Abuelita Layout

Hello again fellow scrappers & bloggers!  Today I bring you my debut DT page for Clear Scraps.

I used the 12x12 acrylic sheet as the background for my page & implemented a couple of techniques to give it some color & texture.

This page is a tribute to my grandmother who left my side in 2006 (but not my heart).  She came from Chile to help my mom raise me when I was 3 years old.  In this photo I'm approximately 3 years old.  As you can see, even though I had just recently met her--I was already quite close to her.  She was by my side till the very end. I have been looking for just the right project to showcase this picture of us--and this turned out to be it.

Since the background is completely transparent--this was a bit hard to photograph just right.  I ended up putting the layout against my hard wood floors.  So that's actually my floor you see coming through the background--not really part of my page.  Love the effect acrylic gives!  Adding paints, textures & embellishments take on a whole new look when your background is transparent.

I also ended up submitting this for the CSI challenge, case #38.  I liked the color palette for this case & felt that it would suite my project perfectly.

Here's the CSI challenge & sketch provided by Nadia from OUAS that my page is based on.  For this month only CSI & OUAS has joined forces--so in addition to the color palette we had Nadia's lovely sketches to incorporate into our work.

For my evidence I have: birds, flowers & a border.

For my testimony I have: inspiration words--I used 'together' on my page & also used together in my journaling

Here's a close up of how I gave my acrylic background a bit of texture.

First the border was made with a large home made mask.  My mask covered most of my page.  I then dabbed copper, lettuce, slate & sandal alcohol inks all along the border.  To further accentuate my masked border I added Bisque Liquid Pearl dots.

Next I used a misting mask by Pink Paislee to create the design going down the center of my page.  This was done by dabbing an olive colored acrylic paint along my mask.  While the paint was still wet I sprinkled some Pralines & Cream fairy dust glitter by Donna Salazar & copper chunky leaf glitter by Martha Stewart on it.

My flowers are a combination of fabric, resin & mulberry flowers. The grayish blue flower seen here is by Prima as is the tiny green resin flower peeking out from underneath it.  The little nest is also by Prima as are the rhinestone flourishes.

This very lovely large green flower is by Manor House Creations.  This is from their Winter Song collection called 'Log Cabin'.   I've tucked a bit of off white tulle underneath my flower--this has become a bit of a tradition for me lately.  Adding tulle underneath flowers adds a nice soft touch to my pages.

I've stored my journaling in the form of a scroll.  You can find a tutorial on how I make my scroll journaling here.

I managed to get my hands on some paper cord--also called jute and made a make shift circle frame around my photos.   My photos are matted on a piece of corrugated cardboard and some glassine paper by Tim Holtz.  The glassine has been wrinkled by hand several times & I then smeared some Walnut Stain Distress ink on it.  The ink is 'baked' into the glassine by heat setting it.  A tip I got from Mr. Tim Holtz himself.

This is one of my newest butterflies that will be added to my Etsy shop soon.  I really like the 'Autumn' feel of these little guys.

A close up of the texture added to the corrugated cardboard.  This was done by randomly applying a bit of gesso--while wet I spread some Weathered Wood Distress embossing powder &  Molten Metal enamelz by Shimmerz & heat set it.  To wrap it up I inked the edges with a bit of Walnut Stain & Aged Mahogany distress inks & spritzed the entire corrugated cardboard with Biscotti Perfect Pearl mists.

Thanks to all of you who stop by!

Enjoy the rest of the week...

She Gave Me Wings Layout

Hello fellow scrappers!  I'm sure you're all aware by now that during this month of September, Once Upon A Sketch (OUAS) has teamed up with CSI.  It's finally my turn to present my project!  I thoroughly enjoy CSI & have been a fan since it's debut.  I play along whenever I can--so for me this was a very fun experience!

I also recently discovered Berry71Bleu & saw that they're having a mixed media challenge this month--I decided to submit this page to their challenge as well.

I decided to do a page based on my mom.  That would be her in the photo and believe it or not, that's me she's holding!  :-)  I was about 3 months old in this photo. Up to a certain point in my life--my mom raised me by herself.  She played a big role in shaping the person that I am today.  She made me to be very strong, independent, proud & ambitious. She was big on education--and thanks to her support I'm the first in my family to earn a college degree.  I didn't stop at a Bachelors either--I have both my Bachelors & my Masters in Management Information Systems.  She's also to thank for me being fluent in Spanish.  Being 100% bilingual has been extremely beneficial in both my personal & professional career.  It's no surprise that most mothers play an important & loving role in our lives--mine is no exception and this is my tribute to the role she played in mine.

Here's the CSI challenge & the sketch provided by Nadia from OUAS that my page is based on.  I absolutely loved the color palette for this one.  To me they were bright, happy & just right for the theme of my page.

For my evidence I included: bird, little bits & pieces & a frame.  For my testimony I have: my journaling in the form of a booklet.

Here's one of the two birds I included on my page.  The resin bird is by Prima as is the cute little nest.  I included a glass vial as part of my random embellies filled with beads from my stash.  I also included some tiles that I've had in my stash for ages.  The title was printed on a transparency.

Here's my little hand made journaling booklet.  I have made a brief tutorial on how I went about creating this booklet.  I loved the idea!  This is yet another way of including large journaling on your layout where the journaling doesn't crowd your page, you can keep it private & it actually adds a unique embellishment to your layout.  You can find the tutorial here.

You can see my 2nd bird here.  This bird is an image I printed via my own computer.

Here are my bits & pieces embedded into my background which is full of texture.  I absolutely loved how my background came out!  It was the first time I got dirty & messy with gesso.  A big thanks goes to Nadia Cannizzo who provided a tutorial on her blog on how to create mesh & gesso backgrounds.  You can find that tutorial here.  The only thing I did differently was that while the gesso was still wet, I added both chunky leaf glitter by Martha Stewart and beads from my stash to add even more texture.  I then let it dry overnight.  TIP: make sure that in the areas that you plan on adding beads or glitter or any other bits & bobs; that you are very generous with your gesso.  You want your items to sink into your gesso without being drowned so that when they dry--they stick & stay!  I colored my background with a mixture of Riptide & Yellow Daisy glimmer mists.

This very pretty flower I bought from an Etsy shop called Funtoolas.  It's fairly large, made out of fabric and very colorful & bright in person.  I tucked a bit of light aqua tulle underneath my flower as well as a yellow & teal feather.

The chippie frame around my photo is by Imaginarium Designs.  It was inked in both a light & dark orange acrylic paint then heat embossed with Star Dust transparent embossing powder by Stampendous.  In person this frame is very shimmery & blingy!

Here's what my journaling booklet looks like when unfolded.  See how much info you can store in this lil' booklet?  Love it!

Thanks for stopping by--I very much appreciate your visit.  Do take the time to visit both the CSI & OUAS blogs to check out what the other talented DT members did with this challenge--you won't be disappointed!  As always, do play along if you can!

Have a great day!

Booklet Journaling Tutorial

During the month of September, the OUAS DT joined forces with CSI.  What a great combo this turned out to be!  I rec'd case #39 to work on.  Amongst the testimony for this case was the option to include your journaling in the form of a booklet.  Till this case came along, I had never considered storing my journaling in some kind of mini booklet--so I started coming up with an idea on how I can accomplish this--and this is what I came up with.  You can find this booklet on my 'She Gave Me Wings' page.

I really liked this form of documenting journaling on a page because you can store a large amount of information--keep it private & the booklet makes for a very unique & creative embellishment on your page.

Let's get started!

Step 1: You can technically make your little booklet any size.  Just keep in mind to make the cover 1/4" larger than the size of your actual journaling paper.  The cover for my book ended up being 2 1/4" wide by 3 1/4" high.  Next you'll need a long strip of card stock that will store your journaling.  I cut my strip from some left over scraps.  Size is 2" inches high by 12" inches long.  Last you need either ribbon, twine or jute that will keep your booklet closed.  I used ribbon.  Your ribbon should be approximately 12" inches to 14" inches long.  This again depends on the size of your booklet.  If you make your booklet bigger--then you'll need longer ribbon.  In the photo my ribbon looks relatively small.  That's because at the time it was!  I had a different idea in mind...but when that didn't work out as planned...I changed my approach and used one long strand of ribbon.

You can ink the edges of your cover if you wish.

Step 2: I printed my journaling on regular white printing paper.  I used Word as my application.  I changed the setup of my page to be landscape and changed my margins in word to be 10" inches wide & a little under 2" inches in height.  I then printed out my journaling.

Next, trim your journaling to size & adhere onto your 2"x12" strip of card stock.

Final step is to score your strip.  I scored at every 2" inches & folded it in an accordion style.  Your journaling should look something like this photo when done.

You can ink the edges of your journaling strip if you wish.

Step 3: Adhere your journaling strip to your covers.  The covers are 1/4" inch larger than your journaling strip--so when adhering ensure all your edges are aligned right.

Step 4: At this point you're pretty much done.  Here's my journaling strip attached to both covers.

Next just fold in your booklet and attach the ribbon that will keep it closed

Step 5: Just make sure your ribbon is even on both sides and adhere it to the back of your booklet leaving the two ends free for you to tie into a ribbon.

You're done...simple as that.  Now adhere the back of your booklet wherever you please on your project.  To open up your booklet--untie the ribbon & unfold.

Hope some of you find this tutorial helpful.  Enjoy the rest of the day!

Clear Scraps Projects

Good evening fellow scrappers!  Today I thought I'd share some of the projects I've made in the past where I've used Clear Scraps products.  I've loved the concept of acrylic for a long time now.  At first, acrylic may be a bit intimidating since it's see through--but after a bit of experimenting I found that it's this clear nature that makes acrylic such a great product for scrap booking or card making!

You can apply paint on it, dry emboss it (you can even heat emboss it with a bit of patience), apply alcohol inks to it, punch holes through it with your crop-a-dile, stamp on it etc...

My first project is actually a new, never before seen criss cross card.  I used a scallop acrylic circle by Clear Scraps on this card.  I inked it with alcohol inks and dry embossed it.  Finally, I wrapped a bit of string around it.

A close up of the chippie brick wall.  This chipboard is by Dusty Attic.  You can find a tutorial here on how I give the brick wall it's texture.

Here you can see a better look at the acrylic and the effects/texture the embossing & alcohol inks gave it.

A close up of my little flower cluster.  I tucked a bit of pink tulle from underneath my flowers

The image is a stamp by Kenny K called "Queens Cutie".  I colored her in with Prismacolor Pencils.  I wish I was better at coloring.  I honestly do my own thing when it comes to coloring images.  I was actually experimenting with a new coloring method with this image & I ended up with a light/pastel sorta coloring.  I liked it though!  As usual I dressed up my image a bit more by highlighting parts of her hair and outfit with Star Dust stickles.

On this next layout I used an XL heart shape by Clear Scraps in the background.  I once again used alcohol inks on the edges.  Since the heart is see through you can see some of my splatter stamping right through the heart. I also used my crop-a-dile and punched a few holes underneath my photo where I strung a bit of black tulle through.  Finally I randomly added a bit of stickles along the hearts edge & also added some eyelets.  You can find more close ups & details on this page here.

For this page I used yet another XL shape by Clear Scraps.  This one is a large scallop circle.  For this one I applied a bit of molding paste on the edges & sprinkled some Mahogany Distress embossing powder on it. I then very carefully heat embossed it.

As mentioned before, you actually can heat emboss acrylic...but you have to do it with patience.  If you just hit your acrylic directly and too close with the heat gun--the acrylic with warp & twist.  So you heat emboss it a little at a time and from a good enough distance where it doesn't really warp the acrylic but does manage to emboss.  It may take a little time & practice--but the results are really worth it!  You can find more details & close ups on this layout here.

Finally I have this really cute mini owl album.  The entire album is made from acrylic and is also by Clear Scraps.  This lil' guy measures approximately 3" inches in height!

As you can see from the various photos...I did a couple of things here.  I adhered paper directly onto the acrylic, I embossed some of the acrylic, I applied some alcohol ink, I punched holes and thread ribbon through it & I applied stickles along the edges.  I really love how this little keepsake album came out!  You can find more photos, details & how to's on this mini album here.

I hope these projects motivate some of you to experiment with acrylic!  It truly is a versatile product!  Enjoy the rest of the week...

Marigold Tutorial

Hello once again fellow scrappers & happy Hump Day!  Today I'm bringing to you yet another brief flower tutorial.  I guess I've been on a 'handmade flower' spree lately for some reason.  It may be that Autumn is finally just around the corner which is my favorite season!  These flowers do make a nice addition to Autumn themed pages & projects--at least that's how I would use them.

I named these after the marigold flower.  I think that's the flower they most resemble.  From what I saw online, the majority of marigolds are yellow/orange in color.  I made a purple one as you can see here just for kicks!  Hey who is to say we have to be so exact right?

Ok onto the tutorial...

I once again used the Spellbinders Carnation Creations die by Donna Salazar.  I indicated with an arrow the specific die I used for this flower.

Step 1: Cut out 6 flowers.  Take one of these flowers and snip out two of the petals.  Take another one of these flowers & snip out three of the petals as shown here.  Do not throw out the snipped petals--you'll need them later!

Step 2: Ink your petal edges.  I used a chalk ink by SEI for my inking--color is Cherry.  The inking of the petals really works here because most marigolds actually have that two-tone look on their petals.

Step 3:  All my petals have been inked.  Even the petal snippets as you can see here

Step 4: With the handle of a thin brush (which is what I used), a wooden skewer, a stylus, a thin pencil etc...take your bottom three layers and start curling their petals down as shown here

Step 5: Once you curl your petals; cup your layers by taking a stylus or even a pencil or the handle of a thicker paint brush & in a circular motion press down on a soft surface.  I have a foam mat by McGill that I use to shape my flowers.  If you do not have a foam mat I found that turning your mouse pad upside down works just as well.  You just need a soft surface so that your layers cup as you press down in a circular motion

Step 6: Time to adhere your bottom 3 layers.  As you adhere, try to off-set your petals.  Once done, your flower should look close to what is shown here.  By the way, I use a small hot glue gun for all of my flower making. It's fast and makes for a strong bond.

Step 7:  Take the two layers where the petals were snipped.  You are going to overlap the two petals in order to eliminate the gap left by the petals that were removed.  Adhere these petals with your glue

Step 8: This is what your snipped layers should look like once adhered.  They will end up looking like small cones

Step 9: Take your final 3 layers and curl the petals down as shown in step 4.

Time to adhere your last 3 layers.  The top three layers need to be cupped tightly as shown here prior to adhering.  You are building your flower up.  So you want a 'fluffy' look

Step 10:  This is what your flower should look like with all 6 layers adhered.  Notice that you'll end up with a small hole right in the center.  Well this is where your snipped petals come in

Step 11: I usually start with the 3 snipped petals.  Curl them down just like all the other petals and fold the snippet in 1/2 as shown. Then you're going to adhere these 3 little petals right smack in the center of your flower

Step 12: Voila! No more hole in the center!  If by any chance you still have a little hole...then take your remaining 2 snipped petals & do the same procedure.  Curl the petals down, fold them in half and tuck them right in the center.

Once done you can finish shaping your flower.  Usually when I put my flowers together they get lopsided, squished, etc as I adhere one layer on top of the other.  Once done you can re-shape your flower again--fluff the layers, re-curl some of your petals etc.

Hope some of you found this tutorial useful!  Have a great rest of the week.