Distress Resist

I don't know about you, but I could get lost on youtube tutorials for a year!  There are so many things that I want to try out, and I love learning new techniques so much! I guess I'm a technique junkie, but that's what makes amazing looking items with less effort.

It was after watching a video (that I can't locate at this moment) that I felt an overwhelming desire to go to Micheal's and get a large butterfly stamp that I had seen there a week or two before.  I had thought, what in the world would I use that for?  I hadn't thought about stamping the butterfly on an envelope, or this technique; so I didn't allow myself to buy it.  But after seeing the video, it became a necessity ;) ;)  I will try again later to find the video.

For some of these cards, I was over at my friend's house making them, and she didn't have any Versa mark.  She had an embossing ink pad by Paper Studios.  She was told by someone at Hobby Lobby that it was better than Versamark for embossing.  Let me tell you, it was not for this technique. 

 

The ones that were done with the Versamark ink pad maintained a vivid look, but the ones that were done with the Paper Studios ink pad took on a more watered-down look which tells me that when we wiped the embossed area with a damp cloth that the water was able to seep through the layer of embossing.

Oh, and I must give a shout out to my friend Frank who made me a small bow maker, it really made tying these bows a breeze.  I was down to the last two cards when I remembered it was almost as easy to make a double bow with it as the single bow.  I don't think I'll make single bows any more, the double bows are so much prettier, don't you agree?

Even though I can't find the video, I can explain the technique.
Step 1: put different colors of ink on the paper. (These are the colors that will show through) and let dry thoughly
Step 2:  use an embossing buddy (or any anti-static thing) and rub the entire square. I forgot to do this on the card where I used the "True Friends" stamp and that's why there's a haze around that butterfly.
Step 3: Stamp your image with Versamark ink pad and emboss with clear embossing powder.
Step 4: Ink entire panel with a dark distress ink
Step 5: lightly wipe off the embossed area with a slightly damp cloth and watch the colors pop!

Happy 1st B-day

One of Mishal's bff's daughter turned one this weekend, and Mishal needed a card to go with the present.  I didn't want to spend much time on a card for a 1 year old because I knew it wouldn't be appreciated, and I had other things I wanted to make, but I still think that it turned out cute.  I cut the cake  shaped card with the single candle with my silhouette as well as the 'Happy birthday'.  I then took different pp and cut those to fit, and added some glossy accents to some of the stripes and flowers to dress it up a bit, and put some glue on the flame part of the candle and then dipped that in glitter.  It only took about 30 min to do everything, including making an envelope to match.

Happy Birthday Cards

Alex has a birthday party to go to tomorrow, so of course, I had to make a card. ;) Actually, two of them because it's a party for two of his friends.  I knew as soon as I saw this card sketch http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/176543/view/3700767/-1.html that I wanted to use it, I just couldn't wait... so I didn't lol.  After making the card, I had these little triangles I had cut from the ends of the pp, and decided that it was the perfect touch for a matching envelope!  I always have a problem with the 'scoop' of a banner, so I cut out a circle with my coluzzle and used that as a guide.  After gluing down the little triangles, I outlined them with a fine tip pen.

I scanned this before remembering to add a bling to the sentiment banner, so just imagine a single bling right before the "Happy Birthday". :)

July 4th

This is based on a sketch by Patti Hutchinson.  I knew pretty much when I saw this sketch what I wanted to do with it.  I love it when an idea comes together! 

I took some pictures with the fireworks setting on my camera this year, and I think those photos came out great.  I used Picasa and cropped 6 of the best pictures into squares, and then selected those and created a 4x6 photo collage to print.  I then used my Coluzzle to cut them into circles. 

I bought the Vintage Nation pad by Paper Studios a few weeks ago when I fell in love with a layout on the magazine at Hobby Lobby, and new it would be perfect.  I used Tim Holtz' Rosette die with different papers to mat the fireworks photos. 


This was my first time using washi tape.  I picked some up at Micheal's last week when it was on sale.

I also inked the edges of the red papers with Aged Mahogany, and the blue papers with Chipped Sapphire.  

Flybaby friends

This was created based on a sketch from The Sketchy Thursday Archives.

So the final page in my Scotland Scrapbook is about my friend Sharon and how we met and have been friends for 10 years.  I've been so thankful for how Flylady has changed my life, and how through her system and groups on the internet I have made some very special friends.  I put the 15 on the clock because Sharon and I clean our houses together for 15 minutes at a time between chatting.  The hearts are because FLYing stands for "Finally Loving Yourself" and the butterflies are for our fluttering wings.  A few years ago, I bought a few pins from the FLY shop, and I took the back off of one to put in the middle  of the flower. 

The journaling reads:

The person who really made this trip as wonderful as it was is Sharon.  If it weren’t for her, we would have been on someone else’s schedule, we would not have seen everything that we did, and would have to see and do things that we weren’t interested in. Sharon did a lot of the itinerary planning and found things for us to see; she rented the car and drove the whole time so if we wanted to stay somewhere longer we did; and if we were too cold then we didn’t have to stay anywhere waiting on anyone.  And if I wanted to stop and take a picture, we were able to pull over and stop!  And when we needed batteries, we found a store. She also bought a bag full of toiletries for each of us to use while we were there so that we were able to put everything we took into carry-on luggage, then charged us just a couple of pounds because she said she knew she’d be taking most of it home at the end of the week.  She also found an old suitcase a friend of hers was tossing out so that we could bring things home in a checked baggage.  And so everything would fit in the compact car, she filled it with the snacks and drinks she had purchased for us to use during week.  Sharon and I met on an MSN group, flybabies. We had both signed up for Flylady in 2002 and due to our schedules were often cleaning our houses together for years.  We got to know each other well and are there to listen in good times and bad. 

Haggis

The design from this came from Let's Capture These Sketches

When you think of a food from Scotland, most likely you think of Haggis and cringe.   It is made from sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock.  But I've always been adventurous when it comes to food. 

I finally used up some Prima flourishes that have been living in my house for a few years.  I used the celtic stamp again at the top of the focal panel and used black bling to tie it into the flourishes, and to cover up where the stamp overlapped.  The shape for the title spot was cut with my silhouette.

The journaling reads:

I had to try Haggis while in Scotland.  At Beinn Edra, Rachel cooked me a Haggis that Sharon said was a very nice brand. I liked it very much, but I didn’t like the brand they used at Cairngorm guest house as well.  I also had Haggis with ‘neeps and tatties’ a.k.a. Turnips and potatoes while at Urquhart Castle.  I didn’t like the turnips and picked those out.  The haggis I liked the most wasn’t even my dish.  Sharon ordered Chicken and Haggis in Ft. Augustus and gave me a taste; it was very flavorful.

Q Inn

The sketch I used for this one came from Pagemaps.  I tried to create a visual triangles with the gold dazels, the bling, and also the splotches of red which is also found on the curb of the hotel.

The journaling reads:

The only place we stayed more than one night was this Quality Inn in Edinburgh, so close to the airport that we could see the hotel from the window when the plane was taking off. Fortunately, we were not kept awake by the airplanes. The beds were squishy, and easily moved.  The bad thing about it was that we were unable to connect to the internet here, which was very irritating.