Toot! Toot! I made ScrapStreet this month

Okay, I have to toot my own horn today! My layout "The Simple Life" is published in the September issue of ScapStreet.com e-zine, HERE.  This is my first time to be published, so I'm excited! I'm at the bottom of page 6.

While I can't say that this is really representative of my normal style, the editors liked it. This layout was done for one of our Stuck on U Sketches challenges earlier this year with a sketch by Beggahuna with lots of negative space.

Anywa, thanks for letting me shout!  (BTW, I have been really busy creating but can't reveal them quite yet ..  mostly DT work for Generations Crafting.)  See you Friday for SOUS!

Daddy's Girl ~ more Graphic 45 Steampunk~

Here is that other layout that I promised utilizing the G45 Steampunk Debutante collection. This time  I wanted to use the papers in a more traditional way and show you how versatile they can be for some of your portrait photos. This is of my youngest dd when she was a senior in HS. I've scrapped it before but found this copy among the photos I got from my mom and dad's stash.  I kept them flush with photos of all kinds LOL

First, I used my chipboard Dusty Attic lamp post as a mask and misted around it on the teal ledger paper. It gave such a cool effect. Then I trimmed the butterfly frame from another sheet of paper and and am saving the inner square for another LO.  I fussy cut some of the Steampunk Floral Fantasy roses and pop dotted them around my photo. They are embellished with diamond dust and with distress stickles.  I mixed in a couple of my Prima blooms as well. I hand cut my photo mat and curled the edges a bit after inking them.  I added a few pearls at the top to finish it off. The yummy tag on the right was cut from one of the papers, distressed, crumpled and then accented with a fussy cut wing, stickles and diamond dust.

I used my Cricut to cut my title from the Hannah Montana cart.  Danielle is really a momma's girl IMHO but she and her dad say otherwise LOL.  I also cut some wings from HM .. actually the guitar cut with the guitar cut away, leaving the wings.

This page  is really gorgeous in color but I was photographing at sunset and this was the best I could get. The colors are so Autumn and rustic. I hope this will spark some interest in Steampunk Debutante and they you will take time to visit http://www.generationscrafting.com/ and see what they have in their store. All their new Prima has come in .. better hurry. Use referral code  ref-ku7ys so you can get a 5% discount on your first order. 

Thanks for coming by today! Hope you've had a great weekend!

Engine 638 ~ Graphic 45 Steampunk~

Well, I got my newest DT package from Floren at Generations Crafting and couldn't wait to dig in! 

Among my goodies was Graphic 45's new Steampunk Debutante collection. Talk about gorgeous! I had initally had a few misgivings about being able to pull something off with it but once it arrived and I actually saw it .. WOW!! It is so ME!

For my first project I wanted to carry through the Steampunk bent to celebrate the mechanisms of machines operating prior to the Electrical Age. I had some photos of the last coal burning steam engine in Southern Colorado that my cousin had photographed earlier this year ..  just wanting for time and opportunity to present itself. Well, this was a marriage made in Heaven, I'm telling you.

I wet distressed my papers, inked, layers and did some punchwork around one of the pages.  I crumpled and tore and generally got my hands dirty! But because this is also about the beauty of those mechanisms, I added some girly stuff, lace, a feather, pearls, rhinestone and diamond dust.  And Prima! Gotta have my flowers! LOL

I also worked in a new fun piece from CraftySprinkles' (Mandy) Etsy shop. You can shop for her goodies HERE. I thought the gas light would make a grand embellishment, so I stained it walnut and then added some distress stickles in Vintage Photo. 

Here are a couple of close-ups. I'm just loving this page! Let me know if you have any questions.  And be sure to visit Floren's store and get some of this gorgeous paper for your own projects. I have another layout done already and will post it in a day or two. It is more traditional and I thought I could show you how it can be used differently.

 

Mom ~ SOUS 8-20-10 ~

Hey,, it's finally Friday and time to reveal another challenge at Stuck on U Sketches!  This week we have a sketch from Liz Qualman of My Little Sketch Book.  I have always adored Liz's work, and the experience I've had in guest designing for her this year has been so rewarding!  Thanks, Liz!

For my layout this week, I wanted to scrap a photo of my Mom from many years ago. She was about 40 yo in this pic. Boy, I sure do miss her! But it helps to scrap her photos and remember so many good times together!

At any rate, I do confess to having a bit of an issue with all these circles.  I like a few and use them often but I also incorporate them with more angular design.  I also NEVER cut my photos into a circle ..  well, until now!  I took the plunge and sort of regret it .. but the orignal photo was scanned first and saved on my hard drive.  So at least I know I can change it later if it bugs me too much! I softened the circles with an offset white doily and a heart shaped one as well.

The papers are K and Company "Jubilee" and brown Bazzill cardstock. My flowers are all Prima and they look so great with the colors in the paper! I also used a white chipboard scroll from my SD kit. That helped to soften the circles for me. That butterfly and journaling piece are both Melody Ross that I've had in my stash since Christmas. And the green ribbon, taupe lace and purple stones, I've had on hand for a while as well.  My rhinestone MOM accent, don't you love it, is something I picked up at Michaels a few weeks ago.  In the far left corner, there is a little slip of paper with my mom's name written in her handwriting.  It was from the back of this photo in the area that was trimmed away when I cut it into a cicle! 

All in all, I'm pleased with the way this turned out.  I hope you will visit Stuck on U Sketches and see what the other ladies have done this week as well!  Remember, we are still looking for DT members! We've had some wonderful applications but don't want to overlook anyone who might be interested! Also, Nanne has a great Autumn mini album swap going! Check it out!

Welcome, boys!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Two more days until Friday ..  one of the bestest days of the week for me! My weekend starts at noon on Friday. And of course, it is DT reveal day for Stuck on U Sketches! Although every other week nowadays!

Thought I'd share another one of my quickie layouts from this past weekend. The photo is one that my dd sent me of the newly adopted boys from Ethiopia, Isacc and Jeremiah. I haven't spent too much time around them yet but they seem to have the sweetest spirits and are so smart! The youngest one Isaac is sharing a room with Christian, my dd's 3 year old son. What a riotous pair the 2 of them are together!

Anyway, I put this together very quickly, really liking the way that the Creative Imaginations paper and the white chipboard scroll went together.  I left the chipboard white so that I could add some name and birthday info on it. I will probably scrap this photo again sometime and use some planes, trains or other boy stuff on it. But this goes well with their adoption announcement, so that's how I scrapped it. Hope it's not too girly? 

I used a new Martha Stewart deep edge punch on the red pp although it doesn't show up that well. Can't wait to use it again!  Inked the edges and then added a few embellies that were in the MCS kit. That fabulous chipboard scroll was from my Swirlydoos. 

 Now it is in the scrapbook and not in my pile! Well, now it's actually in my ready to be put in the album pile. Wink, wink!

Thanks for coming! Hope you are having a great week!

Little Flirt

Yeah, it's the weekend! And I'm soooo glad!  It seems a little strange to not be posting for Stuck on U Sketches this Friday. We are now doing 2 week challenges.  So I've had a little free time to scrap whatever I want.  Last weekend I worked on some very simple pages for events of this past winter that are a little too personal to share .. but that I needed to do. Then this past Wednesday I worked on this layout above using my new Limited Edition kit from My Creative Scrapbook.  Man, was it ever packed with goodies .. 20+ Prima flowers and the greatest collection of papers.  I am not normally a kit club kind of gal. And truth be told, as a design team member for Generations Crafting,  I seriously have access to all the supplies that I actually need and then some!  But I'm a certified paper addict!

The background paper on this LO is just stunning! It is a Prima pre-stitched  mulberry paper.  It really needs very litte adornment. This is a pic of dggd Peyton. I cut a large burgundy circle using my Cricut George cartridge, then after distressing it, I made some faux stitches on it with a white fine-tip pen.  From the striped paper, I cut a scallop edged border using my Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.  I used some taupe lace that I had on hand to decorate the top.  After using my craft knife to cut and lift the hearts on the right side of the paper, I slipped my circle and border strip behind them.  Then used a paper frame for my photo that came with the kit and tucked them in as well.  Next, I added one large Prima bloom and a burgundy ribbon bow.

My title was done with Honey Thickers and the journaling was a Creative Memories vellum saying that I cut apart, inked and placed randomly. Lastly, I cut a few butterflies from my Indie Art cartridge, inked the edges and added rhinstones to their bodies.  I made a few extra for other projects I plan to make using this kit.

Now, while I'm posting, I wanted to share that Stuck on U Sketches  is having a design team call and we are taking applications now.  We will announce the new design team members on Spetember 3rd.  So if you are interested in taking part, hop on over there and link up your favorite personal layout.

Thanks for coming by and always leaving such sweet comments!

Smile

A few posts back, I promised to share another layout done with my August Swirlydoos kit but hadn't made it around to finishing the LO and posting a pic.  I was intending to add a little more color but settled on keeping it as is.  I really like this die cut paper from Creative Imaginations and for once couldn't bring myself to cut it up.  I wanted the whole enchilada!

I just added a cute pic of dgd Marianne, some ribbon, pearls and Prima flowers and SIIP.   I did a bit of punchwork on some brown Bazzill cardstock.  My photo mat is cut with my Cricut ACY cartridge and my scalloped border from PSB.  The ribbon technique is from Gabrielle Pollacco  at  Such a Pretty Mess ..  just not nearly as well done as she does it! I want to keep trying it though and see if I can get the hang of it.

That's it for today! Thanks for coming by .. and try to stay cool out there!

Paradise ~SOUS Original Sketch by Leah Schaeffer!

Hey hey, everyone! It's been another fast week for me. How about you? I am so excited today to share my DT submission for this week's Stuck on U Sketches. This week we are featuring an original sketch by our own Leah Schaeffer! How fun is that?!! This week it is just Leah and me. Our Nanne is on vacation in the USA and couldn't quite get her project done in time .. that is if she wanted to make the plane!

I found some neat photos of my dgd Maddison on Face Book a couple of weeks ago and couldn't wait to get them scrapped! I felt so sneaky! LOL The nice-looking guy in the photo is her beau, Marcos.  Now the cool thing about these two is that it all started when Maddie nearly drowned on a mission trip to El Salvador in January.  They were body surfing late in the day and Maddie got caught under the waves.  It took a concerted effort to find her and then fnally bring her up. But he did .. and are we thankful! Well, after Maddie realized what a close call she had, some prayers went up and then a little infatuation set in.  Can you blame her?

Now, back to the layout, right? I pulled out some papers from Bo Bunny Paradise that I actually purchased for another project.  Here is a close-up of the title cut with my Cricut LAB cartridge. The mat is from Storybook.  I elevated it with pop dots for dimension, then inked the edges. 

This shows the interesting paper strip arrangment that Leah noted on the sketch.  Did a bit of distressing with the Zutter Distrezz-it-all. Then I decided to use waves instead of scallops to re-inforce my theme. I cut a little birdie from Home Decor and added some Prima flower. I used some copper Fastenator staples .. sans the Fastenator .. just inserted them manually and painfully. LOL You can also see the netting that I laid across my paper .. which was actually my first step.

A close-up of the waves which were cut with a layer.  I scattered some Webster's Pages Sparklers throughout the layout .. on the netting and on a palm tree.

And here is that palm tree with it's coconuts!  I really had a great time with this project both because I enjoyed the sketch but also because I enjoyed scrapping my dgd with her candid Face Book photos.  She was excited though to hear about it and see it! Whew!

I hope you can play along with us this week. You will actually have 2 weeks to complete your project.

See you next time!