A New Sketch

Hello everyone!!!!  Donna here with a new sketch for you.  My computer has been acting funny lately.  It is very old and now it is making noises.  Time for a new one.  I decided to give you this new sketch I did (with measurements) before my computer completely quits on me.  Below is the sketch.

And here is a layout I did using the sketch.  To do these layouts that have lots of paper pieces I select three designs and then at the very end I sometimes add a fourth.

I first select my picture and the size of the picture that I want.    The one shown is 4" wide x 6" long.  For this layout I selected my background 12 x 12 paper then cut 

and centered another pattern (9 3/4" square) onto it.

I begin by cutting the main paper first (which is the flowered  7 1/2" square one behind the picture).  I place my picture onto the page without adhering.  Then I begin cutting the other papers and start tucking them in and around the picture.  There is a lot of layering of papers and I like the look of  a piece of paper peeking out from under another.  When placing your paper pieces, I find it better to place a small amount of adhesive in the centre of each piece as other pieces will be tucked under the edges.  You can adhere the rest of the pieces after when you have all your pieces in place.

Until next time,

"HAPPY SCRAPPING"

And of course, here is another "Quote of the Day" for you.  I chose this one as I have finally completed my gardens at my house from the front to the back.  Everyone knows how I love my flowers.

"Give me at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers 

where I can walk undisturbed"  Whitman

Fun and Easy Gelatos

Hello everyone!!!!!  Have you heard of "Gelatos"??  For those who haven't, they are actually crayons that dissolve very well with water so that you can blend them.  It is as simple as that.  I decided to try something a little different using Gelatos and embossing folders. I saw this on another web site so I thought I would try it and share it with you.   I cut out some banner flags in various sizes.  Most of them were a lot larger than the usual.  I then placed them into different Cuttlebug embossing folders to get that patterned texture.     Below is what you will need to complete the flags.

And these are the banner tags after embossing them.  I used a different pattern for each.

Now for the Gelatos.  Choose your colours then rub the gelatos onto the tags in random places.  Now spray some water onto your table or craft mat and wet your finger.  Now rub your finger onto the gelatos and blend the colours.  Keep putting water on your finger and blending the colours.  You can see below the right side of the flag has been blended and the left side has not.  Instead of wetting your finger you can LIGHTLY spray  water directly onto the flags, then rub with your finger.  I like to "wet my finger method" as I find sometimes if I spray too much water onto the paper, it can cause the paper to get rough and small balls of the paper will form.

Below is three of the flags completely blended.  If you want to add another colour after you have blended the others, you can, just put some more gelatos onto the paper then dip your finger in water and blend.

And yes, we need a layout to show you how I used the banner flags.

For this layout I did do something extra using the gelatos.  I first stamped a border stamp around the outside edges of the pages including the centre edges.  I then took blue and pink gelatos and rubbed the pink first onto the edge of the background cardstock, then the blue then the pink and so on.  Using water I blended the two colours together.

Here is a closeup of the bottom left corner of the first page to show the border and the banner flag placement.  I selected Gelatos colours that matched the colours in the papers.  You can see how embossing the flags and blending the colours gives them a whole new look.

Again, I hope you enjoy.  Try the gelatos,  You can accent lots of items.

Until next time

HAPPY SCRAPPING!!!!

My quote of the day

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."  Robert Brault

Chic Tags is now in stock!

We are very happy to introduce the newest products on our shelves...Chic Tags!!  A great little company coming out with some very fun papers and embellishments!!  Check them out online here and we'll have our selection online this weekend!  The wood shapes and flair buttons are to die for!

 

Mixed Media Album Cover

Hi everyone!!!  Donna is here again with another mixed media tutorial using a fun product that I haven't used before.  I have had this jar of Liquitex Glass Beads gel medium sitting on my shelf for some time now so I decided to try it.  After a couple of practises with it and a failure or two I came up with a great way to use this product.    But first I had to create a background on my piece of chipboard.  This project is going to be the cover page of an album that I want to work on.  So to start with these are the products that I used for this project:  a piece of chipboard (mine is 8 1/2" x 11"), 3 colours of kraft paint, 3 colours of sprays, gesso, moulding paste, glass beads gel medium, staz-on black ink, a vine stamp and a border stamp, paint brush, spatula, black scripto pen, stencils.

Here is the completed cover.

So to start with I painted the chipboard piece with a good coat of white gesso.  This will give it a good foundation for the kraft paints.

Next I painted the kraft paints onto the chipboard starting with the green almost covering the entire surface but leaving several sections of the white gesso showing through.  You don't have to be fussy, the sloppier the better.  Then I randomly put the yellow on, then the blue here and there.  I dried between each colour with my heat gun.

Next was the sprays.  I started with a pink spray, just here and there.  I let the colours run down by sitting the cover on its end and tapping it onto the table.   You can see the run marks in the picture below just at the bottom right side.   I did this with each colour.   Next  I applied a green spray, again here and there then a turquoise spray here and there.  You notice on the left side of the picture below there are some blotches.  Well this was not my intention but how I achieved this was I sprayed some water with a mister (when I applied the green spray) to do some blending and this effect started to happen.  It is actually in the centre of the finished cover.    So I let it go and did not do my blending.  I was happy with the result  which proves that mistakes can sometimes turn out after all.

I did add a little bit of pink gelato here and there to make the pink pop a little more.

I let the surface dry really well before proceeding with the moulding paste.  I took the Tim Holtz "burlap" stencil and applied my moulding paste to the cover as shown below.  I dried the paste first with my heat gun to speed it up then I sprayed the paste with the turquoise spray that I used prior.  See below.

Now I took my black staz-on ink and stamped around the outside edges using a funky border stamp then I stamped  the top portion of a vine stamp here and there.

Now for the glass beads gel.  This gel actually has very tiny glass beads in it.  To apply I took the Tim Holtz "rays" stencil placed it onto the cover and applied it with a spatula the same way that you apply the moulding paste.  Make sure that you hold the stencil down firmly and only apply the gel in one direction.  When you remove the stencil at first the gel looks a little cloudy.  But it completely dries clear and the wonderful part of this is that the colours from underneath comes through the gel.  Below is the gel before it dries.

And this is when the gel is dry.  Those glass beads actually do sparkle when the light is on them.

I used a black Scripto pen and did a bit of highlighting under the rays of glass beads.  The two butterflies that you see are cut out from a serviette.  I glued them down with matte gel medium.  I then added the flowers, leaves and vine.  I do plan on using the glass beads gel for some other ideas that I have come up with.  I will keep you posted.

I hope you enjoy!!!

Until next time

HAPPY SCRAPPING!!!!!

Here is my first quote of the day:

"I believe that best friends are quiet angels to lift our wings when we forget how to fly."