Scrapbooking layout for Sketchabilities: 2 X Cute

Hi!
Another beautiful sketch has been revealed at Sketchabilities blog:

Great sketch to play with, and amazing prizes to be won! Our sponsor for this challenge is



Creative Embellishments is a manufacturer of beautiful chipboard and wood products; make sure you visit their Website, Blog, and Facebook!
One lucky winner will get a $20.00 gift card in their online shop. You have until July 13 to play, good luck!






I'm a big fan of Instagram. And of square shaped photos. This Sketchabilities sketch #142 is perfect for showcasing one of your favourite photos, together with layered patterned papers and clustered embellishments. So inspirational!

Here's my take:


I started with white washing the background a bit; I used white gesso and a brayer and simply rolled a thin layer of white paint on the patterned paper. Once dry I glued down strips of paper and die-cut embellishments, and before adding more paper layers I stenciled grey dots on the background.
(Honeycomb patterns were die-cut using this Sizzix/Tim Holtz die)


The loop patterns on the paper inspired me to highlight the loops with white paper yarn. I did not glue the yarn on the paper, but attached the loops with stitches. There's one stitch on the top of each loop holding down the upper part, and another at each yarn crossing at the bottom. 

 

The title 'Cute' is from an Amy Tangerine AC Thickers set ('Grace'). The original color was gold, and even if I'm a big fan of golden elements it was just too shiny for this particular project. So I painted it over blue acrylic paints; now it matches better my blue boy themed project! :)  


Here's a list of the other supplies I used:
Patterned backgound paper: Studio Calico
Paper cut-outs: Basic Grey
Number strips: SODAlicious
Photo frames: American Crafts / Dear Lizzy

Hop over to Sketchabilities blog to view all the amazing projects the Design Team has put up for your inspiration. I'm hoping to see a link to your project among the links; have fun with sketch #142!



Wishing you a great week,
Hugs,

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Scrapbooking layout for Sketchabilities: XOXO

Hi!


What an exciting day this is for me: My term in Sketchabilities team is starting with the reveal of sketch #141!
I'm so happy and honoured to be part of this team. There's so much talent in this team that I'm convinced their amazing projects will keep my inspirational juices flowing for the coming months!

So let's get started: Here's the sketch #141 for you:

Again, a fabulous sketch that was so fun to play with! This is how I interpreted it:


The lovely background paper is from Cocoa Daisy. I added a bit more colour with pink and red watercolours, and continued embellishing the page with beautiful paper and vellum flowers by Maggie Holmes / Crate Paper. Photo frame is from Dear Lizzy / American Crafts collection.


On the sketch there was a scalloped border under the photo, and I loved the idea! I punched my strip from yellow paper and decorated it by wrapping white sewing yarn randomly around the scalloped strip.  The same idea repeats on the small embellishment cluster on the top of the page.


I just loved the golden details on the flowers! I did not modify the ready-cut items, but only layered them using 3D stickers. The white 'XOXO' title was almost blending into the background, and I highlighted the bottom half with pink ink. Much better!


I suggest you hop over to Sketchabilities blog for viewing all the gorgeous design team projects. Hope you get inspired and play along!

Our amazing sponsor is 13Arts. If you are not yet familiar with their beautiful papers and very wide collection of mists, inks, paints and other high-quality media, just follow these links to read more: 13Arts website, Facebook, Blog




The challenge closes on June 28, so you have plenty of time to create your own project and link it to our challenge. Once you get started you'll love the sketch, I'm sure about that!

Wishing you a nice week.
Hugs,
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More inspiration for Craft Stamper TIMI June challenge!

Hi!
Have you checked the amazing texture filled projects that are made for June Craft Stamper Make It, Take It challenge? There are already over 30 beautiful projects linked to the challenge, and if you have not started making your project yet, I suggest you hop over to Craft Stamper blog for more inspiration!

My second June project is a mixed media card I made for my workshop I taught a month ago:


The background texture is created with gel medium, and decorated with stamped text pattern. The chess board chipboards are from Wycinanka collection, and the clear dots are made with hot glue.


Flowers are die-cut using one of my favourite Sizzix / Tim Holtz dies (more info here).
Leaves are stamped and fussy cut.


Check out the challenge guidelines here, grab your stamps, get inspired and play along! There are great prizes to be won, so I'm sure you don't want to miss this challenge!

Wishing you a great weekend!
Hugs,
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Scrapbooking layout: Let your light shine

Hi!

Another inspiring challenge grid has been revealed at 123 Get Scrappy blog:


For my layout I chose the middle row with Polka Dots - Washi Tape - Paper Clip:

Scrapbooking layout: Let your light shine

A simple layout with many of my favourite elements: Gesso, stamped images, and washi tape.

Scrapbooking layout, details

All stamps are from Tim Holtz Nature's Moments set by Stampers Anonymous. For stamping I used a purple Distress ink, and doodled on the image with a black pen.

The background circles are drawn on a pattern I created using white gesso and a circle stencil by Wycinanka. The white tag is cut from plain white cardstock using the new Fiskars Tag maker.

Scrapbooking layout, details


In the past I've not been too fond of gold colour. I can' really say why, but I just thought gold was not my thing at all. However, this spring I've noticed that I've been adding more and more golden elements on my projects. Maybe it was the overwhelming amount of gold and metallic colours I saw at CHA2015 that made me give them a try, and I'm surprised hot much I like it: Gold with pink, gold with chocolate brown, gold with white. Who knows what will be the next industry trend that I will fall in love with :D

Wishing you an inspiring weekend. Hope you got inspired by the challenge grid and played along!

Hugs,
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Craft Stamper June TIMI Challenge: Texture!

Hi!
It's time to start a new Craft Stamper Take It, Make It challenge!
This months Take A Tachnique theme is 'Texture'. In other words, the task is to create a project with elements that give the project a 'touchy - feely' style. This could be achieved by using texture paste, embossing (dry embossing or with embossing powder) or texture paper; anything you can think of! In addition to texture there needs to be stamping somewhere on the project. Easy, right!

One lucky winner will get a great prize: £20 voucher to Rubber Dance Art Stamps! Woohoo!
Challenge info and an amazing collection of Craft Stamper TIMI design team projects can be viewed here.

 
My project is a  playful mixed media canvas in size 18 cm x 23 cm:


To create texture I used wrinkled tissue paper, texture paste, cotton string and glue dots made with hot glue gun. Also the chipboards, quote text pieces, punched paper strips and decorated photo created additional  3D effects on the project.
 

Stamps were used for decorating the background. The sentiment text is hand written: I'm trying to get better in lettering, and therefore decided not to use ready-made alpha stickers nor die-cut letters. The lovely and yet so true quote is by Oscar Wilde.


I started making this canvas a few weeks back when I was teaching a mixed media workshop in Seinäjoki. I used it for explaining and demonstrating some of the mixed media techniques, but was not able to complete it during our afternoon. Now it's finished and I think I like it a lot! My kids were laughing out loud when they saw it; they thought that mum looked really silly and funny on it :D

I hope you take out your stencils, texture pastes, gessos and gel mediums and play along!

Wishing you an inpirational weekend.
Hugs,

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Mixed Media Card Challenge June: Collage card

Hi!
In Finland the schools ended last Saturday, and now the kids are happily enjoying their 10 (!!) long summer vacations. Schools' end often means that summer is officially here, even if by looking at the thermometer you might not be able to state that: Our Scandinavian summer has started with many cold and rainy days.

However, a new Mixed Media Card challenge will brighten the day and for sure get the creative juices flowing! In June we are challenged to create cards in collage style. Great!
The MMCC DT has created an amazing collection of inspirational card projects, be sure to visit our blog for viewing them all!



I love playing with paper and creating different kinds of collages, so I felt that this month's challenge was really made for me! :D
Below you can see my aquarium themed card:



For the background I used white, green and blue Distress paints. Using one of my favourite techniques I dabbed paint on a crafting mat, misted with water for the colours to mix, and wiped my card background on the paint. When you lift up the paper you can never know what kind of patterns you get on the paper. Love that unpredictable element in the creative process!


The see weeds are die-cut using two Tim Holtz design dies by Sizzix (*'Spring Greenery'* and a bit older, Christmas themed decorative strip die, with similar images than *here*)
Fish are simply hand-cut and decorated with grey and black markers. The 'sand' on the bottom of the card is made from inked book page pieces that I glued down with gel medium.



The dark blue patterns on the back are inked using a gorgeous mixed media Stencil by Kasia Kryminska, called 'Mini Tattered Lace'. It's available in The Crafters Workshop collections.
The tiny blue splashes are air brushed using a blue Distress Marker.






Hope you got inspired and started planning your collage card project! Playing along is easy, just enter your project in the MMCC blog post using the linky tool at the bottom.
Have fun!

Hugs,
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