely at the opening of the book you can see that the book doesn't close nice and flat. I needed a way to secure it so as not to wreck it going to crops etc. I have this folder that I keep my sketches in and it is closed with an elastic that is attached to the back. Seeing that got me thinking and looking, and sure enough, I found some elastic, colored it with Alcohol ink, attached the elastic with eyelets and TADA! I now can close my book properly!

This is what the whole cover looks like from behind, and you can really see what the doily looks like. I'm pretty proud of myself, venturing into uncharted waters for me! Thanks for taking a look, and hopefully leave inspired to make a home for your foams too!

Tried something new!

2010-12-02T22:40:00.001-06:00

Friends

Hi everyone! Its hard to believe that its December already, but by looking outside at all the snow we have you'd think it was the end of January! I've made a good start on my Christmas shopping, and for me, that is amazing!

I want to share this canvas I just finished with you all. This is the first one I've ever done, so it was rather exciting for me! I have a great friend who's 40th is coming up on the weekend so I thought it would be the perfect gift for her.

I got the canvas at the MCC store [thrift store] for .30 cents. Now that I look at the canvas, I realize that I've used a number of the items on the canvas that I purchased at MCC! The background is ripped up pages from a vintage book I bought there, and the fibers I've used as a border was also purchased there!

I made the Gerber daisies from cardstock and my Gypsy/Cricut and Picturesque cartridge. I will be doing a tutorial on how I made them in the near future. I used Tim Holtz rusted grunge technique on the chipboard flourish. I used Tim's flourish mask and a few of his distress inks on the background.

Thanks for taking a look, and thank you all for your support!

Heaven Sent

2010-11-18T15:18:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! I'd like to share with you my latest l/o! It is about my Great Niece, who was born 6 hrs after her Great Grandfather passed away. He was my hubbies Dad. It was a bittersweet day. The Lord giveth and the Good Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

For a long time now, I have been wanting to sew on a layout with my sewing machine. I thought I would wait till my scrap room was set up in the basement, but since that doesn't seem to happening fast enough for my liking, I took it out and plopped it on the kitchen table. It had been years since I used that thing! Once I got the kinks worked out and it sewing smoothly on a scrap piece of paper, I took the the plunge and sewed! I really like the way it adds to a layout! I used some crocheted lace ribbon under the photo and accented it with pink rhinestones.

I took a 10" white paper doily and inked it with Distress Inks. I used a flourish frame from Dusty Attics that I had gotten in one of my Swirlydoos kits and painted it with Antique Linen Distress Crackle Paint. I fussy cut the bird cage and the bird from some of my Webster's Pages paper, used my Heartfelt leaves stamp to make the leaves. I used some green distress ink as water color, with a paint brush. I created some curly tendrils with floral wire and tape. I made the flowers from white card stock using the flower tutorial I posted earlier.

In the top left hand corner I used some silk flowers I collect from some of my mom's flower arrangements after she passed away. Pink Paislee has these amazing embellishments called Artisan Elements, and I used 2 different pieces on my layout. Here, I used one under the the flower cluster and inked it with distess ink in Broken China and Vintage Photo.

In the top right corner I used a mask from Prima. I sprayed re-positional adhesive on the back and placed it on the paper and then used Distress ink in Antique Linen , with my blending tool. I placed white half pearls in the scallops of the doily.

I had photo copied a part of the background paper where the butterfly was and used Rock Candy Distress Stickles on it, giving it a nice aged look. I then glued on the body part over the butterfly in the background paper and adjusted the wings so it looks 3 demensional. I used another Artisan Elements ornaments and inked it in Aged Mahogany distress ink, and put the title in mini letters in the center.

Thank you for looking, and please leave a comment as I love to hear from you!

Flower Tutorial!!!

2010-11-15T23:08:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I've had some requests for a tutorial on some of my latest flowers,That I used on my 'Lean on Me' l/o, so I thought I would get on it! First off, I want to say that these are not a "Bonnie original", and the idea for part of the flowers came for a good friend of mine from Swirlydoos by the name of Lisa Gregory. You can find her here. She does amazing work and loves to share her ideas with everyone!

Here are the tools that I used, and can be substituted. I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Die, and cut 2 of large and medium, 3 for of the small, leaving out the flower with the long slender petals. I used 2 colors of distress ink in the same color family, a blending tool, water, Zipdry glue and Tulip Puffy paint in white. You also need a heat gun. You could use glimmer mist in place of the ink and water.

I inked the larger petals along the outer edges, the medium petals totally with the same color. For the 3 small petals I used a darker color. The aim is to go from darker to light from the center out.

Next I spritzed the petals generously with water, as I am using a thicker cardstock. The water softens the paper and makes the ink bleed for a softer look, but you must be gentle as the paper can rip.

Now I gently crumple up the petals and give them a bit of a twist, and hit them a bit with my heat gun.

Gently open the petals, leaving one closed up of the small ones, as this will be the center bud. Take your heat gun and dry the petals. Air drying works too, I'm just to impatient to see the results!

I like to assemble the flowers in separate layers ones they are dry, according to size. Make sure you stagger the petals, and use your glue to glue them together.

Here is a close up of what the center flower looks like. I put some glue in the folds of the center bud, and once it dries I snip the bottom off so it doesn't sit too tall. Again, stagger the petals as you glue them together.

Now comes the fun part that sets these flowers apart! You need white puffy paint and carefully put it along the edges of the petals

When that part is done the flower will look like this. Let it dry for 10-15 minutes and then take your heat gun or blow dryer [haven't tried this] and heat up the flower.

This is what the finished product looks like after its puffed up and the edges have been hit with a bit of ink! I just LOVE this technique!

Here are a few more flowers that I've done with this technique. You imagination is your only limit on what you can do!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and that you find a passion for making these flowers the way I have! Thanks for looking!

My Little Sketch Book - 3rd times a charm!

2010-11-07T21:04:00.001-06:00

Once again, I have been given the privilege to be Guest Designer over at My Little Sketch Book. This is my 3rd and final layout for this year.

On this layout called 'lean on me', I used left overs from one of my Swirlydoos kits. The photo is of my sister and her best friends daughter. I thought it was so cute I just had to scrap it, and I think it is one of my favs! I love the way it turned out!

This is the sketch I had to work with, designed by Liz Qualman. I really like it, as it is a simple sketch that has huge potential to be interpreted in unlimited ways.

In this close up you can see the sugared letters I made. I started with plain white letters, stamped them with black Stazon ink and a script stamp. Then I used Diamond Glaze as an adhesive, and sprinkled Diamond Dust over the letters. Once they were dry I then inked the edges with distress ink to give them more definition. I also took a sanding block to the edges of my photo to distress them and then inked the edges with walnut stain distress ink to make it pop off the page.

I hand made these flowers using Tim Holtz's die called Tattered Florals. I just got a new stamp from Heartfelt Creations called 'Leafy Swirls' that a lot of the girls over at Swirlydoos have been using. I stamped it on green cardstock using a dark green distress ink and then fussy cut it out. I then used the same ink on the edges to give more depth.

I used some of the bloomers I'd been hoarding from Websters Pages in place of plain ribbon below the title.

In this photo, you can see the masking I did on the pink pattern paper I used for the base of my layout. I used a new mask by Prima and distress ink. I printed off some butterflies that Lisa Gregory from Swirlydoos is so kind to find for us and post on the forum. I fussy cut them out, then used Distress Crackle Paint in Rock Candy, and once it was dry I rubbed some brown distress ink into the cracks. You can also see on the brown cardstock and the inner pattern paper the water distressing I did to give it character. I love that technique!

Here is another angle of the flowers I made with the leaves I stamped and cut out.

I hope you enjoy looking at this layout as much as I had making it, and please be sure to check out My Little Sketch Book, and leave some love for the other 2 designers as well! Thank you my faithful followers!!!

Harvest Ball Crop at Love Is In The Details!

2010-10-28T23:04:00.000-05:00

Hi all! This past weekend I went to an all day crop in Miami Manitoba, Canada, put on by Lori, who is the owner of Love Is In The Details. She puts on these totally amazing crops, with great prizes, awesome food and lots of shopping! We made a sweet make an take of a little canvas with easel, taught by the amazing Lisa Tottle which was tons of fun!

We covered the canvas with old Reader's Digest pages, and then took masking tape and put it on the front of the canvas and pulled it off, removing some of the words and distressing the paper. We then made the flowers with one of the dies from Tim Holtz Tattered floral dies and but Distress Stickles in Rock Candy to give it a sugared effect. Then we stamped some swirls on the canvas, distressed the edges with ink and glued the leaf, flower and the word on it. Viola! It is finished!

I made this layout with a leftover My Creative Scrapbook kit, using a sketch by one of the design team members at LIITD. I love Webster's Pages paper! It takes a bit of getting used to -fussy cutting the beautiful papers, but well worth the effort! This is photo of Jerica and I on Christmas day last year, during a blizzard. It was good to be inside where it was nice and warm with family!

The flower and the bling flourish is from Prima, the tiny flowers are from a new site i found. I ordered them in white, and then I color them whatever color I want. I made the leaves with my beloved Gypsy/Cricut.

I used my distress tool on all the edges and then inked them with distress ink.

This sweet little bird came with the My Creative Scrapbook kit and I just love it!

Thanks for taking a look! I look forward to hearing from you all!

"Isn't She Lovely? " Lavender Escape Oct Swirlydoos kit!

2010-10-18T22:34:00.001-05:00

This latest Swirlydoos kit is full of beautiful Webster Pages paper! Its hard to believe that I only used one of them for this layout!

My sister, Cheryl Wolfe, is the amazing photographer who took this captivating photo of my daughter Jerica, last October. I love how the sunlight is filtering through from behind and you can actually see the rays come right across her just under her face! Check out Cheryl's blog Aphrodite's Boudoir Photography for more of her stunning work!

For this layout, I used the sketch that came with the Swirlydoos kit, made by Beggahuna. This time I wanted to try and keep my layout less detailed and cluttered [very hard for me to do!] I used a stencil of cherry blossoms with a light pink distress ink on the pattern paper to fill in some of the empty space, and for subtle detail. The really cute peacock feather came with the kit too!

I hand made all the flowers, minus the purple/green one in the corner, w hich is a Prima flowers. I made a couple variations of the flower that Lisa Gregory recently put on her blog. I used the basic idea, but made my own centers in various ways. I am sooo in love with this idea of using Tulip's Puffy paint around the edges of the blooms. You can count on seeing alot more of that technique!

I used a Dusty Attics chipboard gate that I had been saving for just the right layout. I used Moon Shadow Mist in Treasure Island Aqua, and then used some Distress Embossing powder in various areas to give it a adged patina. If you look at the picture above this you will be able to see the aqua patina that shows through at different angles.

If you look closely you can see some purple and blue dewdrops that I made using a hot glue gun, appling the glue in droplets onto my TH nonstick mat and then coloring with alcohol ink. Very fast and easy to make, and you can make all kinds of different sizes! If the glue is hot enough it form the droplet pretty much on its own.

On the outside of the purple circle I added some gathered lace I got from my Mother-In-Law and then I added a string of turquoise frosted pearl I bought at Wal Mart on the inside edge of the lace.

I wanted to keep the title simple, but still noticeable, so I used some MM mini letters and made the words on cream cardstock, cut out the words and then inked around the edges. Pretty simple.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and please leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you!

Littlest Angel Swirlydoos Mon Amour sketch and kit

2010-09-28T18:54:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Sorry for taking so long to post this layout! Thanks for being patient! For some reason I tend to put off updating my blog! Not good!

This is the sketch by Beggahuna that we got with the Sept kit from Swirlydoos. She always has such beautiful sketches!

Here is my take on the sketch. This layout, ' Littlest Angel' features my great niece Nila, she is a few years older now, but still just as adorable. Her mom did a photo shoot with her in Angel wings. It is hard to see in these photos, so you will have to take my word for it! ;)

In the kit we got a sweet paper doily. I decided to use the backside of it as a mask, and used a number of Shimmer spritz's, and some distress ink. It was a neat way to incorporate the circle from the sketch. I cut down the background paper that I misted and water distressed it and inked it as well. For some added detail, I ripped the corner of the paper and curled the edges and put some pattern paper behind it and used some brads to accentuate it. For the black cardstock underneath, I used one of my MS Punch around The Border punches along the top and down the right hand side.

I used a large red Prima flower from a previous kit as the base for my zipper flower and stuck a black feather behind it.

I made some red butterflies. I had cut these ones out with my Crciut/Gypsy a while back from white card stock but hadn't used them yet. I took some red Distress Ink and inked them and them embossed them with clear embossing powder and added some cyrstals for the bodies.

Here you can see that I heavily distressed the photos. First, I took sandpaper to them, then added a very light touch of red distress ink, a bit more sanding and then Vintage Photo distress ink on the edges.

I also hand made these other flowers, using my daisy punches, and took a hole punch to the red ones to add more detail and help with the destressed look. The black rose buds I made using my small daisy punch.

This gorgeous black scroll came from Nicole Lombardo. Make sure you check out her Etsy store as she as lovely stuff and very resonable priced, and shipping too!

Thank you so much for dropping in! Please leave your comments as I always loving hearing what you have to say! Be blessed!

Zipper Flower Tutorial

2010-09-22T17:25:00.002-05:00

Supplies needed:

Scissors button or pearl embellishment for flower center.

Needle

Thread

Zipper- size varies on the size of flower you want to make. This zipper is approx 26”. The metal teeth zippers work the best as they are stiffer, but the nylon ones work as well for smaller or less structured looking flowers.

Cut the Top Stop and the Bottom Stop off the zipper and slide off the zipper Pull, separating the zipper into 2 parts. Set aside on half for a different project.

Keep in mind that I am left handed, so, if you are right handed you will probably be folding your zipper the opposite direction.

Take one end of the zipper in your hand and make a loop/petal, making sure that the teeth of the zipper is always on the outside of the loop. The size of the loop will depend on how big you want your entire flower to be, and the length of your zipper. Take your needle and thread [double for added strength] and come up from underneath through all layers and back down to secure.

Continue making loops/petals and securing until you have completed 5 loops.

This is what it should look like when all five petals are done. You should have a tail of zipper left over that is approximately 4 inches long.

Now take the remaining zipper and from the open end, roll it up like shown in the photo and set it into the middle of the loops/petals.

Take your needle up through the bottom of flower and through the side of the rolled up center and out the other side, and back down to the underside of the flower. Do this several times to secure.

Now you have completed the main structure of the flower and you can leave as is, or embellish it the way you like!

Here are some that I made, and embellished. The flower I made for my layout “simple pleasures” is embellished with lace, Diamond Dust on the teeth, and glittered pearls for the center. This Tutorial is for sharing and everyone to try! If you make one, I'd sure like to see it!

Simple Pleasures - The full meal deal!

2010-09-22T16:07:00.002-05:00

This layout was inspired by the photo of my Mother in Law, at the age of 26, taken in 1946. If you do the math, you will know that she is now 90! She is an inspiration! The design was inspired by a sketch I found by Tanya Leigh Designs. I usually stick pretty close to the sketches I follow.

I used pattern paper from IOD {Iron Orchid Designs] and distressed the edges with my Zutter Distrezzer , Ranger Distress ink and water. I used Bazzill Cardstock as the base of the layout and to mat my photo. To create the Lacey ruffle around the cardstock frame I used one of my Martha Stewart border punches and punched out strips of paper and attached it to the back side of the cardstock. I found some great pearl ribbon at my local thrift store and used that to finish of the frame for the photo.

I used my Cricut to cut out the leaves from white cardstock and I used distress inks to bring them to life. The title is made from glitter alpha stickers by Creative Imaginations.

The vintage style lamp post is a laser cut chipboard by Dusty Attics. They have amazingly detailed chipboard embellishments! I used Ranger Distress Embossing Powder and a touch of Ranger Distress Stickles to help age the lamp post. The butterfly was stamped with a Martha Stewart stamp, distress ink and finished with a thick layer of Ranger Distress Crackle Paint in Rock Candy. I finished off the butterfly bodies with half pearls.

I used a frosted string of pearls as a butterfly trail, wrapping up and around the lamp post. I hand made the pink paper flowers, and also hand made the brown flower from a zipper and lace. I have made up a tutorial of the zipper flower to share with you all!

I used Journaling stickers by IOD Beloved line for the hidden journalling. Journalling reads " This is Mary Klassen, my MIL at the age of 26. She is sitting in front of St. Pauls Hospital in Saskatoon, Sask,

Canada

, Where she was working before marriage."

I used a piece of shear pink ribbon to tie the key and the pink heart together, and used an Artisan Elements frame by Pink Paislee to put the name and date on to.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my layout as much as I enjoyed making it!

Featured Artist, SNR and Simple Pleasures

2010-09-16T14:39:00.001-05:00

My FA layout/tutorial as been published and you can find it here for now! Here is a photo of the layout, and I will share more details and the tutorial here on my blog a little later.

Thanks for looking!