"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 ~

"Dream Come True"

It was such a joy to our family when Elizabeth and Andrew announced their engagement last May. Elizabeth decided at an early age that she didn't want to date a lot of guys, but would wait for the Lord to bring just the right man into her life ~ Andrew, her "Dream Come True." Here are the details on my final page created with the wonderful February ScrapThat! Kit. 

"Dream Come True"

MK, EAO, FAO

I flipped Amy's fabulous February ScrapThat! Sketch for this page:

I hope you will create a page for our Sketch Challenge using this sweet sketch. The details can be found here.

Tips and Techniques:

Full Open Rose ~ The tutorial for the focal rose using Donna Salazar's Grand Peony and Bitty Blossoms Spellbinder dies can be found here. I used the Smooch Accents included in the kit to color the edges of the rose. 

Chipboard ~ I tinted texture paste with Distress reinker and spread it across my chipboard piece. When dry I went back and inked the edges for more depth and visual dimension. 

Cluster ~ Aren't these sweet pink flowers in the main kit just darling? I coiled the wire snipped from the blossoms to create the vines. 

Beads ~ I was inspired by a project created by ScrapThat! designer, Tracey Gregory, to add some scattered beads to my page. I also dabble in creating jewelry and have lots of seed beads in my collection. I used tweezers to dip each bead in Glossy Accents and place on the page. The Glossy Accents is a great glue for this. Just a little dab has a lot of holding power and dries perfectly clear. 

Hearts ~ The canvas heart included in the main kit were stamped with different designs and the edges inked. The little charms were from a package of charms I found clearanced at my craft store for a mere 50 cents a while back. 

Sparkling Strip ~ I created this sparkling strip by placing a 12 inch piece of Crafty Power Tape on my craft mat. I then sprinkled some different embossing powders and mica flakes on the adhesive. I melted them with a heat tool. The back of the tape remains sticky, so I just pulled it up and placed it down the center of the hearts. 

Title Block ~ I fussy cut one of the notebook pages and inked with Distress ink. I used texture paste over a doily stencil and stamped my title in the center of the doily.

Distressing ~ What is a page without pulling out my Donna Salazar/Zutter Distrezz-It-All? I love the texture I get with this machine. 

Cluster ~ More of the sweet Main Kit flowers spilling out of the peak-a-boo tear. I tied some charms with the silky pink baker's twine also included in the kit. 

Hand Stitching ~ You can see my hand stitching around the page border. I also stitched around the photo mat. 

ScrapThat! also has our DT Challenge to create a page with at least 4 layers of patterned paper. I hope you'll come on over and add your project. Details can be found here.  

Be sure to come back tomorrow to see my guest designer project for Scrapping Everyday Memories. Here is a sneak peek from my page featuring my stash of Donna Salazar goodies:

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 ~ 

As for Me and My House ~ ScrapFIT Workout #71 Reveal

Welcome to July!! ScrapFIT Has a wonderful challenge to kick off the month:

#71 - Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home! We spend many hours at home so let's be sure to surround ourselves with things we love. This Workout is challenging you to create a paper craft to be displayed in your home! This can be a banner, a unique way to display a photo, anything you can create with paper to be displayed in your Home Sweet Home.

I bought this house shaped shadow box at a thrift store for under a dollar about a year ago with intentions to alter it for a home decor project. This challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to dig it out and brush off the dust to transform this ugly duckling to a pretty inspiration piece. One of the Bible verses that has been a theme for our family over the years is Joshua 24:15 ~ As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

This workout is being sponsored by:

$15.00 Gift Certificate to the Paper Issues Store!

Be sure to hop on over to ScrapFIT to see the amazing inspiration by the talented FITgirls and link up your paper crafted home decor project by July 31.

Techniques:

Flowers ~ These flowers were hand crafted from scraps of white cardstock using the Donna Salazar Grand Peony die. I have gotten a lot of mileage from this die set. For color, I mixed several mists to pull the color from the background paper from my Donna Salazar Botanique stack. I also mixed in some iridescent Medium to give a bit of sparkle.

Bricks and Shingles ~ I added sand and paint to texture paste to get a brick-like consistency and color, then used a brick mask to apply it to the sides of my house. The shingles were created from a roll of bark paper that's been in my stash from a JoAnn's purchase a couple years back. 

Crackle ~ With all the texture going on the sides and roof of my house, the front was looking a little flat, and found that my new Donna Salazar Crackle stamp was perfect to give the visual dimension and texture I was looking for.

Verse ~ This is a favorite verse in our family, so I printed it out on some transparency paper and used Helmar V2 Vellum Adhesive to apply it to my rooftop section. I have to say, it was wonderful to use a spray adhesive with low odor that got the job done so well. 

Chipboard ~ I have a tutorial for this technique you can find HERE. Just use the first part of the tutorial through step 6. No misting on these chipboard pieces. 

Home Theme ~ Because my shadow box was house shaped, I used a home theme throughout, from the verse, to boxes including kitchen and sewing items, and I even found the dictionary page entry for house, tied it into a scroll and placed it into a little bottle. 

I hope you have been inspired to create a home decor project!! Be sure to add your project at ScrapFIT during July. 

I have entered this at 

Word Art Wednesday - use an uplifting sentiment. **

Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Use something new ~ I used my new Donna Salazar paper and crackle stamp, along with my new bottles, metal clock, key, and lock. **

Thanks for dropping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~ 

Mom ~ DT Reveal ScrapFIT Workout #68 Misty's Mist Mania

The new Challenge posted today at ScrapFIT is to use Mist. I was so excited to see this fun challenge. I added to the fun by personally challenging myself to use mist in three ways on this page. First, I misted over my modeling paste mask using a homemade color mist topped with some glimmer mist and metallic paint. Second, I misted the chipboard pieces under my butterfly. I have posted a tutorial for this technique. Just scroll down this post to find it. And finally, the fussy cut title, Mom, was rubbed with several colors of Distress Ink and then lightly misted with water to give the distressed, mottled look.

In 2000 we moved back to Ohio to be closer to our families. This photo was taken on the spot where our home was to be built. Motherhood is a precious privilege and responsibility. I was inspired by the challenge over at Once Upon A Sketch to scrap and journal about being a mom. 

Workout #68 - Missy's Mist Mania

If you are regular here at ScrapFIT you must have noticed our wonderful Weekend Warm Up Coach, Missy's, love of MISTING! Missy does amazing things with mist including making it herself! So this Workout is a tribute to Missy! We want to see a layout or project with a good amount of misting! Be creative, make your own misting mask, mix your mist colors - think outside the box!

We are so fortunate to have Vicky Alberto sponsoring both of our workouts this month!! 

Vicky's Etsy Shop has an amazing selection of gorgeous Dusty Attic Chipboard. She is also a very talented scrap artist and you can see her gorgeous work at her personal blog, Simply Paper and Creativity. 

I hope you have been inspired to pull out those mists or make some of your own. Head on over to ScrapFIT to see the innovative misting layouts by our talented design team and to link up your project. I can't wait to see what you create with your mist!!

This Prima paper with the quotation in the top corner was so perfect to convey how I feel about mothering our precious children. I also used the Prima butterfly, hanging trinkets, resin piece and brick stamp. 

I bought the Donna Salazar Sprocket die set last week and couldn't wait to use it. I found this great earring finding that looked like gears and it fit perfectly into the center of the die cut. I placed the rhinestones around the sprocket for some added bling. 





I wrote out Isaiah 41:43 along the bottom of my page. As a mom, it has always been important to convey this message to our children. 

The mask for my modeling paste was cut from the Tim Holtz Sizzix Washer Border die from heavy cardstock.

Misted Puffy Paint Chipboard Tutorial

Supply List:

Chipboard (Want2Scrap Chipboard corner flourish)

White Puffy Paint

White Acrylic Paint

Assorted Mists

Heat Tool

Not Pictured ~ 

Heat Resistant Craft Mat

Sand Paper and/or Precision Files

Large Butterfly (Prima ~ Butterfly Kiss, Moulin Rouge)

Step One: Sand any rough edges on chipboard. Trim if necessary. (I trimmed off the long spikes leaving the butterfly wing shapes.)

Step Two: Squeeze out a THICK layer of puffy paint onto the entire chipboard piece. Be sure to completely cover from edge to edge. 

Step Three: Once the puffy paint has been applied, let this set for about an hour. 

Step Four: Use your heat tool to puff up the paint. Be sure to aim the heat tool on the top and sides of the puffy paint to get as much bubbled texture as possible. I hold the heat tool pretty close to the puffy paint and the edges turn a delightful toasted marshmallow color. 

Step Five: I didn't want my brown chipboard edges showing, so I went back and painted them with white acrylic paint. If you are not going for the toasted marshmallow look you can paint the entire piece. If you want textured chipboard without the mist, paint the entire piece with the color(s) of your choice. 

Step Six: Mist your puffy painted chipboard piece(s). I used a combination of homemade color mist (water and distress re-inkers), Perfect Pearl Mist, Smooch Spritz, Art Co. Metallic Mist, and Glimmer Mist. Depending on the look you are going for, you could use fewer (even one) mists or more. 

Acrylic paint tends to act as a resist to water based color products so your mist will bead up and look mottled, which is the distressed look I was going for. While the mist is wet, you don't want to blot or touch it, or the mist will wipe off. Of course, if you end up with too much of a certain color in the wrong spot, you can dab it with a paper towel to remove the excess, so have fun playing with your mists. When I got the look I wanted, I used my heat tool to dry the mist. Once dry, it is set and does not rub off. 

Now you can arrange your chipboard on your page or card. I spread mine like butterfly wings and centered a gorgeous Prima butterfly on top.

Please let me know if you give this a try!!

I have entered this at 

Once Upon A . . . Sketch with the theme "Mum" mother, mom and a sketch. (May 31)

Word Art Wednesday - I used the verse of the week by hand writing it across the bottom of my layout. **

Scrapbook Sisters: Stamped Background Challenge ~ The brick background on the top half is stamped. **

Simon Says Stamp: Anything goes **

Smudgy Antics: Masquerade and stamped image. My butterfly/chipboard could be used on a masquerade mask. The brick image on the top half of the background is stamped. **

Creative Craft Challenges 2: Distressing **

Use it Tuesday: All about mom. The corner crystal flourish has been in my stash for over 2 years. The black brads, modeling paste, rhinestones, and punches have been in my stash for over a year. **

Creative Inspiration Paint: Mother's Day. I used paint over top of my glimmer misted modeling paste. **

Creations by Gill M ~ Stripes and Spots - my stripes are the paper strips and spots - all over - in my masking, bling, pearls . . . **

The Happy Scrappers Challenge ~ Anything goes **

Thanks for stopping by. I treasure your comments!

~ Blessings ~