Friday, February 28, 2014

Paper Memories ~ 7 Dots Studio Give-Away

My sweet scrappy friend, Sandi Smith has shared a gorgeous page featuring the Cold Country Collection and will be giving away one of the new 7 Dot's Studio collections. Stop by her blog, Paper Memories, for all the details. 

~ Blessings ~ 

Monday, February 24, 2014

2014 Helmar Design Team Call

If you live in the US, Australia, or Canada - Helmar is having a Design Team Call. I have found Helmar to be a delightful team to work with, allowing me creative freedom to showcase their amazing adhesive products! Here are the details.



Helmar is a recognized leader of adhesives and aerosols in the Arts and Crafts industry and we are looking for new design team members to promote our amazing products. If you’d like to be a part of one of the most creative and easy going design teams out there, while showcasing Helmar products and your talent, this call is for you!!!

We are looking for dedicated creative design team members who work well with deadlines and guidelines. Designer positions on the Helmar Design Team are for a 6 month term beginning March 21st, 2014.

As a member of the Helmar Design Team you will…

1)      Receive a generous amount of Helmar products

2)      Endorsement fees for published layouts and tradeshow projects (subject to terms and conditions)

3)      The possibility of a selection of products from our generous Preferred Partners throughout your term.

Now what does it take to be a part of the Helmar Team?
Here are your responsibilities:

1)      1-2 projects per month consisting of posts on the Helmar blog, your personal blog and sharing on Facebook. 

2)      Keeping your personal blog and Facebook page up to date and linking and promoting Helmar products at every opportunity.

If you are interested in being part of the Helmar Design team,
please email the following information to khitchen@helmar.com.au

1)      Name, address, daytime/evening phone number and email address.

2)      Short biography

3)      Links to your online galleries, blogs, Facebook and Twitter pages.

4)      A List other design teams you are now on or have previously been on.

5)      A brief paragraph letting us know why you would like to be a part of the Helmar Design Team.

6)      Two examples that will best showcase your work. Please ensure file sizes are not overly large or small, nothing over 1mb. Examples could be your papercrafts, altered art, mixed media, craft projects, kid’s projects, home décor, etc.) Make sure to list any special techniques you’ve used using adhesives.

Please submit your application to khitchen@helmar.com.au by Friday 21st March 2014.

No late submissions will be accepted.

The new Helmar Design Team will be announced by the 26th of March, 2014

** At this time we are only accepting applications from Australia, Canada and United States.

I'm looking forward to seeing who makes the new team. Best of luck to each of you who apply!

~ Blessings ~

Saturday, February 22, 2014

"Bride" Mixed Media Layout for Donna Salazar with Open Lace Rose Flower Tutorial

It is always such a delight to work with Donna Salazar's amazing products. I'm blessed indeed to be part of her team of designers. Today, I'd like to share a wedding page of our daughter, Elizabeth. I've used some fun mixed media techniques which I describe in my Tips and Techniques section. I've also created these new "Open Lace Rose" flowers, and you'll find the tutorial towards the bottom of this post.

I've used the February Girlie Grunge Sketch-n-Color Challenge for inspiration. Pink is the color of love and so perfect for this wedding layout.

"Bride"

February Girlie Grunge Sketch-n-Color Challenge
(I turned the sketch as shown)
Details for our February challenge can be found here.

Tips and Techniques
Here's a close-up of my Open Lace Roses. You can locate the tutorial by scrolling down.

It's easy to create splatter with Donna's inks. I rubbed the ink pad on a craft sheet then added a couple drops of Acrylic Matte Medium and several spritzes of water. This makes a nice mixture that creates wonderful splatter. I used all three colors shown in the February Girlie Grunge Sketch-n-Color Challenge.

I colored white seam binding with Donna's Inks, then splattered with the ink mixtures. 

I spread pearl pen medium on these Want2Scrap Chipboard flourishes and title. 

Another view of the bow and chipboard. 

For my mixed media background, I used Donna's small Heart Stencil with molding paste, then applied Mix'd Media Inx Chiffon Embossing Powder while the molding paste was wet and heat set. The molding paste bubbles and creates gorgeous texture while melting the embossing powder.

The pink was a little brighter than I wanted, so I brushed it lightly with gesso. I splattered with all three colors. When dry, I brushed over the hearts and surrounding area with Soft Gel (Matte) mixed with the punch waste from the border punched edges. If you look carefully you can see the little dots of paper mixed in. Finally, I splattered again with all three colors. 

A close-up of the bottom cluster. You can see I inked and splattered the flowers as well.

I've tucked some Bitty Blossoms in amongst the Open Lace Roses. The tutorial for my Bitty Blossoms Flowers can be located here

Open Lace Rose Flower Tutorial

Supplies
  • Donna Salazar Designs ~ Spellbinders Grand Peony Dies
  • Donna Salazar Designs ~ Spellbinders Rose Creations Dies
  • Printed cardstock weight paper. **Note - I've used different papers here than for the flowers on this layout. Both are from Donna's Natural Beauty Collection.
  • Lace Scraps (Either lace wide enough to die cut or a lace panel.)
  • Paper Scraps
  • Decorative brad or button
  • Liquid glue such as Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive
  • Spellbinders Artisan X-plorer
  • Large stylus or pen with rounded cap.
  • Round Nose Pliers (Or round object like an artist paint brush)
For the purpose of this tutorial, I have numbered the dies in each set from smallest to largest with 1 being assigned to the the smallest die. (Please note, the Grand Peony dies are much larger than Rose Creations, seeming out of proportion. For instance, the #3 Grand Peony die is nearly the same size as the #5 Rose Creations die.)

I've illustrated the process for the largest size flower, you can alter the die sizes in a number of different ways to create a variety of flower sizes to fit your project.

Step 1. Cut 2 each of paper petal layers from Grand Peony dies #3 and #5. (Photo following step 2.)

Step 2. Cut 1 each of lace layers from Rose Creation dies #3 and #5

***Hint*** For lace to cut somewhat cleanly, it helps to layer as follows: place die on cutting surface face up, then lace, then paper scrap. If you try to cut without the paper layer, in my experience it will barely cut. Even with the paper layer, you may still need to do some minor trimming.

Step 3. Lay paper petal layer face down on a foam pad. Use a large stylus or pen with a rounded cap to press and roll each petal to cup.

Another shot to show how the petals curve.

Step 4. Turn petal over and with right side up, roll stylus around the center which will depress the center and push the petals upward. 


Step 5. Curl back the petal edges using round nose pliers or around a small diameter rod like an artist paint brush. 

Step 6. Using round nose pliers or the end of a round rod like an artist brush, give a twist to the center of each petal to crimp.

Step 7. Glue layers together offsetting the petals as you go. Secure the center with a decorative brad.

***Hint ~ For additional color and distressing, you can mist, paint, splatter, gesso, glitter . . . Any girlie grunge technique works beautifully.

I hope you've been inspired to create a project for Donna's
February Girlie Grunge Sketch-n-Color Challenge.
Details for the challenge can be found here


Donna Salazar Products
GCD Studio ~ Natural Beauty Collection
Clearsnap ~ Mix'd Media Inx - Pomegranate; Berries; Chiffon; Stormy; Truffle
Clearsnap ~ Mix'd Media Inx - Chiffon
Spellbinders ~ Grand Peony
Spellbinders ~ Rose Creations
Spellbinders ~ Bitty Blossoms
Want2Scrap ~ Heart Stencil (small)

Other Products
Want2Scrap ~ Chipboard - Style D - Martha; Style C - Kathie; Bride
Want2Scrap ~ Bling - Say It with Pearls - Frilly Flourish Swirl - White Pearls
The Paper Studio Spare Parts ~ Bling Brads; Gemstone Flower Brads
Seam Binding - White (Really Reasonable Ribbon)
Spellbinders ~ Fantastic Flourish Two
Martha Stewart - Lace Heart Edge Punch
DecoArt Americana ~ Jacobean Floral Stencil
Golden ~ Soft Gel (Matte), Light Molding Paste
Viva ~ Pearl Pen, Cream
Blick Artists ~ Acrylic Matte Medium
Helmar ~ Craft and Hobby PVA Glue, 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, Fabric Glue

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Saturday, February 15, 2014

You Are Loved Layout for Leaky Shed Studio with Stained Glass Chipboard Tutorial

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day with the special loved ones in your life yesterday. I'm back to share the details on the Leaky Shed Studio page that I shared sneak peaks from. Elizabeth looks so beautiful in this photo right before her wedding. She is dressed and ready for her big day, contemplating her future with the love of her life, Andrew. 

I've used a number of Leaky Shed Studio Chipboard pieces, but really wanted to showcase the Prairie Grass stained glass window piece ~ so perfect to go with this lovely photo of Elizabeth standing in front of a stained glass window at the church.

The Prairie Grass stained glass window chipboard piece from Leaky Shed Studio was absolutely perfect to pair with this photo. My regular followers know how much I enjoy playing with new techniques, so I conceived an idea to get an antique glass look with crackle accents and am so happy with the way it turned out. I've included a tutorial if you'd like to give this technique a try. 

"You Are Loved"

Tips and Techniques
This gorgeous chipboard is the Prairie Grass piece. Details on how I created my stained glass window can be found in my tutorial below. 

Here I've used the Small Spring Butterfly. To get these delightful layers, I soaked it in warm water until thoroughly wet, then carefully split each wing into three layers and left the body intact. I painted it ecru, dried, then brushed Stickles across the wings. Several rhinestones on the body finishes it off.

A mix of flowers dry brushed with gesso and layered die cut leaf flourishes which were inked and then dry brushed with gesso. This flourish die is actually a corner, but I cut off the leafy flourishes to use here. You can see a couple layers of punchinella I've tucked under and around my photo.

Another view of this sweet cluster. You can see above the cluster, I've used molding paste to stencil another window image.

Leaky Shed Studio has a wonderful collection of clocks. Here I've used the small Clock #2 and watch parts. They were simply painted with metallic paint, then randomly rubbed with Ebony Rub'n Buff. Finally, I dry brushed them with Gesso. A Prima heart gear was a perfect fit for the center of the clock!

I used my stencil three ways. First I used it in the center to spritz two shades of mist. First a darker pink, then with white to soften it up. Next I wanted to use up the extra mist that was left on the stencil, so I flipped it over and used it to "stamp" the design on the left next to where I planned to place the stained glass piece. Finally, I used it to apply spots of molding paste across the bottom of the layout around where I planned to place my embellishments. 

This lovely flower cluster flows right on out over the edge of the window. The paper elements tucked in around the photo were distressed with my Donna Salazar Distrezz-it-All by Zutter. 

There was a white spot in the photo where the sun was streaming through the window. It looked bare on this black and white photo, so a cross from the cross set was just perfect to fill the space. You can see more of the goodies I tucked around the photo like this Abaca Ribbon and painted chicken wire. I also scattered heart shaped and round rhinestones around the page. 

Now, here's my tutorial for the Stained Glass Window. 

Stained Glass Chipboard Window Tutorial

Supplies List
Leaky Shed Studio ~ Prairie Grass
Acetate sheet or large scrap of acetate packaging
Ranger Crackle Accents
Stampendous ~ Fran-tage Embossing Enamel - Aged Silver
Ranger Alcohol Ink and felt applicator
Ranger Perfect Medium or other clear Embossing pad
Scissors to cut Acetate

Step 1. Cut a piece of crafting acetate or clear packaging to the width of the window piece. Place the acetate over the back of the chipboard piece and mark a cutting line for the top of the window. I used a Sharpie. Trim the top on the marked lines. 

Step 2. Heat emboss the window chipboard piece with embossing powder to coordinate with your project. I used Fran-tage Aged Silver Embossing Enamel.

Step 3. Apply a thin bead of Crackle Accents to the back of the chipboard. 

Step 4. Adhere the chipboard to the acetate by placing the back of the chipboard covered in Crackle Accents onto the front of the trimmed acetate. Don't worry if some of the Crackle Accents oozes out onto the acetate since in the next step you will be covering the window in it. 

Step 5. Apply a layer of Crackle Accents into each "window." ***Hint*** You do NOT want to completely fill the windows to the brim. Just a thin coat across the acetate, making sure to completely cover the entire surface. I removed the occasional larger bubble with a needle, however I did not worry about the tiny ones. I figured the bubbles would give the look of vintage glass. 
Step 6. Set aside to dry and crack. I allowed mine to sit overnight. 

Step 7. Apply alcohol in in the color of choice to the back of the acetate. I used a light pink. Because I used a monochromatic color scheme on my page, I kept my window the same color throughout; however, you could brush the alcohol ink on in different colors, using the chipboard frame as a guide. 

It just takes a few moments for the alcohol ink to dry and your Stained Glass Window is ready to use. 

Hint - to adhere to my page, I cut very thin strips of Crafty Power Tape and placed them on the back, lining it up with the chipboard so it isn't visible on the front side of the piece.

Here's how it looks on my page:

Leaky Shed Studio Products
Prairie Grass
Clock # 2 Small
Watch Parts
Spring Butterfly Small
Cross Set

Other Products
7 Dots Studio ~ Messy Head - Love Letter
Clear Acetate Sheet
Prima ~ Junkyard Findings - Heart Gears
Prima SIIC ~ - Glitter Hearts
Tim Holtz ~  Idea-ology - Word Band
Darice ~ Self Stick Gems, 5mm
Momenta ~ Metal Stickers - flourish
Bead Landing ~ Found Objects - Keys
Seam Binding - White (Really Reasonable Ribbon)
Stash ~ chicken wire, 2 types of punchinella, abaca ribbon, mesh
Prima ~ Hello Pastel Flowers
Petaloo ~ Penny Lane - Ruffled Roses, pink
Petaloo ~ Beaded Peonies - Small, Cream
Kaisercraft Paper Blooms ~ - Dusty Pink
Ranger ~ Perfect Medium
Ranger ~ Crackle Accents
Ranger ~  Alcohol Ink - Pink Sherbet
Ranger ~  Blending Solution
Ranger ~ Stickles - Star Dust, Fruit Punch
Ranger ~ Distress Ink - Pumice Stone
Stampendous ~ Fran-tage - Aged Silver Embossing Enamel
Liquitex ~ Gesso
Rub'n Buff ~ Ebony
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist ~ Cranberry Zing
Mister Hueys Color Mists - Opaque White
Folk Art Acrylic Paint
DecoArt Dazzling Metallics - Champagne Gold
Prima ~ Windows Stencil, Flourish Stencil 6 "x 6"
Spellbinders Dies ~ Fantastic Flourish Two
Helmar ~ 450 Quick Dry Adhesive
Helmar ~ Liquid Scrap Dots
Helmar ~ Zap Dots - White Square 1/2 "
Tombo ~ Mono Multi Glue
Scor-Tape 6" x 6"
Zutter ~ Donna Salazar Designs - Distrezz-it-All
Darice Heat Tool

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Friday, February 14, 2014

Valentine's projects for Leaky Shed Studio and Helmar

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I have special Valentine's projects up today on two of my Design Team Blogs. 

First, I've created a love themed wedding layout for Leaky Shed Studio including a tutorial for a "Stained Glass Window" that goes so perfectly with my photo.

Here's a little sneak peek:

I hope you'll drop by the Leaky Shed Studio blog to check out my layout and tutorial. Thanks so much for leaving some love over there if you do!! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next up, I used a lot of Helmar products on the Family Love Mini Album I created for Gary for Valentine's Day. It is being featured on the Helmar blog today. Lot's of grungy guy details in this one. 

Here's a peek of the cover:

I hope you'll have the chance to hop on over to the Helmar Blog to check out how I've used Helmar's fabulous products in creating my mini album. 

Have you ever layered mist onto other mediums only to find out it stays tacky and smears even after plenty of drying time? I've found a solution in one of Helmar's fab products. 

Thanks for stopping by today!
I hope you find inspiration in my Valentine projects. 

~ Blessings ~

Monday, February 10, 2014

Mixed Media Valentine Tag for Donna Salazar

I hope you had a lovely weekend. I had the wonderful opportunity to judge at a debate tournament this past weekend. Fortunately, I was able to switch back to my creative side to put together this Valentine inspired tag featuring Donna Salazar products. 

Love Tag

Tips and Techniques
Donna's products are so yummy for mixed media creations. She has some gorgeous stamps created by Art Gone Wild. I started out by stamping the tag with her crackle stamp using Mix'd Media CHOX Inx, then added the stanza stamping at the bottom. If you are stamping before misting, It's a great idea to used Donna's CHOX inks which are permanent. The regular Mix'd Media Inx are water based and tend to bleed and shift when misted. That can be a very cool effect, but not what I was looking for here. 

Next I used Donna's Want2Scrap Love Stencil with Polka Dots and Arrow with light molding paste to create the word love and the polka dot heart. I then heat embossed with MMI Embossing powders.

I did some more stamping around the tag with Donna's Dear Sir and Vine stamps then used my handy dandy Distrezz-it-All by Zutter on all the edges. Once everything was good and dry, I misted the tag with water, then Donna's Clearsnap Smooch Spritz in Tea Party and Caramel Latte. I spritzed with a little more water and tapped the tag to drip excess mist down the tag. I adore how the mist pooled onto the embossed molding paste. Now, I'm not one to waste much, so I dragged the distezzed edges of my tag through the overspray mist on my craft mat to color. There was still a small amount of mist on my mat, so I spritzed it with more water and colored my seam binding ribbon with the remaining color. I pulled the ribbon through the color to allow for grungy variations.

Here's a new flower I've created. I will be sharing a tutorial for this Lacey Open Rose in my next post. So be sure to come back February 22 for the details. Before using up the last of the mist on my mat for my ribbon, I brushed some of it across my flower and leafy die cut. 

Finally, I dabbed the flower, lace, and edges with Glue Gloss, then sprinkled with Donna's Fairy Dust Glitter in Pralines and Cream. 

Thanks for stopping by today!!
I hope you've been inspired to grab some of Donna's fabulous products
and get inky creating a mixed media project of your own.

Don't forget, Donna is sponsoring a fun challenge this month with some fabulous prizes.
You can find all the details here.


Donna Salazar Products
Clearsnap ~ Mix'd Media Inx CHOX - Driftwood, Sparrow
Clearsnap ~ Mix'd Media Inx Embossing Powder - Chiffon, Jasmine
Clearsnap ~ Smooch Spritz - Tea Party, Caramel Latte
Clearsnap ~ Fairy Dust Glitter - Pralines and Cream
Spellbinders ~ Grand Peony
Spellbinders ~ Rose Creations
Want2Scrap - Love Stencil with Polkadot Heart and Arrow
Art Gone Wild Stamps - Crackle, Stanza, Vine, Dear Sir
Zutter Distrezz-it-All

Other Products
Ranger #8 Manilla Tag
Seam Binding, White (Really Reasonable Ribbon)
Spare Parts - Bling Brads - Antique Silver
Lace - 2 kinds - Stash
Golden ~ Light Molding Paste, Matte Gel
Clearsnap Glue Gloss
Helmar ~ 450 Quick dry Adhesive
Darice ~ Heat Tool
Craft Sheet
Spellbinders Artison X-plorer

I've entered this at:
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #118 ~ Anything goes
Scrapping Everyday Memories ~ Challenge #1 Main Theme Challenge - Love

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments. 

~ Blessings ~

Friday, February 7, 2014

Published in Scrapbooking.com Magazine

I'm so excited to share that two of my layouts have been published in the


I hope you'll stop over to Scrapbooking.com Magazine to check out
all the gorgeous inspiration they have provided for you this month. 

They have a great article interviewing Sochi Olympians
discussing how they scrapbook and use their special mementoes.

~ Blessings ~

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Listen to Your Heart Birthday Card featuring Helmar and Leaky Shed Studio

We have a birthday to celebrate nearly every month of the year, and I enjoy creating personalized cards to help celebrate these special days. I've created this shabby chic card for my sister featuring Helmar Premium Craft Glue and Leaky Shed Studio Chipboard.

Listen to Your Heart

Tips and Techniques
My favorite adhesive for adhering paper to paper is Helmar Premium Craft Glue. I simply apply a bead of glue around the edge and swirl some in the center as shown. Turn the paper over and rub your fingers gently over the page to spread out the adhesive. When applying, you won't want to get too close to the edges to allow room for it to spread out. 

One of the advantages of using Helmar Premium Craft Glue is that you have a some time to adjust your paper and get it placed exactly where you want it. Because of the high solids content it will not warp your papers.

Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive is perfect for adhering chipboard, flowers, and ribbon. I wanted to add a little color to my flowers to coordinate them with my papers, so I used a paint brush to apply Distress Inks in coordinating colors. I used the same technique to add color to the bow.

I spritzed seam binding with water and scrunched to achieve this lovely texture, then when dry tied a double loop bow and brushed with Distress ink. Helmar Fabric Glue holds my bow in place as well as the scrunched ends. I adore how it holds even delicate ribbon in place without bleeding through. 

I heat embossed Fran-tage Embossing Enamel on Leaky Shed Studio Chipboard and used Donna Salazar Mix'd Media Inx and Embossing powder for my sentiment and flourish. It can be difficult to adhere mixed media elements together like these layered chipboard pieces, however, Helmar 450 is strong enough for this job.

I stamped and embossed my sentiment before distressing the layers, then adhered my layers to the card base using Helmar Premium Craft Glue. This Leaky Shed Victorian Oval Frame was the perfect proportion for the printed sentiment and was adhered with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Glue.

Leaving you with one final shot.

Helmar Products
Helmar Premium Craft Glue
Helmar 450 Quick Dry Glue
Helmar Fabric Glue

Leaky Shed Studio Products
French Oval Frame Chipboard
Victorian Oval Frame Chipboard

Other Products
BoBunny ~ The Avenues paper collection
Wild Orchid Crafts ~ 25mm Cottage Rose in Mixed Pink and Mixed White/Cream; 15mm Open Roses ~ Deep Ivory
Pebbles ~ Jewel Flower Brads - Happy-Go-Lucky
Prima Serenade ~ White
Darice ~ Ivory Berry Sprig
1/2" Seam Binding - Cream
Lace ~ my stash
Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz Clear Stamps ~ French Connection; Urban Grunge
Stampabilities ~ May Your Birthday Be Filled . . .
Donna Salazar for Clearsnap ~ Mixed Media Inx ~ Indigo, Honey
Donna Salazar for Clearsnap ~ Mixed Media Inx Embossing Powder ~ Honey
Ranger ~ Embossing Powder - Clear
Ranger ~ Perfect Medium
Fran-tage Embossing Enamel ~ Aged Ivory, Aged Spice
Ranger ~ Distress Ink - Tattered Rose, Dried Marigold
Donna Salazar for Zutter ~ Distrezz-it-All
Darice ~ Heat Tool
Tim Holtz ~ Grid Blocks

I hope you'll stop by the Helmar Blog and leave a sweet comment there.

~ Blessings ~