S365-7 Touch the Sky

Have you checked out the new CSI/Scrap365 collaborative case file?  CLICK HERE to check it out and to see the rest of the CSI design team's inspiration.

I was super excited to be chosen as a featured artist in the August/September issue of Scrap365 with my take on cracking the case. Scrap365 is an awesome magazine chock full of paper crafting inspiration from all over the world.  CLICK HERE to pick up your copy.  And man, I have to say, there is just nothing cooler than seeing your work displayed in the pages of a magazine. I was over the moon when I received my copy! Here is how I cracked the case.

For my evidence, I chose hot air balloons and birds. I decided to try my hand at a sort of Steampunk style for this layout, incorporating lots of vintage details and cogs and gears.  I layered up the background with a marbled mask from Prima, 7 Gypsies stamped hot air balloons, Tim Holtz birds, and a The Crafter's Workshop cog mask, which I brushed modeling paste over.  Then I stamped some more hot air balloons, colored them with Tim Holtz distress inks, and laminated them with Mod Podge, layering them over the stamped balloons with 3-D pop dots.

I had some great suitcase papers (can't remember who made them) in a little mixed media kit, and I fussy cut the pile of suitcases and used it to frame in the bottom right corner of the page.  Then I layered various flowers and a stamped and fussy cut butterfly at the base of the photo.  I wanted to give the illusion of the Little Lady literally floating above the ground (she's on the trampoline jumping her little heart out). :)

I added in a K&Co. bird embellishment, and a little metal lock I had in my stash to provide some different texture in the flowers.  The little typewriter font letters are Tim Holtz, and the sparkly letters are American Craft Thickers.

Remember, you have the entire month to play along with this case file, and the Top 5 entries will serve as CSI Guest Detectives in October.  Happy scrapping and happy Friday everyone!

xoxo,

Shawna

Scrap 365-6 Today...

Is it really Sunday already?  Where did the weekend go??  We had a busy, but awesome weekend filled with friends and lots of time outside, hiking, swimming, grilling, gardening...blissful early summer weekend for sure.  We also had a wee bit of drama with the Little Lady literally getting her tooth knocked out during a mishap on a rock climbing wall of a friend's play yard. Stay tuned for that story in a scrapbook page coming soon. ;-)

Now, on to the actual purpose of this post.  CSI and Scrap 365's new collaborative case file.  Fabulous colors and evidence prompts on this one.  Here's my layout featuring the Toothless Wonder back when she first started sprouting those cute little baby teeth. Hehe. :)  This is a shot from our first year family photos.  Man, time really flies.

Here's a look at the case file.  CLICK HERE to see what the rest of the design team came up with for this file.

And some closeups of the page.  I used a lot of chipboard ephemera on this one, with some spatterings of enamel dots, pearl dots, and sequins.  From the case file, I chose bows, flowers, ombre effect and frames for my evidence.  Then I chose 6-word memoir and wrote "Our little love is almost one!"

Tell me this isn't the cutest little flair button in the land of EVER.  Courtesy of October Afternoon's Daily Flash tin pins.

Loved that the evidence included bows this week.  I love the girly touch this peach colored bow gives to the page.

And there you have it!  Now, I am dragging my exhausted self off to bed.  Back to work tomorrow!  Goodnight everyone!

xoxo,

Shawna

Special Scrap 365 Case File at CSI!

We have teamed up with Scrap 365 again to bring you a case file that you will have all month to solve!  The file is fun and bold and I had a blast putting my layout together for this one.  Here's the case!

And here's my take on it.  For my evidence I chose buttons (flair button and soda pop top) and string. (The curly string is actually a sticker that I cut in half and split between the top of the page and the bottom.)  For my journaling, I used the inspiration word "fun" and wrote about our trips to our local library.

Here are a couple of close ups.  I kept this layout fairly simple because I felt that the cut out circle paper and the handcut sunburst with the candy pattern were pretty dominant and I didn't want the rest to look like...a circus freak show. ;-)  Hehehe!

I hope you will play along with us!  In the meantime, don't forget to stop back here tonight to check out my take on CSI's casefile set to be revealed this evening around 6pm...I've done another mixed media layout and will be including a great video tutorial that gave me lots of inspiration!  Have a great Friday!!

xoxo,

Shawna

Special CSI Case File with Scrap365!

Happy Sunday (and Happy Super Bowl day for my US friends)!  I personally don't care much about the Super Bowl this year because our house is a Patriots House. ;-)  Anyway, today I am sharing a layout made for the latest collaboration between CSI and Scrap365...be sure to CLICK HERE and play along.  This challenge runs all month so you have plenty of time...AND one lucky winner will win a copy of the latest issue of Scrap365 magazine!

Here is the case file and the layout I created from it.

The scene is stunningly rich and gorgeous with its blues and browns and jewels and I thought it went really nicely with this photo taken in my backyard on Thanksgiving Day.  For my evidence, I used flowers, jewels, fabric (in the layers behind the photo), and textured paper.  I used the inspiration word "love" and added some words of the fabulous Lewis Carroll.

I started out with textured watercolor paper and added mists, masks with modeling paste, and more masking using a great tree stencil I have,.  Then I tore it and distressed the edges with sepia ink and black chalk.

I also added a splash of blue gelato to draw the eye to the Lewis Carroll lines.

Lots of layers of torn paper scraps under the photo and then framed my photo with one of the white Recollections photo frames.  I love these frames. $2 for 6 of them and they are fabulously useful, either white or colored or stamped.

Finally I added a Crate Paper (I think it is Crate Paper...I threw away the packaging!) jeweled pin, some $1 flowers from Michael's, and some glass beads scattered about.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope to see your work in the CSI gallery in the coming weeks! :)

A new Scrap 365-CSI case file is up!

Time to reveal CSI's third special Case File created in collaboration with Scrap365,UK's biggest and best scrapbooking magazine. This special Case File will be open for investigation for the entire month of December. We will have a new Scrap365 Case File every other month, with the publication of a new issue of the magazine.   Here's the case file:

And here's my take on it:

This soft pastel palette was a dream to work with and I am really happy with the way this page turned out.  I loved the combination of the texture paste with the liquid pearls and the enamel dots.  

I hope you will come play along...remember you have the whole month of December to get your entries in, and we will choose 5 favorites to guest design in a coming month.  Good luck!

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!