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...

Happy Holidays

Just taking a few moments to wish you all a wonderful holiday filled with much love, laughter, health & happiness alongside your loved ones.

Have a fabulous New Year as well filled with many blessings!

I'll be seeing you all in the New Year...

The Christmas Money Shot Layout

Happy Holidays fellow scrappers & bloggers! Tis the season right? Tis the season for stressing, Christmas pictures, Christmas cards, Christmas music, gift shopping & oh yes--stressing!

This layout is about one of my Christmas traditions which is the annual picture my husband, myself & Toby take in front of the Christmas tree for the holiday cards. As always it took about 24 tries in order to get that perfect shot. Basically the perfect shot is when all three of us are actually looking at the camera. Getting Toby to stare at the camera at the right moment is a task in itself. The three pictures in a row are just a few of the many 'no good' shots taken. The full colored picture is the Christmas Money Shot & it's the actual photo I used for this year's Christmas cards. The journaling tag is behind the title & the poinsettia embellishments. Journaling reads as follows: Every Christmas it's the same routine--two dozen or more pictures taken by the tree. An endless quest, a serach for the Holy Grail, hoping & dreaming that Toby will actually look at the camera at that exact moment the picture is taken. It's like winning the lotto when we finally get the perfect Christmas money shot!
I did a sort of 'staggered' lacing & once again have used eyelets on my page! Thank you Natasha for having me discover the wonderful world of eyelets *wink*. I distressed half of my page & then tucked a thin layer of multi-colored tinsel under the distressed border. This tinsel was from my own stash.

I mainly used the Swirlydoos December kit for this page. Only a few handmade embellishments are from my own stash.

An example of this are the transparent holiday ornaments seen on this page. For a tutorial on how these ornaments were made please go here.

Behind the ornaments I did some masking. I used a flourish mask from Layers of Color & used Forest Moss distress ink. The soft script print you see here was actually a stamp. I used gray ink instead of black because I wanted a subtle script displaying behind the masking & the ornaments.

The tinseled snowy frame seen in this closeup is also something new I tried in order to give my picture a unique holiday frame. If interested on a tutorial on this tinseled snowy frame please go here.

The Christmas butterflies are embellishments from my Etsy shop. If you like them, I made a few extra sets & are currently found in my shop. Feel free to drop by if interested!

Finally here's a closeup of the faux metal & acrylic poinsettia embellishment. I made a brief tutorial for this as well. If interested, please go here. I tucked both the journaling & my title behind this embellishment.

Thank you for stopping by & for visiting! I'm just so very happy that I was able to make a Christmas page in December & not in July which is how it usually works for me!

Stay warm...till my next post...

Faux Metal & Acrylic Poinsettia Tutorial

In this tutorial I'll be showing how I went about making the faux metal & acrylic poinsettia embellishment seen in 'The Christmas Money Shot' layout. I learned this technique from my local scrapbook store on a class I attended.

I completely improvised as I went along for this embellishment which is why I don't have a picture of my list of supplies. I kept adding & changing as I went. This is the list of supplies I finally ended up using: Sizzix die cut, aluminum foil, diamond dust, acrylic or transparency, sturdy scrap paper or grunge board, embossing folder, Big Shot or any other compatible die cut machine, brush, white acrylic paint, scissors, gold stamens or any other suitable item that you'd like to use for the center of the poinsettia, Staz-On black ink, foam pop up dots, glue stick & a partridge in a pear tree! Sorry, had to throw that in there--nix the partridge--whatever that is--I'm guessing it's some kind of bird? Let's get started before I get more sidetracked...

Cut out your layers of petals using the Sizzix die cut. I ended up using grunge board instead of sturdy cardstock for mine. I cut out 2 petals of each size--one from the grungeboard & one from the acrylic. I ended up using all layers except for the smallest petal cut out from acrylic.

Put your petals into an embossing folder with aluminum foil. NOTE: It's preferred that you use the heavy duty aluminum foil for this or else your foil will rip. If you do not have heavy duty aluminum foil, it's recommended that you fold your foil several times in order to thicken it. Technically with the pressure the Big Shot applies when embossing, the foil should simply stick to your die cuts. But I still added a bit of glue to my dies to be extra sure that the foil stays on my dies. Also make sure that when you place your dies in the folder that the foiled side will be the raised side of the embossed designs.

Run both the grungeboard & acrylic through your Big Shot & emboss them. You only need the foil on the grungeboard--not on the acrylic. This is what they'll look like afterwards.

Proceed to cut out the foiled petals with scissors.

Here's a picture of my petals after cutting them out.

Next you alcohol ink your petals. In this picture I have already done this. I used Currant & drops of Copper alcohol inks.

I wanted the embossed designs to show more on my petals so I took my StazOn Black ink & softly tapped on the raised embossed side of all my petals. Do not smear the ink on or you'll end up smearing your petals & then the embossed images will not stand out as much.

After inking my petals I felt that the acrylic petals didn't stand out enough against the foiled petals. So I decided to add some white acrylic paint all along the edges of my acrylic petals. With a brush I tapped or stippled on the white acrylic paint as shown in this picture.

Since I made this poinsettia for a holiday themed page--I decided to add some Diamond Dust to my acrylica petals as well to give it a snow effect. With a glue stick I ran a fine line along the edges of the acrylic petals & then dipped them into the Diamond Dust.

Now I was happy & felt that my acrylic petals will stand out against the foiled petals.

Next you shape & mold your petals. I bent all the acrylic petals up at the base. I bent the foiled petals both up at the base of each petal & then curled the tip of the petals down.

Once the petals are shaped, it's time to start putting your flower together. Pardon my messy painted & inked fingers--as you can see I get down & dirty when I scrap!

I put two to three foam pop up dots between each layer of my poinsettia to give it more dimension. I alternated each layer as I went between foiled petals & acrylic. I also made sure that each petal on my top layer fell in between two petals from the bottom layer.

Finally, I took my top two smallest layers, punched a hole in the center of each one & slid my gold stamens into the center of the flower.

Adhere your top layer & you're done! Just 'fluff up' your flower when done because you tend to flatten your flower as you adhere your layers.

My scrap buddy Natasha who attended this class with me has a very good tutorial on her blog on how to use this faux metal technique with letters in order to make some very attractive & unique titles--feel free to visit her tutorial here.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial & as always thank you for your visit!

Till my next post...

Snowy Tinseled Frame Tutorial

Hello again fellow scrappers! In this tutorial I'll be showing how I went about making the snowy tinseled frame seen in 'The Christmas Money Shot' page.

My goal was to make the effect of an 'icy' snowed in frame. I'm just glad I finally got to use one of those Martha Stewart tinsels that I've had in my stash since about forever!

Here are your basic list of supplies: Two sided tape (I use the Sookwang brand tape that came with my Scor-Pal, it is 1/4" of an inch wide), Diamond Dust, tinsel, brush & snow texture (if you don't have snow texture, white acrylic paint will work as well).

Start by adhering the two sided tape along the border of your picture. Do not flush the tape against the edge--leave a very fine border. This is so that the tinsel will peek out from behind the diamond dust & snow giving the frame a more defined look.

As you can see, I left a very fine border around the entire frame.

Start peeling the paper off the tape & dipping each sticky side into the tinsel. Thoroughly rub each side into the tinsel in order to ensure that the entire sticky tape is covered in tinsel.

Here's the first layer of the frame. Next we apply the Diamond Dust. If you prefer you don't have to proceed further! If you like a simple tinseled border--then you can stop here.

You will re-apply the two-sided sticky tape ontop of the tinsel. This time, the tape will be flush against the edges.

Peel off the paper & start dipping your frame into the Diamond Dust. Just like the tinsel, make sure you completely cover the sticky tape with the Diamond Dust. I used my fingers to 'rub' the Diamond Dust into the sticky tape.

This is what your frame will look like after the second layer is applied. Now for the third layer which is the snow. Once again--if you like the frame this way--then you're done!

A close-up of the snowy-tinsel border. Notice how the tinsel peeks just right from underneath the 'snow'.

With a brush, 'tap' or stipple the snow or the white acrylic paint all along the edge of your frame.

Now you're done! You can apply this technique to any picture, journaling block etc...your only limit is your imagination!

Till my next post...