CREATE - The Crafter's Workshop

Hi there everyone!  Today I'm sharing another fun & different way to use your stencils that I posted for The Crafter's Workshop earlier this month.

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. The opinions I share are solely my own.

I basically used this 12×12 stencil as a stamp for creating a large background I then heat embossed with white embossing powder.

I used a piece of 140lb. watercolor paper and saturated the entire stencil “Tiled Flower”  using this jumbo embossing ink pad.

I put a piece of chipboard over the stencil and used a brayer to make sure I transferred as much of the embossing ink to the watercolor paper.

After adding white embossing powder to the entire piece of paper, I melted it with my heat gun and watched the pattern emerge!  It is like watching magic for me!

Then I began the slow, but fun process of watercoloring the flowers and leaves in the pattern!

After it was all painted and dried, I added some gold stickles over the flower centers.

I laminated the painted product in order to make it more sturdy and finished looking.  I adhered the laminated piece to a 9×11 piece of chipboard.

I decided it needed one more detail, adding some gold embossing paste onto a sticker in the bottom right corner.

Finally, I used a binding machine to bind my chipboard covers and the heavy white cardstock I cut to make a custom journal!  This is the final finished book here!  I am so excited by the way it turned out and love finding new ways to use my stencils.

You can follow the link below to the stencils I used:

STENCILS Used:

TCW537 – 12×12 Doodling Template – Tiled Flowers

TCW527s – 6×6 Doodling Template – Mini Word Association

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful weekend!

SERIOUSLY - Heart Stitched Paper Challenge

Hi there everyone!

I have had a busy month and trying to get caught up in my personal blog posts has proved more difficult lately!  With this girl in the 6th grade and last year at her school, things are gearing up to be one crazy, busy Spring!

This is the layout I created for the Scrapbook Circle Stitched Heart Challenge. The assignment was to use this heart stitched paper as inspiration and I chose something a little different.

In using this black and white photo, I gave myself room to really play with pattern and color using the February 'Only You' main kit and 'Date Night' Add-On. I decided to use the stitched heart paper as a sort of frame for my photo and add random stitching underneath.

Using dimensional adhesive under my photo let me tuck lots of cards, embellishments and stickers around and under my photo cluster. I even used the gold dot glassine bag that held the tiny pink metallic hearts in the kit as an embellishment itself.

Using several colors of reds and pinks I stitched a random criss-cross pattern in a square pattern onto the black and white striped paper.  After trimming out the square inside the stitched heart paper, I laid it over the stitching and used my sewing machine to add stability and a border.

It's a bit chaotic and I would still like to do a layout with traditional stitched hearts, but it was fun to try something completely different!  Hope you all have a seriously awesome hump day!

A FEW FAVORITE THINGS - Scrapbook Circle February Sketch

Happy Valentine's everyone!
I stretched the Scrapbook Circle February sketch quite a bit using the 'Only You' main kit and the 'Date Night' Add-on.  The February kit honestly has SO many embellishments I just decided that excess was in going to be required for my projects this month!  Here is the sketch below:

Like I said, I really pushed the sketch to its limit, choosing to use 3 photos and changing the rest up a bit!  Instead of any kind of media behind the photos, I arranged them into a horizontal banner along with some of the exclusive tags, other stickers and chipboard pieces.

I made an additional "banner" at the top instead of a top border and moved the title above the photos.  I adore these gold dipped Thickers from American Crafts and needed more room for the title!  Some of the letters that are symmetrical, such as H, N, I  O, I turned upside down just to add some interest.

Using the stripes in the patterned background paper, I added a bit of journaling along the bottom stripe.

I thought this page would be fun to share on Valentine's since these photos represent some of my favorite treats!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today and have an amazing Sunday!

you + me 2015 - Scrapbook Circle DT Choice

Today I am sharing this layout I created using the Scrapbook Circle

February ‘Only You’ main kit and the ‘Date Night’ Add-on.

I love this patterned paper from Crate Paper, but couldn’t work out how to use a rectangular photo with all the angles in the paper.  I finally decided to cut out some of the triangles in the pattern and place my photo behind them, using the angles to frame it.  I also cut out a few other ones and backed them with black cardstock, providing lots of contrast and separating our faces from the similar colors in the paper.

Then I used those black spaces to fill with embellishments…and I mean fill!  One triangle with word stickers or puffy stickers, one I created an acetate pocket filled with heart confetti and another with the gorgeous gold conversation hearts.

The largest black space under the photo I added the exclusive acrylic words ‘you + me’ for my title and year using the puffy number stickers from Heidi Swapp.

I love the way it turned out!  A little over the top and heavy with embellishments, but a nice challenge to push me out of my comfort zone a bit!

Thanks for stopping by the Blog today.  Have an amazing week!

me + you + together - Scrapbook Circle January Take 2

Finally the weekend is here!  I am sharing my Scrapbook Circle Take 2 project using a layout of mine that is from October 2014!  I used both the January main kit,“Fresh Start” and “Shine Bright” Add-On.  After opening my January kit, I remembered using a similar polka dot bag that was included and I recreate the layout.

This yellow ombre paper was inspiring too. I didn’t want to cover up too much but cut it up into random rectangles to give it some texture and more interest.

I printed out my photo in black and white to contrast all the color. I used the same over all design, one photo with lots of layers under it and embellishments around it.

The Fancy Pants pack of flair die cuts in the Add-On has this awesome light bulb that fit perfectly with the curve of my son’s hand in the photo.

A couple other tags and die cuts for my title and the projects was complete!

I love challenges like this that make me go back and look through previous projects.  Some of your best inspiration can come from yourself!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have an amazing weekend!