"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 ~

Cherry Trees ~ ScrapFIT Reveal for Workout #69

Each spring I anticipate the blooming of the cherry trees at the edge of our woods. This year I took some photos, and now I'll get to see them all year long in my scrapbook! I looked at close-up photos and created the cherry blossoms on the branch from coffee filters. The Cherry Blossom Tutorial can be found below.

#69 ~ Sketch Workout with Our Creative Trainer

Diana, our Creative Trainer, is back with another one of her training sessions! This session is sure to give you a boost in your FITness level! What she has laid out for you may seem hard but give it your best to stay ScrapFIT!

Here is Diana's amazing sketch:

Holly Craft Originals

is this month's amazing sponsor! Fabric embellishments are always a great addition to any layout and Holly Craft Originals has a ton to choose from! The winner of this Workout will receive a $20 Gift Certificate! 

Holly is a stay at home mom who loves to craft. she makes fabric embellishments or appliques mostly from upcycled fabrics along with fabric leftover from larger projects .  .  .   All of her embellishments are her designs, hand cut, then sewn by hand with their own unique personalities! 

Be sure to hop on over to ScrapFIT to see the amazing inspiration by our talented DT. I hope you are inspired to join us for this sketch Workout. You have until June 30 to link up your paper craft project. 

Here are some close-ups:

Butterflies

Masked Modeling Paste and Inked Cherry Blossom Branch

Coffee Filter Cherry Blossoms

Coffee Filter Cherry Blossom Tutorial

Supplies:

Coffee Filter

5 Petal Punch

Scrap of Cardstock

Tiny Stamins from floral department

Scissors (EK Success Honey Bees are my personal favorite!!)

Distress Ink ~ Worn Lipstick

Piercing Tool (toothpick would work if you don't have one)

Glossy Accents

Not Pictured

Heat Tool - optional

Spray Bottle with water

Step 1. You might be wondering how I punched a coffee filter. I experimented and tried layering the coffee filter over top of a piece of card stock and it punched perfectly. Don't worry that the coffee filter is wavy. We will be misting and scrunching, so that doesn't matter. If you don't have this particular punch, most any little round tipped 5 petal flower punch should work.

Step 2. I use two punched flowers per blossom. Once you get all of your blossoms punched, stack them in groups of 6 or 8. With your scissors, take a small v shaped snip out of each petal. Don't worry if they are exactly centered or exactly the same on each petal. In nature, they are varied and different, besides we are going to scrunch these up. 

Here they are with the snips cut out:

Step 3. Lightly spritz with water. Place the piercing tool in the center of a blossom and crinkle the blossom around the tool as shown. I don't pierce a hole at this point, but if it does pierce, that's OK since we're going to pierce a hole later for the stamins. Do this to each of your blossoms. 

Step 4. Take each bunched and crinkled blossom and swipe the cut edges against the top of the Worn Lipstick (or color of your choice) ink pad. Be sure to get some ink on all of the petal edges, but just a little. It doesn't matter if your petals are dry or still damp. 

Step 5. Lightly spritz each blossom. This will lighten and spread the ink. The misting may kind of flatten your blossom out, so crinkle it back up like before. You probably don't need to use the piercing tool this time. Set aside to dry or if you are impatient like me, place back on the piercing tool and use your heat tool to dry, being careful not to singe or burn. Here is what the petals will look like after misting, drying and carefully opening. See how the color softens and spreads!

Step 6. Add Stamins. Place two blossoms on top of each other and adjust so you can see both sets of petals. (not stacked directly on top of each other). Use a piercing tool or other sharp pointed object to pierce a small hole in the center of each blossom. Stamins generally come with a ball on each end of a cord. Snip these in half. You will need 6 pieces for each flower (or whatever looks good to you). Put the stem ends through the center of the flower like this. 

Now turn the flower over and put a dot of glossy accents or other quick drying glue in the center on the back side. Once dry you can clip off the excess stems. 

Step 7. Curl your petals. I used a piercing tool and curled the center petals a little tighter than the back ones.

Here is one all finished:

If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will be glad to answer them.

I have entered this layout at:

Word Art Wednesday ~ Use Scripture - I hand journaled Isaiah 35:2 around the flourish and photo mat, then highlighted with aged mahogany Distress ink. It will blossom profusely . . .  They will see the glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God. **

Crafty Cardmakers ~ Challenge 69 - Distress it: I distressed the cardboard and mats. I also used Distress embossing powder on the chipboard pieces. **

Thanks for dropping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

You'll Be My Friend Forever ~ Reveal for The Stamping Scrapper

It's reveal day for the Shannon's gorgeous sketch at the Scrapping Stamper.

This photo of Elizabeth and Maria hugging is so precious on a beautiful spring day back when we lived in North Carolina. The Bo Bunny Country Garden collection was perfect to scrap this photo. 

 Here is Shannon's fabulous sketch:

Be sure to head on over to The Scrapping Stamper to see what her design team did with this fab sketch. 

Here are some technique details:

Layered Twine Flower ~ You can find the tutorial for my twine flower here. Underneath the twine flower, I used the tattered floral die to cut fabric and netting. I also used a daisy die to cut a paper flower from blue paper which I inked the edges. The fabric was cut from a white shear fabric which I dabbed with blue distress ink to color. I topped it off with an adhesive flower center by Petaloo. 

Crocheted Flowers - I crocheted the little white flowers, inked the edges and added a rhinestone to the center of each. 

Leaves ~ I used the Spellbinder Foliage Shapeablilities Die to cut the leaves, then folded and crimped the leaves and inked for added dimension. 

Prima Build-a-Frame Stamps ~ My friend, Mandy, helped me locate these fabulous stamps that I used to frame the corners of this layout. The image in the bottom corner includes the words that I used for my journaling. "I love you and I like you and you'll be my friend forever."

Banners ~ I was thinking about buying the Tim Holtz Banner strip, but when I looked at it, I realized it was just paper strips with cut ends and I figured it wouldn't take any longer to fussy cut them with my Honey Bee Scissors (the best scissors I've found for fussy cutting) than running the die through my Bigshot. So, cut I did. I then folded and inked to get the shabby banner effect. 

Bead Dangles ~ I found this fabulous earring finding on clearance at my favorite craft store, Pat Catan's, and added the yellow shaped beads to the ends of the chain and if you look closely - very closely indeed, you'll see a tiny yellow bead in the bottom loop of each as well. 

Stick Pin ~ I created this stick pin from a pearl topped floral pin and some beads left over from my jewelry making days. I simply placed the beads on the pin and glued the bottom bead to hold it in place. 

If you keep looking, you'll see other techniques I've done before like the dictionary page ~ of course with the word sister, painted metal, stitched and distressed photo edges, real chicken wire, fussy cut and stickled butterflies, lace, painted resin, inked paper edges . . .

I'm entering this layout in:

City Crafter Challenge Blog CCCB#102 ~ use the spring color pallet Pinks, Yellow, Blue, Green (April 2)

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

Sisters and My Very Own First Sketch

I created this layout for the Scrap-Friendzy January Sketch-A-Thon, but for some reason never got it posted. This one was a quickie for me, created in a couple hours one afternoon using this gorgeous g.c.d. studios paper, a Martha Stewart punch, Kaisercraft butterfly, and Petaloo flowers, with lace and a doily from my stash. What wonderful memories are captured here with our two oldest daughters back when we lived in North Carolina! Don't they look happy together? They are still good friends and share an apartment together. 

Pin It

For the Sketch-A-Thon, I created my first ever sketch. I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a sketch artist, but had fun creating this one, which I used as the basis for this page. 

Pin It

I would be honored if you use this sketch for inspiration. Let me know if you do. 

Techniques:

To put this together so quickly I used mostly premade items like this flower cluster using flowers from several of Petaloo's collections.

Wood Butterfly: I used this wonderful Kaisercraft wood cut-out. I painted it with black acrylic, then dry brushed on some brown metallic acrylic for some shimmer and added dimension. 

Don't forget, at Scrap-Friendzy we're celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with a month of Seuss inspired challenges. I hope you'll join us!! 

Thanks for dropping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~