Doe Eyes Layout

Hello once again fellow scrappers & bloggers! Today's layout is actually the result of a challenge between myself & my scrap buddy Natasha. This is Natasha's very sweet daughter posing ever so lovely on her first day of school a few years back.

I don't have little girls in my life. Therefore, I never have the opportunity to scrap 'girly' layouts. Most of my layouts are centered around my husband & my little furbaby Toby--so the majority of my layouts tend to lean more towards the masculine side. Natasha has both a little girl, boy & husband to scrap about but, she doesn't have any furbabies in her life. Therefore we swapped 'children' & gave one another a topic to scrap that we never or rarely have the opportunity to do. She has scrapped my version of a child which is Toby & I've had the pleasure to let my feminine side let lose with her little girl! Here's the result...

I titled this layout 'Doe Eyes'. When I first saw this picture it was this little girl's pretty brown eyes looking up at me that first caught my attention. The words 'doe eyes' instantly popped into my head & my layout was at once titled.

Here's a close up of the beaded flower vine. These are new in my Etsy shop. The beaded flowers are made by me & then attached to a vine with some mulberry roses & leaves. These vines can be gently shaped in anyway & add instant decor to any page.

In the upcoming weeks I'll slowly be rolling out more beaded flower vines in a variety of colors as well as other beaded embellishments. So keep an eye out!

I traced a Crafters Workshop template (Mini Gathered Flowers 6x6) with a white gel pen all along both sides. I then inked the centers of each flower with white acrylic paint & a small sponge. The main pink paper was adhered with dimensional foam. This left a small space between the bottom teal cardstock & the pink paper. In this space I adhered white lace along the border to make the sides stand out more.

The borders of the pink paper was made by stamping one large Prima swirl stamp twice (Build a Swirl). I then cut along the swirls to form my own unique shaped paper.

Here's a closeup of the title. I stamped on the title with a script stamp, inked the edges with Tea Dye distress ink & then glazed each letter to give it more dimension.

I also spritzed some Plum Pudding Shimmerz twice on this layout. This photo shows one of the spritzes.

A closeup of the bird & the stitched circle. The bird is an embellishment from my Etsy shop. The idea for the stitched circle came from Irene Tan. Better known as Scrapperlicious. She used this type of stitching on a few of her layouts. She calls it 'Net Stitching'. The stitching was probably what took me the longest on this layout! But it was worth the effort...

Finally, here's a closeup of one of the three butterflies on this layout. These little guys are also from my Etsy shop. They are sold in sets of three & the bright colors went along just right with my layout.

I placed a small wooden white fence along each side of the beaded flower vine--and you can't have a girl layout without some bling! So there's some behind the vine & along the top border of the photo.

I had so much fun making this layout. It was just so nice to be able to use all of these feminine embellies & colors! I have so many & never have the chance to use them! Thank you Natasha for the opportunity! Make sure you stop by her blog to see my little Toby at his best!

Till my next post...

Trick Or Treater Line-up Tutorial

Hello again fellow scrappers & bloggers! Halloween is right around the corner--yet again--so I figured I'd finally upload this tutorial that I've had for over a year now!

I made this card last year for Halloween along with the tutorial. I posted the card--but never the tutorial. Go figure? This card uses both the masking & heat resist embossing techniques in order to create scenes. It's a valuable technique to know & master so that you can create endless scenes by combining different stamps. This technique is not just useful for cards but for layouts as well. I used a version of this technique in order to create the stamped sky in my 'My Boys' layout. So let's get started!

First a list of supplies:

Inks - Versamark, Ranger Purple Twilight & Eggplant, Palette Hybrid black, Marvy Sunshine Yellow, India Ink Black Dye Ink, Colorbox Cat’s Eye Primary Color Chalk Ink
Rubber Stamps – Inkadinkado -Trick or Treat, Stampscapes - Spooky Branch
Other: clear embossing powder, Stickles, Prismacolor markers, white gel pen, Versamark pen, sponges, post-it note, Stampin Up frame corner punch, cardstock

Apply Versamark ink first followed by the Palette hybrid black ink to the trick or treaters stamp. NOTE: I use Versamark ink in combination with the black ink so that the embossing powder sticks better to the stamped image therefore allowing for good coverage. Stamp the image onto a 5” x 3 ¾ piece of white cardstock cover the image with the clear embossing powder--tap off the excess embossing powder & heat emboss the image. Once an image is heat embossed with clear embossing powder it will resist the ink that will then be applied to the background of the card.

Colored in the skeleton’s candy sack & the pumpkin head’s overalls with a Violet Mist Prismacolor marker. Colored in the witch’s candy pail and the pumpkin head with a Pumpkin Orange Prismacolor marker.

Colored over the entire image with a Versamark pen and heat embossed again with clear embossing powder. NOTE: If the image looks grainy after heat embossing, go over the grainy areas with the Versamark pen and re-emboss. After second embossing, image should look smooth.

I had a 3 ½” negative from a circle that I had cut out for a previous card that I had made. Apparently, I’m big on doing cards with the moon in the background! I taped the circle negative with masking tape in order to keep the mask from moving. I then sponged in the moon with the Marvy Sunshine Yellow ink pad.

Removed mask and I now have a perfect moon in my background. With a moist paper towel or baby wipe carefully remove any ink from the embossed image.

With a post-it note mask most of the top of the card and just leave a small portion of the bottom of the card open. This will be the ground. Sponge in the ground with the black India ink.

Remove the post-it note and the ground is now done. With a moist towel or baby wipe, carefully remove any ink from the embossed images.

Turn the post-it note around and mask the ground. NOTE: do not completely cover the ground or else when you apply the background ink there will be a white line between the ground and the background. Take the 3 ½” circle template out and mask the moon. Now this part may take a bit of practice—sponge in the background while keeping the masks in place. Always start applying the background with the lightest color and work your way to the darkest. So for this one we’ll be applying the Purple Twilight first and then the Eggplant. The Eggplant ink will only be applied to the upper portion of the background to give it that evening to nightfall look.

Remove masks. It is now suddenly nightfall! With a moist towel or baby wipe, carefully remove any ink from the embossed images.

Now we simply start embellishing the card. Stamp the spooky branch with India ink on both sides of the card. You want to make it look like the trick or treaters are in the middle of a spooky forest.

Try to make the branches go into the moon. This gives the image a better effect.

With a white gel pen draw in some stars and highlight the branches.

Start assembling the card by cutting up to coordinating pieces of cardstock. You can use just one piece of cardstock or two. I decided to use two for this tutorial. My orange cardstock measures 5 ¼” x 4” and my black and white polka dotted cardstock measures 5 ½” x 4 ¼”.

After adhering the orange cardstock to the black and white cardstock, I decided to add ribbon to the left hand side of the card--so I cut out a piece of black and white polka dotted sheer ribbon and adhered it to the card. I then decided to add three glitter button brads for extra shine. I have a thing with shiny embellies. The more glitter—the happier I am!

After adhering the main image to my yellow cardstock and then onto the card itself I decided to do the inside of the card. I cut out a 5 ¼” x 4” piece of white cardstock. With my Stampin Up frame corner punch I punched out 5 corner frames.

I inked the edges of the cardstock with yellow chalk ink and adhered the corner frames. I then stamped the sentiment ‘Happy Halloween’.

After staring at my card for about 5 minutes I decided that it needed more glitz. So I added Star Dust Stickles to add dimension to my white gel stars.

You're done!

Use your imagination to create endless of cards & incorporate this technique into your layouts.

Till my next post...

Coming Home From Paradise

I've been MIA for over a week or so--but it's for a good reason. The hubby & I went away to a very needed vacation to the closest thing to paradise that I've ever seen so far! Just wanted to post this briefly to let everyone know that I'm still here--very tired & completely out of it...but I'm still here!

We spent over 7 days in 90 degree perfect weather surrounded by palm trees, drinks, food & clear blue waters...we went to celebrate our 3 year anniversary which will be tomorrow actually--October 6th.

This first picture shows just one of the 2 huge pools that the resort we stayed at had. As you can see the resort was right on the ocean since you can see it in the background of this picture. If you look closely you'll see a cruise liner in the upper left hand corner. We saw a lot of those dock during the time we were there.

Once again, this is just a section of the resort where we stayed. It's actually an enormous place complete with a spa, gym & bars everywhere. The resort is all inclusive--literally. Meaning liquor was included. Lots of fruity drinks & margaritas on a daily basis....

A closeup of one of the pools.

Now it's time to concentrate on work, bills & make the most out of this wonderful rainy & cold Jersey weather! It was only a little over a week--but I feel like I've been out of service for over a month!

I leave you all with thoughts of sunny, hot weather, clear blue waters, palm trees, all the food & drinks you can handle, rest & relaxation & completely free of all worries & troubles.

Till my next post...