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Friday 15 February 2013

February Scrapology Card Challenge - Clearly Yours!

Ha ha - welcome to the month of lurve and the February card challenge for Scrapology.  Those two don't necessarily go together - but I had to make a Valentine's card anyway, so I tied in the theme of using something transparent with the occasion on Feb 14th. 

I have been very drawn to the grey and yellow colour schemes of late - they always look fresh and sophisticated.  So I followed that theme and stayed away from the traditional red, and came up with this card.

 
 
I used some Papermania Shimmer A4 card in lemon which is not a bad weight, and using my Hearts Framelits, cut a heart shape aperture in the card and also a bigger heart out of waste acetate.  As a last step, I also adhered clear gems which are supposed to look like a "floating" heart - I ran some wet glue inside the heart shape, waited for it to go tacky, and then adhered the gems.  That way, they won't fall off, but you can still get some movement and adjust their placement should you need to.  I used most of the Jenni Bowlin Studio Rub-on Sheet - it was much smaller in size than my actual card which is 5.5 x 8 inches, but I split it apart and apportioned out the rub-ons accordingly.  I am always trying to use up bits and pieces, and had a white stray envelope in that size!
 
I don't much like organza ribbon, but in this case, I had a spare bit of lemon from somewhere and it stuck on fairly transparently with wet glue. Again, I believe that the secret of using wet glue is to smear it on, and wait for it to go tacky, so you don't get the staining of the ribbon. It wasn't my intention, but weirdly enough, most of my elements were of a transparent nature, so very fitting for the theme!
 

 
 
This is what the inside looks like.  I used the aperture and also cut a larger grey heart with the framelits, so that disguised the creasing and the indent made by the Big Shot.  I had been given some "baby" themed rub-ons by Royal and Langnickel from Tara, and thought it was appropriate here. If you can't get a bit mushy on Valentine's Day, when can you?
 
Supplies:
Jenni Bowlin Studio "Damask Background Silver" rub-on sheet
Papermania Shimmer A4 card - lemon
Acetate
Hearts Framelits
Martha Stewart punch
Silver heart charm
Lemon organza ribbon
London Fog Memento ink
PSX stamps - Celtic
Clear gems of various sizes
Royal & Langnickel "Baby" rub-on words
Big Shot
 
Why don't you take up Lynn's challenge to make a card using something transparent?  It is always lovely to see the entries and you might even win a prize! G'wan, g'wan . . you know you want to .... :)

Monday 4 February 2013

January Sketchy Scrappers layout - Brrm Brrm!

Here is the sketch that Gemma gave us to scrap, which lasted over the December - January months. 


 
I didn't really have much time to scrap over this period, but had a belated crafty birthday day with my friend Tara and did most of the layout on this day.  Quite a simple one - and I used lots of photos of Henry on a new car from Grandma Jones which the boys got for Christmas.  I wanted to scrap the series of pictures, because there wasn't a photo which stood out from the others.
 

 
The background paper is one from Prima Marketing "My Mommy and Me" which I have pulled out quite a few times for other layouts, but never seemed to fit.  I thought it was perfect here and fitted in especially well with the sketch.  I felt that the edges needed some definition and so that things weren't so wishy washy, drew around all the edges in black pen. 
 
I used the freebie stamp from the June 2012 edition of "Craft Stamper" to convey some movement and add some dynamism to the layout.  I would have entitled it "brrm...brrm...." but there weren't enough "r's!" The only fiddly bit to this layout was to cut out those stars from the Echo Park "Little Boy Borders" paper.  Amazing how much was missing before I added them and they just added the perfect finishing touch. 
 
Supplies:
Prima Marketing "My Mommy and Me" 2008 by Nancy Kubo
Echo Park Little Boy "Little Boy Borders" 2010
Echo Park Splash "Big Dots" 2011 (Turqoise Zig Zag)
Echo Park Splash "Blue/Blue"
Basic Grey Oh Baby! "Buttercup"
Stampin' Up Ink - Turquoise
American Crafts Precision Pen
American Crafts Thickers "Sprinkles" black vinyl
Craft Stamper June 2012 free swirl stamp by the Artistic Stamper
 
I really like the fact that I was able to use up some of my oldest paper, with some of my newest.  It's the way I like to scrap and I have found that fashions go in cycles anyway.  I think after a while, the styles of paper blend together and it really doesn't matter what age it is.  It doesn't matter once your photos are committed to memory in a scrapbook page in an album!  Thanks for stopping by.  :)
 
 


Friday 1 February 2013

Scrapology February layout - texture paste

Hi every one and welcome to the February Scrapology challenge - to use texture paste.  This month, we are scraplifting Heather Jacobs and her particular layout on the Scrapology layout here:

Below is my interpretation.  The photo is of Henry, and is one of the series that were taken on 21st July 2011, when the boys were 15 days old. 


 
Seeing that this month's particular challenge was texture paste, I used it in the diamonds below the photo (as Heather did in her layout) and also in the leaf fronds underneath the flowers. 
 
I recently purchased both the Donna Downey Poppies and Peonies 12 x 12 mask, and the Mini Deco Doily mask by Julie Fei Fan Balzer.  I had resisted buying any doilies as I don't particularly like them, but by buying a mask, I can make one whenever I want.  I wanted a very light, monochromatic feel to this layout with the focus being on this beautiful photo - hopefully I achieved that.  I stitched this piece of Daisy D's patterned paper on the left side as I thought it matched in well with the peach of my mother-in-law's top. I then thought I had made a massive mistake by adding this in as I felt it was too distracting from the photo - I still don't know if I like it or not. 
 
The Jo Sonja texture paste is applied in a tube, so it is quite easy to control.  I didn't have a diamond stencil, so I made my own - I used my small diamond punch and punched out one diamond in some scrap paper, and then drew the grid lines from that pattern.  I then cut out every second diamond with my craft knife and then weighted the piece of paper down, using it as a mask. 
 
I did struggle a lot with this layout - I seem to say that every time. I think it is probably because of the amount of time it takes me to produce an "arty" or very technique based layout like this these days! 


Evening 1 - mist the doily (I mixed silver and teal Cosmic Shimmer mists, as either colour on their own was too dark and I wanted a very subtle finish)
Evening 2 - cut out the doily.  Texture paste the fronds
Evening 3 - make the harlequin mask and texture paste the cardstock
Evening 4 - punch the hearts down the side and cut out the fronds
Evening 5 - stitch the paper to the cardstock and distress the edges
Evening 6 - stamp the title and layer it up with foam pads; paint the edges of the plaque
Evening 7 - customise the flowers, using Rich Gold and Angel Mist cosmics shimmers.  I then chalk and distress inked them until they were the colour I wanted.  I then added more Angel Mist to the cardstock, predominantly to the right hand side over the hearts. 
Day 8 - I had the day off on this day, so had a bit more time.  I adhered every second heart on to the background with foam pads, but reversed the patterned paper so the hearts were more prominent.  I then added the other stamping elements, making the heart more dimensional by adding foam pads underneath.  Then assemble!  That probably took two more hours.  The ribbon doesn't show up very well, but you can see it more clearly on the actual layout.

So this layout has probably taken at least 12 hours.  Definitely a labour of love then - both for the subject and for the hobby and the art.  No wonder I feel that each of these particular layouts is quite a journey these days. 
 
Supplies:
Paper - First Edition "Up, Up and Away" patterned paper pad
Daisy D's Lullaby patterned paper
Bazzill cardstock
Mists - Cosmic Shimmer Silver, Teal, Angel Mist, Rich Gold
Stamps - Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz collection "Odds and Ends"
Autumn Leaves "Romance of Spring" clear stamps by Sande Krieger
Distress Stains - Spun Sugar, Tattered Rose
Colorbox fluid chalk inks - Baby Blue and Prussian Blue
Jo Sonja's white texture paste
It's a Boy adhesive ribbons
Bo Bunny Snowflake Jewels
The Crafter's Workshop Balzer Designs "Mini Deco Doilies" 6 x 6 template
Prima Donna Downey Studios "Poppies & Peonies" 12 x 12 mask
Jo Sonja's Titanium White acrylic paint and Flow Medium
My Mind's Eye "Wild Asparagus" Embroidered Brad
Small heart punch
Dies - Sizzix Framelits "Frames with Sprigs"

Funny how you can have something sitting in your stash for so many years, and then it jumps back into the foreground of your usage!  I always loved that set of Autumn Leaves stamps - just only used them once or twice.  I used them more on this layout than at any other time previously.  Guess it just happens that way.

I hope yours doesn't take 12 hours - still, it makes no odds.  A layout in the album, another memory added and preserved and my eyes saved from watching TV! Thanks for stopping by.  :)