Birthday Card ~ Bo Bunny Card Challenge

It's been a busy week here. Our son and his sweet bride have made the move to their new home after living with us for the past several weeks. It is just a bit quieter here this morning. I'm praying that they create many sweet memories in their new home.

I created this card for our son, who celebrates his birthday this month. The August Card Challenge over at Bo Bunny is "Chevron Patterns" perfect for a masculine card.

Techniques:

Chevrons ~ Most of the chevrons out there right now are whole rows of connected chevrons. For this card, however, I wanted to use a repeated single chevron. I created a template for the chevron and another for the shadow used to trace and cut.

Hand Stitching ~ The hand stitching was completed before the distressing. Stitching so close to the edge, I thought it would be easier that way. 

Embellishments ~ Once I did all the hand stitching and distressing, the rest was easy using a set of Bo Bunny buttons, stickers, and items from a card kit. On the inside of the card I used a Noteworthy tag as well. 

Bo Bunny Products:

Weekend Market ~ Postage

Weekend  Market ~ Tapestry

Card Kit, Weekend  Market ~ Card Base

Card Kit, Weekend  Market ~ Chipboard

Card Kit, Weekend  Market ~ Rub-on

Buttons, Weekend  Market

Cardstock Stickers, Weekend Market ~ Priceless

Note Worthy, Weekend  Market

Technique Products:

Ranger Distress Ink ~ Vintage Photo, Aged Mahogany

Cotton Crochet Thread ~ Stash

Adhesives:

Scotch ATG

Hercules Tape

Tools:

Donna Salazar ~ Zutter Distrezz-It-All

Prima Distress Tool

Basic Grey Rub-On Roller

EK Success ~ Cutter Bee Bugs

Bazzil In Stitch'z Mat and Piercing Tool

Fiskars Craft Knife and Self-Healing Mat

I have also entered this at:

Word Art Wednesday - Encouraging Sentiment

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

Turning 50 ~ Donna Salazar Sketch Challenge

I had a lovely outing with my husband this afternoon. Last winter he bought a convertible that he calls his "mid-life crisis" car. :-) It was a wonderful day for a drive. I even got to do a little shopping at the new Michaels that just opened up. How nice to have one a mere 30 minutes away. I hope you are having a lovely weekend as well. 

Back in June we had a birthday for my sister, celebrating 50 years. This shot of her with our nieces is so sweet. My sister is such a blessing to me. She is such a strong woman whom I admire so much. 

I used the Donna Salazar August challenge sketch by the talented Mistra with lots of Donna's amazing products. These Donna Salazar papers were so perfect to pick up the colors in the photo.

Mistra's gorgeous sketch:

I included a butterfly on this layout to participate in the "Wings" Challenge over at Berry71Bleu. Such a lovely site!! This is my first time entering one of their challenges. 

Techniques:

Handcrafted Flowers ~ For the larger focal flower, I used the DSD Grand Peony Die and for the medium roses, small roses, and leaves I used her Rose Creation Dies. I used one of Donna's favorite adhesives, Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Glue on each of the petals and while wet dipped the flowers into diamond dust for lots of sparkle. 

Crystal Flourishes ~ all of the flourishes on my page were cut from a single Zva flourish. One flourish can go a long way if you are willing to cut it apart. I still have the butterfly portion with a trail left for yet another project. 

Painted, Misted paper ~ I dry brushed nearly everything on this page with some antique white acrylic paint. The circle behind my flower cluster had a lovely light grey flower design on it. I proceded to write my journaling there. To make a long story short, it didn't work. I painted over the journaling and it took about 8 or 10 layers before it stopped showing through. I then inked over the paint, and that wasn't working for me either. So not one to give up, I started misting. The paint acts kind of like a resist, so the mist settled into the paint brush marks. I just kept spritzing different colors until I got a color combo that worked. I had a pitiful sopping piece of paper on my hands. I kind of liked the look, but was sure the paper was ruined by this point. I let it dry over night, and it was dry by morning, but oh so wrinkly. I spritzed it lightly on the back put it between some paper towels with several heavy books on top. The result was a perfectly flat circle with color and texture that was perfect for my page. Yay!! I just adore happy accidents. 

Corrugated Board Liner Butterfly ~ I mentioned in a previous post that when I use Donna's corrugated board to die cut my corrugated butterflies, it comes off in one neat piece. Oh yes, I've been saving these gems, and here is one all dressed up. I inked the rough side of the paper with several shades of distress ink, until I achieved a color that coordinated with my page, then coated it with a thick layer of Ranger Clear Rock Candy Distress Paint and set it aside to dry. To add a bit more dimension, I rubbed more ink into the fabulous cracks that appeared when the paint dried. I curled it over a paint brush and added some extra flourish gems to the body along with flower stamen antennae. My good friend, Juliana Michaels, tried out my corrugated butterflies and added the crackle paint. Her creative approach  gave me the idea to try the crackle out here. 

Stamping ~ I wanted just a little more visual texture and weight next to my butterfly, so used Donna's Lace Corner Stamp here. 

Distrezzing ~ I distressed all the straight edges with my Distrezz-It-All. It's even is even a breeze to Distrezz corrugated board in seconds. 

Hand Stitching ~ I penciled in swirled lines, then punched holes for my hand stitching. This time with 2 strands of DMC floss for the swirled lines and 4 strands for the straight lines. 

Ripped Edge ~ I've seen and admired these ripped edges tucked with embellies for years, but had never tried it myself until now. I tucked one of my handcrafted roses into the opening. The back of the paper clashed with my layout, so I dry brushed it with some antique white paint. 

Stickle Accents ~ It's hard to see in the photos but the two vertical mats have sweet flourishes that I painted with Crystal Stickles for a lovely shimmer that's oh so girlie in person.

Rhinestone Accents ~ I had a couple little segments of my flourish left over and pulled the tiny rhinestones off to add them to the center of my lace scallops on the left. I used larger rhinestones from my stash to embellish the other lace piece. 

Donna Salazar Products:

Spring in Bloom:

     Spring Blooms

     Pretty in Purple

     Spring Sky

Botanique:

     Magical

     Cards

     Bliss

Corrugated Board 

Smooch Spritz:

     Sea Breeze

     Mixed Berries

Spellbinders Dies:

     Rose Creations

     Grand Peony

Lace Corner Stamp

Distrezz-It-All

DSD Compatible Products:

Smooch Spritz:

     Cherry Ice

     Frosted Grape

     Silver Foil

Want 2 Scrap Say It With Bling

Other Products:

Embellishments:

Zva Creative Crystal Flourish Fancy Butterfly - Lavender and Grape

Paper Doilies - Stash

Crochet Doily - Stash

Lace - two pieces - Stash

Creative Charms - Vintage Brads

Prima Alphabet Stickers - Craftsman #559113

Technique Products:

DMC Floss #316 and #931

Floral Stamens - Stash

Making Memories Acrylic Paint - manila

DecoArt Crafter's Acrylic - Antique White; Light Antique White

Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy

Ranger Stickles - Crystal

Distress Ink - Vintage Photo; Stormy Sky; Dusty Concord

Twinklets Diamond Dust

Rhinestones - Stash

Adhesives:

Scotch ATG

Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Darice Foam Strips

Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Glue

Tools: 

Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers - Mini Butterflies and Base Tray

Martha Stewart Doily Lace Punch

Martha Stewart Circle Cutter - large

Fiskars Craft Knife and Self-healing Mat

Prima Distress Tool

Bazzil In Stitch'z Mat and Piercing Tool

Punch Bunch Tool Set

Tim Holtz Craft Mat

I have also entered this at Word Art Wednesday Challenge #42 Joy or an encouraging sentiment. 

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Peaceful Day by the Sea ~ Bird is the Word featuring The Scrapping Stamper August Sketch

The weekend has arrived. I have plans to go to Pat Catan's for their monthly two day crop. I so enjoy the creative inspiration of scrapping with my scrappy gal pals!! 

Last week some dear friends gave me a pile of tomatoes, and I mean a big pile. They were gorgeous and dead ripe, so I went right to work and canned 34 quarts of diced tomatoes. My husband, Gary, is Italian so of course I make our sauce from scratch. These tomatoes will be so lovely this winter. Gardening is a lot of work, and I soooo appreciate receiving some of the bounty of all those efforts, so I decided to create a scrapbook page for them as a little thanks. 

Holly and Jake's son, Justin, went to be with our Lord two years ago after a battle with a rare and aggressive form of epilepsy. I have many new followers, so I'll share just a little. Holly, is a scrapbooker, but was expecting their sixth child, so had little time or emotional energy to be scrapping. The Lord impressed on me to ask them if some of us could hold a crop at our church to capture some of Justin's memories for them.  I still feel blessed that so many people came together, family, friends, church family, and over 125 pages of precious memories were put together for them. 

I have a few extra photos from the crop (they were all doubles) and thought I would scrap this photo from a family vacation in Hawaii with Holly's parents, brother and his lovely wife. Justin is on the left with always outstretched arms embracing life, with two of his siblings, his uncle, and dad. This vacation was a time of peace for them, being by the ocean with family, so I took on the challenge at Bird is the Word to use a form of the word "peace" on my project with the title, "Peaceful Day by the Sea." I've also been enjoying the challenges over at Scrapping Everyday Miracles. Their August challenge is to scrap a favorite family vacation, and the twist is to include some stenciling. I know this vacation was a favorite for the Reed family and my stenciling is in the top right corner. 

I used Shannon's fabulous August sketch with a mix of Donna Salazar paper:

Here's the gorgeous August Sketch by The Scrapping Stamper

Techniques:

Gesso ~ I dry brushed gesso over most of the papers and embellishments to give a breezy, beachy feel to this page. I poured a couple larger drops of gesso on the upper left and tapped the page to get the drips. In the upper right corner I used more gesso over a Martha Stewart stencil. 

Distressing ~ I went scrapbooking on Wednesday and forgot my Distrezz-It-All at home. Ugh, I cut my papers, but waited until I got home to do the distressing. I'm so spoiled by this machine!!! 

Hemp Frame ~ I've seen such lovely twisted cord frames lately and had some sweet comments on the first one I tried. They are so easy to create. I looped several rings of hemp the size needed for the frame, then pulled out enough to go around 1 and 1/2 more times and cut it off there. Once cut, I wound the extra around the loops and tucked the end in to hide. If this doesn't make sense, let me know, and I will post a photo tutorial. Any kind of cording or twine can be used. You would probably want more loops for a thinner twine. 

Corrugated Hearts ~ I splurged this week and bought the Tim Holtz mini hearts die set. I've had so much fun creating the butterflies with my Donna Salazar Corrugated Board that I thought I'd give the hearts a try. You can find the butterfly tutorial here. I used the same techniques to create the hearts and finished them off by wrapping with jute and cute little bows. 

Embossed Stamping ~ I stamped this sweet quotation and immediately covered it in clear embossing powder, poured the excess back into the jar, and heat set. I think the embossing helps make it pop. It's hard to see here, but it really does make a difference. Here's a little trick I figured out as well. Some of this writing was so fine that it really didn't adhere any of the embossing powder, so I was left with some bare writing that just kind of faded into the background. I pulled out my clear Ranger embossing pen, traced the areas that were not coated, applied more embossing powder, and it worked like a charm so that the entire image was embossed. I wanted the scroll image at the top of the page to be more subtle, so it was not embossed. I added the title with a Distress Marker. 

Hand Stitching ~ I scored a ball of cream crochet cotton at a yard sale last week, and on a whim thought I'd try stitching with it. It was so easy to work with, and I'll definitely be using this fiber for stitching again and again.

Products:

Paper: 
Donna Salazar Spring in Bloom - Tags, Ribbons, and Mosaics
Donna Salazar Botanique - Alphas;
Donna Salazar Antiquities - Time for Tea; Harmony

Embellishments:
Petaloo Mini Rose - Tan/Brown
Petaloo Color Me Crazy - Mixed Floral Assorted; Canterbery Spray White
Pataloo Darjeeling Collection - Poppy Mix; Zinnia Mix
Prima Flowers Botanical Mix - Leaves

Technique Products:
Donna Salazar Corrugated Board by Zutter
Donna Salazar Smooch Spritz - Sea Breeze
Liquitex Gesso
Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo, Aged Mahogany, Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire
Ranger Distress Marker- Denim
Crochet Thread - Yardsale find
Saint Lawrence Trimmings - Craft Jute Cord
The Beadery Grand Hemp - 80#
Donna Salazar Stamps Banner and Words
Stampendous Cling Rubber Stamp - Cling Breathe
Stampin' Up Classic Ink - Brocade Blue
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
Ranger Inkssentials Embossing Pen - Clear
Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers - Mini Hearts and Base Tray
Burlap; Cheese Cloth; Fish Net; Doilies - Stash

Adhesives:
Scotch ATG
Hercules Tape
Darice pop dots and strips

Tools:
Donna Salazar Distrezz-It-All by Zutter
Sizzix Big Shot
Fiskars Craft Knife and Self-Healing Mat
Ranger Craft Mat and foam ink applicator
Bazzil In Stitch'z Mat and Piercing Tool
Martha Stewart Craft Ruler

I have also entered this at:
Frosted Designs ~ Fabulous Challenge - Twine/Ribbon - Twine used to create photo frame and to tie bows on the hearts **
Word Art Wednesday - Encouraging Sentiment **
Just Us Girls ~ Color Inspiration #150 **
Sugar Creek Hollow ~ #25 We Are Family - My lo is of a family day at the beach **
Totally Gorjuss ~ Challenge 145 String's the Thing! - Twine used to create photo frame and to tie bows on the hearts **
4 Crafty Chicks ~ Challenge # 103 Circles, Circles and more Circles - circle twine frame and doilies are circles **
Paper Play Challenges ~ '12 - Week 33 Upcycle/Recycle - I used burlap as a flag, fish netting and doilies as embellishments. **
City Crafter Challenge Blog ~ Week 122 It's a Fabrication - I used Burlap and cheese cloth fabrics **
Catered Crop ~ No Stress to Distress Recipe Swap - I distressed all of the edges and dry brushed with Gesso to give an even more distressed appearance. (Sept 2)

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

Thank You and Sneak Peek

I hope you have had a lovely week!! Our son and his lovely wife are staying with us this month while transitioning from one home to another. We are blessed to have a guest room for them to use, and it is such a delight to have them. I did manage to get some scrapping in, Here is a sneak peak from the layout I will be posting tomorrow for Shannon's, The Scrapping Stamper, August Sketch.

Here's a peek of my flower cluster and some of the

layers beneath a lovely beachy photo:

Be sure to stop back tomorrow for the reveal!! 

I received some amazing goodies in the mail today from Scrap That, from their July Blog Hop. They have such lovely kits and an amazing DT to showcase them.

Here are the treasures I received:

Dusty Attic Holly:

Prima Brick Stamp:

Petaloo Flowers:

These are so fabulous, and I can't wait to get started using them!! Looks like it's time to pull out some Christmas photos to use the holly chipboard, or perhaps even another wedding photo. So lovely to be able to use winter embellies with a December wedding!! 

Thanks for dropping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

Flower Girl for Challenge Me Happy ~ Challenge #27

I hope you had a lovely weekend. It was so beautiful here with a bit of rain on Saturday and cooler weather.

This is the first time I've completed a challenge over at Challenge Me Happy - what a delightful challenge site. They post such a wonderful variety of challenges twice each month. If you haven't discovered them yet, you really should hop on over and take a look at their fun challenges!!

Here is my take on the current challenge. This is my niece, Abby, at our son's wedding this past December. Isn't she a little charmer?

The current challenge over at Challenge Me Happy is a fun recipe to incorporate each of the following "ingredients":

One or more stamps (I used 5 butterfly stamps from 3 different sets.)

Two photos

Ribbon, twine or both (Ribbon roses intertwined with twine looped up as a butterfly trail)

Two or more paper clips (Three used to hang the two tassels and a charm from the twine)

No cardstock (none)

Three or more patterned papers (4 different patterns from Donna Salazar and the white doily is cut from a grungy white sheet of Basic Grey)

**Mist/Paint/ink & border punches are freebies as always!**

Techniques:

Handcrafted Flowers ~ For the large peony flower I used the Donna Salazar Grand Peony dies by Spellbinder and for the smaller roses I used Donna's Rose Creations dies and a tutorial by Gabrielle Pollacco. Rose Creations was also used to cut the leaves which I crinkled and inked. 

Dimensional Embossed Butterflies ~ I stamped these two butterflies twice, covered in clear embossing powder and heat set. I then fussy cut and layered them, curling the wings on the top layer for dimension. The smaller butterflies in the bottom left corner were also heat embossed and fussy cut, but are only one layer.

Paper clip hangers ~ I decided to get a bit creative with some Tim Holtz mini paper clips and used them to hang the chain tassels and sweet charm from the twine.

Die Cuts ~ I used the new Artiste Cricut Cart by CTMH to cut the gorgeous white lace doily pieces. (Well truth be told, they are actually tiara images, but they work like a doily - lol) Thanks Mandy for allowing me to use your cartridge!! (Mandy is a CTMH consultant if you are interested in this amazing cart.)

Machine Stitching ~ I zigzaged around the two large mat layers.

Distrezzing ~ I used the Donna Salazar Distrezz-It-All by Zutter to distress my edges. I have to keep on saying how much I really enjoy this tool and the hours upon hours it has saved me over hand distressing.

Products:

Paper:
Donna Salazar Botanique ~ Stationary
Donna Salazar Botanique ~ Bliss
Donna Salazar Antiquities ~ Harmony
Donna Salazar Antiquities ~ Wonderful
Basic Grey Olivia ~ Isabella
Fancy Pants Alpha Stickers ~ Babe

Embellishments:
Tim Holtz Idea-ology ~ Mini Paper Clips
Tim Holtz Idea-ology ~ Chain Tassels
Explorer by Traditions ~ Charms (Hobby Lobby)
Rose Ribbon - Stash
The Paper Studio Gen Antique Poppy Brad (Hobby Lobby)
Twine ~ Stash

Technique Products:
Donna Salazar Spellbinder Dies ~ Grand Peony
Donna Salazar Spellbinder Dies ~ Rose Creations
CTMH Artiste Cricut Cartridge (Thanks Mandy!)
Bo Bunny Stamps ~ Ambrosia
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous ~ Nature's Elements
Inque Botique Stamps ~ Grunge
Martha Stewart Punch - Doily Lace
EK Success Punch Morocco Lace
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
CTMH Ink - Garnet and Greywood (Thanks Mandy!!)
TSUKINEKO Ink ~ London Fog
Ranger Distress Ink ~ Aged Mahogany, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Vintage Photo
Ranger Distress Markers ~ Aged Mahogany, Walnut Stain
Ranger Alcohol Ink ~ Copper Mixative, Slate
Smooch Spritz ~ Silver Foil
Sewing Machine/Thread

Adhesives:
Scotch ATG
Hercules Tape
Helmar Professional Acid Free Glue
Helmar Zap Dots

Tools:
Donna Salazar Distrezz-It-All by Zutter
Cricut ~ Expression 2
Sizzix Big Shot
Ranger Craft Mat
Tim Holtz Piercing Tool
EK Success Honey Bee Scissors
Fiskars Self-healing Mat and Craft Knife

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

Corrugated Butterfly Tutorial

I hope you are having a pleasant week. It is forecast to be a cooler week here, which is a delight to me. I went to visit my parents yesterday and shared such a peaceful ride on their pontoon boat for a lovely evening. What a blessing to spend time with family surrounded by the beauty of God's creation. 

Today, I have a Technique Tuesday Tutorial for you. I have had many kind words on my Corrugated Butterflies, so I thought I would share the steps in creating them. They are actually quite easy to make. 

Here are three I've created. You can see that depending on how you paint, ink, and embellish these sweet butterflies you can get very different looks to go with any color scheme and scrappy style. 

Corrugated Butterfly Tutorial

Supplies:

Supply List:

*Big Shot or other die cutting machine

*Tim Holtz Alterations Movers and Shapers Mini Butterflies or other butterfly shaped heavy die that will cut through corrugated cardboard

*Tim Holtz Alterations Base Tray

*Donna Salazar Zutter Corrugated Board. You can also use scrap packaging cardboard, however be sure to spritz it with some acid free product, and Donna's corrugated board is so easy to use since it is designed for the top layer to release from the corrugated inside easily. 

*Coloring products like acrylic paint, Distress Ink, Smooch Spritz are my favorites, but anything you have on hand should work

*If using acrylic paint, a foam brush works better than a regular bristle paint brush

*Something to created antenna - thread covered floral wire and flower stamens are my favorites

*Glossy Accents or other fast drying glue

Step One ~ Cut Butterflies

Cut small rectangles of your corrugated board the size of your butterfly die(s). If using the movers and shapers dies, place the butterfly dies in the mover and shapers base tray, place the corrugated board on top of the dies, sandwich between the clear cutting plates and roll through your die cut machine to cut.

Here is what it will look like before sandwiching between the plates:

Then after it has been run through your machine:

Step Three ~ Reveal the Corrugation

Remove the top liner paper to reveal the corrugation below. If you are using Donna's Zutter Corrugated Board, you can remove it in one piece and save the shape for another project!! When you remove the liner, little bits and pieces of it will be stuck to the corrugation - I like to leave some of this for the added texture and grunginess that it adds.

Step Four ~ Painted Peaks

When going for a more delicate, girly look, I like to lighten up the corrugated bord with  a lighter color. If you are going for a darker, grungier look you could use a darker paint or skip this step entirely.

For this example I will start by painting the "peaks" of the corrugated board with some antique white acrylic paint. I like to paint just the peak, allowing the natural color of the corrugation to be visible down in the valley of the corrugation. From some trial and error, I've found that a foam brush works best to achieve this effect. I place a small spot of paint on my craft mat and brush some paint across the mat so I only have a small amount of paint on the foam brush. (If you have too much paint on the foam, it will still drip down into the valleys.) 

You can see what I mean in this photo.

(Excuse my mat - it was cleaned, but my well loved and used craft mat is quite stained.)

Now that you have the paint on your foam brush, use a light hand to brush just the peaks of your butterflies. I do like a little paint in the "valleys" right at the very edge, so I go back and hit the very edges of the valleys with a bit of paint as well. 

Here are my painted butterflies:

Step Five ~ Inking/Misting

Ink your edges to coordinate with your project. I like to used Distress Inks and usually apply several to achieve the desired color. Also applying several colors can add depth and dimension. Really though, you can go wild here if you want inking, painting, misting .  .  . the entire butterfly as in my first example at the top of my post with the rusty tones. 

Here is my example with just the edges inked using a combination of purples and brown:

Step Six ~ Antenna

I like to add some kind of antenna to my butterflies. My two favorite materials to use are flower stamens or thread covered wire from the floral department. Today I am using the floral wire. Simply cut off a small length - double the body height plus enough for the two antenna. Fold in half and curl the ends - I use a pair of round tip jewelry pliers, but you could curl them around a toothpick, hole piercer, or any other small round object. Use glossy accents or other fast drying glue to adhere them to the back of the butterfly. You might notice that I had green wrapped floral wire in my supply photo - I simply inked them with walnut stain Distress Ink. 

The really easy peasy way to add antenna is to pick up a pack of stamens from the floral department, fold them in half or if too long, trim them down to the right length and glue them to the back. My third example at the top of this post shows an example done with stamens.

Step Seven ~ Bling

I like to add small pearls or rhinestones down the body of the butterfly to finish it off. If you don't have the right color, a bit of alcohol ink will transform them to a color that will be just right. 

Here are the finished butterflies ready for my next project.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and will give it a try. If you do, I'd be delighted for you to leave a comment and a link so I can hop over and see your creations.

Now for a bit of sweet news. My Beautiful Life layout of our dog, Ellie, was selected as the top entry at the Scrapping Everyday Miracles challenge to scrap with the theme Created Beauty. And yes, it has one of my Corrugated Butterflies!! What a sweet challenge site encouraging us to find the blessings God gives us in our everyday lives and to scrap them. Be sure to stop by their blog and check out their wonderful site and challenges. 

Thanks for stopping by!! I treasure your comments. 

~ Blessings ~