If pictures say a thousand words why do yours leave me speechless

*****Swirlydoos June Kit - Antebellum Beauty********
This month's kit is stunning to say the least!  It features GCD Studios Ella Blue Collection and it is gorgeous.

This is a photo of my DD heading down to the beach when we were at The Outer Banks.  Every time I look at this photo I think of hope, dreams, wishes, possibilities and potential.  I'm sure all she is thinking about is where she is going to build her castle, but to me this photo says so very much more.  The tag at the bottom says "If pictures say a thousand words why do yours leave me speechless".  Pretty much sums it up.


I did this lo following the June Sketch Challenge over at Swirlydoos.  It is a sketch by the lovely Beggahuna.  As you all know by now, I really struggle with sketches, BUT, another very talented and wonderful sketch artist, Alda (aka Flying Unicorn) told me once that a sketch should be nothing more than an inspiration.  Thanks Alda, you gave me the permission I needed to not "duplicate" a sketch...so much.  So, this is my inspired version of Beggahuna's sketch.

This lo also features Dusty Attic.  I can't tell you how much I love this stuff!  It is that beautiful clock in the upper left corner.  I inked that with Faded Denim and Walnut Stain Distress ink and then lightly sprayed it with Antique Brass and Graphite Glimmer Mist.  I distressed the center circle and stamped it with a stamp that came in the kit.  The green and brown grass-like flourishes were cut using an svg file I found.  The green is actually cut using white paper and I used distress inks to give them their color.  The brown ones are cut using brown paper.  I then decided to take some pearl bling strings (that's my name for them) and stick them to the grass flourishes.  They needed a little embellishing.  The pin was also in my kit and so was the center blue flower which is a flora doodle flower.  The two end blue flowers I made using some of the blue coordinating paper that came with the kit.  I inked them up with Faded Jeans to give the blue a deeper color and then inked the edges with walnut stain.  The lace is by Prima.  Here are some close up shots.

Thank you so much for looking and as always If you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment and also remember to leave me your email addy.  Thanks again for stopping by!!!

I've been given an award!!!!!

How excited am I?!  I have been given an award from one of the nicest women I have met on this creative journey of mine.  Darien, thank you so much. You have put a permanent smile on my face.

Rules for this award are: Link back to the person who gave you the award.  Darien game me mine.; Post where you would like to be in 10 years; Give this award up to 10 awesome bloggers.

Here are the lovely women I would like to give this award to: Heidi, Tab,  Alyson, Wendy,  Tina,  Linn, Mandy, Amy, Amarilys,  Karen.

Where would I like to be in 10 years???  Hmmmmmm, I'm gonna have to think about that and get back to you.

My Harley Girl

I did this for the Pages In Time Thursday Sketch Challenge.  As I've mentioned before, I don't play well with sketches so these are definitely a challenge for me.  I'm pretty close to the sketch, but I can never seem to be exactly like the sketch.  I saw this one and thought "oh, that is so pretty, I can totally do this one!"  Not!!  But I am close....

This is a pic of my DD on the back of our Harley.  My DH took her for a short little scoot and as my DH says...that nut didn't fall far from the tree LOL!  She hopped right on like she knew what she was doing and just sat back and relaxed.  My DH said she is just like me, just hung out back there and enjoyed the ride.  Never once got scared or nervous.  I'm not sure if that is a good thing LOL!

I went about this a little backwards.  I cut a sloped photo mat out of some gorgeous Graphic45 paper and then another out of some paper by Donna Salazar paper called Trunk in the attic.  My idea was to layer these on the Harley paper, but it wasn't really doing it for me.  Then I decided to take what was left of my Graphic45 paper (hole in it from the mat I cut) and lay it on top of the Harley paper.  Then I placed the Donna Salazar paper in the middle.  Voila! 

The flowers are made by hand and are probably by far my most favorite.  Since these were the very first of this type of flower I made, I'm sure they will look better as I make more.  I had been looking for a new type of rose to make (even though these look like dahlias!) and came across these.  I cut out heart shapes with my cricut and used a brad to group them together, distressed the heck out of them and then inked them up.  They did take more time than other flowers I have made simply because there are so many pieces.  I also modified the instructions a bit to suite my taste and omitted some of the pieces.  I've placed a link to Tina Marie's tutorial in my tutorial list.  It is her tutorial that I followed to make these.  Thank you Tina, you're brilliant!  Here are a few close ups of the flowers.

This is the really big flower.  I followed the instructions to a "T".  The one below it is the exact same flower but without the biggest petals in the back.

The leaves I made using SCAL and my Cricut. You can't forget the manila paper and Distress Inks!

Below is a side view and as you can see they really aren't as puffy as some other flowers that you can make or even buy.


If you would like some more information about this lay out or if you have any questions, please leave me a comment and I will get back to you.  TFL!!

Soulful

This is from my latest Swirlydoos Kit.  I just LOVE the musical theme to all of the papers and the rich dramatic colors to all of the yummy goodies Krissy puts in there.  I've scrapped this photo before but looking back I'm not really happy with the end result so I decided to do it again.

This is a photo of my DD that I took with my Muse lens.  Her hand is mostly in focus while everything else is blurred and moved to the background of the photo.  You should see it in person.  I also have some really gorgeous Dusty Attic pieces in there.  It is the candelabra and the swirly frame at the bottom.  I can't tell you how much I love Dusty Attic.  These pieces come unfinished so you can do whatever your heart desires. 

I took two background papers and combined them.  I cut the red stage curtain from one paper and applied it to another.  I then cut a slit underneath the "top" curtain so that I could place that gorgeous fringe behind it.  I inked the Dusty Attic pieces with Red Brick Distress Ink and then applied Black Soot Distress Embossing powder.  I love this embossing powder because after you have applied heat, some of the powder is designed to fall off so you get a true distressed somewhat gritty appearance.  It is fabulous.

Then I took some black metal from Ten Seconds Studio.  It is coated black on one side and not on the other.  I used some of their slim border molds to emboss the metal and create a picture frame and I also used my 6 petal flower punch and punched out flowers.  As you can see by looking at the flowers I layered two of the flowers leaving the stainless steel looking side for the bottom.  I took my sanding block and distressed the black side and then took mirror ball jewels (this is a musical page after all) and glued them to the center.  I also cut out flowers, leaves and vines using my SCAL software and my Cricut.  The big flower at the bottom is a Flora Doodle flower. I inked and stickled the flowers with Aged Mahogany, Red Brick and Black Soot Distress Inks, and Burgundy Stickles.  I used Moss, Peeling Paint and Black Soot on the leaves.  I also distressed a tag that says Soulful.  Here is a close up of the flowers.

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a look.  Would love for you to leave me a comment!! 

Outer Banks, NC 2008

*************PAGES IN TIME MAY KIT************
The paper, lace, bingo card and book flower (the one with text on it) are all from my May Kit from Pages In Time.  It features the Basic Grey Capella line of papers.  They are really very pretty. Thanks Karen for putting together such a nice kit!!

The picture is from 2008 when we went on a family reunion/vacation to the Outer Banks in NC.  This is one of my favorite photos from this trip.  My DD (in front) and her cousin from Florida couldn't wait to get to the beach and I snapped this while they were running toward the beach.  We went in March and as you can see from the pic the weather was perfect for us and a little chilly for the family from Florida.  When we left it was below zero with wind chill and snowing like mad.  When we got to NC it was in the 60's and 70's and we were loving it!!!

This is one of my first attempts at layering paper.  I mainly used "side B" of the papers to get the contrast to work well with the B&W photo. That really pretty chipboard frame is from Dusty Attic.  These pieces are hard to get so you can imagine my excitement when a few of them came in the mail the other day.  They are really beautiful and paired up with this paper, it is just stunning to look at in person.

I made the paper roses out of card stock using a flower punch.  I have a tutorial link on my blog for Gabi's roses.  You should check it out and try it for yourself.  They are addictive.  3 of the flowers I cut out of gray card stock.  I used distress inks and antique brass Glimmer Mist on them to give them a little bit of color. The other 3 I cut using paper from my Once Upon a Time stack.  The leaves were cut using an SVG file and my Cricut using manila paper and I used distress ink to color them.  Here are some close ups:

I also used a sticker from Tim Holtz of a compass and used Crackle Accents over the top of it.  It looks really cool up close.  Thanks for looking and feel free to leave me a comment if you have a question!!!

It's in his kiss

I remember the day I took these pictures all too well.  The top photo just cracks me up because there is this sweet little girl, dressed in a really cute sun dress, muddy knees and legs and her pink mud boots!  A style all her own.  She was playing in the brook and found a frog.  Our rules are that you can catch anything you want but you must put it back where you found it.  She didn't really want to put him back and was upset that she couldn't keep him.  Hence, the shabby chic pout in the top photo.  I finally got her to stop crying and give me a smile so I could take their pic.


Do you remember the song by Betty Everett from 1964 called The Shoop Shoop Song (it's in is kiss)?  Cher even did a cover it.  Well, I received my GORGEOUS May kit from Swirlydoos and all of the paper had a music theme to it.  I was looking at these two pics of my DD and the frog she caught when that song came into my head...."if you want to know if he loves you so it's in his kiss....that's where it is~ oh ya".  Now I know that you are all singing along at this point and will certainly be cursing me out later when you can't get this out of your head! LOL

Believe it or now but the only items I made by hand are the ferns, and I downloaded the sheet music for the song. The pearls and the lace were in my stash but everything else came in my kit!!  TFL~

When Summer Comes Around....

This is a page I did for the Thursday Sketch Challenge over at Pages In Time.  The sketch showed 5 pictures all together and since I couldn't find 5 that seemed to work all together I decided to work in a theme.  I have to say that I have a whole new appreciation for those people who do multiple photos in one lay-out.  My hat is off to all of you.  Since I added two vintage pictures I wanted to bring into the layout some of the really rich tones that you see on some of the older carnival rides as well as a bit of a vintage feel. I decided to use gold, rich tan, deep blues and a splash of white.  

These photos were taken in two consecutive years (about 3 and 4 years ago) at the New York State Fair.  My DD and her cousin in both of the pics.  I don't know about you but when I see photos of fairs and carnivals my mind starts to float away and in the back of my mind I can hear the kids laughing and the screams coming from the crazy rides, the constant humming of the big motors running the rides, the different food smells and of course the music from the merry-go-round.  That top photo of my DD makes me think back to the first time I took her on a merry-go-round.  She must have been about a year and a half old and when I sat her on that horse she just grabbed that bar and squealed with delight, while the other parents around me where trying to console thier little ones and stop them from crying or being afraid.  But, not my DD.  When the ride started she giggled like only little kids can and she never stopped for the entire ride.  When it stopped she got upset and didn't want to get off and that dear man who was running the ride just smiled and told us we could stay on for as long as we wanted.

Well, as you can see I didn't use 5 photos but instead used 2, and then printed off circa 1860's carnival ephemera and I used an old parking pass from the state fair as my 3 additional elements.  I cut out the gold flowers from DCWV Mariposa paper and used them in opposing corners.  I used Prima lace and since it wasn't the color I needed, I used Graphite Glimmer Mist on it.  I took a regular manila tag and literally beat it up.  I crumpled it up into a ball 2 or 3 different times and then used Walnut Stain Distress Ink and some water to give it that tea-dyed look and then went over the entire tag lightly just so that the ink would pick up on all of the wrinkles.  I used this same process over the parking pass and that small coupon from Tattered Angels that I tucked up in the top.  Here is a close up of the tag.

I tried NOT to make my own flowers for this one but didn't have anything in my stash that I really liked (go figure).  So I grabbed some plain old copy paper, my 6 petal flower punch and away I went.  I did do something different this time though; once I had everything punched out I decided to ink the paper before I assembled the flower.  I didn't want any white to show and knew this would be the only way to accomplish that.  I used Faded Jeans and Black Soot Distress Ink.  I have posted a link to a tutorial by Gabi that shows how to make these pretty little roses.  It doesn't show how to ink them, just how to assemble them.  I also used my cricut to cut the leaves and when they were finished I added some Rock Candy Stickles to them.

So, over all I am pretty happy with the end result.  It definitely was a challenge for me.  I guess that's why they call them challenges LOL.  If you have any questions please feel free to post a comment and I'll get back to you.  TFL~

Imagination has no age and Dreams are forever.....

This is another pic of my DD using my Lensbaby Muse Lens.  I decided to blur everything but one eye and part of her wing.  Of course the look of "Mom, I'm seriously done taking pictures" helps bring an overall attitude to the photo.  I decided to take a Pixie twist with this because, well, some Pixies are full of attitude. The quote at the bottom is from Tink her self and it says "Imagination has no age and Dreams are forever".  Yes indeed!

I handmade everything on this page except the Grunge Board Heart, the black Flora Doodles center flower and of course the feathers.  First, there is a white pearl flourish that appears to be coming from the Pixie's hand.  I made that using perfect pearls and a photocopy (under a transparency) of another bling flourish.  The Pixie was cut using the Disney Tinkerbell & Friends Cricut cartridge.  The corner elements were cut using SCAL software and my Cricut.  I misted them with Granite Glimmer Mist.

The flowers I made using the same technique that I gave a brief tutorial on in another post.  They are a poppy flower svg file that I cut on white card stock and then inked using a combination of distress inks (purple, worn lipstick, black).  I then put a small black jewel in the middle and used black stickles to make small dots going around the center of the flower.  I also used purple Perfect Pearls and my mini mister and sprayed a light layer of purple glimmer over the flowers.

The leaves, stems and ferns were once again cut using SCAL and my cricut.  I cut these out on manilla paper and inked them as well.  Then I curled and bent the leaves to give them a more natural look.  If you are wondering why I use manila carstock one time and white another, here's the reason:  it depends on how clear, or crisp I want the end result to be.  If you start with a white background your inks will show more of their true color than if you start with another color.  Make sense?  Sometimes what I think in my head doesn't come out so well when typed LOL!

The purple paper behind the photo was made with white card stock, purple tissue paper and matte medium.  Here's how I did that:

 All you need is matte medium, white card stock, some tissue paper, a scraper thing (for the life of me I just can't think of the name of it LOL) and a plastic knife.

First thing you do is scoop out some matte medium, not a lot, onto the paper.  With your knife, or a spoon, spread the medium around on the page.  You don't need to do a great job because we will go back with our scraper.

Next, take your scraper and begin to evenly spread the medium around your paper.  You don't need a thick layer.  Just enough to coat the page with a thin layer.  Take the excess you have removed and put it back in the jar.  Next, take your tissue paper and you can either trim it down to about the size of your paper or you can rip it into big pieces.  Gently begin to place your tissue paper on top of the medium.  The tissue paper will rip very easily as it starts to get damp from the medium so keep this in mind and move slow unless you want it ripped.  I start at the edge or corner of the paper and work in small sections.  You can wrinkle your paper, fold it, over-lap or lay it completely flat.  The choice is yours.  If you wrinkle it, it will stay like that.  If you find some places where the paper isn't sticking you can go over the top of the tissue paper with the matte medium.  Just enough to make it stick and remember that it will tear easily.

As you can see by the photo, I just placed it on there all wrinkled.  Now you just let it dry.  When it does you may find that there are variations in the color and that adds to the charm of this project.  You can now cut it, distress it, stamp your own design on it, ink it up (duh) or what ever your little heart desires.  Try using different colors of card stock and tissue paper to get a fun effect.  You can even layer different colors of tissue paper on top of each other.....there are no limits.  Hope you have fun with this!!

If you have any questions for me please feel free to post a comment!  Thanks so much for looking!!