playing with Miraposa

I just love the Mariposa stack from DCWV. I had to pull it out and make another page. I also added some extra butterflies from Altered Pages. I just cut them out and added dimension with foam tape. The embossing on the edges is a cuttlebug folder and then I lightly inked with a sponge and sanded a bit. This is my husband at Expedition Everest - its just so beautiful for a ride queue. I took lots of photos.

Vintage Eggs box

Here's the box that I promised. Its a cute little hinged box but it needed some help so I added ball knob feet. I think all of my boxes should have ball knob feet :) I also added a little square wood plaque on top. The papers are K&Co and the Easter Images are from Altered Pages. I just couldn't resist the urge to sugar it up with Rock Candy Stickles.

Vintage Eggs

A fun little project for you to try. I saw some eggs that looked vintagy like this but they were wooden and oh so expensive. Mine are a bit more on the frugal side.
I started with a paper mache egg (I got mine at Hobby Lobby)
Next I cut out a vintage image(from Altered Pages) and then cut darts so it would form to the curve of the egg. You could cover the egg with patterned papers first but at this point I wasn't sure what was going on with my eggs so I started with the image :)












Next I finished covering the back of the Eggs with K&Co papers. I painted a coat of Ranger Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint for a bit of texture. I added brown ink in the cracks of one egg and skipped the ink on the second egg so you could see the difference. After adding a coat of clear Varnish to seal the finish, they are finished. Now aren't these cute!? Soon I hope to put them on top of a little altered box, so check back.

flurries in feb?

We NEVER have snow and this year we have had flurries 3 times! Now it hasn't accumulated but its still really exciting and surprising here in Houston. By the end of Feb we should be in the 70s and working on our flower beds. I had to force my guys to go out for photos but it could be 10 years before we get another snowflake here. LOL! Of course our snow cat had to see it.

Generation Tech DCWV

I finally got to play with my Generation Tech stack by DCWV. I have kind of saved it away for the gamer photos. This page is for Alex's senior album. I love these papers with the retro-gamer look.

Purple

Serendipity Scrapbooks is having a fun "House of Serendipity" crop event sponsored by the wonderful people at:
Altered Pages
Cosmo Cricket
Kiki Art
Sassafras Lass

Well, my first challenge was to use purple on a layout. This can be a challenge for me because I am not a fan of purple and I guess that makes me not buy many collections that have alot of good purple. I do have K&Co Que Sera Sera though, and it was PERFECT for my Disneyland New Orleans Square photos. This was a really fun layout with all the bold color. I wish I was there enjoying the music with a big bread bowl full of Gumbo! mmmmmmm! Who wants to join me? :)

HOW did you do that?

Since I have had so many questions about how I did the embossing on this layout - I took a photo to help me explain below.











Embossing machines are usually only 6" wide and even if you have a 12x12 machine, it will to the full sheet. I used a border folder from Cuttlebug, but its the same with full sized folders. If you want just the edges, you have to be somewhat more creative with your embossing. Whether you have the little embossing border piece like I used or the normal sized embossing folders, you can emboss edges of your layout. I am sure there are many tools in the garage that would allow you to sqeeze the embossing folder, but in my scraproom, the best tool is my Quickutz handle. It's easy to get the outter edge because you can move the tool along the edge but if you want an uneven edge, you vary the distance inward. If you want impressions further inward on your layout, on a hard solid floor, use a hammer or mallet gently.

Fat Tuesday

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday so I was thinking about FOOD! I found this photo of one of my very favorite things - the amazing Apple Strudel from Naeglin's Bakery in New Braunfels. Our grandmother used to take my brother and me to get cream puffs and strudel when we were out shopping. Now we are so happy when my uncle brings it for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I used the Farmers Market stack by DCWV. It's got the best texture and designs, almost like fabric. I love the little animals so I had to include the piggie on this page. You definitely feel like a pig after a couple of pieces of this stuff!

Bear Hug

I have been wanting to scrap this one for quite awhile but just couldn't figure out how to make it look special enough. I had seen a layout with a quilted heart a couple of years ago and I have been wanting to try it. It was so perfect for this page.
The papers are Amy Butler- K&Co, the flowers are Maya Road, and the chipboard Pooh is SandyLion.

Our Daddy called my brother, Pooh Bear and this was the first time he actually got a photo with Pooh. It's just the cutest.

Happy Valentines day!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day with your sweeties. I have made a fun tag card for a friend and I wanted to show you guys too. I also have to share a link to a recipe because I made it last night and it was SO cute and yummy too. I will tell you that the color of hers in the photo are not at all like mine which are chocolate red due to the cocoa powder. I am thinking maybe she left the cocoa out. Click here to see the cakey sandwich cookies that I am calling Sweet Hearts. They are really called Red Velvet whoopie pies.

Here are mine:














Now for the pocket card. I made this little pocket for 2 valentine tags. I used some leftovers from my Serendipity Scrapbooks Feb Kit. I embossed the stamped images and then painted over them with Adirondak colorwash spray. I just used a brush and dipped it into the dye. I love the intense color.

Vintage

These are photos I took of some of my uncle's antique treasures. These beautiful Graphic 45 papers are just perfect for the look. I love the little typewriter tag. I used Ranger Crackle paint in Antique Linen, as well as, Rock Candy for aging the page.

embellished stamping

I saw a page that Linda Albrecht created on her blog. She glittered her stamping and added paint and rub ons. Now her's was just Stunning!!! and my attempt is kind of lame, but I did love the idea of stamping with paint that has been mixed with something like a varnish or other hard drying adhesive because then you can sprinkle a bit of glitter over the image and it holds very well and gives the image alot of sparkle.

Here is my layout. I mixed gloss varnish with brown paint and then sprinkled with a Lions Mane Art Glitter.

These papers and rub ons are older My Minds Eye, the stamp is old Inque Boutique, and I just used the sticker backing from the chipboard border strip for masking with sponged brown ink. Oh and the layout is for the current Disney Challenge :)

A sketch for today

Are you ready to do a sketch layout? My Daily Challenge for today over at Serendipity Scrapbooks is to use one of my sketches to create a layout. Also you have to cut the thin square frame piece of the sketch from patterned paper. I had alot of fun with this one. I hope you guys give it a try and I would love to see your pages.



For my example, I used the sparkly Summer Song collection by My Minds Eye

Stitched flower tutorial

My friend, Betsy Veldman, always creates the most wonderful paper embellishments. Today’s technique is a stitched flower design that I learned from Betsy a couple of years ago. Thanks Betsy :)
This flower can be made any size but my finished size is about 3 ¼”.
**CLICK THE IMAGE OF THE STEPS TO SEE FULL SIZED**

1. Cut concentric circles from patterned papers. You can sand or ink the edges for definition. *Do not adhere these circles together because you will want to turn up the edges of the papers later.
2. Stitch over your circles as shown to make 8 “pie pieces”.
3. Cut thin wedges in between each stitched line.
4. Curl the edges of the petals upward.


















The flower looks perfectly wonderful like that, but I usually add to the center. Here is my example of the finished flower used on a card but they are just perfect for layouts too. I used the Basic Grey Sugar Rush collection of papers for a perfect combination of springy colors.





















Here is one more that I plan to use on a layout. I used my scraps from the Serendipity Scrapbooks February Altered kit:

Need a challenge?

Well it's that time again when I am hosting a week of challenges at Serendipity Scrapbooks forum! woot! If you want to come play along, CLICK HERE.

Bird and Branch Challenge
For today’s challenge I have a template for you to use for paper piecing on your layout. You must use this template to cut the bird, branch, leaves, and flowers from Patterned Papers (not cardstock). You can resize this pattern and use as many leaves and flowers as you like. I suggest that you print the pattern onto a piece of printer paper to test the size. You can cut the pieces out and trace them onto the back of your papers and cut out, or print directly onto the back of your papers.





I would love to see your pages! Link back here when you finish :)Have fun!

Serendipity Scrapbooks Feb Kit Part 1

Seriously - I loved this kit so much that I ordered more of the papers! This is the Serendipity Scrapbooks Feb Altered Kit and although its a sort of Valentine themed kit, I didnt do much Valentines with it. I LOVE my valentine frame though.

These two layouts don't have journaling yet because I am going to have my mom do the journaling for me. For the top of the "you and me" page, I embossed the Coredinations cardstock, sanded it and then added Rock Candy Stickles. That stuff is awesome, it totally looks sugared. I cut hearts to add to the floral vine here and put the Stickles on it too.