Merry Almost Christmas: A Lock and Keynote Scholarship Fundraiser

Just wanted to share this cute promotional video that my daughter Chelsea is in for an upcoming Christmas show...it's all lip synced but very cute. In case ya don't recognize her from all my scrap pages , she's the cutie with all the long red curly hair. Merry Christmas!

simple open face stamp flowers

I really like these little flowers that I used on both my Grandparents Lo and on the leftover cards that I made yesterday. They're super easy to make and I like them because they have a bit of a 3D effect to them yet aren't as bulky as some of the flowers we've all been making lately...speaking of bulky flowers, has anyone come up with a good way to store these LOs??? but I digress... These little guys are super easy to make! You'll need:
1}an open style flower design stamp{ mine is Autumn leaves brand but any open one will do}
2) ink of choice
3} emboss powder { I used clear as I wanted my brown ink to show}
4} heat gun
5} scissors, small hole punch, a bamboo skewer/sm paint brush
6} stickles in your choice of colour

Ok , stamp flower on scraps of pp in ink of choice , sprinkle with emboss powder and heat set . Allow to cool and then cut out close to edge of stamped pattern . You could omit the emboss /heat step if you want but I like the raised image and the little bit of sparkle that the emboss powder gives it.
Next cup the flower in the palm of your hand and using something round { I used my Basic Grey rub on tool }rub in the center of the flower to create a cupped shape.
Now using your skewer/paint brush handle or similiar round stick , gently roll back the individual flower peatals.
Next I punched a small circle in a corresponding paper pattern with a regular office hole punch and glued this in the center of the flower down in the cup portion. I then applied a thin bead of stickles around the edge of this small center circle . Set aside to dry . Use a pop dot to attach to your project so that it lifts to accomodate the petal curls ...and that's it . You could, of course , also decorate the flower center with just stickles or a gem of your choice. Thanks so much for popping by!

A Fortunate Mistake

Hi everyone! Have you ever noticed that sometimes a "mistake" turns out to be the best thing that ever happened? Ok ...it's not like I won the lottery or anything because of a mistake but I did end up with some pretty good looking flowers! I was playing with some distress mists when I was trying to decide what colour to mist my flowers for this LO. I was spraying on a discarded piece of cardstock and I had first tried a blue mist which I discarded as too dark. I then decided to spritz my flowers with a vintage photo/bronze Perfect pearls mix { I'm cheap and mix my own colours!] ...but I wasn't very careful and the wet edge of my vintage photo flower touched against the still wet puddle of sapphire chip mist.At first I was dismayed but then I really liked the effect as the blue spread across the vintage photo ...so ended up doing all the tips of my flowers like it...a FORTUNATE mistake! These pics were taken last week when Rob and I went for a romantic night for our 20 th Anniversary.We had rented a suite at the beautiful Candlelite Bay Inn in nearby York Hrb. After a fantastic supper we decided to go for a stroll on the beach. As we sat on a couple of large rocks admiring the view of the ocean I happened to glance down and saw this grey rock with the shape of a heart in quartz running through it ! I couldn't believe it ...definitely a sign to us ...a sign of love ! I thought it was a pretty wonderful omen to find on a romantic stroll on your twentieth anniversary ...don't you? Everything except for the blue flowers , the blue string pearls and the TH inks are from SCRATHAT's July kit www.scrapthat.ca . Thanks for popping by!
PS. The rock now resides in my garden!

Handmade blooms tutorial /wedding Lo #2

Good sunny day fellow scrap addicts! Well I felt it wasn't "fair" to have done a wedding LO of Hubby's parents and not one of mine {plus I had ALOT of BG Capella left to use up! } ...so last night I created this LO of my parents on their wedding day almost 44 years ago! Mom had just turned 19 and Dad was 27. Mom is sitting in Dad's lap in this pic...my dad is NOT abnormally short haha ! I LOVE the little branch and pair of birds across the bottom of the photo. This was actually a cheap stencil that I found at Dollarama a few weeks ago ...I just thought it was adorable. I simply traced it out on chocolate chip cs from Stampin' Up , fussy cut it , painted it with 'Vintage Photo'Stickles and then added a glossy layer using the same medium from my last epoxy letter tutorial. I thought the two little birds was so appropriate for a wedding Lo..love birds maybe? But what I really wanted to show you was how I made those cute little flowers that are on the branch. Here's what you'll need : Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch
Ek Success 5 petal punch { it's about 3/4"}
Scraps of printed paper{I used both sides of BG 'Bravo' from Capella}
1/2 pearl sticky gems
Choc. chip Stampin'Up ink
White glue of choice
1}Punch hydrangea from the peach side of PP 2 times as you will need 2 of the larger size flowers.
2}Punch one of the 5 petal flower. I tried to make sure I punched a spot on the paper with dark areas in it for contrast.
3}Ink the edges of JUST the two larger hydrangea pieces . Fold the petals of 5 petal flower and the small hydrangea piece in toward the center to create a small bowl shape with these two layers.
4} glue the 2 larger hydrangea pieces together with a 1/2 turn so that all 8 petals are now showing
5] glue in first, the 5 petal flower and then add the smallest hydrangea piece on top of the 5 petal layer. Finish off with a 1/2 pearl in the center.
I found it helpful to 'fluff up' the layers of the top 2 flower pieces with the tip of my craft knife to help maintain a more 3D look to the flower. Allow to dry and use as desired. I thought they were the perfect little blossom to add to my love birds branch. Thanks for stopping by and happy scrapping!

Wedding Lo and Homemade Epoxy Aphas

Well I finally got a chance to play with the new Basic Grey Capella papers that have been sitting on my desk for 2 weeks! I love them! Very beautiful and perfect for wedding LOs. I decided it was time to pay some attention to Rob's side of the family as I have a tendency to scrap only my side {oops} . I decided to start with his parents wedding photo. I didn't have alphas that I felt went with the Lo so using my Cricut and some glossy glaze I created a perfect match ! I simply cut my words twice using the jasmine font. I cut the darker background letter using the shawdow feature on my Cricut to have a wider letter , then re-cut in regular mode on the light blue paper. I glued both layers together and then painted it with FolkArt Papier glass finish {Walmart} and left my letters to dry overnight . I really like the thickness and epoxy-like finish...they remind me of Thickers. Thanks for stopping by and happy scrapping!

I love & gypsies!

Check out this youtube video from 7 gypsy!

Maggie

I've been playing with the Dusty Attic again...I loved this lantern from DA...it looks so old fashioned and I thought it would look lovely on this Lo about my greatgrandmother. I inked it with Tim Hotlz "vintage photo" and then spritzed it with my homemade glimmer mist-frayed burlap{ one dropper full of Tim Holtz distress ink, one scoop of bronze perfect pearls powder and a little water..got that recipe straight off tim holtz videos...check them out on Youtube}. I backed it with a little yellow cardstock to give it a glow effect.I'm also in love with the new "Heritage" cartridge from Cricut. The hat { inspired by Bluedragonfly at scrapbook.com} was cut 5 times and layers glued together plus a seperate one cut so that I could cut the stand as an individual piece, slit the hat and fit it inside to give it a more 3 D look. I could have just cut one layer from chipboard but I'm having difficulties with cutting chipboard despite a deep housing blade for my cricut{ any advice???} I also love the little button up boots...They're also from "heritage" . I inked/spritzed them the same and added the buttons with black Stickles.The flowers are from an awesome tutorial from Gabrielle Pollacco[ check her awseome designs out here www.gabriellepollacco.blogspot.com }which you can find at www.mycreativescrapbook.blogspot.com . I've used them before on my "Serious Soul " lo. They are so versatile and I love that they have dimension yet aren't too bulky on a LO. You may be seeing a few more of these vintage style Los cuz I'm having soooo much fun with them. I did extensive family tree work for many years and have lots of older photos I'd like to do Los with. Thanks for popping by!

Got Me some Dusty Attic!!! WooHoo!!!

OOOO...I'm on cloud nine cuz I finally got my hands on some Dusty Attic laser chipboard this week...two different lots , two days in a row. On Monday I got my mail order from Tracy...check her out here : www.StayTrueToGod.com .She was an angel to deal with! The swirly vine on the left hand side of this 'Journey' Lo came from Tracy's shop. And then today another angel graced me with some more Dusty Attic! My friend, Catherine just got back from a 3 week trip to Australia/Fiji { lucky gal!} and being a real angel listened to my frantic begging via email while she was vacationing in Perth { home of Dusty Attic} and boot it to Tommorrow's Memories scrapstore there... with 45 mins to her flight!... and snagged me some awesome pieces{ including my much coveted wire dress form!!!} Now how's that for going above and beyond? Thanks Catherine! I can see that I'll be having more of this stuff cuz I'm in LUUUUUV! You can do just about anything with this product...ink, paint . mist... you name it. Check it out here: www.dustyattic.net.au . It 'll leave you drooling! my only problem now is that I love it so much that I don't want to use it all up! I'd like to tell you about a cute little cricut idea that I used here { wish I could give appropriate credit but I forget where I saw this ...if it was your idea let me know and I'll give kudos to ya!} I really wanted the "journey " title to have depth to it so I cut the same word out 5 times and glued them one on top of each other. I love the dimension it adds. I then inked and spritzed it the same colors as the Dusty Attic swirl! Thanks for popping by!

Same product/different looks

Today I thought I'd share with you two recent Los that I've done using the same paper line but they are so different. I don't know about you ,but sometimes I look at products and think" I love it but it doesn't fit 'my style'." Altho I don't really think I have a style per say but I guess I do lean a little toward the vintage, shabby chic style ...I certainlt like to clutter up my pages ! LOL
I had picked up this Imaginesence line at my LSS the other day and thought it was really cute and playful. My first Lo using it was "Nana's Girl". I felt it really suited the playfulness of the pics of Chelsea and my mom fooling around a couple of summers ago in PEI. This Lo took HOURS! so much stitching { but hardly any inking GASP!}. When I was cleaning up my scraptable mess the next day {procrastinator extrodinaire!!!} I got to thinking that I had alot of left over bits and pieces and it seemed a sin to banish it to the scraps container . I wanted to do another Lo...but something waaaaay quicker than the night before. I chose a Becky Fleck Page map design.Follow Becky here www.pagemaps.com/blog.php . I ended up with this "Family" lo which I feel is very crisp and clean, uses negative space etc. Very uncluttered and so unlike me! {Practically had to sit on my hands to not add more!}But it just goes show how the same product can give diiferent looks...so don't always by pass what you think won't "suit your style". I'd like to wish everyone a great big Happy Mother's Day. Hope you have a wonderful day{ with no smoke alarms from the kids making you breakfast in bed :)} . Check Adrienne's blog for a fantastic Mother's day RAK she's giving away! You can find her here www.naptime-equals-scraptime.blogspot.com

Always a Girly Girl

Hi everyone, can't believe how quickly spring is going! and I haven't even touched a thing in my garden yet...hmmmm... could it have something to do with the fact that I seem to spend all my waking hours in my scraproom??? Naw, couldn't be! :) . This is a LO I did of Chelsea yesterday that I've had in my head for a long time now. She's ALWAYS been enamoured with dresses, from a very young age. Even now at almost 17 , she still loves dresses and never passes up an opportunity to buy one if she can weedle the $$$$ outta me! The only time she would wear a pair of pants to school when she was little was on gym days...and that was only cuz she couldn't wiggle back into her tights herself! The pretty ribbon flower was made using a tutorial by Lisa-Nazario-Gregory . You can find her and all her beautiful work here: www.what-a-beautiful-mess.blogspot.com . The dress form is my own little creation! I can't find one around here {and don't have the patience to wait to order one in!} so I made do with what I had. I drew this one on white cardstock, added a little glue and glitter,{it sparkles more IRL} cut it out and used popdots to give it a bit of dimension on my LO. It's no Dusty Attic heehee but it'll do until I can get my hands on some of that stuff! Have you seen it ? Wow. It is the most gorgeous chipboard EVER! I'm pleased with the title too. I lucked into an awesome deal at "wallyworld' last week! There were boxes of Autumn Leaves stamps {7-8 stamp packages ...not just individual stamps!} on sale for $19.99!!!! It's about a $100 value! It also included some tags and a book. I decided to be greedy and pick up another one hoping that it would be all different stamps in the second box. Not exactly...the book was a different one and 3 outta the 7 stamp sets were different. I guess I 'll hand on the repeats to somebody else.But I digress [ as usual...flight of ideas!} ...what I started to tell you was about the title...The 'always ' was one of the words in this Autumn Leaves stamp set...there were others including the word "grin' . By stamping those two words a couple of times and cutting out individual letters, I was able to come up with all the letters for my title. I was pleased becuz it gave a consistent look to the title. I dressed up the "always ' with markers and lots of bling, then popdotted it also for dimension. Thanks for popping by! A great big Happy National Scrapbooking Day to you all this May 1st! Hope you all have a great scrappy day!

Happy Easter everyone!

Just wanted to say Happy Easter to everyone and to share my "untraditional" Easter Lo. I know as an adult I should shudder at the thought of all the sugar in a pack of Peeps...but I'm 8 yrs old anytime I eat these. Scott shares a love of Peeps with me too... as matter of fact, I bought about six different packs of Peeps at different times to specifically take photos and do this LO and everytime I'd go to do it, Scott had already eaten them! I gotta get a better hiding place! Lots of cutting and inking on this Lo. I really liked the base paper of this Lo and didn't want to cover all the pretty pattern when I added my second layer of edged paper. Using my exacto knife I fussy cut along the pattern edge on both corners so I could slip the edged paper underneath...inking the cut edge helped it to jump out a bit more. The shaped edge was cut by hand after tracing another shaped patterned piece onto this Basic Grey pp...inking and my fake stitching{love Sharpie markers!} helped to define its shape. Two little things I'd like to share about this Lo are the little hand made chick down in the corner and the Peeps title. The chickie was sketched by me and handcut out of yellow cardstock. I then applied a thin layer of glue and some Stampin' Up glitter. A liitle brown gem for an eyeball finished him quite nicely.
The Peep title was made using a technique that I've employeed fairly often when I want something to look like a "brand" name. I simply copied a piece of the Peep box , blowing it up by 200% and printed in B/W...no sense wasting colored ink. Using graph paper, I traced the flipped over copy onto the back of black cardstock and then cut out with my exacto knife and viola! The corners looked a little bare{ I don't understand how people who use negative space so beautifully can practice such restaint!} so I cut a few black branches using Storybook cartridge from Cricut.The papers used in this Lo are all from the new "Origins" line by Basic Grey. Thanks for popping by ! Wishing you all a blessed and Happy Easter!

Gorgeous Handmade Flowers

Ok ...I just have to share these awesome flowers with you. They're just gorgeous and so easy to make. I can't take credit for them as I found the tutorial here
http://dawnmcvey.typepad.com . I had to tweek them a litle so I WILL take credit for that haha. I used bling instead of buttons for the centers and I did the inking two different ways... the white flowers with the edges colored were done by just flicking an inked sponge over the edges after they were made. The more solid colored flowers were created by inking each individual layer {both sides} before I assembled the flowers. So basically even tho these flowers are white , you can make then any color you want with various inks. Another thing I'd like to add is that in the tutorial Dawn uses scalloped punches to cut out each layer. I only had a large and a small scalloped punch but also wanted an in between size, so I punched medium size circles and then trimmed around the edges with scalloped scissors...doesn't have to be perfect cuz you'll never notice it once the flower is made. One word of advice ...wear a pair of latex gloves unless you don't mind your nails and fingertips being stained for a day or two! Thanks for dropping by and please share your flowers if you try this. i'd also love to see another types of homemade flowers you'd like to share!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok ...so I'm a couple days late in wishing you this but still wanted to post my "stuff" anyways!Been a very busy week... mostly running Chelsea around as usual.I told her today she has to drop some activities cuz "I'M" exhausted!!!! The Winter Carnival Ambassador contest is finally over. She didn't win but man she blew them away with her rendition of 'Good Enough" by Evanesense! { watch for LO heehee]Anyhoooooo...back to heart day. Here's a couple cards I did and a Lo for dear hubby for Valentine's day. It's also my entry for the current sketch contest going on over at Pagemaps Blog. Go check it out at www.pagemaps.com. an awesome place to go when you got scrapper's block or just looking for some inspiration. Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day filled with LUV! Thanks for popping by!

Two Other versions

You realize by now that I truly am technologically challenged...and forgetful....I forgot to post the other two versions of the recycled envelope books...so here they are! Michelle

Recycled Envelope baby mini album

First of all I can't take full credit for this recycled envelope idea...I stumbled across it on You tube and you can see the whole tutorial here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsRqOQ5gN4Q .
I made this baby book for a friend's upcoming baby shower. In each page envelope I have a tag with a quote about chilhood /little girls[ she knows what she's having}and on the other side of the tag I've left 2 sided sticky tabs so she can add her own pictures. Each page has a stamped journaling spot for the mom to add her own comments,etc. This basic little book is very adaptable to different topics. I've included 2 other pics of a Christmas book and a vintage book that I also made using the same basic pattern. Give it a try...very easy and unique gift idea!
Happy scrapping! Michelle