Creative Chaos

So I'm sure I haven't shown a photo of my crafty space in a while - but obviously there's a reason for that!!  Check it out.  I've been working on so many different things lately that all the miscellaneous "stuff" is piling up.  And I feel like I've been neglecting the blog but I've also been spending alot of time studying for my insurance course which will be done on July 5th.  Then I'll have more time to be crafty! until the next one starts :-)

See anything exciting in there??

Well I thought I would share one project that I've been working - at least the outside of it.  And then hopefully it will be completed this weekend and I will post a video, woohoo.


Here's a close up of some of the pictures that I hand died with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I just love them.

Stay tuned!

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

Color me Scrappy Challenge Day!

 Well it's time for another color challenge over at Color Me Scrappy!  I love this one with lots of pinks and blues and red - what a great challenge. Sorry for the delay - my mind was on Relay for Life yesterday - Madison and I walked all night long and helped raise money to help cure cancer!

For this one I chose a lovely photo of Madison from Valentines day quite a few years ago.  And I couldn't resist when I found these wing die cuts on a sheet of valentines die cuts.  All the elements were from the die cut sheet and worked perfectly with the color challenge.

Here is a little close up to show you the dimension I used behind the wings.  Head on over the Color Me Scrappy and see what the rest of the design team has come up with.  There is another great prize up for grabs.

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

Color Me Scrappy - Challenge Day

Well today starts a new challenge over at Color Me Scrappy and if you are a neutral scrapper then this one is for you.

I'm not to keen on all neutral scrapping, I always seem to have some color in my layouts so this was a true challenge for me.  I decided to pull out a new stamp that I purchased in Buffalo at CKC last month.  It is a really cool medallion flower that you stamp on different papers and fussy cut into different layers.  Each time you use it you get a different effect by using different colors or choosing different layers to cut.

I chose four different patterned papers in the neutral colors and stamped the flower a couple of times.  I then chose what order to layer them and cut out each section.  To add a little bit of dimension I shaded with my spectrum noir markers.

I then glued some layers directly onto each other and some layers were attached with foam dots (which I bought in black this time - yes it does make a difference, you can't even tell they are there).

I topped them off with a rhinestone flower which I colored in with my markers.  I bought a whole bucket of these at Hobby Lobby - great purchase!




When I saw that I had the spotted feathers in my stash I just knew I had to add some.  And the die cut fence was something I acquired from a visit to my mothers house (Thanks Judy ;-)

I really love how the flowers turned out and will definitely make more, can you image these in bright colors!!

Well here is the final layout - another picture from Vegas but it was neutral and that's what I was going for.

Head on over to Color Me Scrappy and get your layout in.  There's a great prize up for grabs.


Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

Rainy Day

Well it's a bit of a rainy day here today so what better to do than to color.  With my new favorite markers.  All right, all right, I'll stop now.

Here's a Greeting Farm image that has been in my pre-stamped stash for a while.  I colored her up and decorated the card with some of my scraps.  Just had to share to try and add some sun shine to our rainy day.

I have to point out some things that I did and where the inspiration came from.

Well first off I love to color but sometimes I don't always stay in the lines, especially when blending the markers sometimes bleed outside of the lines.  So to take care of that I usually end up cutting the image out instead of leaving it on the paper it is stamped on.  Well I really like how Mariska over at Sending you a little smile:) layers her images but I definitely do not have the patience to color and cut all those layers so I decided what if I pop up my image and put it on time of a blacked out image.  Well voila - I love it!

Secondly, I really love how Linda Heavens glitters up everything!!  So I had to try that out too.

Well I really love how it worked out.  And will definitely be doing more.

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

Spectrum Marker Storage

Good morning!  I'm working on some DT layouts this weekend but I wanted to share my home made Marker Storage.  Of course since I bought my new markers and they came in different packaging I had to find a spot that I could store all 168 markers so that I could see them.  While I was wondering around Walmart supposedly getting groceries - I was in the craft isle - I saw a set of three baskets which you couldn't really tell were baskets because they were flat and you had to put them together yourself.  Well what peaked my interest was that they were marked down to $5 - yes $5 for three baskets!!

So I said, sure lets try it out - if anything I have three more baskets for storage in my scrap room.

I have to say that putting the baskets together was frustrating!! but I do love the outcome.  I used the medium sized basket and some foam board that I had lying around.  I measured out the foam board and made a grid to insert into the basket.  Pretty cool huh?!

I ended up organizing them by color which makes it easier when I'm looking for something.  I'm really loving my new markers!

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

Madie's First Creation

Madison got to work with her new markers right away.  I gave her some Whiff of Joy images that I had stamped out a while ago.  Of course she chose the shopping girl.  She started colouring on her own and picked out all the colours.  Even did some shading - what a great job!

I told her she had to put it together into a card and I would post it on my blog, so here it is...

 And the inside...

Hope you enjoy this card - made by my very talented 10 year old daughter - and be sure that I will share many more with you.  Hope you had a great holiday weekend!!

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

Back to Colouring

Okay so I haven't been doing too many cards lately and especially with coloured images.  But I got some new toys on the weekend and couldn't wait to break them in.  I used to colour with Prismacolor art markers and have been checking out all the stuff on the internet about the new Spectrum Noir markers.  

So guess what I found and got a really great deal on!  Yip, yippee!  I got the all four sets of 24 (Pastels, Lights, Darks and Brights) and then all twelve sets of 6 - yes you got it - all 168 colours are mine!  All are double ended alcohol ink markers that are great for colouring and shading and get this...way cheaper than Copics.  

Now you must be thinking - if I got all brand new markers than what is going to happen with all my prismacolor markers??  Well you know who has been chomping at the bit and finally got her little hands on them.  We did go through and weed out alot of colours that she didn't think she would use and ended up with a couple less than 60.  What 10 year old do you know has 60 art markers for scrapbooking!!

 

Here's a close up of my first attempt with my new markers.  I was a little overwhelmed with all the colours so please don't laugh at my choices.  I have since printed off the colour chart from online and filled it all in so I can see everything I have - still overwhelming!

I really love the way that it turned out though.  I used my new doily border punch and some of my rhinestones that I got (huge bucket of rhinestones).  I also added a crochet flower that I made myself and stained with distress ink.  Stay tuned for more!!

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

Color Me Scrappy - Challenge #4

Okay so you still have some time to get in on Challenge #4 over at Color Me Scrappy.  There is a great prize up for grabs and the color palette is awesome.  Head on over to the blog and check out the rest of the layouts from the design team and get in on the fun!

 Here is my awesome layout.  I've been hanging on to these super cute photos of Madison and Daddy eating gummy worms for quite some time (Madison is 10 years old now!).  I just picked some of my favorite papers that matched the color palette and made some flags to layer under the photos.

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

In Loving Memory

 I'm sure some of you noticed that I have been MIA for a bit.  Well unfortunately we had a very sad moment in our family.  My grandfather passed away two weeks ago while battling Alzheimers.  I can't say much without getting too emotional but am proud to say that he was surrounded by his whole family as we all made it to Barrie in time to say our goodbye's,

My grandfather was a very wonderful man and very talented also.  He started doing wood carvings a little later into his retirement.  All kinds of animals, birds, ducks.  The photo below is my grandmothers favourite - the swan.

My grandfather was also a basement dwelling crafter (hehe - something in common) he moved his workshop to his unfinished portion of the basement during the winter months as the garage got a little cold for him.

I apologize for my absence and I'll be getting caught up over the next couple of days.  I took some time to be with my family and help by grandmother out in Barrie.

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

SYAO Week 14

Another one done with hours to spare.  I still have to pack my clothes for Novi's Mega Meet!!

I will be back in time for the 15th to show you the 3rd challenge from Color Me Scrappy and maybe a video of my haul from Mega Meet :-)







Here is the sketch that we were given and a list of the items we chose from.

PRODUCTS
fabric or felt
ribbon/twine
flags & or pennants
3+ flowers
Re-cycled item such as packaging or ?
3+ patterned papers
stick pins
metal embellishment/hardware


TECHNIQUES
punches (border/corner)
acrylic paint (stamped-brushed-stencil-etc. ...your choice of application)
distressing
embossing (dry or heat)

Here's my layout - sweet and simple.  I did some misting on the embossed background paper and then layered from there.  I used a Maya Road heart stick pin, some flags and banners, a piece of "I love you" ribbon and my favorite - for a recycled item I used the inside pocket of jonathan's jeans.  When I went through his clothes and picked out the small stuff I took two pairs of jeans to the basement and dropped them in my stash - this is the first time I've used part of them.

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

Belated National Scrapbooking Day

Unfortunately yesterday I did not get the chance to enjoy some of the National Scrapbooking Day fun.  I did spend some valuable time with my family though.  So today I took the opportunity to go to my crafty basement and work on a present for my mom for mothers day - Don't Look Mom!!

I've had these little notebooks lying around for a while and finally decided to decorate them up - and with my mom and I heading out to Novi Michigan next week for Mega Meet - yah me!  - I figured this little notebook will come in really handy.

 Now not sure if you noticed the super cute crochet flower - oh yah! I made that!!  I was on you-tube and one the side bar there was a little video on a crochet flower, which really peaked my interest.  I have known how to crochet since I was a little girl and actually have two medium rubbermaids full of yarn.  So guess who was crocheting this weekend.

Take a peak.  I'm sure I'll find some more patterns but for now I'm doing a Five Petal flower that I found on you-tube (the video was from shopetsy.com).  Check out all the fancy flowers - watch for them on some future projects.
 

Hope everyone had a happy National Scrapbooking Day and was able to work on some great stuff.

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah

Color Me Scrappy - Challenge #3

 Welcome to Challenge #3 over at Color Me Scrappy.  I really loved this color palette, it was definitely a  Boy Page opportunity.  And I immediately thought of a shirt that my son had worn when he was little.  How great is that, you see a color palette and know what photo right away.

I chose some paper that had been in my stash for quite a while, from a scrapbook store garage sale.  There were around 5 pages of co-ordinating patterned paper, I chose three of them.  I also used a rub on from Stamping Up!  And some letter tiles from K&Company - it was actually a box that I had from Costco for ages and never opened it, was actually thinking of selling it and then opened it and realized the goldmine that was inside.








I also tried something new on this layout that I had seen on you-tube.  Sorry I don't remember whose video it was but they were adding texture to their layout with glitter snow, yes glitter snow like I used to use when I painted ceramic (long time ago in a far away land - before kids).  Of course I still had some and the one that I have has little pieces of mica glitter which gave a really cool effect.

 Head on over the Color Me Scrappy and check out the prize package for this challenge, you have two weeks to make a layout and link it in to be in the draw.  Don't miss out!!

Happy Papercraftering!
Sarah

SYAO Week 13

Yes I'm here with another week and you'll notice that I'm one day early - Procrastinator Sarah is on a role.
Week 13 had a very simple yet elegant layout - I really liked the line of photos all across and remember having some pictures that I took of flowers that were already cut in similar sizes.

 Here the list of embellishments...
fabric or felt
ribbon
photo corners/anchors
3+ flowers
chip-board
3+ patterned papers
transparency
metal embellishment/hardware

And Techniques...
punches (border/corner)
acrylic paint (stamped-brushed-stencil...your choice of application)
distressing
embossing (dry or heat)

So for this one I had these really cute embossed felt flowers that I've been hanging onto and color was perfect with the flowers in the photo - I know you can't really tell here - too much of a hurry to take the pictures and it's late and dark - I used the bathroom cause I thought it was the brightest - nope!!

Photoshop helped but not much.  You gotta see this in person - so very nice.

So my next embellishment was the easy part ribbon and a metal paper-clip.  Then I decided to take one of my chipboard shapes from Maya Road and cut it in half - one for the top and one for the bottom.  I sprayed them with Glimmer Mist and then heat embossed - yes, that was my technique I used - butterflies and the saying.  I had to add a single rhinestone to cover up the hole that was on the chipboard.

Here's my final layout - like I said the color was off from the photo but it is really gorgeous in person and the chipboard shimmers.  Did I mention that I actually used heat embossing as my technique and not my fail safe - distressing!  :-)






Well stay tuned, tomorrow is Challenge #3 from Color Me Scrappy and I have some other little treats that I have been working on that I can't wait to share with you this week.  Maybe even another video!

Happy Papercrafting!
Sarah