Newb

I was taking a teeny break today from cleaning and packing for our holidays to Kelowna that we're leaving for tomorrow morning when I found a great sketch on the Boys Rule Blog and I really wanted to play along, so I made sure I got all my stuff done as fast as I could so I could go and play!

Here's what I made: I didn't have a lot of time because I'm literally not even supposed to be scrapping tonight, I'm supposed to be packing...but I had to take a break from it...I lost my keys tonight and broke my point and shoot camera, and now I can't find my battery charger for my SLR camera either...not sure what I'm going to do once the battery dies on my SLR...which I'm thinking it will on my holidays of course...so after all that, I decided to say screw it and go downstairs to play. I think this layout took me about an hour and a half...which is a freakin miracle! If you've ever scrapped with me you'd know that it usually takes me forever! I've really been trying not to over think things lately though!

I know there's a lot of pink on this layout, but I figure if my husband can wear a bright pink shirt, then I can scrap my boys in pink too...plus, I've got 3 boys...I don't have much chance of using pink if I exlude it from my layouts simply because they are boy layouts! I just made sure to add some masculine colours and elements too!

Well there you have it! I'm off to bed now...leaving early in the morning!! I've got a few other layouts coming up in the next couple days, so stay tuned!! 

Acetate Flower Tutorial

Happy Sunday everyone!!

 Sarah here with a fun flower tutorial for you! This is a really photo heavy post, but stay with me, I promise it's worth it :)

Okay, all you need for this is some old packaging (I usually use the packaging from the Sizzix Bigz dies), some sand paper, an embossing folder of your choice, a flower die that will cut acetate and some paint! 

Cut the acetate to fit over the die surface.

Use your Vagabond (hopefully...lol or other die cutting machine) to cut the flower. Steele rule dies will cut acetate. You might be able to cut a shape from the thinner dies if it's a very simple shape, or it will give it a trace kind of for you to hand cut.

Put the acetate into the embossing folder...

Then run it through your die cutting machine again...

 And when you open up your embossing folder...you get this very pretty flower that you could totally use on it's own as a cool embellishment...but I'm not finished yet...lol

For the first one I made, I used just one colour. Now, you can paint either side you want to, it just depends on what look you're going for. For this one, I painted the debossed side. Make sure you get all the paint into the recessed areas.

Let it dry (this part is extremely hard for me to do, because you have to let it air dry...if you use a heat gun, you'll lose your embossing and warp the acetate...I have no patience at all...but it's totally worth it. Once it's dry, sand the paint off, and you're left with just the paint that's in the debossed areas!

Isn't it pretty?! 

I couldn't get the pink colour that I wanted for the layout that I wanted to make though...so I thought I'd show you another way you can do these flowers too.

 For this flower, I painted the debossed side yellow....

Then I painted the other side a light greeny blue colour...waited painfully for it to dry, then sanded the blue to reveal the yellow underside! Fun isn't it?!

When I made the blue/yellow flower, I made sure to make more than one...then I used some on this layout:

 There's a couple small ones peaking out from behind the rosette

 And another one tucked into that fun little embellishment cluster on the bottom photo.

I used this sketch from Boys Rule Scrapbook Kits for this layout

You could use this technique for a lot of different die cuts....you could also just cut a piece of acetate in a square and create a fun transparency type with this technique. I hope you're inspired to go and get messy with paints and make some fun embellishments!

Happy Scrapping!! 

Sarah

You Are Fabulous (and a giveaway)

It's my Grandma's birthday today and I've been so stinkin busy, I didn't have time to make her a card until...today! I literally finished making this card at 5:15pm (we were meeting her for dinner at 5:30!) I was pretty happy with how it turned out. It took me like 10 minutes (that's all the time I had! lol) and I didn't even use a sketch or anything! It seems like ages since I made anything without a sketch. I got a whole whack load of Unity Stamps in the mail today and just had to use one, and I thought this "You are Fabulous" would work perfectly for a birthday card. I have a feeling you might be seeing this sentiment on a whole bunch of projects!  Speaking of new stamps, you still have time to play along with us over at Seriously Creative Challengs. This month's challenge is Un-Inked, Un-Cut, Un-Opened and the prize is a 10$ gift certificate to the Creative Accents Online Store and some fabulous Crinkable Inkable ribbon! 

And now for the giveaway! It's not mine, but I wanted to help spread the word about a fellow crafty friend's giveaway and also some fund raising. Over at Canadian Nickel Scrappin, my buddy Nicole is giving away 2 sets of 10 digis (From Simply Betty Stamps) and a brand new Cricut cartridge! Woohoo!! Betty from Simply Betty Stamps is raising money to cover the costs of her son's medical bills and is selling any 10 digis from SBS stamps for 15 bucks!! That's a total steal! So get on over there and buy some digis!! 

Well that's all for me tonight...I think my boys are finally sleeping! Time to go downstairs and get in some crafty time! 

Thanks for stopping by!!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges: 365 Cards: Overlapped

Simon Says Stamp and Show: Hey Girl

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Divas By Design: Happy Birthday

Grey Goes West Blog Hop

Good Mornin' Y'all! I hope you're enjoying the sexy "Grey Goes West" Blog hop! And if you have no idea what I'm talking about and you're intrigued and want to hop along with us, then you need to go back to the beginning to the amazingly talented Cheri's Blog blog and grab a cuppa and get hoppin! If you've come from the fabulous Michelle's Blog then you're on the right track.

Now there's some fun stuff going on here today, so I'll let you in on some deets before I show you my card. Graphicat Designs has a couple new digi releases to show off today. There's a Western line and a "50 Shades of Grey" line, and you can check them all out Here. There's also a couple of free digis along the way in the hop, but you have to finish it in order to find them all :)  Also, there will be a digi of your choice from the new release for one lucky person who leaves me some love!  Aaaaannnnddd for those who play along with us and make something fun with this sketch, you will get a chance to win ALL of the new releases!! WOOT!! 

So, here's what I made with this rockin sketch: As someone who has not read "50 Shades of Grey" and doesn't have any desire to read it, I wanted to show you that you could use this sentiment for someone who isn't necessarily a fan of the book either...or who is :) It just so happens that my mom just turned 53 and I thought this sentiment would be perfect (It would have been even more perfect if she had just turned 50, but since that was 3 years ago, I thought I'd just add a cute little die cut "3" into the mix and there ya go! lol)

I thought this Uptown Girl Madison from Stampin Bella is pretty fabulous and would be great as a fun birthday girlie :)

I paper pieced her dress and added a cute little flower that I coloured with distress stains.

Sorry about this last picture...it's really out of focus, but it's 1am right now and there's no natural light...so that's what ya get! lol I made it into an easel card and added some more of those cute little flowers in the corner of the CTMH  birthday sentiment.

So there you go...it's probably the least sexy card in this hop, but what the hell...I guess I'm a bit of a prude! Well, I didn't think I was...until all the talk about the 50 Shades of Grey book...eh...maybe I am, but I don't care ;)

You're next stop on the hop is the super talented Jess!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Fabulous Friday?! oops!

Well, I really tried to get my Fabulous Friday challenge made on time, but I didn't expect to be staying out at camp for an extra day! My husband was the head cook out at Camp Likely for a week but the cook that was coming out to take over for him got in a car accident on the way out and we ended up staying until she made her way back out. I'll tell you, God was definitely with her when she was in that accident! It was amazing to see how it could have happened and how it actually did. Her car was a write off, but she was perfectly fine!

Anyway, onto this week's challenge over at Frosted Designs: Patterned Paper Only!! This one was definitely not a challenge for me. I pretty much always use only patterned paper on my layouts, however, for some reason on this layout, I found myself wanting to use some sort of cardstock! It's probably because I couldn't! You know you always want to do what you're not allowed to! lol

I was at my LSS the other day and I was looking around at all the layouts up around the store and Kieran (my youngest boy) and I were picking out all the people we knew in the pictures. I design for them, so there were a lot of people we knew. But what made me a little sad was that he kept saying "Caleb!" and "Ethan!"  (our older two boys) and we only found 2 layouts with Kieran in them...so that's what inspired this layout. 

I hid my journaling on the tag that I tucked behind the picture. Everything on this layout is made from patterned paper except the wooden cameras, the canvas journaling spot, the ribbon and the stickers. I even made those epoxy buttons with my Epiphany crafts tool and some basic grey paper :) Even the teeny stars were punched with patterned paper and then I inked them with red ink to change up the colour!

I love using patterned paper on my layouts. The trick is to make sure you have a variety of sizes in your patterns. If you use too many big patterns, it will overwhelm your layout, but if you use a couple small ones, a medium and a large, then it can work out nicely. You also have to make sure that the colours all go together, and aren't all really bright and crazy. Like with my bright bold yellow paper, I made sure it was underneath all the other papers, that way, you get  a pop of yellow, but it's not the only thing you see.

I used this fab sketch from Boys Rule Scrapbook Kits, who just so happen to be our sponsor this week for this challenge! They have the BEST kits for boy layouts I've ever seen! You definitely need to go over there and check them out!! Give them some love from Frosted Designs and do some shopping! You won't be disappointed! 

Well, I'm off to church, then the lake! Stay tuned tomorrow for a fun blog hop with prizes!!! 

Happy Crafting everyone!!

Tim's July 12 Tags of 2012

Ok, so I've actually got July's tag done with 17 days to spare!! It's a modern day miracle ladies and gentlemen! Now I just have to catch up on May and June's! 

Now, I got so carried away with this awesome technique that I actually made 2 projects with it...a tag...and a card :)

Now Tim's tag was very patriotic, celebrating the 4th of July, but since I am a Canadian (and I wasn't too excited to make a red and white tag) I decided to do something super summery. I've been really inspired by summer these days...probably because it's in full swing now :)

Now, I didn't have any summery Tim Holtz stamps, but I bought this set from Graphic 45 a while back and I hadn't inked it up yet. I kinda think it's perfect for this tag! I did try to use Tim's butterflies on one, but there was too much fine detail in it and it just got all muddied up and it was really hard to see on top of the sprayed alcohol ink.

I only had one colour of green alchohol inks, but I wanted a lighter, brighter green than I had, so I thought I'd try using some blending solution and some of the picket fence alcohol inks then add the green that I had before spraying it with the air blaster :) I really like the way it turned out.

I had tried this technique a couple years ago, but hadn't done it since then, so before I started my tag, I tried it out a few times with some different colours...the cool thing about it though, is that you can use the same colours and it never turns out the same twice! After I was finished with my tag, I decided to try a card with one of the other pieces of inked up glossy paper. I found this sketch over at Sketch Saturday and thought I'd give it a go.

I was originally going to make a birthday card for my mom, but I really liked the "beach" stamp that was in the G45 set and I thought the sentiment went better with the image than a birthday senti would have....who knows...I haven't actually made the inside yet...I might just turn it into a birthday card yet...

So...whadya think?! I'm kinda lovin this technique now...might just be hooked on it ;)

I'm camping until tuesday, so you won't see anything new until then, but stay tuned for some more goodies next week! 

Have a great weekend everyone!!

You Are My Sunshine

Hello Hello! I have been spending an awful lot of time in my crafty basement this week, because the weather is smokin hot, and my husband is away at Camp Likely (a Christian Bible Camp). He's the head cook for the week...cooking for 85 kids! Yikes! So far, he's doing good (especially considering he's not a cook!)

Anyway, Kraftin Kimmie is having a DT call, and they're challenge this week is to use your favourite Kraftin Kimmie stamp, so I thought I'd play along, whilst trying out for the DT spot at the same time! I'd very much love to be a Krafty Girl! My favourite KK stamp is Charlotte (who just so happens to be on sale at the Kraftin Kimmie website for 4.80!!!). She's just so stinkin cute! Her hair is awesome and I love that whimsical dress and bow! She's my kind of cute too...cute, but funky! I thought she'd go perfectly with the sunshine sentiment from Kimmie's Beachy Sentiments. 

I cut the "sun" in the background with my Cameo and I used the middle from blue piece on the opposite side  with a fun little Bo Bunny button to add some of the same colour on the other side for some "visual balance". Quick Quotes is having a challenge this month to use punches or die cut shapes, so I'm going to play along with them too!

Here's a close up of that funky little chickie

And one of the sentiment and the cute little flower cluster. I've been totally blinging it up lately...which is sooo not like me...but I've been in the mood for some super sunny, colourful cards and layouts. Must be all the sunshine we're getting here!

I found this great sketch from Made Especially For You, and I thought if I flipped it, it would go perfectly with what I was looking for. Because I knew I wanted to use the "you are my sunshine" sentiment, I wanted to find a sketch that I could have a "sun like" element in the background, and this was the first sketch I found, and it was perfect! Gotta love it when that happens eh?!

Well, there you go! I hope you like my card! Now I'm curious...what's your favourite Kraftin Kimmie Stamp?? Drop me a line and let me know ;)

Whatever

Good Morning Bloggers! It's time for another awesome Graphicat Sketch! It's got a great grid pattern, and you can interpret it in so many different ways.  

And here's the card I made: 

I used the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection...I'm kinda lovin this paper line! I just found these fab new digis from Angie Delarie. They're my kinda images...they're cute, yet funky and a little twisted. She has a wicked Alice in Wonderland collection too which I think would go perfectly with some Graphicat sentiments, like this one, or this one...hehe I know I'm evil...but you really should just go and check them out yourself anyway!! 

Well, I'm off (it's like 1:30 in the morning right now and I should probably get some sleep!)

Have a great weekend!! 

Seriously Creative and Uninked

Good afternoon all you crafty bloggers! I think it's about 30 degrees out right now, and super sunny...we're heading out to the lake tomorrow for sure!

It's time for the July Seriously Creative Challenge and if you're anything like I am (a supply hoarder) then it will be easy for you to play along! 

I know I said I was going to wait to show you this layout, but I kinda like it and I couldn't wait to show it off, so you guys get a little more than just a sneak peek!

I'm not so much a hoarder of supplies in that I don't like to use them...but I just buy all these supplies with ideas to use them...but not enough time! So for my layout, I used a lot of un-inked, un-cut and un-opened supplies: The background paper is from 2009! I think it's fancy pants. I had bought a sew easy stamper thingy when they came out, and never used it, so I opened it up to stamp the scallop stitch. the other border stamp I used is a Dylusions stamp which hadn't seen any ink yet either. All the big brads I used where from a MME package that I hadn't opened yet, and those teeny butterfly stickers from Studio Calico are new too! 

Oh, and so are the "summer" thickers :) I found it hard to get a good picture of this layout...either too much sun or not enough...

here's a close up of my little stamp embellies: I actually took apart a journaling card from Prima's doodle deux collection to make these. I die cut it into 3 stamp shapes, then cut out the flowers and birds and layered them with some brads and viola! some cute little postage stamps all wrapped up with some twine :) I even fixed up my sewing machine for this project :)

I used this fab page map for my sketch

Now it's your turn! Dig through your stash and find some of those hoarded products! You need to use at least 2! The prize this month is a 10 dollar gift certificate to the Creative Accents Online Store plus some un-inked goodies: some tags and some of their fabulous "inkable crinkable" ribbon (it takes ink fabulously, and you can crinkle it up or leave it straight...it's very versatile ribbon)

So now that you know what you're playing for, get going!!

Have a great weekend!!

Sarah

Fabulous Friday...Washi Tape!!!

Happy Friday Everyone!! (well close enough anyway...it's definitely Friday somewhere! lol) It's time for another Fabulous Friday Challenge over at Frosted Designs, and this one is going to be fuuunnn!! It's totally in right now in the world of crafting...it's Washi Tape!! I soooo *heart* Washi tape! I think I like buying it almost as much as I like using it! We all know what that's like though don't we?! lol

And this week we have a new sponsor who's giving away a faabulously fun kit: My Little Shoe Box. You definitely want to go check them out!!

This layout is of my older two boys and my youngest sister and their "lemonade stand" for Cambodia. A friend of ours moved to Cambodia, on his own, just so he could help whomever he thought needed it. He's not affiliated with any groups or anything, he's just there on his own, with his own money (which is very little), to help. We've been sending him money when we can, and we've been working on a few fundraisers and stuff, but our kids decided they wanted to have a lemonade stand and send the money to Tye. I couldn't be more proud! Although my oldest did try to see if he could have half of the money for his piggy bank! lol I don't know if there's many 6 year olds that wouldn't try that though ;) They made this great sign (which we've kept to do more lemonade stands throughout the summer). And that's the main picture I used in this layout.

I used some washi tape as a border for my pictures, but I also cut up pieces of a straw into little half inch pieces and wrapped the tape around it, securing it with some glossy accents just to be safe...then I placed them all onto a little kraft circle with a button on top to make a cute little sun embellishment :)

Here's some close ups:

I used Ashley Horton's sketch challenge for Club CK...you need to go check it out...it's awesome :)

Oh, and on a side note....I went to do my daily blog hoppin and I noticed that I won a spot in Scrapbook News and Review's Misting Class!!!

It starts tomorrow, but I hear there are still a few more spots left, so if ya wanna join me...go sign up!! I think it's going to be awwessoomee!!! I can't wait!! It kinda made my night! I'm a bit of a misting junky, so I was very happy to see that little bit of information on Heidi's Blog (Thanks Heidi!!!!!)

Anyway, I'm off to go finish my layout for Seriously Creative Challenges July challenge...it's going live in a couple days, but you won't see mine for a while...maybe I'll give you a sneek peak though ;)

Cheers!

Sarah