True XOXO December Challenge

It's the 1st of the month again! Check out the True XoXo blog challenge. The design team was challenged to create a project using this photo as inspiration.

Now this isn't an image I would normally scrapbook so I was indeed challenged. I knew I liked the black and white pattern. Okay I have to admit that I knew I had similar paper in my stash. HA! The rest of the vintage type images/colors...well I initially thought of Webster's Pages. But then I looked down at my feet and stared at a class kit I got at Scrapbook Expo in Anaheim from a Prima class. It was perfect since all the papers were under 6" and great for stash busting.

The flowers and doily were sprayed with Glimmer Mist. The letters are wood from Pink Paislee. The small "embrace" block is from Melody Ross' GCD Studio line and came from one of the prize packs I won from the Spring contests they had earlier this year. This layout is a whole lot of layers and nothing complicated. No cutting because I really had cut it all in the class. I still don't know how I feel about the contrast of vintage and black and white....

Zipper layout

I recently went to Scrap in San Francisco. I thought it would be in a really bad part of town but it wasn't where I had thought (where I'd get shot or mugged). It's in an industrial area near my dad's work. Anyhow, I dragged my mom along for protection because I was just unsure. A teacher friend told me I would be fine as long as I parked along the fence...see she scared me!  The store receives donations from individuals and companies. A lot of the stuff is really old. If you like to upcycle, it could be your type of place. I like the Oakland reuse store a whole lot better but that is in a bad area and well, I have to pay bridge toll to get home. Anyhow, I guess Scrap gives a lot of stuff away for free. I quite a bit of colored burlap and wool and it was only $6 for my total purchase. I left with an entire paper grocery bag filled with zippers.

We are learning to make masks similar to The Lion King musical right now and I so happened to stumble upon plaster gauze. I had no clue what it was but I looked at it. Then two nights later, Michael asks me if I know what this stuff is. Well no but I saw it at the store I think. So I went back to Scrap and bought all they had because it sells for $25 per pound in some cases. I paid $1 per roll. Not bad and I left with another bag of zippers. I tried to make zipper flowers. I wasn't so thrilled with my first try but I'll have to try again with probably a thousand of them now.

Haha I had a long story just to get to my layout. I added zippers to this to add some softness and rough edges. I had more zipper on the layout but I made the photo too big so I had to pull off the existing embellishment and cover it up with Prima flowers. How can I be in stash busting mode (two year old Fancy Pants papers) and bring car loads of really cheap stuff?

Oh by the way, here's a peek into the making of our Lion King Musical adult Simba mask. Riley is a whole lot smaller than the guy who will wear this. We don't know who will be cast until Wednesday. And actually this is more of a mold we are making. We are hoping to make two casts from the plaster gauze I bought. Then we have lionesses, Pumba, Scar, probably Zazu, hyhenas, and the crazy baboon. Haha I can't remember his name right now.

Altered Silver Platter Wall Hanging

 

I spend quite a bit of time roaming the aisles of Dollar Tree and one day it just hit me to pick up a few of the different shaped "silver" platters. As with my post yesterday, I am not so fond of shiny metal for my crafts. Maybe it comes from not photographing well. . . but anyhow, the first thing I did was to look for a sheet of paper that would suit the edge of the platter. I knew it had to be vintage so I grabbed my pile of Webster's Pages and committed myself to a brown alcohol ink and swiped it across only the edge of the platter. 

Once I figured out the paper I was going to use, I placed the platter on top of the paper and did an estimate on the width and height. I cut the paper first then traced the corners on the paper to fit inside of the platter. I did ink the paper with pink and brown.

I fussy cut the "Live the life you have imagined" from the same sheet of Webster's paper. I wanted it to stand out so I really inked that baby. Then I popped it with three layers of foam tape. After that I still needed something to make it stand out so I used a glue pen and some Glitter Ritz Grasshopper glitter. The Melissa Frances pearls finished the piece off. On top of that I used a Sizzix die to cut book board thickness chipboard. Then I used Melody Ross's doodle stamp to imprint the squiggly on the center. While the chipboard was still wet, I bent it to hold a real leaf shape. Once dried, I painted the leaf green (again always with my finger) and then inked the edges with Distress Ink.

Although it is very difficult to see in the photos, I used the glue pen to also add Melissa Frances' mica flakes. The white flowers are Prima with the colored centers. The small pink and peach flowers are from a local reuse store. And the big peach flowers are from a floral, planning shop called Fantastico in San Francisco. I think they were 6 for $0.59. The frame around the bird cage and keyhole are also Melissa Frances.

I actually made a special trip over to Scrapbook Territory just to find something to fill in the spot  where the K & Company chipboard bird is off to the side. Everyone in the store was WOWed by this piece just walking around in the store searching for my perfect match. And I did not leave disappointed. 

I filled in empty areas with Making Memories rubons and the Melisaa Frances pearls. Oh and that "paper" behind the photo is the Prima packaging from the flowers.

Hope you are inspired to create a beautiful piece from something so ordinary at the dollar store.

Chipboard floral wreath

We finally got a little peek of sun around here. Actually they say that there is going to be sun for the entire week. So to celebrate, today I have a floral wreath I made with scraps of chipboard. I used Sizzix's tattered flowers die along with their butterfly die. To give the chipboard texture, I used Melody Ross's Chip Art tools. After I created the impressions, I painted the pieces with acrylic paint, Brilliance ink, paint pens and "watercolored" them with shimmer chalks.

I picked up the wreath at Dollar Tree. The pieces were created using flowers I had also purchased at Dollar Tree (the red and purple ones). So I disassembled the fabric flowers and placed one layer on the bottom, then I placed a tattered flower on top and a 3-D flower in the center. To create fullness, I added extra Prima flowers.

Destashing

I am always trying to destash and us as much as possible on layouts. I find that when I start to cut papers and am left with scraps, I create more of a mess because I can't seem to get the small pieces to fit onto my paper racks and they eventually get ruined. So yesterday I hit the scrap room with the intentions of using whole sheets that have been hiding out on the bottom of piles in the racks.

I have been in sort of a transparency overlay state of mind which lead me to this layout.

I used Sandy Lion paper and a Best Creations overlay I have been hoarding for a few years. A couple of flowers, butterflies and Prima e-line pearls. Once I had everything in place I used Crate Paper rubons in the corners of the frame and spritzed the entire sheet with Glimmer Mist. Once the Glimmer Mist dried on the overlay, I took a damp paper towel and wiped away the drops of mist across my face.

Here is a Prima die cut sheet. I love the $1 scrapbooking booth which carries a lot of Creative Imaginations embellishments at the Scrapbook Expo. You probably wonder sometimes how I can stick so much onto one page. Well that is it. I have no love lost when I get a product for $1 vs. $6 in the store. If you ever want me to help you pick up stuff. . . early March and I think August or September are the shows. I can text you photos while at the booth. It's actually kind of crazy where you enter one side of the booth to look but have to stand in line to do so and it's the same line you stay in for check out. Boy do those women get catty if someone doesn't go with the flow. Ok so either I get the products wholesale (like the Prima flowers that are the same ones I always use in different colors) or the $1 booth. So I loaded up on CI's road trip embellishments. Nothing fancy and used a bit of ribbon to soften up a boy's line of paper and colors I don't tend to use very often.

I admit that I recently picked up this Prima sheet. but I used Diamond Glaze (it was so old the bottle cracked and I have it in a Frappuchino bottle) and applied it to all the water spots and puddles. I also hit the Stickles and applied Diamond Glaze over the rainbow once dry. Die cut some Prima pearlescent cardstock and  found some epoxy Mickey heads at the bottom of the closet. Riley is totally into hidden Mickeys plus they went along with the water theme. The orange parasol umbrellas were from Meri Meri (the hand made card company) where I pick up embellishments really cheap. . . think I mentioned that before. If you are local and interested in when they have a sale, hit me up.

I can't really tell you how long I have had this sheet. Maybe two weeks. . . haha who knows. But the Prima felt diecut and red K&Co. glitter letters and flourishes. . . many years. The black, glitter letters are Making Memories and the white flowers are Prima that I inked with distress inks. Queen and Co. music note brads.

Well I think I may have over baked my banana bread muffins in the over. Let me tell you that I tend to underbake by a minute or two. So this should make my mom happy that I have these babies over done. (Wonder if she's reading this.)

XOXO Challege #15

This month's XOXO challenge has gone live. The sponsor is Sweet Peach Crop Shop who offers 3 different kits each month.

My layout for January consists of SEI's Bridgeport papers and a bunch of Prima and SEI flowers. There are elements from Creative Imaginations, chipboard stickers from Making Memories and pearls from KaiserCraft.  Letters are from American Craft. Also I used a Brother label maker to create the text. To pull it together, I inked the label with the blue color to match the layout. If you ink a label, let it dry for a few minutes before handling. Even if you are impatient like me, you actually won't pull a lot of ink onto your fingers while peeling off the backing. And if you do, just smudge a little around to cover up. It won't look like a mistake. . . I promise.

Brrrrrr it is cold outside!

It's been so cold outside that I have buried myself in my scrap cave with a heater. It's kind of funny how time flies as I scrap and watch Days of Our Lives and reruns of Grey's Anatomy and Law and Order all afternoon. Here are the results of my seclusion.

His layout used the present fabric which comes in the December The Sampler kit. I didn't have stabilizer on hand so I starched the fabric to death. Then I tucked the edges under and gave it a 1/4" seam allowance (using a 1/4" foot). I am horrible with the straight lines without a guide. My new sewing machine actually sews itself in a straight line thanks to good feed dogs. Anyways, if I would have used stabilizer, I could have just cut the edges on my paper trimmer and they would not have frayed and it would have been a very clean cut without the need to turn the edges down.  Again, spray starch at Dollar Tree is a lot cheaper than stabilizer from the fabric store and goes a lot further.

Next up is another really quick layout from The Sampler kit. I used straps from the November and December kits. Thanks to my mom we get free tickets every year to San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker. As a former professional ballet dancer, it was good and clean but nothing technically difficult. I guess that goes the same for this layout.

And now a layout that is not from The Sampler. I used Bizou Zoo paper. Actually I only used one sheet of cardstock. The paper is so beautiful in itself that I did not want to cover anything up with additional paper. I added Stickles to elements and embellished this like crazy. This truly was a fun stash buster using Prima flowers and Say it with Pearls, Creative Imaginations epoxy stickers SEI brads and buttons (I cut off the shanks).  Since I already had started embellishing, I could not put the sheet through the printer so I used my Brother label maker for part of the title. I just love the Bizou Zoo papers. . . yes I bought more so you'll see additional one sheet layouts soon.

What's the deal?

I am seriously at a loss for words today. As you know and I've said many times, I build layouts and wait for the time when I actually print photos. I have one of the best printers on the market and I just hate to go through the motions of printing them. So I finally got off my end this morning and put photos on. You can tell I didn't make these layouts today because the photos aren't the sizes that I probably would have made them if I had.

Blue inspirations: Fancy Pants papers. I actually took a glitter class with my mom last week (merely there to drive and keep her company) but got sucked into the product BIG TIME! Anyhow I made the flowers. . .and yes there's glitter everywhere but I am in love with this glitter. You get full, even coverage and use very little of it.  Maybe I'll even show you some tips on coloring the glitter with Copic Markers. I also used Prima flower packaging.

Green inspiration: here I used Basic Grey, We R Memory Keepers, Urban Lily papers.  Then I  have Creative Imaginations butterfly brads, Prima flowers, Making Memories stickers


Anyhow, I hope I have given you some inspiration today to do a few layouts this weekend. I will see you after I come up for air from a six hour sewing class to learn how to use the new Janome machine my mommy bought me for Christmas and my birthday. Yes I've used it and we know that Christmas is weeks away and my birthday isn't until February!

Canvas cuff bracelet

Today I have a canvas cuff bracelet I made. It's not something I would usually wear. And honestly I probably won't wear it at all. My crafty-ness comes more out of keeping my mind busy than out of necessity. Although you cannot tell, I painted the bracelet with Making Memories pearlescent acrylic paint (actually picked that up for Riley at the warehouse sale in April). The Prima flowers were sprayed with three colors of Glimmer Mist. For this project, I sure was able to do a little bit of stash busting on trims in remnant bags  from a super expensive fabric store.

Plus here's a peek into where we've been hiding lately. Oh and by the way, my mom sewed the Alice costume. I started to make it but Simplicity patterns are truly my enemy. And she, the experienced one, even said this was the worst pattern she had ever sewn.

Since I can't sleep. . .

I decided instead of going into my scrap room and creating  more minis (I know I haven't posted photos yet), I would post a few photos of layouts. I went with papers that were hidden in my stash which I don't tend to use as often as I should There's a bit of Prima, Pink Paislee, and Urban Lily.

I've had scrapper's block for a few weeks now and am waiting for something to come to me. If you have any ideas to get me back into the game. . . I'd greatly appreciate the suggestions. 

It's been a while

I know I've really been MIA. I have had moments where I've made a few mini albums but have yet to select photos. Do you ever make minis or layouts and not have the perfect photo? Gees I do that a lot. I think scrapbooking is really about keeping myself busy and my mind off of the rest of the world. A huge reason I love scrapbooking is that it allows me to get creative but not be what people typically think of being creative. . . like drawing or painting.

You probably know that I don't really like to take photos with any type of artificial light or flashes. So that's another reason I've been MIA. Just because I haven't been around during the daylight hours. Well since my mom was complaining that I haven't posted recently and (2) I am around today. . . here's a mini (8x8) that I made while watching Diary of a Whimpy Kid.

I know where I got the album. . . Pink Paislee's warehouse sale box kit. The papers are Pink Paislee but they were packaged differently. Maybe it came from there. . . could have been the sale from the year before too. But had this album that isn't really my style. Well the papers aren't either but they matched because of the orange. The problem was I only had 5 sheets of paper from the line. So I chopped them up to create a cohesive mini. I don't generally make any of the pages alike. In this case I had to. The chipboard as well were Pink Paislee. I was going to leave sort of bare. . .simple. Yeah we know that I couldn't resist. I actually added some Crate Paper ribbon, Jenni Bowlin blinged out butterflies, Prima e-line pearls, and Kaiser Craft rubons and tags, flowers and buttons. Well enjoy! Hopefully tomorrow I can put some photos into a bright Bella Blvd album I made. It's kind of difficult to do because we've had such crappy weather this year. . . even for California. I guess that's why I had no issues with the colors in this album. . .because it already feels like we're deep into Fall and teetering into Winter.

She's gone country!

I bought a Simplicity pattern a few months ago because I thought that Riley would look cute in one of the costumes. Actually I thought she would select the fairy version but she chose to be the cowgirl. I sewed the skirt and had my mom finish the top because I have issues reading the patterns from the company. I have no problem reading boutique or patterns from Amy Butler. My mom has issues reading those because she says they aren't written by pattern makers. Sorry but they are in English and I completely get what they are saying. This on the other hand. . .I have found that any pattern that comes with that brown tissue paper is hard to figure out. So now my mom has inherited the Dorothy costume as well.

Riley had to wear the costume yesterday to Musical Theater class. Here's how she looked.

I used Prima's pearlescent cardstock (base and balck) with Making Memories gingham, Martha Stewart bandana paper. I cut the title and cowgirl with the Pazzles. The pink letters are Colorbok and the epoxy embellishments are Creative Imaginations with Stickles. 

Back to scrapping!

Yeh! Now that the puppy is getting use to us and we're getting used to him, I've found out that he leaves my scrapbook supplies alone. So now I can have him lay in his bed I made him in the room and get back to what I love doing.

So to get back into the swing of things I did some quick layouts. I found this photo of Riley from when she was about 20 months old. I used Making Memories paper (got 25 sheets for $2 at the sale so I need to use a lot of it) and various embellishments from Colorbok, Oriental Trading and of course Distress Inks.

Here's a layout I did really about my stepping on these Littlest Pet Shoppe toys. We R Memory Keepers, Basic Grey, Maya Road and Sandy Lion.

And an ode to Buster. . . This I think is Prima, Making Memories, Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, and Creative Imaginations. He's had a hard week whether he knows it or not. We've contemplated keeping him and well think we've worked through Riley not being the only one getting attention in the house. So for now, he's here to stay. Don't worry though. . . if he goes, he will go to a friend with all the stuff we've spoiled him with. He went from living in dirt (although he still likes laying in it in the backyard) to being inside on his fluffy beds and sleeping bags.

Spring mini album

Here is a tag album I created for the XOXO design team challenge for the month of June. The album is a bit larger than 4x6. Each tag was designed and cut on the Pazzles. I used alcohol inks to color some of the bling butterflies. Traced over the Crate Paper rubons to make them black (vs brown). You know the drill. . .Prima flowers, My Mind's Eye paper.

Hybrid layout

Here's a hybrid I did last night while sitting in bed. The page curled (of course) after shooting it with a dose of Glimmer Mist. I also added Prima flowers, Stickles and the Glimmer chip (which came from the Glimmer Mist 201 class). Don't spray Glimmer Mist on your layout if you are doing a hybrid unless you know for sure your printer ink is waterproof.

Funny story about buttons. . . .

I posted this story with my layout on Shimelle.com. . . .


Buttons seem to be very different than working with anything else for me. So here's a gross story which is probably why I don't like to handle them (but I have a ton). My mom had this coworker friend that one day got a button stuck up her nose. How it got there I just don't know. It stayed there for like 20 years and she just sneezed it out one day. Guess it stuck with me (no pun intended there) but I think about that every time I dive in to use one of the buttons in my stash.

I used the same ugly gray-ish off-white cardstock I used on my flower layout yesterday and sprayed Glimmer Mist on just about every piece. I put the Pazzles to work by cutting out the cloud mask shape, tree, grass and sun. Used some velvet ribbon and Prima flowers. Buttons. . . they didn't come close to my nose. Hahaha! I wish I would have had happier blue sky Glimmer Mist colors but it is what it is.  And Riley. . . she's bowing for the crowd. That's like her favorite thing to do in ballet (which btw is her costume for her ballet recital in June). I didn't notice until we got home that I was supposed to separate all the petals. Now that I can sew, I can do better. Just watch me go petal crazy now with Dollar Tree petals, Glimmer Mist, and tulle.

Feeling scrappy

I've been on a kick lately to use up scraps. I think it's because I have so much more stuff now that fabric has come into play. I actually have two projects I will show you tomorrow which I completed this weekend.  But the layout below was using the pieces I had left over from the last layout I posted.

I used the heart I had cut out as the mask on the previous layout. Then I used the back side as a mask again to spray Glimmer Mist on the background sheet. I blotted with tissue the wet spots. Then I zigzag stitched around the patterned paper and heart. Popped the all of the stickers and placed flowers behind the sticker flowers. There are three layers of foam tape behind each element. Lastly, I added a rubon around the curve of the heart inside of the masked area. 

ClaraBelle SEI layout

Here's a layout using the scraps I had left over from the SEI class Expanding Album at Scrapbook Expo this weekend. I also used the Bridgeport rubon they had in the kit. The layout is primarily the stickers left over with some Prima.

Let's use up the brad and eyelet stash!

I am taking the Something for Almost Nothing class which started yesterday at Shimelle.com in an attempt to use up that old stash that keeps getting buried underneath all the new stuff. So the prompt yesterday was to use metal in a layout. I think I do best when there's some sort of challenge issued to me (like at work) than to just pull something out of the air. 

For this I stitched on a piece of wide ribbon (should have been longer) but we all know I don't measure anything. Then I used one sheet of Sassafras Bungle Jungle and a scrap of K&Co.  from the Valentine's collection I had laying on my table from making those little mailboxes. Then from there I used brads from BoBunny and eyelets from Oriental Trading and Making Memories. The metal letters are from We R Memory Keepers and the little "chick" is Meri Meri accents.

As for the SEI challenge this month, so far I made a simple bracelet out of twill and an acrylic heart from Prima. The line from SEI is Doodle Girl and I used Zip Dry glue and the iron ons from SEI as well that belong to the same collection.

And now for giant cupcakes. . . my favorite gluten free HoHos with lots of butter! Secret to my taking over the world, is that I feed them one cupcake but it's actually the size of two! Bwhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha!

Scrap time

This weekend outside of making other Amy Butler bag patterns, I did some late night (is 3am considered late or early morning?) scrapping. Another LSS bites the dust after 6 months of ownership so I went to buy the newest inventory at 60% off. The owner bought the store from another woman who kept the name, kit club. . . blah blah blah. So she was left with inventory that was 6 years old. So I went in and bought the newest My Mind's Eye collections from the summer CHA release. Now that I need to clear up some clutter, I used up some scraps. Here's a few layouts that came about. I used Basic Grey and Tinkering Ink. It's really hard to see in the photograph of the first layout the Prima pearl accents with the patterned paper. I also used a water distressing technique on this layout. Really liked how it turned out.