Year 3 Layout

Greetings from a very cold, icy & snowy East Coast! It's because of this weather that I decided to do a tropical themed page. In addition to the fact that I haven't yet scrapped about my three year wedding anniversary trip which happened in early October 2010. I have the tradition of at least doing one page of where we go or do for our wedding anniversary. Well here's the one for year three.

I primarily used the papers that came with the Swirlydoos January kit. The bright colors of this kit was just right for this tropical, warm page.

The flourish chipboard is covered in leaft glitter. For a tutorial on how to embellish your chippies with leaf glitter & UTEE, feel free to go here.
The majority of the edges are distressed & inked. I completely ripped apart a prima songbird vine that came with this kit. You'll find pieces of it all over my page. Here's one of the birds from the vine.

Oh & here's the second bird tucked in the corner along with more flowers. I used my Sew Easy tool by We R Memory Keepers to pierce scalloped shaped stitching holes. This tool allowed me to stitch scallops without too much of a hassle! I then inserted eyelets along the scallops.

The tropical vine pictured here is an item found in my Etsy shop. If you like it--feel free to check it out.

A big shout out & thank you to Natasha for giving me the bamboo sticks that allowed me to make the bamboo frame. Scrap buddies are the best! :-)

Ooops, there goes more of that prima vine. I wrapped some flowers & parts of the vine all around the bamboo frame.

I printed the journaling on vellum. The journaling tells the story of how we didn't even know where to go for our anniversary. Let's just say that these are just some of the places that were thrown: Aruba, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, cruise to who knows where, Virgin Islands, Fiji Islands (this was when I was getting impatient) & Brazil...

A closeup of the leaf glittered 3. For a tutorial on this, please find it here. You can also see part of my stitched frame here & my flower masking.

Finally, one of the latest additions to my growing butterflies in my Etsy shop...Madagascar Sunset. This little beauty was based on an existing butterfly from Madagascar. However it actually isn't a butterfly--it's a moth. But for the simplicity of my shop--it fell under the butterfly category. Just some butterfly/moth tid bit for your knowledge. Either way, this little guy was just right for my page.

Hope you enjoyed my 'tropical' page--especially if you're in cold weather just like me! May it bring you many warm thoughts!

Till my next post...

Leaf Glitter & UTEE Chipboard Tutorial

Hello once again! This tutorial shows how to embellish chipboard with leaf glitter & Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE). I used this technique on my 'Year 3' layout. The leaf glitter gives chipboard an amazing sheen but if you top that off with UTEE--wow! It's an amazing effect in person. I tried my hardest to capture it with my camera--but it was so shiny & reflective that it took many tries & a lot of tweaking with my camera settings--but I think I got it!

Let's get started...

Here's the basic supplies that you'll need: Leaf Glitter--I used Martha Stewart Vintage Leaf Glitter in Verdalite & Florentine Gold--Clear UTEE, heat tool, VersaMark or some other kind of embossing ink, glue stick, distress ink--in this example I used Forest Moss--and grunge board or chipboard. For this example I made my own chippie which is why I used grungeboard.

Ink up your chipboard with the distress ink of your choice. Try to keep the ink in the same family as the leaf glitter you have chosen. As you can see, I use makeup sponges to apply these inks. They work like a charm!

Also, ever find yourself needing a title or part of a title & you just don't have it in your 30 ton stash? Well, that happened to me for this page. I wanted a number 3, but it had to be a certain size. So I printed a 3 on my computer, cut out the 3, traced it onto grungeboard, cut it out once again & ta-da...instead chippie!

Once you ink your chippie you'll need to cover it with the leaf glitter. I mixed my two leaf glitters for this project. You can mix your colors too or keep them solid--it's all based on what you need for your page. The Scotch glue stick works perfectly for applying an even coat of glue on your chipboard. Once you apply your glue, start dipping it into your leaf glitter.

Completely cover all areas of your chipboard. Ensure the leaf glitter sticks by gently pressing down on the leaf glitter with your fingers. Yes, you'll get messy--but what would scrapbooking be without sticky or inky fingers!?

Here's my chippie all covered in leaf glitter. Doesn't it look cool? Oh, but it's about to get even cooler!

You'll most likely have to trim your chipboard after applying the leaf glitter. It's chunky glitter & therefore will stick out along the edges. Just take a pair of small scissors & trim along the border of your chipboard to tidy it up. This picture was taken after I trimmed my chippie.

You'll know when the leaf glitter has dried onto your chipboard when you press your fingers down on the chipboard & hardly any pieces of the glitter get stuck on your finger. At this point you're ready for the next step.

Ink up your chipboard with the embossing ink pad. I literally press the chipboard into the ink pad. I do this several times to ensure that the chipboard gets completely covered with the embossing ink.

When done, apply the UTEE & heat it up with your heat tool. You'll see the UTEE melt right onto your chipboard & work itself within the leaf glitter.

Here you go! Can you say bling, bling!! It's an amazing texture in person. The heat tool crinkles the leaf glitter while melting the UTEE into it. The end result is one amazing embellished chipboard.

You can do this with any chipboard--I have a few sitting in my shop that would look fantastic with this technique.

A closeup...at least an attempt of a closeup. Please excuse my inky fingers!

Hope this tutorial was helpful for some of you!

Till my next post...

Happy New Year & Etsy Updates!

Happy 2011 fellow scrappers & bloggers! I thought I'd start my 2011 posts with this wonderful picture. This is my little Toby ringing in the New Year! Hmmmm, I'll have to cut down his beer intake a bit I think. :-)
My whole family pretty much rec'd the New Year like this. Although it wasn't the alcohol--we were all simply tired! So on midnight we were all in our PJ's watching the ball drop in NYC. Except for Toby who was wiped out since it was way past his bed time. This is him sleeping at the foot of our bed. How he can sleep like that is beyond me--but he does & dreams & everything while he's doing it!

I figured I'd take the time to greet everybody in the New Year & to show just a few of the newest items added to my small Etsy shop. I rarely take the time to actually post about my shop. But lately I've been adding a variety of new things so I figured I'd take the time to display some of them.

First up are these beaded flower stick pins. I've been experimenting with beaded flowers & so far I have beaded flower vines & I've recently started to add stick pins with beaded flowers attached to them.

These stick pins measure 5" inches in length & come with 2 beaded flowers. I use Delica Japanese beads that are very consistent in shape, size & color. I'm very pleased with these beads. The flowers are about 1 1/4" inches in diameter & are attached to the stick pin with wire.

I've added a touch of baby's breath also known as gyp behind each flower.

I just started adding these to my shop & have many more colors that will be added in the near future. So keep an eye out for them! I also plan on having 3" inch stick pins with one beaded flower for those that like the smaller pins.

Corner floral vines are not a new concept in my shop. These have been in out of my shop since July of 2010. However, I've slightly re-designed them. I'm starting to combine different types of flowers & am adding touches of glitter to the leaves & flowers. I'm also combining different colors for different looks.

These are my two-sided beaded flower vines. They measure between 7 1/2" to 8" inches in length. They can be gently bent to your liking & can be added just about anywhere on your pages or projects.

Just like the stick pins I've been slowly adding a variety of colors to my shop & plan on adding more. All the leaves & flowers (except for the two center beaded ones) are made out of mulberry paper. The leaves are dipped in Diamond Dust. These look very nice & sparkly in person.

Finally here are just a few of the many new butterflies I've added to my shop. Just about all of these butterflies are based on existing ones. It's amazing to see just how many colors & designs of butterflies there are around the world! I've researched many of them & have learned much about them. If I learn particular things about them I actually add this 'tid-bit' of knowledge to the listings in my shop. So you get a butterfly lesson while you shop!

These are 'A Touch of Teal'...a predominantly black butterfly with teal accents in thier bottom wings.

'Mint Delight'...a black butterfly with mint green accents on all it's wings.

The 'Peacock Blue' butterfly--a butterfly in a rich blue color.

This is part of the new glass butterflies that I've added. This is the G4.

These are the 'Peppermint Twist' butterflies. I can be very original with naming my butterflies or I can be downright corny. To be honest I name them based on the first thought that comes to my mind when I look at them. It can be an object, a place or even a song. For this one a candy cane popped in my head...& that's how the 'Peppermint Twist' came about.

I'll be adding many more designs in the near future.

Vines are also not a new concept in my shop. They've also been in & out of my shop continuously. These are new to my shop--just like the corner vines, I've re-designed them a bit & have added a variety of flower combinations & accents.
These are a bit smaller than the other vines in my shop measuring about 6 1/2" inches in length. They can be gently bent to your liking & add a nice touch to any project.

These vines aren't even in my shop yet! I'll be adding them either by tonight or by tomorrow. But they'll be there, I promise. Like everything else they'll be made in a variety of colors!
That's it for now. I plan on wrapping this post & sitting down to scrap for a bit. Something I haven't been able to do in a while.
I hope everybody is having a fabulous start to the New Year!
Till my next post...