A new layout and contest!

Good morning friends, before I show you my latest creation, I'm super excited about national scrapbooking day which is coming up on Saturday May 5th!  It has always been one of my favorite days in the scrappy world, next to ScrapFest and CHA previews.  And to celebrate I'm having my first ever give away!

If I can make it to 35 followers by Saturday I'm giving away a new Tim Holtz Spring Seasonal Distress ink collection!

I got my collection yesterday and I have to say I'm in love with the colors already!  Now how do you win this fabulous prize?  Leave a comment on this post and let me know that you're following! You must be a follower and comment to be eligible. Winner will be chosen at random from those who comment and are followers the evening of Saturday May 5th!

Now onto the my latest little project.  This past fall my mom and I went to Cavalia in Minneapolis, a fabulous cirque du soleil inspired equestrian show, and it was just amazing.  The end of the first act culminated in the most amazing display of Roman riding I've seen in quite a long time.

Photography wasn't allowed during the performance, so I must thank google image search for this photo.  The page was created using the March Scraps of Darkness kit, which was full of the wonderful Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe papers and a beautiful sketch by suepup.

I did a lot of fussy cutting on both the butterflies and the bg paper. The diamond paper is actually the second side of the outer background paper, but because I loved both sides so much I had a hard time deciding how to use it.  So I cut the bg paper to form a frame and gave it a slight mat using CS allowing me to flip over the center portion of the paper to complete the background.  The whole made from fussy cutting out the roller skate is hidden behind all the layers.

Then I just added in a bunch of the various boarders and tags from the collection.  The title was from the Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe's alpha sticker sheet and it was mounted to cardstock.  The peacock feather was a gift from Brooklyn Scrapper-thanks lady!

So I hope to see you all entering my contest and happy scrapping!

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Mother Earth

In honor of Earth day I wanted to post this page created for the Darker Side challenge over at  Scrapbook.com.  The theme this month was 'earthy' and the first image that popped into my head was a greek goddess type figure.  This image was found at my favorite artwork website The Sum of all Crafts.

To create the background I first distressed the edges with water, black soot distress ink and a scissors for the deep tears.  Once dried I stamped the paper with bubble wrap and a mixture of brown and gold acrylic paint.  I than masked with the negative image of the Tim Holtz Branch Tree bigz die. 

 After the background was complete I printed the image on tissue paper and adhered it to the background with matte gel medium.  To prevent the image from smearing I reversed it prior to printing so the ink was on the backside but my image still faced the direction I wanted.  

Once everything was dry I added the leaves and metal butterfly from Graphic 45 and spritzed the entire page with heirloom gold Perfect Pearls.  The title used the same paint as the background and was done using Tim Holtz grungeboard letters.  'Earth' was made using a BoBunny alpha sticker sheet from the Et Cetera line.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

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Nouveau

I love the French art nouveau prints, the colors and images are so rich and beautiful-and I'm just drawn to this advertisement for Taittinger champagne featuring the image of Grace Kelly, it is just so classic. And when I saw the colors for this month's challenge over at Stay True to God (check it out here!) I thought the colors of this image would match perfectly.

This month I opted to do the level three challenge again which entailed using the 5 challenge colors (sunflower, butterscotch, auburn, rosy red and rosebud pink) with black. Four embellishments (Roses, Velvet, Chipboard, Canvas or Metal). Four textures (embossed, wrinkled, torn, crackled, puffy paint) and one technique out of the tutorials listed on the challenge page.

I painted the chipboard frame black before embossing it with vintage photo embossing powder. I rubbed off any excess powder after heating it and inked over it with black soot. I then painted over the entire frame with matte mod podge.

The red paper was stamped using tissue paper and black soot ink using Wendy's stamping tutorial. I really like how it turned out and plan on using it again in the future. The dress form was a chipboard shape that was stained with black soot distress stain and covered in glossy accents. I added a metal bead in the center of the large flower and used a velvet ribbon under the title.

The images in the frame are some of my favorites from the art nouveau period scaled down to fit the frame.

This is also for the Feeling French challenge over at sb.com using three French elements from a given list, Eiffel tower, french food (or in this case French champagne) and a fler de lis. Overall I am extremely happy with how this turned out!

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A mini album for Throws

I have finished my first week at Archivers and I have to say it is brilliant! I have had so much fun, I've met quite a few new people and have learned so many new techniques-look for those coming up somewhere down the road.

Today though I have the mini album and the new addition to share with you from the Cigar box and mini album swap I'm participating in over on sb.com. The first half of this project can be found here. The cigar box alteration I kept pretty simple, just adding some fibers around the base to give it a more finished look.

I created a paper bag mini album using the Once Upon a Springtime collection from Graphic 45, accenting it with coordinating cardstock and vintage photo distress ink, along with a bunch of fun fiber from my stash.

The flowers on the album cover were fussy cut and adhered with foam squares to add a bit of dimension. The hanging sign was cut using chipboard and embossed and inked and painted for a wrought iron look.

I tried to add several places and pockets for photos or journaling, the left page was created using the natural pocket formed by the bottom of the bag with a tag tucked under. I created another pocket using a postcard from the collection. On the right page I used one of the die cut from the paper pack to create another photo frame with a spot at the top to slide a photo in. The fairy was fussy cut out and the wings were painted with Creative Imaginations luminarte in Pearl.

The frame on the left was from Michaels Recollections, I cut out an image of a fairy to put behind the window along with some of the floral vines from the paper. The pocket on the right was stamped with the Toil and Trouble collection by Girls Paperie with bronze adirondack paint dauber.

I fussy cut the pocket out of the paper and accented it with glossy accents. The butterflies on the right were also from recollections and I hand painted each one to match the papers in the kit.

The fiber on the left was dyed using Ranger Ink Color Wash in Stream, I had problems with the sprayer so I added a few drops to a bowl of water and left the fiber to soak and dye overnight. The result was a great muted color, a quick rinse in cold water set the color. The right page has room for a photo on the front of the pocket, as well as on the tag.

The Tim Holtz birdcage on the right page was painted with bronze adirondack paint. The little charm was a gift from a swap ages ago, and I used more recollections flowers.

The page on the left has two doilies that were colored with distress inks, (crushed olive, tumbled glass and vintage photo) and create a pocket for another tag. The right hand page was another created using the flap of the paper bag for a pocket.

I created the pocket on the right page by punching with my EK Success Paper Shaper tulip edge punch, and the butterfly, also from Recollections, has a glossy accent trail.

The back of the album just has some Tim Holtz flourishes to finish it up, I have a few fussy cut shapes that I'm debating on adding, but for now I'm quite happy with how this album has turned out and I really hope my partner enjoys it!

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