My Joy Layout

Good morning fellow scrappers! Hope all of you had a fabulous Holiday. Now onto the final countdown of 2011. Um, where DID this year go? Can someone let me know!?

Along with the end of 2011 comes my end with Sketchabilities. This will be my final post with them. I had a great time while on this DT. The sketches were a great challenge for me & pushed those creative juices.

I did a Christmas page for this sketch. Tis the season right? I took this very cute candid shot of my hubby & fur baby Toby while doing our annual Christmas card photo shoot. This photo worked just right for this sketch & my overall Christmas theme.

I used one of the December scrapbook kits by a very cute Etsy shop by the name of Funtoolas. This particular kit contained the lovely papers 'Waiting for Santa II' by Pion Design.

Here's the sketch my page is based on. Karan comes up with some very versatile sketches--they can be interpreted in many ways & they kick your creative skills into high gear. :-)

I used a brick mask by Prima for the background. For my inking, I used Aged Mahogany & Chipped Sapphire distress inks.

The snowflakes are actually Christmas tree ornaments that I found at my local Target for $1.00. They come in packs of three, are light, flat & fit perfectly on scrapbook pages. You can also use snowflake dies--I just don't have any--so I ended up using these ornaments instead.

The Santa tag is a cut out from one of the Pion papers. I distressed & inked the edges.

This very elegant metal embellishment came with the Funtoolas kit.

I used a scrap of glassine paper by Tim Holtz to mat my photo. I just wrinkled the glassine several times & then swiped some Walnut Stain distress ink over the wrinkled glassine. I'm loving this glassine paper! My next newfound love is cheese cloth which I've used to mat my photo as well.

The title 'My Joy' is a combination of a transparent label made with my Dymo label maker & some American Craft Thickers that came with the kit. I wanted my titled to be in a certain position on my page. It didn't quite fit on my photo & there was too much of a gap between the photo & my background where even if I adhered my title with pop dots--half my letters would be distorted. The solution? Transparencies! TIP: Adhere your title onto acrylic or transparency. Then simply cut it out. This way you can place your title anywhere--like one large sticker without distorting it. This works great for pages with lots of dimension--and as you can see from my photo--it's really not noticeable at all. The title almost looks like it's floating on it's own. Magic I say!

I did a few random tears into my page. I then punched out small scraps with my Martha Stewart Wildflowers punch around the page deep edge punch. These scraps I tucked behind my tears. I then added one safety pin to each of my tears.

Finally a close up of some of my stamping. I can't have a page without at least one stamp in it! The splatters is a stamp by Recollections and I believe it's called just that 'Splatters'. I bought it at my local Michaels. The script stamp is by Donna Salazar & is called 'All My Love'.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit. I'm always grateful to you. Feel free to hop on over to the Sketchabilities blog to see the other DT's take on this sketch & to play along if you can!

May you all have a wonderful, happy & safe New Year!

I'll be back in 2012...

Magic Layout

Good evening fellow scrappers! So Christmas is just days away...another year almost over. Can the time go by any faster!? Sigh...one of the best things though about this time of year are the pictures we get to take. Here's one of my latest Christmas faves. It's a completely candid shot of my husband, Toby & myself. This was taken on our annual amateur photo shoot for our Christmas cards. None of us were ready, we weren't looking at the camera--we were simply being ourselves. I loved it! So very much that I ended up using this as part of our Christmas cards. :-) Of course I also had to scrap it.

I used the lovely papers Waiting For Santa II by Pion Design for this page. I was able to finally get my hands on them via a wonderful Etsy shop I discovered by the name of Funtoolas. Even the name is catchy! Cindy the owner of Funtoolas puts together lovely kits. She had two December kits this month--I was lucky enough to snag the Pion kit. I had heard much about this Swedish company & the papers were perfect for my photo.

I'm submitting this page for the Once Upon A Sketch (OUAS) December 15th challenge. Here's the sketch my layout is based on. I flipped the sketch on it's side for my page. The theme for this challenge was how you spend Christmas Day. For me Christmas Day is spent quietly. It's quality time with family. We celebrate on Christmas Eve which is tradition for Latin American countries. So on Christmas Eve my family has Christmas dinner & on midnight we open up our gifts around the Christmas tree. We go to bed late--and then spend Christmas Day talking, laughing & sharing memories.

A close up of the flourish chippie & my snowy trees. The chippie is part of the Holly Flourish by Dusty Attic. All of the trees is actually a large stamp by Magnolia called Winter Forest. I stamped the image on dark green patterned paper. Cut them out and randomly colored them with a VersaMarker pen. I then heat embossed them with Peeled Paint distress embossing powder. Next I cut each layer of the tree out--added my 'snow' on the layers & then put the trees back together again with foam dots. This gave my trees a 3D effect. I hope to do these trees again in my next Christmas page--I really liked them a lot! I'll capture a couple of screen shots as I make them. This technique can work for any kind of tree stamp or image that has layers that can be cut out.

The silk flowers came with the kit. Aren't they pretty?

The doe is a die cut by Tim Holtz called Reindeer Flight. He die cut a doe from sticky back canvas for one of his 12 tags of Christmas and this is where the inspiration for my doe came from. The doe is die cut from sticky back canvas, then randomly inked with Frayed Burlap distress ink. I then adhered a bit of mini garland I had in my stash & tied a bell on her neck with a bit of twine.

For the corner I adhered four different kinds of coordinating scraps and then curled them upwards. This gives the illusion of having several pages clustered together. I tucked some hollies & flowers in this corner.

I used a bit of cheese cloth & a crumbled piece of glassine paper by Tim Holtz to mat my picture. The glassine was wrinkled several times & then inked with Walnut Stain distress ink. The metal flower embellishment came with the Funtoolas kit.

The large multi-colored snowflake in the corner was done with a Tattered Angels stencil. I spritzed the stencil with a variety of different mists & smooch. Then I 'kissed' the paper to my misted stencil. This created a washed out multi-colored imprint of the snowflake on my paper. I then heat set it before it smeared.

The random script seen throughout my page is a stamp by Donna Salazar titled 'All My Love'.

A close up of my other smaller tree. Did I mention how much I loved these little trees? :-)

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit.

Love Cake Layout

Good morning fellow scrappers & bloggers! It's time for another sketch over at Sketchabilities!

This is me & my husband on our wedding day. These photos were taken during the cake cutting. Our DJ referred to the cake as our 'love cake'. As I was scrapping this I remembered that specific comment & therefore his comment became the title for this page.

Here's the fabulous sketch by Karan this page is based on. I enjoyed working with circles instead of the usual squares or rectangles--I love it when sketches take me away from what I'm 'comfy' with. It makes me take my creativity one notch higher.

A close up of one of the flourish chippies. These are made by Dusty Attic. The chippies were painted with a deep burnt orange acrylic paint. Once dry I inked them with embossing ink & heat embossed them with Star Dust transparent embossing powder by Stampendous. In person, they give off a very shimmery effect.

The resin window is by Prima. Here you can also see a bit of the hand stitching I did going around the circle. This particular stitching I saw over on Irene Tan's blog--better known as Scrapperlicious. She refers to it as the long stitch technique. In order to get that zig zag pattern the stitches are all done in a very long angle. Next time I do this stitch I'll do a brief tutorial on it for those who are interested.

Here's me & my hubby cutting the cake & posing for the camera at the same time. :-) The colorful circle behind us is by Pink Paislee (Mistables). I inked it with a few distress inks (Stormy Weather, Mustard Seed & Wild Honey) then spritzed it once with Suede glimmer mist.

A close up of the second smaller photo. Both frames for my photos is also by Pink Paislee.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit--it's always very much appreciated!

Don't forget to stop by the Sketchabilities blog & check out the other talented DT's take on this sketch & do play along if you can!

Friends Furever Layout

Good evening once again fellow scrappers & bloggers! Today's page is one I did for Stamp Enjoy. It's also a remake of an older page titled "Just the 2 of Us". I felt my original page was a bit too feminine--so I re-did it while keeping only certain elements but adding more of a 'grungy' masculine theme.

This is my husband & my little fur-pup Toby. These two are 'my boys'--the men in my life! This photo captures the bond & special friendship these two share. Yes, it's true that my husband isn't exactly a 'little boy' anymore. But the friendship they share is the typical 'boy & his beloved dog' that we've all heard about since the Little House & the Prairie days. As usual, Toby seems to be smiling in this picture. How he pulls that off is beyond me...but he somehow manages to smile in the majority of his pics!

As previously mentioned, I tried to keep this on the masculine side; therefore you'll notice a bit of 'grunge' in the style of this page. However, I did manage to include flowers in order to soften it just a bit. They are what I call 'man flowers'. :-)

I used a corrugated 'flute' cardboard by Canvas Corp for the background. I did a lot of embossing/painting on the corrugated cardboard. I also did a bit of stitching & went a little tag crazy in the upper left hand corner! :-)

Here's a close up of one of the two beaded flowers with burlap bottoms. The burlap portion of the flower I made by doing my 'burlap flower' tutorial found here. The beaded flower is an item you can find in my Etsy shop. I have several beaded flowers in a variety of colors. So if interested, please do feel free to stop by. These beaded flowers really do add a nice finishing touch to any project. The metal string circle around the beaded flower is an item I found at my local Michaels in the clearance section. I thought they'd be perfect for masculine themed pages.

A close up of the brick wall & my stamped little guy with his pup. The brick wall is a chippie by Dusty Attic. I used the 'brick texture' technique to give it that rustic brick look. I have a brief tutorial for this on my blog. If interested, you can check it out here.

Here you can see my cluster of tags. I made the folded corner act as a makeshift pocket for my tags.

A close up of the flourish. The flourish was die cut with Tim Holtz's Elegant Flourish die on grunge board. I spread a thin layer of molding paste on the grungeboard & then heat embossed with Enamelz by Shimmerz. Enamelz is a thicker embossing powder than your regular embossing powder--so it adds a really nice effect when combined with other media.

Here's my background. It was first completely painted with an olive acrylic paint. Once dry then I randomly spread a bit of molding paste. Finally I sprinkled a bit of silver Enamelz (Silver Fox) & heat embossed it. This gave me a fabulous background. After looking at it for a bit I realized that this would also look really nice for a Christmas themed paged.

I used a piece of burlap from Canvas Corp to put behind my photo. I also again did a combination of zig-zag stitching & straight stitching. I first used this stitch in my 'Essential Cog' page & really liked the look of it.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit! Enjoy the weekend...

Girl In The Mirror Layout

Good morning fellow bloggers! It's reveal day over at Sketchabilities.

For this one, I dug deep into my mom's box of photos that she cherishes so much. Within that little treasure box I found this photo of yours truly when I was approximately 2 years old. Yep, that's me--looking at myself in the mirror. My mom said that this is one of her favorite photos of me. She said that when little I used to look & talk to myself a lot in the mirror. Apparently yet another 'only child' syndrome!? I no longer talk to myself in the mirror...although I'll still have the occasional conversation with one or two of my stuffed teddy bears! :-) Kidding guys...but when little I did actually talk to myself in the mirror & yes, I did apparently have detailed conversations with my stuffed toys. My mom claims it's because I was an only child. I think it's a combination of that and a very active imagination (which I still do have). Who knows? But here I am in one of my 'mirror' moments.

I've used papers from Bo Bunny's Crazy Love collection. Now, I rarely get to scrap 'girly pages'...so this was a real treat for me.

Here's the fabulous sketch provided by Karan. I am loving these multi-photo layouts. For a very long time I had done only 1 photo layouts...so this has polished up my multi-photo/element skills.

I have tucked a small tag within the strips of paper. I plan on adding a bit of journaling to this tag. I just haven't decided exactly what I'm going to say. I liked that I made a little pocket out of the strips of paper used to make up my page.

I used a chipboard called Ornate Frame by Dusty Attic as the makeshift 'mirror' for my stamped image. I used the 'brick wall' texture technique on the frame in order to give it that rustic appearance. I have a brief tutorial for this technique here if anyone is interested. I also applied several rhinestones & gems from my stash to the mirror in order to further decorate it.

Tell me that little girl mirror image stamp isn't the cutest!? I love it! It's made by Stamp Enjoy. Unfortunately Stamp Enjoy has decided to close it's doors & move onto other endeavors. I for one--loved & miss their stamps. I actually have an extra set of this particular stamp. I'll be listing it shortly in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested in it.

I colored the stamped images with Prismacolor markers. I also highlighted my images with Star Dust Stickles--something I tend to do often to stamped images in order to give them a bit more dimension.

I also did some masking here. The stencil I used is by Layers of Color & is called Natural Flourish.

A close up of the frame (you can see the texture on the frame better here) & of my cute little stamp.

Head on over to the Sketchabilities blog to see the other DT's take on this versatile sketch. Please do submit your take on this sketch if you can!

Thanks to all of you who drop by for a visit.

I Am Layout

Happy Sunday fellow scrappers & bloggers! Today's page is one I did for the Once Upon a Sketch November 15th challenge. I liked the theme for this challenge which was to scrap yourself or any special woman in your life & to focus the journaling on being a woman--what is the best thing about being a woman?

Well my journaling was a combination of who I am & what I represent alongside the concept of being a woman & being darn proud of who I am! Journaling reads as follows:

I am strong, yet nurturing. I am independent & can be head strong--but I'm also sentimental. I am 34 & have embraced the few wrinkles that have already made their presence known in the corner of my eyes--I can't help it--I love to laugh. I am a dreamer--yet I am aware of reality & make the most out of what I'm blessed with. I am a wife. I stand by my husband through the good & the bad. I am a daughter. My everyday goal in life is to make my mom proud--I think so far I have succeeded. I am a co-worker. I share knowledge willingly. I am a friend. I try to share laughs, create memories & be there to comfort when tears are shed. Above all, I am a woman. I love who I am & what I represent...

Here's the sketch my page is based on provided on the OUAS site.

I had a blast making this page. I finally decided to get down & dirty with mixed media. My background is just a huge mixture of different mediums. I also got a little distress-happy. Even when distressing I tend to be 'careful' as to not rip the wrong way (if that makes any sense to anybody). This time I just didn't care...I ripped & tore away. I should've done this sooner!

I misted, stamped & hand stitched on this page. This close up is of the Tim Holtz film strip which I twisted instead of leaving flat to give it some dimension. You can also see some of the hand stitching here. I used a template to create the stitched flourishes.

The stamped floral branches behind the film strip is a stamp by Donna Salazar titled 'Branch'.

A photo of one of the clusters in the bottom corner. I'm becoming fond of small glass bottles & am using them in several of my projects lately. I filled this little bottle with small beads I have in my stash & then tied it with some hemp cord.

I primarily used the papers that came with the October 'Midnight Waltz' Swirlydoos kit which are by Glitz Design (Vintage Blue line). The tiny little spool was an embellie that came with the kit. I wrapped some thread around it & added it to my cluster of bits...

I used a couple of safety pins to keep my tears together. As for the background, let's see if I can remember everything I used on it. First I randomly & heavily spread some molding paste on it. I tried not to cover the entire corrugated cardboard. I still wanted small parts of the cardboard to peek through. Once the molding paste dried. I randomly painted over it with cream acrylic paint. Next I spread a bit of burgundy Stickles & Aged Mahogany Distress Stickles with my fingers. Once those dried I randomly painted the background with some Terra Cotta Spritz by Shimmerz & Holly Berries Smooch by Clearsnap. Phew...I think I'm finally done with that!

I also did some other random stamping on the background. The script stamp seen here is also by Donna Salazar. The birds in flight stamp is by Tim Holtz.

The two large light brown & cream flowers were handmade. I used the Spellbinders Carnation Creations die template by Donna Salazar to create them. I first embossed some light brown Core'dinations cardstock (Black Magic line) I had in my stash--sanded down the embossed design, cut out my flowers, layered them & finally added a brad as the center.

The beaded flower seen in this close up is also handmade. I have these available in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested.

A closeup of my journaling. I printed the journaling on vellum, tore around it & then inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.

Finally, this is a closeup of the large chippie flourish by Dusty Attic. The chippie was first painted with Jasmine Mix'd Media ink by Donna Salazar. Once fully dry I stamped over the chippie with Faded Jeans distress ink & a French Script stamp by Hero Arts. Next I dry embossed the chippie with a swirl embossing folder. Finally I covered the chippie with embossing ink & embossed it with clear Kaleidoscope embossing powder by Stampendous.

A big thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit! Tomorrow it's back to work for me after a nice 4 day long weekend. Sigh...

34 Layout

Good evening once again fellow scrappers! Today's page is one that I did for a fairly new scrapbook kit club called C'est Magnifique. I had the honor & pleasure of being one of thier Guest Designers for the month of November. C'est Magnifique is unique in the sense that it incorporates patterned paper from international manufacturers into their kits. For the November kit titled 'Enchanted Autumn' I was able to work with papers from Sultane a French based company.

This is one of the several pages I created with this kit.

This is me just this past Spring. This photo was taken on Easter of this year. I was wearing my Sunday best & my hubby turned amateur photographer & took several pics of me that day--this being one of them.

Everything seen here came from the kit except for the splatter stamps.

I hand stitched two designs--one scalloped half square & one circle.

As mentioned before, the splatters were all made with stamps. I used white acrylic paint for the stamping since I wanted the splatters to be bold.

The punched trellis behind the photo was made with Martha Stewart's deep edge Trellis punch.

The flowers were all hand made. I used Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals die. There was a transparency that came with the kit. This is what I used for the flowers in combination with an embossed Core'dinations card stock that was also part of the kit. I have a tutorial on how I went about making the transparent petals of the flower. If interested, you can find the tutorial here.

For the embossed card stock I lightly smeared Terra Cotta dye ink on the embossed design to make them stand out more. Finally I added one white pearl in the center (also from the kit).

A close up of the title. I first inked the title with Spiced Marmalade distress ink & then added Terra Cotta ink. I then dabbed the letters with some embossing ink & spread a bit of Spiced Marmalade distressing powder on them & heat embossed the numbers.

A close up of the smaller handmade flowers.

I'll soon be posting the other pages I made with the November 'Enchanted Autumn' kit by C'est Magnifique. Try to stop by & get to know them better. They also have an interactive forum that always seems to be buzzing. The owner of C'est Magnifique, Leslie & the DT are all truly a pleasure!

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit!