Baby Faces

So it's time for another sketch at Little Shop of Sketches!! This week is another from the fabulous Anne Pennington. Here is my take

I used the July Scraps of Darkness kit. That gorgeous baby is my niece Shea. I altered the color of the photos to fit with the page. The background was created with a prima mask and shimmerz mists.

I colored this dusty attic frame with smooch accent ink.

I doodled around the page with stickles.

These are some metal accents that came with the kit. I actually had two small ones instead of the small one and the big one and when I went to go take a picture I realized I was missing one of them. I tried so hard to find it but I couldn't (it's probably a sign that I should clean my scrap area). I think it turned out to be a good thing though because I really love how it turned out with the big one. I also did my string of pearls frame for two of the pictures. It's my new favorite way to frame pictures =)

I hope to see you ladies play along over at the ning site for Little Shop of Sketches!!

Sweet Baby Girl

I am on a roll scrapping my baby niece lately. Maybe she won't actually be a toddler when I finish her baby album. I did this page for the August Doodle challenge and the August Scraplift The Person Before You challenge. I lifted Penny Lane's layout. It felt like fate because I had been wanting to do zentangle on a page for a while now. The page is titled 'Sweet Baby Girl'.

You can see that I didn't do an obvious scraplift. I was more inspired than anything else. I pulled some of the doodles, the fact that there are doodles, the pic in the middle, and the black and white colors from Penny Lane's page. I drew everything on here. If it's not apparent the overall image is a butterfly. This took me so so long and I think I lost all feeling in my hand for a good 6 hours afterward. However it was crazy calming and when I was finished I was actually sad that I was no longer doodling. I know that I am crazy. I drew this on white cardstock and I was going to leave it like that originally but I went crazy with the border and it just didn't look right to me so I cut out the butterfly and put it on black cardstock and I just love how it came out.

When God Closes A Door He Opens A Window.

So I have never been a particularly religious person but I do consider myself to have a lot of faith in God (I believe that there is a difference between faith and religion). Lately life has been particularly hard for my boyfriend and I. However because of my faith I always believe that no matter how hard things can get something good is either just around the corner or has already happened even if I do not recognize it at first. Therefore I strongly believe in the saying 'When God closes a door He opens a window', which basically says to me that there is always hope for life to get better even in the darkest of times. I have witnessed this being true many times. When the current bi-monthly skeletons in the closet challenge over at Scraps of Darkness came out, the topic was to scrap a saying that people would be familiar with and you couldn't use a photo of people. So I chose the door/window saying and it could not be more perfect as I felt that things were reaching a breaking point in my life and I needed to reaffirm my faith. Since this page bloomed into my head things have improved, I finally got an answer and solution to my health issues, my boyfriend has a very good job lead, and if he gets it I could finally go back to school. Here is the page:  

I used the July Scraps of Darkness kit. I also used Sketchy Thursdays 8.4 Sketch. I have been salivating over their sketches for a while now and I am so excited that I actually found the time to participate in this weeks sketch challenge. I hope that I will be able to continue to do so.

These flowers were blue originally. I used Sarah Hurley's black mist which works so amazingly. I used it on the background and the Dusty Attic frame as well. Here are some more close ups of the page:

I found this picture online after a lot (A LOT) of searching. I wasn't big on the original colors and so I changed it to b&w. I framed the pic using one of my favorite techniques which is to create dots with stickles or liquid pearls but instead of just making a dot I continually squeeze the bottle so they all connect together. Almost like a string of beads.

Thanks for looking! I hope you guys like it. The best part of my page is that when I showed it to my boyfriend he liked it so much he wants to hang it on our wall and he never suggests that we display my pages :)

Timeless

I have done another mixed media project. I am seriously addicted to them now. Only I just used the last canvas that I have so until my budget allows this will be my last one for a little bit. Oh life and budgets how inconvenient you can be. This one is for the Steampunk Challenge over at scrapbook.com. This month's topic was The Fae.

I drew the faerie myself. I used the zentangle technique for the wings. It really is a relaxing exercise. I am thinking of incorporating it on a future layout.

I colored the faerie in with markers, distress ink, and stickles. A really cool technique I saw on a blog somewhere shows how you can use distress inks to paint. Basically you just press the ink pad on a hard surface like a piece of glass or plastic, and spritz with water. Then you just use a paint brush and paint!

I used Teresa Collins chipboard embellishments and a Heidi Swapp overlay. I inked and stickled the chipboard.

I created a whimsical like frame around the canvas with black paint and added crystals to glam it up.

My most favorite thing about this piece though is the texture of the background. I started with brown and green paint mixed with some gesso. I blended it all together and then used a paper towel to give it that sponge like look. I then added some smooch spritz and mister huey's on top for added color and to create the more whimsical feel.

Well I hope you guys like it!! I am really excited that I have the next three days off, I am hoping to get a couple of pages done. We'll see how it goes.

You Make Me Smile

It's August!! This is my favorite month out of the whole year because it also happens to be my birthday month!! Also there are no major event to compete with it so it is usually a very chill month. I have decided that I need to start crafting more. I haven't been able to recently because work went crazy, family was in town visiting, and I had so health issues. So since work has slowed down and the family visit is over (I think anyways ... watch them show up at my door tomorrow to prove me wrong) I can finally get back to scrapbooking. The health issues are still around but apparently they always will be now (nothing serious thank God, but very uncomfortable) and I am on medication that should ease it almost completely. I can't wait till next week when I will have tons of time to dedicate to my crafts, and I am just bursting with ideas which is fantastic!! I did get a page done this week though and its for the July Scraps of Darkness sketch challenge. The sketch if from Charlotte Jenkins (who is crazy talented) and she also hosts this challenge over at scrapbook.com where you don't need to have the kit in order to participate. My page is called 'You Make Me Smile'

Fun fact (for me) is that this picture was taken a year ago almost to the day. I like coincidences like that :) I am so much more in love with the few punches that I have since I started converting them to cover circles and other shapes besides a straight line. It's really not hard, just cut the punch strip after each loop, design, etc. and glue it down one piece at a time. It is pretty time consuming but so worth it in my opinion.

Most everything on this page came from the Scraps of Darkness kit, isn't it just gorgeous? I added some dimension the the photo and the die cuts to give the page depth.

You can't really tell from these pictures though. It adds a lot in real life. The last two close-ups show that I cannot go without a stickle, liquid pearls, or a combination of both, border. I swear I am obsessed.

I used a prima mask on the background paper and the circle as a stamp. I really like how it blends in until you look closer. Makes it seem like you see something new everything you see the page.

Well thanks for looking!! Hopefully I will start posting more often this month :D

A Calm Night & Rafiki

If you read my previous post 'Elephant Kisses' then you know I was completely inspired to make another mixed media canvas project. I titled it 'A Calm Night'.

I almost didn't title it but there was a huge empty space and it didn't seem right. I used Basic Grey's Out of Print paper pad for the mosaic background. I then painted over it with twinkling H2O's starter pack colors, and smooch mists (which I mixed with water to dilute the color a little). I added the houses and trees by using markers, smooch ink, and stickles.

I created stars in the sky with stickles and liquid pearls. For the moon I used a journaling stencil and just followed it around with stickles. I added a gem to the middle empty space to complete it.

I absolutely love buttons and recently I saw a page that had buttons as the clouds. I had to steal that idea stat ;)

I also did a layout recently for the July/August Scraps of Darkness Round Robin. I followed Celina (Forevervampress) and I got to lift her Sleep layout. Here is 'Rafiki'

This is me at Animal Kingdom at Disney World last year. I painted the border and used mists and streaks of paint on the background. I fussy cut the flowers and used a stickles/liquid pearls border around the pic. I used the July Scraps of Darkness kit for this page.

Elephant Kisses

So my cousin (who is really like a sister to me) has been going through a really tough time. She is also in the process of moving to a new place. So when I saw my July kit from Scraps of Darkness and that it involved elephants I knew I had to make her a cheering up/ housewarming present. My cousin has this (unhealthy ;)) obsession with elephants. As does her mother (my aunt) who used to give us 'elephant kisses' when we were younger. Hence the title of my project:

I used a 10x10 canvas for this. I used papers from the kit as the background and painted over it with water colors, acrylics, and mists. It was a complete trial and error thing. I tried something, if I didn't like it I spritzed it with water, rubbed a paper towel over it, and tried something else. I am pretty happy with the results and it was so much fun to make. Completely de-stressing.

To make the frame I stamped an image with gesso, and painted a square around the canvas with gesso, added embossing powder, heat embossed it, and then I went over it with a watercolor. I added the jewels to balance the flowers on the other corners out.

This was another trial and error result. I misted a doily to put in the center and I really hated how it came out. I tried something else, and then I realized that I did like the edges of the doily. So I tore those off and did a makeshift circle (the edges might not have torn off as cleanly as I would have liked). I added stickle dots and a stickle border and I filled in the center with gold paint. I really love how it frames the elephants and gives the project texture.

I had so much fun creating this that I have become completely inspired to do more mixed media canvas projects. I am working on one right now that I am loving how it's turning out. Can't wait to share it with you all!!

Disney Safari *Little Shop of Sketches*

So this week a new sketch for Little Shop of Sketches is out. Here is the fabulous sketch by Anne Pennington:

Now I have to admit that due to some personal things happening in my life right now I have really been struggling with scrapping lately. So I am not really satisfied with my take. However the other DT layouts are fabulous!!

This is titled 'Disney Safari' and I made it using the Scraps of Darkness June kit. Actually the sketch worked really well showcasing these pictures. Ironically only 8 pictures came out really well. I learned during this expedition that it is really hard to take pictures over the head of an 8 year old while in a moving vehicle.

What I love most about this page is the chipboard pieces. I think the colors turned out really well.

Remember to come play along at the ning site!!

Take the Scenic Route

This is a new page for my parent's scrapbook. They are random pics from the drive they took from northern California to Oregon. I finished this page yesterday on the 4th of July which is why I think I felt so inspired to use the red, white and blue color scheme. It is titled 'Take the Scenic Route'.

I spent a long time creating the border around the die cut and circle. I made it with a straight punch which I then cut after every couple of loops to be able to create the curves. I created this page for the July Round Robin challenge over at sb.com. I am in week one and so I had to create a page to inspire the other three weeks. I hope they like this. This is also for the July color challenge over there. That challenge was to use red, white, and blue without using patriotic themed collections. I mostly used the Travel Forever collection by Best Creation. I didn't even realize I was using those colors until half-way though.

In other news, I got published in Scrapstreet magazine!! You can see my page on page 17 in The Spotlight.