Girlie Grunge Birthday Card for Leaky Shed Studio

Hi everyone, I'm back to share a girlie grunge birthday card featuring Leaky Shed Studio chipboard. 

I just have express how much I appreciate the quality of Leaky Shed Studio Chipboard. This chipboard comes ready to use. The chipboard is beautiful, thick, and the laser cuts are crisp, going all the way through so no little pieces to painstakingly pick out of the intricate designs. I hope you'll give this wonderful product a try! 

Our daughter, Maria's, favorite color is purple, but she's not a girlie girl, so I had fun including grunged up gears from the Watch Parts collection.

Birthday Card

Tips and Techniques

These Watch Parts are painted black, then dry brushed with metallic berry paint. I also used a small Watch Part in the center of my focal flower.

Here's another view. I mixed plum and gold Glimmer Mist to brush over the flowers to add some shimmer.

This is half of a Flower Corner. I started by brushing the flourish with clear gesso and flowers with white gesso. I then layered on different colors of mist. Mist is a form of water color and will reactivate when rewetted, so to keep the colors clear, I misted with Helmar Clear Kote Matte Varnish between layers.

I colored this sweet Spring Dragonfly with Perfect Pearls, then added Sugar Shimmer Twinkle Dust Glitter to the wings. 

The background was misted in plum then splattered with grey and black. Again, I misted with clear varnish between colors.

LSS Products

Watch Parts

Flower Corner

Spring Dragonfly (3 in package – smallest used)

Other products

Pink Paislee ~ Hope Chest – Documents; Records

Basic Grey ~ Serenade – Chemise

Pebbles ~ Phrase Tags #732639

Petaloo ~ Floral Embellishments – Darjeeling Collection, Eggplant

Petaloo ~ Penny Lane – Ruffled Roses, Plum

Wild Orchid Crafts ~ Cottage Rose 25mm – Mixed Purple/Lilac

Liquitex ~ Gesso – Clear, White

Golden ~ Soft Get, Matte

Clearsnap by Donna Salazar ~ Twinkle Dust Glitter – Sugar Shimmer 

Tattered Angels ~ Glimmer Mist – Sugar Plum Fairy; Almost Black; Graphite

Ranger ~ Perfect Pearls – Pewter; Forever Violet

DecoArt ~ Dazzling Metallics – Berry 

DecoArt ~ Crafter’s Acrylic – Black 

Heidi Swapp ~ Color Shine – Gold

Helmar ~ Crystal Kote – Matte Varnish

 Helmar ~ 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Tim Holtz ~ Distress Tool

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Mixed Media Card for the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog

I'm so delighted to be guest designing for the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog. Today is our second reveal. The challenge is to use mixed media on your projects. This was a perfect challenge for me and, I've created a textured, layered, inky, painty card.

Challenge #10 Spray It! Ink It! Paint It! Smear It! Emboss It!

Show us your inner mixed media diva! Use spray mists, inks, paints, modeling paste, embossing powder, pastels, chalk, and whatever messy media you can find! Let's dig into that hoard, pull out some of that "messy stuff," and use it up! There is a mess-maker hiding in all of you! Let her/him out to play!

The challenge sponsors are Stencil Girl and WorldWin Papers.

Mixed Media Card

Tips and Techniques

Everything on my card has been in my hoarded stash for at least a year, and some items quite longer than that. I enjoy tying triple loop bows from seam binding. This one, along with my flowers was brushed with mist and gesso.

I started with a plain white base, then added strips of a vintage book page and sheet music. I've mostly covered them, but you can see bits peeking through the layers. The gold you see here is a bit of a metallic doily layered atop the vintage papers. I've applied stenciling with Texture Effect over all. The chipboard frame is one I had painted for another project, then set it aside unused. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to finally use it. I've dry brushed it with white gesso to distress. 

At the bottom of the card you can see where I've applied a swirl of glossy accents then clear mini marbles and gold microbeads. 

I designed and cut this oval card shape from white cardstock rescued from a photo album page insert. I wanted the front to be a perfect oval, so cut a separate piece to decorate, then adhered it to my card base. 

I hope you've enjoyed this mixed media inspiration and will create a project to

link up at the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog found HERE.  

This challenge closes, Sunday, June 29th, midnight PT

Products Used

White Cardstock

Vintage Book Page

Vintage Sheet Music

Jute Twine

White Doily

Gold Doily

Sheetrock Mesh

Petaloo ~ Color Me Crazy - Canerbury Spray, White

Petaloo ~ Color Me Crazy - Trumpet Vine Spray, White

Petaloo ~ Color Me Crazy - Mini Pearl Daisies, White

Petaloo ~ Spring Darjeeling - Mini Daisies with Leaves

Petaloo ~ Darjeeling Petites

BBP Twisted Flowers

Pink Cherry Blossoms

Dusty Attic - Elegant Frames

Lumiere ~ Pearlescent Paint

Clearsnap by Donna Salazar ~ Mix'd Media Inx, Stormy

Liquitex~  Gesso

Martha Stewart ~ White Texture Effect

Golden ~ Soft Gel, Matte

Ranger ~ Glossy Accents

Heidi Swapp ~ Color Shine - Gold; Primrose

Tattered Angels ~ Glimmer Mist - Tuscan Sun, Cork, Tiger Lily

Beadies ~ Mini Marbles - Clear; Microbeads - Gold

Clearsnap ~ Embossing Powder - Clear

Pink Paislee ~ Christy Tomlinson Mask - Vintage Lace

Helmar ~ 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Helmar ~ Premium Craft Glue

Martha Stewart ~ Mini Scoring Board

Darice ~ Heat Tool

Silhouette ~ Cameo

Thanks for stopping by today! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Thank You Card for Helmar with Glitter Glue Tutorial

The days are getting shorter as the temperatures cool down, but the fall color is still gorgeous here in Ohio. I've created a thank you card up on the Helmar blog today featuring Helmar Gemstone Glue. I've included a tutorial on how to create your own glitter glue.

One of my favorite mediums to include on projects to give beautiful sparkle and shine is super fine glitter. There's only one problem, this sparkle has a way of invading my workspace, even spreading into the rest of our home, not to mention making me sparkle. If you've used glitter, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I've come up with a wonderful solution, so be sure to scroll down to check out my tutorial for making your own glitter glue.

Thank You Card

I used the Cardabilites #85 sketch for inspiration:

I've also used the Color Board for Challenge #10
over at A Mixed Media Color Challenge:

Tips and Techniques

Here's a close-up of my glittered flower. I die cut the layers from printed paper and printed cardstock, then misted. When dry, I brushed with my handmade glitter glue. Even though I secured the flower with a brad in the center, I like to glue each of my petal layers together to make sure the petals will stay offset. To adhere paper to paper, my go to adhesive is Helmar Premium Craft Glue. Below the flower you can see some of my die cut layers.

Here you can see the pearls and sequins I scattered across the top corner of my tag. I used Helmar Gemstone Glue to secure them in place. I squeeze some of the glue onto a craft sheet or scrap of wax paper that I can toss when finished. Then I pick up a pearl or sequin with craft tweezers, dip the base into the glue, and place on my card.

Another view of the flower, pearls as well as the heat embossed sentiment. I found my homemade glitter glue to be slightly tacky when dry, so after I put my flower together and before adding the brad center, I sprayed it with Crystal Kote Gloss Varnish Spray to give this gorgeous glowing finish that still allowes the glitter to sparkle.

A side view of my card. You can see my mixed media background. Any time I need to afix something to mixed media, my go to adhesive is Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, which adheres well to mixed media surfaces and texture.

Now I'll share my Glitter Glue Tutorial. As you can guess by my previous comments, I love the look of glitter on my projects, however, not how it invades my space and home. I got to thinking . . . Helmar Gemstone Glue dries perfectly clear so what would happen if I mixed my glitter into the glue? Yes, there are several glitter glues on the market, but none of them have the sparkle that I get with Fairy Dust Glitter which is super fine and has several sizes of glitter flakes mixed together. My little experiment gave me some happy results that I will be using over and over on my future projects!!

Glitter Glue Tutorial

Supplies

Helmar Gemstone Glue

Superfine Glitter ~ I used Clearsnap Fairy Dust Glitter by Donna Salazar Designs

Something to mix the glitter on ~ I used wax paper

Something to mix the glitter glue ~ I used a toothpick

• Step 1. Squeeze out some Helmar Gemstone Glue onto the wax paper. The amount you use will be determined by how much area you have to cover.

• Step 2. Place a small scoop of glitter next to the Helmar Gemstone Glue. You can vary the amount of glitter depending on how much sparkle you want to achieve. I like sparkle, so used a lot of glitter.

A close-up of the Helmar Gemstone Glue and glitter:

• Step 3. Use a toothpick or skewer to mix the glitter into the Helmar Gemstone Glue.

• Step 4. Use a paintbrush to apply the glitter glue to your project. A stiffer brush works better. You can apply this glitter glue to flowers, decorative elements, or even to your page background ~ anywhere you want glitter.

Here's what it looks like right after applying:

And another photo after drying. You can see that the Helmar Gemstone Glue dries perfectly clear, allowing that glitter to sparkle and shine in all its glory!!

Hint ~ I did notice as mentioned previously that there was just a slight tackiness that remained even when completely dry. That was easily taken care of with another fabulous Helmar product. I simply spritzed with Helmar Crystal Kote Gloss Varnish Spray. The glitter still sparkled just as brightly and the flower took on a lovely glow from the glossy varnish.

Here's a photo of the finished flower on my card:

I can't wait to see the projects you create with your own homemade glitter glue!!

Helmar products used to create my card:

Helmar Gemstone Glue

(I highly recommend getting the larger Gemstone Glue if you want

to try this technique, because you won't want to stop!!)

Helmar Crystal Kote Gloss Varnish Spray

Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Helmar Premium Craft Glue

Other products used: Donna Salazar Designs Products: Clearsnap Fairydust Glitter ~ Pralines and Cream, GCD Studios Antiquities Collecton and Crafy Chronicles, Clearsnap Mix'd Media Inx and Embossing Powder, Zutter Distrezz-it-All by Donna Spellbinders Grand Peony Dies. Additional products: Spellbinders and Sizzix dies, Tattered Angels Chalkboard Mist, Heidi Swap Color Shine Mist, Stencils by TCW and Pink Paislee, CTMH stamp.

If you have a moment, I'd love for you to stop by the Helmar blog to leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Really Reasonable Ribbon Feature and Journey of a Lifetime details for ScrapThat!

If you are here for the ScrapThat! July Reveal and Blog Hop thanks for going here to my previous post. 

It's so hard to believe that it's the last day of June already!! I hope you are staying cool. Our air conditioning went out, but fortunately we've had a cool front move in just in time!! 

Joseph met the girl of his dreams in Rachel. It is amazing how well suited they are for each other. Rachel is a wonderful pastor's wife and helps him in his ministry. They also run an eBay business together. This fun photo was taken during a photo shoot when they became engaged. We went to a park and Joseph coaxed Rachel into this wooden train. It's just the beginning of a journey that I pray lasts a long and beautiful lifetime together. 

This page was created using the ScrapThat! July "Hope Chest" Kit and is my feature project for today's post over at Really Reasonable Ribbon. 

"Journey of a Lifetime"

I used the ScrapThat! June Sketch for inspiration: 

To join the June "Hope Chest" Sketch Challenge, stop by the forum.

Really Reasonable Ribbon Products:

1.5# Cream Mesh Ribbon

Sheer Box Pleats - Ivory 5/8" by May Arts

Scor-Tape 6" x 6"

Tips and Techniques:

Banner and Ribbon ~ I love to combine distressed paper banners with gorgeous ribbons like I did here to mix up the textures and add dimension. First I cut the paper banners, distressed the edges, wet, and crinkled up the paper. After allowing them to dry, I opened and kind of flattened out the flags. 

Next I selected these gorgeous ribbons from Really Reasonable Ribbon to pair up with this banner. First, I selected the Cream Mesh Ribbon. This is one of my favorites in Bonnie's store. I love the shabby, stringy texture. I cut a length of ribbon just a little shorter than the paper flags. This ribbon is held together by clear thread, so I pulled out the thread from one end to fray. Then I cut down the center of the ribbon, carefully cutting between two threads. I also cut off the edges that have the clear plastic strand running through them. This left me with two gorgeous frayed ribbons which I adhered atop the flags. Next I selected the Ivory Sheer Box Pleats Ribbon. I just adore the shimmer this sheer ribbon adds to a project!! I just snipped off two pieces and adhered them among the other ribbons and paper banner flags. Scor-Tape is my go to adhesive of choice for adhering ribbon. 

Altered Flowers ~ The smaller kit flowers were altered with paint and mist to change up the color. 

Handcrafted Flowers ~ I used Heartfelt Creations stamps and dies to created the larger focal flowers. 

Ribbon ~ Another close-up of the gorgeous ribbon

Chipboard ~ I added this Dusty Attic Chipboard from my stash. I colored it and applied crackle medium. Once dry I inked again to highlight the cracks. 

Tile ~ I altered this Scrabble tile and will be posting the tutorial in July. 

Mixed Media Background ~ I used a TCW stencil to apply sparkle texture effects. Although it's not as noticeable in my main project photo, you can see the sparkle and design here. 

The July kits will be available in the ScrapThat! Store on July 1. Be sure grab yours before they are all gone. 

If you are looking to purchase ribbon, be sure to stop by Really Reasonable Ribbon to see Bonnie's amazing selection of ribbon, lace, natural fibers, and more . . .

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

ScrapThat! July "Hope Chest" Kit Reveal and Blog Hop

Welcome to ScrapThat! 

It's our July Kit Reveal and Blog Hop!! 

If  you came here from:
the Tracey Gregory 
you are on the right track

Now that we are in the full swing of warmer weather,

 we are so excited to show you our soothing and refreshing July Collection.

Should you lose your way, here is the Blog Hop order:

ScrapThat! 
Natasha Naranjo Aguirre
Laura Gilhuly

ScrapThat! Facebook Page 
Amarilys Doria 

Tracey Gregory 

Tracey Sabella 
Kelly Klapstein 
Sandi Clarkson

ScrapThat! 

We are so happy to welcome the amazing 

Natasha Naranjo Aguirre

as our July Guest Designer!!!

Hi!  My name is Natasha & I’m the mother of two wonderful children & the wife of an amazing, supportive man. I am a floral designer by day and a scrapbook designer by night. I love to incorporate different techniques in my work and use a variety of elements. Every day I am inspired by the work and talent of others, and I hope to be able to inspire others with my work as well. 

Be sure to stop by her blog to see more of her gorgeous creations: http://www.moments-of-tranquility.com/

Now, without further ado....  

Introducing our July Kit,

 "Hope Chest"

Featuring the Hope Chest collection by Pink Paislee, we are sure you will love this kit packed with gentle neutrals and sages combined with pops of Prima color! Whatever your scrapping style is, you can capture the beauty of nature and the photos and memories you hold dear.

Take a look:

Main Kit*

*The Circles are not part of this kit-sorry for the mix-up

Paper Add-On

Flower Add-On

 Embellishment Add-On

More details on this collection can be found here:

ScrapThat! Store 

We are currently accepting new

Kit Club Members. 

For more information,

complete the form on the link below:

New Subscriber  

Summer Promotion 

ScrapThat! is having a fabulous summer promotion. If you start a subscription during the months of July or August, after 6 paid months, you can pick a retired kit from the ScrapThat! store for free. It will be shipped along with your 6th month kit. If you are already subscriber and want to get in on the action, refer a friend. For each friend you refer, you will both receive a free kit after you each complete 6 months from the time the referral starts. The person you refer must give your name when they subscribe. Stop by the ScrapThat! Store to start your subscription today.

Look at the beautiful sketch Amarilys has created for July:

See details about the challenge here: Sketch Challenges

The DT Challenge this month is hosted by Tracey G:"Create A Canvas"
Due to popular request, Sandi will also be hosting a Round Robin challenge!

Everyone is welcome to participate in all challenges.

Entries for all challenges are due by Wednesday, July 24.

 All winners of our challenges, including Layout of the Week, are eligible to receive 10% off any 2012 Kits ~ including Add-ons!

My first project is based on Amy's gorgeous sketch and uses the Main Kit without any of the add-on kits. This is an engagement photo of our son Joseph and Rachel. They've been married now for nearly 2 years. I pray they will have an amazing and long journey through life together. 

"Journey of a Lifetime"

MK

These Pink Paislee papers are gorgeous with so many grungy and vintage images. I fussy cut flowers to tuck around the photo and next to the title. I colored the kit roses and cherry blossoms and the larger flowers are handcrafted from kit paper using Heartfelt creations stamps and dies. I just love the cork print alpha and used the adhesive cork to die cut the second part of my title. The pliable mesh included in the main kit was put to use stamping the bottom and side edges with gesso. I also gessoed the green felt lace. I added a DA chippie and some Really Reasonable Ribbon from my stash. I'll be sharing a tutorial in July showing you how to convert the Scrabble tiles into the elegant sparkly tile tucked into my top cluster. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Next up is a page featuring Elizabeth and Andrew's wedding rings, appropriately
placed on this Scripture passage about enduring love. 

"A Symbol of Our Love"

MK, EAO, FAO

The border paper with documents reminds me of old marriage documents - just perfect for these photos. I used several techniques like water distressing, stenciling, gesso wash, and misting. I smudged more gesso onto the FAO and MK flowers to lighten and soften them. The journal cards included in the MK have some great doily images I fussy cut to tuck into the outer layers. I also distressed one of them to tuck behind a photo. I added a DA Chippie and the gold leaves and heart key are from the Craftpon Etsy Shop. I colored the MK pearls with glimmer mist before placing them on the punched border around the title. An easy way to color the kit alpha is with embossing powder.

This final layout features a gorgeous photo of our daughter Elizabeth on her

wedding day. This is one of her favorite photos taken that day. 

"Beautiful Bride"

MK, EAO, FAO

I coated the outer petals of the larger flowers with molding paste, then colored with gesso, mist, and inks. To lighted the background paper, I whitewashed the paper with watered down gesso, then splattered, and stamped as well. I just adore the combination of grunge and bling, so these Pink Paislee glitter embedded burlap butterflies were so fun to use!! The pretty glittered title uses an alpha set from a previous ScrapThat! kit. I've added another of the leaves, heart keys and DA chippies. I removed the flower centers from a few of the Prima flowers and replaced them with the sweet Maya Road resin roses from the EAO Kit. The MK tulle was absolutely perfect to tuck into my clusters to reflect the tulle of Elizabeth's veil. 

Now for details about our blog hop:

Our Blog Hop features 9 fabulous hop sites including our Design Team blogs. 

We have been scrapping away and are so excited to show you our  creations! 

The July Blog Hop Prize is our retired "Summer In My Garden" Main Kit featuring Fabscrap's Organic collection

To qualify for this month's FABULOUS Prize, you must complete the following:

• Visit each blog listed on the hop to see what each designer has created using this month's kit and sketch (comments are very much appreciated).
• Each designer's blog hop post will feature a word or two that will make up a secret sentence, collect these words along the way.
• You must become a FOLLOWER of each blog along the way and LIKE us on our Facebook Page!
• Subscribe to Kelly's YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/kellycreates
• Post the ScrapThat! Blinkie on your blog.
• For your last stop on our Blog Hop return here to the ScrapThat! Chat Blog. Leave a comment letting us know you have completed the hop.(Please do NOT include the secret sentence in your comments.)
• Email the secret sentence to Tracey Sabella: tracey@scrapthat.ca

The Blog Hop ends Sunday, June 30 at Midnight EST.

The prize MUST be claimed within 3 days of the forum announcement which will also be made on the ScrapThat! Blog.

~ If left unclaimed a NEW winner will be chosen ~
**Winner will pay actual shipping costs for sending the kit from Canada.**
Shipping costs will be invoiced via PayPal unless you are a kit member,
 then your prize will be shipped with your monthly kit.

Prizes won during the month will be mailed out the first week of the following month.

Due to Customs clearance, International mailings sometimes take 30-75 days to receive.

My secret words are:

a hope

Next hop over to

Kelly Klapstein 

For your final stop, return here to the ScrapThat! Blog 

to let us know you have completed the hop.

Remember ~ only send the secret sentence to tracey@scrapthat.ca

Happy Hopping!