"Dreams" ~ SEM Sketch Challenge - Guest Designer

Today I'm so excited to share my second guest designer project for Scrapping Everyday Miracles. Today is their sketch challenge reveal. This gorgeous sketch was created by the talented Tracey Gregory, and there is a twist - you will need to use distressing on your page. 

I shared a little yesterday how Elizabeth had determined that she wanted to save her heart and affections for her one true love. I remember when she was an early teen, a conversation where she told me if God could bring all those animals to the ark, certainly He could bring the one guy He meant for her to marry into her life. She kept a list of all the qualities that special guy would have. Although she didn't date, she dreamed about that special guy. When she met Andrew at church, she found someone who met all those dreams and more. Her heart was set a flutter. The great thing is that our Lord drew Andrew's heart to her as well. Elizabeth's dreamy expression in this photo says it all. Those dreams she had of her one true love were about to all come true in a few short moments. 

"Dreams"

Tracey Gregory's gorgeous SEM February Sketch:

To join the SEM Challenge. Create a page inspired by this gorgeous sketch and include some distressing. Then hop over to Scrapping Everyday Miracles to link up your project by February 28 at 11:59 pm. The challenge winner selected by Random.org will receive a February Kit donated by My Creative Scrapbook.

There is no challenge up at Donna Salazar this month, but when I was pulling papers for this page, I was drawn to her fabulous products, so you'll be seeing them featured on this page. 

Tips and Techniques:

Distressing ~ I'll start with the technique "twist." I distressed all the border edges with my Donna Salazar Distrezz-It-All. I also distressed the background paper with Donna's Smooch Spritz. I misted where I had planned this cluster, used a dropper with some watered down mist to add some drips. I spritzed some mist on my craft mat and then misted over top with an equal amount of water. The mist beaded up and I was able to easily pull it up with a dropper so I could create these fun drips.

Stick Pin ~ I used some beads from my stash to create this stick pin pulling the colors from the pink flowers in the page border.

Focal Flowers ~ I've been wanting to try cutting fabric flowers using my Donna Salazar Grand Peony Spellbinder dies. When I saw the large focal flowers in Tracey's sketch I knew the time had arrived to give it a try. I used two layers each cut from 4 sizes of this die set. I melted the edges on a tea light candle flame, which cups the petals. A cluster of stamen in the center finished them off. 

Paper Flowers ~ The paper flowers were created with my Donna Salazar Bitty Blossoms Spellbinder Dies. These flowers are so quick and easy to create using the scraps of paper from this Botanique sheet used as one of my distressed edge layers. The paper I cut out of the center of this layer created all these gorgeous blossoms.

Pearlized Chipboard ~ I pulled some Want2Scrap chipboard flourishes from my stash and to keep my dreamy theme going, used a Viva Pearl Pen to create the pearlescent sheen on my chipboard. Normally these pens are used to create pearl shaped embellishments, but I squeezed the pearl medium across the entire chipboard pieces in a swirled motion.

Leaves ~ These leaves were so easy to create with my Donna Salazar Bitty Blossoms Dies. I cut and embossed them. While still in the dies, I inked with Donna's Jasmine Mix'd Media Inx, then removed from the die, sprinkled with a pearlescent embossing powder and heat set. Easy peasy and so pretty. 

Rhinestone Piece ~ I collect jewelry findings when I see them on clearance. This rhinestone piece fit so perfectly into this cluster.

Jeweled Butterfly ~ I cut this butterfly from Donna Salazar's Wonderful Wings Spellbinder dies, and topped it with this gem sticker from Want2Scrap. 

Butterfly Trail ~ I drew the trail in pencil, pierced holes along it. I erased the line, then stitched,  attaching seed beads randomly along the way.

Stamped Title ~ I used the Donna Salazar Banner and Words stamp set with her Pewter Mix'd Media Inx to stamp my title, then sprinkled with Ranger Super Fine Silver Embossing powder and heat set. When cool, it was fussy cut for my title.

Embellishments ~ I glued on silver lined clear seed beads from my stash with Glossy Accents. The pearl/rhinestone strip below the photo is from Want2Scrap and the lace tucked into the tear is from my stash. The crystal flowers tucked in throughout the page are by Bazzill.

I hope you have been inspired to create a page with Tracey's fabulous sketch. Once you have finished it, head on over to Scrapping Everyday Miracles to link up your project.

Donna Salazar Products Used:
Bontanique ~ Bliss
Grandma's Garden ~ English Roses
Grandma's Garden ~ Garden Journal Cards
DSD/Spellbinders ~ Grand Peony
DSD/Spellbinders ~ Bitty Blossoms

DSD/Spellbinders ~ Wonderful Wings
DSD/Want2Scrap ~ Wonderful Wings Bling
DSD/Clearsnap ~ Smooch Spritz - Evergreen
DSD/Clearsnap ~ Mix'd Media Inx ~ Jasmine
DSD/Clearsnap ~ Mix'd Media Inx ~ Pewter
DSD/Stampers Anonymous ~ Banner and Words Stamp
DSD/Zutter ~ Distrezz-It-All

Other Products Used:
Want2Scrap ~ Chipboard Embellishments Style A
Want2Scrap ~ Chipboard Embellishments Style C
Want2Scrap ~ Beautiful Bling Strip Pearl/Crystal Wave
art.i.cake by Amy Labbe - Charms with Glass Accents #AL29287
Darice ~ Silver lined clear seed beads
Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page ~ French Scroll
DMC Embroidery Floss ~ White
Bazzill ~ Worth Remembering Resin Flowers #303894
Viva ~ Pearl Pen - Cream
Sparkle N' Sprinkle ~ Opaline Embossing Powder
Ranger Super Fine Detail Embossing Powder ~ Silver
Stash ~ Doily
Stash ~ Lace
Stash ~ Stamen
Stash ~ Beads for stick pin

Adhesives:
Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive
Scotch ATG
Ranger Glossy Accents
Scrapbook Adhesives ~ Crafty Power Tape

I have entered this at:
Word Art Wednesday ~ Challenge #68 Love/Anything Goes**
Anything Goes Challenge Blog ~ Challenge 86 Vintage/Shabby Chic**

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

Thank You Card and Christmas Tag

I finished up my ScrapThat! projects earlier this week and had some time to work on a couple other projects. The first is a thank you card I created for the Donna Salazar November Challenge to create a 'Thank You' card including the color BROWN, using a tag, and at least one Donna Salazar Designs product. If you've followed me for a while, you know I'll be using way more than one of her amazing products!! 

I've also created this card with Mona Pendelton's CR84FN Card Challenge #68 to focus on the beautiful color pallet of burgundy, gray, and cream. This is my first time to enter one of her lovely challenges. If you are not familiar with Mona's gorgeous work, you will want to stop by her blog, Cupcake's Creations. You are in for a treat!! 

"Thank You Card"

Here is the lovely color pallet photo from the CR84FN challenge:

Tips and Techniques:

Flower/Leaves ~ I used Donna's Rose Creations Die Set by Spellbinders to create this gorgeous rose and leaves. I recently placed an order with Natasha and she added a little baggie of MoJo Dust (glitter) to my order that I just had to try out here. I used my finger to spread some glue on the edges and dusted with Mojo for lots of sparkle!! The leaves were cut from the grey print paper, then inked this lovely color for my required "brown" element. 

Chipboard ~ I painted this Want2Scrap Chippie with burgundy paint, then when dry with some cream. When the top coat of paint was still tacky, I rubbed it off in places to distress and reveal the burgundy beneath. 

Fussy Cutting ~ I keep a baggie of fussy cut pieces from my Donna Salazar paper scraps. The corner piece and butterfly came from my bag of goodness! 

Distressing ~ I distressed the straight edges with my DSD Distrezz-It-All by Zutter. I just can't say enough about how much I enjoy using this sweet machine!! 

Machine Stitching ~ I added a straight stitch around the border of the grey print mat. 

Tag ~ I used a scrap of Donna's Artistic Paper for my tag. I printed "Thanks" using Marcelle Script font which I found on the internet, then used a Martha Stewart tag punch to cut it out. I added a little Frayed Burlap Distress Ink on the edges. 

DSD Products Used:

Botanique ~ Family Portraits 

Botanique ~ Cards

Antiquities ~ Harmony

Artistic Paper ~ Journal Cards

Spellbinder Rose Creations Dies

Zutter Distrezz-It-All

My second project of the day is this sweet Christmas tag I created for the Bo Bunny November Card challenge to create a tag. I used a mix of Bo Bunny Christmas lines. 

"Christmas Wishes"

Tips and Techniques:

Handcrafted Flower/Leaves ~ This flower may look familiar since it is the same as the once on my  thank you card, but without the Mojo Dust. The edging here is translucent medium I applied with a fine paint brush. I created these flowers last December for Joseph and Rachel's wedding card box. They didn't have room to keep the box, so I am reusing the flowers here. The leaves are cut from the Spellbinder Foliage Die set and then pinched and inked for dimension. 

Crinkle Ribbon ~ I dyed some rayon crinkle ribbon with distress ink to match the color in the image of the girl and scrunched it up to dry. I topped the bow with a button from the Snowfall collection. 

Fussy Cutting ~ When I saw this sweet image on Bo Bunny's Noel Cheer paper, I knew it would be perfect cut out for this tag. 

Distressing ~ This time I hand distressed the edges along with some inking. The doily and lace were also lightly inked to age them a bit. 

Bo Bunny Products:

Noel ~ Stripe

Noel ~ Cheer

Father Christmas

Snowfall ~ Buttons

Both of these projects have been entered at Word Art Wednesday Challenge #56.

Thanks for stopping 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 ~