You're My Treasure Layout and Mixed Media Recipe Book ~ Scraps of Darkness Rustic Kit ~

Today, I am sharing two more projects created with the Scraps of Darkness August 2013 Rustic Kit. This kit is so fantastic to work with and I especially loved this month's creativity add-on!

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First up is the second layout I have created with this kit, entitled "You're My Treasure". I just love this sweet picture of my son - and the Kaisercraft "Basecoat" papers were perfect foundation to create a masculine, mixed media layout to showcase the picture. 

I started off by doing some masking with a stencil from my stash and some modeling paste. Then I misted the layout with the Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst mist included in the Main Kit and some blue mist I made using Luminarte Primary Elements Artist Pigments. I then did some stamping with two of the new Prima Clear Stamps from Finnabair's Elementals collection and some Memento Dye Ink in Rich Cocoa.

Once I had finished creating the background, I layered some strips of paper and added the photo, which I wrapped with twine and added two mini-paper clips to (from the Creativity Add-On). I had a few 'bare spots' so I went back and did a little bit more stamping before adding the final embellishments.

For the embellishment cluster, I used Petaloo flowers (Flower Add-on), burlap butterflies and Mandy's Signature Stick-Pin (Embellishment Add-On) and some Prima Metal pieces ('Special Screws' from the Main Kit and the key from my stash). I spritzed the butterflies with the Lindy's Starburst Mist and then stamped them with one of the Prima stamps I had used to create the background. The title was created with Authentique 'Natural Elements' stickers (Main Kit). 

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Next, I have a Recipe Book created using this month's Creativity Add-On and using techniques I learned in one of the classes I was lucky enough to take with Finnabair in July. I used Luminarte Silks Acrylic Glaze for the paint colours on this layout and a combination of embellishments from the Creativity Add-On and from my stash to create the collage. The chain on the 'spine' of the book is saved from a purse I had that I used until it fell apart - but I saved this gorgeous chain as I knew I'd find a use for it!

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That's it for me today - I'll have a few more projects made with this kit to share over the next couple of weeks. It is such fun to create with! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today - I appreciate your visits and comments so much!

Steampunk Bride Tag - Scraps of Darkness Tag Exchange

Well, this post is a little late, but . . . .well, it is summer and I haven't stayed on top of my blog posting! In July, I played along with a Tag Exchange at Scraps of Darkness and was paired up with the amazingly talented Karen Zueger-Brownell (aka LostCoastScrapper). Now, I knew Karen was getting married in July, so I wanted to create a wedding-themed tag for her, but I wanted it to suit her 'style' (check out her fabulous blog to see her gorgeous work) - so I created this "Steampunk Bride" Tag using Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante!

I painted the top with Shimmerz black paint and then did some masking of the gears with molding paste, followed by some Perfect Pearls in Charcoal and Gold. I used fussy cut elements from the Steampunk Debutante papers around the tag, along with some rub-ons (e.g. the bride's wings). I added black lace at the bottom and top and embellished with metal Prima/Tim Holtz embellishments and a Prima mini light bulb.

That's it for today - short and sweet! Hope you liked the tag Karen!

Dance - Imaginarium Designs & Scraps of Darkness

Today, I'm sharing a bright and colourful layout using the Scraps of Darkness July Kit Gypsy Summer and some gorgeous Imaginarium Designs Chipboard!  The design of this layout was inspired by the August Sketch challenge on Graphic 45's Facebook page.The picture, which I took while on my honeymoon, is just ideal for the Graphic 45 "Bohemian Bazaar" collection papers.

 

There are lots and lots of layers on this layout incorporating the Graphic 45 papers, postcard cutouts, tags & pockets and stickers. I also added lots of bling around the page to embellish the flower and flourish designs in the papers.

I needed a way to make the photo really stand out on these bright/busy papers - so the Imaginarium Designs Chipboard frame was a perfect embellishment to enhance the photo! 

I also used an Imaginarium Designs border to anchor the bottom of the layout and balance all the heavy layering at the top. I just love the coordinated border and frame together!

The chipboard elements were first painted with gesso to get a smooth, white base. I then used Faber-Castell Gelatos in Margarita Mix and Gold and rubbed them onto the chipboards with my fingers. Finally, to lighten the effect and reveal some of the white base, I rubbed a finger moistened with water over the chipboards.

Imaginarium Designs Chipboard Used

Anna Frame - IDFR0013

LongSwirlyFlourish - IDFL0005

Other Materials Used:  Scraps of Darkness July Kit - Patterned Paper - Graphic 45 "Bohemian Bazaar" - Lap of Luxury, Kaleidoscope, Vivid Splendor, Opulent Sunset, Dazzling Delights, and Stickers and Tags & Pockets; Bo Bunny Blossoms  - Buttercup Zinnia; Faber Castell Gelatos - Margarita Mix & Gold; Queen & Co. Rhinestones - Orchid.

Supplies from my stash: Bazzill Basics Self Adhesive Jewels - Multi-Colour; ProArt Gesso; Leaves; Memory Tape Runner XL; Aleene's Tacky Glue.

That is it for me today - I hope you liked my layout. Also, don't forget to stop by and leave a comment on my post on the Imaginarium Designs Blog for a chance to win some fantastic Imaginarium Designs Chipboard! Thanks for visiting my blog today - I appreciate your visits and comments so much!

it's a Sweet Life ~ Scraps of Darkness August Kit Reveal ~ Rustic

Scraps Of Darkness has just released it's August Kit ~ Rustic, and it is utterly fantastic! This kit features perfectly coordinating papers by Farmhouse Paper Company, Authentique and Kaisercraft and outstanding complementary embellishments - Melinda has outdone herself in putting this kit together!

This month's sketch was created by new Design Team Member Laura Gilhuly. Here is Laura's sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch! We celebrated my son's third birthday recently and I took this photo of him 'helping' make some birthday cupcakes. I converted the photo to sepia (heavy on the red tones) to coordinate with the layout (since my son had a very bright red Spiderman shirt on that totally clashed with the red on the layout). I used one of the Authentique stickers from the kit as the title for this layout - "it's a Sweet Life".

 

I used the Farmhouse Paper Company papers and flowers from the kit and added some burlap and twine from my stash! I did some stamping and paint splattering too! I used a Kaisercraft Distressed Clear Stamp and brown ink to stamp the top right and bottom left corners and used a Bo Bunny Stained Textures Clear Stamp with the same ink (but sprayed with water to lighten it slightly) for the rings and splats. Once I had finished layering the papers, I added a really fine splatter with watered-down acrylic paint in Antique White to make it look as if the LO had been dusted with baking flour. 

The Farmhouse papers are a nice heavy weight and were perfect for tearing/distressing to create the layers for this layout! And, I just loved the recipe cards - they were perfect for this fun picture! The Farmhouse flowers in the Flower Add-On are perfectly coordinated with these papers, and I also added a couple of Petaloo butterflies (from the July SOD Embellishment Add-On) to my flower cluster.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today to see my first layout with the AMAZING Scraps of Darkness August Kit! I'll have some more projects with this kit to share with you later in the month - so be sure to come back for another visit!

Gypsy ATC Wall Hanging ~~Scraps of Darkness~~

Today, I'm sharing another project created with the outstanding Scraps of Darkness July Kit Gypsy Summer. I decided to venture into the world of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) using the awesome Digital Collage images included in the July kit! I have never made an ATC before and am still trying to 'figure them out' - but I had a great time making these and love how the full project looks as a wall hanging!

I mod-podged the images onto heavy cardtock, cut them out and then inked the edges with Distress Ink in Black Soot. I made my own black texture paste using Gabrielle Polacco's baking soda recipe; however, I substituted black acrylic craft paint for the white paint and added some Ranger Perfect Pearls pigment (Charcoal colour) too. I used the Crafter's Workshop Mini Grandma's Lace Doily Stencil with the texture paste to frame the faces of the images. Once the stenciled areas had dried, I dry-brushed the tops with Luminarte Silks Acrylic Glaze in Emperor's Gold.  I used the kit's pom-pom ribbon (coloured black with Dylusions in Black Marble) and the beaded trim and some gold lace from my stash along the bottom edges of the cards. Here is a close-up of each of the ATCs.

Hope you liked my first foray into ATCs - definitely want to try out some more of these!

My Boy ~~Scrap For Help~~

This month's challenge at Scrap for Help is to use a tea bag in your project! How much fun is this challenge?! The ladies on the design team have come up with some fantastic ways to use tea bags in creating their projects - so be sure to stop by the Scrap for Help blog and check out all the Design Team projects -- and play along too!

For my project, I created a layout and used tea bags to brew very strong tea, which I splashed on my page and used to make tea rings on the page. This layout was inspired by a class a took with Finnabair in July, so there is also lots of misting!

I started out using an older collection of Iron Orchid Designs papers by Creative Imaginations - love the barbed wire and newsprint pattern of this. I distressed and inked the edges of all the papers with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. The embellishments are all by Prima, including resist canvas shapes, cotton tape, Craftsman wooden embellishments, Craftsman wooden buttons, a Sunrise Sunset zipper flower, Sunrise Sunset 'Say it in Crystals', metal stickpin, and some Prima packaging. I used the wet tea bag directly on the resist-canvas elements and the larger rings on the paper were created with the tea as well. The mists were created with Luminate Primary Elements Pigments and the paint splatters and paint rings were created with Luminarte Silks Acrylic Glaze. Here are a couple of close-ups!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I hope you'll play along with us at Scrap For Help this month!

Scraps of Darkness - July 2013 Design Team Reveal - Gypsy Summer Kit

Today, the Scraps of Darkness Design Team is revealing the July Kit Gypsy Summer!  This kit is full of gorgeous Graphic 45 Bohemian Bazaar and My Mind's Eye Collectables papers, as well as coordinating embellishments in fun summer colours - and it was SO much fun to work with. The Add-ons are outstanding and must-have for this kit - Mandy's signature stick pin is STUNNING (see it on my layout below)! Melinda chose an amazing quote to go along with the reveal this month; it is so inspiring and wonderful:

“We are all wanderers on this earth. Our hearts are full of wonder,
and our souls are deep with dreams.” ~Gypsy Saying

I've already shared my sketch layout for this kit with you - see it here. And today, I have a second layout and an altered birdhouse to share with you!

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Live. Love. Laugh.

First up is my second layout with this kit, entitled "Live. Love. Laugh." I had lots of fun creating the background for this layout and fussy-cutting the gorgeous Graphic 45 papers for some of the embellishments. The photo is of my husband and me on our honeymoon in Punta Cana.

For the background of this page, I started with a sheet of the MME paper and used the Prima 12x12 Turkish Grunge stencil with Heavy Gel Medium. Once the gel medium had set, I mod-podged squares of fuchsia tissue paper over the entire base page, doubling up the tissue layer in a few random spots. Finally, I dry brushed Luminarte Silks Acrylic Glaze in Solar Gold over the stenciled areas to highlight the stenciling. Turned out pretty cool, don't you think?! Let me know if you'd like a more detailed tutorial on this . . . .I could be convinced to put one together!!

I (obviously) didn't want to hide too much of the background that I painstakingly created, so I focused my photo cluster in one corner of the layout, with a small embellishment cluster in the opposite corner. As the 'mat' for my photo element, I used part of an Imaginarium Designs 12x12 Moroccan Chipboard Shape, plus some of the cut-outs from the shape, which I painted Solar Gold. I cut the floral flourishes from the Graphic 45  Bohemian Bazaar papers and highlighted the dots on the flourishes with Stickles in Patina. The 'mesh' elements are actually the backing off some leftover bathroom tiles. I also added some tangles of white cotton thread. The title "Live. Love. Laugh." is the Kaisercraft Wood Flourish from the Embellishment Add-on, which I painted with Luminarte Silks in Bolivian Blue. Finally, on the right side of the photo, you see Mandy's gorgeous stick-pin, which so perfectly coordinates with the colours in this kit!

And, here is a quick close-up of the small embellishment cluster in the bottom left of the layout (you can really see the Stickles here).

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Bohemian Birdhouse

For my second project today, I created an altered "Bohemian Birdhouse". I started off with a plain wooden birdhouse that I picked up on clearance at Michael's. I knew I wouldn't be able to cover the front with paper, so I started out by painting the front, edges and top finial with Luminarte Silks in Pink Anthurium. Once the paint dried, I embellished the front of the birdhouse with the Queen & Co. rhinestones from the Main Kit and the Bohemian Bazaar title sticker from the Graphic 45 Sticker Sheet (Main Kit).

I used the Bohemian Bazaar papers with mod podge to cover the sides, top, back and bottom. The beaded ribbon around the top of the birdhouse is from the Embellishment Add-On and the floral border and photo corners around the bottom edge are from the Graphic 45 Sticker sheet. 

I used a section of Imaginarium Designs chipboard Spade Top Picket Fence along the front of the birdhouse, which I painted with Acrylic Paint in Antique White and Luminarte Silks in Ice; finally, I rubbed some of the fence areas with the Gold Gelato included in the Main Kit to give it a worn look. I used an Imaginarium Designs chipboard Vine on the right side as the base for my flower cluster. The flowers are a combination of the flowers from the Flower Add-on and few extras from my stash. The birds (by Prima) are also from my stash.

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That is it for me today! I have LOTS of stuff left from this kit and will share some more projects with you as I get them done! I just LOVE this kit to bits - just working with it brightens your day!

Inspire. Create. Art. - Art Journal Page ~~Imaginarium Designs~~

I was fortunate enough this month to take several classes with Ania Dąbrowska (aka Finnabair) and one of the classes resulted in my first foray into Art Journalling - and now I might be hooked! So I thought it would be fun to create an Art Journal page to celebrate my experience learning from Ania! This page is inspired by Finnabair's page called Tangled and uses her gorgeous Prima Sunrise Sunset papers, stamps and Vintage Trinkets, as well as some "found objects" (aka I raided the husband's toolbox) and thread. The picture of Ania and me was taken following the first class (please forgive that I look like a grinning idiot - I was so thrilled with learning from Ania!).

Here are some close-ups of the left and right pages.

I used the new Imaginarium Designs Loolabelle's Nested Arrows and Loolabelle's Chevrons 2 chipboard shapes. I left the shapes plain when I attached them to the journal page so that they could absorb the misted colours of the page. I also sprinkled some pigment powder directly onto them in places and misted it with water to get the really cool gold metallic effects. Here are some close-ups of the chipboard!

Imaginarium Designs Chipboard Used

Loolabelle's Nested Arrows - IDDL0018

Loolabelle's Chevrons 2 - IDDL0022

Other Materials Used: Patterned Paper - Prima Sunrise Sunset Collection; Prima packaging; Prima Sunrise Sunset Vintage Trinkets; Prima Sunrise Sunset Alphabet Stickers; Prima Sunrise Sunset Stamp; Prima Clear Stamp; Memento Dye Ink - Tuxedo Black; Luminarte Artist Pigments - Ginger Peach, Golden Opal, Mandarin Blush and Nutmeg; Dylusions - Black Marble; Black Cotton Thread; ProArt Gesso; Masking Tape; Strathmore Drawing Paper; Beacon 3-in-1 Craft Glue.

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Don't forget to pop over and leave a comment on the Imaginarium Designs blog  for a chance to win some amazing Imaginarium Designs Chipboard!