I'm Guest Designer for September at Flying Unicorn!!

Hi everyone!  I was honored to be asked to be the Guest Designer at The Flying Unicorn for the month of September, and was just blown away when I opened the package which had the Main kit (above), and the Mixed Passion, the Mixed Art and the Small Art Big Passion kits (shown below).

The kits just had my mind filling with fun projects and ideas!  The products Alda puts together are so unique and beautiful!  Some of my favorite parts where the amazing metal accents found in each of the kits!  Over the next few days I will be sharing projects I've made using these gorgeous products (and maybe a video tutorial or two?) :)

For starters I'm going to share with you all today an OTP (off the page) project I made using this cute cute dress form that came with the kits......

Here is what I made with the dress form, I used the patterned papers included in the kits (I used mainly the 6x6 papers for the skirt, and I used the cool frayed canvas strip found in the kit as well for this.

I used a wet paper technique to shape the paper to fit the dress form, layered in some lace and tulle and finished it with blooms from the kit.  I added some french flair by adding rub-ons to the dress form body and stand.

Tomorrow I will share with you all the layouts and card I created with these lovely collections and further on in the week (Thursday) I will share a canvas and video tutorial using the kit goodies!  So be sure to drop back in!  In the mean time if you are excited by what you see and would like to get your order in  (and also see some peeks at what the super talented design team did with these kits) be sure to drop by the Flying Unicorn Forum!

Thanks for stopping by today! xo

It's all about Scrapping Friends! {Maja Design & Dusty Attic}

  

Hi there, ....so happy you could stop by my blog today!  I want to share with you today a layout I made of my oldest daughter and one of her dear friends.  Summer is here and the house is busy with my kids and their friends, so I've taken the opportunity to get more pictures taken.  Chloe has a collage on her wall with her friends and she wanted me to update these photos.

    I used a variety of papers from the 'Coffee in the Arbour' collection by Maja Design to make this mixed media style page.  I used : Raspberry Lemonade, Raspberry Jam, Rose Garden (front and backside) and Let's Share a Cookie. (BTW, if you are looking for this beautiful collection pack here in North America, you can get it from Janene at The Scrapbook Diaries, I've linked her further down in this post).

 

I embellished with some flowers that I got from Recollections (pleated pink blooms) and Tresors de Luxe (deep rose...click on the link to check out her shop!), and a new thing I like to use to finish a bloom cluster....Spanish Moss!  I picked up an inexpensive pack of this stuff at a local dollar store, one package goes a long long way, but I find it adds a nice natural touch to a floral cluster.

 

I also embellished with some of my favourite leafy chipboard pieces from Dusty Attic (Leafy Stems #2), I primed them with Gesso and then inked with some Ingvilde Bolme chalk inks (Green Moss, Branch Bark).  I gave the chipboard pieces a bit of texture as well with some Glossy Accents. (If any of you are looking where to order Dusty Attic chipboard, you can find a huge selection at my friend Janene's online store The Scrapbook-Diaries  and Natasha's store 'Moments of Tranquility')

 

 I also did a little stamping on around the photo area (with Bo Bunny Stamps) and added a bit of texture with texture paste and a circle stencil.  And what's a mixed media layout without some fun paint effects.  I used Shimmerz 'Bamboo Leaf' Spritz (green color) and some 'Plum Pudding' Shimmerz paint (I just applied the plum paint with the tip of my finger rubbing it in to get the fade out effect). You can order Shimmerz Products directly from their website, Shimmerz Paints....and don't forget....If you would like a FREE/Bonus Shimmerz product added to your order, mention my name 'Gabrielle' in the INSTRUCTIONS TO MERCHANT part at the end of your order and you will be shipped an extra Shimmerz product in the color of your choice!

   

I finished the page off with the fun epoxy title stickers from Heidi Swapp.  I love the fun handwriting design in these epoxy stickers!

I hope you enjoyed my post today and hope that if you haven't played with this beautiful collection yet, that you will have the opportunity soon! Thanks so much for all your sweet comments, they always make my day! xo

Mixed Media Art Canvas {Bo Bunny Mood Board}

I'm excited to share with you a canvas I made using the August Mood Board as inspiration.  This was such a fun Mood board, the colors in it are some of my all time favorite combinations.  I decided to create a little vignette using the reverse side of an art canvas.

Above is the Mood Board I used as inspiration.  The idea is to use the colors, designs, words and photos in the board to inspire you to create a project.  I chose to do a reverse canvas for mine.

I began by began by tearing bits and pieces off of my Bo Bunny Washi tapes (I used tape from the Black and White, and Kraft collections).  After that I added a little texture with home-made texture paste and a stencil.  I cut a piece of background paper from the Enchanted Garden paper. I continued by dry brushing a bit of Gesso in a thin coat over the texture and taped area.

I then chose some flourishes and scroll chipboard from Et Cetera collection to decorate my frame with.  I added some trinkets and buttons from other Bo Bunny collections and glued them to the frame work.  I gave the added items a coat of  Gesso and when it dried, I misted and painted the frame with the blues and purples in the paper collection.  I used the following Shimmerz products on this canvas: 

-Shimmerz Spritz Jeni B Bleu

- Shimmerz Royal Purple Paint

- Shimmerz Tickle Me Turquoise 

- Shimmerz Brass Knuckles Inklingz

You can order Shimmerz products directly from their website HERE, ...Be sure to mention my name "Gabrielle" in the INSTRUCTIONS TO MERCHANT area of your order to get a FREE/Bonus Shimmerz product in the color of your choice! And as I mentioned yesterday, they are having a big sale right now...jump in on this soon, as the sale is only until Sunday!

I created a little nest with some Spanish Moss (found in the floral dept of your local craft store) and made little eggs with air dry clay, and tucked it into the corner of the frame.

I did a little fussy cutting from the Enchanted Garden patterned papers (flowers, mushrooms etc.) to add a few more whimsical embellishments to the framework.  I gave the whole frame a final gilded finish by dry brushing some gold metallic paint to bring up details.

Bo Bunny products used on this project:
Patterned Paper:  Enchanted Garden / Mosaic, Enchanted Garden, Periodical, Fairies, Pixies.
Chipboard:  Et Cetera
Trinkets: Et Cetera, Gabrielle, Serenity,
Jewels: Apple Cider

I hope you enjoyed my project today and will give this months Bo Bunny Mood Board inspiration a go! If you would like to see more projects done using this inspiring mood board, make your way over to the Bo Bunny blog, Rhonda has an amazing project to share as well!  You can find it HERE.  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and for all the lovely comments you guys are always leaving me, they make my day! xo xo

FYI!! Shimmerz Paints is Having a Sale!!

For those of you who have been on the fence about getting your Shimmerz Paints, now is a good time to get your orders in!  I just got word from Stacey that they are having a sale on their Dazzlerz, Texturez, Coloringz, Vibez and Inklingz Sets!

And remember, if you mention my name 'Gabrielle"  in the INSTRUCTIONS TO MERCHANT part of your order you will receive a FREE/Bonus Shimmerz product in the color of your choice!  You can find the Shimmerz Shop HERE!

Having Fun, Getting Messy {Maja Design & Dusty Attic}

Hi everyone!  I'm super excited to share a layout I made of my little great niece playing in the dirt....sometimes it's fun to just get dirty, isn't it?!  I wanted to stay with some neutral colors with a hint of lavender (to bring out the sweet bow in her hair).   To create this page I mixed a variety of collections.  Here are the collections I used....

    

I just love the way you can mix and match different collections. I used the following papers: Vintage Spring Basics (1st of March), Crea Diem (Karleken Overvinner Allt), Walking in The Forest (Flannel Shirt, Fresh Air).

I used 2 papers from the Walking in the forest collection as my background papers and then cut the cute Daffodil designs from the Vintage Spring Basics collection to create embellishments for the page.  I recently came out with my own stamp collection and used them for the first time a this page.  For the cracked wall/brick look here, I first stamped the image on the light background paper....I then stamped the same image on the terrcotta color paper (Fresh Air) and cut out the brick section and glued in over the matching stamped area on the light paper so that it looks like cracked plaster walls with brick showing through.

   

I also used another of my stamp designs in another area of the page.  Here I did a little inking behind the photo area and used one of my cracked brick stamp designs to create a rustic look behind the photo area.

I loved the sunny yellow blooms in the Maja design paper, so I wanted my embellishments to reflect the same look.  So I took one of the NEW Dusty Attic chipboard designs (Bearded Iris) and after painting it with some Gesso, I inked with some yellow, green and brown chalk inks (Ingvild Bolme inks) to give the chippies a pretty design.

   

I framed another of the cute daffodil designs with another of the Dusty Attic Elegant Frames and finished the corner cluster with some blooms and glass gems.

You can find my new stamp collections at The Scrapbook Diaries.  I will be showing many more ways to use these new stamps (and doing video tutorials for them as well).

 I hope you enjoyed viewing my page today as much as I enjoyed creating it!  Thanks for stopping by, your kind comments always make my day! xo

Scapbooking Nature's Art & VIDEO TUTORIAL! {Shimmerz, Dusty Attic, Tresors de Luxe}

Hi everyone! I thought today I would share a step by step on how I made the above layout, start to finish. Here are the Shimmerz products I used to create this page....

Shimmerz Products used:

~ Hot Fudge Spritz

~ My Bleeding Heart Coloringz

~ Ruby Spritz

~ Caribbean Sunset Sprtiz

~ Tuscan Sun Spritz 

~Rolling In the Hay Vibez

~ Copperhead Dimensionz

~ I'm not Limon Inklingz

~ Gosh Garnet Inklingz

Dusty Attic Products used: 

~ Wildflower #2

~ Vine Border

Rather than try and explain the steps, I've made up a video tutorial to show you how I did it.  So grab a cuppa coffee/or tea sit back and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy watching my video and will want to give your own page a try!  Here are a few closeups of the page that you can view at your leisure....

I used some gorgeous blooms from Tresors de luxe to decorate the corner cluster by the photo.

I added a little texture with somehome made texture paste with a stencil and I added a shabby brick look by lightly brushing on some Copperhead Dimensionz with the tip of my finger.  The Dusty Attic vine I painted with some 'I'm Not Limon' Inklingz.

After spritzing my background with a variety of Shimmerz Spritz's, I added some stamping and rub-on's. I also fussy cut some elements from Prima Almanac papers to embellish.  I painted the new Dusty Attic Wildflower #2 chipboard with yet more of the Inklingz, I'm Not Limon and Gosh Garnet.  NOTE: The color you see when you open a tub of Inklingz is not necessarily the color that it becomes when activated with water....for the true color, see the samples at the Shimmerz Website/Shop.

I hope you enjoyed my project today and will give these gorgeous Shimmerz products a try.  You can shop for your own Shimmerz products HERE. And remember, to receive your own FREE/Bonus Shimmerz product be sure to mention my name in the INTRUCTIONS TO MERCHANT area of your order.

Happy Scrappin'

A Charming Desk Organizer {Bo Bunny ~ Enchanted Garden}

Who says organized has to be boring?  I used the beautiful and whimsical Enchanted Garden collection to add some 'pretty' to a desktop organizer.  I began with a bare/simple cardboard magazine/file holder and covered it with some of my favorite Enchanted Garden papers (Periodical).  I trimmed the edges with some lace trim from the Natural Earth Lace package.

I then created a tray for it all to sit in using some cardboard boxes I had in my stash.  I lined the tray with some Island Mist Double Dot paper.  I also made another tiered tray and covered this with the 'Spellbound' paper.  I added some stamping with the Distressted Textures and 'It is Written' stamp sets.

I wanted to stick with the 'nature' elements you see in the Enchanted Garden papers, to embellish this project, so on the spine of the magazine holder I fussy cut one of the frame designs from the 'Pixies' paper and then made a little nest design with some Spanish moss and added an egg I made from some air dry clay.

For the pencil cup I chose to use the striped paper from the coordination 6x6 paper pack so that I would get a thinner strip design on the cup.  I added a little Dusty Attic chipboard frame and I continued with the nature theme and made another small egg/nest design with some more Spanish moss and some little eggs that I made from air dry clay.

This was such a fun project to make and I think it would make a wonderful teacher's gift....or you might, like me, decide it looks just perfect on your own desk :)

Bo Bunny products used on this project:

Patterned Papers:  Periodical, Pixies, Spellbound, Moonlight/Enchanted Garden, Timeless/Somewhere In Time (backside of the magazine holder)

Cardstock: Island Mist Double Dot

6x6 Paper Pad:  Enchanted Garden

Lace: Bo Bunny Natural Earth Lace pack

Blossoms: Clover Bouquet package

Stamps:  It is Written, Distressed Textures

Jewels: Powder Mountain

Jewel Flourishes: Frosting

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today and for all the kind comments and feedback you all are sweet enough to give me.....they make my day! xo xo