Life is Good

Hi everyone! This month's Gossamer Blue kit is absolutely stunning. It's filled with the latest CHA goodies. I was immediately drawn to the Pinkfresh Studios papers in this month’s kit.  I was especially drawn to the paper I used for this month’s pattern play on the Gossamer Blue blog because of the repeating circles so I figured I'd talk about working with repetition and busy patterns.  

Since the background is soo busy, I at first thought I’d cut the paper in half and pair it with a paper with little to no pattern. Then I stared at it a little while longer and decided to embrace them all.  Here’s the result and how to…..

Supplies: March Main kit, Main add-on, Main Add-on 2, Life Pages Main Kit

How to:

Since the layout had 6 circles across and 6 circles down, I decided to used 6 circle photos. The pre-printed circles are ~2″ so I printed my photos at 1 3/4″.

Start by adding the photos around the page until you like where they are placed. I originally placed them on the solid circles but quickly realized the patterned circles were just too busy so, 4 of the 6 are now covering the pattern circles.

I still felt like the pre-printed pattern circles were a bit too distracting so I applied gesso over many of them.  This really softened them up quite a bit.

Next I stitched circles over several of the gesso and solid circles ’cause this girl loves to stitch on her layouts.

Once I started embellishing, I moved the pieces around again until everything was just right.  I often describe my process as basically pushing paper (and embellishments) around and around and around.

The banner was a perfect title and then I journaled in one of the plain circles to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Lucky in Love

I love to repeat patterns so when I saw the dies in the new Amy Tangerine STITCHED collection, I was soo excited.  I usually repeat shapes but the word "Lucky" resonated, especially after a recent trip to Paris with my love.

How to:  Cut 12 "lucky" words out of various pattern papers, using your metal die and manual die cut machine.  Next, add water color to the background paper where you will be placing the words to make the words pop.  I chose to use a lighter shade of the color of the cut out word.  Once dry, adhere the words over the colored areas. Stich over, around, under and over the words. Add a complimentary pattern paper to the bottom 1/4 of the page for your photo, title and journaling.  I used the metal die frame for my title's background. I also cut a heart and the word "LOVE" using the metal dies and used them as embellishments in the upper portion of the page.  Add additional embellishments to bring the page together.

Supplies: Amy Tangerine STITCHED - (368948) - Thrifted paper, Serendipity collection: (369182) – Hello Honey Paper Paper, (369183) – Lucky Stars Paper, (369184) – XOXO Paper, (369185) – Hello Beautiful Paper, (369186) – Summer Breeze Paper, (369187) – One Fine Day Paper, (369188) – Sugar Sugar Paper, (369189) – Lucky Love Paper, (369200) – Bright Blueberry Paper, (369201) – Love Letters Paper, (369207) – Printed Chipboard Letter Stickers Thickers, (369209) – Printed Foil Letter Stickers Thickers, (369215) – Enamel Dots, (369218) – Die Cut Cardstock Shapes

Experimenting with Watercolors & Crayons

The Little Yellow Bicycle biker ganged is teaming up with Faber-Castell this week.  I was super excited to get my hands on some of their goodies. I was crossing my fingers for some gelatos because I had played with someone's at a crop and enjoyed them. When I got watercolor pencils and crafter crayons I was honestly a little perplexed because the last time I played with water color pencils, well let's just say it didn't turn out very good.

It looked like bad doodling that just didn't blend very well when I attempted to paint. Luckily these were different. They were so much easier and forgiving.  And the crayons were too much fun. I create these tags with the watercolor pencils and crayons.

I am sure there is soo much more that you can do with these products but my natural instinct was to do an ombre effect. I don't know what you think but for a first time playing with these projects, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I think it's less my talent and more of a testament to how crazy good these products are. And if you read my disclosure at the bottom of this page, you know that I only say what I believe.

I layered clear cuts, chipboard, bits from the paper crafting kit and white canvas from the Naturals collection that I colored on and then topped it with a cute little birdie!

I did a little multi-colored ombre for my 2nd tag and I love how it feels like a sunset. Each time I see it, I think of that and sunsets make me happy so it was only natural to add that sentiment to it, topped over some cork and clear cuts flowers.

I hope you enjoyed my little experiment and that it inspires you to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

Supplies:

Faber-Castell Mix & Match Art GRIP Aquarelle Watercolor Pencils in Red

Faber-Castell Mix & Match Paper Crafter Crayons in Neutral

Little Yellow Bicycle Poppy Collection:

PY-135 Cardstock Stickers - Favorite Pieces - with glitter and embossing (29 pieces)

PY-140 Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse - with thermography and debossing (43 pieces)

PY-279 Chipboard Shapes - with glitter accents (29 pieces)

PY-230 Clear Cuts Shapes - with glitter accents (28 pieces)

PY-220 Fabric Favorites (18 pieces)

Little Yellow Bicycle Naturals:

NA-JT10 Jute Pack - Light (4 colors, 72" each)

NA-CRH20 Cork Shapes - Zig-Zag Rounds

NA-CVH10 Canvas Shapes - Scallop Circles

Let me know what you think in the comments below. 

Thanks for stopping by! Now go on and get crafty :)

Happy Silly Smiles

When my youngest sweetie isn't picking flowers or talking about picking flowers, she's picking berries from the bushes outside our house. She packs as many as she can into her tiny little palms of her hands until their overflowing. Anyway, I snapped these photos of her one day as she was picking those berries. The American Crafts My Girl collection was perfect for this moment!

American Crafts My Girl collection: Cute Chloe paper, Sunny Savannah paper, Precious Penny Paper, Marvelous Madeline Paper, Adorable Abby Paper, Tender Tessa Paper, Dress Up Bits, Swing Details, Noteworthy Stamp, Summersault Details, Amy Tangerine "Authentic Roller Stamp, Amy Tangerine Aspire Stamp, Gesso mixed with Mr. Huey's Bonny Blue mist, Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam "Lipstick Pink", Mr. Hueys Barnwood mist, Close to My Heart Grey Wool ink, 

I kept my layering a bit more simple than I usually do. I was focusing more on the photos of course but also the the My Girl Stamps. I started out with 2x3 photos a tag and a card that I cut from a 12x12 sheet of paper.

I wanted to add paint to give it a pop of color so I added pink Glimmer Glam to the stencil and then laid it down on the paper. I then mixed a batch of Gesso and blue mist to create a thicker paint. I applied it sparingly over the mask and laid it down over the paper again, alternating it over the pink. Then last but not least, I sponge painted grey mist from the center and outlined the mask.

My favorite part of the painted elements is the simple little Cloud 9 stamp. I painted the blue Gesso on the stamp and applied it to the card. It was a bit "gloppy", which is what I was hoping for. It make the perfect background for the inked image that I eventually stamped over it. I repeated these techniques for the arrow and the diamond stamped image at the top.

I'll be back tomorrow with a fun layout using the new Little Yellow Bicycle Fern & Forest Girl.

This Moment Today

We spent a 4 day weekend at the beach as we were wrapping up summer. We rented this nice beach house in San Luis Pass. One of the things we loved about it was the deck, which overlooked the Gulf. When we weren't at the beach having fun, we'd just sit out in the recliners, swings and hammock. My daughters had the most fun in this swing made from super soft rope. You kind of had to crawl into it to get settled and it was a lot of fun. I snapped these photos of my oldest enjoying the swing.

Supplies: American Crafts Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go collection: Coffee Break paper 35768, Wind Down paper 35776, Running Errands Paper 35770, Green Light Paper 35765, Details stitched vellum embellishments 85593, Remarks Sure Thing 42255, Bits die cut cardstock shapes 85589, Flair adhesive badges 85590, Bits decorative tags 85588, Remarks Delighted 42252, Thickers Everyday 53392, Premium Ribbon 89428, Today Roller Stamp 59220, Roller Date Stamp 96731

Creative How-to: I started with this week's sketch from Creative Scrappers. I added a 4-5inch-ish strip of pattern paper to the layout, leaving the strip at the bottom of the paper intact (that's the days of the week strip you see). Cut strips from the Running Errands paper and layer them over each other.  Grab your mask - I used a Studio Calico small chevron mask - and add paint over the sections you want to show through. I wanted this to look blotchy so I applied paint liberally. Remove the mask and apply paint to other sections of the layout. Once the paint dried, I added a couple of rows of stitched chevrons, mostly over the blotchy painted areas to add definition. Add the title - I outlined the word "today" because I felt like it was getting lost and wanted it to pop just a bit more off the page.

Add photos and embellishments. I wanted to put the journaling card behind the top photo so I made sure to not adhere the photo down where I wanted to insert he card. I cut a few strips of the paper again and tore them to make them look like washi tape. I stamped over the faux washi and also over the die cut flower.

Journaling reads: Rheagan loved nestling her way into this rope swing. She would swing and spin in it on the deck of the beach house. That is, when she wasn't relaxing in the hammock with a book or our iPads.

Make sure to stop by the Creative Scrappers blog to see what the other designers did with this sketch. While you're there, check out the call for the new DT. This is such a great team to be a part of.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Joy Ride Kind of Day

I really love Crate Paper! It seems like every single collection is better than the next! I'll admit though that I was on the fence about the newest baby collections but...I do indeed have a lot of baby photos that desperately need to be scrapped so I took the plunge and got as part of my Memorable Seasons kit this month.

When I got it in my hands, my wheels started spinning and I quickly realized it's not just for babies!  This is what I created...

Supplies: Crate Paper Little Bo Peep Matilda paper, Clara paper, alpha labels, phrases, mixed brads, White Bazzill Cardstock, Gears Border cutting file, Silhouette CAMEO

Creative Notes:  Apply liberal amount of paint to background paper (I used my finger). Add enough paint so that it only covers about 1/3 of the page, right in the middle.Cut the gears using a die-cut machine and add different backgrounds to the negative spaces, using coordinating pattern paper. Add your photos on top of the paint and over some of the gears. Include a page anchor at the top right of the page for the names and date. Add a title, tracing around the words that blend in with the paint. Top it off with journaling!

Journaling: We never pass up an opportunity to ride bikes on a gorgeous fall day!

Thanks for stopping by today! Stay tuned for some baby layouts using this collection, coming soon!

Summer Tote Gift Idea & Tutorial PLUS WOYWW

Here for Workspace Wednesday? It's at the end of this post so stay tuned...

I guess it's design team swap week.  Yesterday, I featured some DIY gift card boxes that I made with Little Yellow Bicycle and Petloo.  Today I'm featuring Canvas Corp and Imaginisce. Canvas Corp sent me a ton of canvas, burlap, fabric flowers, mini (white and kraft) envelopes, a shadow box, Tattered Angels mists and a ton of jute and colored cording. They seriously spoiled me.

I'm showing you something I created this past week for my daughter to give to her teacher for teacher appreciation week.  Even after making this, I barely made a dent in my stash. I am sure you will be seeing many more projects using Canvas Corp in the near future.

The project I made today uses their canvas bag, Tattered Angels mist, black cording and their large yellow fabric flower. Take a look at the project and then I'll walk you through how I made it.

Here's how I made it...

• Step 1: Insert wax paper inside the bag to keep the paint from penetrating the back of the bag.  
• Step 2: Grab a mask template and paint the inside of the mask with a color that matches your bag base color. I wanted the image to run over the right side and bottom of my bag, as you can see from the photo below. I also wanted a tone-on-tone effect since my flower was so colorful. Wash paint off the mask and let dry. I used the Jenni Bowlin Malted Milk Paint Dabber and Pink Paislee Vintage Doily Mask by Christy Tomlinson that came in my Scrapbook Circle May kit.

• Step 3: Place the stencil in a misting box or over a scrap piece of paper. Mist over the stencil - do not do this step with the mask on the bag.  We are actually making the mask into a stamp and we want the mist to stick to the template.
• Step 4: Flip misted stencil over and lay it on the canvas, matching up the stencil to the painted stencil image already on the canvas.  You might have to do this step more than once, to get your desired effect.  The photo below is after 1 application and I think I did it 3 times to fill in the gaps. I also added some paint and mist to the top edge of the bag.  Set aside to dry.

• Step 5: Once the paint and mist is dried, apply a layer of mod podge over it to seal in the color.  Be careful applying the mod podge as it may smear the color.  I simply dabbed it on with my finger instead of brushing it on. I suggest you try it out in an area that will be fully covered by the flower. 
• Step 6: Take your fabric flower and cut strips of coordinating fabric and burlap (with large scallops to resemble flower petals) and adhere them to the various layers of the flower. You can actually do this while the paint is drying.
• Step 7: Using your i-top 2.0 and XL bits and pieces, made an XL burlap brad. Insert in the middle of the flower to anchor it all together.
• Step 8: Next, I added the black cording onto the bag and adhered my flower over the cording.  

• Step 9: Pack the bag with supplies and you're ready to go.

This bag is filled with things Rheagan's teacher can use to relax this summer - book, sunscreen, water, a box of chocolate and a gift card (I think I'll keep my sunglasses though). Oh, one last thing...I'm thinking of stenciling her name or monogram to the upper left corner of the bag. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by today! Make sure to head over to the Imaginisce and Canvas Corp blogs to see what some of the other design team gals did. There are prizes to be won!!!

WOYWW - What's On Your Workspace Wednesday?

I am taking part in a new weekly feature. Well, it's new for me but I first noticed on Jingle and Diana's blogs a while back.  It's called What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  I just finished recording my first silent film for a video tutorial that's debuting next week on the 17th.  The project I worked on yesterday is still a secret so it's in hiding but the camera and the mess where I shoved all the little pieces of leftovers from other projects before I started filming are proudly waving at you.  Wow, what a little mess...and this is my desk in what's considered clean because I always seem to have something scrappy in the works.

xoxo Heather

Field Notes Revisited

I had a great time guest designing for SEI last month! I didn't post full reveals each day over here so I thought I'd post them now.  First up is a 2-pager and a sketch I did.  Keeping to my promise to myself to do more 2-pagers, I like how it turned out.  So many times I get stuck in a two page rut of lining up a bunch of photos in a row across the page. I think this layout was a good break of that mold.

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 Here's the sketch I created:

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 I had fun with paint and mist with the goal to make the alphas pop using black splotches to match the ducks.

 Next up: two cards and a tutorial:

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 Butterfly Mini Album

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Thanks for stopping by today! I can't wait to play with the other two new lines and the dye they sent me!

xoxo - Heather

Love You More & Snuggle Bug Kisses

I was uploading some layouts to various online galleries the other day when I realized there were a few layouts I created recently that I never posted here. Some are from older lines (gasp) and some are newer lines.  Here are two I created with older lines.  I'll post two from the newer lines in the next couple of days.

Snuggle Bug Kisses

The photos here were taken almost exactly two years a part.  My hubby was helping our oldest daughter get in a "better" mood for our family photo shoot and our fab photographer, Allison, was slyly clicking these shots capturing true family moments for us.  The photo of our youngest and her daddy was taken as he was holding her up in the air and giving nose kisses at the next year's photo shoot.  I absolutely love these real-life documented moments!

 Supplies: Bella Blvd Lovey Dovey collection; Imaginisce i-rock; CTMH flowers
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Up Close Shots

 I fussy cut some of the flowers and then machine stitched the stems. 

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Like you a lot. Love you more.

It's true...I like him a lot but I love him more. I had a lot of fun with paint, distressing, stitching and layering!

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2011 December Daily & LYB News

I am so excited to say that I made the Little Yellow Bicycle "Paradise" Cycling Team.  I cannot wait to create with their new Winter CHA "Paradise" collection in January.  See the announcement and who else made the team on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog.

I'd also like to show you some of my December Daily mini album.  This is the first year I participated and it won't be the last.  I created it with my Birds of a Feather December kit, which included the album and lots of Fancy Pants & Lily Bee papers and embellies.

Note: the pages do not have dates, photos or all of the embellies on them.  I have taken lots of photos each day so I decided my post-Christmas task will be to go through them all and add them to the album after Christmas, adding additional pages as necessary.

Cover - I painted it red and misted over it with Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold mist. Once dry, I heat embossed with CTMH Olive Green embossing powder. I put it on heavy because I wanted it looking distressed (aka lumpy). I outlined the numbers with a black sharpie.

The Insides - I kept the photos small since there's so many. Click to enlarge.

There's always a to-do list for the holiday season...

 I'm planning to put a photo where the banner is missing in the photo below.

 

 I misted over a transparency in the photos above and below

 Used my Imaginisce i-top 2.0 and small brad daddies to create this Christmas tree on the tag

 A pocket and mini pages...

 I was going for presents under the tree here

 A little envelope...

 Mini pages and a giant tag

 The stockings were hung...

 The tag above is made from filter flowers that I ripped apart and adhered to glue on the back of a rolodex card.

 Finally, Christmas Day - presents and trees...