Love Notes For Leaky Shed Studio featuring Heat Embossed Chipboard

I would like to wish each of you a blessed Christmas. I hope you'll take time to reflect on Christ's love this holiday season. 

Today I'd like to share some details from my Leaky Shed Studio project. It's always fun to send little notes to our loved ones to let them know how much we care, or to congratulate them on a special accomplishment. I've created a set of note card holders just for that purpose. I've cut the holders and coordinating note cards from the Prima Romance collection and decorated them with gorgeous Leaky Shed Studio chipboard.

Love Notes Set

Tips and Techniques

This first note card holder has a steampunk image, so I added one of the LSS crosses from the cross set. I heat embossed with with the wonderfully textured Fran-tage Aged Black Embossing Enamel. Each of these holders was fussy cut from design sheets from this gorgeous Prima paper, then scored and folded. Edges are inked in Walnut Stain Distress Ink. 

For each of these holders I cut out and inked additional sentiments like the Beautiful and Notes sentiments on this one. The Leaky Shed Studio Butterfly was heat embossed with Fran-tage Shabby Pink Embossing Enamel. Inking for this holder is done with Black Soot Distress Ink. 

This chipboard piece is the new Damask design that is an upcoming release. Don't you just adore the intricate detail? It's also heat embossed with Fran-tage Embossing Enamel in Aged Silver. The top part of the chipboard is not glued down so the envelope tab can be tucked underneath. I went back to the Walnut Stain Distress ink for this note holder. 

You may have noticed that I have not included much dimension with flowers and other embellishments so that they will be easy to slip into an envelope and send on their way, but still have so much elegant and gorgeous dimension with the lovely dressed up chipboard. 

Leaky Shed Studio Products

Spring Butterfly Small (Set of 3)

Cross Set (Set of 5)

Damask - small

Other Products
Prima ~ Romance Novel - Messenger, Ime Travel, Bookplate
Ranger ~ Distress Ink - Walnut Stain, Black Soot
Ranger ~ Perfect Medium
Stampendous ~ Fran-tage Embossing Enamel - Aged Black, Shabby Pink, Aged Silver
Tombow Multi Mono Liquid Glue
Scotch ~ ATG
Darice ~ Heat Tool

I hope you've been inspired to add some Leaky Shed Studio chipboard to your next project!

Thanks for stopping by! 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 ~

"It's All Good" Details ~ ScrapThat!

It's one of my favorited days of the year ~ National Scrapbooking Day!! I hope you have a fun day filled with scrapbooking on your agenda today for some very special photos!! Speaking of special, I enjoyed scrapping this engagement photo of Elizabeth and Andrew. There are some fun details in this photo. With the water dripping over the stone wall in the background of this outdoor photo, I wanted to bring that natural, organic feel to the page. 

I created this with the gorgeous Prima Divine collection featured in the fabulous ScrapThat! "Spring into May" Anniversary Kit. 

"It's All Good"

MK, EAO, FAO

I used the April Prima BAP sketch for inspiration:

Tips and Techniques:

Stamping ~ The first thing I did to prepare my background was to use the Prima Brick 3 stamp with distress ink to the right of my photo placement to reflect the stone wall in the photo. 

Transparency ~ This lovely KaiserCraft transparency was included with the kit papers. I fussy cut two portions and applied to opposite corners with spray adhesive.

Bling ~ The gorgeous crystal and pearl Prima flourishes included in the main kit are perfect for adding trails to the Prima Butterflies included in the EAO Kit. 

Distressing ~ I inked the edges of my photo mat, then used my Prima distress tool to on the mat and page edges.


Highlights ~ The Moonlight Smooch Accents in the MK was perfect to lighten and highlight this lovely Prima focal flower from the EAO Kit.

Fibers ~ Originally, I had planned to fringe the MK natural ribbon under the photo. That didn't work out, but I loved the long fibers I pulled out in the process and nested them under this cluster. I simply laid them in place and brushed Matt Mod Podge over them to adhere.

Washi Fans ~ I must confess, as hot as washi is in the scrapbooking world right now, this is the first time I've used it. I wanted to try something a little different and pleated the EAO washi into the little fans I tucked into the cluster.

Vellum Flowers ~ I've seen the most gorgeous embossed vellum flowers by some of my oh so talented cardmaking friends, so as soon as I spied the MK vellum I knew I would use my new Heartfelt Creations stamps and dies to try my hand at it. Stop back by on May 9 for my tutorial. The flower centers are goosebump gems from my stash. The Prima milky crystal drop is also from my stash. 

Handcrafted Flowers ~ I also created some of my Bitty Blossoms flowers with MK cardstock and my Donna Salazar Spellbinder dies. 

Kit Flowers ~ I pulled one of the sweet MK roses apart and tucked the now two flowers into the cluster. A MK pearl made a perfect flower center for the larger open rose. The FAO Prima vine added to the organic feel when spread across the page. 

Stenciling/Texture Paste ~ I added brown paint to my flexible texture paste and applied it to the upper part of my page and over the stamping using a Prima wood grain stencil. 

Mist ~ I misted over the wood grain and allowed the mist to drip down the page, first with the peach, and once dry with the brown. I went back and added more mist with a dropper to get the really drippy look. Then I splattered more mist over that with large splats of he brown and small splatter with the peach. 

Fabric Tape ~ There is either a roll of the Prima Divine washi or fabric tape in the EAO kit. I happened to also own the fabric tape and used it here under the photo and again under the title along with another strip of the washi. 

I had fun creating this organic page

and hope you have the chance to create for

National Scrapbooking Day!! 

I have entered this at:

Prima April BAP

Because I created this before the Word Art Wednesday challenge #78 began, I won't be entering this over there, but I had to let you know, they are featuring one of my favorite verses, Psalm 127:3 this week. I hope you'll stop by over their to get your free Word Art and link up a project while you're there. 

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 ~

"You Mean the World" Details

I'm back with my "You Mean the World" layout to share some more details with you. I used the OUAS February Sketch and journaling prompt "Love" to create this page. I have also entered this page at Zeus and Zoe for their February "Love" Challenge.

Love is an easy challenge for me to scrap these days with the amazing wedding photos I have waiting to be scrapped. Our daughter, Elizabeth, married her soul mate, Andrew, in October. These Meg's Garden papers featured in the March ScrapThat! Kit were so perfect for a love page!

"You Mean the World"

ScrapThat! Main Kit, EAO, FAO, PAO

Here is the gorgeous February Sketch at OUAS:

Tips and Techniques:

Ribbons ~ Kaitlyn always includes gorgeous ribbons in the main kit. This month it is ivory grosgrain and crinkle ribbon. The crinkle ribbon tied into the most gorgeous double bow leaving 4 ends to flow atop the paper ribbons I created out of paper scraps from the kit. I also layered in some of the grosgrain ribbon. To create the paper ribbons, simply cut out strips of paper with a V cut into each end. I like using at least two colors - here green and pink. I cut my strips 5/8 inches wide, but you could cut them any width you desire and could even mix up the widths. Once cut, I used my Prima Distressing Tool to lightly distress the edges, then crinkled and bent up the paper to give it a soft, fabric-like appearance. 

Flowers ~ I pulled the white Prima flower from the EAO kit apart so I could have a larger variety of sizes for my flower cluster. I tucked a handcrafted Bitty Blossoms flower into the center of the larger piece. A tutorial for the large pink rose created with Donna Salazar's Grand Peony and Bitty Blossoms Spellbinders dies can be found HERE. The tiny roses were created with petals punched with my McGill Mini Petals punch. 

Crackled Chipboard ~ I added this DA frame chipboard piece from my stash. I first covered it with cream Viva Decor Pearl pen. The pen is designed to create pearl shapes, but I used it like paint and with the applicator tip, swirled the pearl medium across the entire chipboard piece and allowed it to dry. It looked gorgeous at that point, but I wanted to use the Smooch Accents included in the main kit, so added the green Smooch across the leafy vine portion of the chippie. This medium takes a LONG time to dry when applied to a nonporous surface like the dried paint here, so I heated it with my heat tool. To add more texture, I heated until it bubbled. The dry pearl medium also bubbled up creating a lovely texture, but I wanted even more, so covered the entire piece with Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint to get these lovely cracks when dry. I allowed the crackle to air dry. 

Prima Wood Pieces ~ The leaves tucked into the ribbon/flower cluster are some of the new Prima release from my stash. I just painted them with the Smooch and allowed to dry. On the porous wood surface, the smooch dried much faster. 

Transparency ~ For the Scrapthat! DT Challenge this month, Laura has selected several quotations for you choose from. As an example, I used this one: "To the world you're just one person, but to one person you could mean the world." I left out the word could, since Andrew for sure thinks the world of Elizabeth. I have also added some personal journaling to the back of the page to meet the requirements of the journaling challenge at OUAS. Because they are of a personal nature to Elizabeth, I have not shared them here. Both the quotation and the block LOVE were printed on a ink jet transparency. To adhere, I sprayed the backs with Krylon spray adhesive, but any clear, acid free spray adhesive will work. 

You will find the details of Laura's ScrapThat! DT Challenge HERE. You can select one of her quotations and/or take a page you've been wanting to redo and recreate it. She's giving you the opportunity for two chances to win this month. 

Butterfly Flourish ~ This gorgeous DA piece was included in the main kit. I simply flipped it to the back side to properly fit my page design. I painted with Luminarte Twinkling H20's and added a touch of perfect pearls to achieve the right color for the flower. The main kit Kaisercraft pearls created such wonderful dimension on the body of the butterfly. The trail was created with snippets of a Zva flourish from my stash. 

Distressing ~ The outer edges of the page were distressed with my Donna Salazar Zutter Distrezz-It-All. 

Layered Hearts ~ I cut heart templates on my Cricut and used them as a pattern to hand cut these sweet hearts. I hand cut so I could select the pattern that would be featured on each layer, then distressed lightly with my Prima Distressing Tool. I hand stitched down the center and folded the hearts up for added dimension. This sweet black Prima flower is from the FAO kit. 

I have also entered this at:

Word Art Wednesday ~ Challenge #68 - Psalm 119:80 Word Art or Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

"A Perfect Day" Details ~ ScrapThat! Feb. Kit

I'm back today to share the details of "A Perfect Day" Created with the February ScrapThat! Kit. As you may remember, Elizabeth brought Andrew into our family back in October. We were delighted to receive the wedding photos last month just in time for me to use one to create the final LO with my gorgeous February Kit. Aren't they a sweet couple?

Before I share the details, I have some exciting news to share. My Misted Rock Salt Chipboard Tutorial has been published by Scrapbooking.com. They have taken my photos and created a wonderful video tutorial. I hope you will stop over there to check it out. Here are the links:

YouTube Channel ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGboDCx7K5Y

Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/ScrapbookingMagazine?sk=wall

Pinterest ~ http://pinterest.com/scrapbookingmag/misted-rock-salt-chipboard-february-2013/

"A Perfect Day"

MK, EAO

Tips and Techniques:

Ribbons ~ I used the cream cardstock in the kit to cut ribbons. I then used a foam applicator to apply Distress inks to pull out the colors found on the focal background paper. Finally I distressed the edges with my Prima distressing tool and edged with a darker distress ink. To make them look more like actual ribbon, I gently bent and crumpled them until they had a soft fabric like appearance. I then snipped some pieces from two of the kit ribbons to layer over top of the paper ribbon strips. Our former DT, Marilyn Rivera, is a master of transforming paper to look and drape like fabric and I got this idea from her. You will be inspired by a visit her blog, Treasuring Memories.

A side view:

Netting ~ The kit came with gorgeous netting that works so well to add extra dimension. Here I tucked some behind my flower cluster.

Wood Heart Flourish ~ I painted the KaiserCraft Heart with gold metalic paint and when dry stamped across the piece with a script stamp using black Stazon.

Chipboard Frame ~ I added this Dusty Attic Chipboard piece from my stash. I love this photo, but Andrew's had around Elizabeth's shoulder a bit pronounced when placed on a scrapbook page. Using the chipboard piece to frame and layer over the photo took care of that little "problem." The technique here is so easy peasy. I simply painted with metallic paint and when dry took some Distress ink in a darker shade to add dimension on the edges. 

Puffy Hearts ~ These Green Tara hearts are included in the EAO kit. They were just a little bright for this page, so I spritzed them with some cork Glimmer Mist to get more of a burgundy color. 

Distressed Layers ~ I framed the photo with two of the kit cardstock papers and used my Donna Salazar/Zutter Distrezz-It-All on the edges. Behind the top right corner, I placed a corner from the gorgeous square doily found in the main kit. 

Medallion ~ The kit includes these kraft journal spots which made the perfect base for my medallion. The pearl ribbon slide is also in the kit and the paper ribbons are described earlier. The metal heart is from my stash. 

Hand Stitching ~ I drew a swirled line around the border of my layout in pencil, then went back and pierced stitching holes, erased the pencil mark and stitched with coordinating embroidery floss. I used to cross stitch, so I have an entire box of DMC floss to choose from. 

Mixed Media Butterfly ~ What is a page without some mixed media? I used some Martha Stewart White Texture Effect over one of her butterfly stencils, then sprinkled on some gold microbeads. 

Title ~ This really was a perfect day, so this title worked perfectly for my page. Originally, I cut it out in the beautiful bracket frame from the page. I brushed on some Ranger Rock Candy Distress Paint. I didn't set it aside far enough to allow it to dry, because I accidentally laid some scrap paper on top, ruining the edge. It was one of those happy mistakes, since I like the words cut out better than I did in the frame. I'm here to tell you, always look for the lemonade when those scrappy lemons happen. 

The February Kits are now in the ScrapThat! Store, so be sure to drop by and get yours before they are sold out. 

I hope you will have a chance to stop by and see my Misted Rock Salt Video over at Scrapbooking.com. 

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.
~ Blessings ~

"True Love Stories" ScrapThat! Details & Prima BAP

Hi everyone. We are having a couple rare warm January days here in Ohio. It reached the low 60's yesterday and is expected to reach those temps again today before dropping back to normal freezing temps tomorrow. I don't even mind the accompanying rain.

I wanted to share some of the details from my "True Love Stories" page from the February ScrapThat! kit. I have to admit, as much as I enjoyed creating each of my pages, this was my favorite this month. I was so happy with the dreamy effect of the mixed media background. Originally I was going to do some more textured stenciling over the misted gesso, but in a rare move for me decided less was more this time. ;-)

"True Love Stories"

MK, EAO, FAO

I turned the Prima BAP Sketch for my design inspiration:

Tips and Techniques:

Resin Cherub ~ Aren't the Prima Cherubs in the EAO kit darling? I rubbed distress ink onto the bird, robe, and cheeks to add just a tiny bit of color, then rubbed the wings and hair with some Viva Inka gold rubbing compound. 

Chipboard ~ I painted the leafy chipboard flourish, then inked the edges before using a permanent marker to doodle the leaf veins. 

Fiber ~ I colored a narrow gauze strip from my stash and tucked it around the cluster. 

Prima Darlings ~ The FAO kit contained these gorgeous Prima flowers and I added the sweet glass heart charm from my stash. The centers of my hand crafted roses are also Prima crystals from my stash. 

Butterfly ~ I used the Donna Salazar/Spellbinders Wonderful Wings die to cut this sweet butterfly from a scrap of paper. I lightly inked the edges and added this charm from a package in inexpensive clearanced heart charms I picked up a while back. 

Mixed Media Background ~ This was actually quite easy to accomplish. I spread a thin layer of gesso over the center of the page with a credit card, leaving some grooves and texture. When dry, I came back and misted with Tattered Angels Cork, in some places a bit heavier and in others with a lighter misting. In the heavier areas I also spritzed on just a little water so that when I tapped the page, I got the beautiful little drips. Next to the photos I stamped the vines with a retired Prima Build a Frame stamp. I wanted the vine strips to blend into the background, so used Distress ink, which gives a somewhat distressed and mottled image when used on clear stamps. Hint ~ once the mixed media work is done, the page can be somewhat warped. I find that if I very lightly mist the back with water, place beween paper towels, then lay a large glass mat on top stacked with a pile of heavy books and let it sit over night, it is much flatter the next morning. Also use thin layers of media and dry completely before adding the next layer or you can get major warping that no amount of "pressing" can flatten. 

Extending Your Paper ~ I've mentioned it before, but you can get so much mileage from one sheet of paper. After distressing, I trimmed out only about an inch around the page for the border and used the inside for all my die cut embellishments and handcrafted flowers/leaves. It is much easier to distress the edge of an intact sheet of paper, than trying to distress after it has been trimmed down. (Ask me how I know!!) ;-)

Heart Die Cut ~ This heart piece was trimmed out of one of the hangers from my Spellbinders Elegant Posts Dies. 

Sweet Open Roses ~ The tutorial for these sweet little roses can be found here. I used the crystals rather than the stamen and no gesso. 

Leaves ~ One of my favorite ways to add texture to my clusters is to cut leaves from my paper scraps, fold them down the center and pinch creases where natural veins would lie on them. Then a bit of inking highlights that texture. 

Distressing ~ The mat and photo as well as page edges were distressed with my Donna Salazar/Zutter Distrezz-It-All. You really can use any distressing tool or even the sharp edges of your scissors, but this handy tool gives the thick edges so quickly. 

Heart Flourish ~ These KaiserCraft wood heart flourishes in the EAO kit are so sweet and can be added to a cluster or as photo corners. I painted this one with gesso, stamped with a script image, then lightly inked. 

Title ~ I have a set of love stamps by Cloud 9 that I have used over and over with the wedding and engagement photos I've been scrapping. A simple paper scrap is easily transformed to a beautiful title/sentiment with some embossing powder and a heat tool. The gold embossing really has so much dimension that doesn't quite show up in the photo.

Prima products used to create this page:
Prima Romance Novel ~ Messenger
Prima Romance Novel ~ Harlequin
Prima Shabby Chic Treasures Resin Cherubs #891404
Prima Say it in Crystals #551452
Prima Vintage Trinkets #930042
Prima Flowers Kennedy Vintage #558406
Prima Stamps Build a Frame Collection #1
Prima Stamps Build a Frame Collection #2

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

"Live Life Beautifully" Birthday Card for SOUS Sketch Challenge

It's hard to believe that January is nearly over already. I'm so happy that the daylight is getting longer each day now.

Our oldest daughter has a birthday coming up, so I created a card for her inspired by the SOUS January 16 Card Sketch. She loved the vintage anniversary card that I created for my husband last summer, so I dug out my BoBunny Weekend Market paper. This is one of my all time favorite collections by BoBunny!! One of the SOUS challenges was to use scraps on your card, so other than my card base and a couple pieces of NoteWorthy, all of my papers are scraps from previous projects, even the flowers. 

"Live Life Beautifully"

Birthday Card

"Live Life Beautifully"
Inside View

Here is the gorgeous SOUS card sketch:

Tips and Techniques:

Vintage Finds ~ Grace loves keys and loves to write with fountain pens. This gorgeous skeleton key is from the Etsy Shop Zeus and Zoey and can be found here. The pen nib was a trinket I had found and saved in my treasure box. The vintage buttons were a gift from my husband's cousin, Debbie Clapper who gave me not one but two of her mom's old button tins. Oh what treasures lie in those tins!! Thanks Debbie!!

Sweet Open Roses ~ These were actually the roses I created when I photographed my step by step tutorial earlier this month using scraps of paper from my January ScrapThat! Kit. That tutorial can be found here. 

Distressing ~ I so enjoy my Donna Salazar/Zutter Distrezz-It-All and use it on nearly every project I create!! It makes such quick work of my distressing and gives such cool thick ragged edges. I used it on the circle and all straight edges. I did pull out my Prima Distress tool for the rounded corners of my ticket. 

Fussy Cutting ~ the ticket and sentiment piece were fussy cut from some scraps of Weekend Market paper. 

Products Used:

Paper:

BoBunny Weekend Market "Tapestry" (Scrap) 

BoBunny Weekend Market "Postage" (Scrap) 

BoBunny Weekend Market  "Cut Outs" (Scrap) 

BoBunny "Powder Mountain" (Scrap) 

BoBunny "Dark Denim Dot"

Embellishments:

Zeus and Zoey ~ Skeleton Key

BoBunny Weekend Market ~ Priceless Cardstock Stickers

Tim Holtz ~ Lavish Trimmings Ribbon

Stash - Vintage Buttons - Thanks Debbie Clapper!!

Stash ~ Vintage Pen Nib

Stash ~ Round Doily

I Am Roses ~ Foam Head White Stamen

Technique Products:

Donna Salazar/Spellbinders Rose Creation Dies

Liquitex Gesso

Distress Inks

Adhesives:

Scotch ATG

Helmar 450 Glue

Ranger Glossy Accents

Tools:

Donna Salazar/Zutter Distrezz-It-All

Prima Distress Tool

Ranger Craft Mat

Fiskars Craft Knife

Fiskars Self-Healing Mat

Sizzix Big Shot

Martha Stewart Mini Scoring Board

Round Nose Pliers

Heavy Duty Wire cutters

Hammer 

I have also entered this project at:

Card Mania ~ Challenge #13 Color Combo (Feb 8)
Samuel Taylor's January Challenge ~ Distressing - Prize is 4 bottles of Distress Reinker (Feb 1)

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments

~ Blessings ~