CS Nov Sketchy Challenge

I know ...I know ...it's DECEMBER!{gasp} and Dec 's Sketchy Challenge is on line over at Canadian Scrapbooker but I'm a little behind so I thought I'd share November's Sketchy Challenge today ..and hopefully get to play with Dec's challenge tonight.

Sue Sykes designed a 2 page sketch for Nov 's Sketchy challenge!

I actually did not one but TWO versions of this sketch this month! I have really gotten away from doing double pages in the last few years so this was a nice break. I also really enjoy doing Kelly Klapstein's  Double the Fun challenge at Canadian Scrapbooker . Another chance to get published ladies. So go check out both!

My first Lo with Sue's Nov sketch is a hockey LO. I've had these sweet street hockey pics of Scott and Rob in my "To do " box forever and just never seemed to get around to it. Sue's sketch suited them perfectly. I was more true to the sketch in this LO ...right down to the hexagons.

                                                                                                                  BETWEEN THE POSTS

oooo... I find it sooooo hard not to add flowers ...girl LOs are so much easier! I have tried ordering the cool Chicken wire stencil from Crafter's Workshop several times now from my wholesaler and can never manage to strike when it's in stock  :( . However.... I DO have a chicken wire chippie piece from DUSTY ATTIC so I used that as my stencil, thus saving my precious chippie piece for another day. Necessity is the mother of invention after all.

My second Lo using Sue's sketch is a fall Lo using all BO BUNNY 's adorable Apple Cider line. This LO features one of the many funny little adventures that KELLY and I had when she visited me in Nfld back in September. We had gone for a walk around the gorgeous Margaret Bowater Park here in the middle of Corner Brook. As we were nearing the end of our walk we noticed this crab apple tree that was laden with fruit. Kelly was bound and determined to get some of those apples { me , being considerably short than Kelly, opted to stand back and let her do all the hard work! }. As tall as she is , Kelly really had to stretch to get some apples. Such hard work...and all for not, because in the end the apples were pretty darn sour and we only had a bite each.lol...oh well, it made for fun photos!

                                                                                                                       AN APPLE A DAY...

 So there you go...two completely different looking Los all inspired by the same sketch. I know some people are very reluctant to use sketches as they think it stifles them but you know, there are NO  layout police. You can pretty much take what you want from a sketch.A great creativity booster when your mojo is lacking!

Hmmmm...seems like I recall a couple of compromising photos of Kelly with a cod fish, some Nfld Screech and an ugly stick...perhaps I should dig them out to embarrass...err scrap.. of her! Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you are all getting caught up in the Christmas spirit...and staying on Santa's nice list! Toodles!

Recycled Book Christmas Frame with Tutorials

When my friend Rina sent me the link a couple of days ago to Trina McClune showcasing the gorgeous altered book she did for PAPERHAUS Magazine, I was totally smitten and couldn't wait to try my hand at something similar!

I decided to go with a Christmas version of her beautiful creation. What do you think? Wouldn't this look gorgeous sitting on your shelf this Christmas with a favorite family photo in it?

I'd like to share a tutorial with you on how I made this lovely keepsake.

WARNING!!!! This post is photo heavy!!!!

First I started with an old Reader's Digest condensed novel/book but any thick book will do.
I began by drawing my opening size on the front cover {mine is approximately 4"x6"}. I first cut through the cover with an exacto knife and a metal ruler.

After cutting through the cover I traced around the opening with a pencil onto the first layer of pages. Open the cover and with the exacto knife and ruler and start working your way down through the pages to a depth of about 3/4" deep.

 

I then rubbed some sandpaper over the inside edges to smooth away some ragged bits.

Next I adhered all the pages and the cover together with ModgePodge...I didn't do every single layer ..probably every six or seven pages.

 I then sealed all the paper edges with a generous coating of Modgepodge. I laid another book on top of it and went to make supper while it dried {what can I say...the natives were hungry!}.

After everything was dry, I painted the entire thing with a layer of gesso. I did the inside edges with a coat but only lightly washed the front facing page so that some of the text still showed through.{I noticed after I had glued the pages together that my facing page was from a murder story and all the talk was of guns lol..hardly great text for a Christmas project :) }.

I then painted all the outside with brown acrylic paint {I know, I know..the book was brown to start with but I wanted to cover up the titles on the spine}. So while all this was drying, I made my flowers to decorate the front. I used three poinsettias and five roses and a whole bunch of holly leaves . I cut the leaves on my Cricut with the Child's Year cartridge. Unfortunately, the leaves are cut out in  one piece that entails four leaves so I had to individually cut the leaves apart..I used a dotted green cs from Bazzil for the leaves and then inked all the edges with Distress Ink in Forest Moss. Onto the flowers...

I used a Lily Punch Bunch and Cherry Cobbler cs from Stampin ' Up. You will need five of each size petal. I used the two smaller petals for these poinsettias....

I inked the edges of the petals with Distess Ink "Aged Mahogany" and then I spritzed them with a homemade mist {five drops of Scattered Straw re-inker plus a little scoop of bronze Perfect Pearls and then fill the rest of the mini mister with water}. If you don't have any mist then just dampen the pieces with water. While wet, I crumpled them together lenghtwise and left them to dry.

When petals are dry, punch a 1" circle from the red cs and then assemble as follows:

First lay down a blob of hot glue {or liquid glue - it's your preference} in  the center of punched 1" circle. Add the larger five petals in a star shape. 

Add another blob of glue to the center and then layer the smaller five petals on the first layer, staggering the petals compared to the bottom, like so.....

Finish with a blob of Glossy Accents {or liquid glue of choice} in the center and sprinkle on some multi colored beads. I used a brown/gold mixture that I found at Wal Mart.

The white roses are my version of Vicky Alberto's sugarplum flowers. Click on her name and it will take you to her beautiful tutorial on how to make these sweet little rose type flowers.
I finished mine off by touching the flower edges with liquid glue and dipping them in a very fine gold glitter....

You will need to make five of these roses.

The reindeer was cut using this gorgeous Tim Holtz die.

 I actually cut out several with  different color inks {Prima music stamp on white cs} and facing both directions but eventually settled on a reindeer in red Cherry Cobbler from Stampin' Up and facing the left. Ink the edges of the reindeer with Distress ink "Vintage Photo" and finish with a bow tied around his neck. I used a 1/8 wide ribbon in brown from Offray.

OK... Let's start the assembling....

Adhere the reindeer to the right hand side of book and then cut a scrap of brown cs into a right angle and adhere to the left land side of the book. This will be your support base for the flower spray.

The first poinsettia is actually only partially on the brown support with the rest extending over the opening. I stacked a few pop dots underneath to support it. Stay close to the support as you want to be able to slip your photo in here when you are finished.

Add the next pointsetta here:

Using a pop dot, add the third poinsetta in the corner, raising it above the rest. Now fill in with four roses as demonstrated in photo.

 

Now fill in amongst the flowers with a combo of the two sizes of holly leaves.

 

 

Finshing touches.....

I glued a string of pearls around the edge of the opening, tucked in two Maya road heart pins, and added a single rose and two leaves in the upper rt hand corner. I totally forgot to take photos of the banner as I was making it {it was sort of an after thought}. The letters are 3/4" upper case from A Child's Year cartridge and the little banner pieces were cut free hand. I added them with pop dots and then finished with red pearls in the corners of the banner. A 3 1/2" x 5" photo would fit this opening best.

 

 

 

 I will be offering this class here in my home in early December. I can accomodate four crafters. First come, first serve!

 

Thanks for popping by today. Have a great day. Now I'd better get my arse in gear and get started on my Christmas cards! Toodles!

 

A wedding Card and a Quick Idea for Keeping Track of Inks

A couple of weeks ago ,our family celebrated the wedding of the first "Grandchild" with the marriage of my niece, Ali to her sweet hubby, Ian.

 

 

It was a gorgeous September day...perfect for a fall wedding. A great big congrats to the happy couple!!! Ali and Ian's colors were purple and orange and everything was absolutely gorgeous . Her aunt, Janet Tucker, owner of COUNTRY FLOWERS here in Corner Brook, did her decorating and all her floral work and I have to say it was all breathtaking!

 

In keeping with their colors , I made this wedding card...

 

 

Here's a quick tutorial on how I made this card.

 

 

I started with a 51/2 "x 51/2" square card stock base . I then cut a 5"x5" piece of white cs and ran it through my CuttleBug to emboss it using the Brocade folder. Next I used a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set in "Swirling Lace " to punch a square border. Edges were inked with "Perfect Plum' from Stampin' Up.This was adhered to the base card.

Next I cut a strip of white cs approx 2.25" x 5" and punched the edges of both sides withStampin' Up's scallop edge punch and then cut a notch in one end.

 

 

 I thought it needed a little something else so I used my paper trimmer and a stylus as a quick scoring tool { I was too lazy to go dig out the proper scorer...but hey, it worked really well! }.

 

 

 

I then inked the edges with Perfect Plum SU ink and stamped the word "LOVE"  using a really old set of alpha stamps that I think were Recollections from Michael's. Set aside.

 

 

Now comes the fun part ...making the leaves and flowers. I used two stamp sets from HEARTFELT CREATIONS ...  some leafy swirls and another called Daisy Patch. I stamped two sets of leaves on white cs with the Perfect Plum ink and several sets of the daisy patch as I wanted to layer them for dimension. Unfortunately , these were older sets that didn't have the matching Spellbinders die cuts { which are so awesome BTW!} so I had to fussy cut everything...tedious lol.

 

 

 

 

{Yes I cut off the swirls...I'm not a total masochist!}

 

 

and here's the flowers after they've been fussy cut and adhered in layers...

 

The variations in color were created by just swiping the inked sponge over the stamped images until I was happy with the density of color...word to the wise ...add this color BEFORE you attempt to fussy cut them!

Now add a blob of Glossy Accents { or other suitable liquid glue } and pour on the micro beads!

 

 

and leave them to dry!

 

As a last little touch I used the Martha Stewart three butterfly punch on a scrap of white cs that I just dabbed some Perfect Plum ink on.

 

 

 

Now for the assembling.....

 

Run the "Love" strip through your fingers to give it a little curve. adhere to bottom of card as shown. Proceed to build the flower spray on the rt hand side . Add pearl bling as shown on card.

 

 

 

I'd like to show you one more quick idea for your inks. I like to have these tabs to hold against a paper I'm working with to find the closest match...rather than drag out all my inks. I can't take credit for this idea as such and I apologize to whoever came up with it. I've been using this for several years but can't remember the source...so if it's you, then congrats for coming up with such a brilliant idea.

 

 

I cut 2" tags out of white card stock using my Cricut { Storybook cartridge I think}. I actually did several 12 x12 sheets of cs while I was at it{ lots of spares for when I buy a new color rather than drag it all out again! }. I label each tag as I apply color from my ink pad and then dip the bottom half in clear embossing powder..that way I know what the color looks like embossed too....

 

 

 

I keep each brand { ie Tim Holtz Distress inks, Stampin' Up inks etc} on a separate binder ringer. I'm also a tad OCD and like to follow the ROY G BIV rule of colors so the binder rings make it easy to insert a new color in its rightful place on my ring.

 

 

Can I just add one more quick little thing? Of course I can....it's my blog! I'd like to wish a GREAT BIG HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY to my dear daughter, Chelsea. Here she is sampling her first "legal" alcoholic beverage this evening at Jungle Jim's { drinking age is 19 here in NFLD}.

 

 

 and here's the card I made for her using the gorgeous G45 Ladies Diary pps that came in my Sept SCRAPTHAT kit...

 

 

PHEW!!!! Looooong post ! That's it for me tonight. Thanks for popping by. Toodles!

 

 

G45 Ladies Diary Tray

What a gorgeous sunny Saturday afternoon here in Nfld. I should probably be outside putting my garden to bed for the winter ...in the past I've been guilty of putting it off till the last minute and then poor hubby has to go out in the first snow and hack things down so I don't have such a slimy mess to contend with the next spring.... but instead I cleaned house {why is it that when I work three days in a row , my house just falls to pieces????} . Anyhow, work is done and before I pop down to play in the woman cave I thought I'd share my beautiful G45 tray that I made last weekend at Deidre's retreat in Springdale.

This tray is a 7Gypsies tray that my dear friend KELLY bought me when I visited her in Edmonton last year. {To see Kelly's blog posting on our trips back and forth across Canada to visit each other click HERE }. I was ecstatic when I opened this month's ScrapThat's kit featuring the gorgeous Ladies Diary pps from G45 . The soft green blues in this paper line were the perfect match to the color in my scraproom and I immediately got inspired to do this tray! {Kelly will no doubt tell you that the rather large and STRONG mug of Bailey's that she mixed me - to settle me down she claims! - was rather instrumental in inspiring me and this tray lol}!

Irregardless of what was truly my muse, I was so very pleased with how it all turned out! Here's a few close ups.

 

The dress form is a gorgeous chippie piece from FABSCRAPS { an African company}. I first altered it with model paste{ the only part you can see that on is up by the neck...sort of a waste of time as I ended up covering 99% of it up lol}. The leg part of the form was embossed with Martha Stewart emboss powder to give it that metal look. I cut a small scrap of the G45 paper to make the "shirt" and added several layers of lace for the skirt. The "pearl" necklace was colored with alcohol inks{thanks for bringing me those to play with Kelly} and I finished off the dress form waist with some brown ribbon and a flower and feather from the ScrapThat kit.

Lots of Glossy Accents crackle medium on this clock face to age it.

A few flower sprays in opposite corners... and a pretty fabric banner to top it off!

This banner was super duper easy to make. I simply cut the banner pieces from artists canvas { as a painter I have tons of this stuff kicking around} ...you can buy this at any art supply store in any size you need . I cut out my banner pieces and painted the edges with ModPodge to keep them from fraying. I bent over the top edges and using my crop-a-dile, I punched holes and set my WeRMemoryMakers eyelets in each piece. Then I inked the edges and added my word using stickers from the Ladies' Diary G45 sticker sheet. ..and Viola`! a beautiful addition for my scraproom wall. Thanks for popping by today. I hope its as nice in your neck of the woods as it is here today. Toodles!

Double the Fun Sketch Challenge

Well my dear friend, KELLY. has been busy creating a new sketch for her " Double the Fun' feature over at CANADIAN SCRAPBOOKER magazine. Here's her sketch....

 and here's her beautiful layout featuring GRAPHIC 45 's gorgeous TROPICAL TRAVELOGUE ....

So while I was blessed to have Kelly actually sitting at my side at Deidre's fantastic scrapweekend in Springdale, I worked away at her beautiful sketch and this is what I came up with !

These are my beautiful nephews, Nathan and Brady. These photos were taken a couple of years ago by my sister, Annette's, friend Deidre. Not sure where exactly but I can narrow it down to somewhere out around St John's . I'm ashamed to admit that I've dragged these photos { and these Creative Imaginations papers} to the last THREE crops I attended in Springdale. I guess I was just waiting for the right inspiration { aka Kelly and her great sketch}.

 This is a great multi photo sketch and perfect for a layout featuring photos from the same event. I think I'll be using it more than once! I'd love to see what you create with this great sketch and I encourage you to submit your creation to CANADIAN SCRAPBOOKER magazine for a chance to be published in Kelly's upcoming article.

Well that's it for tonight...hubby just bought me an new Android and now I gotta have a " tutorial" on how to use the darn thing { and anyone who knows me knows how frickin' technologically challenged I am...sigh}. I may be a while. Glad my hubby is such a patient man. BTW, you may have noticed that I made reference to Kelly being here in Nfld this past weekend with me...but that's a whole different posting..stay tuned { hint: she gets 'Screeched in"}.Thanks for popping by..toodles!

PS: You may have noticed that my blog has a new look...I can thank Kelly for that...she's so much more talented at all this stuff than me!

Frances -Sept Sketchy Challenge

How can it possibly be almost the middle of September all ready???? I'm sure July 1st was only last week! Don't you find that June and July just meander along but August goes by in a snap?

So here we are already half way into the September Sketchy Challenge over at CANADIAN SCRAPBOOKER . Check out the gorgeous sketch by Sue Sykes .

 

and here's my take on this month's sketch...

 

 

This is my lovely mother-in-law, Frances { She'd probably kill me if she saw this page posted here}. Frances HATES getting her photo taken and usually hides when she sees the camera. This beautiful photo of her was taken several years ago at her 50th wedding anniversary party. Photo by her son, Don Marks.  I tucked a little journal note in behind the photo that says " I could never make mother-in-law jokes about Frances. She's a wonderful, loving lady. " and she truly is .

 

I absolutely loved these Shabby Love papers from Harmonie - a great Canadian company! I picked them up last year in Edmonton when I was visiting KELLY . A trip of a lifetime that coincided with Canadian Scrapbooker 's annual Carnival...which, BTW is going on in Edmonton again this coming weekend. Sooooo disappointed to not be there this year but I think my niece, Ali's wedding this weekend is a tad bit more important! Family first!

 

Thought I'd share a brief little tutorial on how I did the floral chippie piece for this LO. My flower chippie is actually from Dusty Attic, but Harmonie does have a very similar piece. I'm creating this tut as an afterthought so I don't have a photo of a couple of steps ...bear with me! 

 

 

This chipboard piece is an open style and I started by laying the plain piece on pink cs and lightly tracing out the center shapes.

 

 

 

Next I applied a mix of Vintage Velvet, Spun Sugar and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks with a Q-tip. I wasn't really particular about this step just sorta smeared it on .

 

 

              Then I cut out the shape and erased all the pencil lines.

I don't have a photo to demonstrate { remember this was after the fact} but I had already painted the actual chipboard piece with a layer of white acrylic paint and then painted the leaves with a mix of two different greens { I knew holding on to all those tole paint supplies would come in handy one day!}.

I inked the outside edge of the flower with Aged Mahogany......

 

Finally , I laid the chippie piece down on my inked pink cs and proceeded to fill in all the gaps with Ranger's Glossy Accents { I looooove that stuff!}. I left it to dry overnight as I had a fairly thick layer of Glossy Accents on it.

 

 

 and viola! pretty custom accent.

 

 

 

 Well that's it for me tonight my friends. Must go batten down the hatches as Hurricane Leslie is fast approaching the island. All schools in Newfoundland have already decided to close tomorrow as a safety measure.Smart move me thinks! Hopefully there won't be too much flooding ....Yuck!

You still have lots of time, so why don't you skip on over to Canadian Scrapbooker and give their sketchy challenge a go. And while you're busy blog hopping check out KELLY"S new GORGEOUS fall LO and tutorial that she posted today using Bo Bunny's  Apple Cider paper line.. Soooo many gorgeous little details! Thanks for popping by! Toodles!