"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 ~

Unforgettable Memories in the Making for Really Reasonable Ribbon

Our children grow up all too quickly. This photo was taken about 16 years ago and our children are now all grown. Where does the time go? When we lived in North Carolina, we often vacationed at Morrow Mountain Park. We would rent a cabin for the week. Joseph and Gary would often spend the day fishing while the girls and I would hike around the trails. Here Joseph, Elizabeth, and Maria are climbing on some fallen trees. 

I've created this page featuring Really Reasonable Ribbon and a sketch from the September Dusty Attic Challenge. Bonnie at RRR has a wonderful selection of natural fiber ribbons, lace, and is now carrying Wild Orchid Craft Mulberry Flowers. 

Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #80

Shabby Chic and Ribbon

"Unforgettable Memories in the Making"

Here's the lovely DA Sketch:

To enter this challenge, create a card, layout, or any handcrafted project. Just be sure to follow the theme and use ribbon, lace, or trim somewhere on your project.

Really Reasonable Ribbon Products

Black Crochet Lace 5/8" (May Arts)

Burlap Woven Ribbon, Natural 1/2"

Jute Ribbon, Natural 1.5"

Wild Orchid Crafts - Cosmos Daisy Stem Flowers, Pink/White

Wild Orchid Crafts - Sweetheart Blossom, White

Wild Orchid Crafts - Cottage Rose, Mixed White/Cream

Wild Orchid Crafts - 20mm Open Roses, White

Tombow 3D Foam Tabs

Scor-Tape 6" x 6"

Tips and Techniques

A mixed cluster of flowers. I often purchase white or cream colors so that I can ink them to coordinate with my layout as I did here. From the Really Reasonable Ribbon Store, I've included the Open Rose, Cosmos Daisy, and Cottage Rose - all in white. These flowers are so perfect to nestle in among other flowers in my stash. I hand crocheted the layer under the open rose. 

Another view of this cluster. Here you can also see the gorgeous Burlap Woven Ribbon. Rather than using a length of this ribbon, I cut sections of it and pulled it apart at one end to tuck into my clusters for added dimension and interest. Here you can also see some of my stamping, border punching, and machine stitched border. 

I stamped and embossed my title, then inked the background paper. The embossing acts as a resist. The cluster to the right includes a Sweetheart Rose, Cosmos Daisy, and more of the Burlap Woven Ribbon. 

This butterfly die-cut was included in the paper collection I used. I painted Distress Stickles across the wings. 

A close-up of the top flower cluster with some of the Natural Jute Ribbon peeking out from under the photo mat. 

I painted up this Dusty Attic Vine Frame with metallic paints, then shaded with distress markers. Distress stickles were brushed on the outer frame to add texture. 

This DA wicker fence was embellished with Sweetheart Blossoms. I painted it and added the woodgrain with a marker. 

This DA Grass Cluster was painted with golds and greens, then I added microbeads to the seed head. 

I hope you've been inspired to create a project for

Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #80 ~ Shabby Chic and Ribbon

Be sure to stop by the RRR Blog for all the details and prize information.

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Girly Birthday Card for Really Reasonable Ribbon

June is a big month for birthday's in our family. I created this girly card for my niece featuring gorgeous Hand-dyed Silk and White Metallic String from the Really Reasonable Ribbon Store. Every girl loves glitter, butterflies and of course a pretty bow. 

Really Reasonable Ribbon Products

Melon Hand-dyed Silk 5/8"

Metallic String Iridescent White

Kaisercraft Adhesive Pearls

Scor-Tape 6" x 6" Sheets

Tips and Techniques:

Wrapped Ribbon ~ This hand-dyed silk Bonnie carries in the RRR Store is just gorgeous and comes in a wide variety of colors. I wrapped it around the front of the card, then wrapped Iridescent Metallic White String over top, crossing as I wrapped, then finished by tying the string into a bow. This string is so sparkly and gorgeous. I've already had to order more!! 

Fussy Cutting ~ I fussy cut two flowers from the patterned paper and then cut in towards the center all around creating a fringe effect and layered the smaller flower over the larger. I also fussy cut the stem and leaves. 

Pearl Accents ~ . . . added for some girly bling. 

I also fussy cut the floral spray and this glittered butterfly. The silk ribbon and embellishments are adhered with Scor-Tape. 

I hope you are enjoying your summer and have time to create!!

I've entered this at:

Word Art Wednesday

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Frosty Details ~ ScrapThat January Kit

When we lived in North Carolinas, a snow deep enough to play in was a rare event. Here is one of those times. The children and I built a snowman complete with hat, scarf, stone eyes, and carrot nose. We built him in the front yard and received many honks and thumbs up as we worked. This is one of those rare photos where I am out from behind the camera along with our youngest daughter, Maria. Such a fun day way back then. 

You saw this page during my ScrapThat! January Reveal, but I wanted to share some details. I had so much fun creating with the gorgeous ScrapThat! January kit!! 

"Frosty"

ScrapThat! Main Kit, FAO, EAO

Tips and Techniques:

Crocheted Snowflakes ~ As you probably know I'm a life long crafter. So when I went to a crop recently, and one of the gals was teaching some beginning crochet skills, she found a snowflake pattern for me. I know the basic stitches, but tend to get stuck reading patterns. Alison helped me through the pattern, and once I got it, I kind of went crazy crocheting snowflakes. The large one with the button and the smaller one on the left of the photo topped with a rose are the same pattern, just different size crochet thread and hooks. I also made a crocheted snowflake ornament for each of our children for their trees by stiffening them and adding a hanger loop. The embellishment add-on kit contained the BoBunny Powder Mountain Buttons, so perfect to embellish this flake. You can go to Red Heart Yarn for the free pattern download for this snowflake. 

Altered Prima Flowers ~ The aqua Prima flowers in the FAO Kit were a bit bright for this page, so I spritzed them with sapphire glimmer mist and then edged with the white chalk ink included in the kit. I also used my round nose pliers to open them up and roll the petals back. While most everything on this page is from the kit or handcrafted, the Prima "US" bulb is from my personal stash. 

Inking ~ The base paper behind the punched edges is the Sugar Double Dot paper which is white. I applied several layers of distress ink to get the graded color below the border punched edges. 

White Fabric Flowers ~ These flowers are easy to make. Just cut out circles of sheer fabric - each circle a little larger. They don't need to be perfect - just rough cut. Then melt the edges slightly over a tea light candle flame. A pair of tweezers helps keep your fingers from getting too hot. As the edges melt, the fabric forms a cupped shape. Just put a dab of glue in the center of each circle and glue together. Once dry, I used my hole piercer to put a hole in the center to pull the stamens through. Pull the stamen cords to one side and adhere with a dab of glue. Trim off the excess. Once dry you can arrange the stamens. I used 5 for each flower. These gorgeous stamens came in the kit. and I knew they would be just perfect for these flowers. 

Modeling Paste Flourish ~ I mixed micro beads into the modeling paste before applying it over the stencil, then while wet sprinkled some more on top for some nice texture and shimmer. 

Embossing Powder Snow ~ Stampendous Fran-tage has some amazing embossing powders and mica flakes. I sprinkled a mixture across the page and heat set from below. 

Handcrafted Rose/Crochet Snowflake ~ A close-up of the smaller hand crocheted snowflake with one of my roses created with the Donna Salazar Bitty Blossoms Spellbinder dies. I used the Denim Dot paper and inked with the white chalk ink included in the kit. 

Embossed Snowflake ~ I punched this snowflake, applied clear embossing ink and covered with Ranger holographic embossing powder. While still hot, I sprinkled more powder on and heated again until I had layered on three coats of powder. 

Buttons ~ I layered on the BoBunny buttons from the kit and clustered with the snowflake buttons. I also added some of the BoBunny Jewel rhinestones from the EAO Kit. 

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Beautiful ~ ScrapThat! November Kit

This morning's snowfall has melted away, but left a hint of the winter to come. I have one final layout from the gorgeous November ScrapThat! Kit to share with you today. It was really a joy to work with this amazing kit featuring Bo Bunny Serenade and full of so many wonderful embellishments.

This photo of Rachel and her bridesmaids taken before the wedding is one that really caught my eye. I talked with her about it over Thanksgiving and found out that it is a shot that Rachel suggested to the photographer. I love how the girls look like they are having so much fun peaking out from behind the columns. 

"Beautiful" 

~Using the MK, EAO, & FAO Kits ~

I used Amy's gorgeous November Sketch:

Tips and Techniques:

Corrugated Board ~ You can see the corrugated board layered behind my photo. I have so much fun with this household item. Whenever I get some packaging that has the narrow little corrugation, it goes into my stash. Here I used a foam brush to lightly apply some black paint to the top ridges of the corrugation and edges. When dry, I applied some Ranger Rock Candy Crackle Paint for some great texture. 

Hand Stitching ~ After the paint was dry on the corrugated board, I used my handy piercing tool to create stitching holes around the curved edge along with some x's.

Misted Rock Salt Chipboard ~ My tutorial for the grungy finish on the chipboard door can be found here.

Curled Vine ~ The jeweled Prima leaves came with brown wire stems, which I pulled off to create the vines in my cluster. I wrapped the wire around a narrow metal bar for making wire coils, but anything like  a knitting needle, or paint brush would work. 

Flowers ~ The November ScrapThat! main kit included this gorgeous WOC poppy and the sweet little white poppies. The Flower Add-On Kit included the amazing Prima Gracie vine and lovely Cabaletta blossoms in white, black, and Grey. I layered some of the black tulle under the red poppy.

Punched Frame ~ I needed a different size frame than my punch set would allow, so I punched it larger, trimmed the ends and overlapped the ends resulting in the lovely corner.

Chipboard ~ I simply used some metallic paint on this Dusty Attic Holly piece to tuck under the flower cluster.

Distressing ~ Of course I used my Distrezz-It-All to distress all the straight edges.

My sweet friend, Helen Tilbury, is having an amazing give-away on her blog, Scrap Addict. It is international and open to everyone. You just need to be one of her followers. Her work is amazing, and you will enjoy following her gorgeous work!! Look what all she is including in her package:

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

Christmas Morning - The Scrapping Stamper/Bo Bunny

Today, I'm sharing a Christmas layout with photos going back about 15 years. At that time we lived in North Carolina and made a trip Ohio to spend the holidays with our families. This is Elizabeth who was married in October and Maria who just turned 18 yesterday. Happy birthday, Maria!! I created this page with inspiration from Shannon, The Scrapping Stamper's, beautiful November sketch. If you are in the mood for Christmas and winter layouts be sure to return Friday for the ScrapThat! December Reveal and Blog Hop. 

"Christmas Morning"

Shannon's delightful November Sketch:

Stop by The Scrapping Stamper to see the other inspiring pages created by Shannon's Design Team. 

I won the Mistletoe Collection from Bo Bunny last month. Such sweet cheerful paper, but not my normal style/color pallet. I was determined to created a layout featuring this fun line and combined some inking, punching and fussy cutting to create this page. I couldn't resist cutting out the oh so sweet little quirky, crooked tree and presents which were so perfect for these Christmas morning shots of our girls. I'm entering this page in the November Bo Bunny Layout Challenge to use two separate clusters, each containing a photo. If you aren't familiar with the fun Mistletoe line, here is a shot of the collection pack:

Tips and Techniques:

Layering ~ I fussy cut strips of the green hexagon print, and punched strips of blue and red to layer with doilies and lace to create the background. 

Hand Crafted Fabric Flowers ~ I made the cream fabric flowers a while back when our local craft store demoed the Clover Kanzashi Flower Maker Templates. I spend some crop time creating them, and they've been sitting in my stash until now. I played with several of the templates, but the Pointed Flower template seemed the the best suited for scrapbook flowers. They were quite quick and easy to create. 

Found Objects ~ I recently found a bag of vintage buttons at a thrift store for a mere $2. Most of the buttons you see tucked into my clusters came from that bag of goodness. Don't you just adore the blue flower button next to the cream flower? 

Transparencies ~ I fussy cut my photos to fit the transparencies and hid little bits of red-lined tape under the printed edge to adhere the photos to the transparencies. 

Fussy Cutting ~ I fussy cut the Christmas tree and presents. The gifts were raised with different thicknesses of pop dots and strips for dimension, and I added the Bo Bunny rhinestones to decorate the tree. 

Bo Bunny Products Used:

Mistletoe ~ Mistletoe

Mistletoe ~ Boxes

Mistletoe ~ Greetings

Mistletoe ~ Pucker Up

Mistletoe ~ Santa's List

Mistletoe ~ Twas the Night

Jewels ~ Mistletoe

Buttons ~ Mistletoe

Other Products Used:

Peltaloo Canterbury Magnolia Blossoms ~ Burgandy

Heidi Grace Rhinestone Flourish ~ Aqua

Darice Acrylic Teardrop Ornament

Darice Tonal Duets Chandelier Earring

Prima Alphabet Stickers ~ Craftsman

Basic Grey Pins and Tags ~ MET-3685

Color Bok Transparency Overlays - Flea Market

Jolee's Botique ~ Pearl and Gem Clusters

Darice ~ Gold Wire

Spare Parts ~ Gemstone Antique Buttons

Clover Pointed Flower Template

Distress Ink ~ Frayed Burlap

Keren Tamar ~ Red Lace Flowers

EK Success Scallop Diamond Border Punch

Martha Stewart ~ Doily Lace Border Punch

Scrap Locker Handcrafted goodies:

Bead Cluster

Red flowers

Stash:

Vintage Buttons

Fabric

Paper Doilies

Lace

Adhesives:

Hemar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Helmar Zap Dots Clear 1/4" Square

Scotch ATG

Red-lined Tape ~ Hercules

Darice Foam Dots and Lines

I have entered this at:

Word Art Wednesday ~ Challenge #55 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

First Dance ~ Tips and Techniques ScrapThat! October Kit

I hope you are having a delightful week and have some fun times planned for this weekend. I have some scrappy projects due next week, so I get to do some creating this weekend. Today, I'll be spending the day creating with my friend, Mandy who has some craft fair projects to work on. Then Saturday and Sunday I'm heading to a crop at our local craft store, Pat Catan's, for their monthly crop.

Today, I would like to share with you the details of my First Dance Layout created with the amazing October ScrapThat! Kit featuring Prima's Tea Thyme papers. This is our son and his beautiful bride sharing their first dance on their wedding day, December 2011.

Tips and Techniques:

Transparency Butterflies ~ These sweet butterflies were created by printing butterfly images onto inkjet transparency paper. While the ink was still wet, I covered the images with clear embossing powder and heat set. To prevent the transparency paper from shrinking and warping, I kept the heat tool further from the image than I normally would, and took my time melting the embossing powder. While the embossing was still hot and wet, I added more clear embossing powder and heat set again. Once it was set and dry, pulled the wings forward from the body for some added dimension.

Hand Stitching ~ I drew a curved, looped line around the border of the page stopping at the edge of the bricks and horizontal paper strip. I used this line to pierce stitching holes for my hand stitching.

Ceramic Stucco Bricks ~ I sprayed the back of my brick stencil with some removable adhesive, allowed it to dry, then placed it on my page where I wanted a brick wall image. I used a craft spatula to spread the Ceramic Stucco Medium over the stencil. After carefully removing the stencil, I used my heat tool to dry, then moved the stencil to coordinate with the bricks already on the page and repeated this process around the page. Once all the brick work was dry, I spritzed with several colors of inks and mists to get the brick color I was looking for. I love that they are mottled and the color varied just like it would be on an actual brick wall. You can't see it in the photo, but the walls in the reception hall were exposed brick, making this a perfect background for this page.

Altered Flowers ~ I altered the Petaloo flowers with several shades of mist and gesso. For the flower on the left side, I removed the center and used the pearls from the kit to create a new one. The Prima clock was a perfect addition to this cluster.

Photo Mat Layers ~ The layers behind the photo were fussy cut from scraps of the Prima paper. Two sheets of paper had lovely frame pieces that were just the right size to cut and layer. The colors didn't go with this page, so I misted them and inked the edges. I also added a doily from my stash that I misted before tucking into the layers. The square photo mat and layout edges were distressed with my Zutter Distrezz-It-All by Donna Salazar.

Vines ~ The swirled vine tendrils were created with wires cut from the kit flowers and leaves. I simply wrapped them around a small diameter paint brush, then pulled and bent them to look more natural.

Fussy Cutting ~ I added some fussy cut flowers to this cluster. I like to get a lot of milage out of my papers, so whenever possible I cut out paper that is covered up by other papers. For instance when I have a frame around my page, I cut it about 1 inch wide, so I still have a 10 x 10 inch piece of paper to use for photo mats, cutting flowers, fussy cutting .  .  .

If there are any techniques here that you would like a step by step tutorial for, please let me know!!

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~