My Toby Layout

Hello again fellow scrappers.  It's time for another reveal over at Once Upon A Sketch (OUAS).

Here's my little fur-baby Toby taking center stage again.  It helps a lot that he's all white--it's easy to match him with any color!  :-)  The page is based on how much our lives has changed since Toby came into our lives.  Pets really are like another member of our families that provide us with unconditional love & loyalty.  My journaling which is stored in the scroll reads as follows:

My Toby--our Toby really...ever since you became a member of our family you've filled a void we didn't even know we had.  You bring sunshine & laughs to our otherwise mundane lives.  Your 'childlike' ways never cease to surprise or amaze us--and we'll never figure out how such a small dog can have such an enormously loud bark!  You're our Toby--but I see you as 'my' Toby.  I was the first one to hold you as a puppy & look into those big brown trusting eyes.  When I look at you today, I see a grown dog with eyes that are still trusting, but are now also filled with unconditional love, devotion & loyalty.  You belong to our family, but to me you'll always be my wet-nosed confidant, my undercover furry friend...my sweet little Toby.

Here's the sketch provided by Nadia that my page is based on.

I've used doilies, flowers, mushroom birds, nests & lots of ribbons on this page.  In fact, most of my background is made up of ribbon.  All ribbons & twine seen on this page were sponsored by Scrapbook Fantasies.

The gorgeous light blue flower is by Manor House Creations--I'm loving their flowers more and more lately!  I've tucked a bit of aqua & purple tulle underneath my large flower to soften the page a bit.

The butterflies are new designs that will soon be available in my Etsy shop.  So keep an eye out for them!

The honeycomb chippie is by Dusty Attic.  My title was printed on a transparency, cut out & adhered with clear dry glue.

I really liked this one particular metal word band by Tim Holtz that reads: "live the life you've imagined".  That would be my Toby.  Oh he really does live a 'dog's life'.  Eats all he wants, sleeps all he wants--total pampered pooch...even in the photo he's holding a bone that he happily chewed on for hours and hours!

The pearl flourishes are by Prima.  The small glass vial is from my stash--I've filled it with small beads, also from my stash.

Something that has become a trademark with my pages lately is how I store my journaling.  It's stored in the form of a scroll as shown here.  If interested on how I go about making this scroll journaling--you can find a tutorial for it here.

The background is composed of gesso with random smears of Frozen Lake & Blitzen glimmer mists.  The gesso was applied with a small spatula while the glimmer mists were applied with a paint brush.  I didn't spray the mists directly onto the paper this time.  Instead I sprayed them directly onto my Ranger Non-Stick Craft Sheet & then dipped my paint brush into the ink & painted away.

I've also tucked a bit of cheese cloth behind my trio of pictures.

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you visit the OUAS blog to see how the other talented DT's interpreted this challenge & sketch.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

The Beginning & Beyond Layout

Good evening fellow scrappers!  Today's page is for one of the latest Bird is the Word (BITW) challenges.  The challenge is to use the word 'Beyond'.  I've incorporated it as part of my title.

This photo was taken on our first wedding anniversary.  We were married in the Fall which is both our favorite season & also makes for some colorful scrapbook pages!  Since this was our first year married I titled it 'The Beginning & Beyond' which is how I felt at the moment.  It was barely the beginning of our lives together and we were both anticipating what was beyond this first year together.

I manually tore a piece of corrugated cardboard and went mixed media crazy with it!  I gave the corrugated cardboard lots of texture by combining a bit of molding paste, mists in shades of browns, oranges & reds and randomly heat embossing with some gold embossing powder by Stampendous and Fake Bake Enamelz embossing powder by Shimmerz.

I've once again stored my journaling in the form of a scroll. If interested on how I went about creating this scroll--find the tutorial for it here.  This has quickly become my favorite way of storing lengthy journaling.  Instead of hiding my journaling behind my page like I used to--my journaling is now a unique embellishment to my page!

The large chipboard tree is by Dusty Attic.  Just like the background I used a variety of mixed media to give it texture.  It was first painted with dark brown acrylic paint then randomly heat embossed with a bit of mahogany distress embossing powder.  With my finger I spread a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Stickles randomly on the branches and finally with my finger again I added a bit of Martha Stewart brown leaf glitter here n' there on several of the branches.

Finally my cluster of 'Autumn' themed flowers, bits & bobbits.  Many of these items are from my own stash.  The large brown fabric flower is actually a left over from a kit I bought from the Funtoolas Etsy shop.

The transparent butterfly resting on the Prima nest is a butterfly from my small Etsy shop--you can find this butterfly & many more in my shop here.  I tucked a bit of tulle underneath my large brown fabric flower & the bright yellow bird is also from my stash.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit!  Have a great rest of the week!

Friends Furever Layout

Good evening once again fellow scrappers & bloggers! Today's page is one I did for Stamp Enjoy. It's also a remake of an older page titled "Just the 2 of Us". I felt my original page was a bit too feminine--so I re-did it while keeping only certain elements but adding more of a 'grungy' masculine theme.

This is my husband & my little fur-pup Toby. These two are 'my boys'--the men in my life! This photo captures the bond & special friendship these two share. Yes, it's true that my husband isn't exactly a 'little boy' anymore. But the friendship they share is the typical 'boy & his beloved dog' that we've all heard about since the Little House & the Prairie days. As usual, Toby seems to be smiling in this picture. How he pulls that off is beyond me...but he somehow manages to smile in the majority of his pics!

As previously mentioned, I tried to keep this on the masculine side; therefore you'll notice a bit of 'grunge' in the style of this page. However, I did manage to include flowers in order to soften it just a bit. They are what I call 'man flowers'. :-)

I used a corrugated 'flute' cardboard by Canvas Corp for the background. I did a lot of embossing/painting on the corrugated cardboard. I also did a bit of stitching & went a little tag crazy in the upper left hand corner! :-)

Here's a close up of one of the two beaded flowers with burlap bottoms. The burlap portion of the flower I made by doing my 'burlap flower' tutorial found here. The beaded flower is an item you can find in my Etsy shop. I have several beaded flowers in a variety of colors. So if interested, please do feel free to stop by. These beaded flowers really do add a nice finishing touch to any project. The metal string circle around the beaded flower is an item I found at my local Michaels in the clearance section. I thought they'd be perfect for masculine themed pages.

A close up of the brick wall & my stamped little guy with his pup. The brick wall is a chippie by Dusty Attic. I used the 'brick texture' technique to give it that rustic brick look. I have a brief tutorial for this on my blog. If interested, you can check it out here.

Here you can see my cluster of tags. I made the folded corner act as a makeshift pocket for my tags.

A close up of the flourish. The flourish was die cut with Tim Holtz's Elegant Flourish die on grunge board. I spread a thin layer of molding paste on the grungeboard & then heat embossed with Enamelz by Shimmerz. Enamelz is a thicker embossing powder than your regular embossing powder--so it adds a really nice effect when combined with other media.

Here's my background. It was first completely painted with an olive acrylic paint. Once dry then I randomly spread a bit of molding paste. Finally I sprinkled a bit of silver Enamelz (Silver Fox) & heat embossed it. This gave me a fabulous background. After looking at it for a bit I realized that this would also look really nice for a Christmas themed paged.

I used a piece of burlap from Canvas Corp to put behind my photo. I also again did a combination of zig-zag stitching & straight stitching. I first used this stitch in my 'Essential Cog' page & really liked the look of it.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit! Enjoy the weekend...

I Am Layout

Happy Sunday fellow scrappers & bloggers! Today's page is one I did for the Once Upon a Sketch November 15th challenge. I liked the theme for this challenge which was to scrap yourself or any special woman in your life & to focus the journaling on being a woman--what is the best thing about being a woman?

Well my journaling was a combination of who I am & what I represent alongside the concept of being a woman & being darn proud of who I am! Journaling reads as follows:

I am strong, yet nurturing. I am independent & can be head strong--but I'm also sentimental. I am 34 & have embraced the few wrinkles that have already made their presence known in the corner of my eyes--I can't help it--I love to laugh. I am a dreamer--yet I am aware of reality & make the most out of what I'm blessed with. I am a wife. I stand by my husband through the good & the bad. I am a daughter. My everyday goal in life is to make my mom proud--I think so far I have succeeded. I am a co-worker. I share knowledge willingly. I am a friend. I try to share laughs, create memories & be there to comfort when tears are shed. Above all, I am a woman. I love who I am & what I represent...

Here's the sketch my page is based on provided on the OUAS site.

I had a blast making this page. I finally decided to get down & dirty with mixed media. My background is just a huge mixture of different mediums. I also got a little distress-happy. Even when distressing I tend to be 'careful' as to not rip the wrong way (if that makes any sense to anybody). This time I just didn't care...I ripped & tore away. I should've done this sooner!

I misted, stamped & hand stitched on this page. This close up is of the Tim Holtz film strip which I twisted instead of leaving flat to give it some dimension. You can also see some of the hand stitching here. I used a template to create the stitched flourishes.

The stamped floral branches behind the film strip is a stamp by Donna Salazar titled 'Branch'.

A photo of one of the clusters in the bottom corner. I'm becoming fond of small glass bottles & am using them in several of my projects lately. I filled this little bottle with small beads I have in my stash & then tied it with some hemp cord.

I primarily used the papers that came with the October 'Midnight Waltz' Swirlydoos kit which are by Glitz Design (Vintage Blue line). The tiny little spool was an embellie that came with the kit. I wrapped some thread around it & added it to my cluster of bits...

I used a couple of safety pins to keep my tears together. As for the background, let's see if I can remember everything I used on it. First I randomly & heavily spread some molding paste on it. I tried not to cover the entire corrugated cardboard. I still wanted small parts of the cardboard to peek through. Once the molding paste dried. I randomly painted over it with cream acrylic paint. Next I spread a bit of burgundy Stickles & Aged Mahogany Distress Stickles with my fingers. Once those dried I randomly painted the background with some Terra Cotta Spritz by Shimmerz & Holly Berries Smooch by Clearsnap. Phew...I think I'm finally done with that!

I also did some other random stamping on the background. The script stamp seen here is also by Donna Salazar. The birds in flight stamp is by Tim Holtz.

The two large light brown & cream flowers were handmade. I used the Spellbinders Carnation Creations die template by Donna Salazar to create them. I first embossed some light brown Core'dinations cardstock (Black Magic line) I had in my stash--sanded down the embossed design, cut out my flowers, layered them & finally added a brad as the center.

The beaded flower seen in this close up is also handmade. I have these available in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested.

A closeup of my journaling. I printed the journaling on vellum. Tore around it & then inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.

Finally, this is a closeup of the large chippie flourish by Dusty Attic. The chippie was first painted with Jasmine Mix'd Media ink by Donna Salazar. Once fully dry I stamped over the chippie with Faded Jeans distress ink & a French Script stamp by Hero Arts. Next I dry embossed the chippie with a swirl embossing folder. Finally I covered the chippie with embossing ink & embossed it with clear Kaleidoscope embossing powder by Stampendous.

A big thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit! Tomorrow it's back to work for me after a nice 4 day long weekend. Sigh...

Year 4 Layout

Hello once again fellow bloggers & scrappers! Today's page displays my most recent favorite picture of my hubby & me. This photo was taken on our recent vacation to Puerto Rico & in celebration of our 4th wedding anniversary. Four years. Has it really already been four years!? It honestly feels like just yesterday that I was taking my vows. Where does time go?

I used papers from Bo Bunny's Gabrielle collection. The entire background is stamped & I added additional stamping to my main page. I also went Distress Stickles happy when adding texture to the brick chippies! Distress Stickles really add amazing texture to just about any chippie.

The design of the page is based on Once Upon A Sketch's October 1st challenge sketch. The requirement for this sketch was to have at least one sentence of journaling noting why the event that was being scrapped was noteworthy. My journaling reads: This picture was taken on our very first day out exploring Puerto Rico & on the eve of our 4th wedding anniversary. A memory captured eternally against the walls of a historic fort that is centuries old.

I used white acrylic paint to stamp the brick wall in the background. With a brush apply the paint to your stamp. Apply a thin layer...do not glob your paint on or else you'll have globs on your page as well! TIP: Remember to clean your stamp as soon as you're done stamping. Once the paint dries it'll be much harder to clean. Stamp used is by Layers of Color (Brick Wall).

Even with a thin layer of acrylic white paint, the wall dried with an amazing raised texture. In person, it's almost like an embossed white brick wall in the background.

I cut out two pages in the same bracket shape & off set them slightly. I tried to bring out the subtle orange hues of this paper line. This is why you see the bright orange splashes throughout the page.

I stitched along the bracket border & added dots of Orange Peel stickles along the edge.

The chain bridge is by Dusty Attic. I painted this with a dark brown acrylic paint & then added Cinnamon Stickles.

The journaling was printed on ivory vellum. I then adhered the vellum to cream colored cardstock & inked the edges. I then stamped some splatters on the journaling with Tea Dye distress ink. The journaling is adhered with pop dots for added dimension.

The loop flower is hand made. I used Martha Stewarts corner Loop punch to make it. I've made a tutorial on how to make these corner punch flowers. If interested, you can find the tutorial here.

In the bottom corner you can catch glimpses of the script stamping. This stamp is from Tim Holtz's Mini Ornate collection.

This butterfly can be found in my Etsy shop. It's one of the new 'fall' butterfly additions to my shop. The splash of bright orange against the dark brown was just right for this page. I adhered the butterfly to the daisy with hot glue...it's a quick way to adhere an embellishment in precisely the right spot.

Finally, a close up of the brick wall also by Dusty Attic. I used two shades of orange for the brick walls. The upper bricks were painted in a bright orange acrylic paint. I then applied a thick layer of Spiced Marmalade Distress Stickles. The bottom bricks were painted with a darker orange/brown acrylic paint. I used Rusty Hinge Distress Stickles for these bricks.

Thanks for stopping by & for taking the time to visit!

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...

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...