Mixing Webster's Pages Collections

I love changing up the look of a collection by mixing in another collection.  I got this sweet photo of my great niece from my nephew a couple of weeks ago and knew right away that the pretty pinks in the Parkdrive collection would work perfectly for the photo....but then I had this framed paper in my stash from the 'Ladies & Gents' collection and I really liked how it paired up with the Parkdrive papers and floral elements.  Here are some close-up shots of the embellishments for this page.... 

I made the pink roses on this page using the FLOWER TUTORIAL I shared with you all a little while back (just click on the word 'flower tutorial' to take you to it).  The nest/eggs are from Recollections from Michaels.  The fabric bloom is the new Princess Petals from Websters Pages.  The shaggy looking trim is some stuff I bought a roll of at Michaels (in the knitting area). 

I fussy cut a lot of the blooms brom one of the Parkdrive collection papers but before I attached them with pop-dots, I did a little bit of stamping on the paper behind them with the Webster's Pages/Unity Stamp Diamond Tag stamp (I use that one a lot!)

(You can find this stamp at the Websters Pages website www.websterspages.com ) 

And here is one more close up of some of the fussy cut blooms from the Parkdrive collection that I attached inside the frame from Ladies & Gents.

 

So, tell me, do you like to mix & match?  Or do you like to stick to just one collection? 

Making Good Use of Your Stash!

 

 

I recently got these cute photos from my nephew Jared of his adorable little youngest daughter at the beach.  The cute little red/white outfit she's wearing here reminded me of one of my favorite movie's 'The Notebook'.   There is a scene where Rachel McAdams is splashing in the surf in this cute red number yelling 'Say I'm a Bird! Say I'm a Bird!'   ....So I wanted to do a very clean and simple style page just using mainly white and touched of red.

 

While I really LOVE getting in the newest products and getting to design with them, I'm also all about using up older stash as well.  Here I used some of my older Webster's Pages collections.  The red houndstooth design paper is from the 'Game On' collection, the clear transparency frame is from the WP Yacht Club collection, the heart sticker from Wonderfall, the pretty red trim however is from the new Royal Christmas collection and the cat cameo from Once Upon a Halloween.

 

Here is a close-up shot of the cameo and heart sticker....

All the newest Websters Pages collections are now available in stores and at the Webster's Pages Website.  Speaking of which, Cherry On Top online store now has a bunch of the newest Websters Pages collections in stock and are holding a fun CHAT WITH THE WEBSTERS PAGES DESIGN TEAM tonight (September 19th)!!  I'll be there as will most of the design team!  So if you are looking for more inspiration or have any questions for us, come join in the fun!!  The link to the chat is HERE and the time is 9:00 PM tonight EST.  Hope to see you there!  

Dusty Attic ATC Challenge ~ September is Steam Punk!!

So this month the theme for the Dusty Attic ATC challenge is 'Steam Punk'!  I had so much fun with this challenge...I love the rich colors and cool designs in steampunk projects!  For those of you who are not familiar with ATC's, it stands for 'Artist Trading Cards'.  They are basically little 3.5 x 2.5 inch cards that are little representations of an artists style.  Each month Dusty Attic has a challenge going with a theme, at the end of the month a winner is picked and is sent a nice little Dusty Attic prize.

 

For my ATC I use some Bo Bunny Double double dot paper in the color 'Ocean' (I used the plain side of the cardstock rather than the dot side).  I also used the new Bo Bunny dragonfly stamp from the Serenade collection on a piece of the cardstock, cut it out and then tried this technique I saw on Youtube, a burnt glue technique that makes your piece look like forged metal.  All you do is put a coat of white glue (I used Aleene's) on the design and scorch it over an open flame (candle).  It will look black and sooty, then you just give it a rub with a paper towel and it becomes burnished like metal.  Here is the YouTube video I watched on this Forged Metal look using Glue.

 

I have to say mine did not turn out as well, and I slightly singed one of the wings but it made the wings nice and strong and by adding a little copper 3D paint (Scribbles T-shirt paint), I think I ended up with a nice piece to use on my steampunk ATC.

 

The chipboard I used on this is the Mini Cogs for ATC's, and I cut the corners off of the smaller frame from the Baroque Frame Set -Square for the outside of the design.

 

If you want to play along this month and have a little steampunk fun and have a chance at a nice little Dusty Attic prize, come join the fun HERE! Thanks for stopping by and hope you all have a fun weekend! xo 

Scrapbooking Your Pets with NEW Bo Bunny!!

There is something I really love about the color combination of soft grey and butter yellow!  The new Bo Bunny Serenade collection has some gorgeous yellows in it.  I used some of their Double dot paper in the color 'Shadow' to compliment the pretty yellows. 

 

Today we are scrapping about our pets over at the Bo Bunny Blog, so I just had to scrap about our pup Zoe!  As many of you know we lost our dear old pup Mocha to old age a couple of years ago and it took me almost a year before I was ready to take on another little pup.  So just a little over a year ago we went to a Labradoodle breeder to choose a pup for ourselves.  I told my DH and kiddies that this time around the puppy had to be a 'non-shedder'.  We were told that Labradoodles are great for little or no shedding.....well, let me tell ya, they were wrong!!  Our pup sheds a whole little puppyful of fur every day!  You should see the pile of hair I sweep up everyday! Yipes!

 

We were told when we arrived that they had only one more puppy available for purchase from this litter.  We walked in and immediately my eyes were drawn to this adorable little pup sporting this cute little mowhawk hairdo! lol!  I remember thinking, it's too bad we get last pick because this little one is adorable!  The breeder then said, yep! that's the one for you if you choose to keep her!  All I could think was how badly behaved is this one if it is the last one left?  You'd think a little cutie like this one would get picked first!  Well, over the past year we've learned the answer to that question!  Countless ruined shoes, chewed up socks, hats, mitts and even yuk! underwear later, we learned why this little gal was the last one left!  Definitely a mischievious little one!  But she is getting better now that she is a year old and we love her funny quirky personality to pieces!  Here are some close up shots of this page....

I used a bunch of the new Bo Bunny Blooms and crochetted lace for this page as well as some Dusty Attic chipboard pieces (Birdhouses, Fancy Labels, and an Ornate Corner #1 Scroll) 

To see more pet layouts done by our Bo Bunny design team, check out the Bo Bunny blog for today! Thanks for stopping by today! xo 

How to Make Your own Eggshell Mosaic Embellishments!!

 

I have lot's of fun things to share with you all today! I have a fun little tutorial to share with you all on how to make really cute Eggshell Mosaic Embellishments using an old time technique (You will find the tutorail below).   And more great news, it's shipping week this week over at Webster's Pages for their gorgeous new collection 'Royal Christmas'!  I just love the rich jewel colors in this collection, it made me think of this photo of my youngest daughter Meagan.  She has such dark, dark hair an pale skin, we say she is like our little Snow White.  This whole layout is made up of the new collection papers and embellishments (with a little sprinkling of Dusty Attic Chipboard as well! :)  ....I also used a Diamond Tag Stamp from Websters Pages behind the photo...here (below) is a look at the background paper with the stampwork before I added the photo and embellishments, (I think this helps show steps in how the page is created) ...I just marked lightly in pencil the frame & photo placements and then started stamping....

....and here are some close-ups of this page and it's embellishments... 

How cute are those new gathered and layered Princess Petals from Websters Pages!  I tinted the white one here in the center using a little bit of red/pink Perfect Pearls Mica dust.  And check out the gorgeous trims that coordinate with the Websters Pages Royal Christmas Collection!  I just love the peacock colors of the crochetted lace and the gathered netting and gold chain! 

I'm just loving the peacock images in this paper collection.  Here I cut out the peacock and added a beautiful Dusty Attic Scroll Border #1 to extend the tail!  I just painted the chipboard with some turquoise paint, topped it with some Waterfall Stickles and then added a coat of Glossy Accents to finish the chipboard. 

I also cut out the frame in one of the patterned papers and used foam dots to make it stand out from the page more.  I also outlined with a bit of Platinum Stickles and added some adhesive pearls and gems to give a really ornate look to the frame. 

 

And finally, I added some handmade mosaic pieces to this layout using an old-timey technique using real eggshells!!  Below I've outlined a step by step on how I made these :)

 

TUTORIAL:  Making Eggshell Mosaics

 

Prepare by making taking your eggshells and soaking in warm water and a dash of antibacterial soap. (I've been told to soak it overnight, but I found soaking it for an hour worked well for me) ...I had loads of eggs because I made a big batch of Eggs Benedict for my family one evening and saved all the shells! :)

Now you'll want to make sure you pull out all the inner membrane in the shells.  This is a necessary step, otherwise your shell pieces won't stick to your chipboard, the glue will only adhere to the membrane and the shell could fall off.  So be sure to remove all of it.  For me, most of it came off in big sections (I find if you use really fresh eggs the membrane comes off easily).   

Step 1:  I've said it before....I save everything!  Here I used the pop out squares from a window chipboard design frome Dusty Attic.  Normally these would be discarded but I thought I'd use them as the base for my mosaic.  You can also hand cut out shapes from scrap pieces of chipboard to use as your base (I cut out some hearts for another upcoming project) ...now to the point..paint your chipboard pieces with a little bit of Gesso, white acrylic paint will work just as well.

Step 2:  For a small mosaic piece such as above, I just cover the whole piece thoroughly with some glue...I used Aleene's Tacky Glue.  But if you are working with bigger pieces of chipboard, work in smaller sections. 

Step 3: The quickest and easiest way to do this is to take a larger piece of eggshell, place it on the glue (curved side up) and push down with your finger to crack.  Allow some of the cracks to be a little larger so that when you color your piece the ink will show more in the cracks. 

Step 4:  Use small bits of eggshell to fill in area's that did not get covered by the first piece of eggshell.  Don't worry about bits of the egshell hanging over the edges.  Allow the glue to dry completely and then carefully crack off the excess eggshell bits. 

Step 5:  Once you've cracked off the excess bits of eggshell from the edges, just take some sandpaper or a sanding block and gently sand the edges if needed. 

Now the fun part!  Pull out your alcohol inks, Perfect Pearls (mica dust) or Glimmer Mist.  The key is to use translucent colors for staining your pieces, the effect is nicest with clear colors as opposed to opaque paints.   ...Too much color? no probem, just dab with a paper towel to remove excess, if it's already dried, use a little bit of Tim Holtz Alcohol Blending Solution to remove or lighten the colors.  Here I used a combination of Tim Holtz 'Pool' and 'Meadow' alcohol inks. (sorry about the poor photo for this one, I was taking the photo with my left hand while trying to squirt on the alcohol ink for the pic :)

I added a wee bit of glimmer to my mosaics with some Inca Gold Pearlex (Mica dust)....or you could use some spritzes of Glimmer mist instead.  I finished it off by giving the whole thing a nice thick coat of Glossy Accents to give the pieces a nice shine.  Let your piece dry, and then it's ready for use!  I added one of the new Websters Pages Charms to accent the center mosaic piece.

 

I have one more little project to share with you all usng the new WP Royal Christmas collection, and that is a card...I love to use the scraps from the projects I've been working on and make up a quick little card.  Here I made a gift card using the patterned papers, Websters Trims and Charms!

I cut out a feather shape from the music notes design in one of the papers and cut fine little fringes to make these faux feather embellishments.   I also embellished with a bin of the Websters Pages Trim and a couple of the lovely WP Charms.  Here is a close-up pic..... 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and hope you give it a try.  My girls had a friend over and we made up a whole bunch of mosaic pieces, they had so much fun creating their little treasures!  Enjoy!