Treasure Box (Mix Media Madness)

I decided to play along (at the last minute i must add) with a very awesome challenge this month at Berry71bleu Pages.  It's called Mix Media Madness and its requirement is to create a layout or an altered/off the page project as long as we use a mixture of either paints, gesso, mists, stamps, stencils, etc.

I opted to alter this simple wooden box that i bought at the Dollar Store. 

  

The box now looks like this:

 I chose bright and bold colors and added lots of bling because i made it for a very special little boy named Jacob who loves all things pink, glittery, as well as flowers and butterflies.

I painted the box with brown acrylic paint, added a touch of crackle paint (which you can't really see from my pictures unfortunately) and then some more paint.  All chipboard used is from The Dusty Attic.  The chipboard doily was covered with gesso, crackle paint, and then glimmer mist.  The butterfly, i painted with Stickles and the birdcage, with Perfect Pearls.

Here's a look at the inside which i painted and then covered with paper:

It was a fairly simple project, not in the style and colors that i personally tend to go for lately, but I'm really hoping that Jacob will love his Treasure Box!

Thank you Berry71bleu Pages for the inspiration!

Kelly Foster's HUGE Birthday Giveaway

One of my favorite designers and inspiration, Kelly Foster, is celebrating her birthday today and she's celebrating by offering her followers a chance to win this very generous giveaway!

Make sure to go wish her a Happy Birthday and find out how you can win by clicking HERE!  You have until November 30th to enter!

Happy Birthday Kelly and thank you so much for inspiring me! :)

Halloween Eye Tree Card (SIWAS DT Reveal)

I had so much fun creating this card for this week's 'creepy' tune at Scrap It with a Song!

Can you guess what the song is?

If you guessed 'Somebody's Watching Me' by Rockwell, you are right!

The spooky Halloween tree is watching YOU with its multiple wobbly eyes!  hehe

Visit Scrap It with a Song right now to see what my fellow Rock Chicks came up with and make sure to link up your project(s) inspired by this month's playlist before October 31st!

Just Focus (OUAS October Challenge)

Do any of you ever suffer from bouts of seasonal depression?  I do.  In the fall especially, when the days get shorter and darkness sets in quite early in the evening, i seem to get the blues.  This fall, my downtime seems to be worse than it has been for a few years, but i'm slowly getting better.  Every day, i feel myself regaining back control of my mind and body, and i always feel at peace when i am creating.  Scrapbooking serves as great therapy for me, as i'm sure it does for many of you. Creating this layout helped me release a lot of pent-up emotions and anxiety, and i feel happy sharing it with you today.

I took inspiration from Once Upon a ...Sketch's October blog challenge which was to use the sketch provided (seen below) and this quote as the theme of our layout:

How very fitting, isn't it?  I decided to put emphasis on the 'Just Focus' phrase and use it as my title. 

As with any other OUAS challenge, we are asked to add journaling on our layout, and i did so on a hidden tag tugged underneath layers of pattern paper and chipboard.

Now, here are some close-ups:

As you can see, still lots of Zva Creative bling and Dusty Attic chipboard on this layout!

 On this DA door hinge as well as on the birdcage and the golden flags, i used a mixture of Dreamweaver Embossing Paste, Rangers Perfect Pearls, Glimmer Mist and chalk.  You have to just go ahead and try different things.  I never know how it will turn out when i start playing with all these different products, but i usually don't give up and keep adding on until i'm satisfied with the result.

Thank you for visiting, and for taking part in this therapy session with me!  

Let's all remember to...

Just Focus On What's Important!  :)

Some of the products used:

My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline pattern paper

ZVA Creative crystal flourish

Prima Vintage Trinket

Momenta Metal Bird Sticker

Greatest View Button

KaiserCraft & Petaloo flowers

***

Dusty Attic chipboard

Doily #3 DA0481

Fancy Trim #4 DA0470

Flags DA0484

Hinges DA0509

Birdcage #6 DA0714

Mini Ornate Frame DA0222

Leaves DA0508

Mini Leaves DA0505

Typewriter ABC Set DA0143

Wonderful You Card (Authentique Sketch Challenge)

Someone very special to me will be celebrating her birthday in a week and i made her a very special card using the lovely Authentique collection called 'Uncommon'.  Uncommon just like my Mom, the soon-to-be birthday girl! :)  These papers were just perfect for her!

I used the October Authentique card sketch as inspiration:

The crystal flourish and little tiny gems in the center of the flowers (that you can barely see in the picture because my camera doesn't like me sometimes - hehe) are from Zva Creative.

Make sure to come back and visit this week!  I'll have a very special layout to share with you with more Zva Creative bling and Dusty Attic chipboard.  

And Thursday is the DT Reveal for Scrap It with a Song!  I'm going all Halloween for this one!

Thousand Years (SIWAS DT Reveal)

It's Thursday so it's time for another awesome musical reveal from Scrap It with a Song.  This week, the Rock Chicks and i had to get inspired by this popular love song by Christina Perri, A Thousand Years.  This song is sooo beautiful that it's hard not to be inspired by the melody and lyrics.  When you listen to this song, you will just HAVE to create something beautiful and link it up at SIWAS!

The layout i created is based on this month's sketch challenge on the Dusty Attic Ning designed by Mistra.

 

The beautiful paper collection i used is Little Yellow Bicycle's Saturdays.  I decided to feature various Dusty Attic products on this layout, as well as Zva Creative bling.  Laser-cut chipboard and crystal or pearl flourishes are by far my favorite embellishments to use on any project.  

I adore trying different techniques to alter my DA chipboard and my favorite is covering it with gesso and then heating it up until the gesso bubbles and hardens.  I then have fun using all sorts of inks, mists, glitter, powder, chalk, paste, etc to add color and texture to the chipboard.

I urge you to try this trick with gesso and your heatgun.  I guarantee you will enjoy the final result!

 Dusty Attic is not only about laser-cut chipboard - it also offers beautiful blooms (like the ones used here) and leaves (which i have covered with Suede Glimmer Mist).

 And a love-themed layout is never quite complete without some swirls of bling.  I thought Zva Creative's Pearls would be perfect to add a more romantic and elegant feel to my page.

One of my favorite products from DA is the fairly new Lacing Tash (shown above) inspired by and named after the fabulous Natasha Naranjo Aguirre who rates quite high on my top designer list.  Every single piece that she creates is pure creative genius.  Check out her blog HERE!

Here is the list of all DA products used:

Lacing Tash (DA0631)

Nameplate #4 (DA0585)

Chicken Wire Panel (DA0177)

Baroque Frame (DA0542)

Twirly Hearts (DA0455)

Birds Nests #2 (DA0721)

Mini Feathers (DA0650)

Dusty Curls ABC Set (DA0468) 

Dusty in Bloom Celestial White (DA0800)

Dusty in Bloom Leaves (DA0810)

Thank you for visiting! :)

Exciting News!!!

You heard it, i have super exciting news to share with you today!

I have been chosen to be part of the new Creative Scrappers DT.  I am so happy to be part of this amazing team and to be able to promote the wonderful CS sketches for the next 4 months.   It will be an honor to create alongside such talented ladies as Kristine Davidson, Marielle Leblanc, Jenny Evans, Juliana Michaels (all whose blogs i have been following for a long time now) and so many more.  

Do you see my name?!  My term will be starting in November and I will be on Team A.  :)

So, starting today, make sure to be following the Creative Scrappers blog (if you're not already), and visit every Sunday for some awesome sketchy inspiration, the best there is!

Prairie Hill Card Set (Pamela's WCMD sketches)

Happy *belated* World Card Making Day!!!

I hope that all of you took a little time this weekend to create something!  I wasn't able to scrap yesterday as we had company over, but i made sure to spend a couple hours in my scraproom today, after Yves and i went out to breakfast then found a couple beautiful spots for a Fall photoshoot.  Here are just a couple samples:

 I'm always so happy to have new 'colorful' pictures to scrapbook!

Now, let me share with you the 5 cards i created today!!!

I made each one with the lovely Pink Paislee's Prairie Hill collection (my favorite Summer collection of 2012):

Each card was inspired by a sketch from Pamela's World of Scrap challenge.  Her sketches are adorable and as soon as i saw them while browsing through her blog, i was immediately inspired.

Sketch #1

Sketch #2

Sketch #3

Sketch #4

Sketch #5

If you love these sketches as much as i do, click HERE to participate in Pamela's challenge.  The deadline is October 14th!

Also, if you've made a card, or 2, or 10 this weekend, make sure to link them up to the Simon Says Stamp Blog before the end of the day today.  There is an AMAZING prize up for grabs! :)

Thanks for dropping by!

Pamela's huge WCMD Giveaway!

And i say HUGE!!!  Look at this prize pack:

As you probably know, tomorrow is World Card Making Day and there will be many challenges, prizes, blog hops all through the creative web so make sure to take a little time to get crafty!

To celebrate, Pamela from Pamela's World of Scraps is giving away the above prize.  Click HERE to find out how you can win!

Also, she is hosting an awesome card sketch challenge (with 5 different sketches!) for which she is giving away another great prize!  Click HERE for more details.  I know i will be playing along for sure!

Thanks Pamela! :)