Layout Share: Scrapbook Generations Sketch Week

This week is Sketch week over at Scrapbook Generations.  I absolutely *LOVE* working with Allison Davis' sketches, so when she contacted the Sketch Support team to see if we would help create some layouts based on her sketches, I was totally all-in! :) 

Allison's sketches are so easy to adapt to fit your own photos/embellishments, plus she includes all the details and measurements for you on the page.  She has lots of new sketches she releases every month over at Scrapbook Generations, and here is the link to the August free sketch I used for this layout. There are lots of other sketches you can purchase as well for the month of August. Here is the link to these other great sketches.

Again, here is the free downloadable sketch that I used for this layout.

I didn't change much for this sketch, except for the photo sizes. I used a 4x6 in place of a 4x4 main photo. For the smaller photos, I used wallet size (2.5 x 3.5"). I was able to use a 6x6 paper pad for the blue background behind my photo, and used up lots of OLD paper scraps in my drawer.  Guess this layout is really a throwback since most of the supplies were older ones I've had forever. LOL

I added some stamping and washi tape to the "polaroid" frames I cut from white cardstock with my paper trimmer. I also raided my *not used often enough* Christmas stash of supplies and found these old holly leaf buttons and threaded them with crochet thread to add accents on my layout.

My journaling was done with my trusty Dymo Caption Maker. I love this thing and it's been a while since I used it, so it was high time I pulled it back out and put it to good use. Anyone else remember using these as kids? I loved to turn the wheel to make all the letters emboss. :)

For those of you who know me well, I have to use stamps on my layouts. It's a sickness, I tell you! :)  I stamped the large word "smile" in navy blue chalk ink, then added the word "blessing" below it with a green chalk ink. I love the way chalk ink stamps on kraft cardstock. I also carried the black label maker tape down on the layout by adding a few more words to the title along with the date.

Supplies Used:

The Paper Studio: Kraft Cardstock

Teresa Collins: Everyday Moments 6x6 Paper Pad

Crossed Paths: Red Pattern Paper

Chatterbox: Olive Den Plaid (and solid blue backside)

Ranger: Distress Inkpad (Walnut Stain); Foam Blender Tool

Clearsnap: Fluid Chalk Inkpads (Olive Pastel, Blue Iris)

Tsukineko: Versafine Inkpad (Onyx Black)

Stamps: Close To My Heart ("True Story"); Technique Tuesday ("Blessing"); Heidi Swapp ("Smile")

My Mind's Eye: Blue Diagonal Washi Tape

Autumn Leaves: Red Buttons

Making Memories: Holly Leaf Buttons

Dymo Caption Maker and Black Label Tape

Coats & Clark: Crochet Thread (Red and Green)

Sandpaper

Long Time No Post... Time to change that!

It's been a wild and crazy year for us, but I've still been finding time to create cards and some scrapbook pages. Just haven't had a chance to get them uploaded here on my blog.

So I wanted to post a photo tutorial today to make up for my absence. :)

To create the cloud background, I quickly hand cut a cloud shape from scrap cardstock.

 Then I placed it on the yellow cardstock and used a foam blender tool to rub some turquoise ink over the edges.

 To create an entire background, I just moved the cloud shape across the yellow card base and inked around it.

 When you remove the cloud template, and fill up the entire card base, this is what you end up with.

 I decided the clouds needed a little definition, so I used a black extra thin sharpie marker to quickly sketch in cloud outlines. I didn't worry about how neat these lines were- the messier the better. :) That's what makes it fun.

 Here's what the background looked like when I got finished with it.

 Along the bottom of the card, I added three strips of washi tape. I used light blue, turquoise and green since I was going for a "beachy" look.

 When I've used washi tape in the past on my cards, the ends tended to come unstuck after a little while. This is what I did to fix that. :)

 I used my ATG adhesive along the back side of the card, then wrapped the washi tape over top. No more washi tape peeling up off the back of my cards! :)

 I love stamping my sentiments on thin strips of cardstock. I also cut my sentiment stamps apart to be able to use them in various ways on my cards and layouts. 

 I line my stamps up in a straight line on the stamp press and then ink them up and stamp them on my strip of cardstock. The benefit of using the stamp press is you can line up the sentiment with the paper before you press it down to stamp.

 Love how these look stamped on the tiny strips of paper. These are about 1/4' wide. I just trim the edges down to fit my project. On this card, I cut a little "v" shape out to make a banner edge.

 To blend the white sentiment in with my card, I use the foam blender tool and edged it with the same turquoise inkpad color. This sentiment was then glued down on top of the washi tape layers.

 Since I just can't leave well enough alone... lol.... I decided to add some sparkle to my clouds. I used the Wink of Stella clear brush marker to quickly sketch some glitter onto my clouds. Loved how it turned out!

 I didn't get pictures of the coloring steps, but I used my promarkers to color the pelican and die cut the image with a nestabilities frame, inked the edges with the turquoise ink and added some sparkle with the Wink of Stella glitter pen. The sparkle reminded me of the whitecaps on waves.

 I attached the pelican image with foam tape to give the card a little dimension.

 Here's the finished card...hope you can see all the glitter that was added to the clouds.

 And glitter added to the water. It is just stunning in person, but hard to capture with a camera.

I'll be posting some more cards and tutorials soon, so be sure to check back again often!

Supplies Used:

Texana Designs Stamps: Pelican, I think You're Wind-erful!

Georgia Pacific: White Cardstock

Bazzill: Yellow Cardstock

Tsukineko: Memento Inkpad (Tuxedo Black)

Ranger: Distress Inkpad (Peacock Feather); Foam Blending Tool

Letraset: Promarkers/Flexmarkers (Duck Egg, Glacier Blue, Surf Blue, Marine, Mint Green, Mustard, Gold, Icy Grey 1, Icy Grey 3, Icy Grey 5, Black, Blender)

Spellbinders: Nestabilities Dies (Labels 18)

Zig: Wink of Stella Brush Glitter Pen (Clear)

My Minds Eye: Washi (Blue Chevron)

Pick Your Plum: Washi (Green, Turquoise)

Foam Tape

Local Stamping/Scrapbooking Garage Sale

Just wanted to let everyone who is local to me in Texas know about this sale coming up on this Saturday. There are always some AMAZING deals to be found!!

Hope to see you there... :)

7th Stamping & Scrapbooking Garage Sale

Saturday, March 23rd from 1-5PM 

Held indoors, rain or shine, at:

903 Apple Rock Leander TX 78641

In the Boulders at Crystal Falls subdivision

(Enter address at Mapquest.com for accurate directions)

 This is a MULTI-vendor sale with TONS of new

 and gently used merchandise at a fraction of the cost!

Prima products, Cricut machines and cartridges, Basic grey, Tattered angels, Graphic 45, Paper, Stickers, Rub-ons, Stamps, Ribbons, Kits, Flowers, Embellishments, Fibers, Jewelry supplies, findings, beads, Idea books & Magazines,  Storage totes, Organizational Items Tools, Die cut machines, Dies, Clay, Clay oven, Pasta Machine for clay, Stampin’ Up, Close to my heart, Creative Memories and much more.

If you paper craft, this is a sale you don’t want to miss.

Texas Twinkle Card: Yellow Rose of TX

Here's another card I created last week:

To create the background of the card, I used a 6x6 star stencil and colored over it with a yellow inkpad and a foam blending tool. While the stencil was still on the card base, I sprayed it with the pearl glimmer mist to give it some shine.

The rest of the card needed to have some twinkle to it too! I stamped the Texas Yellow Rose stamp twice and colored one of them with a blue and green inkpad and the foam blending tool to give the state of TX a good background color. Then I colored just the rose on the other image, using Promarkers/Flexmarkers. Rock Candy Distress stickles were added to the top of the rose image. Once the images were dry, I cut them both out and added the colored flower on top of the Texas shape with a foam square.

I stamped the sentiment with black ink and then punched it out. To add the glimmer to the words, I traced over them with a glitter pen. It's very subtle, but you can definitely see it sparkle when you tilt the card. 

The card was finished off with some washi tape under the saying, and the card front was mounted on a green piece of cardstock.

Here's a picture of all of the card's sparkle:

 

Supplies Used:

 *Texana Designs Stamps: Yellow Rose, Wishing You some TX Twinkle

Bazzill: Green Cardstock

Georgia Pacific: White Cardstock

Tsukineko: Memento Inkpad (Tuxedo Black)

Ranger: Distress Inkpad (Squeezed Lemonade, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint), Distress Stickles (Rock Candy), Foam Blending Tool

Letraset Promarkers/Flexmarkers: Primrose, Lemon, Canary, Lime Twist, Bright Green

The Crafters Workshop: 6x6 Stencil (Mini Punchinella)

Tattered Angels: Glimmer Mist (Pearl)

Kid Made Modern: Washi Tape (Yellow)

Recollections: Washi Tape (Green Polka Dot)

EK Success: Punch (Photo Labels)

Sakura: Gelly Roll Pen (Clear Star)

Foam Squares

*Products received as Texana Designs Team member. All other products were purchased personally by me.

Lemur Card: Cloud Tutorial

I've been busy creating some cards the past few weeks and can't wait to share them with you all! Today I want to share a fun card that would be perfect for Valentine's Day along with an easy tutorial for making a cloud background. This card uses stamps from Texana Designs.

 Here's the finished card and a detail shot:

 And here's how to create the cloud background:

Start with some scrap cardstock and cut it into a cloud shape with your scissors. The bottom edge doesn't need to be cut, just the top edge. You will also need a sponge and your inkpad. I used Weathered Blue Distress Inkpad.

 

 Tap your sponge on the inkpad to pick up the color, then rub the sponge over the edge of the cloud cutout onto your card base. I usually start at the top near one of the edges. You will just rub lightly then move the cloud shape over a bit and rub again. This gives you the depth of color and looks like lots of big fluffy clouds. Just know that the color looks really light until you move your cloud cutout over, then you will see your color pop off the white background. Continue moving the cloud cutout around until you have sponged all your clouds on the card front.

Here's what mine looked like when I finished the whole front of the card:

I didn't take pictures of my coloring steps, but I stamped the lemurs with my black Memento inkpad and colored the image with my Promarkers. I cut the image out using my scissors and a craft knife. Then I die cut an edge of a frame label on black cardstock stamped my sentiment on a strip of red patterned paper. I glued the red strip down onto the black piece and trimmed the edges, and adhered that whole piece to my card. Then I glued down my lemurs to the card front

 

 Once I had my lemurs down on the card front, I took my large house stamp and trimmed the heart off the top of the chimney. This way I can just just the heart on my project, but the stamp can be put back together when I use the stamp on my clear block. I do tend to get "scissor happy" with my stamps and cut all my sentiments apart too...so many more possibilities for ways to use them! :)

 

With my heart stamp, I inked it in red ink and stamped it three times above my lemurs without reinking. This gives me a 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation inking of the same stamp. Each time I stamp it, the ink will be lighter. This is a great way to have ink colors in lighter tones that match the original color.

 

To finish off the card, I colored some clear gemstones with my black Promarker (alcohol ink marker). You could also use Copics or Sharpie markers. I use my craft knife to cut these gems apart and I use the edge of the craft knife blade to pick up the gems and place them on my projects.

And here is the finished card again:

Supplies Used:

*Texana Designs Stamps: TD003 You Make My Heart Happy, 50803Lemurs in Love, JH002 Jam’n House (heart only)

Georgia Pacific: White Cardstock

Sweetwater: Autumn Sweet Black Polka

Close To My Heart: Red Linen Pattern

Letraset Promarkers/Flexmarkers: For Lemur--Nutmeg, Saddle Brown, Morning Mist, Grey Squirrel, Cool Grey 1, Blender.  For Tree—Caramel, Burnt Sienna, Walnut, Umber. For Gemstones: Black.

Spellbinders: Nestabilities Die (Labels 8)

We R Memory Keepers: Corner Chomper (1/2”)

Ranger: Distress Inkpads (Weathered Wood, Fired Brick, Black Soot); Foam Blender Tool

The Paper Studio: Clear Gemstones

*Products received as Texana Designs Team member. All other products were purchased personally by me.