Dogwood Flower Tutorial

Hello again fellow scrappers & bloggers. I have a brief tutorial today that's been hanging around in 'draft' mode in my blog for months. I've known how to make these dogwood flowers for a while now & have never gotten around to posting a tutorial...well, here it is!

They're really easy to do. All you need is a balloon punch (I'm using the balloon punch by Martha Stewart), a marker, a 1/4 inch hole puncher, 1/2 inch glue dots, Stickles, 1/2 inch circle punch, a mouse pad, shaping tool & any kind of sun punch for the center of the flower. I'm using sun punches in 2 different sizes by the Punch Bunch. If you do not have a sun punch you can also use floral sprays/stems if you have them.

Curled Frame Tutorial

I've seen several scrappers do layouts where they roll pieces of paper on thier layouts. I recently tried this technique out myself by using rolled paper as part of a frame.

This tutorial shows how to make the curled frame I used in this layout. As always, I'm sure this has been done before since there are just so many talented scrappers out there. I'm simply showing my take on this curled frame.

Here are the supplies you'll need. A paper cutter--I use the finger cutter by Fiskars. I've had several paper cutters & this has been the best one for me by far. I use my finger to guide the point of the knife so I have really good control of where I'm cutting. Some cardstock or patterned paper. If using patterned paper--it's most likely best if you use double-sided paper so that when you curl the paper it doesn't display in a plain white color. This of course, is all based on preference. If you want it to be white, then that's alright too! A cutting mat. A ruler, pencil & a paintbrush. I use the handle of the paintbrush to curl my paper--but you can use a pencil too. Ok, let's get started!

Outlaw Layout

Hello again fellow bloggers & scrappers! I bring you today my latest layout titled 'Outlaw'. This is a completely 'rugged' masculine layout that I'm actually very proud of!
This is my husband decked out as a cowboy. We did this photo shoot a few years ago where we both dressed up as old western figures. In this picture he's giving us his 'mean' look. That's about as mean as he gets folks! :-) I found this picture while rearranging my photos & felt compelled to scrap it. When I showed it to my husband he was pleased. He said the layout was very 'manly'--just like him. You just gotta love him!
This layout is 99% Tim Holtz. Everything from the paper to all the embellishments is by him. Only the cardboard that's in the background & the stamps which are by Graphic 45 are not by him. I used lots of techniques here--misting, inking, distressing & a technique I called 'burnt edges' where I made the edges of my layout & photo mats look burnt. I have a brief tutorial on this technique found here. I'm sure someone out there has done this already--but the tutorial simply shows how I went about doing it. I was very pleased with the results. I also used several tips & tricks from the man himself throughout the layout.

Here's a closeup of some of the stamping I did & the cardboard. The cardboard I misted in Suede Glimmer Mist & Olive Green Smooch. I pretty much drowned the cardboard in both of these mists & then let it air dry.

I used the clock mask by Tim Holtz to mask the big clock & randomly spread some Th gears & cogs around the clock & behind the photo mats.

The flourish is grungeboard. I first embossed it with Vintage Photo Distress Embossing powder. Then with my fingers I removed a little bit of the embossing powder to reveal the grunge board below. Next I inked it with Vintage Photo distress ink. Finally I spread some Rock Stickles crackle paint on it & this was the end result. In person, it looks as if it's rusted. This technique I got from reading Tim Holtz's blog. It's also in his last book 'A Compendium of Curiosities'.
I used four TH hitch fasteners & a TH ball chain to go around the border of my picture. I just wrapped the ball chain around the fasteners & secured with a connector. I hung the two tokens from a TH Swivel Clasp that is also hanging from one of the fasteners.

The rest of the embellies are also little items from TH. The Bingo card & the calendar I got from TH's Lost & Found Paper Stash.
The title is housed in a TH ornate plate. Talk about over-dosing on TH products?!
The title itself I printed from my computer. I then put some Glossy Accents ontop of the title & let it dry. This gives it a dimensional raised enamel effect.
Well that's it for today...thanks for stopping by & as always comments are very much appreciated!

Burnt Edges Tutorial

Here I am with the burnt edges tutorial as seen in my layout 'Outlaw'. As already mentioned...this technique has most likely been used before--I'm simply showing how I went about getting this burnt look.
Prepare to get messy with this one. It's all about using your fingers with ink, glimmer mist & water.

Here are your basic supplies. Paper, dark brown glimmer mist. I used Suede Glimmer Mist. Dark brown ink. I'm using chalk ink in a Dark Brown color. I use chalk ink because this ink smears a little with water. You can also use a Walnut Stain Distress ink for this since Distress inks also react well to water. A mini mister or any kind of spray bottle & a Tim Holtz distresser. If you do not have this little gadget, running the edge of a sharp pair of scissors along the border of the paper works good too. Heat gun (not pictured).

Spiral Flower Tutorial

Good evening fellow bloggers! Today I'm going to take a few minutes to post a quick tutorial on how to make spiral flowers. I recently learned how to do this in a class I took at my local scrapbook store. During this class I made my very first canvas! I'll be posting this soon because I'm very proud of how it came out! These spiral flowers were part of the canvas. They're so very simple to make but yet make such a great statement on layouts, canvases, cards etc...In addition, I found that making these flowers is an excellent way to get rid of scraps!

So let's get started.