Mixed Media Mother's Day Card for Little Birdie Crafts

Welcome to my creative space!

Mother's Day is just around the corner and I created this sweet card for my mom featuring the gorgeous Shabby Chic Bouquet paper and flower collections.  The card will fit into a standard 6×6″ shadowbox or frame, so I thought this sentiment about memories would work well as a display for everyday home decor and yet be lovely for a Mother’s Day card. 

I hope you'll hop on over to the Little Birdie Crafts blog for a full photo tutorial showing how I put this together and to leave a comment letting me know what you think. You can find that post HERE.

Little Birdie Crafts can be purchased at their US online store. For a limited time there is free worldwide shipping on all orders over $99.

Use code TRACEY05 for a 5% discount.

I receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Thanks for your support!

Little Birdie Crafts Supplies

Paper Pack Shabby Chic Bouquet - 6in x 6in

Paper Pack Shabby Chic Bouquet - 12in x 12in

Shabby Chic Flowers - Tania

Shabby Chic Flowers - Queenie

Shabby Chic Flowers - Micro Roses

Primed Chipboard ~ Rose Design

Stencil - Flora Enchante 

Sparkle Paste - Whipped Cream

Acrylic Soft Gel Medium

Other Supplies

Cardstock - White

Ranger ~ Distress Embossing Dabber

Liquitex ~ Gesso - Clear

Stampendous ~ Embossing Enamel - Shabby White, Shabby Pink

US ArtQuest ~ Mini Prills - Tu-Tu

Stampendous ~ Fran-tage - Silver Glass Glitter

Wonder Tape ~ Foam Tape

Scrapbook Adhesive by 3L ~ Crafty Power Tape

Helmar ~ 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Tombo ~ Mono MULTI Liquid Glue

Tim Holtz Tonic 5 Inch Haberdashery Scissors

Wagner ~ HT 400 Heat Gun

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

"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 ~

Beautiful Reef Mixed Media Layout for Helmar and Prima BAP

Vacation trips are always fun to remember. In 2012 Gary and I took a trip for our 30th anniversary to Baltimore Inner Harbor. We spent a day at the National Aquarium where I took this shot of the coral reef exhibit. The coral and fish are so colorful and vibrant. I enjoyed extending the feel of the reef onto the layout and have featured Helmar Liquid Scrapdots. I've used primarily Prima products with the January Prima BAP challenge for inspiration.

"Beautiful Reef"

Prima BAP Sketch

Tips and Techniques

When adding flowers over mixed media and layers, sometimes it's a challenge to get them positioned the way I like. A great solution is to use Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots. Often we think of this great product for adding dimension, but it's perfect for getting just the right placement over uneven surfaces as well. Here I've put a nice dot of Liquid Scrap Dots on the back of my focal flower. As you can see I've adhered it over several distressed paper layers which would normally tilt it away from the photo, but the Liquid Scrap Dots allowed me to position all of my flowers properly as you can see in the following photo. 

Here you can see how nicely the Prima flowers are positioned using Liquid Scrap Dots, despite the uneven base. 

Often, I look at my chipboard pieces "outside the box." Here the coral pieces are cut from the branches of a Leaky Shed Studio chipboard Christmas tree, painted with Lumiere gold and green metallic paint. I painted and then bubbled the paint with a heat tool in several layers to build up the paint to achieve a coral-like appearance. I adhered these pieces with 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.

A close-up of the background which was stenciled with molding paste using the Prima Scales stencil then misted, stamped, splattered with thinned gesso, and doodled. I've also scattered some Prima crystals around the page.

More flowers Prima flowers and Leaky Shed chipboard "coral" adhered with Liquid Scrap Dots.

The photo was adhered to the photo mats using Premium Craft Glue, and then to adhere the mat to the mixed media background, my go to adhesive is Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive which adheres well to mixed media surfaces. 

Leaving you with one final photo.

Helmar Products
Liquid Scrap Dots
450 Quick Dry Adhesive
Premium Craft Glue

Other Products
Prima ~ Sunrise Sunset - Collection
Prima ~ Sunrise Sunset - Alphabet Stickers
Prima Flowers ~ Cottage Blossoms, Soubrette - Blue/Green, Metallic Iron, Divine Vine - Yellow, Guava Peony Brahms, Calypso Tin - Teal
Prima ~ Say It in Crystals - Circles Iridescent, 560577
Leaky Shed Studio ~ 9" Christmas Tree
Prima ~ Clear Stamp Script, Build-A-Frame Collections 1 & 2
Prima ~ Stencils - Static, Scales
Ranger ~ Distress Ink - Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain
Ranger ~ Archival Ink - Jet Black
Golden ~ Light Molding Paste
Liquitex ~ Gesso
Heidi Swapp ~ Color Shine - Mustard, Chartreuse
Tattered Angels ~ Glimmer Mist - Cork, Dragonfly
Lumiere Paint ~ Bright Gold, Halo Blue Gold
Pigma ~ Micron 05 Black
Prima ~ Distress Tool
Ranger ~ Heat It Craft Tool
Darice ~ Heat Tool

I hope you've been inspired to try out some Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots on your next project!

Thanks for stopping by today! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

"Sweet Moment" Mixed Media Layout for Donna Salazar Designs

Winter has settled upon our area with cold temperatures and more snow. I hope you're enjoying the preparations of the Christmas season. 

Today I'd like to share a layout from our daughter's wedding Featuring Donna Salazar's Distrezz-it-All and Spellbinder dies. Elizabeth is with her two young cousins who were her flower girl and junior bridesmaid. Don't you just adore those sweet smiles? 

"Sweet Moment"

Tips and Techniques

I included two borders seen above in the large project photo. On the right side I used mat gel medium to apply a piece of vintage lace which I then dry brushed with gesso, inked and splattered. The remainder of the layout is bordered with light molding paste, which when dry was randomly stamped with Donna's Woodgrain stamp in Storm Mix'd Media Inx. 

The flag strips and mats were all distrezzed with my handy Distrezz-it-All. I adore how this machine makes such quick work of my distressing and gives a thick shabby edge to the layers. I used several of Donna's Art Gone Wild stamps on the background. Here your can see her Stanza stamp. This Want2Scrap chipboard piece was given a light and spotty application of Jasmine Mix'd Media Inx. I then sprinkled lightly with Jasmine Embossing Powder, knocking some off in places to be sure some of the bare chipboard would show through. 

Another view of this lovely cluster. The flowers and leaves are created with a mix of vintage pattern paper, voile fabric, mulberry paper from Donna's Mix'd Media Stax 2, and regular printed cardstock paper using Donna's Grand Peony, Bitty Blossoms, and Rose Creation Dies. 

Here's a view of the smaller cluster. You can see just a little of the hearts stenciled with Donna's Want2Scrap Small Heart Stencil. I used light molding paste, then lightly inked with Chiffon Mix'd Media Inx. I then sprinkled on Clearsnap clear embossing powder and heat set to give a glossy shimmer to these sweet hearts. There's also a bit of splattered Smooch Spritz on these particular hearts. 

Don't you just adore Donna's Wonderful Wings dies and coordinating Bling from Want2Scrap? I die cut the background from Donna's Want2Scrap Canvas distressed with the edge of my scissors and inked with Chiffon and Stormy. The butterfly trail is a little scrap from a Want2Scrap border. I used a stiff paint brush to splatter Donna's Caramel Latte Smooch Spritz around the page. 

I drew inspiration from this lovely Flying Unicorn Mojo Monday Sketch from October.

Donna has now released her Distrezz-it-All V3.0.

For all the details and a demonstration of this handy machine, 

check  her Youtube video here.

Donna will be giving away a new Distrezz-it-All V3.0 when

her Distrezz-it-All Facebook page gets 2,000 likes.

For other ways to enter this drawing go here. 

Donna Salazar Design Products

GCD Studios ~ Natural Beauty Collection, Mix'd Media Stax 2

Want2Scrap ~ Wonderful Wings Nestabling

Want2Scrap ~ Canvas

Spellbinders ~ Wonderful Wings

Spellbinders ~ Grand Peony

Spellbinders ~ Bitty Blossoms

Spellbinders ~ Rose Creations

Clearsnap ~ Mix'd Media Inx - Stormy, Denim, Truffle, Chiffon, Jasmine

Clearsnap ~ Mix'd Media Inx Embossing Powder - Jasmine

Clearsnap ~ Smooch Spritz - Caramel Latte 

Want2Scrap ~ Small Heart Stencil

Art Gone Wild ~ Woodgrain Stamp

Art Gone Wild ~ Dear Sir Stamp

Art Gone Wild ~ Stanza Stamp

Zutter ~ Distrezz-it-All

Other Products

Vintage Pattern

Voile Fabric - Ivory

Doily

Heidi Grace Epoxy Stickers 

Want2ScrapFinesse Swirls - Rhinestones, Silver

Want2Scrap ~ Chipboard - Martha

Lace and Vintage Lace

Jewelry Pieces

Bead Landing - Textured Metal

Crystal Brads

EK Success ~ Swirl Border Punch

Clearsnap ~ Top Boss - Clear Embossing Powder

Golden Molding Paste

Helmar ~ 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, Zapdots, Premium Craft Glue

Spellbinders ~ Artisan X-plorer

Darice ~ Heat Tool

I hope you've been inspired to create with your favorite Donna Salazar products!!

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

"Adventure" SEM April Main Challenge #27 ~ All God's Creatures

I hope you had a wonderful Easter! We went to church then had all the family over for some homemade lasagne and a time of sweet family fellowship.

It's the first Monday of the month and that means it's time to share the Scrapping Everyday Miracles Main Challenge. Nicole is hosting a wonderful challenge for you this month. Here are the details:

SEM Challenge #27 ~ All God's Creatures

For this month's main challenge we would like you to create a project inspired by your pets.  Even if you arent animal person or don't have any pets you can still be inspired by this challenge.  You can create a project inspired by any animal in God's creation. Your projects can even be about an animal related experience like a day at the zoo or a farm. What is important is that we see that God is blessing us with everyday miracles using both the animals within our families and those outside our homes.  

SCRAP TWIST: USE AN ANIMAL RELATED QUOTE SAYING OR EVEN BIBLE VERSE ON YOUR PROJECT.   You can use it for your title, journaling or just addition to your project! Just to help you get started here's a link to a bunch of animal quotes :

http://www.petsinpastel.com/quotes.htm

Here is my project based on this challenge:

"Adventure"

My husband and I never had a dog. or even discussed the possibility of getting one. Then we moved back to Ohio in 2000 to be closer to our families. My brother taught dog obedience classes including a dog 4-H club. He also did a little breeding. He decided to keep one of the pups as an experiment. He often had clients bring in 2 or 3 year old dogs with no former obedience training, and these dogs were more of a challenge. So he decided to keep Ellie. While he didn't allow her to jump on people, she had no obedience training and had only been on a leash a couple times to go to the vet. You may have guessed it. He offered Grace the opportunity to have 15 month old Ellie so she could be in his 4-H club, and Grace became part of the experiment. Now dogs became a "big" part of our lives. Grace wanted to make Uncle Paul proud and put a lot of time and effort into training her new pal. She defied the odds and with Ellie became one of the top obedience teams in the UKC. They attained every possible obedience title and in their final year of competition placed 3rd in the country in Utility - the most advanced obedience class. 

Now, you do see three dogs in the photo. It didn't take long for our two other daughters to get dogs and join in the fun. From the left you see Tori, Ellie then Bounder. The girls have always been in charge of their dogs including training, feeding, grooming, vet appointments ~ everything. They learned so much responsibility, and the Lord has opened up many doors for us to share our faith along the way. There are people from many walks of life in the dog world, and I pray that the Lord has been able to touch some of them through us. While Elizabeth and Maria did not train for the advanced classes, they were recognized as top Junior handlers by qualifying for an invitation to the National UKC Dog Show each year they showed. 

This sweet photo was taken a year ago ~ one of the last photos before Ellie left us. Grace has just picked a new border collie puppy and is excited to have a dog in her life again. 

Tips and Techniques:

Inking ~ The larger jeweled flower started out as layers of creamy Prima flowers - the kind you used to buy in the pillars - I simply rubbed on some distress ink. The wooden leaves were also lightly inked. The background paper was somewhat teal, so more rubbing with distress ink brought it to the right color to coordinate with this photo. The white doilies were inked up as well. 

Lace Trim ~ Such an easy addition to any border strip to add a pretty touch.

Title and Trinkets ~ I was so thrilled the other day to find these fabulous vintage lightbulb word trinkets by Prima and thought the word "Adventure" would be the perfect title for this page since our daughters have had quite an adventure with their dogs!! I also enjoy adding little trinkets, buttons, wooden pieces into my clusters.

Stamping ~ I repeated this charming background stamp before adding my embellishments. To get a soft edge, I just tear a piece of paper towel and place where I want the stamped edges to be and stamp right over it.

Flourishes ~ I cut this gorgeous flourish into two pieces and used in each corner for balance.

Twine Flower ~ My tutorial for the handcrafted twine flower can be found here.

Distressing ~ So quick and easy with my Donna Salazar Distrezz-It-All by Zutter to get these nice "thick" edges. 

Canvas Tape ~ I simply folded and laid some this canvas tape at the edge of the clusters. A little talc powder on the adhesive edge that is up takes care of the stickiness. 

Fussy Cutting ~ I tucked a few fussy cut pieces in as well. 

Journaling ~ I wanted my "required element" to blend seamlessly into my layout, so hand wrote it at the bottom under the green paper strip. It says "Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole." Roger Caras

Our Sponsor this month is:

Hello there! I'm Leena and I live in the tiny island of Singapore. I've been scrapbooking for 6 years now and the recent one year, I've turned from a traditional scrapbooker to Project Lifer. It's been an amazing year just dedicating my time and days documenting week after week worth of stories about me, my family and friends, my full time job, the places I've travelled to for work and holidays, celebrations and many more interesting journey of my life. I've also set up a very small online shop just a year ago, just to share handmade items that was originally created for my own use. Then I realized, I had a lot of request from scrapbookers all over the world asking for my handmade items to be made available for sale. That's how it got started. The response has been overwhelming and I'm so thankful to all my buyers for their support. My shop sells mainly core handmade items such as flair buttons or also known as badges which can be used for any kind of craft projects. They're a very popular scrapbook product amongst scrapbookers! Once again thank you to Scrapping Everyday Miracles for this opportunity to sponsor my shop products for their challenge this April! 

Blog - findingnana.com

Shop - findingnana.bigcartel.com

Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Findingnana/419824088062873

Twitter - https://twitter.com/findingnana

Instagram - username is "findingnana"

Leena has sponsored it us with a wonderful prize that you could win by linking up a project to our April Challenges!  Wanna see it? That is $40 worth of flair buttons!  WOW!

Guess what everyone? Leena has prepared a discount code for all of you!!!! You can save  20% off total purchase of any products in her shop, valid from now until April 30th. The code is SEM20. You just need to enter this during check out. This discount does not apply on the shipping fee. She ships from Singapore to all over the world. 

**NOTE: You may submit the project you create for Scrapping Everyday Miracles to other challenge blogs but your project must be mainly created for the Scrapping Everyday Miracles challenge in order to win the sponsor prize and/or be one of Top 3**

 All entries must be linked HERE by April 30th, 11:59pm PST.

*Important: Make sure your link is to the blog post with your project & not just your blog in general...and be sure to remember the SCRAP TWIST!

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Wedding Card ~ Word Art Wednesday GDT Reveal

I hope you are having a lovely week!! It's a busy one here with Elizabeth and Andrew's wedding only three days away!!

As I shared yesterday, I am delighted to be guest designing this month for Word Art Wednesday!! When I saw this Word Art for I Corinthians 13:4-7, I knew it would be perfect to use for Elizabeth and Andrew's wedding card. Charity is another word for love, and I pray that they will keep these verses at the center of their marriage always. 

It is a DOUBLE PRIZE WEEK at Word Art Wednesday, so you have the opportunity to win a lovely prize by  one of these two sponsors: My Craft Spot by Kimberly and My Heart Pieces.

Techniques

Tri-Shutter Fold ~ I modified a tutorial by Bonnie Szwalkiewicz posted at Split Coast Stampers. Because I wanted more space to place the Word Art, I adjusted the top and bottom strips to 1 inch rather than 1 1/2 inches, giving me the extra needed space in the center of the card. 

Handcrafted Flower ~ I used my Donna Salazar Rose Creations Dies to create this rose. I brushed on some Art Glitter Clear Adhesive, then sprinkled on some diamond dust for sparkle. This is the best glue I have found for adhering glitter and diamond dust. It really holds the glitter in place, so I don't have sparkle all over my project. 

Word Art ~ Since this is a verse about love for a wedding card, I found this lovely free SVG heart bordered mat, which I cut on my Gazelle. I cut the mat first. I then printed the Word Art onto a sheet of printer paper. Finally I adhered the cut mat on the printer paper over the Word Art image with removable tape. You can use a sunny window or light box to center the mat over your Word Art. Finally, I ran the paper through my printer again with the adhered mat for a perfectly centered, matted Word Art. A speck of printer ink got on the mat edge, so I brushed white gesso onto the edges and covered the unwanted black spot in the process. I placed rhinestones into the mat holes for just the right touch of bling. 

Heat Embossing ~ I wanted the love image in the center of the card to be subtle, so I heat embossed it with silver embossing powder, giving almost a watermark effect (It photographed darker than it looks in real life). 

Edging ~ Each of the patterned paper pieces were cut to fit the tri-shutter pieces as in the tri-shutter tutorial. Each piece was lightly distressed using my Prima distress tool. The pieces cut to fit the 1 inch strips were then machine stitched and the center piece has dry embossed lines at the edges. 

Be sure to stop by Word Art Wednesday to download

your free copy of this week's gorgeous Word Art

and to see what the talented DT have created. 

I hope you will enter the Word Art Wednesday Challenge this week. Don't forget, if you aren't working on a project that is suitable for this week's Word Art, you may enter any project with Scripture or an encouraging message. 

I have entered this card at:

Frosted Designs ~ Fabulous Friday Challenge - Embossing (10/4)••

Stampin' for the Weekend ~ Challenge 18 -Feeling Floral (10/12)

Platypus Creek Digitals ~ Challenge 13 Pears and Lace (10/10)

Sentimental Sundays ~ Challenge #122: 3-2-1 Recipe (10/9)**

Lollipop Crafts ~ Challenge # 91 Something Old, Something New, My paper is over 2 years in my stash & the love stamp is new - purchased for this project. (10/15)

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge Blog ~ Let's Play Bingo (10/9)**

Paper Expressions ~ Tuesday's Testimonial Linky Party - Use Scripture on project.**

Use It Tuesday ~ Challenge #40: Use Your Scraps!!(10/7)**

Divas by Design ~ Challenge 55 Use some texture (10/11)**

My Mums Craft Shop Challenges ~ Challenge 78 - Love is all around (10/11)**

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 ~