Friday, April 29, 2011

Sketch Reveal-April 29,2011



TGIF ladies..
Boy, is it getting hot outside or is it just me?..LOL I'm not complaining, loving all this wonderful spring weather after the long harsh cold winter we just had .. So, the only problem that comes to mind is "should I go outside or should I stay in and scrap?".. hmmmmm..LOL I stayed in to scrap..
and speaking of scrapping, we have a lovely sketch for you this week and we found it over at www.pagemaps.com.. We love how versatile the sketches are and the variety is out of this world..
Here is this week sketch:

Sketch by:
Page Maps

Our Design team has been super busy and created some amazing layouts using the same sketch and for once I have to say, everyone has outdone themselves this week.. I'm truly impressed!!
so, without further a-do, lets get to the layouts shall we:



Best Buds
Nanné Harry

Hide And Go Seek
Leah Schaeffer
Beeing Creative and Feeling Creative


It's a Boy .. make that 2!
Sandi Clarkson


You are so Fabulous
Annette Gearside
Moment in Time


My Turquoise Season
Beatriz Guzman
Amazing Grace



Gentlemens Quarterly
Bonnie Friesen
Pretty Little Somethings

Dusty Potter
Dawn Gallop
Flipflops & Poptarts


Easter Egg Hunt
Fern Riley
Fern's Creations

A Night In Paris
Stine Ursin
My Hobby Blog


Strike a Pose
Wanda Boardly
True Beauty
Ness Waller

We want to thank you all for stopping by and taking a look.. Hopefully these layouts and the sketch have inspired you to stay inside this weekend to scrap !! LOL and if you did scrap, do link up your layouts using Inlinks cause we absolutely love stopping by and seeing what you have created..
Have a great weekend everyone..
Hugs



Friday, April 22, 2011

April 22nd Tutorial ~ Two-Toned Background

Hi everyone!! Fern here, and I've got an easy way to make your own two toned (or you can use more colors if you want) background for your layout or project..  I did this when I was making cards and thought to myself, why wouldn't it work on a large piece of scrapbook paper?!!  So the next time you can't find the right color of paper to go with that special photo, or maybe you want more of a vintage look, you might want to give this a try..   I will apologize right now for the photos..  They were taken inside and the lighting was a little to be desired... 

Things you will need:
2 Colors of  Inks -  I used Stampin' Up Classic Ink ~ Always Artichoke and Elegant Eggplant
Light Colored Cardstock - I used Stampin' Up Very Vanilla Cardstock
Spray Mister filled with water
Heat Tool
Crumpled piece of Plastic or Wax Paper  - I used Plastic
And finally something to put under you cardstock so you won't get ink/water all over the counter.. I used a couple of plastic bags..


1)  Take the lightest Ink color and rub it all over the cardstock, but leaving some white spaces...


2) If you are using Craft Inks or Pigment Inks you will need to use your heat tool to heat set the color..

3)  Take the second color and rub it over the first color letting some of the first color show through..


4)  Now, mist the whole sheet with water..


5) Now take the piece of plastic and start dabbing the watered ink, moving the inks to add color variations. 
If you don't like what you see, go ahead and touch it up.. 

Once the desired look is achieved, set the ink with the heat tool.. Use as desired.. 
Be sure and click on above photo and the following photos to get a better look!!
Here is a layout I did using this piece of cardstock...  I took this photo outside so the colors are much brighter!!


Now I also did another page using the SU Very Vanilla Cardstock, but this time I used Tim Holtz Antique Linen, Tim Holtz Tea Dye, Tim Holtz Worn Lipstick and SU Pretty In Pink...  I first rubbed the Antique linen on the cardstock,, sprayed it with water... then crumpled the cardstock, flattened it out and rubbed the Pretty In Pink, then a little TH Tea Dye and just a very little TH Worn Lipstick... sprayed with water again.... dabbed the the colors and then heat set...  Here's what it looks like...

You can see the layout I did with this background here...
I hope you will try this technique and if you do I would love to see how it turned out!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by!!

If you want the list of things I used on this layout just visit my blog.
Have a wonderful day !!! :o)
Happy Easter Everyone!!!
Hugs!!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Friday sketch challenge reveal-April 15, 2011


Can you smell it yet? Oh, I can..... Spring is definitely in the air.. The birds are singing and the pretty little flowers are starting to peak out their little blooms... and speaking of flowers, We have a beautiful sketch for you today by a very talented lady named Liz Qualman.. You can check out more of her sketches by clicking HERE..

Here is this weeks sketch:

Sketch by:
Liz Qualman

Our Design team has been busy creating wonderfully detailed layouts for you to be inspired by.. I absolutely love different they are even though everyone has followed the same sketch.. So, without further a-do, lets get to the layouts:


"ZOO"pendous Day
Nanné Harry

Family
Leah Schaeffer


Happily Ever After
Sandi Clarkson
Soft Side of Sandi

 
Fairies in my Garden
Annette Gearside
Moment in Time


Farquhar World
Beatriz Guzman-Farguhar
Amazing Grace


 Avery
Bonnie Friesen
Pretty Little Somethings


Easter
Fern Riley
Ferns Creations

You are So Beautiful to me
Ness Waller
Crafty Ness

Venner
Stine Ursin
Hobby blog


Circus
Wanda Boardley
A Scrap Happy Place.




We also have a blog candy winner to announce this week.. We want to thank all of you wonderful ladies for submitting your wonderful works of art for us to view..
Its always such a pleasure to see what you have created..
We have randomly picked a winner and so, our blog winner is:
Jessica Navarro
congratulations Jessica and thank you for playing along!!
You can't win, if you don't play..
Please leave a comment below and email Nanné (breadesi9er@hotmail.com) your mailing address..
You have two weeks to claim your candy..


I think thats enough excitement for one post ..LOL
Thank you all so much for stopping by today and we hope you have a minute or two out of your busy schedules to work a little magic with this sketch and submit it in to us to view.. We'd love to see it...
Hugs




Friday, April 8, 2011

April 8th tutorial ~ Altered box




Hi, everyone! I thought that I would have some fun this week altering a wooden box that I bought at the local craft store. Since I am expecting to be doing some beyond the page projects soon, I thought I'd get a little practice in "altering" before I start those!  Okay, let's have some fun, shall we?!




This is what my box looked like to start. It was just the bare, unfinished wood that needed just a bit of sanding before I did anything.  I plan to use this for storing photos that need to be scrapped soon.


Next I removed as much of the hardware as I could.  The corner pieces were nailed on and gave me some resistence as I tried removing them. In order to refrain from bending those, I just left them in place.  My hardware pieces were smallish, so I used some jewelers screwdrivers to get the job done quickly.




Okay, so this was the fun but messy part! I LOVE making a mess when I work! Paint, ink, glue .. lets me know that I'm working on something good.  LOL! Anyhoo .. I took my box out to the hubby's garage and used some wood stain that he had on hand (MinWax Wood Finish) .. the color is Provincial 211.  Because I wanted my box to be fairly dark, I used 2 coats.





While the box was drying (which it does fairly quickly), I went back to my craft room and choose some paper and embellishments to use.  The sky is the limit here but my paper is from Basic Grey's Curio collection, the flowers and bling are Prima. I used all the same flowers because this project doubled as a design team project for Generations Crafting.  So I cut my paper to fit the box, rounded the corners a bit, then used some Colorbox Chestnut Roan ink on the edges. 




I used some glossy Modge Podge to adhere the paper to the top of the box.  Although my photo shows the "right" side of the paper, the glue went on the underneath side of it. 

Then I let that sit a bit to dry.



Next I used more of the glossy Modge Podge to coat the top of the box .. to add some sheen. I'm sure you're laughing at my well-used and well-loved brush but it is a fave of mine that I just can't toss.





This photo shows how the Modge Podge still has a creay white look to it before it actually dries to a nice gloss.





Time to decorate! Since I already had the glue out, I used it to adhere the crochet doily from my stash. I have bought a ton of these from JoAnn's Fabrics because they add such nice texture to a project.  Not all craft stores have these, so I thought I would add where I purchased them.  I ran all over town looking!




Next I experimented with some skeleton leaves from my stash .. I believe these are Recollections brand. I decided the beige one looked the best, so chose that one.



Before adding my flowers (Prima Floret, Camille) I used some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Iridescent Gold and Sunkissed Peach.  That gave the roses a nice glimmer .. but I wanted more, so I coated them with glossy accents and then dipped them in Diamond Dust.




Here is a close-up of the flower being dipped in the Diamond Dust .. do be careful though, especially with children around, because DD is made from finely ground glass.  I also have this in Gold and Silver for use at the holidays.





Here's my flower afterward! Sorry the focus is not better.





Before adding the flowers and other embllies, I added my Prima Say it in Pearls, brown, in 2 corners. Then everthing else was adhered with Aleene's  Tacky Glue.  Just let your imagination be your guide in adding on whatever looks good to you.





Here is a view of the box once the hardware was added back on.  I am thrilled with it! I have ordered some Tim Holtz metal feet to add to bottom of the box and let it stand up a bit from my desk .. think that will really look awesome!

I hope I have inspired you to do a little something "off the page" and I can't wait to see what ideas are spinning around in your head!  

Friday, April 1, 2011

April 1, 2011


Were sorry to inform you ladies that their will be no sketch reveal this Friday..
APRIL FOOLS!!!!

Now, would we be that bad to you and not do a reveal..No, of course not...LOL
But we would play a prank, thats for sure.. :)

So, we found this beautiful sketch by Beggahuna and knew that it had Spring written all over it and I can only speak for myself as I sit here, looking through my window and watching the snow come down (in April) that spring is desperately wanted right about now..

Sketch by:
Beggahuna

Sometimes I feel like I have the best position, up keeping this blog since I get to get a first time sneak peek at all of the wonderfully creative and beautiful layouts these talented ladies of our Design team send me every other week for out post..
so, without further a-do!! lets get to the good stuff shall we..

Best Time of your Life
Nanné Harry

I Love You
Sandi Clarkson

The Sweetest
Leah Schaeffer



Sea Shore
Beatriz Guzman

Big Sister
Bonnie Friesen
Pretty Little Somethings

 The Lips of an Angel
Dawn Gallop
Flip Flops & Pops Tarts

Proud Winner
Fern Riley
Ferns Creations

 Hanging Out
Ness (Vanessa) Waller
Crafty-Ness

Christmas 2008
Stine Ursin
Hobby Blog


Bruce
Wanda Boardley
My Scrap Happy Place


So, there we have ladies..wow!! what a beautiful line up or what?.  I know I feel inspired, how about you?..
So, lets get busy creating and when your done, don't forget to link your work back to us using inlinks.. super easy to use and if your having any problems at all, please leave a comment and we'd be more than happy to help ..
We all hope you have a wonderful weekend.