Romantic Penny Emporium

I've always loved the combination of grays with plum/purples, and Bo Bunny's Penny Emporium satisfies all my love for this color combo!   I started with a polka dot paper as a frame for the grey background paper (BoBunny Double Dot 'Sugar Dot').  I chose the gray side of the 'Alphabet' paper from Penny Emporium as the background.

I was going for a nice romantic lacy effect so I used some black cardstock with Bo Bunny's Elegant Die throughout the page design.

There are so many wonderful images that can be fussy cut from this collection. I fussy cut the pocket watch design from the 'Captured' paper, adhered with some foam dots and added some glitter paste to give the cutout some dimension.  ...In  the background area I did a little painting using the heart design from BoBunny's stickable stencils (Cascade Stencil).

I embellished the photo area with some flowers from Bo Bunny's Plum Purple Blossoms (Bouquet and Zinnia), I painted up a laser cut butterfly (also new to BoBunny) and added a piece of pearl flourish to the side.

The photo is another lovely shot of my nephew and his wife when they got their engagement photos taken.  ....I hope you enjoyed today's post as much as I enjoyed making it!  Thanks so much for popping in today, your kind comments and feedback always make my day! xo

Watercolor Style Layout - VIDEO TUTORIAL! {Dusty Attic & Shimmerz Paints}

Hello friends!  Gabrielle here with you today! As I've mentioned before, lately I've become totally obsessed with watercolor painting. So today I thought I would create my own watercolor background design using Shimmerz Paints and some NEW and exciting Dusty Attic Chipboard!

I drew inspiration for my page from this months Dusty Attic Inspiration Board.  Have you had a chance to enter in this monthly challenge?  It's so much fun to use the beautiful colors, images and inspiring words offered in each months challenges.....and the best part?  You can win an AWESOME Dusty Attic prize each month (a $100.00 Gift Certificate to use in the Dusty Attic online store!!).  

Here are the Dusty Attic products I used on this project....Foliage #5, Spring Blooms #2, Word Pac #18. 

I also used the following Shimmerz Paints colors in my project:

~ Don't Citron Me Coloringz

~ Glorious Day Vibez

~ Heidi Ho Blue Coloringz

~ Chocolate Brown Coloringz

~ Power to the Purple Creameez

~ I Lilac You Dazzlerz

~ Teal Me No Lies Texturez

NOTE: If you are ordering Shimmerz Paints products be sure to mention my name 'Gabrielle' in the INTSTRUCTIONS TO MERCHANT/SELLER part of your order to recieve a FREE/Bonus Shimmerz Paints product in the color of your choice! :)  You can order Shimmerz Paints HERE.

I thought it would be fun to share a video tutorial I created showing step by step how I created this page.....Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed watching my video tutorial and hope you will give some of the techniques I employed a try!  Here are a few of the close-ups of the page for you to checkout at your leisure....

I so much love all the new Blossom chippies from Dusty Attic, today I used Spring Blossoms #2.  I just gave it a good coat of white Gesso for my base and then added some translucent paint colors (Shimmerz Heidi Ho Blue, Power to The Purple and Don't Citron Me).  I applied them randomly so that they just ran into each other as waterpaints are prone to do.

For the butterflies I used a fun little technique that Dawn from Wplus9 Design shared on youtube.  It's such a helpful little trick.  I used a very pale color ink to stamp my butterfly (Tim Holtz 'Scattered Straw' and Bo Bunny Butterflies stamp)....then applied clear water to the wings, then just lightly dabbed on some color to bleed into the wings.

For my title I used one of the new DA titles.....just loving all the new title options!  Here I used a piece from the Word Pack #18.  I gave it a coat of metalic and textured Shimmerz Texturez 'Teal Me No Lies'.

I also created a background color block behind my photo area using Shimmerz 'Glorious Day' and 'Chocolate Brownie' paints....and added a little Heidi Ho Blue into the design so that it looks like some ofthe color bled off the chipboard blooms onto the background design.

I used a bit of the DA foliage with some of the scatter blossoms from the Spring Blossoms #2 pack to  create my own little 3rd floral cluster.  I love that these floral chippies come with the extra tiny blooms, allowing you to get creative with your design!

I also did a little bit of stamping on my background design using a few of my own stamp designs (script stamp and chicken wire stamp....available at The Scrapbook Diaries).

I hope you enjoyed my project and video and hope you will get a little scrap time in this week....we all need a little creative therapy sometimes don't we!  Don't forget to play in this months Inspiration Board Challenge....be sure to use Dusty Attic chipboard in your design and to post a link to your project in the right side column of this blog!  For those of you looking for Dusty Attic Chipboard online in USA (also ship Internationally), you can find loads of Dusty Attic Chipboard at The Scrapbook Diaries and Moments of Tranquility.  Happy Scrapping! xo

Mixed Media Revamped Phone Cover {Bo Bunny - Penny Emporium}

Hi all, it's Gabrielle here with you today to share a makeover I gave to an old phone cover.  My youngest daughter got a brand new phone a few months back and promptly lost/got it stolen when she was using a public washroom.  So she then inherited my oldest daughters cast off phone.  To cheer her up, I thought I'd fancy up the old phone case that was on it for her.  

Here is a pic of the old phone cover....I think it even has a few bite marks in it from our naughty dog! But that was no problem, I just gave the phone case a quick brushing with some Gesso....when that dried I used some heavy gel paste with BoBunny's 'Brocade' Stickable Stencil over random sections of the surface. I left part of it flat/untextured so that I could add a bit of the Penny Emporium patterned paper as well.  

Once the texture paste was dry, I gave the whole thing a coat of Chocolate Pearlescents, adding a streak of Graphite Pearlescents here and there, to give a nice brushed metalic look to it.  The decorating was easy-peasy, I just added a few chipboard cogs and then layered on some pieces from the Penny Emporium Layered Chipboard packet.  The final touch was to add some gems from the Double Dot Mocha Jewels packet.   The phone cover put a big smile on my daughters face!

Bo Bunny Products used in this Project:

Patterned Paper: Penny Emporium (6x6 paper pack)

Layered Chipboard: Penny Emporium

Stickable Stencils: Cascade

Pearlescents: Chocolate, Graphite

Double Dot Jewels: Mocha

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

Gabrielle xo xo

Family {A NEW Scrapbook Diaries Kit Page & Video Tutorial}

So excited to share with you my latest kit page I designed for The Scrapbook Diaries!! Lately I find myself intrigued by watercolor designs.  When I saw these beautiful Prima flowers that seem to have a pretty watercolor wash to them, I was inspired to create a page using a variety of color washes. I chose some Shimmerz Paints watercolor paints ('Power to the Purple' and 'Ride the Tide' Creameez)....these are activated by adding water and allowing them to sit (stirring often).  Here I used them with lots of water to get a nice wash to my background design.  

The awesome part is that you can make this very same page with all the products I used, including the paints, chipboard, papers flowers....everything! all in a one stop shopping trip to The Scrapbook Diaries! This kit includes all the products I used to make this page PLUS unlimited access to a full step by step video tutorial created by me :)   Here are a few close-ups of the page....

How cute is that delicate little trellis.....Janene (owner of The Scrapbook Diaries) is always finding these unique and hard to find products to add to the kits, she always surprises me with her newest finds!

And how cute are those watercolor blossoms, right?  I'm often asked what inspires my designs....sometimes it's a photo but in this case my whole thought process was developed around these lovely blooms :)

I did a little easy fussy cutting for this one....just some blooms and butterflies, but I find it's little  things like this that can add a lot of impact to a page design. (and YES! the clocks are included in the kit as well!)

Here is a close-up of the intricate little scrolls I used on this page as well....another fun little find by Janene!  I know, I sometimes use a lot of chipboard on my pages, the cool thing is that you can get all these accents for your page as well in this one fun filled kit!

I know there are a lot of you out there that just love adding butterflies to their projects as much as I do, so I had to be sure to add just a couple to this page as well!  

As always Janene also created a gorgeous bonus page to the kit, so your product will take you a long way.  I did use one of my stamp sets on this page that Janene is selling a la carte as this one was already used in a previous kit (this way you are not getting product you may have already purchased...but for those of you that did not get that previous kit, the option is there :)

Seen enough?  Want to give this kit a try for yourself?  Then hop on over to The Scrapbook Diaries to get yours, they do go fast!   I had so much fun creating this page and I think you will enjoy this one too....just the colors make me happy! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, your lovely comments and feedback always make my day! :)

Easel Card and Template {Bo Bunny Boardwalk}

Good morning friends! I have a fun easel style card to share with you today using BoBunny's beautiful Boardwalk collection.  The last two cards I made up using this lovely collection got used up quickly by my family (they are just so perfect for a card for either man or woman!).

For this card I used an 11" x 4.5" piece of BoBunny's Double Dot Cardstock (in Khaki), and did a little cutting and scoring (see measurements below).  It was a quick easy fold job....then the fun part, decorating it!   I used cut pieces of board from the 6x6 paper pad, adding some metal brads on the end of each board for an accent.  I cut out a Seahorse from one of the patterned papers and added some crackle varnish to it to give it a little shine and texture.  Then I cut out some more of the cute beach/nautical accents in this collection (anchor, starfish, shells) and added with some foam pop dot adhesives and finished with a few BoBunny jewel accents.

Here are the basic measurements I used to make my card.  You want to start with a 11" x 4.5" piece of paper.  You'll then make a cut 1" in from the left side starting at the 4.5" mark to the 10" mark.  Then simply score at the 4.5" mark, the 9" mark and the 10" mark.  Fold and then move on to the fun part, decorating it!

I had some fun using BoBunny's awesome new Die's!  Here I used the Elegant Border die for the bottom edge of my card design.

Bo Bunny Products used:
Patterned Paper: Boardwalk/Bliss, Drift, Seaside, Sandcastle
6x6 Paper Pad: Boardwalk
Cardstock: Double Dot/Khaki
Jewels: Emerald
Dies: Elegant Border

I hope you enjoyed checking out my easel style card today and hope you give it a try, I think you'll have as much fun making it as I did! :)

Picture Perfect {BoBunny's Juliet Collection}

Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful start to their summer.  The weather has been beautiful here,...I find myself outside doing a fair bit of gardening, my backyard is in need of some TLC!  But I did find a little time to play with my new Bo Bunny products! For this page I used the Juliet collection from Bo Bunny, so many lovely floral images to fussy cut....and to accent I used some of the Laser Cut chippies (Butterflies & Tags).  Also had some fun with the new Bo Bunny Foil rub-on's...I used the scripted quote, some cross stitching and vine images from the rub-ons. I just love them, they are so easy to apply!

For my centerpiece flower I used one of my favorite fabric blooms from my friend Lucy's etsy shop Tresors de Luxe, I thought the fluffy pink bloom would go nicely with the lovely rose images found in the BB Juliet papers. If you haven't seen all the lovelies in her etsy shop you are in for a treat! You can find her shop by clicking the link (shop name) above.

For my laser-cut butterflies, I opted to paint them white with a little Gesso (using a sponge dauber)....I liked the contrast against the darker background, it helps to see the intricate detailing on these lil embellishments.  Finally I also added some gold glitter to the edges of the butterflies.

I hope you enjoyed todays project, and hope you all find time this summer for a little crafting! My oldest daughter is finishing exams this week and my youngest will be finishing next week....I'm looking forward to a little creative time with my girls....how about you?  What do you have planned for the Summer?

NEW Mixed Media Video Tutorial! {Shimmerz Paints & Dusty Attic}

So I recently got my design team package from Dusty Attic and was so thrilled to see these gorgeous pearl strand chippies (Elegant Pearls)....and started dreaming up fun ways to use them! At the same time a dear friend sent me some really pretty Prima blossoms and shabby chic resins (Thanks so much Kimberly Lau, you are such a sweet heart!), a cluster of which were a pretty pinkish poppy design to them (From Fairy Belle collection).....so I thought I would also incorporate the New Poppies chippies from Dusty Attic as well into the page design to mimic their soft colors.

Dusty Attic Products:

~ Elegant Pearls

~ Poppies

~ Vine Frame #1

~ Word Pack #14

Once I decided on the chipboard pieces I would use, I thought about what color combination I would like to put together for my page.  I decided I wanted some soft pinks with peaches and a hint of soft green. So I chose the following Shimmerz Paints products for my page design.....

As I often like to do when making up a mixed media page, I thought I'd do a video tutorial so show step by step how this page was made. Time to grab yourself a cup of coffee, relax and enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed my video tutorial today.  Here are a few close-ups of the page design that you can view at your leisure....

I used a piece of corrugated cardboard between my paper layers to leave a little room to tuck my embellishments.

I used a Faber Castell black Pitt pen to draw out the Poppy petal designs on all my chipboard pieces before I began to add my color wash using a paint brush and Shimmerz paints. You can also see some  of the stamp work I used to create my background design...one of which is my new Crackle/Peeled Paint texture Stamps (you can find my stamps at The Scrapbook Diaries HERE.

I just love these cute blooms from Prima's Fairy Belle collection, I thought they added just the nice feminine touch combined with the Dusty Attic Elegant Pearls.

Here's a close-up of the other cluster of poppies....and you can see close-up some of the paint wash and stamping I did to create my background design.

I just love all the NEW Word Packs Dusty Attic has come out with!  They are just the perfect size and have such a pretty delicacy.  For me, size is key, because I tend to have a habit of making up my whole page design and then later trying to figure out how I'm going to add in my title! :)

You can order Dusty Attic Chipboard online at the following places:

The Scrapbook Diaries (USA...ships Internationally)

Moments of Tranquility  (USA)

Dusty Attic Website (Australia....ships Internationally)

NOTE:  You can purchase Shimmerz Paint Products directly from their website HERE. Be sure to mention my name 'Gabrielle' in the 'Instructions to Merchant/Seller' part of your order to get a FREE/Bonus Shimmerz paint product in the color of your choice!

Also before I finish here today, I wanted to remind everyone about the awesome monthly challenge we run at Dusty Attic!  Use Dusty Attic chipboard and the inspiration board for the month (see below) on your next project....be sure to link you project at the Dusty Attic blog (see right side column) and you will have a chance at winning the SUPER generous prize of a $100.00 gift certificate to purchase your favorite Dusty Attic chipboard at the DA website!

I hope you enjoyed todays project and hope that my video tutorial will provide you with some inspiration in creating your own mixed media scrapbook page!  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, your kind comments and feedback always make my day! xo

Shabby Chic Wall Art {Bo Bunny & Dusty Attic}

Hi all!  So a couple weeks ago I got my design team pack for all the mid season releases from Bo Bunny.  One of the new collections is called Juliet, and it is absolutely gorgeous! So many pretty, feminine images in this collection!  In my package I got these cute lil Misc Me pocket squares.  Now I'm not much of a pocket album person, so I don't generally get the Misc Me stuff sent to me, but they do send me some of the coordinating products to make use of in other things. When I saw these cute little squares, it made me think of this wonderful Dusty Attic Fleur de Lis Frame set that I've had in my stash for some time now.  I was delighted to see that the little pocket squares fit perfectly into each of the windows!.....So I began by giving the whole frame set a coat of Gesso, then a coat of a cream color acrylic paint.  I rubbed some brown chalk ink (Ingvild Bolme's Branch Bark) on all the edges for a little aging. Then I did a little random stamping with an older scripted title stamp from the Bo Bunny Enchanted collection.

I chose one of the gorgeous new scripty titles that Dusty Attic recently released....I thought the word 'Charming' would work nicely with this wall art.  Dusty Attic Word package #27

Once I chose all the pretty little pocket square designs that I wanted to use, I then went about adding a little bit of machine stitching to each of the squares to add a nice homespun feel to the design.  Then the really fun part started....embellishing the little vignettes.  First I chose a couple of the new little laser-cut designs Bo Bunny came out with at the last CHA. Above you see one of the butterfly designs.  I attached this and added a bit of glitter with their Frost and Gold Glitter Pastes.

For another square I used one of the clock laser-cut chippies from Bo Bunny.  Here again, I added some glitter accents with Bo Bunny's Wasabi and Gold Glitter pastes.

I used some vintage mother of pearl buttons, cheesecloth and lace to give a nice aged, tattered look to some of the squares.

For this square I used another of the wood accents from the Ironworks wood embellishments (Bo Bunny) and topped that off with a pretty brad from the coordinating brad collection from Juliet.

I so much love the beautiful vintage images in this collection, the antique dress form is so pretty I thought it could just stand on it's own, no embellishing needed.  I did however use a layered chipboard design from the Juliet collection to add a floral topper for my wall art design.

In the bottom left corner I used a wood flourish accent from the Clock Works wood embellishment package from Bo Bunny.  I gave this the same treatment as I gave the frame. My final touch was to add pearl dots all around the framework using Bo Bunny's Butterscotch Pearlescents.

Bo Bunny Products used on this project:

Misc Me Pocket Squares: Juliet

12x12 Combo Stickers Sheet: Juliet

Layered Chipboard: Juliet

Wood Embellishments: Iron Works, Clockworks

Stamp: Enchanted

Jewels: Mocha Double Dot Jewels

Pearlescents: Butterscotch, Chocolate (on key)

Glitter Paste: Gold, Wasabi, Frost

Brads: Juliet

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, and as always I want to say how much I appreciate all the lovely comments and feedback, I appreciate  and read them all! xo