10 Years Strong

Greetings!  So happy to be here.  A few technical glitches have made it frustrating around these parts but thankfully things are better.  My hubs still isn't all too happy with Apple and thinks I should give up using the brand but.......that is a discussion for another day ; )

Instead we'll discuss the anniversary I just celebrated! WooHoo!!  10 years married to my best friend as of August 29 - we've been together 14 and half.  This bunch of sunflowers came home with my hubby as a surprise to kick off our celebration.  They're my favorite flower and came from a little roadside stand around the bend from our house.  I love that he knows just what to bring me to put a smile on my face from ear to ear - and he was so sweet to drive out of his way to get them after a super long day at work.

This is a throwback page from last year's anniversary.  I wanted to include a picture of us in this post and since we've yet to get one together this year..... I resorted to this which is fun because its crafty too! :D

Lots of fun ScrapFX chipboard pieces used on this page, along with some Glitz Design papers, and washi tape.  The glittery word strips were made with a Crafter's Workshop stencil and I should really get a tutorial going for that technique.  Its super easy and fun, fun!

Flash forward to this year and here is the card I created for him.  Kind of funny it has a lot of the same elements going on, huh?  Even right down to the doily! Wow, weird.  

On this card (sorry for the terrible shot) I created my own woodgrain background using the ScrapFX Wood Grain stencil and some paste to start off with the misted it up with a variety of Lindy's Stamp Gang mists.  Once it was all dried I went over it in spots with the ScrapFX Heart Confetti stencil and ink.  Then it was just a matter of playing with layers.  I'm really diggin' PL cards for actual cards right now.  I picked up some Me & My Big Ideas ones from Ms and love them for this!  I'm sure they'll make their way in my PL album too, but for now this is what I've been using them most for and have thoughts of ways to cut them up for LOs, AJ pages and tags too!  LOL

So that is how I've been spending the long weekend - enjoying time with the one I love and our kids.  Hope you've been having a great one too!

Quickie Tutorial: Stencil Embossing

Hey Sweetie Peeps!  Its been a long time since I've shared a tutorial with you and so today I shall give a quickie one on stenciling embossing.  This has been a popular technique I've used on cards I've shared and you'll be so surprised at how easy peasy this truly is. 

This card was created using an MSW card sketch.  I rotated the sketch and changed it up a bit to suit the vision I had in my head.  I really love using sketches for springboards in this way!

The cloud background on this card shows off the technique I'll be sharing today using some Crafter's Workshop stencils. Do you notice how the clouds seem puffy??  Pretty neat, right?  Let me show you how to do it.

 Since this tutorial is really so quick and simple I decided to go the collage route for the tutorial, follow along with the directions clockwise starting in the upper left hand corner.

Step One: Choose you patterned paper/cardstock and stencil you want to use.  Place the side of paper you desire to be embossed pattern down on top of stencil.

Step Two: Create you embossing sandwich. I use the Cuttlebug so my sandwich is A plate, B plate, stencil, paper, C plate.  Run this sandwich through the Cuttlebug.

Step Three: Gently peel away your paper from the stencil.  Notice I said peel.  Yes your paper may be stuck slightly to the stencil.  

Step Four: Stand back and marvel at your embossed piece of paper and prepare it to use on a project.  From here you can use inks, chalks, pens, and other soft dry mediums to highlight your embossed images.  I don't necessarily suggest wet mediums to highlight - they will take away a bit of the embossing and therefore defeat the technique.  But you can do what you like ultimately. ;)

This is what the cloud background looked like when it was completed with this technique:

Now it may take you a couple tries to get the embossing to work - just be patient and keep trying.  It'll happen. It took me a quite a few tries to get my alignment right and everything set before I actually had something work out the way I wanted it to.  At least you have the benefit of knowing which way the paper needs to be on the stencil - ha! ;)

 And here is another card I used the technique on, in fact it was the first one I ever tried this technique on:

You can see the original post for this card here.

Hope you like this technique and try it out!  If you do please share a link, I'd love to pop on by and see what you create using your embossed pieces. 

Have beautiful days!!

Neon!! + ScrapFX = FUN!!

Hey Friends!  I've been immersed in so many projects - its wonderful!  My table has been messed up and cleaned up numerous times today - so can't keep plowing through a mess - what about you?  Do you clean up after each project? Plow through?  Clean as you go??....gasp! (<---I've tried this one and it doesn't work well for me - I'm a go with the flow, pull everything you own out, kind of girl - yep, that's me!)

One of my favorite projects to work on was for Michelle's Neon Challenge being held on Yvonne Yam's blog.  Michelle has wonderful posts about her love of neon - you should totally check them out - and I have to say I've got a soft spot in my heart for the stuff as well - I loved getting decked out in all my gear when I was a tween - although I wasn't called a tween - we didn't have that label way back then - as my kids would say - for me, its like yesterday because everywhere I go in stores I see it!

Not entirely pleased with my neon selection I ran to the store - scored some terrifically fun neon gel crayons (Crayola) - colored through circle stencil (Crafter's Workshop) to create first layer - these crayons are COOL! - they glided across the cardstock like butter - left cool chunky rings around the edges - stenciled again using black ink to create arrows - this was cumbersome - worth it - but cumbersome!!! -  the black tag is from ScrapFX - more on those in a different post because I REALLY like them!

My daughter is all all over the neon craze right now - I was informed its very fashionable right now - she about dropped her jaw when I said I used to wear stuff that pretty much looked just like what she wants - oh the horror!!!! - Nah, its all good, baby girl says I look cute in ev'rything - she's the sweetest girl in the world!!!

Do you see that title??!!  Oh how it sparkles and shines - photos just don't do it justice - that's a ScrapFX wordlet chippie!!  Keep your eyes peeled on the ScrapFX blog this month because I'll be posting a quick and easy tutorial on how to create this look - there are even tiny confetti star pieces on it!!  Do you spy the other ScrapFX tag I used?? - the circle edge - love!

It felt good to knock out another LO from our Disney trip in 2006 - the album will be done in true freestyle/eclectic fashion - just the way I like it - ready for the full page?

So while I was at the Do More With Less blog checking out the neon challenge, I read post after post - Yvonne has an amazing amount of tips and beautiful projects to share - one tip I used and will be adding to my arsenal was using bubble wrap as a layer - I use it all the time to stamp - why hadn't I thought about layering it???! - Thanks Yvonne!!  Such a happy person I was - this totally toned down my background enough to let the rest of the layers shine! - And of course thanks Michelle for the super fun challenge!

I'll let you all know when my ScrapFX post with the tutorial goes live - in the meantime go leave my fellow teamies love - they are knockin' it outta the park!!!

Skissedilla #157

Hey there and happy Sunday to you all.  Its dreary and cold here - one would think I'd be bummin' about that - actually rather glad.  I've got a couple projects in the works I want to finish - plenty more I want to start.  My first box of chipboard from ScrapFX arrived!!!!! and I so cannot wait to get started playing with some of that as well.  What about you?  Any scrappy plans for the day?

If you're finding yourself with a lack of mojo - or adore sketches as a launching pad - head over to Skissedilla to check out sketch #157 created by Nabon.

This week I stuck pretty close to the sketch - rearranged my photos a bit so I could fit all 5 - I think that's probably close to a record of some sort for me since I'm typically a 1-2 photo scrapper - oh how my iPhone has changed all that!

The stamped image on my LO replaces the tractor - you can see I took inspiration from the squares for the background I created

Letters are from Crate Paper and October Afternoon - I ran the woodgrain OA letters through my Cuttlebug and embossed them with a woodgrain folder - outlined them with a Sharpie - the other letters were outlined with a white Sakura gel pen - some bits of tape, journaling, and a stamped doodled border made this little corner feel complete.  The journaling reads: its always been a struggle for me to celebrate myself.  I'm a people pleaser through and through.  At 35....

...I want more.  I want to learn how to truly embrace who I am.  I also used the quote from the book "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett to go with my pictures - although I modified it a bit - "You is Kind, Smart, Important" - I believe every girl and woman should be told this repeatedly every day - for real.  The stamped image was colored with mica powders and a waterpen - love this technique and use it most often for my stamps.

Background was created with colored gel medium rubbed through a Crafter's Workshop stencil with my finger - allowed it to dry completely then added the ink splots through another CW stencil and Tsukineko VersaColor ink - the grid paper is actual grid paper from the office supply store.

That's it for now friends.  Hope you play along at Skissedilla this week.  We've got a new Selected Scrapper for the month and a fun RAK up for grabs.  

On the pneumonia front - thank you all who've prayed and offered special thoughts - I feel much better and am hoping the last of this garbage will be out of my system for good.  Again, thank you.

Have delightful days - See you soon.

Gonna Let Loose, A Page to Peep, and the Rest of the Goodies

Well, how's that for a title?! Hey Friends.

Life took a REAL crazy turn around here and while my mind has been wanting to blog - it was preoccupied with some unforeseen nonsense (I'd have stronger words, but I've used up my allotment for years in the past days!!! I'm not proud).  So, things are a bit behind - but that's good news for you because I'm going to be having some splendid things going on here - giveaways, a tutorial or two, some eye candy, and one more supa' exciting thing to share!  Starting tomorrow it shall be all about me letting loose, taking time to craft, and enjoying what makes me smile - my family of course.

Ready for a page to peep??  

I ran out of time to do Brit's sketch at Skissedilla - before I knew it my first DT reveal was up and the rest is a blur - for the most part its been a good blur - but I had this page now taunting me - I know myself - I won't finish if it sits too long - I finished.  Check it:

  Here's Brit's sketch:

I rotated the sketch 90 degrees for my page and of course I scrap 8.5x11 so I adjusted a bit for that.

I did a ton of stamping on this LO - discovered I adore stamping on cork - its seriously cool people! Papers are back in the day Sassafras and a few bits of Echo Park.  Don't you just love that lil' bicycle stamp? - Maya Road -  Doily bit is from The Chip Chop Shop, my fav Etsy to pick these up - there's a sale going on right now too - just sayin'. Stenciled the background with ink - Studio Calico stencil - used negative of heart punch for a stencil.

Close up of the title.  I wish you could see the dimensional glaze I put on some of the hearts, but alas it doesn't shine through.

Sigh...I love clouds - been wonderfully blessed to lazily lay and look at them some this week - created the background clouds with a The Crafter's Workshop cloud stencil - outlined with NeoColor II and added some water to blend a bit - fussy cut popped up clouds, added dimensional glaze and outlined - stamped the sun on cork with paint and ink - added colored gel medium to center - sprinkled with glass beads

Are you still with me??  I hope you've made it because now you get to see the goods I'll be shipping out, along with a canvas creation, to one lucky winner.  You can go here to see the canvases.  Be sure to leave a comment (and share which canvas is a fav) on any recent post to be entered - all comments received before midnight on the 22nd will be counted.  I'll have a winner on Friday with more loot to vie for coming this weekend!!!  YAY!   International peeps welcome!

Liquitex Coarse Gel - some mesh (looks so cool on LOs) - a mini journal - 3 fabric roses rolled with love by moi - a Smash journal tablet - 2 wooden spools wrapped in baker's twine - Smash sticky notes and envelopes - How's that??

Have relaxing nights my friends, see you tomorrow.

A LO Just For Me

Hey! Hey! Hey!  It's Saturday and sunny gorgeous here, too cold, but pretty to view from inside. LOL.

I was working on some assignments this week and after I had started one I realized I'd used the picture before and abandoned the page.  I don't really like using the same pictures over and over for DT assignments... gotta keep it fresh ; ).  So after I finished off my tasks the page was staring me down and since it had a fav photo of mine on it I decided to finish it off.  

Best Friends by Scarlett Salamone Supplies Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, October Afternoon; Doilies: The Chip Chop Shop; Rhinestones: Recollections; Stickers: Crate Paper, October Afternoon; Die-cuts: October Afternoon; Twine: Martha Stewart; Brad: Crate Paper; Pins, Ruler, Bead: Maya Road; Word Sticker; The Girls' Paperie; Gesso: Liquitex; Mists; Tattered Angels; Shimmerz; Paint: Plaid; Dies: My Favorite Things, The Cat's Pajamas; Stencil: The Crafter's Workshop; Other: Paper doily, felt lips

 I had such a blast painting up the background and adding my favorite element - clouds - to the page.  Lots of my fav bellies tucked here and there and I was one happy scrapper.  

This page will go in my Book of Me I'm working on.  I never understood how people just LOVED their dogs so much until I had two of my own that are oh so special.  I can't explain how I feel when I hang out with them and play.  So free of worry and care.  Delightful bliss.

Here's a few of my favorite deets:

 Hope you all have a fabulous weekend.  Be blessed and bless others.