Clear Scraps DT

Yay me!! Just wanted to quickly share the news that I've been invited to join the Clear Scraps DT! 

I've always enjoyed incorporating and experimenting with acrylics whether it be on a layout, card or even a mini album.  Because of the clear nature of this product--it really opens up the possibilities for some innovative & creative effects & projects!

You can check out the official announcment here as well as get to know the other newest DT members.

Am looking forward to this new creative journey!

Autumn Layout

Hello once again fellow scrappers!  It's time for another reveal over at Once Upon A...Sketch (OUAS).  This month's theme is: Season (Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring).

For me this was a no-brainer.  I've been an Autumn fan my whole life.  I love the colors that come with Autumn, the changing of the leaves, the crisp mornings, the immaculate blue skies.  It's Mother Nature at her best.  I know many people love Summer--but for me Summer here in the North East is just too humid for comfort.  I don't mind hot--but when you add humidity into the mix--that's when you lose me!  In addition, I was married in the Autumn and this is what this page represents.

This is me & my hubby almost five years ago celebrating our first year wedding anniversary.  We went away to a Bed & Breakfast when the foliage was at it's most colorful.  I incorporated as much of the colors that I witnessed on this getaway as I could on this page.  It was a mixture of burgundy, browns, golds, yellows, oranges and just a hint of green.  The turquoise splashes here & there represent the blue skies--which in October the sky is usually as blue as it can get!

Here's the sketch provided by Nadia that is to be used for this challenge.

The background is paper from Tim Holtz's Kraft Resist Cardstock.  I added a hint of turquoise to it by randomly inking it with Tumbled Glass distress ink.

The chipboard title & fence are by Imaginarium Designs.  For the fence I kept it simple.  I simply inked it with embossing ink & then heat embossed it with Kaleidoscope embossing powder by Stampendous.  In person, this gives off such a shimmery effect.  I tried to capture it as best as I could here.

I finally got to use a peacock feather I've had in my stash for ages!

These butterflies will soon be the latest addition to my Etsy shop.  They were the perfect finishing touch to this page.

In the background I also randomly stamped the 'Bubble Wrap' stamp by Donna Salazar with Aged Mahogany Distress Embossing powder.  Once embossed, I scratched off a bit of the powder with my finger in order to give it a more shimmery effect.

A close up of one of my clusters.  This is a mixture of Prima flowers, mulberry flowers from my stash, handmade flowers and beads, pins & trinkets from my own stash.  A Prima crystal flourish is in the background.

My other lil' cluster.  Once again this is composed of a handmade flower, mulberry flowers from my stash and other trinkets from my stash.  In the bottom is a bright orange crochet doily and I tucked a bit of light turquoise tulle in the bottom as well.

To give the title some shimmer & texture it was first painted with gesso--then spritzed with the following: Pralines & Cream Smooch, Cashmere Smooch & Terra Cotta Spritz by Shimmerz. It was then heat embossed in order to have all those mists soak into the chipboard.  Finally I gave it a coat of Glossy Accents.

I once again stored my journaling inside a brown glass vial.  I wrapped a bit of twine around it & adhered a leaf charm to it.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit--do take the time to visit the OUAS blog and check out the other talented DT's take on this challenge and to play along!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Carnation Tutorial

Good evening fellow scrappers!  Today I'm bringing you another brief tutorial.  This one is very similar to my 'Ruffled Flower' tutorial but with just a couple of changes.  Primary difference is my use of a different die--which gives this flower it's distinctive look.

For these flowers I'm using Spellbinders Carnation Creations die by Donna Salazar.  These dies seem to be made for carnations since they're named after the flower!  So I figured why not make a carnation flower!?  You can use any size die--it depends on what you need for your project.  For this tutorial I used the second to largest sized 6 petal flower.

Sad Puppy Eyes Layout

Good evening fellow scrappers!  Today's page is one I did for the current challenge going on over at Colors...Stories...Inspiration C.S.I.  I fell in love with their current color challenge and had the perfect picture of my little Toby to scrap.

Here's my Toby giving me his best 'sad puppy eyes'.  He tends to give me these whenever he does something naughty--it's his way of getting away with things. I take one look at his adorable big, brown childlike eyes and I'm done being angry with him!  To me he'll forever be a little 2 year old boy trapped in a furry body.

Here's the color combo & challenge my page is based on.  As I describe my page I'll highlight what I used as my 'Evidence' & what I used as my 'Testimony' for the challenge.

Here's a bit of crazy, random hand stitching.  I actually used a stamp from Kaisercraft's Technologic collection to create this crazy random stitching.  TIP: Stamp any image on vellum or any other kind of transparent paper and use it as a guide for stitching.  That's what I did here. I stamped the image on a piece of vellum and then with my paper piercer used the stamped image as a guide to pierce my holes.  A shout out goes to Ngaire who recently used this same stamp on one of her pages & therefore allowed me to discover this fabulous stamp.

The random 'drips' are also a stamp.  These are part of my 'Evidence' for the C.S.I challenge.  I used brown Staz On to stamp these since I'm stamping on Pink Paislee's Mistables paper.  They're supposed to 'resist' ink...so if you want to stamp on these you need those strong permanent, solvent inks like Staz On.

My brief journaling is my 'Testimony'.  I used a distressed frame to display it. I printed my journaling on a transparency & then adhered it with clear dry glue.

The metal circles are also part of my 'Evidence' as are those light pink organza ribbon flowers.

The random inking I did in the background is a combination of two distress inks: Spun Sugar & Crushed Olive.

A close up of my other cluster of flowers, bits & bobs.  The felt gray flower is by Jolees and the mulberry light teal & green flowers are by Petaloo.  Underneath all of my flowers you'll see some felt branches.  These are by Prima.  I've had these in my stash since forever!  So happy to finally use them.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit!  Have a great weekend...