Finally.

Happy Monday! Hope you all have a short work week ahead and are planning something fun for Labor Day weekend! I'll be camping, which never fails to produce tons of great scrappy pictures!

This week's CSI Case File is full of soft, dreamy color and as usual, I had so much fun creating around this scheme.  Here is the case:

And here is how I solved it:

I pulled out my gelatos again on this one. The more I use these things the more I love them. I spent a good amount of time experimenting with different techniques on scrap paper and I'm looking forward to using them in lots of different ways on future layouts.  I am finding that they blend much easier with a layer of gesso underneath them, so the first thing I did was cover my cardstock with a diluted layer of gesso.  Then, after blending the gelatos until I got the shading I wanted, I used a mask to apply some molding paste for a spattering of stars.  (Added some stamped stars too.)

I created a border with some lipstick pink washi tape, and made a little cluster with an overlaid scallop from a Heidi Swapp mistable scallop border, layered in several colors of gelato.

...I wasn't kidding about my gelato obsession.  I used them again to add some color to my fabric Thicker letters in the title.  Gelatos.Are.Awesome!

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my work.  I so appreciate the visits and feedback.  Have a great day!

Materials:
Paper:
Cardstock - butter yellow
Gray chevron paper - no idea the brand
Embellies:
Washi Tape - lipstock pink patterned and silver star patterned
Citrus Twist kit sequins
Citrus Twist kit "love" flair button
Prima clock face
Studio Calico vellum die cuts
American Craft white journaling tag
Faber Castell Gelatos
Gray embroidery floss
Citrus Twist exclusive stamps - 2013 and stars
Heidi Swapp star mask
Gesso
Molding Paste

Fun Times (and my first foray with gelatos)

I've been dying to try out gelatos forever and couldn't find them anywhere local.  Finally found a starter kit of Faber Castells and snatched it up!  Watched some youtube videos, looked over some blog posts, and went to town.  They're "so easy" to use....um no.  They're not.  LOL  I ruined about a half a dozen pieces of white cardstock before I got something even slightly usable!  I think it was a paper texture issue and that I need to use a thicker cardstock or watercolor paper.  Anyway, I finally got a nice blend of colors and used the background as my starting point for this week's CSI case file.  I doubled up on this one and used the sketch challenge at Scrap Friends as well.  I am absolutely thrilled with the final product, though, and the effect the gelatos give.  Definitely going to be practicing and using them a lot on future layouts!

Here is this week's CSI case file and the ScrapFriends sketch:

The background is a mix of gelatos and masked stars, with fussy cut silver glittery stars that I cut from ribbon I received in a CSI trim package for winning the role of Star Witness on a prior case file.

I used the white gelato and added a bit of yellow and covered the corrugated cardboard with it, layered some paper and a frame, and added my journaling to a stamped and edged envelope and card behind the photo. The dark brown and white hexagon shapes were fussy cut from paper and meant to be used on a prior project (the other side is orange) as a ferris wheel.  I didn't end up using them but I'm glad I kept them because they helped tie in the dark from from the case file in this layout.

A jeweled brad and a fussy cut stamped arrow finished off the cluster on the bottom.

Oh, Newman...

Happy Monday!  Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend.  I did.  Fun with friends on Saturday, and lots of time in the garden on Sunday!

So my sister and her husband recently added an adorable Newfoundland puppy to their family and he is ridiculously cute.  Every time I see a photo of him I want to scrap it!  He is so stinking handsome...and huge! Unfortunately, my sister lives across the country from me right now (*sniffle*) so I have yet to meet the little (big) man, but from all accounts, he's a total love bug and an awesome pup.  And totally worthy of a scrapbook page in his honor. :)

I used the colors from the Scrap Friends challenge this month for this layout and changed the picture to black and white to give the page a lot of contrast.  I dug out embellies from my stash that I haven't used in YEARS and a great little box of square cut papers that I bought in, oh....2006???  I guess it's good to be a hoarder sometimes. ;-)  Because the majority of materials used on this layout are so old, I don't know the brands/origins, so no materials listed on this post.  Anyway, without further delay....meet Newman!

AAG August 15th challenge...white space!

Time for the mid-month challenge at About A Girl!  This challenge is all about leaving white space on your layouts.  Lucky for me, I recently discovered that I could print my instagram photos in 4x4 through the Walgreens app on my phone, so I am stocked with little square photos with fun edits that are perfect for these type of layouts! Here is what I came up with.

I picked a sketch from the Scrap Friends sketch archive and reached for my trusty Heidi Swapp mists.

These Heidi Swapp mists get a whole lotta play in my scrappy rotation lately.  The colors are fun, bright, mixable, and versatile. They might just be my most frequently used product this summer.  And the coordinating products I get in my Citrus Twist kits never disappoint.  Always plenty to mix and match from past months too!  Here are a couple of close-ups.  Scroll to the bottom for a list of materials.  Thanks for stopping by - your comments mean a lot! xoxo

Materials

Papers
Alison Kreft Composition & Color - True Story (Webster Pages)
Summer Love - Popsicle (Cosmo Cricket)
Mambi Cards
Studio Calico Sundrifter 6x6 paper pad
Studio Calico journaling card

Embellies
Heidi Swapp mists (teal, chartreuse, cherry red, yellow)
Basic Grey stickers - Knee High Bowties
Studio Calico die cuts
American Craft flair button
Thickers letters
sequins

Case file #84...swing with me

Happy Wednesday!! Another great case file at CSI this week! (Just like every other week…Debbi never fails to deliver a fabulous color scheme and challenge!) This week had a nautical theme, which is right up my alley since I am pretty obsessed with all things nautical at the moment! Along with the awesome Scene, we have a wonderful sketch from Emma Stafrace to work from, and I stayed true to the shape, changing some elements here and there.

Here is the case file and sketch:

And here is what I came up with. I wanted to give the feel of the beach, where this photo was taken, so I used a lot of different textures on this one.

For the frames, I covered one with Liquitex molding paste to give it a textured seafoam/wavy feel, and I covered the other with Tim Holtz distressed denim ink to get the weathered navy look.

I created the background by spritzing the paper with a chartreuse mist, then layering gauze and jute over top of it. I also used the jute as a mask over a white tag and used some chartreuse mist on that. I added various trim – rope, twine, which I wove through the fussy cut anchor stamps, and this really cool floss with little green squares that I have had in my stash for years. Finished it off with various wood and chipboard embellies and a couple of stamps, and voila! Case closed. :)

As always, thank you so much for stopping by and taking a peek! If interested, a list of materials used is below. Have a great day!

Materials:

Paper:
Patterned Paper Unknown – leftover sheet from an old paper pad

Kraaft
Embellies:
White Thickers letters
American Craft white frames
K&Co. nautical chipboard embellie from many years ago
Little Yellow Bus "happy" stick pin (without the pin piece)
Michael's anchor stamp
American Craft white tag
Citrus Twist handmade embellie "Blissful"
Citrus Twist exclusive polymer stamp "Soak up the sun"
Studio Calico wood embellies
Heidi Swapp mist in chartreuse
Liquitex molding paste
Tim Holtz Distressed Denim ink
Colorbox white ink
Colorbox navy ink
Jute
Gauze
Various thread and twine

CSI and Scrap365 Collaboration! Case File #S365-1

Lots going on over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration this month!  One exciting announcement is a new collaboration with Scrap365, the UK's biggest and best scrapbooking magazine.  Now, CSI will have a Scrap365 case file every other month, to coincide with the publication of the latest issue of Scrap365.   Congrats to CSI for the feature in this month's issue!  Now, on to the case file.  

Here is my layout.  The journaling is on the back of the page and talks about having the opportunity, during a recent train ride from Boston to Northern MA, to really "see" my daughter, without distraction.  Hence, the title..."Today I See You."  :-)

And here are some close-ups and info on the process of creating this page. Credit must be given to SannaLippert and her fabulous ScrapFriends tutorial on creating layered stampedbackgrounds.  I have been wanting to incorporate this technique for some time, and this proved to be the perfect opportunity.    (Be sure to scroll to the bottom to watch Sana's awesome video showing the process of creating a layered stamp background.  Being able to actually watch an artist's process is so incredibly helpful when trying to learn new techniques.)

I used a lot of elements received in my spring/summer Citrus Twist kits, such as the washi tape, little velum sailboat, vintage jewel brad and flair button.  I also grabbed some old supplies that weren't getting much love, like the scrap of leftover doily, and the rub-on "I see..."

Because the black and shadowing of the photo is so dramatic, I tried to pull a lot of black in throughout the page.  My Tim Holtz stamps and masks came in handy, but not in the traditional way.  Instead of using the actual stamps, I fussy-cut the plastic printed place markers that come in the stamp kits, to mark where each stamp gets stored.  Then I did the same with the plastic masking place markers and just glued them all on the page.  I liked the texture and the deep hue of the black that the plastic images produced on the page.

And, as promised, here is Sanna's awesome video tutorial. Thanks for stopping by!  

CSI Case File #83 - The Legendary Dunroamin' Gang

It is that time again!  This week's CSI case file is perfect for those summer vacation photos that you need to get scrapped and I was psyched to find that the color scheme worked well with this photo of these little goonies, captured in a rare moment of (something akin to) stillness.  Hehehe. :-)

And here is the case file I was working with:

And some close-ups.

Thanks for stopping by and having a look! xoxo

AAG August 1st Challenge - One Color

Is it really August already?!  Summer goes by too quickly!  One good thing about it already being August is that it is time for another challenge over at All About a Girl!  This challenge is to make a layout using only one color (monochrome).  I chose a blue green hue for my Design Team contribution, pulling the tone from one of the colors in the photo.  I gathered up a bunch of scraps in my stash, a few embellies, and my molding paste and just started layering.  Here is what I came up with and a bit about the process of creating it.

 

 

Materials:

Papers
"Showers" - Crate Paper Season Collection
Allison Kreft Composition & Color "Units of Measure" - Webster Pages
About a Boy "Curious" - Lori Whitlock
Find Your Wings & Fly Up and Away "Admit One" - My Minds Eye

Embellies & Texture
Studio Calico die cuts
Twine
Colorbox Cats Eye ink
Liquitex molding paste
No-brand background stamp from Michael's