Braided Edge Cards {Bo Bunny}

I had so much fun making these cards! Again, I was trolling Pinterest for fun card ideas.  I don't know who did it first, there were a few people that had posted a version of this braided edge card, but the one I got my info from was a girl named Brandy Cox from Stampin' Up.  I know it looks complicated but it's really easy-peasy to do (I can see making a lot more of these in the future!).  It's basically just cutting a bunch of diagonal slits in the fold of your card, opening it up, and then folding down every second section.  She has a little video clip on how she does this, and also provides a printable template to use on a folded 8 1/2  x 5 1/2 piece of cardstock.  You can find her tutorial and template HERE.

Bo Bunny's Double Dot Cardstock is just perfect for the base of these cards.  I particularly like the Vintage Double Dot, the distressing and deep rich colors really appeal to me.  For this card I used the Vintage Decaf Double Dot for my base.  I then fussy cut some designs from Bo Bunny's 'Somewhere In Time' collection, using small pieces of patterned paper from their 6x6 paper pad to create layers.

Bo Bunny Products used to make this card:

Patterned Paper:  Somewhere In Time/Elegance

6x6 Paper Pad:  Somewhere In Time

Cardstock: Vintage Decaf Double Dot

Noteworthy: Somewhere In Time

Copper Glitter Paste (NEW Bo Bunny Mixed Media Product)

Stickable Stencil: Brocade (NEW)

Lace: Clover

Jewels: Double Dot Jewels/Emerald, Citrus

Okay, so ya, I couldn't resist making another card after I made the first!  This time I used Enchanted Garden collection.  I started with Violet Dot paper for the base. Again I fussy cut some of the whimsical images from the Enchanted Garden papers, added a bit of texture with Bo Bunny's NEW Silver Glitter paste and one of their Stickable Stencils (Brocade).

Here is a picture of the card opened out, so you can see the braided edge design. Here are the products I used to make this card:

Patterned Paper: Enchanted Garden/ Fairies, Enchanted Garden

Cardstock: Violet Double Dot

Glimmer Paste: Silver

Stickable Stencil: Brocade

I hope you enjoyed checking out my cards today! I encourage you to give these a try, they are really a lot of fun to make! Thanks for stopping by today, and for the lovely comments, your kind feedback makes my day! xo xo

Video Tutorial: Shabby Chic Wall Art

Hi all! I have something a little bit different to share with you today.  I love browsing Pinterest, lots of inspiring artwork to be found there.  I've been admiring the fashion drawings of Katie Rodgers and thought I'd like to try doing a little fashion sketch of my own using my Shimmerz Paints.

Here are the Shimmerz Products I used for this project:

~ Tuscan Sun Spritz

~ Pumped Up Purple Coloringz (NEW)

~ Cotton Candy Spritz

~ Hot Fudge Vibez

~ Shades of Grey Coloringz (NEW)

~ Peek-a-boo Pink Inklingz

~ Imperial Amethyst Inklingz (NEW)

~ Blue My Mind Inklingz

~ Pugnacious Purple Inklingz

As always, I've created a video tutorial to show this project from start to finish...sketching out the design, painting it right to completion.  Enjoy!....

I hope you enjoyed watching the process, ...here are a few close-ups of the project to enjoy at your leisure...

One of my favorite parts of this project was using the masking fluid with the water color paints, and then rubbing it off to get the almost glittery look to the dress.

I couldn't resist adding a bit of texture to the design with some texture paste and a stencil (Tim Holtz)....then giving the design a wash of  a variety of colors from the Shimmerz Inklingz collections.

I framed this project and will be giving it as a gift for my beautiful sister for her home office.  She has a bright and pretty shabby chic theme going in her office so I thought this would be a nice surprise for her.

Before I sign off for today I just wanted to make sure you are all aware of the amazing sale going on at the Shimmerz Store, they have 5 beautiful Seasonal Sets for a reduced package price, along with a Special offer.....

With any purchase of $50.00 or more you get the above gift set for FREE!  And don't forget, if you mention my name "Gabrielle" in your message to seller, you will get a FREE/Bonus Shimmerz product in the color of your choice!  How awesome is that! You can find the Shimmerz Store HERE.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, I hope I've inspired you to get your paints out and play! xo

Mixed Media Canvas & Video Tutorial {GUEST for Paper Crafter's Library}

I was asked earlier this year if I would do a Guest spot for The Paper Crafter's Library.  This is a really cool blog site that share's projects, tutorials and features new and exciting products from many manufacturing companies in the craft world.

I agreed to do a project for them for this month and decided to do a video tutorial to go with the project as well.  Lately, as you know, I have really been loving mixed media.  So for my project, I've done another canvas design using some Dusty Attic chipboard as well as some Shimmerz Paints products as well as some Tim Holtz papers and Distress Inks.

Here I'm just giving you a little peek at my project.  To see the whole project and Video Tutorial, be sure to pop by The Paper Crafter's Library Blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! xo xo

Scrapping Girl Style {Dusty Attic & Maja Design}

Hi all, Gabrielle here with you today to share my latest layout I made of one of my adorable little great-nieces.  I felt like doing a more feminine shabby-chic style page today so I used some papers from the newest Maja Design collection called 'A Gift For You' mixed in with bits and pieces of some of the other Maja Design collections.  And of course I accented with lots of my favorite Dusty Attic chippies!

One of my favourite scroll/flourish chippies is the Corner Flourish #1, which I used in the corner of the page design.  A way I often like to treat my chipboard pieces is to give it a coat or two of gesso, stamp some random script words on the piece, rub the edges with a bit of brown chalk ink (here I used Ingvild Bolme's 'Branch Bark' ink) and gave the whole thing a coat of crackle varnish.

I made the flowers on this page using a patterned paper in the Maja collection called 'A Gift For You'....I went with the scripty paper called 'Hope to See You Soon', it used both sides of this paper using a EK Success floral punch 'Retro Flower' in 2 medium and large size.  I partially inked the edges of the petals with a pink ink (Colorbox Dusty Rose) leaving some areas natural.  I then gave them all a light spritz of water and wrinkled the petals.  I added some stamen centers to complete the floral design.  As an extra accent around the photo I added one of the Dusty Attic Corset chippies and a piece of the Wrought Iron Fence chippies treated with a 3D bronze paint and a dab of Dusty Attic Oceana paint to give it a tarnished look.  I also added a small accent in the mini Lock & Keys (under the floral cluster).

Another favourite chipboard piece for me is the Zippers set, here I used it on the inside edge of the banner piece that I cut from a piece of  dotted paper from the Maja Design Vintage Spring collection.  I used a title chipboard piece from the Dusty Attic Word Packet #4, giving it a similar treatment that I gave the corner flourish.  The little butterflies were cut from 'Butterflies are Free' from Maja's 'Coffee In the Arbour' collection.

Maja Design Papers used in this Project:

~ A Gift For You (Handwritten Postcards-bs, My Dear Friend-bs, Hope to See You Soon, Hope to See You Soon-bs, Wrapped In Old Newspaper-bs)

~ Vintage Spring Basics (7th of May)

~ Coffee In the Arbour (Buttterflies Are Free, Raspberry Jam Cookies-bs)

~ Vintage Autumn Basics (XVI)

Dusty Attic Products used in this Project:

~ Zippers

~ Corner Flourish #1

~ Wrought Iron Fence Border

~ Mini Keys & Locks

~ Fancy Labels

~ Lacing Tash (corset lacing)

~ Word Packet # 4

~ Dusty In Color - Oceania

~ Dusty In Color Clear Crackle Varnish

I hope you enjoyed checking out my project for today.  I know many of you are asking where to get Maja Design Paper and Dusty Attic Chipboard.   You can find this newest collection (Plus many other Maja Design papers) at The Scrapbook Diaries HERE (Janene ships USA and International as well).  Dusty Attic chipboard can also be found at The Scrapbook Diaries HERE.  Another site that carries a large variety of Dusty Attic Chipboard is Moments of Tranquility HERE.  I also just found out that The Scrapping Bug (Canada) has Dusty Attic chipboard in their online store as well HERE.  And NEW news is that Dusty Attic now also sells their chipboard directly from their own website AUS (you no longer have to be a retailer to order) HERE.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, your kind words and feedback just make my day! xo xo

Summer Hike {Bo Bunny 'Madeleine'}

We did a little hike on a past long weekend, so I totally took this time for a photo op!  My girls get along pretty well, they are always there for each other, but like all siblings, there is always that little bit of rivalry....this picture says it all, lol.  For this page I used a variety of papers from the Bo Bunny Madeleine collection.

I like to do a corner cluster to balance a page. For this I used some of the Bo Bunny wood embellishments along with some chipboard and buttons from the Madeleine collection.

For my corner cluster of embellishments I used some beautiful handmade blooms sent to me from Lucy at 'Tresors de Luxe' mixed with some chipboard accents, buttons from Madeleine collection and more wood accents.

I began my design by spritzing some of the NEW Tutu Spritz from Bo Bunny, and then applied some texture paste with a couple of the new stencil designs from Bo Bunny.  LOVE their script design!

Bo Bunny Products used on this layout:

Patterned Paper: Madeleine, Charm, Elegance / Madeleine

Combo Stickers: Madeleine

Chipboard: Madeleine

Wood Shapes:  Iron Works, Camera Kraft Wood Shapes

Buttons: Madeleine

Jewels:  Primrose

Glimmer Sprays: Tutu

Stencils: Brocade, Bliss Stickable Stencils

I still have lots of summer photos to scrap, even though we are moving into Fall.  So I know I better get my scrappin' on, because soon I'll get to scrap my Fall/winter photos with Bo Bunny's newest releases.  Have you seen the peek at the newest collections coming out from Bo Bunny??  I love them all!!  Here is a link to their website in case you missed them .... Bo Bunny Website .... Just click on the collection name to view all the new goodies.  I can't decide which collection is my favorite, I think Rose Cafe, is for sure in the running, but I love the colors and designs in Altitude and Star Crossed as well....loving the alphabet sticker sheet in Star Crossed, just the perfect size for me!  Which is your favorite collection?

A NEW Kit Page & 4 NEW Stamps Sets Designed by Me!! {The Scrapbook Diaries}

I'm super excited to share this post today, not only do I have another Page Kit to share with you all today but I've been busy creating more stamp designs! .....So my last kit page for The Scrapbook Diaries sold out super fast so I immediately started work on the next one!  I thought I would again choose colors from purple/green color palettes, but this time with a hint of teal.

As always there is lots of cool products in the kit, including some intricately cut wood embellishments from Wycinanka (unique pieces from an international manufacturer), Spritz from Shimmerz, Crafters Workshop Stencil and of course premium patterned papers (these papers have a nice thick almost watercolor-like weight).

Butterflies are always a favorite embellishment for me and there are lots of them in this page kit, enough for this design and then some (see the beautiful bonus page Janene created to go with this kit!).

Lots of pretty frame accents, blooms, vintage style lace, chipboard, inks and more!  

And of course you will get a link to a private Video Tutorial made just for this page that will give you  unlimited access in order to recreate this page for yourself.  If you want to jump on this Page Kit you can find it here at The Scrapbook Diaries! As always, Janene offers this kit as a Basic Kit or Complete Kit....she likes to help you save if you already have some of the items in your stash like the spritz or stencil. Grab one while they are still available, they do go fast! :)

Now as promised I have some exciting news to share with you all today.  I've been busy at the drawing board this past month and have created 4 new stamp sets!  When I start to work I ask myself what I would like to have in a stamp set, and then I start designing.....

This first set I created a diamond/daisy background stamp.  This is a designed I used to draw out by hand on some of my layouts a few years ago and I thought I would draw it out for a stamp to be used as a background design.  This one will be fun for mixed media style pages where you want to create your own background design.  I also sketched out some Daisy designs (separating the stems so that the blooms can be used in whatever design best fits your project).  You can find this stamp HERE.

I've gotten quite a few emails over the year asking where people can get my word stamps that I used on my pages.  LOL....I didn't have a word stamp, that was just my handwriting.  So it was suggested that I make up some word stamps in my own handwriting. Here I've used words that I often use on my scrap pages and projects....even though it's my own handwriting, this one will come in handy for me as well, as I won't have to worry that and the end of creating my page, that I might mess things up by slipping up while writing my word :)  ...You can find this stamp HERE.

When I dress up my shabby-chic Chipboard pieces, one of my favorite things to do is use a nice scripty word stamp to randomly stamp onto my white painted chipboard, and then use crackle paint on the piece.  It gives a really cool shabby look, so I made the 'Beauty' and 'Paris' word stamps for this purpose.  Another thing I find I love to use a lot is script quote stamps for creating my own background designs, so I used one of my favorite quotes "And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the winds long to play with your hair".  And of course label stamps are always fun for creating interesting and pretty backgrounds, and are also a great option for cardmakers. You can find this stamp HERE.

Another design that I've hand drawn on some of my layouts in the past is this Dandelion design (this one would be really cool used with embossing powder!).  I also thought this one would be a fun one for card makers, so I created a word flourish as well for this stamp (again hand drawn and in my own handwriting).  I had a little more room on this stamp so I asked myself what design I would like to have handy for corner designs.....I realized I have never seen a fishnet design stamp.  I did a search looking for one and could not find one....so here is what I came up with, I wanted the design to have a sort of organic, distress look.  You can find this stamp HERE.

NOTE: Janene decided to release this stamp with the release of the latest Kit Page I made for The Scrapbook Diaries so that those of you who are interested in both the Kit and the stamps can save on shipping in one order.  International buyers, be sure to click on 'Bill me actual shipping fees" especially if you are buying the stamps on their own, ....there was some issues that arose with the last sets when international buyers, as a very large shipping price would automatically be added to the stamps (this was a standard/flat rate for international buyers but meant for large packages) Janene can ship the stamps on their own for a much more reasonable rate in small packages.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, I always appreciate your kind words and feedback on my work, you all make my day! xo xo

A Cheerful Card {Maja Design}

I'm having one of those weeks.  Lot's of projects to get done for my design teams, and totally short on time.  Luckily I got this card done for Maja Design yesterday, before all the craziness started today!  My husband and I are looking to get our roof re-shingled, so we've been trying to get some quotes.  This morning while I was getting my pic's done for this post, our plumbing pipes burst, the ones leading from the street to the house!.....Major water pouring in and no way to stop it!  So the basement got flooded, and now we have to do major plumbing repairs.....fixing the plumbing from the street will require, tearing up our concrete driveway and putting in all new pipes....sigh, so much for putting in a new roof before the winter.  ...Well, at least I have a happy card to share, the bloom was fun to create using little scraps of Maja Design papers, from the Coffee in the Arbour Collection.  

One of my favourite sheets of paper from this collection is the 'Delicious Moments' paper with it's sweet little 'coffee' time or snack time vignettes.

I really like this paper because it offers great little pic's to use as center pieces to a cheerful card design. I used the coffee/roses and chocolate cake design for my card.

 

I simply cut out the coffee cup design, used an edge destressor on the edges and did a little machine stitiching around the edges of my cut papers.

I wanted to give my card a bit of a home-spun look so I created a flower design that I hope resembles a patterned quilt look.  I cut out a flower petal pattern from a bunch of the scrap papers I had from this paper collection, then moistened with water and gathered the bottom edge.

It's been a crazy week, and a busy one (two blog posts in one day!) and I have lot's more projects to share. I hope next week will prove to be a better week (not holding my breath, I have a feeling this plumbing problem is going to drag out over a week).  Maybe I should send this card to myself huh? :)

Killing Two Birds with One Stone {Bo Bunny ~ Wild Card Collection}

So two of my pet peeves, boxes lying around from appliance and entertainment purchases, and messy junk drawers!  Every time we buy a cell phone, DVD, microwave or any other electronics, my DH won't let me throw the packaging away.  He says you have to keep the box in case there is something wrong with the item down the road.  So now I have all these old cell phone boxes piling up along with other boxes.  The other thing I don't love is my junk drawer.  My hubby and kids love to play cards, but then they all get thrown into a junk drawer all willy nilly.  I finally decided I would make a nice decorative box to keep the decks of cards in and went on a hunt for a good box to alter.  

Ha!  my DH's penchant for saving boxes paid off!  I found this cell phone box and it was a perfect fit for decks of cards! (shhhh, don't tell him I used one, he'll never miss it! :)

It was actually pretty easy to put it together!  I used a 6x6 paper pad from Bo Bunny called 'Wild Card', I thought the wood grain design on one of the papers would give a nice elegant look to the box design. I cut out strips to fit along all the sides and top....all in all it took less than 2 6x6 papers.  I think the thing that might have taken the longest was adding the machine stitching to the edges of the cut papers (not a necessity but I thought it would add a nice touch)..

The next step was as easy as plucking off a few chipboard elements from the Wild Card collection and adding them to the box cover.....that's it!  All done! And now I have a pretty (or handsome ) place to keep the playing cards....and now I have 1 box down....and a hundred to go! :)

A Layout with New 'Nest Collection' {Webster's Pages}

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I know, it's been a while since I did a layout with Webster's Pages.  But yesterday I got a lovely packet in the mail with the NEW 'Nest' collection by Websters Pages.  I love this picture of my little great-niece, the way the sun is sparkling off her hair (Thanks Danielle for letting me use her pics).

I just love the nature elements in this collection, nests, feathers, eggs, birdies,....not to mention all the beautiful floral elements we've come to love about Websters Pages papers....

I went with more of a mixed media style layout for this one.   I used the newsprint design paper in the collection called Newsworthy, behind my photo area and did a little splattering and texture work layered onto the design.

I used one of the Tim Holtz Distress paint daubers in "Tumbled Glass" and "Victorian Velvet" with some 'Antique Linen".  I put some waterdrops on my craft sheet and dabbed the tip of my paint dauber in it so the paint thinned down a bit in the tip.  Then I just smacked down on the page to get the spatter effect.

I cut out one of the egg images and mounted it on some burlap, then I fussy cut some of the cute feather images from the 'Tickled' paper and had them dangling from the corner design.

I added a small embellishment cluster in the corner, using a resin frame from Websters Pages and one of their bird/nest resins.  I also got these fun sequin circles a while back from the Websters collection of embellishments, I thought they'd add a playful element to echo the sweet dots in my lil niece's dress.  I mounted the whole design on the 'wood grain' design paper called 'Home with You' to finish the look.

Hope you enjoyed my project today, if you are looking to find the beautiful Nest collection you can find it HERE..... or check out your local scrap shop :)  Thanks for all the sweet comments and feedback, I read them all! xo xo