Halloween ATCs!

Halloween ATC set!

Over at scrapbook.com MarciB hosts a monthly ATC swap! One of the categories for September was Halloween, and this is what came out of my mind!

For the background I used Amazing Cast Resin on my Tim Holtz, “Cracked” Embossing folder. I painted the resin with ordinary, black arcylic paint then added the Prima waxes!

I actually found the lace and skulls at the 99¢ store when I went in looking for a package of those plastic spider rings that come out this time of year!

The ‘mulberry type’ roses I bought off eBay a while ago and used Heidi Swapp Color Shine: Tinsel on a set to turn them from light purple to, well, tinsel!

Product List:

  • 99¢ Store lace, skulls, and spiders
  • “Mulberry Type” roses from eBay
  • Tim Holtz “Cracked” Embossing Folder
  • Amazing Cast Resin
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
  • Prima Metallique Wax – Old Silver; Opal Magic Wax – Royal Robes
  • Heidi Swapp Color Shine – Tinsel

Sunflower Pocket Letter!

The pocket letter I made for bonprof over at scrapbook.com

Over at scrapbook.com Donna (bonprof) is the hostess of a monthly Pocket Letter swap! For September I was honored with getting to swap with the Swap Boss herself! I also am entering this Pocket Letter in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Pop It Up!

I knew her favorite flower was the sunflower, and I had had the Enchanted Harvest line by Bo Bunny for quite some time, so I decided this would be the perfect time to use it!

It was a rather straight-forward process, not a lot of “fancy” work! I mostly picked the papers, rather the parts of the papers, I wanted to use and put them together!

I fussy cut some items then backed them with foam so they would pop up, added some Stickles to other areas for a bit of a high light, poped on some Little Birdie flowers & some sequins, then stuck everything in the pockets! Oh! I also did a bit of sewing with some copper thread for some added texture!

The Pocket Letter outside of the protector page!
I made this sunflower with the Sizzix – Susan’s Garden die & turned it into a paperclip!

Product List:

  • BoBunny: Enchanted Harvest Collection – Autumn, Bountiful, Fall, & Traditions
  • Crate Paper – Maggie Holmes Collection – Bloom – Thickers – Glitter – Happy – Gold
  • Little Birdie Crafts:Boutique Elements Colelction – Beaded Petals – Micro – French Carnival, &  Vellum Elements Collection – Poinsettia – Lemon
  • Maya Road – Chipboard Shipping Tag
  • Ranger Ink – Glossy Accents
  • Tim Holtz – Distress Ink: Ground Espresso; Distress Oxide: Fossilized Amber, Frayed Burlap, & Wilted Violet; Distress Stain – Wilted Violet; Mini Blending Tool; Nib Water Brush; Mini Snips, & Swivel Clasp
  • Sizzix – Big Shot Plus; Susan’s Garden Collection – Thinlits – Sunflower
  • We R Memory Keepers – Wildflower Collection – Thickers – Words – Gold Foil 
  • on the tag, I used a sunflower stamp from “Designs by Ryn” (unmounted flowers stamp sheet) with the Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide  
  • unknown purple sequins 
  • unknown key 
  • unknown “string” of pearls
  •  unknown fiber & vintage lace

Hair Up Here

Hair Up Here

A layout featuring photos of yours truly at (almost) 11 years old! The journaling explains it all!

Me, in April 1990, attempting to get the high bangs that were in style at the time. Unfortunately (Fortunately?) I was given a head full of fine hair that has never cooperated!

This layout is for two challenges, the first being the August 1, 2017 Stuck?! Sketches challenge, using the following sketch:

The second challenge is the “Ugly Paper Challenge” over at scrapbook.com where I am the hostess. I first did the challenge back in August 2011 with the, I believe, original hostess. Then in 2012 (I think) the second hostess took over, and in March 2015 I took it over! So, as far as I know, I am the third hostess of the challenge. I haven’t done the challenge every month since I first found it (with the previous hostesses), but I have always loved the challenge! In short, two “ugly” papers and one (or more!) “ugly” embellishment(s) are mailed to another player (I give out addresses!) at the beginning of the month, and players have until the end of the month to create their layouts! The papers have to still be recognizable, and the embellishment is optional (it counts as two extra votes at the end of the month!). Now, this isn’t to say any particular papers or embellishments are “ugly,” but the combination given is! Most of the time anyhow! The challenge is receiving a combination that you may have never even considered putting together on your own, plus you are receiving papers that may not be your “style.” Anyhow, I just wanted to make it be known that “ugly” is a subjective term, and I have received (on more than one occasion) papers that were wonderful, even though the sender didn’t think so!

When I received my papers this month I immediately thought of my being a “tom-boy” growing up, but I just didn’t know what photos I had to use with them. It turns out I didn’t have the photos needed, my grandmother did, but I didn’t know that until our family has had to start sorting through her 88 years worth of possessions after she passed on August 3, 2017. And while it has been a sad time for the family, we have also discovered many items, mementos, and photos we didn’t know existed.

The papers, and embellies, I received for the August 2017 Ugly Paper Challenge

Product List:

  • Crate Paper – Chasing Dreams Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – Royale
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
  • Sharpie Fine Point Writing Pens
  • Shimmerz Paints: Paste-eez “Raspberry Sherbet,” and Coloringz “Well Blue Me Down.”
  • Carta Bella Paper – 6 x 6 Stencil – Lattice
  • Pink Paislee – Paige Evans – Oh My Heart Collection – Ephemera with Foil Accents
  • American Crafts – Starshine Collection – Thickers – Glitter – Fitzgerald – Teal
  • Tim Holtz – Idea-ology Collection – Industrious Stickers – Deco Type
  • The black/grey glittery paper is DCWV, but it was in my scraps, and I couldn’t even being to guess what the stack was it came from!
  • Hip Kit Club Exclusive Enamel Dots (March 2017)
  • Unknown pink & white twine

explore

explore layout

Whew! After fighting bronchitis for over two weeks I finally finished the last layout I (mentally) started!

It did work out though that this weeks Wednesday Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp was to “Splatter It”! It worked out because I was working on layout this morning and I was thinking of what else to add, and when I saw the challege I thought, “That’s a good idea”!!

I used some Peeled Paint Distress Oxide on the title and to highlight the cardboard a little!
I used the “packaging technique” to add Peeled Paint and Iced Spruce Distress Oxides to my background!

Product List:

  • Tim Holtz – Distress Oxide: “Peeled Paint” & “Iced Spruce”; Alcohol Ink: “Lettuce” & “Gold”; Sanding Block; “Tracks” Stencil; and “Expedition” Ephemera
  • Pink Paislee: Cedar Lane: Greenspace
  • A bit of scrap Core’dinations green cardstock
  • A piece of corrugated cardboard
  • Ranger Texture Paste
  • Bo Bunny Chunky Charms: Clear Arrows & Circles
  • American Crafts: Shimelle: Stickers
  • Bella Blvd – Ciao Chip – Self Adhesive Chipboard – Words – Adventure
  • Hip Kit Club Exclusive Puffy Stickers
  • Shimmerz Paint: Celery 
  • Flair from {A Flair For Buttons}

Tiger Lilly!

Tiger Lilly

Sometimes I just experiment, I get “I wonder…” and “What if…” thoughts in my head and I have to try them out! Sometimes I experiment because I have a shiny new product to try out! In the case of this tag, it was a little of both!

I had cut out tags the other day using my Cameo, and I decided I wanted to coat them in dark colors. One was done with black acrylic paint, and the other (the top one) was done with some Tattered Angels – Plain Jane Collection – Stained Glass – Semi Matte Glaze – Green. I’ve had the bottle for about three years now, I forgot I owned it!

Well, I live in a dry climate, and I basically had some goo in a bottle at this point, but I decided to see if I could rehydrate enough to use one last time. After adding some water & rubbing alcohol I managed to get some lumpy green liquid in a bottle! LOL! It was just enough to coat a tag.

At this point I wasn’t sure what to do with my newly coated tags, so I went browsing through my stamps and when I came across my Penny Black Tiger Lilly I decided to practice using my Distress Oxides on a dark background!

Love the “Water Droplets” created by Ryn at Designs by Ryn!

When I get to experimenting I have a tendency to do things rather backwards. I stamped and colored my Tiger Lilly, then decided I needed to add more to the tag! I used some scrap plastic to make a quick mask for the Tiger Lilly so I could add some plaid to the background with more Distress Oxides and Tim Holtz’s “Stripes” ATC stamp for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge! Then I decided to use my “Water Droplets” stamp by Ryn at Designs by Ryn to see how those droplets would look on a dark background as well! I like it personally, and I’ll be sharing/entering this tag in Ryn’s monthly challenge!

You can really see those water droplets here across the flower!

I still wanted more on the tag, I thought there was too much empty space! I decided to at some stenciling!! Now, because Distress Oxides are a pigment and dye ink hybrid, the Snowflake Paste by Prima activated the dye ink and absorbed it! (I planned on this happening!!) Now I had some shiny, greenish honeycomb on my tag! And to keep the paste off my water droplets? Artist’s tape. As the final touch I added the little bee and embossed it in Ranger’s Gold Embossing Powder!

That Snowflake Paste absorbed some of the colors from the Distress Oxides underneath!

Product List:

  • Water Droplets” stamp created by Ryn at Designs by Ryn!
  • Tattered Angels – Plain Jane Collection – Stained Glass – Semi Matte Glaze – 1.35 Ounce Bottle – Green
  • Silhouette Cameo
  • Prima Snowflake Paste
  • Ranger Water Brush (nib), White Embossing Powder, Gold Embossing Powder, and Jet Black Archival Ink.
  • Tim Holtz “Stripes” ATC Stamp, Honeycomb Stencil, Paper Distresser, Distress Embossing Ink, Distress Ink – Picket Fence, and Distress Oxides – Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint, Iced Spruce, Cracked Pistachio, and Broken China.
  • A PrismaColor White Colored Pencil
  • Unknown on that little bee stamp
  • Penny Black Tiger Lilly Stamp
  • I used one of the black eyelets that came with my Pink Crop-A-Dile & Case!!

imagine {tag}

imagine tag!

Ok, I have this ‘thing’ where I have decided to go back to 2007 and complete all of Tim Holtz’s “12 Tags of …” series’. I started doing the “12 Tags of 2015” with January 2015 and finish all of the tags for 2015 & 2016! I was heart-broken when it was announced that there would not be a 12 Tags of 2017! I mean really, after 10 years of tags?!?! Ok, I get it, 10. Years. Of. Tags! At the rate I’m going it may be 2027 before I am “caught-up”! Anyhow, this is my tag inspired by #5 of “12 Tags of 2007”. Basically, it was “use alcohol ink,” somehow I turned it into “use alcohol ink on Yupo, and to keep things interesting toss in some Distress Oxides & pastes!” And wait, and wait, and wait for everything to dry (can’t heat Yupo, it makes it expand … or so I read, didn’t really want to test it!). Then proced to NEVER touch the surface of the tag, because it’s Yupo, and everything “floats” on the surface. (Maybe I’ll add some sealer today…)

Black Soot Distress Oxide for “imagine,” Shimmerz Paste-eez Hold the Mustard & Raspberry Sherbet with Tim Holtz’s “Harlequin” stencil.

The clouds are stamps from Simon Says Stamp’s “Sea You Soon” set.

My Garden Friends butterfly!

 Product List:

  • Legion Paper Yupo
  • Ranger Glossy Accents, Blending Tool, Replacement Felt, Alcohol Blending Solution, and Alcohol Inks: Cranberry, Eggplant, Silver, Gold, and Pearl.
  • Tim Holtz Distress Oxide: Cracked Pistachio, Worn Lipstick, Seedless Preserves, and Black Soot. 
  • Tim Holtz “Harlequin” Stencil
  • Simon Says Stamp “Sea You Soon” set
  • Heidi Swapp “imagine” stamp
  • Shimmerz Paste-eez: Hold the Mustard & Raspberry Sherbet
  • Some homemade alcohol inks: black & blue-ish ones
  • My Garden Friends Butterfly
  • Bo Bunny Chunky Charms: Clear Arrows & Circles

enjoy the journey

I did this set of ATCs for MarciLB’s ATC swap over at scrapbook.com! The category for this set was travel, and while going through my supplies looking for inspiration I came across Tim Holtz’s “Blueprint Compass” stamp & die set and I had my idea! I’m also entering them into Simon Says Stamp’s Monday Challenge “Distress It.”

The background of everything is a pattern from the Silhouette store. In it’s original form it is a much lighter shade of tan/brown … parchment-y … whatever! LOL! But I used the built-in Image Effects tools of Silhouette Studio (I have the Designer Edition) to change it more to my liking! And, actually I did it two different shades and then printed it out on some self-adhesive paper. After I printed it, I put *some* Mod-Podge Acrylic sealer on so the printer ink wouldn’t run (as bad) when I spritzed the images with water after using Distress Oxides! Other than all that, it’s a rather straight forward cut & glue project!

Close-up of one of the ATCs
Layering and edge distressing!

 Product List:

  • Tim Holtz  Sizzix Blueprint Compass Framelit & Stamp set, idea-ology Game Spinners and sanding block, Tonic paper distresser, and Ranger Distress Oxides Salty Ocean, Frayed Burlap, & Antique Linen.
  • Sizzix Big Shot & precision baseplate
  • We-R-Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile
  • Mod-Podge Acrylic Sealer
  • self-adhesive paper
  • chipboard (it’s what I stuck the paper to before stamping & cutting)

Peacock ATCs!

This was one of those projects that started with a vague idea and I just followed where all the trials and mishaps took me! The ATCs aren’t exactly what I had in mind, but I’m still content with what came out of the process!

Peacock ATC set!

I made this ATC set for MarciLB’s ATC Swap over at scrapbook.com! I’m also going to be entering them in to Simon Says Stamp’s Monday Challenge “Distress It.”

These are a rather straight forward process, a lot of Cameo sketch pen work and cutting, followed by a lot of coloring!

For the ‘green’ of the peacock’s tail I mixed Peeled Paint & Lucky Clover Distress Oxides on my work surface with some water & used my water brush to paint!

For the ‘stone’ I used Weathered Wood & Pumice Stone Distress Crayons and blended them.

After the Crazing Distress Collage Medium was dry, I used a blending tool to add the Frayed Burlap Distress Ink to the surface.

Cut Files:

  • All cut files came from the Silhouette Store.

Product List:

  • Silhouette Cameo & Pen holder with uni-ball gel pen, micro line, with “uni Super Ink.” I seriously love this pen, it makes nice, fine lines, and it holds up to water!
  • Watercolor paper
  • the green background paper is from an OLD K & Company stack from their “Designer Paper” series. And I mean OLD, like probably 2009, and in scrapbook years, that’s ANCIENT!! LOL!!
  • McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit – Ball Tools
  • Ranger Glossy Accents, water pen (nib)
  • Tim Holtz – round blending tool, Distress Collage Medium: Crazing, Distress Collage Brush, Distress Crayons: Weathered Wood & Pumice Stone, Distress Oxides: Peacock Feathers, and Peeled Paint & Lucky Clover mixed together, Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap, and Distress Marker: Wild Honey
  • Vicki Boutin Acrylic Paint Set 2: “Saltwater Taffy” used
  • PrismaColor Markers (on the flowers)

Let’s Go On An Adventure

Let’s Go On An Adventure Layout!

My oldest son in 2006, when he was 7 1/2, going exploring in my mom & dad’s backyard with his brother, using the “Explorer Kit” that my youngest had received for his birthday in 2005!

This week’s Monday Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp is “Distress It.” While I may not have a traditional “distressed” look, I did use some wonderful Distress Oxides on here!

Over at scrapbook.com I am hostess to the “Ugly Paper Challenge.” I first did the challenge back in August 2011 with the, I believe, original hostess. Then in 2012 (I think) the second hostess took over, and in March 2015 I took it over! So, as far as I know, I am the third hostess of the challenge. I haven’t done the challenge every month since I first found it (with the previous hostesses), but I have always loved the challenge! In short, two “ugly” papers and one (or more!) “ugly” embellishment(s) are mailed to another player (I give out addresses!) at the beginning of the month, and players have until the end of the month to create their layouts! The papers have to still be recognizable, and the embellishment is optional (it counts as two extra votes at the end of the month!). Now, this isn’t to say any particular papers or embellishments are “ugly,” but the combination given is! Most of the time anyhow! The challenge is receiveing a combination that you may have never even considered putting together on your own, plus you are receiving papers that may not be your “style.” Anyhow, I just wanted to make it be known that “ugly” is a subjective term, and I have received (on more than one occassion) papers that were wonderful, even though the sender didn’t think so!

Now that that’s out of the way, on to the details about the layout!

This is a picture of the papers & embellishments I received for the month of July:

The papers I received in the “Ugly Paper Challenge” over at scrapbook.com

Instantly I knew what was going to happen to that green paper! I already had a set of photos in mind I wanted to scrap when these arrived, and it was lucky for me that green paper just screamed “turn me into tropical leaves!”. The floral paper, well that was going to have to be shaped to my will!

A cut file and some Shimmerz turned my flowers into clouds!

As you can see, that floral paper became the outlines for the clouds! I used some Shimmerz: AcriTonez: 3 Sheets To The Wind and some Shimmerz: Anchor’s Away! It did a good job of hiding the flowers, which would have just look weird on this layout!

Some Peeled Paint Distress Oxide helped my green grass paper become tropical leaves!

With the green grass paper I cut out my leaves and put on a light coat of Peeled Paint Distress Oxide, and spritzed with water to “activate”!

Close-up of the embellishment cluster at the bottom.
Another shot showing more of the top of the photo embellishments!
Close-up of the title area! I love how the Distress Oxides came out on “Adventure!”

Cut Files List:

Product List:

  • Shimmerz: AcriTonez: 3 Sheets To The Wind
  • Shimmerz: Anchor’s Away
  • Silhouette Cameo
  • Distress Oxides: Peeled Paint & Faded Jeans
  • American Crafts – Starshine Collection- Cardstock Stickers – Accent and Phrase
  • Becky Higgins – Project Life – High Five Edition Collection – Chipboard Stickers
  • Bella Blvd – Ciao Chip – Self Adhesive Chipboard – Words – Adventure
  • Pink Paislee – Fancy Free Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – Paper 06
  • Hip Kit Club Exclusives:
  • Paper: Medowbrook “Touch The Sky” (inside clouds) and “Starlit Sprinkle” (blue/white dot under photo), and The Happy Life “Ombre Sky” (background). All designed by Kim Watson.
  • All the puffy stickers
  • The teal Alphas
  • In addition to the Hip Kit products already mentioned, everything else came from Hip Kit Club Kits. I don’t know which ones, but I know they are from between March 2016 and July 2016. Not all products may be Hip Kit Club Exclusives, but I don’t have the packaging for them anymore so I can’t give specifics!