Friday, January 23, 2015

Mixed media birthday card

Hi and welcome to my blog.  I'm still working on building up my birthday card stash and the current sketch over at Cardabilities inspired my mixed media style birthday card. I used a bit of everything for this card .... Prima chalkboard paints, Petaloo flowers, Heidi Swapp  and Stampin' Up! stamps and whatever else I could find!

Here's the sketch:





Here's my take on the sketch:




 
 
I have a bunch of plain ole chipboard tags tucked away in a drawer. They are the perfect base for chalkboard paint- the paint goes on smooth and evenly and dries quickly. I used Eggshell for this tag and then stamped a woodgrain stamp ( Impression Obsession) in CTMH Desert Sand ink.... it shows better in RL. I stamped a piece of orange scrap paper with  a Heidi Swapp background  script stamp and the splats are a Stampin' Up! stamp ( Gorgeous Grunge) . I then added layers of Petaloo flowers , sequins and a metal flourish which I painted with Golden chalkboard paint and a bit of Tim Holtz Tarnished Brass . The leaves on the right are a die from , the buttons are from my stash and the Happy Birthday was made using a fun little gadget I've had for ages , but for the life of me, I have no idea what it's called!!!
 That's my card... hope you enjoyed it!
Thanks for stopping by my blog today!
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Jingle Belles : in with the new challenge Christmas cards

Hi and welcome to my blog. I have a couple of cards to share today. I'm a big fan of online shopping - no lineups and with all the great papercrafting goodies out there, the selection is amazing!! But... I have to wait until they arrive by snail mail and that can take weeks . I got some new fabulous Tim Holtz Alterations dies just before Christmas but I never got a chance to really use them. What better time than now when the ladies over at Jingle Belles are challenging us to play with our new goodies.


Here are my cards.......

 
 
I used the candles die for this card and a background stamp from Spellbinders , which I colored with my Copic markers. I loved the 3D effect I got when I added Rock Candy Crackle paint to the leaves , with glitter( all Tim Holtz products). Sooo pretty!!!! The leaves are cut with my Silhouette machine and the red flower is from Prima. The sentiment is from Flourishes stamp set called Sentimental Christmas.
 
 
 
And my second card....
 
 
 

 
I absolutely love the Tattered Poinsettia die from the  TH Alterations line. It looks great just diecut out cardstock or pretty paper but it is stunning when altered! I started out with a diecut from blue cardstock, then stamped it , inked it , distressed the edges and finally added some glaze and glitter. A jingle bell with some glitter for the center and a bit of twine and this poinsettia is all ready for this card! I stamped the base with another new TH product , Christmas Blueprints 4 .The greeting  from Whimsy stamp set ,Christmas Moments , was heat embossed in dark red.
 
 
Hope you enjoyed my cards.... thanks for stopping by today!
 


Thursday, January 15, 2015

12 Tags of 2015.... my first ever TH inspired tag

Hi and welcome to my blog! As you may have already guessed , this blog post is about my first ever Tim Holtz inspired Tag . Mixed media has become a major part of my scrapbooking style and I've even begun to venture into canvas and other  forms of mixed media art. I've been following the 12 Tags series for awhile but this is my first ever tag!! Check out Tim Hotlz's blog for an awesome tutorial and check out all the cool tags that have been submitted. But first here's my tag..........



 
 
I didn't have all the products that Tim used so I made do with what I had on hand. First, I made my tag out of beige cardstock and then crinkled some vintage print paper ( Stampin' Up!), sprayed it with water and then adhered it to the tag. I then added layers - lots of them, using distress paints, inks and sprays . Water was spritzed in between layers to blend the colors . I then added a layer of Rock Candy crackle paint and over that a coating of dry glitter over the entire tag. After it had dried , I used a bit of black gesso and a TH clockwork stencil . I followed the tutorial for adding glitter and glossy accents to letters - I used some old chipboard numbers and CTMH letters.  I had a sheet of word blocks that represent some of my goals for 2015. I used a graphite pencil in black to shade around the words and then with my aquabush, I smudged it for a softer look. A few embellishments ,sequins, and a bit of ribbon, tinted with distress stains, and finally, a bit of inking on the edge and my tag is done!
 
 
 

 
Here's some of the products I used to create my tag.
 
I'm looking forward to the next tutorial!!!
 
Thanks for stopping by my blog today!
 
 
 

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Christmas morning layout

Hi and welcome to my blog. I'm still working on Christmas layouts - I usually get  to about 5 or 6 pages completely finished before I'm distracted by something else ! lol  I'm using the current sketch over at Stuck! blog to start my creative mojo. Here's the sketch ....



 
Isn't there so many fun features to this sketch??? I had lots of fun creating my page of my kids on Christmas morning.
 
 
 
I used an old dp paper from Stampin' Up! and then added a strip of ornament paper from Echo Park, with a green rickrack trim peeking out. The flip side of the ornament paper featured a bold houndstooth which I used for the photo mat layer and as a strip on the top. Pretty much everything was inked and/or distressed. The base layer has some stencilling, date stamping and some gold embossing. All of the elements are from Fancy pats Designs with the exception of the rosette ( basic Grey) and the sequins ( Craft Medley) .The red banner was made from an old piece that I had lying around. Thanks to  a great sketch, my layout was finished fairly quickly! I even added a bit of hidden  journaling, in a pocket under the photo.
 
Thanks for visiting my blog today. I hope you enjoyed my layout! Have a wonderful creative day!
 

 
 

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Mojo Monday birthday card ..... and some old Stampin' Up! stamps

Hi and welcome to my blog. As a paper crafter I tend to hoard all kinds of craft supplies , including stamps! I sold a bunch of stamps a couple of years ago but they are slowly starting to build up again!! lol While I was sorting them, maybe, just maybe thinking I might do another purge I found a couple of oldies from my Stampin' Up! days , and I decided to put them to use! What better way to get inspired than to play along with another great sketch from Mojo Monday.... here it is!



 
 
I dusted off my sets from SU! Edgy Eloquence and Wonderful Words ( I still love the script of these stamps!!) and made this card......
 
 
 
Actually , lots of older products were used to make this card, like bling from Prima, leftover paper from Teresa Collins Summer Stories collection and even the cardstock was from my odds n ends stash. I spritzed the Prima flower with Glimmer Mist ( yep, that's old stuff,too!!!) and then added a bit of Tim Holtz Distress  dry glitter... which really doesn't show up all that great in this photo, but trust me, it's beautiful  in RL!!!!
 
So that's my card .... thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful creative day!
 
 
 
 
 

Friday, January 9, 2015

A winter visitor layout

Hi and welcome to my blog! Today is another wintery stormy day here on the southwest coast of Newfoundland.... three storms in one week, and it's only early January!!!! Oh well, at least I can stay inside and get some more scrapping done!!  For this layout I'm playing along with the current sketch over at Sketchablities.





 
 
 
 
Here is my interpretation of the sketch........
 
 
 
 
I snapped this photo of a young moose in our front yard last winter ... we often see moose munching on birch trees but they generally run away at the first sound. Not this guy, he kept on munching till he had his fill and then casually strode away, even looking back a few times. That's when I got this photo.... you can't see my dog, but he was in the window looking out and barking - loudly!
 
I followed the sketch as much as possible.For my base layer,I used a sheet of snowy patterned paper from Stampin' Up! which I then  stenciled , inked and stamped , using the sketch as a guide. I created the photo mat out of scrap Glitz Design papers - more distressing and inking here, too. I cut branches from  an online file from Silhouette from brown cardstock . I inked it with Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs ink and then a coat of clear Crackle paint (Tim Holtz) was applied over each branch. I used the relief of the branch cut out to stencil some branches throughout the layout. A layer of Faber Castell Glass Bead was added before all those other layers. To finish off the page , I added a title using Thickers alphas.
 
 
 
That's my layout... hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today..... have a wonderful creative day!
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Celebrate Today .. a birthday card

Hi and welcome to my blog. I never seem to have enough birthday cards , I'm usually scrambling to create one at the last minute! This year one of my goals is to be more organized and hopefully, more prepared as well! I've been making a few cards for different occasions , but  I still need more bday cards. To get my creative mojo flowing, I'm using this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday for my card . Here's the sketch:




 
 
 
 
Here's my card.......
 
 
 
 
I used papers from Fancy Pants Collecting Moments 6X6 paper pad and a stamp from CTMH called The party Is On , inked in Pear and Sorbet inks. Behind the sentiment and on the striped paper is a bit  of confetti stamp from Stampin Up! called Gorgeous Grunge stamp set ( in gold ink). The gold scallop border is from Teresa Collins , which I wrapped with a bit of crochet cotton. I made a clear pocket out of acetate and filled it with some sequins and a bit of glitter before sewing all sides up. Pretty simple ! I love how quick and easy this card was and that I can use it for either a child or adult's birthday!!!
 
Thanks for stopping by my blog today.... have a wonderful creative day!
 

 
 

Monday, January 5, 2015

Happy anniversary card .... a retro sketch card

Hi , I'm back with another post to share with you. I was browsing through some of my go-to sketch blogs and found this great sketch over at Retro Sketches ;

 
I wanted to use some of my stash from leftover projects , so I grabbed papers from a few different Teresa Collins collections . Take a look:
 
 
I fussy cut the sentiment from a journaling card and popped it up with foam dots on another journaling card ( all cut from the same sheet of 12x12 ) and then basically I followed the sketch using a few sheets of 6x6 paper in yellow polka dot and black and white damask .A small strip of glitter gold and a sticker happy anniversary greeting ( also Teresa Collins product) and my card is completed! This took me the whole twenty minutes to make!! yay, Gotta love those kinda cards!!
 
Check out the great sketches at Retro Sketches and play along ! Thanks for stopping by my blog ... have a wonderful creative day!

 
 

The holidays are over... back to scrapping!

Hi ,welcome to my blog! The kids are back to school, hubby is at work and now I have a some time to get things done! I've been trying to get caught up on my kids scrap books .... my oldest daughter graduates this year, and I'm still working on her school album! Here's a few more I got finished....



 
 
I purchased several paper stacks at an awesome price last summer while I was at Michaels ... most of them were Crate Paper , which I used for this layout. I stenciled with a couple of different stencils in shades of Tim Holtz distress ink before adding strips of handcut paper and some tags made out of Prima journaling notecards. Lots of Petaloo flowers, Prima resin frame and chipboard accents , and gemstones. a few random buttons and a Heidi Swapp acrylic sticker for the small title and small heart. I may go back and add a larger title later on.... maybe !
 
 
 
 
I started off this layout with a woodgrain paper from My Mind's Eye and then added words from a Prima 12X12 stencil in random places. I spritzed with Prima Color Bloom in Tea Stain but it looks more gold to me and then added some polka dots (gesso) before splattering the whole layout with watered white paint. Most of the embellishments on this layout came from Teresa Collins, with the exception of the large flower ( Michaels) and sequins ( unknown source).
 
 
 
And my last layout features my daughter and her honours report card last year.
 
 
 
This layout used up some older papers from a Recollections school line that I've had for at least three or fours years now! It's almost all gone now! I just added some black gesso for the chicken wire stencil (The Crafters Workshop) , more inking on the base layer, a mini bag for hidden journaling( stamped with CTMH stamp), a Thickers title and bits and pieces of papers and even recycled cardboard from my stash. Pretty easy!
 
 
Those are my layouts.... thanks for looking!
Have a great day!
 
 
 

 

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Scrap The Boys January challenge layout


Hi all! Today is the perfect day to stay all warm and cozy inside while the wind howls and the snow is falling. I still have the kids back to school photos to scrap ... and the current challenge at Scrap The Boys is a good starting place to get at least one layout finished!  They have made some changes ( new DT members , new challenges and more so take a few moments to check them out!

 Here's the challenge for January:


 
I really like the colors and theme of this mood board. My son especially loves anything to do with cars and the GTO is his favorite but unfortunately we don't own one!!! But I did have a collection from Crate Paper called Boys Rule that fits this mood board.
 
Here's my layout.....
 
 
 
 
 
All elements are from Crate Paper Boys Rule collection. I used stencils ( The Crafters Workshop) , stamps( SU! Background Grunge and CTMH Geometric Backgrounds)  and inks to create the various elements on the base layer of cardstock and alpha stamps from CTMH ( and the quote as well) plus a few Thickers alphas were used for the title and date. A little bit of washi tape and some enamel dots ,from Prima, scattered about the page complete this layout.
The colours are more vibrant in RL but for some reason they look much more washed out in the photo---- I'm blaming all this stormy weather!! LOL
 
Thanks for checking out my blog today... have a wonderful & warm creative day!!
 

 
 

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Warm friends on the coldest days

Hi and welcome to my blog! Have you made a new years resolution yet? I don't usually, probably because I tend to forget them by mid-January!! This year I hope to keep my goal of spending more creative time .... documenting my family , actually making cards ahead of occasions instead of at the last minute and maybe I might even manage to dust off my sewing machine and start last years projects!!!! Here's my first card of 2015 .... it's for the current Friday Mashup challenge:



This week's Mashup Challenge is:

  • Create a project with a "Winter theme". 
  • Create a project  with "Snowflakes". 
  • or Mash it Up! and create a "Winter project with Snowflakes".
 
 
 
 
 
I purchased this cute little digi image a few years ago ... the files came with ready to color images and this adorable pre-colored sweet girl and kitty. I uploaded her to my brand new Cricut Explore ( Xmas gift from hubby this year!!) and used the print and cut feature. I love how well it cut all the details ... with no white spaces!! This feature is probably my favorite thing about the Explore , but it will never replace my beloved Silhouette machine! The papers are from a Crate Paper 6X6 mini pad called Bundled Up. I love the pink snowflake paper , actually I love all the papers in this collection... its a perfect collection for winter themed papercrafts and the colors are so much fun to play with!
 
 
 
 
 
I pulled out my Bigshot for the hexagon shape( Spellbinders) and the pink snowflake.  I used a sentiment from CC Designs stamps called Winter Chuckles , inked in CTMH Juniper ink. A few buttons , some clear Wink of Stella glitter to the snow and my card is complete!!!
 
Thanks for stopping by my blog today!