Oriental Dream (Mixed Media Canvas Set)

I'm sharing with you today a mini set of canvases created with a combination of my favorite products from 2Crafty Chipboard, Reneabouquets and Meg's Garden.

I was inspired by a brand new mixed media challenge blog based out of Sweden called
Words & Paintery (excellent name, isn't it?)
which I have a feeling will soon become one of my favorites since I love mixed media more and more,
plus the DT is full of talented ladies.

Here is their October challenge:

 I tried to recreate the same beautiful colours on my mini canvas set, and in doing so,
used many paints, stains and mists.  My fingers were a nice shade of blue once I was finished,
and even stayed a tad bit blue over the next few days.  I got some weird looks at work. :P

I call this canvas set 'Oriental Dream' as it features the beautiful Geisha Girl chipboard piece 

from 2Crafty as well as many other Asian-theme embellishments.

Each canvas measures 6 x 8 inches and were covered by a thick coat of white gesso to start.

I then added on the base of both canvases

2 different stenciled designs with molding paste to give them texture.

I then used different shades of distress stains, mists and paint with gold glitter.

I did some dry embossing on the Geisha chipboard and then covered it with gesso, 

then coat after coat of all shades of blue stains I own.  I then added a bit of mist and followed with Luminarte Silk Acrylic Glazes.  I treated all chipboard pieces the same.  

I finished with a few dabs of white paint and some gold glitter paint here and there.  

All metal charms (both fans and the gold dragonfly) come from Meg's Garden Store.

The pretty paper dragonflies and the white roses are from Reneabouquets.

You can find them HERE in the Reneabouquets shop.

Remember that you can use coupon code 'GDTNicole' until the end of October

to get 10% off any order you make with Reneabouquets.

Another beautiful 2Crafty piece that I used is the Cherry Blossom which I decided to cut in 2

to make the design overflow from one canvas to the next.

The big Flower Clusters were a good match with the oriental theme.

I added a lot of gold glitter paint in the centers and went darker on the tips of each leaf.

I chose Always follow your Dreams as my title

because one of my dreams is to one day be able to visit an Asian country, mostly Japan or Thailand.

To me, it seems like such a fascinating culture and a gorgeous place to visit.

A closer look at the flowers I picked to complement my array of chipboard and charms.

And one last look at both canvases.

Thank you to Words & Paintery for the inspiration

and long prosperous life to this new challenge blog!

I know I will play along often!

Nine Lives (SOS Sketch Challenge #19 DT Reveal)

Hello, welcome to our October Sketch Challenge reveal!

This month our sketch challenge includes a color palette!

Your challenge is to create a layout inspired by the sketch 

AND...

Use (4) or more colors from the color palette below. 

White, Black, and Kraft are the ONLY other colors you can use.

Here is the sketch:

- See more at: http://scrapourstash.blogspot.ca/#sthash.lnRNIhzn.dpuf

 This month, Scrap Our Stash's sketch challenge (which went live on October 15th) 

includes a very pretty colour palette!

Your challenge is to create a layout inspired by the sketch and using 4 or more colours from the palette below.  White, black and kraft are the only other colours you can use on your page.

First of all, let me just say that the Pantone 2014 Fall Colours are all gorgeous. 

Now the real challenge was to find a collection of papers and/or embellishments to match some of these warm, yet vivid tones. Because I softened up my layout a bit with my usual whitewashing technique, it's as if I have used a little lighter shade of each colour chosen, but I assure you... 

I have tried to stay true to the colour palette. 

The colors I chose are: 

Cypress, Aurora Red, Misted Yellow, Aluminum and 

a little touch of Bright Cobalt (in some tiny flowers on the pattern paper).

The collection used is DIY Shop by Crate Paper.

I absolutely adored working with the sketch - lots of layers to work with and, my favorite, tags!

Look at Sugar's eyes!  They're almost the perfect shade of cypress green!

The picture was developed using a certain cross-fade effect 

which makes her eyes look greener than they actually are.

Make sure to LINK your layout right HERE

no later than October 29th to be in the running to win this fabulous prize:

 

Hopefully you will play along with us at Scrap Our Stash!

My Creative Sketches GDT October Reveal

Have you seen the cool new sketch over at the My Creative Sketches blog yet?

It's one you will not want to miss!

This is my take on the sketch, created with the October Limited Edition kit from My Creative Scrapbook.

Visit My Creative Sketches to see lots more DT and GDT inspiration as well as the fabulous prize up for grabs!  Link up your layout before November 14th for your chance to win!

Good Times (SATW & OUAS October Challenges ft. Reneabouquets Butterflies)

I'm happy to share with you today my take on 2 of my favourite monthly challenges.

Once Upon A ...Sketch's October challenge gives us this very pretty sketch designed by none other than OUAS owner Nadia Cannizzo and a journaling prompt entitled 'The women/girls in our lives...'.

And over at Scrap Around the World, we have this vibrant and glamorous mood board

designed by DT member Rachael Funnell to inspire us.

I thought that the 2 challenges complemented one another very well, 

as the SATW mood board reminds me of everything girly 

from the bright bold colours to the whimsical butterflies to the fabulous quote.

So why not gather up all this inspiration and make one fabulous layout based on both challenges.

As you can tell, the butterfly image from the mood board was my main inspiration and I decided to use lots of them on my page...  a party of butterflies and of 3 little girls having a wonderful time together!

I added my journalling on the back of my layout, written all around the edges.

It tells the story of my nieces Ella and Daphne and their cousin Olivia who are inseparable

and who I hope will be best friends forever.

The quote used on my layout is a very famous one indeed, maybe a bit overused, but still so relevant.

 

This busy background paper is from Prima.

I added lots of stenciling with molding paste, silk glazes, paints and mists.

The beautiful blue butterflies come from Reneabouquets for which I have the pleasure of guest designing this month.  This set is called Mystical Butterflies.  You can see more of Renea's awesome handmade embellishments on the Reneabouquets' Website and Etsy Shop as well as on her FB page.  

 

Don't forget that for the entire month of October, Reneabouquets is offering all of you a coupon code that is good for 10% off your total purchase.  All you have to do is type GDTNICOLE in the coupon code section when you click through your order.

Thank you for visiting today!

Hopefully you'll play along with the SATW and OUAS challenges too!

Vintage Memories Album (Meg's Garden DT Project)

Hello everyone!

If you're a fan of Meg's Garden products, you've probably all heard about their fabulous new release... 

the Sherlock Book Kit 

which includes beautiful papers designed by Kerry-Jean Watson

and several embellishment pieces to create a fabulous mini book or whatever else your heart desires.

These Mini Book Kits are available in a download printable or in a printed version.  

Click HERE to learn more.

All DT girls have been provided with 2 of these kits in order to show you

an example of what can be created with them.

Here is my first project using the Sherlock Book Kit.

Vintage Memories Album

I decided to start with the Edgy Cascading Chipboard Album from Bo Bunny as a base.

Alternating between different paper designs and copper metallic paint 

made each edge of the album stand out and helped emphasize each different layer.

All products used in the creation of this album comes from Meg's Gargen, 

except for chipboard pieces, doilies, stickers, gems, cardstock and various paints.

On the COVER (seen below), I added lots of paper flowers from the Meg's Garden website

as well as many of the metal and bead embellishments that came with my kit.

Now let's look at each section one by one...

PAGE 1 & 2

The papers in the Book Kit come with many vintage pieces that you can cut out

and distress as seen below.

PAGE 3 & 4

I added a lot of places for pictures and journaling in my album.

Here, you can see one of the journaling card pockets that is included in the kit.

I inserted a tag on which one can write their own story or even add a mini print.

PAGE 5 & 6

Again, some of the many vintage cut-outs from the Sherlock paper.

And here, you can see several of the metal embellishments that I received with my kit.

I covered some of them with metallic copper paint to match my album base.

PAGE 7 & 8

The kit comes with many antique lined papers in order to add journalling to your project.

And my favorite part....  Tags!

PAGE 9 & 10

I counted and with these 3 spots on the last page, 

my album can hold as many as 13 pictures.

I decided to not add pictures myself

as I plan on giving this album as a gift to someone special.

And now because all good things must come to an end...

the BACK COVER.

Thank you for joining me today

and stay tuned for other projects created with this wonderful Meg's Garden kit.