garden

I love the new Simple Stories Vintage Bliss line.  The colors are muted and beautiful.  I used it in the blog hop last week and I created this piece for the Memory Works April Express Kit blog post and I wanted to share it here too because I really love how it turned out.

I used my Nestabilites label dies--both the Grand Nestabilities and regular sized to create the layers.  I also added lots of ink on the edges.  I had Nestabling from Want 2 Scrap and added that as an edge for this piece.  

I used another Spellbinders die to create the rolled rose and leaves.  The dangling charm was a sticker from the embellishment sheet, covered with an idea'ology fragment.  The laser cut butterfly came with the kit, the two smaller butterflies are Recollections and the bling from my stash.  The seam binding was colored with Distress Ink.  The garden stamp I picked up at StampScrapArt from Rubbernecker stamps.  The little dangle teardrop is from Maya Road.  I love how it turned out.  Wait, I think I said that already.  Need a Memory Works consultant?  I'd be happy to show you all the great papers, embellishments, stamps, inks, tools and other supplies we carry and hook you up with Simple Stories Vintage Bliss supplies.

Be happy, get scrappy!

Jenn

tag art

I created this canvas after seeing a project by Tim Holtz. He and another crafter created canvases using the same materials but their completed projects were so different. I was inspired to create my own canvas using manilla tags. I colored and inked and spritzed and embellished and came up with this. Each tag is unique and has something on it that inspires me. I used a lot of Tim Holtz/Ranger/idea'ology products as well as Wendi Vecchi stamps, Distress Inks and bits and pieces from my stash. I love how it turned out.

me

To quote my friend Michele, "Don't ya just love the subject line? ME lol" I don't usually do page layouts about myself but decided to put my photo on this page. It is the same photo you see here on my blog. When creating layouts, it's sometimes harder to come up with the photos than the layout. This particular page is somewhat "artsy-fartsy" or "airy-fairy" which is what they say on BBC's Hotel Inspector to describe something that focuses more on the art than the photo. I like airy-fairy better. Yes, I've been watching way too much tv over these last months. Back to the page. I had fun creating the background layering on pieces that I made.


I made the left side background first, actually a couple of months ago. I started with watercolor paper and added distress inks to it using the Ranger tool with the sponge pad attached. I put on masks and added more Ranger distress inks and the added Tattered Angels glimmer mists. I stamped using Ranger Artistry stamps and Prima Build a Swirl stamps in Stampin' Up inks. Idea'ology journaling tickets were stapled on and an idea'ology metal wheel is attached with a random brad. I took a silver metal word, "imagine" and inked it with alcohol inks and inked a grunge board faceplate to frame it, attached with bronze brads from my stash. I inked some idea'ology fragments with alcohol inks and adhered them to highlight parts of the words.

The right side is made from strips of grunge paper from idea'ology. I cut 1" strips, inked half with distress inks, sprayed them with glimmer mists and then dry embossed them with a Cuttlebug folder. The other half of the strips were inked, stamped and then sprayed with glimmer mists. I then wove them together to create a 3" piece to border my left side.

I put them together on a piece of kraft colored card stock, inked the edges with distress ink and then decided to sew the two pieces on. After searching high and low for my sewing machine, to no avail I thought, why not blanket stitch the piece by hand? I am glad the sewing machine didn't turn up. I used green crewel floss and stitched the piece after piercing the papers. I also added a couple of "x's" to join the two pieces. I really liked the final outcome of the background. I matted a photo of myself and added "me" in Thickers that I toned down with some ink. The whole page has such a tactile look and is much better in real life that this photo shows. So, this is me, trusting, hoping, soaring, imagining, dreaming.

atc

I just completed an album for a customer that Grace from Stacie and Gracie's Scrapbooking Shoppe passed off to me. Since this album is a gift for my customer's son I thought I'd add in a little piece of artwork for her. I created this atc using some of my favorite things--K&Co. paper from the Margo line (it was a scrap really); some solid cardstock, stamps, metal pin, fragment and Stickles all from Ranger/Tim Holtz/idea'ology lines. This shows front and back. I like the idea of creating atcs to pass onto customers in the future.