The Journey Awakens the Soul Layout

Happy TGIF fellow scrappers! I can't say that I'm not thrilled that it's Friday & the weekend is ahead of me. Just being able to sleep past 6:30 a.m. is such a treat!

Today's page is based on a vacation to Puerto Rico my husband & I went to just this past September. It was our very first vacation where we actually went with friends. It was different for us--but a good kind of different. You definitely bond in ways you never thought of when you travel with others who are not family. You learn from one another & you simply get to know each other better! We all work in large corporations where stress is a common part of our daily routine. So this trip truly did 'awaken our souls'. We so very much needed the escape. I'm glad our trip went well and we hope to do another one soon!

This photo shows all six of us in Fort San Cristobal in Old San Juan. I have very limited photos where all six of us are together since it was usually one of us taking the group shots. For this photo I remember positioning the camera on top of a trash bin & setting the timer! Hey...it worked right?

I'm submitting this page for two challenges. Bird is the Word (BITW) for their Journey challenge & Once Upon a Sketch (OUAS) February 15th challenge. For OUAS the challenge was to scrap vacations. Either a recent vacation...one I'd like to go on or a favorite vacation.

Here's the sketch provided to us by Nadia over at OUAS.

I went with green embellies/accents to go along with my page. The papers are a combination of Prima & BoBunny.

The large swirls on the side are actually stamps by Prima. I stamped the swirls with Staz On Jet Black Ink--then cut along the flourish to create the border. I then further decorated the swirls with Stickles.

Lime green trim by Websters Pages was tucked underneath my scroll border.

The light green/silver flourishes are by Tim Holtz & made out of grunge board. They were first painted with a lime green acrylic paint. I then randomly dabbed a bit of Silver Paint Dabber on them. Finally, they were inked with embossing ink & heat embossed with transparent Star Dust embossing powder by Stampendous. In person, these flourishes give off a fabulous dimensional shimmer.

The journaling was made with my Dymo Caption maker and the title is actually a stamp by Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous). I stamped the image onto a transparency with embossing ink & heat embossed it with black embossing powder. NOTE: You have to be a bit careful when heat embossing on transparencies--you don't want to melt or warp the transparency. So it takes a light hand and a bit of patience. However, the end result is worth it. It's hard to tell from the photo but in person the title has a dimensional, almost epoxy look to it.

I punched a few holes into my large black circle & tied some lime ribbon through the holes. The transparent compass and globe is by Tattered Angels. The mulberry flowers are from my stash, the resin flowers are by Prima and the fabric rosette is by BoBunny.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit...your time is always very much appreciated! Have a great weekend.

Altered Ink Box

Good evening fellow scrappers! Today I'm posting a wooden box that I altered some time in November of 2011. This is actually a box that I bought at my local craft store Michaels for $1.

The box itself was painted & heat embossed--then embellished with many bits, bobs & trinkets.

I use this box to hold samples of all my inks. I have just about all of the Distress Inks by Tim Holtz and many of the Adirondack dye inks by Ranger plus a few others from other brands. Having all of my inks handy in one location makes it easier for me to mix n' match colors for my projects.

The cover consists of a glimmer glass owl & a bronze key by Tattered Angels. The owl's belly is a metal clock by Tim Holtz. The flowers consist of a few mulberry paper flowers from my stash & a handmade 'frosted flower'. You can find a tutorial for the vellum frosted flower here.

The clear film strip is by Tim Holtz.

The key hole is once again by Tim Holtz. I used Star Dust glitter to give the key hole some shimmer. The transparent flourishes were cut out from a larger transparent overlay by Hambly.

The glass vial is by Tim Holtz. (Lots of Tim Holtz goodies it seems). I filled the glass vial with black beads from my stash. The bird is also cut out from a Hambly overlay.

Now to go into a bit more detail on how I gave the box it's texture. The box was first painted with pink acrylic paint. Once dry I randomly inked the box with embossing ink & heat embossed it with Mahogany distress embossing powder. Finally I lightly dry brushed it with a bit of cream/ivory acrylic paint.

Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Charming Adorable Sweet Layout

Good evening fellow scrappers! With Valentine's Day around the corner, it felt very appropriate to play along with the February 1st challenge going on over at Once Upon A Sketch (OUAS). The topic of the challenge was none other than 'Love'. We had to scrap a male in our lives that is very special to us.

Well, I have two very special guys in my life. One would be my husband--the other would be my fur baby Toby. Technically Toby is the special little guy in both our lives. He gives us unconditional love & happiness...he's our little ray of sunshine. As you can see in this photo--Toby is quite the ham. He always seems to smile in his photos.

Here's the sketch the page is based on...I sorta flipped it and used the large acrylic heart for the circle in the background.

The large acrylic circle is by Clear Scraps. I inked the edges with Red Pepper alcohol ink--then further decorated it by adding gold Stickles, eyelets, black pearls & a couple of Prima Pebbles.

The film strip is by Tim Holtz. I twisted it & adhered it as such in order to give my page more dimension.

I punched a few holes into my heart & added a touch of tulle.

The title was part of the paper itself. I cut it out & then adhered it with some foam dots. I didn't want this part of the paper to be covered up with my heart--plus it was the perfect title. Cutting it out was a way to salvage it & use it as my title.

Here are all of the bits & bobs I used. The glass vial, Love Key, clasp, pen nib & memo pin are all by Tim Holtz. Tim Holtz products are still the best in my book to add masculine touches to a male themed page.

I once again used a scroll to hold my journaling. I first used a scroll to hold my journaling in my 'It All Began With A Promise' page.

I created the 'straps' that hold my journaling from 2 strips of strong card stock. The journaling itself is printed on plain white paper & then matted with vellum in order to give it the look of an actual scroll. The scroll itself measures approximately 3 3/4" x 6 3/4".

TIP: If you have a story to tell and don't want to take up too much room on your page--try using a scroll to hold your journaling. This also adds a unique embellishment to your page.

Here I'm displaying the scroll unrolled--as you can see you can store a good sized story, thoughts, poems, quotes etc. this way. NOTE: Remember to not obstruct your scroll once you decide where to put it on your page. You need to be able to slide your journaling out so always leave one side unobstructed.

Thanks for taking the time to visit! I hope you all have a fabulous Valentine's Day alongside your loved ones.

Family Layout

Hello once again fellow scrappers! Today's page is a favorite of mine. I absolutely love this candid shot of myself with my two fave guys--my husband & my little fur-baby Toby.

I used papers by Kaisercraft's Chapter One collection. It coordinated perfectly with the colors in the photo itself. The colors also went just right for Case File #4 going on over at C.S.I. To create the inner frame--I cut a large triangular shape into my paper and then 'peeled' it back, rolled it once and just left the outer corner out. (I hope that makes sense!) Oh & prior to adhering everything down I inked all the edges to make them stand out more.

This is the challenge from C.S.I my page is based on.

This is a stamp by Stamp Enjoy. I further decorated the image with Stickles & inked the edges to make it stand out more.

I used Martha Stewart's Deco Flowers punch for the border. The edges were inked to allow them to stand out more. I further highlighted the border with dots of white opal liquid pearls.

The flourish chipboard frame seen here is by Dusty Attic. I painted it first with white acrylic paint & then heat embossed it with clear Star Dust embossing powder by Stampendous.

Another very cute stamp by Stamp Enjoy. The large spray is by Petaloo. It's one of their Color Me Crazy Sprays...I spritzed it with a teal glimmer mist so it would match my page.

The label holding my title is also by Dusty Attic. The label went through a couple extra steps in order to give it more texture. It was first painted with a teal/blue metallic acrylic paint. I then gave it a coat of clear crackle paint (Rock Candy). Once dry I lightly spread a bit of Frosted Lace Stickles on it with my finger. I added more Frosted Lace in the center of the label & spread it out thinner with my finger towards the edges. I next highlighted the edges of the label with Stickles and finished it up by adding two rhinestones.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit and I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

It All Began With A Promise

Good evening once again fellow scrappers! Seems like I've had a very productive January! I think this is the most I've posted in one month. :-) Let's just say that I started the New Year with lots of inspiration!

Today's page I made for the Bird Is The Word 'Promise' challenge & for Case #3 going on over at C.S.I. I think that the other reason for my consistent scrapping is these challenges that I've been participating in. They really do motivate you to scrap those pages.

This is my husband & I on our wedding day. Hard to believe that we're already heading into our 5th year of marriage.

Here's the challenge for C.S.I containing the color scheme I used on this page. The colors were more towards the pastel side but I took the darker shade of brown & made that my primary color. I then went with the lighter colors for everything else. Just a bit out of my comfort zone but that's what these challenges are about.

The bird cage is a wooden embellishment by Kaisercraft. The cute little bird on the cage I bought from Lidia's Etsy store--just one of several cute embellies she has in her shop.

The title is on a chipboard label by Dusty Attic. To give the chippie that metallic look--I first painted the chipboard with an ivory metallic acrylic paint. I then spritzed it with Pralines & Cream & Cashmere Smooch.

TIP: Want a unique way to store lengthy journaling but not exactly 'hide' it? Why not display it on your page as a scroll? As you can see from this photo--I used a scroll to hold my journaling & to add a unique embellishment to my page.

Just print your journaling on paper or vellum (or both like I did) & roll it up. Then take a pieces of scrap card stock or thick patterned paper--& cut two strips of paper about 1 3/4" inches long by 1/2" wide. NOTE: make sure that you use fairly thick card stock/patterned paper for the makeshift straps you're going to use to hold your scroll. If you use thin paper--the straps will most likely rip. Finally adhere the straps to your page making sure to leave enough room to slide your scroll through. NOTE: Use brads to decorate the ends of your straps. I adhered the brads to my straps as decoration. The straps are glued to my page with strong adhesive instead. These makeshift straps are what's going to hold your scroll in place so they have to be adhered very well onto your page. I felt that adhering them directly to the page with brads may end up ripping my page. So that's why I went about it this way.

Here's my scroll journaling taken out of it's holding spot. Once done, simply roll it back up & tuck it back into your straps!

As I mentioned in an earlier post--one of my resolutions was to use up the tons of ribbon in my stash. So I intertwined a bit of sheer gold ribbon amongst my flowers & Prima vine.

I once again used a bit of tulle for this page to give it a softer, delicate feel.

The cute little charm that I have hanging from my large mulberry paper rose with a Tim Holtz memo pin was also purchased in an Etsy shop. This one is owned by a very nice lady named Kat and her store Beyond Charms is full of lots of lovely charms just like this one that can be added to any page/card/project.

The two large light brown shabby roses was also bought at an Etsy store. Seems like I did a lot of shopping in Etsy for this page! That's the beauty of owning an Etsy shop of your own--you tend to support your other fellow crafters that are in the same boat as you. These shabby roses can be found over at Frog Feathers along with many other fabulous trims, lace & miscellaneous embellishments. The light pink crochet doily I also bought from Frog Feathers.

Finally an owl glimmer glass embellishment by Tattered Angels. I used a resin cameo by Webster's Pages for the owl's tummy.

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit!

Winter Fairy Card

Good evening fellow scrappers. I thought I'd quickly upload this card I made in early December. I wanted to upload this while we were still in 'winter' mode.

I bought this very adorable stamp over at Whimsy Stamps titled 'Winter Fairy'. This stamp gave me the opportunity to take out my Prismacolor pencils & do something I've loved to do since I was a child--color!

I used Stickles to further decorate my image.

I stamped the image on a piece of transparency & layered it over my original stamped image. You can see in this photo the very cool dimension the transparency provides--especially for the wings.

I handmade the stick pin with beads from my stash & tucked a small white doily in the upper corner.

I used small dots of White Liquid Pearls to simulate snow flakes falling in the background.

I tucked a bit of gauze in the lower right had corner of my image to simulate a bit of snow.

The pine cones were made with Tim Holtz's Pine Cone die. I dabbed a bit of white acrylic paint on them along with some Rock Candy Stickles to give the effect of snow--a tip I got from Mr. Tim Holtz himself.

The metallic red poinsettia is by Prima.

All the papers I used to make this card are Christmas themed papers I've had in my stash since forever. It was great to finally get the chance to use some of them up.

Remember 2011 Layout

TGIF fellow scrappers! Today was one of those Fridays that I refer to as 'Fiesty Friday'. Everybody was hyper at the office...not much work got done & we were all for the most part simply happy! Not sure if we're all burnt from the amount of work we've been having lately or we're all anticipating our supposed first 'snow storm' of the season or if there's just something in the air--but it was a great Friday!

I was also able to wrap up this page that I'm submitting for several challenges.

The first is for the Once Upon A Sketch (OUAS) January 15th challenge. The challenge was to journal about New Year's. Either 'Hello 2012' or 'Goodbye 2011'. I decided to journal about the one memory that most stood out in my mind for 2011--so I guess I went with 'Goodbye 2011'. I absolutely love this one photo me & my husband took while vacationing in Puerto Rico. The time, the place & the meaning behind it--just meant a lot to me. I've already scrapped it once before. You can see my first take of it here.

This is also being submitted for Case #2 going on over at C.S.I. I'm really enjoying their Alice in Wonderland theme.

Finally, this page also fit the requirements for the Bird Is The Word (BITW) 'Remember' challenge.

Here's the sketch provided by Nadia over at OUAS. I'm a fan of circular elements--so this sketch got my cogs & gears going as soon as I saw it. :-)

This is Case #2 for C.S.I. The colors for this case took me a little out of my comfort zone. I tend to be more of a 'grungy girl' & lean more towards the brownish/vintage colors & I don't tend to mix too many different colors on one page. However, all these bright colors just seemed to work/blend well together!? Who would've thought!

Ok, let's start with the close ups. The circle frame chippie is by Dusty Attic. I gave it the iridescent paint/embossing texture that I'm quite fond of when it comes to chipboard. I first painted the chipbard with metallic teal/green acrylic paint. With a white Sharpie paint marker I highlighted the edges of the flourishes on the circle frame in order to define them a bit more. Next, I inked the frame with embossing ink & heat embossed it with Kaleidoscope clear embossing powder by Stampendous. This particular embossing powder gives off this shimmery iridescent texture that is so very pretty in person & hard to truly capture with a camera.

The yellow butterflies I cut out from a Hambly overlay that I've had in my stash since before time. I finally found a use for it! :-) I wanted the butterflies to look as if they were flying out from behind the photo.

TIP: Want to try out a dimensional way of matting your photo? Simply rip & tear scraps of paper with your hands & layer them!

I ripped & tore several pieces of two sided paper straight & in angles. NOTE: This works best with two sided paper that has one light side & one dark side. I inked all the torn edges with Tea Dye Distress ink. I then layered all of these torn pieces one on top of the other in different angles & curled the edges on some of them. As I adhered the layers I tried to alternate the sides of the paper I used (dark versus light). This gives the effect of having many pieces of paper matting the photo when in reality it's just bits & scraps that are just layered one on top of the other.

One of the main reasons I love this photo so much is that I find it sweet & romantic. Sweet & romantic = tulle in my book. Tee-hee. There's something about tulle that 'softens' a page. So for the first time, I've incorporated a bit of tulle in my layout. I kept it simple. Just took a piece of tulle, tied it with a knot & then adhered it to my page. Done.

I also made the New Year's resolution to use up the tons of ribbon I have in my stash. So once again I've intertwined a piece of ribbon amongst all of my floral embellies.

The brick wall I traced with a fine point black marker and a Prima brick mask.

The random yellow misting was done with Yellow Daisy Glimmer Mist.

The gate stamp is by Prima. As I tend to do--I stamped my image on a transparency with StazOn Jet Black ink. This way I can place my image anywhere I wish & I don't have to worry about stamping it on crooked. I have total control of how my image will display! Yay!

A close up of the other cluster of embellies. The resin bird is by Prima. You can see my second tulle accent here as well.

I also used two small white doilies on either side of my matted photo. Since they're white like my background they add a soft subtle touch.

Finally...my hidden journaling. Ta-da! Turns out that one of those torn edges on top of my photo is actually a pull out tag where I hid a bit of nostalgic journaling. Journaling reads:

This was it. This was the defining moment of 2011 for me. This is the one memory I do not want to forget. One the eve of our 4th wedding anniversary we took a 'classic' photo during our vacation to Puerto Rico. One that I hope our future son or daughter will maybe one day try to reproduce. It's timeless. It's romantic...it's us.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend & a big thanks as always to those who stop by for a visit.