My Little Pirate Layout

Hello once again fellow scrappers & bloggers--believe it or not I'm back! Life has been very hectic for me lately & it seems that I cannot find the time to do anything anymore. However a true scrapper will 'make' time to at least get one layout done in the month. So here I am with my November page--a Halloween layout of my little Toby dressed as a pirate! Halloween layouts practically in December--yep, for me--this is pretty much right on time. Keep an eye out in July of 2011 for my Christmas pages!

My little fur boy looks like a real person in these pictures doesn't he? By the way, that second picture where he's serious was pretty much at the end of the photo shoot when he was getting tired of 'posing' for pictures. That's his 'Ok, I'm done now' look...believe me, I've seen it a lot so I recognize it instantly!

I did several techniques in this layout beginning with the entire night sky with the flying witch in front of the full moon. That entire scene was alcohol inked & stamped. For a brief tutorial on how I went about doing this, please go here.

The title is held in a Tim Holtz ornate plate. I inked around the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink & then filled the plate face with Glossy Accents. When the glaze dries it creates a dimensional enamel effect.

This entire part of the layout was inspired by my scrap buddy Natasha. As far as I'm concerned, this girl has brought eyelets back in style & has inspired me to be more creative with lacing. This is my first time using eyelets & I have to say that I'm now wondering what took me so long? I did this one technique & I'm now a proud owner of a Big Bite (thank you Natasha for the tip!). I wanted the lacing to give the impression that it was a cobweb made by my stamped fancy spider--so I named it the 'spider lacing' technique. Yes, I'm known for my originality. :-Þ For a tutorial on this lacing technique, please go here.

The spider & spider web stamp are by Inkadinkado.
A close-up of the alcohol inked night scene. For a tutorial on how I put this scene together--please go here.

Stamps used here are by Inkadinkado & Stampscapes.

The corrugated cardboard went through many inking & misting phases. All the edges--especially the top edge--was heavily inked with Walnut Stain distress ink. The entire cardboard was misted with Suede glimmer mist & Olive Smooch. I then ran the corrugated cardboard through my Big Shot to get that die cut border. I used Tim Holtz' Scrollwork die for the border.

The brick wall scene behind the pictures is actually a transparency that I stamped with Staz-On & a brick wall stamp. Remember that for stamping on transparencies or any non-pourous surface you need a permanent ink. Staz-On is one of the best permanent ink pads out there. I used lavender crackle paint to go around the edges of the pictures & give them a 'crackle' frame.

Using a Martha Stewart bat punch I punched out several bats, inked thier upper wings with Diamond Stickles, bent thier wings up & adhered them with pop dots to give them dimension. I wanted to give the illusion that the bats were flying out from the lacing I did on the layout.

Well, there you have it. Thanks for stopping by & all comments are very much appreciated!

Till my next post...

Spider Lacing Tutorial

This tutorial will show how I went about making the 'spider lacing' seen in my 'My Little Pirate' layout. As always, I'm sure a talented scrapper out there has done this already but this just shows how I went about getting this lacing done. I named this lacing 'spider lacing' because I was making a Halloween themed layout & wanted the lacing to have kind of a 'cobweb' look to it--that's about the extent to my reasoning behind the name!?
You can space your holes in any way--although I tend to keep mine no more than 1" inch to 1 1/4" inches apart. You can also take all the measurement guess work out of the way by simply using a border punch to get the holes all evenly spaced out. For this layout I used Martha Stewarts Scallop Dot punch. I then inserted black eyelets into the holes with my Crop-a-dile.

Step 1: Start by stringing your ribbon or twine straight across in the 2nd from last holes at the bottom.

Step 2: Take your string straight down & insert into the last set of holes.

Step 3: Bring your string up & criss cross them. Have the ends emerge from underneath the next empty set of holes.

Step 4: Bring your string straight down & loop it underneath the existing lacing in the next lower set of holes. Make sure you do this on both sides.

Step 5: Once you've looped your string on both sides, you're back to step 3 again. Bring your strings up, criss cross them & have them emerge from the next set of empty holes. Repeat steps 3 & 4 until your lacing is complete.

Here you have it! One spider lacing complete.

Hope you enjoyed this brief lacing tutorial.

Till my next post...

Alcohol Inked Scene Tutorial

Hello once again! In this brief tutorial I'll be showing how I went about creating the alcohol inked witch night scene found in my 'My Little Pirate' layout. The same technique I used here can be used to create any alcohol inked scene--just let your imagination be your guide! So let's get started...

Here is a basic list of supplies needed: Alcohol inks, Alcohol Blending Solution, white glossy cardstock, stamps, heat gun, embossing ink pad & embossing powder. Make sure the paper you're using is glossy. Alcohol inks are meant for non-pourous surfaces. Glossy cardstock is non-pourous & works like a charm with alcohol inks.
Prior to stamping your main background try & test out your alcohol inks on any glossy scrap paper you may have on hand. As you can see here, I tried a variety of color combinations in order to come up with the right color I was looking for the night sky. I ended up using Purple Twilight & Wild Plum for the sky with Butterscotch & Sunshine Yellow for the moon.

I cut glossy cardstock to be 10" inches wide by 4" inches high. I then started applying the alcohol ink by using the standard 'pouncing' method with the alcohol ink applier. The beautiful part about alcohol inks is that you can not go wrong with them. You can apply the inks in any motion--pouncing, swirling, tapping...it all works! If the color comes out too dark (as was my case when I finished the night sky) add a few drops of the blending solution to the applier & went over the scene again. The blending solution will lighten any colors. If you want the colors to be darker...just add another layer of the same colors. It's as simple as that.

I next cut out a 4" inch circle from the glossy cardstock & made the moon with the same technique used in making the sky. I pounced away until I was satisfied with how the moon looked. The other good thing about alcohol inks is that they dry quickly. So no waiting for inks to dry.
Next step is to stamp your images. Ink your stamp in embossing ink & stamp your image where you wish it to be. In my case, I wanted the witch to be flying in front of the moon. Since you're stamping on glossy cardstock make sure you keep a steady hand or else your stamp may slip & fudge your image. Glossy cardstock tends to be slippier than regular cardstock b/c of it's texture. Once your image is stamped pour some embossing powder over it & heat emboss it. I used black embossing powder for this image.

As you can see embossing on glossy cardstock gives the images a completely different look than embossing on regular cardstock. You get this shiny, dimensional look that I really like! At this point all you're doing is stamping & embossing any other stamps you need for your scene. In my case it was a variety of trees & tree branches that gave the scene that spooky night look I was looking for.

Here you have it! I stamped trees all along the bottom & a couple of branches in the upper corners. Then I adhered the moon with pop dots in order to give it more of a 3D look.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial & that you use this technique to create a variety of alcohol inked scenes.

Till my next post...