Tuesday Tutorial Time at Citrus Twist Kits!

Hi there!  I'm up on the Citrus Twist Kits blog today sharing a tutorial on adding typewrite to your paper crafts.  Come visit me by CLICKING HERE and see a bit about how I put this layout together using Citrus Twist Kits' Main Kit for February.  Have a fabulous day!!

xoxo,

Shawna

Beau is on the blog today!

Happy Sunday, friends!  Today I have a layout featuring the Beaubster, getting into the spirit of the holidays with a handmade Native American headband.  He is such a good sport!

Of course this layout comes to you courtesy of CSI's latest case file, and an awesome sketch by Em Stafrace of Page Drafts.

All of the colors are there, and for my evidence I chose gold accents, feathers and doodles.  I chose the Testimony prompt to journal about a holiday and just added a little blurb about how even Beau gets into the Thanksgiving spirit. (he loves him some turkey too, folks!)

This week's colors were a real challenge for me and when I can't find papers in the colors needed, I usually resort to my trustee Faber Castelle gelatos, as I did here.  I also used some more of the feather printables from ScrapFriends and colored them with gelatos.  Here are a couple of close-ups.

I layered two sets of Thickers to make the title and really like the effect that it made with the shadowing.

Thanks for stopping by and having a look!  I hope you will come play along with us this week over at CSI.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,

Shawna

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 Case File #89 - B is for Bright...

Man, I struggled with these pastels!!  Started with some gelatos and mists over gesso, then decided I didn't like the drippy look so gesso'd over that a bit, then decided the colors were too bold, so gesso'd over that too!  Holy moly.  How's that for an opening paragraph?  LOL

Anyway, this week's CSI Case File (which, as does every 2nd week of the month, featured a fabulous sketch by Em Stafrace) featured some muted pastels that I found incredibly challenging (ahem, see above...) but that is what I love about CSI.  The challenge to step outside your comfort zone, experiment with color combinations, but still get your journaling in so you preserve your family stories.  And despite the struggle of putting this one together, I am happy with the end result.  Afterall, how could I be anything less than happy with a smile that bright beaming up at me from the page?

Here's the case file and sketch:

And here's my layout and some close-ups:

Thanks for looking and TGIF!!!!  :-)

DT Reveal - AAG Lots of Flowers Challenge

Is it Monday already?  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are enjoying the cooler fall weather!  We filled our weekend with fall-themed events and I can't wait until the work week is over so we can do it again!
Today's layout is for About a Girl's mid-month challenge.  The challenge is to use lots of flowers.  Sounds easy, right?  Well, if you are like me and don't often use flowers, it truly is a challenge.  However, I have a handful of photos from my daughter's ballet recital that are perfect for a flowery layout, so those were the ones I chose to scrap for this page.  I used a mixture of gesso, mists, gelatos, and modeling paste to create the background and color the patterned paper and doilies.  Then I added some perfect pearls and mists to the flowers and layered some tulle behind the patterned paper under the photo.  A very foo-foo, flowery layout perfect for my little ballerina. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Design Team Reveal for Birds of a Feather Kit Co.

Hey everyone!  Today is my very first reveal as a design team member for Birds of a Feather Kit Co.!  I received my September kit and was amazed at how many materials are packed into just one kit...gorgeous materials with endless possibilities!  I created two layouts for my reveal - the first primarily using the different patterned papers, and the second using primarily the embellishments (homemade background paper using mists, gelatos and a mask).  Here are the layouts.  If you are interested in seeing a full list of materials included in this amazing kit, click here!  Have a fabulous day!

Mind Mapping - CSI #87

Happy Friday!!  There's an amazing case file this week over at CSI...one of the testimony prompt suggestions is this very cool concept called "mind mapping."  It inspired my inner wanna be artist and I do think maybe I will give art journaling a try after this.  That's the thing about CSI...it pushes your limits and encourages you to try things that you might not have otherwise.  :)

If you go check out Pinterest you will find tons of different examples of how to create a mind map - many involve a flow chart or graph type of a structure.  You can click here for some examples. I saw the map a bit differently though, using a foundation word as the trunk of the tree, supporting the branches/areas where I need to find balance in life.  I used a mix of mists, gelatos, and chalk to create the  background, and the rest is simply pen and molding paste. Below is the final result.  I'm pretty happy with it...kind of reminds me of an old Smashing Pumpkins album cover!

And here's the sketch I started with, and some close-ups.  PS.  I went through an obscene amount of molding paste to do this layout.  If you haven't tried molding paste to add dimension to your pages, give it a try.  It is so workable and if you goof up, you can actually scrape/wipe it off before it dries.

Thanks so much for stopping by and having a look!  Have a fabulous weekend!

Gelato-holics Anonymous

Hi. I'm Shawna.  And I'm a gelato-holic.  (Hi Shawna.)

Seriously.  Can't get enough.  Loving the different ways gelatos can be used!  I tried out the drip technique and worked up some colors to mimic a sunset in another layout.  I think it's safe to say that these little beauties have surpassed my mists as my go-to technique on layouts these days.  Here are a couple of layouts I completed recently during my gelato trials.

Technique Tuesday at Birds of a Feather!

Happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone had a fabulous long Labor Day weekend!  Today is my first tutorial as a design team member for the Birds of a Feather kit club! Since my current obsession is gelatos, I thought I'd share a little bit of technique on how to use them to create custom cardstock and backgrounds.  Click here to read more!

Stop over and check it out and while you are there, take a look at the awesome kits BOAF offers - they're perfect for the scrapbooker that doesn't have hours to spend shopping and coordinating product!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

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.