Welcome to my blog!

The purpose of this blog is to explore my development of scrapbooking techniques. I will also provide reviews of products when I find something great or something terrible, and will show off all the work I enter in challenges and contests. Please check out my Welcome note if this is your first visit.

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Happy Scrapping!




Sunday, April 29, 2012

Sketches with a Twist April

I'm really enjoying the monthly fun at Sketches with a Twist. April's sketch is below, and the twist was to use some mesh (any old mesh hanging around the house).


I have to admit, first I tried misting through the mest, but hated the color combo with the photos I wanted to use, so I ripped that apart and opted to use the mesh itself. It is from an onion bag, in case you don't recognize it.





I inked my chipboard letters to give them the brown color with Walnut Stain distress ink, and the orange alphas are DIY thickers with embossing powder. If you are going to emboss DIY thickers, be ready for the fact that they shrink a bit. I think I lost about 1/4 of the size, and they started to curl as well, so you just have to be light and easy with the heat gun on them.

I used Tattered Angels and acrylic paint on the butterfly, and added some twine. I also added the third photo to this sketch in an oval. The papers are from MME paisley stack.

Christa's April Challenge and Let's Scrap come together

Christa challenged us to use tickets this month at Two Scrapbook Friends. I paired this with the Let's Scrap sketch for this week shown below. I also added the Scraptasic Club April Challenge 1, which was to make a flower using at least 3 layers.


And here is what I came up with:





Supplies are all pretty random. The flower is made with 5 layers, 3 of organza in orange and 2 of tulle, plus the brad makes a 6th layer. I cut the scalloped border on my Silhouette. The blue paper is Recollections, and the background is sprayed with Tattered Angels (blue) and Dylusions (orange) mists.

The cute little hula girl is a digi from Scrapbook Stamp Society, as yet unreleased.

Two Scrapbook Friends National Scrapbook Day Online Crop - Jayne's challenge

Two Scrapbook Friends is hosting an online crop for National Scrapbook Day which started last Friday. Jayne's challenge was to use REAL stitching (none of that sew stamper stuff), either machine or hand, on a layout.

I decided to couple it with a sketch from Scrapping Everyday Miracles, where you also had to use distressing or sanding.


I also decided to add the Scraptastic challenge number 3, to use your stash and stitch.

This is what I made:


Are you amazed I followed the sketch so closely? I sure am!!

I definitely stitched, using some old embroidery floss from making friendship bracelets. I also have the metal letters below from my stash... it took me a while to figure out a title I could make with the letters I have left (can't believe I had two s left!). Finally the green and yellow cardstock are stash items. I know, you're asking... where is the yellow cardstock? Well, its the scalloped border and I covered it with Walnut stain distress ink, Tattered Angels leather glimmermist and some green glimmer glam. I also distressed the green cardstock, the photos and the journalling card (Bo Bunny).


Isn't it all cute? In case you're wondering, the background paper is Momenta PA-1108 Endless summer paper pack.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

SYAO 10 and SYAO 11 - two very different examples of my talent lol

I'm still in it to win it over at Paper Secrets, and here is what I created for weeks 10 and 11.

SYAO10



doily
twine
stick pin(s)
3+ flowers
chip-board
washi tape
3+ patterned papers
bling

TECHNIQUES
punches (border/corner)
acyrlic paint (stamped-brushed-stencil...your choice of application)
distressing

I've actually already used this sketch once, which threw me off a bit...  But I recovered at the last minute and got back in the game. I knew I didn't want both pages to look like they were from the same sketch, so I planned to make some modifications, maybe turn it, and then this happened (lol!)


See it? My itty bitty bit of bling on the metal tag :)


I swear this bow looked better IRL... grr

I know. Its totally the same sketch. But it will be far enough apart in the album that no one will notice (I hope!)


All the papers are Momenta from the Seasons and Occasions pack (PA-1992), the black and white cardstock pack (PA-2390), and a photo mat pack. Stick pins are made by me for the one in the middle, and Maya Road for the green leafies. The metal tag is Making Memories and the chipboard is Cosmo Cricket. The circle tags are Colorbok. I used a Tim Holtz mask and Jenni Bowlin Weathered Wood paint dauber to do the edges and the clock.

So how did I do on the challenge? I used twine, stick pins, chipboard, and bling, and used acrytic paint as my technique.

SYAO11


PRODUCTS
2 or more tags
twine
stick pin(s)
3+ flowers
chip-board
washi tape
3+ patterned papers
metal/foil type embellie(s)


TECHNIQUES
punches (border/corner)
acyrlic paint (stamped-brushed-stencil...your choice of application)
distressing
embossing (dry or heat)
What a crazy sketch! I mean, really... what was I gonna do with that! Surprisingly it turned out FABULOUS...


I love using hand writing!!

Love my new embossing folders matched with Distress ink.. how cool do those two pieces look?
Aren't you surprised? I know, the sketch is barely recognizable (which is sort of how I wanted it) and I cheated all over the place (of course).. and as I'm typing this I just realized that waves sticker at the bottom right of the photo moved itself and is upsidedown!! How did that happen?? Grr... Stupid non-sticky stickers. Anyways it should be right side up and nice and linearly placed like the sun sticker on the opposite corner!

My supplies? Well... this is a Momenta layout for sure: the solids in green and orange that were embossed are from PA-1033 the vibrant cardstock pack. The two blue strips plus the yellowy orangey background page are from the Travel pyramid pack PA-2389,  and finally the circly paper is from the Endless Summer collection PA-1108.  Also Momenta is the "Welcome to Paradise" sticker and the stripey tag from ST-4952 the vacation multi pack of stickers.

Then I added twine from the Twinery, random stickers and die cuts, a ship's wheel from the bead section, some ric rak (I love that stuff) and distress inks in Evergreen, Peeled Paint and Spiced Marmalade. The embossing folders are both Tim Holtz (in case y'all didn't already know!) Oh and also an eyelet from a random bag of eyelets I found in my scrap room, and the big orange eyelet type thing from We R MK.

So I used: 2 tags, twine, patterned papers, metals and embossing.

Hope you enjoy and are inspired to EMBOSS!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Momenta and 2SF March Sketches by Joann and Sharlene

This is Sharlene's sketch. Its a card sketch but I used it for a layout instead.

This is what I came up with:


The circle is from Bo Bunny, frogs from Sticko and pretty much the rest of the paper and the alphas are Momenta. The patterned papers are Chloe's Garden from PA-2384, and the alphas are from ST-3194.


This is Joanne's sketch:

And here is what I created:




This one is a big mish-mash including Momenta, Recollections, Bazzill. The bling and puffy stickers are all Momenta from three different packages: ST-3087, ST-3052, ST-3503.

Monday, April 16, 2012

CYAO10 - Lil Shirley Holmes

This week I had fun with CYAO10 at Paper Secrets.




Use 3 of the following products/techniques:
use twine
clouds
markers
spring colors
mist
card stock on the front of your card 


I didn't want to use a tree and clothesline, so I decided to use this cute Shirley Holmes image from Scrapbook Stamp Society and a twine-based "trail" for her to follow.


From the list, I used, clouds, markers, twine, mist (in the dirt as texture) and cardstock on the front of the card. I might even have used spring colors, making it my first 6/6 card!



The other challenges I am also entering this one in are:
Corrosive Challenge #147 - hit the bottle (use something from a bottle - glimmermist and distress stain)
Pile it On Challenge #16 - Pop it up - Shirley Holmes is popped up :)
Alphabet Challenge blog - E is for Embroidery (or stitching!)
Fairy Fun Fridays - Anything goes
Joyful Stamper - Anything goes
Delightful Challenges - stitching
Creative Belli Blog Challenge #141 - children

CYAO9 - Thanks!

Paper Secrets is keeping me busy with the CYAO and SYAO competitions!


CYAO9



Use 3 of the following products/techniques:
A Miminum of 3 layers and 3 embellishments
A ruffle (can be paper cut, a border, just something that looks like a ruffel)
colored pencils
only black ink
a banner
be inspired by a project in the paper secrets gallery and make sure to share what inspired you.

I wanted to use the bunny, but just didn't feel like it when I got to work, so this is what I came up with.


I used a ruffle from Webster's, only black ink to stamp the squares, a banner by Momenta, and background paper also by Momenta

Zobbie Zombie is back!

I love the Zobbie Zombie image from Scrapbook Stamp Society. I find myself coloring him over and over, and so I decided to use him to make a birthday card for my 17 year old brother in law to whom zombies are, of course, cool...

This time I skipped the bling and Stickles to keep him a little more masculine :)


I used:
DCWV card base
Momenta paper (from my ancient pack yet again!)
Both the base and the paper were misted with Tattered Angels leather glimmermist (OK so I added a bit of girly)
some black corrugate
Sentiment is printed out
Spiced Marmalade distress ink


I am entering this card in the following challenges:
One Stitch at a Time Challenge #109 - brights - I think this card is rather bright!
Pan Pastel Challenge #14 - one for the boys
Paper Sundaes Challenge #116 - Anything goes
Stampalot April Challenge - Happy Birthday
Ink on my Fingers - Men themed (he's 17 so he counts now eh?)

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Scrapbook Stamp Society Butterfly Kisses Blog Hop

Welcome to Scrapbook Stamp Society's Butterfly Kisses Hop.

Today we have all kinds of fun, we would love for you to hop from blog to blog and leave a little love by the end of the week.

We do have candy for all today! Visit our store www.scrapbookstampsociety.com and look through our digital download FANTASY section to get your FREE candy. There are 5 pages and you'll have to guess which digital stamp has the golden egg. When you see the golden egg there will a download link for you.

Also remember if you link up a project using an SSS digi you bought this month, you can win a Sizzix Texture Boutique!! How exciting! I want one! Just go here and link it up!

My project this week uses three digis by Mitzi Sato-Wiuff - Ballerina Kitty 1, 2, and 3. I made a wood wall hanging for a little girls room.


I used MDF letters from Michael's, Momenta Chloe's Garden paper from the Pyramid pack (used the smaller pieces with the smaller patterns), twine. The flowers and butterflies are made out of scrap cardstock and cut using my Silhouette. Everything got a nice coating of Perfect Pearls mist to give it a bit of glam, along with the bling and the pearl as the flower centres.

Here are some close-ups of the colored images. For all three kittens I used the following Copic markers: E31, E35, E37, BV00, BV02, BV04, BV08, R32, R35, R39, Y11, Y13, Y15, Y17, E000, BG10, BG15, G05.




Thanks for stopping by in the hop, and let me know if you have any comments or questions. If you didn't start at the Scrapbook Stamp Society blog, go back to the start and visit all the talented ladies. If you did, your next stop is Joan.

Here is the hop listing:
Start- http://addicted-to-stamps.blogspot.com
1. Linda - http://lindasimpsoncraftypieceofheaven.blogspot.com
2. Nataliya- http://lovecraftsforever.blogspot.ca
3. Gill - http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com
4. Karin - http://karinsartscrap.blogspot.com
5. Chrissy - http://chrissyscardland.blogspot.com
6. Jessica - http://kawaiislandgurl72.blogspot.com
7. Bee- http://beeordee.blogspot.com
8. Claire- http://clairescraftycreations.blogspot.com
9. Pamela- http://pamelascraftspot.blogspot.com
10. Tory - http://tfraildesigns.blogspot.com
11. Joan - http://Joan-discoveries.blogspot.com
12. Lisa T - http://lilfeathers.blogspot.com

2SF Sharlene's Sketch

Sharlene gave us a card sketch over at Two Scrapbook Friends in March, but Christa told me I could make it a LO, so that's what I did!


I knew I had a scalloped circle paper somewhere in my stash (Bo Bunny Jasmyne) so that is where I started on this one.


This is baby me and baby cousin Stephie with a frog I found at my grandfathers, and mom is showing it to us. Approx year is 1988? I realize I cut up those photos without checking for the year (Mom is gonna kill me...)

Anyways... my supplies:
Bo Bunny Jasmyne scalloped circle
Momenta Chloe's Garden for the background papers to the photos and the circle PK-2384
Momenta vibrant cardstock PA-1033
Momenta alphas ST-2194
Momenta vellum message sticker
Creative Memories "captured moments" transparent sticker
Sticko froggie stickers
Misc: ribbon, buttons, flowers

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

SYAO8 & SYAO9

Yep... behind again as usual. I always get these in the gallery and Paper Secrets forum on time, but I don't always get them up here, and with things like hops going on... well, I'm sure you know.

BTW - can someone tell me how to make my hop posts stay on top??

SYAO8



doily
twine
stick pin(s)
3+ flowers
rub ons
washi tape
3+ patterned papers
bling

TECHNIQUES
punches (border/corner)
fussy cutting
distressing

Pretty eh? I was sad I had used up all my 5x7 photos so I decided to make it into two photos instead. Love this sketch... file that one for use later!

I had to look high and low for just two photos I wanted to use, and finally this is what I came up with.

I used stick pins, flowers, and washi tape.


The black striped cardstock is Momenta from PA-2390, while all the pattered papers are Momenta from the Season's and Occaisions stack PA-1992. The washi tape is Tim Holtz, and the flowers are: Precocious Paper for the rolled rose and the big flower and leaves, Recollections for the medium orange flower other than the black centre, and who knows with the rest. Maya Road stick pins and some Momenta bling from ST-3087 round out the party. The congrats chipboard is from Studio G. 



Here's a close-up of my clusters, I think its the best cluster I've ever made! I love the Precocious Paper flowers soooo much!


I ruffled my washi tape by hand and then stitched down the centre(ish) to make it sit flat and pretty :) 


SYAO9



doily
twine
stick pin(s)
3+ flowers
rub ons
washi tape
3+ patterned papers
bling

TECHNIQUES
punches (border/corner)
fussy cutting
distressing

Hated this sketch. Had no idea what to do with it. I always get thrown when there are weird shapes as the focal points lol! Luckily I had some shaped paper like that shape (does it have a name? I wouldn't even know how to make my Silhouette cut that thing). I really need to buy more shaped paper. It makes my brain work harder :)


This photo is of 3 of my 6 nephews and my hubby's 3 little brothers at our wedding. Its too bad the other 3 nephews weren't up there, because its such a cute photo and its not even posed! The photographer just saw them like that and snapped the photo. They are on the 3rd level of the reception room, looking down on the dance floor etc. It was such a cool venue!!

Paper is Bo Bunny Cambridge for the shape and the green patterened, MME Lost & Found for the background PP, and DCWV Photo Stack 2 for the strip. Also Authentique for the photo mat. Alphas are Creative Memories Rugged, and the fighting lion rub on and the fancy bling-y brad are Bo Bunny Cambridge too :)


This is my ugly twine and button flower I made. Feel free to scraplift or agree with me that its ugly. Ugh. Epic fail lol.

So to fulfill the challenge, I:

distressed

used:
twine
rub-ons
3 patterned papers
and bling? Maybe? I am not sure if that iCandy brad counts as bling or not :)



Tuesday, April 3, 2012

CYAO7 & CYAO8

Getting behind again with all these renos, so here is a look at the CYAO projects from Paper Secrets over the last two weeks.

CYAO7




Use 3 of the following products/techniques:
buttons
ribbon
rub ons
sewing
an organic element (which can be anything found in nature, stamped leaves, flowers, trees, an actual branch) just tell us what you used and how you used it.)
paint


Cute sketch eh? I decided I wanted to change up the shapes and use my new star punch because I wanted this one to be a congrats card.


The star punch is Creative memories, the striped paper is my ancient Momenta, the cardstock scrap and the card DCWV. I used glitter floss from We R MK, regular embroidery floss, and some thick twine that I think is Twinery. Buttons too are stash.

So what did I used - buttons, ribbon (the Congratulations, which is inked with Spun Sugar) and sewing :)

CYAO8




Use 3 of the following products/techniques:
felt
punched border
glitter
a sticker
a critter (can be any critter you like, bugs, frogs, birds, cows ect. ect. )
no black ink


So as an FYI, I interpreted this "no black ink" as "use ink other than black" as I could have easily not stamped anything on this one with its gorgeous design and just said no ink. I decided to make a 50th birthday card since my aunt's birthday is in a few weeks and I am going to a joint Easter-birthday party for her :)


I used glitter, a sticker, and no black ink. The numbers and "doily" were cut using my Silhouette. All the paper are Momenta from the vibrant cardstock PA-1033 and the Let's Party collection PA-2370. The trim is Webster's pages and the glitter is all from Stickles (stardust I think and spiced marmalade).

Happy 50th Tante!!

I am also entering this 50th birthday card in the 2 Sisters challenge: birthday fun.


Monday, April 2, 2012

Paper Secrets Birthday Bash

Paper Secrets celebrated its 3rd birthday over the weekend with a few challenges. I decided to enter a few of them.

The first was the birthday layout challenge. The photos had to have something to do with a birthday and:

It's paper secrets 3rd Birthday so to celebrate we will create in 3's.
For this challenge you are to use ONLY 3 of each item listed and your layout must be birthday related. You must use at least 5 of the 10 items below.
You can also use other items in addition to the 5 as long as you use them in 3's. 3 flowers, 3 brads, 3 papers, etc.

3 Patterned Patterned
3 Brads
3 Flowers
3 Ribbon/Trim
3 Stick Pins
3 Stamped images
3 punched items(border,shapes,corner)
3 photo corners or anchors
3 tags
3 chipboard

Wowie. What a challenge, eh?

This is what I came up with:


I used:
3 patterned papers, all Momenta from the Let's Party premium paper pack PA-2370
3 chipboards - sweet and two chippie buttons
3 flowers (Recollections)
3 mini tags
3 bigger sized brads

I might end up DQ'd because I did use 4 different cardstocks, but the two blue ones are just one is textured and one is not, so I think I can fight my case :)

I also journalled in 3 spots - around both circles and below the photo.

The title and subtitle were cut using my Silhouette. The top font is called Kingthings Inkdinky available for free through lots of websites, or just visit Kevin King himself :)


I will finish off this post tonight-ish... just wanted to send the top bit to Kevin King while I was thinking about it :)
The second one I tried was a tic-tac-toe challenge. I have always wanted to try one of these but never get around to it!



I did the centre vertical - masking (with my new TH masks I just got in the mail! yay! love! Already used them twice!), diecuts (electronic, everything cut on this page went through the Silhouette) and brads - located randomly in the centres of gears, on photos, etc. I think I need to buy brads in bulk - I have almost used up the two metal colored packages I got for Xmas. Have only used a few of the other pack I got (stars) but that's because they are shaped so I can't use them every single second of the day :)

I am also entering this one in the Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge 1st April Challenge to show a trick or a prank... this is certainly a prank that was pulled on me, but I loved it!!!