Guest Design Team work for Sketches!

I was recently asked by Sandie Vincent, the Guest Designer Co-ordinator at 'Sketches! (by Tamara)' to do a Guest Designer spot at their site......I really enjoyed creating this layout using sketch #42. I don't often use sketches in creating my layouts but I have learned that this is a huge time saver to have a page all mapped out for you. A wonderful friend sent me the beautiful 'Bittersweet' collection by BasicGrey as a gift, so this gave me the opportunity to play with some gorgeous product and put together an almost effortless page! Here's my take on their sketch #42. Do yourself a favour and go check out this wonderful site, there are loads of lovely sketches to choose from, with beautiful example layouts done by the Sketches Design Team. http://sketchesbytamara.blogspot.com/

~Gabrielle xx

January Kits for My Creative Scrapbook are SOOO YUMMY!!!

I was so thrilled to be working with the January kits for My Creative Scrapbook!! The main kit is such a beautiful collection of shimmery, glittery heavy stock paper's (the Laundry collection from My Minds Eye) and the goodies added to these kits are just amazing! Layered shimmer blooms, smokey colour crystals by Prima, beautiful chipboard accents, lovely co-ordinating rub-on's, awesome swirly frame overlays by Hambly and more!....you have to see these to believe them! Here are a couple of layouts I made using the main kit.....
To make this page I drew a partial circle to the side of my photo and then machine stitched a diamond pattern into the paper. I then used some of the irridescent sequins that are attached to the green ribbon that comes with the kit and attached them with some soft blue seed beads. I used some gold dimensional paint and Stickles (colour~Waterfall) to make the 'diamond' border. I also added some dots of the blue Stickles (glitter glue) to the sheer white bloom, then hand-cut the pink centre bloom from one of the papers in the kit and attached with pop-dots. I added the little 'birdie' rub-on in the kit and extended the branch to the edge of the page with a brown pen and drew on a few leaves, and filled these with green Stickles. Here are some close up photo's.....



Here is another page I made using the January Main kit......


The pink 'lacey' background paper on this page is actually just some pink cardstock on which I lightly stamped a floral design with white ink (stamp is one of the Prima stamps that comes with the Build a Frame collection) I then lightly inked the edges with a darker pink ink to add a little depth to the design. I used a scissor edge to lightly score the edges of the polka-dot paper and then tore a section out of the bottom half and put another patterned paper peeking out of the part I tore off. I then added some corset stitching across the whole tear. To make the bloom I seperated the top sheer layer from the Petaloo bloom and added a hand-cut pink bloom underneath (simply cut from pink cardstock) to give the bloom a pink shimmer. Here are some close-up pics....


The January Creative Kit for My Creative Scrapbook is a beautiful collection of vibrant colorful papers with lovely co-ordinating rub-ons and chipboard stickers, this kit is filled with fun goodies.....Here is a page I made with this kit....
I hand-cut a lot of the green petals from the We R Memory Keepers "white-out" collection papers, added some green Stickles to the edges and used them for the centre bloom and for the fan design beside the photo. I used some gold dimensional pain and some aqua Stickles to create the 'vine' design to the right of the photo. The branch pattern to the left of the photo was cut from a paper in the kit and attached with pop dots. This page was quick and fast to put together. Here's some close up pic's......



And if that isn't enough, check out the Gorgeous Add-on kit for this month. It features the new collection from Webster's Pages called 'Hello Beautiful'.....this kit is packed with lovely papers and yummy embellies, loads of pearly embossed blooms plus larger fabric blooms in a variety of colours! An awesome CD case filled with co-ordinating journaling cards, pretty Prima crystal flourishes, lovely rub-ons and the cutest green 'vine' ribbon, pretty lace and a glowing strand of pearls. Here are some layouts I made with this kit......
The small white blooms have this lovely pearl finish and there are loads in this kit! I simply inked the tips with some Colorbox Garnet ink, then I gently curled up the petals between my thumb and forefinger to give the blooms some dimension. I attached them with 2 sided-sticky tape to the vine ribbon and used some fuscia colour dimensional paint for the centres. Again, the background burgundy paper is simply cardstock to which I added some white stamping as I described above. Here are some close up photos.....




Another Page I made with this kit I used a favourite photo of my parents when they first came to Canada from Germany. I love the way the papers in this kit work with vintage photos.....




Thanks for having a peek!
~Gabrielle xx

Yippee!!! I was asked to be on the Zva Creative Design Team!!!!

I was just so thrilled when a few weeks ago I got an email from Zva Creative asking if I'd consider being on their design team.......would I??!!! For sure!! They make such beautiful crystal flourishes, pretty blooms and cute brads!! A week or so later I got a big box in the mail filled with gorgeous goodies to design with! I've had some opportunity to work with their products in the past but WOW!! they've brought some new lines out that are just to die for!!

As soon as I had a free minute (with the kiddies off school and Steve with some vacation time, we've been doing a lot of running).....I just had to get a little scrapping in. Here are a couple of layouts I just made for the Winter CHA for the Zva Creative booth.....

Here are some close-up pictures of the Zva Products I used. The blue/green crystal flourishes, the crystal title, the rhinstone brads, the blue and brown blooms(except for the larger brown one), even the pop-dots are all Zva products. I added some small bronze rhinestones from their crystal strips package to the Queen Anns Lace rub-on to give it some extra texture and glimmer.....





This is the second layout I made for them. I used 3 types of blooms in this one, the heavy silk blooms, small felt blooms and the purple paper rosette blooms (wrapped around the circle frame), plus some wonderful gold colour crystal flourishes and some Satin covered brads that have a really pretty sheen in real life! The crystal title letters (Magic) are also by Zva.....






I can't wait to do some more pages!! Kiddies are back to school on Monday so I'll have lots of time to play! Check out the Zva Creative website for to see some of the beautiful products they offer!.... http://zvacreative.com/

~ Gabrielle xx

New December kits now available at My Creative Scrapbook!!....

So I'm struggling with this awful head cold/bronchitis, but yep! I still managed to get some work done with the beautiful December kits at My Creative Scrapbook. With all the wonderful goodies to choose from in the December kits (beautiful papers, glittery blooms and alpha's, super-fun rub-ons and pretty chipboard and of course some gorgeous crystal flourishes), putting together some fun pages was a snap! Here are three layouts I did with the December Main kit....

To make the black and white polka dot blooms I used a flower punch on black cardstock and used a white gel pen to draw the outlines and dots. Just use the tips of your fingers to give the petals a rounded effect. Another page I made using this kit (can you tell I got a new flower punch LOL!!!!).....

......and one more from the same kit! (with lot's still left to play with!!) The blooms I made here I first saw done by one of the talented ladies at MCS, Julia and also done by her daughter Sandie....I had to give them a try! easy and fun to do! Julia gave a tutorial at MCS on how to make these cute blooms! http://mycreativescrapbook.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=520 ......Everything you need is in the kit, I even used the transparent backing from the rub-on package to make my clear scalloped matting on this page, ...I just inked the edges to make it stand out better (talk about going green right? :D .....

The Creative kit this month had really cute winter papers in it from My Minds Eye, along with some pretty glitter laser cut snowflake paper and cute flourishy rub-ons....lots of silver glittery chipboard embellies too!! Here is a page I made with this kit! I was in a rush to get this one in under the deadline and managed to make it in one hour!! I cut the blooms out of cardstock and doodled on them to give them a 'stitched' look!....

But that's not it!!! There's an awesome Add-on kit with the warm soothing colours I like so much by Cosmo Cricket! Lots of pretty extra's in this kit too!! a pretty cut paper flourish, Hambley frame overlays (love those!!!), pretty blooms and lots of lovely ribbon and lace! Here are a couple of l/o's I made with this kit!......

I made the 'jewel' border by using a gold dimensional paint and adding stickles! .....here is a second page I made using the same add-on kit!......

Do you like what you're seeing.....then race on over to My Creative Scrapbook and pick-up a fun kit of your own!! Just follow this link and sign up! www.mycreativescrapbook.com ....you are gonna love these kits!!

Thanks for a having a looksee!!

~Gabrielle xx

My Guest Designer l/o for Creative Scrapper

I was recently asked to be a Guest Designer for Creative Scrapper blogspot. I was given a lovely sketch to work with by Jodi kautzner. This is my take on her sketch. Come check out this really inspirational site at http://creativescrappers.blogspot.com/ and see the work of the talented group of designers there!!

To make this page I did a lot of paper tearing and distressing. I like to ink my torn edges before I curl up the edges with my fingers. To make the butterflies, I print out an image of a real butterfly on a piece of transparency and then cut it out. I slightly fold up the wings to get a more 3D effect and attach to the page with a strong 2 sided sticky tape. I added a little extra detail to the wings with a white Souffle Pen and some transparent glitter glue. Just add an extra bite of detailing with some of those lovely Prima crystal flourishes, and there you have it!! Here are some close-up photo's of the details....

Thanks for having a peek!

~Gabrielle xx

A Gorgeous Websters Pages collection! & How To Make Your Own Pearl Flourishes!

I'm such a big fan of Websters Pages patterned papers!!  For this page I did some paper tearing and edge crinkling along with some fun stamping with a Prima frame stamp. 


I did a whole lot of paper tearing and inking to create these pages, ...I also added some glitter glue to add more of a whimsicle feel to the layouts. Here are some close-ups....



This is another l/o I made with more of the beautiful Websters Pages patterned papers.

Making handmade Pearl Flourishes
I made my own home-made flourishes for this one using copper dimensional paint! I used the plastic backing sheet from my Prima crystals as a guide to make the flourishes (once you've used the crystals on a Prima crystal sheet, it leaves behind and impression of the flourish....I place the design over my layout and used a pin to mark the spots, then I dabbed on some copper dimensional paint to create the flourish!)......here's some close-up pictures....


Another Page made with the Websters Pages collection....

here are some close-ups.....



Another layout I made with the ''Reflections of Nature" Add-on kit.....

I created my own 'pearl flourishes' using a string of pretty pearls included in the kit. I tacked them down to the page with small stitches here and there to keep them in place. Here are some close-up pics....



These are some layouts I using Crate Paper.....




Layouts I made featuring the Fancy Pants collection ...Daily Grind....


Thanks for Having a peek!
Gabrielle xx