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!

Lost In New York Layout

Good morning fellow scrappers & bloggers. It's reveal time over at Sketchabilities! Today's sketch contained multiple pictures. Something that I haven't done in some time. Let's just say that I'm a little rusty! I started, stopped & restarted this page several times until I was finally happy with the end result.

This page is about my husband. He's a country boy born & bred. Whenever I take him into NYC he always & I mean ALWAYS looks lost. Typical tourist look! He's always looking up at the sky scrapers--carrying his little backpack & in Times Square (which is where these pics were taken) he literally bumps into every other person milling around the place. It's as if he loses his gravity & sense of direction in the city! On one of our trips into NYC this past summer, I finally took pics of him as he looked around Times Square in awe for about the 100th time.

Being that it's a page based on my hubby--I leaned more towards a grungy look. When I plan on being grungy/masculine I always go for my Tim Holtz goodies. So about 90% of this page is Tim Holtz.

Here's the fab sketch by Karan. As I already mentioned I especially enjoyed this one since it made me use multiple pics/elements.

A closeup of the masking, distressing, layering & some of the small squares. I stamped an image of New York on two of the four squares & added two brads to further decorate them. For the flourish--I used the negative part of Tim Holtz's flourish mask along with Walnut Stain distress ink.

The title is an embellishment made by me. I created the sign post out of arrows from Tim Holtz's grunge board elements & the post itself I cut out from grunge chipboard & then embossed it with the tree bark embossing folder by Tim Holtz titled Alterations . I then inked the arrows with a couple of distress inks in shades of red, green & brown. Finally I heat embossed the arrows with clear Kaleidoscope embossing powder by Stampendous. I finished up my sign post by adding the title with tiny alpha-letter stickers from my stash.

This is one of the two masked compasses. I used white acrylic paint for the masking. The compass mask itself is also by Tim Holtz.

Finally I used a journaling ticket by Tim Holtz to add a few sentences about my husbands usual behavior in NYC.

A big thanks to all of you who take the time to visit my blog & to comment. Your comments are always very much appreciated!

Please do drop by the Sketchabilities blog to play along & to check out the other talented DT's interpretation of sketch # 59.

Harry Potter Layout

Calling all Harry Potter fans! :-) I've had this page done about two months ago & simply haven't had the chance to upload it.

I'm a bonafide Harry Potter fan--I call myself a Potterhead. I've read all the books & seen all the movies. Am actually quite upset that the series ended. But what a fabulous ride those years were! So when I heard that the Harry Potter exhibit was going to be in NYC--you know I just HAD to go! So here I am standing outside the exit to the exhibit. They had this large poster with the three main characters & it was the perfect spot to have my photo taken.

As for the exhibit...it was fabulous! I got to pull Mandrakes, sit in Hagrids chair & throw a Quaffle! All you fellow Potterheads out there will know 'exactly' what I'm talking about! **wink wink**

Since this was all about HP--what better line for this page than the Harry Potter collection by Creative Imaginations. This line is filled with HP goodies and when it came time to put my page together it was all about layering, layering & oh yeah...more layering.

Here I am! Quite happy...like a kid in a toy factory! lol I punched the corner of the photo with different hand held circle punches & then inked over the punched holes with Tea Dye distress ink.

The corner stamp is by Stamp Enjoy. I stamped it with embossing ink & then heat embossed it with opaque white embossing powder.

A close up of the partial hand stitching I did in the corners. The photo seen in the frame is actually what the outside to the exhibit looked like. They had the actual flying Ford Anglia seen in the 2nd movie hanging above the entrance to the exhibit! I loved it!

The second essential part to this layout were the HP stickers that came with this collection. The sorting hat, the various bottles of potions, the Nimbus 2000, fire bolt, Hedwig, Harry Potter wanted poster etc...these are all stickers.

My love for this magical world is something that I definitely hope to pass onto my children one day. So it seemed only fit to scrap it at least once. I hope this inspires all of you fellow Potterheads out there to scrap your love for this magical wizard!