Swimmin' with Fish

What is summertime without swimming?  My little one loves to swim.  She has the long lean body for it too. Once the warm weather hits, she can be continually found in the water, whether at the lake or at the pool or at the cottage, that girl swims.

Today's layout that I am sharing is an ode to Alex's swimming. The title says it all.

Supplies: patterned paper, cardstock stickers, letter stickers, chipboard, flair badge (Simple Stories), kitchen twine and jewels(Dollarama), distress inks (Tim Holtz/Ranger), gelatos (Faber-Castell), letter stamps (Clear Dollar Stamps), blk ink (Ranger), pen (Staedtler)

I used the I Heart Summer Collection from Simple Stories and I played along with the August Week 2 sketch at Let's Get Sketchy.


I started the page knowing I wanted water-like droplets on the page.  To achieve this, I used gelatos.  I simply rubbed a blue gelato in the bottom of a plastic container, added some water and dissolved the gelato by mixing it with my finger.  To get the coordinating colour shade, I swiped the Margarita Mix chartreuse green along the side of the container and then mixed it in with the water.  It was ready to go.  I dipped the back end of a small paint brush handle into the tiny amount of gelato solution and splattered drops on the page.

Besides the droplets I knew I wanted a fishnet for under the photo.  I made the fish net by knotting a section of 12 strings by 10 strings of kitchen twine.  I coloured it by misting it with water and then applying two colours of distress ink to it.  Then letting it dry before adhering it to the cardstock.

Lots of little bits and dimension on this one as I used various thickness of foam pop ups.

Here is the very versatile sketch from Let's Get Sketchy that I used.  I changed up the flowers for a variety of different elements and embellishments.

There is still time until the end of the month to play along.  Check out any of their weekly sketches for oodles of inspiration.

 TTFN,

MME Summer Recap Challenge

Over at MME, this month's first challenge is to do a layout recapping your summer.  Well this posed a wee tad premature for my family as summer is still going strong here for us.  However, I most definitely can do a recap for the summer of 2012, so I went with that.

Supplies: patterned papers, stickers, stamps, rub-ons, flocked chipboard letters (MME), pigment ink (CTMH and Studio G), epoxy letter stickers (American Crafts), marker (Sharpie), pen (Staedtler), thread (Aurifil Mako'ne)

For this layout design idea, I used a mix of really old, old and relatively newer MME products.  I searched for just the right patterned paper with an A and B side that would achieve the look and sun colours that I was going for.  The best part is that I actually used up some old MME from my stash.  Yeah me! The patterned paper is from the Très Jolie collection from when I first started acquiring scrapbook pretties. Can you say... long time MME fan?:)
 

To achieve the sunray chevron technique, I simply cut 1 1/4 " squares from the patterned paper.  Then I folded them at roughly the inch mark, allowing both sides to show, thus creating a triangle and a chevron.

An angled detail photo shows the dimension of the layout. Some photos are popped up with foam, edges are distressed and the sunray triangle/squares are left with the folds slightly raised.

I really liked this recap idea because it challenged me to put a bunch of photos into one layout.  I actually got nine photos on this one and still had room with my design for white space.  I  was able to do this by having my photos developed on a standard 4x6" size paper with 4- 2x3" on each.  Then, I trimmed them down as I could, to fit the arrangement area.


TTFN,

Cooking Up a Fun Layout!

Scraptastic had a Birthday Virtual Crop and my friend Sherri Funk posted a Recipe Challenge.  You had to include a sticker, a wood veneer and a flair badge.

This is what I cooked up...

Supplies: patterned paper (Carta Bella), cardstock sticker (Bella Blvd.), chipboard letters (K & Company), chevron and seagull wood veneers (CTMH), paper flower (Heidi Swapp), banner stamp (Dear Lizzy /American Crafts), ink (Ranger and Tsukinenko), cloud stencil (Balzer Designs/The Crafter's Workshop), gesso (Golden), gelatos (Faber-Castell), pen (Staedtler), birch bark, bunny flair, felt flower and fabric leaves (misc.)

I created lots of dimension using birch bark, chipboard and layers of foam tape under the subtitle sticker, flower and the photo.

 

After I completed this layout I had a partially inked large white paper flower and a slightly coloured felt pink heart as left overs.  I turned them into a simple quick card.

 




Supplies: patterned paper(Fancy Pants), cardstock (CTMH),paper flower (Heidi Swapp), gelato (Faber-Castell), felt flower and wood letters (Dollarama), blue ribbon (Offray), orange ribbon (Michaels), wood veneer chevrons (Studio Calico), border punch (Stampin' Up), stickles (Ranger), marker Sharpie)

I coloured the flower with the same technique from the flower on the layout.  It is unbelievably easy to do with a gelato.  I used an Tangerine orange gelato to colour the edges by downward stroking the gelato crayon along all the edges of the flower.

 Then using a baby wipe on your finger, draw the colour from the edge to the depth that you desire into the flower petal.

You can add or remove colour as desired.  In this case, I added a bit more gelato colour as I wanted a bit more colour saturation.

Then I layered it up with the felt flower and attached it to the card. I finished the flower off with some stickles for the centre.

There you have it... a thank you card for that perpetually attached to their cell phone friend who can appreciate the texted message sentiment. LOL!

TTFN,

A Magenta Layout, Leftovers Turned Cards, and a Tutorial

I shared these projects over on the Magenta blog this week.  The first was a summery layout of my beautiful niece, that I made with fussy cut butterflies and gesso stencilled flowers.

Supplies: patterned papers, stencil, corrugated letters (Magenta), gesso (Golden), glimmer mist (Tattered Angels), border punch (Fiskars), pen (CTMH), glitter glue (Studio G), thread (Aurifil Mako'ne)

This detailed photo helps show the dimension created by rolling the frame that was cut from the page and folding and/or popping up the butterflies' wings at various angles and heights.

With my fussy cut butterfly leftovers, I made these two cards.

The larger one was created using gelatos and a stencil with a stamped sentiment.  You can see my tutorial on how to stencil using a blending of gelatos to create the flowers here.

The mini card just makes me smile.  I love these itty bitty jewels of cards.

Supplies: patterned paper (Magenta), cardstock, sentiment stamp, and blk ink (CTMH), damask stamp (Prima), pink ink (Martha Stewart), baker's twine (Jillibean Soup), button (Making Memories), wood veneer chevrons (Studio Calico), border punch (Fiskars), pen (Staedtler), thread (Aurifil mako'ne)

For this one, I used a variety of scraps, stitching, stamping, inking, doodling and new wood veneer chevrons.

I like the quickness and ease of making a card or two from leftover project scraps when they are still out on my scrap table before I them tidy up.  Less to clean and something else to show for it.

TTFN,

Mixed Media Mélange

I recently received my DT kit from Magenta containing some of the new release catalogue items.  I was really stoked about the new mixed media foam board as I have been venturing into more mixed media and find that even with 140lb cardstock, layouts warp.  I have been itching to play with it and see how it works. After creating this project, I can now say I am extremely pleased with how it performs.  No warp, no wrinkle... nada! However the engineering on this works, it is a wonderful thing.

Supplies: Mixed Media Foam Board, patterned papers and fiber mesh (Magenta), doily stencil (Christy Tomlinson/Pink Paislee), script stamp (Vicki Boutin/Stamping Bella), gesso and molding paste (Golden), distress inks and Multi Media Gel (Ranger), gelato (Faber-Castell), brown ink (Tsukineko), wood veneer hearts and pigment ink (CTMH), paint (Plaid), embroidery floss (DMC), glimmer mist (Tattered Angels), font (Pristina), pen (Staedtler), embroidered pillow case remnant, burlap, canvas and antique buttons (Misc.)

Some details of the bottom heart cluster...

and the top cluster with the stenciled doily with molding paste...

My design concept was inspired by the colour board over at AMMCC for their Challenge #4 and because the project is for my own home décor, I also went with a variety of textiles for Berry71Bleu's August Textile Challenge.



Berry71Blue - Get Creative With Textiles!!

 




I am loving experimenting and playing with mixed media of late.  It is so fun and freeing to get messy and just play with ideas and textures and see where they take me.  The end results have been well worth it.


 TTFN,

Magenta August Garden Party Challenge

The Magenta August challenge is up over on the Magenta blog.  This month's challenge is a little different.  It is based on an inspiration photo board and the theme is Garden Party.  I was inspired with by the greens, pinks and whites for colour and the greenery and flowers for elements.



Supplies: stencils, patterned paper, owl stamp, chipboard, and cork letter stickers (Magenta), cardstock (Canadian Scrapbooker and CTMH), gelatos (Faber-Castell), gesso (Golden), watercolour pencil crayons (Reeves), fabric letters (American Crafts), foam letters (Pink Paislee), ink and stickles (Ranger), border punch (Recollections), pen (Sharpie)

Magenta Products used: Polka Dot stencil from Geometric Trio, Nature's Elements stencil, Owls-Large stamp, Flowers chipboard, & Self-Adhesive Cork Alphabet

I am really proud and pleased with this layout.  I have not created anything like it before.  The base cardstock literally started out as a blank white canvas.  I used gelatos to create the background.  After I had blended and moved around the Snowcone blue and Margarita Mix green colours, I stencil with a Magenta Polka Dot stencil using gesso on the top blue sky portion and used Magenta floral stencils with gelatos and gesso on the bottom green portion.

You have until August 28th to participate and you only need to have one Magenta product on your project entry.  What could be easier?  Be sure to check out the challenge here.

TTFN,

Monkeying Around

I was looking through some photos the other night with my daughter, as I had the urge to scrap something fun.  Upon seeing these photos, my daughter started to sing the song she had created the day she got Billy Jean her sock monkey. The beginning line of her song would work wonderfully for a title too so I went with the sock monkey photos.

Over at Let's Get Sketchy, the challenge for this week was Anything Goes and decided to play along.  I chose a sketch from their blog's July sketch posts that fit with my two photos.





Supplies: patterned paper, cardstock stickers, and twine (MME), cardstock (Bazzill), chipboard (Simple Stories), glitter letter stickers (MLS), cardstock letter stickers & year sticker (Echo Park), corrugated letters (Jillibean Soup), gelatos (Faber-Castell), gesso (Golden), ink (CTMH), pen (Staedtler)

A little MME Lime Twist from my stash was the perfect accompaniment for these photos.  I added a little Cotton Candy coloured gelato gessoed bubble wrap stamping to the background page in place of patterned paper and got creative with my title typography.

Here is the Let's Get Sketchy sketch that I used:

A fun layout to commemorate a fun childhood memory!

TTFN,

A Mixed Media Colour Challenge #3

I was inspired by the new A Mixed Media Color Challenge site's colour challenge # 3 for July.  It is so gorgeous and one of my favourite home decorating colour combinations.

Supplies: patterned paper (House of 3/Pink Paislee), cardstock (CTMH), distress ink and blk ink (Ranger), stamp (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous), flower trim, (Webster's Pages), burlap trim (MME), wood veneer stars and stencil (Studio Calico), glitter letter stickers (Reflections), molding paste (Golden), mirror butterfly (Dollarama), bubble wrap (misc.)

 I love all the textures that I used on this card.  At the top half with the molding paste, gesso and wood veneer stars...

and then the burlap and fabric trim at the bottom.

Here is the splendid AMMCC #3 colour board:

I was playing with molding paste for the first time and trying to get the hang of it.  I knew I wanted to make a stamped frame out of the paste but before I took on the frame on my card, experimented with it using a stamped blob attempt on a mini card. 

Supplies: cardstock and sentiment stamp (CTMH), chandelier stamp (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous), distress inks and blk ink (Ranger), molding paste (Golden) glimmer mist (Tattered Angels), border punch (Fiskar), floss (Anchor), cheese cloth (misc.)

Love this one too! How darn cute is that?!

I have to say it was worth the effort as I learned lots on how to get just the right texture thinkness and dry time before stamping the paste with my five attempts at that chandelier. LOL!  Luckily it is easy to remove or add to the paste with each boo-boo and easily enough to re-stamp with a clear acrylic stamp.;)

If you haven't checked out the new AMMCC site, be sure to check it out.  All the projects created are such eye candy and so inspirational!

TTFN,

MME July Sketch Challenge

With lots of details and stamping, this month's MME sketch provided the inspiration for this layout:



Supplies: patterned papers, stamps, chipboard, chipboard letters, label, enamel dots, and washi tapes (MME), ink (Ranger), cardstock, alphabet stamps, and pen (CTMH), and thread (Aurifil Mako' ne)

Primarily using The Sweetest Thing collection, my take pretty much sticks directly with the sketch.  Why mess with it when it works so well?!:)

I added in some stitched circles, used some washi tapes from the Lost & Found 3 collection and stamped directly on the page as well as created embellishment pieces using oodles of different MME stamps (Miss Caroline and Indie Chic collections).

TTFN,

A Little Catch Up With Cards

I hadn't gotten around to sharing these cards that I had made over the last months so I am sharing them in one card catch up post.

First up... a birthday card for a friend.

Supplies:  Patterned paper (Fancy Pants), glittered chipboard pieces (DCWV), cardstock and sentiment stamp (CTMH), ink (StazOn), Baker's Twine (Maya Road), letter stickers (October Afternoon), boarder punch (Stampin' Up), jewels (Dollarama)

This one is unique in that I made the chevron strip with chipboard photo corners and edged two of the chipboard pieces with Maya Road baker's twine.  I really like the weight and thickness of this twine.  It shows really well on projects.

Second up... a birthday card for Dad.

Supplies: Stamps [bow ties, monticule and 'stache sentiment and sentiment stamp], chipboard and cork label (Magenta), wht cardstock and coloured inks (CTMH), black ink and Stickles(Ranger), paint (Plaid), blk cardstock (Bazzill), jewels (misc.)

This one was made using stamps and chipboard from the new Magenta Gentle-made collection. For how-to tutorial, head over to my post on the Magenta blog here.

Lastly,  a card for mom.



Supplies: Patterned paper and pink cardstock (DCWV), black and white cardstock (CTMH), border punch (Fiskars), letter stickers (Reflections), baker's twine (Jillibean Soup), jewels (Dollarama)

I love when you can take some scraps and create something pretty from them.

TTFN,