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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Archivers or bust!

I wanted to take a second and share the great news with everyone-I have officially started training in at the local Archivers! I'm so excited, I've wanted to work there since I moved to the area and subsequently applied several times, it just goes to show that persistence pays off!

In celebration I wanted to share with you my completed Tropical Travelogue from our vacation this past January to the Southern Caribbean. I attempted my first slide show so bear with the bumps along the road I think I spent more time playing than anything else!

The album was based on a similar album seen on the Graphic 45 blog (and for the life of me I can't find the image but will keep looking!) The album itself was made using chipboard, black cardstock and a Tim Holtz large binder ring. I'm toying with a tutorial on it, so hopefully I will have that for you in the somewhat near future!

Remember this is my first slide show so please be gentle! But any feedback would be much appreciated!

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Feeling French?

Good morning everyone! I'm in sunny Kansas City this weekend visiting my darling niece Avalee! She is such an energetic little girl, and so adorable! This is Ava with her 'dampa' at my parents' house this summer-such a sweet heart! So before our little tornado wakes up I've got a little amour to share with you. This page was created for a couple of challenges over at scrapbook.com, the Feeling French challenge and the Round Robin challenge. For the Round Robin I lifted Pat's (GentlewoodFarms) layout 'Bruce Almighty'. Check out the original!

The Feeling French challenge required you to choose three elements on a set list of elements to use, I opted for lace, the Eiffel tower and a french phrase. And I used my absolute favorite line of Prima paper 'Moulin Rouge'-if I could find a couple of full sets of this I'd definitely snap them up!


The photo is of my sister and her husband on their, you guessed it, wedding day. They had this gorgeous vintage Rolls Royce to bring them to the reception, and I just loved this photograph, it just has a classic feel to it which I felt worked quite well with the Prima line.

The flocked rub-on plaque behind the title is actually the leftovers. If you've ever used this product you know that once you've used the rub-on there is an outer layer of flock on the plastic backing which leaves a gorgeous negative image. Just trim the plastic as close to the flock as possible and you have a fabulous new embellishment to use!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Saint Patrick's Day!

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Smoke 'em if you got 'em

I'm working on a Cigar box and mini album swap over at Scrapbook.com-another one of Martica's fantastic swaps! This round I have the privilege of creating for Throwscraps and to be honest I am a little intimidated! She is so talented and I really hope she enjoys what I've been working on for her!

The mini album isn't quite finished yet but I wanted to share the cigar box I've made for her. I started with a blank wooden cigar box from Michael's and painted it with the Martha Stewart acrylic pearl paint. Silly me forgot to prime it first so it took several coats!

I used the Graphic 45 'Once Upon a Springtime' 12x12 pp pack. I just love this line, it is so soft and pretty, perfect for this springtime swap! I had a fabulous time in Michael's looking for coordinating flowers and embellies and I'm pretty sure I broke the bank on them! But I have such a huge selection to choose from now.

The sign on the cover was cut out of standard chipboard from the Tim Holtz Alterations die 'Hanging Sign' I just flipped it upside down to cover the holes with flowers. I first inked the entire thing with Vintage Photo distress stain and then embossed it using vintage photo embossing powder. I then covered the entire thing with a thin layer of Rock Candy distress crackle paint. Surprisingly I didn't lose the texture from the embossing under the crackle paint and I just love how it turned out!

I wanted to keep the inside fairly simple so I went for schlacking the inside cover with a thick layer of matte mod podge, layering the pps and podged it again; adding a few flowers. For the interior I wanted to give the impression of the mini 'nesting' in the box so I lined it with pink silk. For the most part the mini still fits inside-but it isn't done yet! Look for photos and a tutorial to come for the mini album portion!

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Memories

This is a page I created for a challenge going on over at Stay True to God, they have three amazingly generous RAKs to give out so take a peek here! I opted to try go for level three which meant using all four colors, (lavender, ice blue, cream and grey), three embellishments (flowers, bling, pearls or lace) one shape (damask or diamond) and one technique (one of three stamp tutorials or handmade flowers) and this was my final result! Oddly enough it turned out exactly the way I pictured it in my mind from the beginning. A rare occurrence I can assure you!

I've only used three sheets of paper for this entire page, including all of the handmade flowers. The blue paper and grey papers are from My Mind's Eye 28th Street Market from Michaels and I used a sheet of Basic Grey's Little Black Dress line with the damask shapes.

I handmade all the flowers using the Tim Holtz tattered florals die and the Regal Flourishes texture fade. Using this tutorial I posted in my first post. I topped them off with various bits of bling and pearls while tucking some crystal and pearl flourishes randomly throughout.

The colors turned out to be a bit harder than I anticipated, at least the lavender. It turns out I am not a big 'purple' person, so I opted to add it as an accent color. Mainly in the form of the milled lavender distress ink and acrylic paint.

I used a Melody Ross chipboard tag which I sanded down, primed, re-sanded, painted blue with Martha Stewart's Pearl acrylic paint in Jet Stream. I edged it in lavender acrylic paint and used my finger to add a grained look.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to check out the challenge over at STTG!

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Cricket...cricket...

Good morning friends!

So I've been MIA for quite a while! Although I have been up to my elbows in glue, paint and all things mini! And having a ton of new photos from vacation to sift through and start working on I opted to skip the traditional 12x12 album and went to work on a mini album using the newish Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue papers!

Still in progress I at least wanted to share the cover of my album, I had such a great time with this project since the papers are so bright and the images are just gorgeous! I wasn't sure if I could make this work for our entire vacation since I had over 300 images, but I was able to fit about 50 photos into this 10x7.5" album!

*No the cover pp isn't from the collection, but it is still a Graphic 45 pp from the On the Boardwalk collection

I still have 3 pages left to finish so I will be back to share more photos and a supply list once I have those complete but for now I hope you enjoy the little sneak peek!

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