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...

Dogwood Flower Tutorial

Hello again fellow scrappers & bloggers. I have a brief tutorial today that's been hanging around in 'draft' mode in my blog for months. I've known how to make these dogwood flowers for a while now & have never gotten around to posting a tutorial...well, here it is!

They're really easy to do. All you need is a balloon punch (I'm using the balloon punch by Martha Stewart), a marker, a 1/4 inch hole puncher, 1/2 inch glue dots, Stickles, 1/2 inch circle punch, a mouse pad, shaping tool & any kind of sun punch for the center of the flower. I'm using sun punches in 2 different sizes by the Punch Bunch. If you do not have a sun punch you can also use floral sprays/stems if you have them.

Start off by punching 4 balloons. These balloons will be your petals.

With the 1/4 inch hole puncher make a half moon punch in the top center of each petal.

With your marker outline the edges of the half moons for each petal.

Next you're going to shape each petal. Use the bottom side of any mouse pad for support. In a circular motion start moving around the flower with your shaping tool while applying some pressure in order to cup the flower. You can use the eraser side of a pencil for this if you don't have a specific tool for shaping. The tool I'm using came with a paper crafting tool kit made by the Punch Bunch.

Once your petals are shaped, take the 1/2 inch circle & place a glue dot on it. Then start placing your petals on the circle.

Here's your flower with all four petals adhered to the circle. Now to make the center.

You'll be using 4 sun punches in total for the center. Two large & two small suns.

For all 4 suns snip in between one sun ray all the way to the center of the sun.

With a pair of tweezers take one end of the sun & start rolling it towards you. Roll it all around until you reach the other end.

This is what your suns should look like after you've rolled all four.

Proceed to adhere the suns to the center of your flower. If you do not have glue with a fine tip, you can use a toothpick to place a small dot of glue to adhere each layer. I used my tweezers to place each layer since they're very small.

The rest of how you decorate your flower is up to you. I tend to use Star Dust Stickles around the half moons & dots of Lime Green Stickles to further decorate the center of the flower.

You can also add veins to them with an embossing pen--the finishing touches is really up to you.

Here are a variety of dogwood flowers in all colors. You can use solid colors or pattern--it's all up to you. You can also leave the flowers with or without leaves.

Hope you all enjoyed this tutorial.

Till my next post...

Curled Frame Tutorial

I've seen several scrappers do layouts where they roll pieces of paper on thier layouts. I recently tried this technique out myself with my 'My Boys' layout.

This tutorial shows how to make the curled frame I used in this layout. As always, I'm sure this has been done before since there are just so many talented scrappers out there. I'm simply showing my take on this curled frame.

Here are the supplies you'll need. A paper cutter--I use the finger cutter by Fiskars. I've had several paper cutters & this has been the best one for me by far. I use my finger to guide the point of the knife so I have really good control of where I'm cutting. Some cardstock or patterned paper. If using patterned paper--it's most likely best if you use double-sided paper so that when you curl the paper it doesn't display in a plain white color. This of course, is all based on preference. If you want it to be white, then that's alright too! A cutting mat. A ruler, pencil & a paintbrush. I use the handle of the paintbrush to curl my paper--but you can use a pencil too. Ok, let's get started!

I did the curled frame on the 'My Boys' layout with a 5"x5" picture. I liked how the frame looked with a square picture--but you can use this technique with any size--however, make sure you calculate the measurements correctly based on the size you choose. For this example I'm going to make the frame for a 5"x5" picture.

Your frame needs to be at least 1" inch larger than your photo. So this frame is 6"x6". Turn your paper to what will be the back of the frame. Measure 1" inch in from the edge of each border & make a mark with your pencil. I used a black marker in my example so that you can see the marks I make. I make my marks by simply drawing a small line. Then connect all your marks by drawing straight across all 4 sides. In other words, you're creating a 4" square inside your 6" square.

Decide which will be the sides of your frame. With your paper cutter cut along the lines you just made on both sides of your frame. You're cutting into the inner square only--so do not cut all the way to the actual edge of the paper.

Here I'm showing how I cut the sides of the inner square.

Next we need to mark the center of the inner frame. We already know that we have a 4" inch inner frame. So you're going to take your ruler & from the top edge of the inner frame measure 2" inches in since that would be the center of your 4" inch frame.
With your pencil make your mark.

Next you're going to draw a line straight across the center of your inner square based off the mark you made in the previous step.

Now for the slits that you will roll to make your curled frame. In order for the slits to be evenly spaced--starting from one of the sides of the inner frame I measured 1/2 an inch in & made my mark. From that first mark I measured another 1/2 an inch & made a second mark. Keep going until you go all the way across to the other side of the inner square. With this particular frame, you'll end up with 8 strips. The screen shot shows where I've placed my marks & drawn my lines.

Next, you take your paper cutter & you cut along the line marking the center of your inner square & then you cut along the lines for each strip. Whatever you do...do not cut into the top or bottom of the inner frame or else your strips will simply come off! My red arrows in this screen shot is showing what I refer to when I say the 'top' & bottom of the inner frame.

This is what your frame should look like after you're done with all your cutting.

The rest is all about the curling. Turn your frame to the front side & start curling each strip. You decide how much you want to curl each strip based on your picture. If there are areas of your picture that are blocked by the frame...simply cut more into the top of the strip in order to make them longer--therefore allowing you to curl them in more.

As for the outer edge of the frame itself that's also up to you. You can distress & then ink the border of the frame like I did in the 'My Boys' layout or you can add ribbon around, stamp around it...you can add pearls or brads around or simply leave it as is. The choice is yours.

Here's a picture of my finished curled frame.

Hope some of you will find this tutorial useful.

Till my next post...