Just the two of us!

Hey, y'all!!!  I've taken some time away from the blog for awhile (sorry!) but I'm back and I'd like to share a few projects that I've created over the past few weeks!  I've spread these out so that I have some blogging material for the next little bit while I continue to get my life back into order after a crazy hectic couple of months!  Here is a layout with a picture of me and my super duper awesome husband!  This photo was actually taken back in March at my cousin's wedding, and has been sitting on my desk for quite some time now!  I loved the feel of this kit when I opened it so I thought I'd give the picture a new home!

 

 

I started working on the chipboard piece first...and actually spent a good day on it (lots of layers of ink, paint, and what nots).  Here is a picture of the first two layers of color on it...gesso and some gelatos that I blended and blended...and then blended (just for good measure).

 

Here is another close up of the chipboard after I finished and put it on the page.  After using gelatos I used some Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays and some Lindy's magicals before applying some shimmery embossing powders and some chunky pink glitter!  :)

Most of this project was done with the August Scraps of Elegance kit (yes, I am behind on using my kits...and if we're really going to be honest here I actually have 3 unopened kits at the house.  *sigh*)
I loved the birdhouse and flowers that came with this kit.  Behind the chipboard I layered some cheesecloth.  Some of it was left white while I dyed some of the other pieces in a Tim Holtz Reinker/water mix to get a light fluffy color and some added layers.

Below you can a close up of some more flowers, more cheesecloth and a super cool mini frame.  The square frame actually came in the very first Scraps of Darkness kit that I purchased (over a year ago) that I have been hoarding saving for a rainy day.  I used some of the patina that came in a kit to give it super cool color and sprayed a little water on the patina before it dried to create the muddled look in the top lefthand corner.  The purple flowers were originally white, but I used the same technique of mixing Tim Holtz reinkers with water to give them a gorgeous purple-ly hue!

Below is the last close up of this project, more flowers, more layers, more cheesecloth, an artist tile, etc.  You can also see some of the random splattering, a little bit of stamping and texture work, and some of mica flakes that came in the kit.

 

There you have it!  I'm eager to get back in my scraproom and keep this blog up to date!  Thanks for looking!!!

 

xoxo,

Mel

Life's Little Moments!

So, I recently blogged about how awesome my cousin's kiddos are...(not to mention two of the cutest boys around)!!!  Today I'm here to share one more LO I did with some pictures I found of these two cutie pies on FB.  The background paper for this LO was super bright with lots of pinks and pinkish reds.  I didn't feel like it fit the boyish feel I was going for (even though I wanted to use plenty of brights from a leftover Scraps of Darkness kit) so I muted the colors down with some watered down gesso (almost makes a whitewash type medium). 

 
I then picked through my scraps from and found some bright, fun, but still little boyish-ish scraps and colors.  The arrows were basically already "formed" into arrows on the papers, so I just cut them out.  The buttons were a leftover from the same SOD kit that many of the brighter papers came from.  (Sorry, I can't remember which one...I refuse to store them after I use them up...so they eventually get all bundled together, sometimes with notes about what month they came from.  *sigh*)
I used some Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist on the papers (turquoise) and made some splatters with other Color Shine Mists (pinks and reds) and Tim Holtz Distress Stain Sprays (Antique Linen, Wild Honey, and Peacock Feathers).

Since I was using pieces of kits and didn't have many, if any, of the flowers left...most of the flowers came from my stash.  Below you can see a close up of the cluster.  I loved the bright feel the yellow colors gave this LO!

 

Most of my layers that weren't cut into specific shapes were distressed and inked.  I love this little wood arrows.  Normally I prefer to color them, but I thought the bare wood made this project just a little more "manly" for these two boys!

 

 

That's it for this LO!  Thanks for taking a look!!!

 

love,

Mel

Sweet Baby...Sweet Layout...

So here we are once again with this sweet little "stolen" baby of some friends of mine!!!!  Isn't she precious?!  This time the picture was given to me...so I suppose "stealing babies" is a bit of a stretch for this on!  This is a past Scraps of Elegance kit and some other "what nots" I had hanging around my scrap room.  I have been exceptionally busy and stressed in the past couple of months, so my kits have been stacking up and I haven't really had the chance to use my creative outlet for stress relief.  Luckily I took some time off this past week and I'm mostly caught up.  Sadly, most of the layouts I completed were already in progress, but finishing them up gave me some closure.  Here is the part 2 of the "Stealing Baby" project!

 

I love soft feel of the Blue Fern Studios papers.  They always seem to put me at ease and make me feel a little relaxed.  I had mostly completed this layout, but had been tossing flowers to the side to use on it when I had a chance to finish for weeks.  Below you can see one of the flower clusters!  The monogram charm is from Prima and I used some dainty ribbon to tie a bow on top of it! 

Below you can see some of the paper layering.  I did some punching and distressing to the papers and used some ink to give the LO a special aged look!  You can see some more of the flowers here as well...

These tags came with the kit.  I used some of the same dainty ribbon to tie them up as well.  I originally planned to write or stencil some design or sentiment on the tags, but they were a little small and I loved the way they looked "as is"!

Below is one more view of some of my flower clusters, punching, stamping, and layering!  I used a little bit of gesso on some of the flowers (the tan one came speckled and I liked the look of it!)

I hope you enjoyed checking this out!!!  Have a great week!

xoxo,
Mel

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