Summer Days!

My cousin is kind of a Triple Threat...she has super cute kiddos, takes great pictures, and has a super eye for color and filters.  So, it should come as no surprise that sometimes I like to stalk browse her Facebook feed for pictures when I'm looking for something to work with...And that is where I came up with the photo in this little gem!!!

As usual, I was trying to use up some of the scraps I had laying around and working with a Scraps of (I believe) Darkness kit.  I loved the bright colors and I knew I had some other brightly colored things around that were just DYING to be a part of this LO...like that fabulous number paper in the layers!!!

 

The kit came with the awesome Shimmerz "Dazzlerz Paint" in Sour Apple.  The bright green color completely matched my mood for the day and gave an overall "happy" vibe to this LO.  The "old school" view master die cut is a throwback to the days when my cousins, sister, and I would spend hours playing with one at our Mimi's house.  I tore several pieces of paper to finish my background and used some red and yellow mists to stencil and splatter color on the background.  You can't see it too well, but the stencil I used was a playful mustache stencil...perfect for boys!!!

 



Below you can see more of the Sour Apple Paint and splatters along with some bright brads and random stamping.  I used some of my more brightly colored Tim Holtz Distress ink pads for the stamping!  Love his colors!  Check out the awesome Project Life elements that I used as well!  A perfect fit for this color scheme!

Below are some more close ups of layering and elements.  I used a bright red paint to paint over the frame that came with the kit.  It was already a reddish color but I wanted to make it a little brighter!  :)

And some close ups of the background paper, a die cut that I sprayed with some Color Shine mist, and some splatters. 

 

 

Thanks for looking!  Aren't these boys the cutest????

 

 

Love,

mel

Continuing a project...

So, trucking right along with my project to capture from some moments of a friend's life for her parents (and in keeping with the finest tradition of valiantly trying to use supplies up to clear my work area) I made this fun LO of Amber on the lake.  I loved the colors from this Scraps of Elegance kit and had been saving a few color elements, flowers and what nots from other kits that went well with the colors in the picture.  The end result is: 

I started out by layering several Blue Fern Studios Papers.  I loved the softer watercolored feel to them and added a few scrap pieces of paper as well.  I got (a little) "mist happy" in a few places, but overall I think the misting turned out pretty great. 

Below you can see one of the great flower clusters, ranging from several months worth of kits.  I keep flowers that I think will coordinate well together for a project separate from my normal kit stash.  Sometimes I'm even a little surprised when I open the bag (or box) and see what I've hoarded stashed away. 

 

The flower cluster below was layered over a piece of trim leftover from a DECEMBER kit!  Yes, that's how long I sometimes hold on to stuff waiting to use it on a special project.  I'm lying...I'll hoard it for years...ask my husband!  :)



 

Here is where some of my spraying and misting for this LO.  I wanted to make sure I had stayed with the general nostalgic feel of the LO and I think I managed to capture that by using several different mists.  I was surprised that I was able to use the card stock cutout on this LO since the fairly muted colors wouldn't normally seem to match the brights I was going with in this piece.

 

 

And there it is!!!  Thanks for looking and come back soon!

 

 

xoxo,

Mel

My Little Sister...

As promised!  Here is my next LO using the Scraps of Elegance June Kit "Stephanie's Treasure".  This kit was so completely yummylicious and feminine...and once again as I was looking over pictures that my Mimi had given me I found this delightful gem (already purple/lavender themed) of my sister back in her younger years!!! 

I started by going through the patterned papers and was surprised to see that despite my love for Blue Fern Studios Papers, the Craft and You Designs papers were catching my eyes a little more.  They also seemed to fit the background of the photo a little better as well.  I cut and tore a few layers, did some stamping with black archival ink, added some punching and even used the leftover punch parts for my back ground.  I used some of the alcohol ink included the kit to add a little bit of color.  My sis is pretty musically inclined so I used several of the Tim Holtz rubons with music notes (and some of the birds and butterflies) to add even more fun to my background. The stamp was a Prima stamp from a previous kit, I believe.

Below you can see a close up of some of the flower clusters as well as some chipboard work with the Blue Fern Studios chipboard that came with the kit (iron work, I believe).  For the chipboard I started with some of the Vibez spray that was included in the color add on, embossed a floral image over the chipboard with clear embossing powders, and rubbed the Cremeez and Inklingz purple colors over the clear embossed image until I achieved the color I was looking for. 

 

I used a stencil and modeling paste to add a little bit of texture in places around the LO and messily painted and finger rubbed color from the Color add on in places.  I liked the messy look with these [mostly] sheer colors. 



 

 

Below you can see just a few more closeups of the color work, layering work, and punching work.  Behind the bottom layer is just a hint of stencil work peaking out.  Unfortunately, most of the stencil work was covered up by my layers!  :(

 

 

So there you have it!  Another LO with the fabulous June SOE kit.  This is also my entry for the July Blue Fern Studios Sketch Challenge.  You can check the challenge out here. 

 

Thanks for looking!!!!  xoxo

 

Love,

mel

June Scraps of Elegance Kit!!!

Good morning!!!  Today I would like to share a layout I made with the gorgeous Scraps of Elegance June kit "Stephanie's Treasure Kit".  A while back my Mimi gave me tons of old pictures that she had laying around.  As I went through them this past weekend looking for something "cool" to work with, I came across the photos used in my next two blog posts.  I was thrilled with all of the gorgeous purple colors in this kit and even more thrilled when I came across this lavender themed picture of my cousin when she was a baby and another purple themed picture (that surprise is almost finished and right around the corner!)!!!

 

Above you can see the LO in its entirety!  Isn't that photo just precious???  I loved the soft purple hues in the papers with this kit, but also wanted to highlight some of the yellow colors as well.  That being said I decided to use some modeling paste highlighted it with Tim Holtz Crackle Paint in Antique Linen.  I layered lots of papers that were distressed and inked, used a couple of doilies that I spritzed with some color spray from the Color Add On, and several of the small tags that came with the kit. 

 

Below you can see a close up of the brick work along with some of the flower cluster and a few sweet bows that I added as well.

 



I used some metal pieces from a previous kit inside my flower cluster and added a small gemstone to give it a little extra character.  You can also see a little bit of the misting work on the doily.  As I mentioned, I used some of the small tags that came with the kit, but the colors of the tags didn't seem to quite fit in with my LO, so I covered them in gesso and used Tim Holtz alcohol ink to add subtle touches of color to them!  :)  I also used alcohol ink on the edges of the large flower below before touching the edges of most of the flowers with gesso.

Below you can see some the distress, ink and layer work along with some random splatters of mist and purple paint.  You can also see the alcohol ink work on the small tag to the right.

 

 

Thanks for looking at this sweet LO of my even sweeter cousin when she was a baby.  I can't wait to finish my other "purple" project so I can share it with you as well!!!

 

 

xoxo,

Mel

Love! Love! Love!

So here I go again stealing sweet little kiddos!  This time I swiped a super sweet picture of my friend Lisa's granddaughters.  I thought this photo was just too precious for words!  This project was made using a mixture of SOD/SOE kits that I had lying around my scrap room. 

I started with a layers of small pieces of paper that I eventually gesso'd over to remind me where my focal point and picture would be.  Then I did some random misting and painting all over the paper.  The paper was gorgeous to begin with so I stuck with mainly water colors and sheer mists to keep the integrity of the paper.  I took a Blue Fern Studios chipboard piece and gave it a soft green color followed with some iridescent medium for shimmer and a few touches of gesso.   

Below you can see where I started to layer some flowers and trinkets over the chipboard .  I used a Renea's Bouquet butterfly.  You can see just a hair smidge of a roman clock stamp and some sweet lace that I tucked in as well!  :)

 

 

Below is a close up of more stamping, more misting, more flowers, and some bling (just for fun)!  You can also catch a glimpse of mica flakes near the top of the picture! 

 



I loved the Blue Fern Studios paper pictured below with the pink toned wood grain.  I had some scraps of this paper left so I decided to cut the "planks" of wood out.  I distressed the pieces then "fit" them back together to create the base work for my picture "frame".  A resin butterfly and a chipboard butterfly (popped out from the other green piece) completed the sweetness of this LO!

 

 

One more quick close up of the misting and the pink wood "planks"!  

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for looking!  Till next time!

 

xoxo,

Mel

First Day!!!

After spending almost an entire month away from my scrap room (instead of retreating most weekends as I'm used to), I took the opportunity to dive HEAD FIRST into the Scraps of Darkness June Kit "Sindi's Summer Day".  During our recent two week "Army Summer Camp Adventure With All My Favorite Friends" I was showing this kit off to one of my pilots.  Bear in mind that this kind soul has ABSOLUTELY no interest in Scrapbooking, but just had the misfortune of being in my office when I checked the new stuff out at the online store.  At any rate, it prompted him to send me this sweet photo of his kiddos getting on the bus for the first day of school!  I thought the colors were great.  Although you can't see it too well in this picture, it's even sweeter than it looks since her big bro is already on the bus giving her the "come on for your first day of school"!  :)

I loved the colors in this kit.  I was inspired to add in some Heidi Swapp mists since so many of her vibrant colors looked great with this kit.  I went to town misting my paper and misting some of the wood arrows and hearts in various colors.  Below you can see some of the random misting, a wood veneer, and a sticker from the kit (green camera).  I used some glittery black and white paper trim from my stash to accent the bold colors found on the papers! 

I had planned to leave the sticks exposed on the yellow hearts that came in the Floral Add On, but I got carried away too creative with my flower cluster.  With the exception of the yellow mesh flower near the middle and some of the small rosebuds (from a previous kit) all of the flowers came from the kit and the floral add on!  Check out some more of those wood hearts with the Heidi Swapp spray!!! 

 



Below you can see some of the final touches I gave this LO.  I'd like to point out that the twine (top of the picture) is the pull-cord to a hidden journaling card that tucks in behind the picture.  I wanted to add this in just in case this baby's sweet Momma wants to add some notes from this day.  I also used one of the stencils from the Creativity Add-On to make the butterfly.  I kind of like how the paint bled around the stencil giving it a little bit of a girly feel.  To top off the girly feel I added a wide row of Prills down the center and the buttons on the butterfly antennae.  Spoiler alert!  Before I mailed Rhue her butterflies, I experimented with this type of butterly for her.  However, I went a little more into detail for that one!  ;)

 

 

So there you have it!  Thanks for looking and thanks to "Hank Thunder"s family for sharing precious pictures of your kids with me!!!

 

 

Love,

mel

 

 

Weekend fun!!!

Good morning!!!  Today I'd like to share a layout that I actually did a few weeks ago.  As most of you know, I am in the National Guard as a full time Soldier.  That being said, when this time of year comes around, my Monday through Friday job becomes almost a Monday through Monday job for several weeks!  It's okay though because I love what I do....however, I am a "little" behind with my blog!  So here we go! 

Several months ago I stole borrowed this picture from my buddy Grant's Facebook page.  The little blond haired girl in the middle and the sweet little boy to the far left hand side are his precious kiddos.  The other sweet faced kids are their cousins.  I loved the picture and knew that it would go perfectly with the Scraps of Elegance kit "Renea's Charm" from several months ago.  I actually held on doing the LO for a bit hoping that Grant would eventually get me a higher quality picture, but alas...I got tired of waiting and went ahead with the LO.

I loved all the papers that came with this kit.  I layered several together and used some of the lightweight paper with the script on it to add a little bit of flavor in a few places.  I took a piece of corrugated cardboard to be the "frame" for the picture.  I took the cardboard and coated it in gesso, then layered some Tim Holtz Distress Paint and Distress Stain in Antique Linen and Vintage Photo. 

 

 

 

While I was "waiting" to complete this LO I had been tucking several flowers and trinkets away to use with this LO.  Below you can see a close up of some of the flowers and buttons I used.  

Below is a close up of the corrugated cardboard.  You can see some of the stain and paint on it.  I love using cardboard because the texture can be so amazing.  For this piece I actually took off both sides of the cardboard leaving only the corrugated piece.  It made the corrugated part a little more flimsy and continued with the soft whimsical feeling I was going for in this LO.  

So there you have it!  Just a little fun on a weekend before the Army temporarily took over for a bit!  Thanks for looking!!!

Love,
Mel