A Fun Color Challenge with a Yummy Prize!!

We want to see your favourite colour combinations! Here is an easy-peasy challenge for you all to play in! Post a layout or card with your favourite colour combination between now and May 10th at this thread 'Color Challenge' at My Creative Scrapbook and Pam will choose a winner for the above goodies! What's your favourite color combination? I'd have to say one of my all time favourites is green & purple! Especially Pistachio Green with a soft Lavender! Can't wait to hear what some of your favourite combinations are and see your work using them! Come join us for some fun!

~Gabrielle xxx

More Guest Design Team work for FireCracker Designs!!

Some of you may remember the l/o I posted a few weeks back of Meagan called 'Prima Ballerina'. I made this l/o using the pretty Daffodil stamps from FireCracker Designs by Pamela. Above is a little keepsake box I made using some Fimo baking clay, the rubber the same Daffodil rubber stamps set and some Pearlex (mica shimmer dust). I just pushed the stamp design into some black Fimo clay, cut out the circle design and rubbed different colours of Pearlex on the design. Here is a picture looking straight onto the lid of the keepsake box....


I also made up a couple of cards and a gift tag with the same stamp designs.....

It was such a pleasure working with Pamela's beautiful stamp designs this past month! If you want to check out her awesome collection of rubber stamps you can find them HERE and you'll find loads of inspiring work in the galleries there by the FireCracker Designs members!

Thanks for taking a peek!

~Gabrielle xxx

Don't be Afraid to Get Dirty....

I'm not new to using paints, sprays and other mediums on my scrapbook pages but I haven't used them a lot. Ever since I started working with the Dusty Attic laser cut designs I'm finding myself playing with paints, gloss, glitter glues and all sorts of mixed mediums a whole lot more. For the above l/o I worked with 2 wonderful laser-cuts, the first being the fairy design (in the top left corner). For this one I simply painted the whole thing white. Once it was dry I used a pencil and lightly sketched in the design I wanted (hair, fairy costume etc) Then I used my set of water color pencils and did a bit of coloring. After that I added a bit of brown chalk on the edges to get more definition (easy does it with this)....and finally I finished it with a variety of Stickles glitter glues (Platinum, WaterFall, Lavender, Pink, Diamond are a few of the Stickles colours I used). Here is a close up pic of the fairy......


The other piece I used was one of the flourish designs (right side of the photo). I went for a metalic look again on this one. I painted the whole thing first with some soft green paint and mixed in a little turquoise too. Now, here is the important part....Don't be afraid to get dirty!....I didn't use a paint brush. I simply dabbed my finger in the paint and splotched it on! Let the paint get a little lumpy and uneven in spots, it'll give a more natural look and a great texture, especially when you add the next step. Once the paint is dry take some bronze 3D metalic paint...again just using your finger splotch it on here and there, rubbing it in on some places and leaving it lumpy in others. Here is a close-up pic of the finished piece on my l/o....

Here is an extreme close-up of the flourish design so you can see what I mean about getting the paint on in a blotchy way and the effect it gives....


And finally, although I had a wonderful batch of Prima blooms to use on this l/o (thank-you Pam!) I thought it would be fun to try and make my own fabric center piece bloom for this l/o. I took a 12" strip of a shimmery burgundy silk fabric and gathered one of the long edges, then brought the 2 ends together. I did the same for the sheer grey/glitter fabric layer on top. In the middle I added on of those cute Prima 'centers' and viola! your own homemade fabric bloom. Here is a close-up picture.....

Okay, gotta run!....I just got my May MCS design team kits in the mail and OHMYGOSH! they are gorgeous!! I can wait to crack them open and play! Don't miss reveal day (May 5th) to see the beautiful goodies in next months kits! The LE kit might be my all time fav! ...shhhh!

~Gabrielle xxx

More fun with Dusty Attic...

As soon as I saw these wonderful Iron-gate and fence laser cut pieces from Dusty Attic, I knew I had found the embellishments I had been waiting for to scrap this photo of my younger brother's house. This isn't his first house but it is the first house he built for his family. He and his family recently bought another beautiful home so I wanted to do a l/o with this house as a keepsake for him. I created a curvy cut from a piece of patterned paper to appear as if the drive-way circles down to the entrance of the gate and then covered the gate with loads of tiny blooms.

Paint TIP: I wanted the gate to have a painted 'verdigris' look to it so I first painted the whole thing black, then I lightly brushed the area's of it here and there with a soft green colour (the way bronze goes when it oxidizes) then I dabbed on some bronze colour 3 dimensional paint again, randomly all over the gate to get the weathered appearance on the laser cut. Here are some close-up pic's to see the detailing.....

This painting technique works very well on the key hole/keys or any other metal look die cuts too! I know many of you have been asking me where to find these die cuts and Jennifer is putting together a Store Locator list that will be available at the Dusty Attic site soon. In the meantime I believe that Swirlydoo's Store area does carry a few of the scroll pieces from Dusty Attic.

Thanks!!

~Gabrielle xxx

Loving that Dusty Attic!

I had some time last night to work on another l/o for the Dusty Attic design team. I think the hardest part is deciding which beautiful piece to work with next! For this l/o I did of my nephew I wanted to stay away from flowers and such and go with more 'natural' elements. So I used some feathers (K&Company) along with some feather trim I bought off the roll at a local discount store. For the chipboard elements from Dusty Attic I used the clock (check out the intricate detailing on this clock! I don't know how they cut it so finely!) ....and I used the flourish with the circle. Here are some close-up pic's....

I know I've gotten a number of questions with regard to a retailer list for stores that carry Dusty Attic products. The owner is presently working on a list and will post one soon. I'll be sure to let you all know when that list is up and ready!

Thanks for having a peek!

~Gabrielle xxx

I'm a Guest Designer for FireCracker Designs this Month!!

I was recently asked if I would do a guest spot for a wonderful stamp company called Firecracker Designs by Pamela. It made me think about how much I used to love using stamps in my scrapwork and how I hadn't used stamps too often in my work lately. I have to admit I really enjoyed incorporating stamps into my work again for this months projects! I chose the Golden Daffodils stamp set to work with for my projects along with a butterfly/dragonfly stamp set. The above l/o is the first project I made up for the guest spot. I simply stamped the images on some white cardstock and then coloured them in with water colour pencils. Then I lightly brushed the colour pencil area with a Q-tip dipped in water. Below are some close-up pic's of the my first project using this fun stamp set......


You can find Pamela's blog piece here ~~~> Pamela's Gallery and the FireCracker Designs website HERE ....check out the left side of the web page for the wonderful array of stamps available! The papers I used to make up this l/o are by BoBunny (Snowy Serenade) and K&Company, the crystal flourishes are by Zva Creative. I'll be posting some of my other projects done with this same stamp set throughout the month.

Thanks for having a peek!

~Gabrielle xxx

Coming up in Stitches!! April Kits! From My Creative Scrapbook!

This months kits from My Creative Scrapbook are just so beautiful! The above layout is one I made with the Main kit which features the gorgeous new papers from Webster's Pages (2 of each paper) recently released at the Winter CHA. And as always the kit is packed with beautifully coordinating embellishments. The above photos are more of the cute photo's that my nephew and his wife had professionally done of their newborn baby girl Kiera. The photos were taken by Stephanie Robins Photography & Design, she does the most amazing pregnancy and newborn photos!

Here are some close-ups of the above layout (I did a small tutorial on how to make the scallop edge/ribbon design in an earlier post, you can find it if you scroll through a couple past posts)....


A second layout I made using this kit is of my oldest daughter Chloe, she turned 12 last month, when I looked at this photo I took of her I couldn't help but reflect on how fast the time has gone by, just another year and she'll be a teenager. I wish I could just slow down time! Here's the l/o with a couple of close-ups....




I had posted an early post of one of my DT pages for the Main kit a couple weeks ago but I'll post it again so you can see the pretty die cut paper included in this kit!

and finally I made up a 4rth page using this pretty kit. I went for a collage style design. I did a whole lot of machine and hand stitching to make up this layout.

TIP: I wanted to get the look of metalic thread stitching on some of the areas but I found it hard to find metalic thread on a spool for my sewing machine. But I think I was able to 'kind of' get the look of metalic thread by simply machine stitching with a regular cotton thread and then lightly going over it with some Stickles (glitter glue).....I recently picked up this colour called Platinum by Stickles, I really like the soft gold/silver effect it gives. Here are some close-ups (the pink papers had the metalic looking stitchwork)...




Moving on to the next kit....wait until you see the goodies in the LE (Limited Edtion) kit for April from My Creative Scrapbook! The rich gorgeous papers and the embellishments!! Awesome fabric blooms and loads of jewel-toned blooms included in this kit, ...glitter borders and pleated twill ribbon and I just totally LOVED the chipboard alpha's in the houndstooth design by Pink Paislee!! Here is a l/o I made using the beautiful goodies in this kit! There is a cute die-cut paper in this kit ( simply did a little machine stitching on the edges)....and I'm just crazy for those Prima 'Calcutta' blooms, I think they give a bit of a vintage feel to a page.....

The smaller white blooms com in a pack of 6 and I just tinted 3 of them with a little bit of watercolour paint in their centers to make them work for this l/o......


A second l/o I made with this kit I was going for a very light feminine look to go with the soft pretty lighting in this photo of my youngest daughter Meagan. So I chose the white/blue polka-dot paper and just added some punches of colour with the rich magenta colour blooms. Love that clock transparency included in the kit (be sure to see all the DT l/o's at the MCS DT gallery there are so many beautiful designs!).....

I hand-cut the flourish designs in the patterned papers to add a little extra design elements to the l/o and some really cute leaves included in the kit (the word 'kissed' was cut from black carstock with my Quickutz Revolution, the font I used is called Washington), here are some close-ups....



And finally a 3rd l/o I made with the April LE kit, I'd been meaning to scrap this photo for years! It was a pic of Chloe at a party at her cousin's house where she was making a keepsake box. She's wearing a bathing suit with a blue/white houndstooth design on it, exactly like the papers in this kit! So I finally got the perfect papers to scrap this one!....

Again, I did some hand-cutting of the red/flourish paper for a design element on this page... Love those Prima burlap flowers!...here are some close-ups...



I made 3 layouts for the LE kit but had I had extra time this month I could've made so much more...I've still got so much beautiful product left from this kit! I for sure will be pulling out the leftovers to do some more with them!

This months Album kit was a source of so much fun and creativity for the design team this month! Included in this kit was a generous swatch of a pink/white gingham fabric and we all enjoyed seeing what new and interesting things we could make with it! I got another photo of my nephew's oldest little girl (now just over a year old) and I loved the almost vintage look of the photo again done by Stephanie Robins Photography & Design. I thought the papers and embellishments needed to have a homespun look to it. So I made these gingham blooms from strips of the fabric and also cut out a heart design and stitched it to a piece of cardstock with a bit of tufting between the layers. See the post below this one for instructions on how to make the Twisted Fabric blooms .........

Here are some close-up photos of the blooms and other design elements I included on this page (I again did a whole lotta machine stitching to give the page an 'old-time' look to it)....



I made a second l/o with the Album kit using the green/brown colours in it. I again did a lot of machine stitching for the design elements on this page. I had a book from the library on working with fabrics and I saw this cut heart design except in my case I used the design on paper.....

I used the Torn Paper Flower tutorial I shared with you all in an earlier post below to make the blooms for this page except I incorporated some cream colour blooms in with it. I used two different tones of chocolate coloured cardstock to make these and I have to say the finished blooms reminded me of the chocolate curls you see on a cake! LOL!...not good when your scrapping reminds you of food! Here are a couple of close-ups.....




And finally we come around to the April Creative kit from My Creative Scrapbook. This one was definitely a colourful and spring inspired kit! Lot's of fun summery colours and pretty blooms in it! I only had enough time left over this month to get one l/o done with it, I chose some of the more subtle colours to make up this l/o......

There is a transparency overlay that comes with this kit, I used it over a couple layers of paper here. The tan colour paper is actually just some cardstock that I did a little dry brushing on with some white paint and then randomly stamped with a 'script' stamp. I then cut out some diamond shapes from the background patterned paper and machine stitched it overtop of the whole lot. I frayed some green polka-dot ribbon to frame my photo and added some of the blooms in the kit to the outer edges of the page to finish it off....here are some close-ups....



I know this has been a huge post and all I can say is thank-you for reading all the way through my long-winded post and hope that I was able to share some fun tips with you all!! If you liked what you've seen here you really must come have a look at the Design Team Gallery for this month at My Creative Scrapbook, the rest of the design team girlies have made up amazing and inspiring pages with these kits!

Thanks for having a peek!

~Gabrielle xxx