blog hop

I am going to be a part of my very first blog hop! I'll post on Monday, November 1st with a holiday themed project and a list of other bloggers who have created holiday projects. Follow the hop, it will be up until November 7th to see some really creative crafters. I will give away a prize at the end of the week. Leave a comment about the project and I will randomly choose a player to send some scrappy goodness to. See you at the hop!

a new post...finally

I've been working diligently on scrapbook layouts but haven't done much here lately. I've done a few different projects and layouts that I really like. Here is one I did of a photo I found of Rebekah, dressed up as Strawberry Shortcake. This layout actually started out as a tag. I had scrapped four mini-albums, from scratch mind you, about 80 pages plus covers. I was all scrapped out. Jax came over to scrapbook and I finished a layout I had started. When I am burned out like that, I like to pull out stuff and play. That's how the tag got started. Once the tag was done, I couldn't set it aside, I loved how it looked. I saw Strawberry Shortcake and knew they would be perfect together.
I started with a Tattered Angels tag that had some print around the edges. I added inks and stamps and then a die cut of a bird in a cage. The photo doesn't do the tag justice, the birdcage is paper covered with an old lace doily, the bird just paper. Maya Road chandelier dangles hang off the tag. Prima flowers and rhinestone swirl pull it all together. I made the ticket strip with the Tim Holtz ticket die and stamped it with one of his ticket stamps on patterned paper. I think there is some October Afternoon in here as well. Everything is distress-inked, of course.

Enjoy!

watercolor and faux denim

Having taken Donna's course I used some of the techniques I learned to create this layout. I used watercolor paper and lots of water and Smooch to create the background. I used a piece of lace across the bottom as a mask before spritzing color. I used a Tim Holtz stamp for the corners and created a faux denim rose using navy paper, sandpaper, white ink and a flower punch. It is very dimensional and it currently lives in a shadow box frame. I used paper from Donna Salazar's line to back the fragments from "idea-ology," a gold paint marker to create a frame and Thickers to create the initial monogram. I used one of my favorite photos from my daughter's wedding of she and her husband standing against a mural wall in the city.

distrezz-it-all

I took an online class from Donna Salazar through My Creative Classroom. In this class we used her new Distrezz-it-all machine from Zutter. She taught inky, spritzy, messy techniques to create a unique book, which we then bound with our Bind-it-all from Zutter. I couldn't believe how fast the weeks went by. I could have continued on, and on, and on...







These are some of the pages in the book. We made flowers of all kinds, used memory glass, denim, her Crafty Chronicle paper for flowers and other embellishments and had lots of fun. We all added our own stamp of originality and everyone's work was different and beautiful. My favorite technique is the page with the butterflies where we stamped the butterflies with Versamark ink, used Perfect Pearls to color them, spritzed them with Smooch spritz and then re-inked them with Versamark and hit them with clear embossing powder. The color and texture is worth the steps. Thanks Donna for a great class.

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.

date with the hubs

This two page layout features a day out with my husband. I am very thankful for the wonderful man God put into my life. We had a rare Saturday free together, blew off the household chores and went to Pennsbury Manor for a tour. It was the end of the growing season and the gardens weren't in bloom but the grounds were lovely to walk around anyway. I like going to historical sites and John is good enough to humor me.
I made the flowers using lace I dyed with glimmer mist, gathered and made into a circle. I layered on store bought flowers. I hand-sewed the patterned paper and even added a few french knots. The paper reminded me of a colonial pattern which is why I chose it. This layout will go in my SDU album to be used for a sample of colors and the rule of threes.

scrappy products

I really need to update this blog with some of the cool projects I have been working on. Meanwhile, I want to give a shout out to Donna Salazar who has some really cool scrappy products. First, the Distrezz-it-all, a new distressing tool that she developed with Zutter. If you have seen Donna's projects you know she likes shabby, distressed edges. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these babies. Then there is her paper line. She has teamed with Pinecone Press to distribute some vintage feeling papers and stamps. Her papers make me feel all comfy and cozy and this post is actually one way to get my hands on some. She has also come up with her Crafty Chronicle, made of paper that is perfect for altering. You can die cut it and make some of her signature flowers or use it to collage or cover a book or box, anything you come up with. It takes inks and sprays well, at least in the videos I have seen it does. So check out Donna's products and make something special today.