Here they are!! Septembers Kit Line-ups from My Creative Scrapbook!!!

This months line-up of kits at My Creative Scrapbook has a little something for everyone!! Pam worked hard to get together loads of the new releases from last months CHA show and I have to say the Limited Edition kit just blew my mind when I got it!! These papers are among my most favourite of the new releases from CHA. And wait till you get a peek at the embellishments in this kit! Can you say Prima?! Included in the kit are the beautiful velvety Baroque blooms, the Prima branches with the cute butterflies attached, a package of the Parlour Petals, a full tube of co-ordinating paper blooms to go with the 'Indeed' Paper collection, Prima alpha's and crystal flourishes. Included also in this kit are these really cute chandelier crystals. These crystals were so much fun to work with. Those of you who are familiar with my etsy site have probably seen the Page Jewellery I've been making over the past couple months. When I saw these crystals I thought why not use them the same way. So I tinted the chandelier crystals with a bit of alcohol ink (the crystals come clear, I used 'wild plum' and 'meddow' on my crystals) and wrapped them with some copper wire (you can find the wire at Michaels or any hardware store). Here are some close-ups of the above page.....

TIP: To attach the Page Jewellery I make to a layout I use a pin to poke a tiny hole on each side of the copper vine. Then I take a one inch piece of copper wire, bend it in a 'U' shape and bring each end over the vine and through the paper and then do it up like a twist-tie at the back of the paper. I do this in 2 or three key places and it holds the vine to the page nice and securely and you don't really see the copper wire attachment, it kinda gets lost in among the twisted wire of the vine.

Here is another layout I made using this kit. I love this picture of Meagan on a railroad track that I took at the cottage a couple of weeks ago. I thought it would be fun to use the chandelier crystals like little 'raindrops'. So I drew lines coming from the top of the page and stopping at random spots, then I attached a crystal at the ends with a needle and thread.

Here are some detail pictures of this page.....


There are so many beautiful papers in this kit and there are two of each style, which I just love because they are 2-sided papers (I always have a tough time choosing which side to use when there is only one of each paper). Here is the 3rd page I made using this kit.....

I had to laugh when I was taking these pictures of Meagan at the cottage. Here I am snapping these photos and I say to her, just relax and act normal, I don't want these photo's to look too 'posey' ....Meagan looks at me with this funny little grin and says, "Mom, how could this page not look posed, it's not like I walk around with a crown of roses on my head all the time!" .....for an eight year old she makes a lot of sense, LOL! Here are some close-ups of the page details (there are some really pretty Prima rub-ons in this kit too!).....


I couldn't resist, I did up a 4th layout for the LE kit this month (and still have lots of papers and goodies left over to make more!!).....

For this page I used layers of the Prima paper blooms (included in the kit) and added some flower stamens in the centers of the blooms.
TIP: You can make your own flower stamens by cutting 1-2 inch pieces of string (hemp style string works best for this) and dipping the ends of the string in some pearly dimensional paints. Let them dry. Then fold them in half and poke the folded end through the center of the blooms. I then cut the folded end of the strings and glue them flat to the backside of the bottom flower.
Here are some close-ups of the details of this page....

The Main kit this month features the newest collection from Pink Paislee! There are so many fun embellishments in this kit too! My husband snapped this photo of me when we went on a little hike a couple of weeks ago. I used the floral patterned paper and hand-cut the tree/blooms to wrap around the side of my photo.....

I added some dots of pink pearly dimensional paint to the centers of all the blooms to add an extra element of texture to the page, and applied the cut design with foam pop dots ....

Another page I made up using this kit is one I made about my nephew Michael. I love it when he pulls out his guitar and just starts singing for us, he had us laughing by making up a song about us at the cottage.....

My friend and fellow design team member Mireille did a tutorial at My Creative Scrapbook showing how to do this really cool 'faux stitching' technique. I tried it out on the red matting around the photo of my nephew. I really love the effect, it looks like that heavy bookbinding stitching.... (check out the cute newsprint blooms in this kit too, I like that they are not too feminine looking so I think they can still work nicely on a more masculine style page).....

And finally I really had some fun getting creative with this last l/o I made for the main kit this month. I came up with the idea for this page when I saw the College Press paper collection (some of which are included in this kit)....I saw one that had a sky design so I thought wouldn't it be fun to create my own 'painting' using a photo, some patterned paper and some water colour paint. I used a piece of vanilla colour cardstock as the base of my page, then layered on some of the Pink Paislee patterned papers to look like a cliff side and a small mound of rock. (the green paper reminded me of limestone cliffs). I painted the top of the page with some watercolours to make a sky and attached my photo to the bottom of the cliff walls. I created a sparkling waterfall by drybrushing some white paint down the patterned paper right onto my photo. I added some glittery Stickles to give the falls some shimmer and painted the sides with a little water colour paints to give the photo some continuity. Here's the results.....

I was on a tight time frame this month so I didn't get a chance to work with the beautiful Creative Kit and Album kit, but you've got to check out what some of the other design team members did with these awesome kits! The Creative kit this month features the beautiful new summery papers by My Minds Eye and the album kit features the new Jillibean Soup collection.....here's a link to the design team gallery for a bunch more inspiration! Design Team Gallery

Thanks again to everyone who reads all the way to the bottom of my long long posts!! LOL! (I really felt it this time, I've got a pinched nerve in my neck/shoulder so it was slow going getting this post ready.....now I need to load up on some Tylinol 3's.....hope this pain will let up before my next months kits show up)

~Gabrielle xxx

HUGE Anniversary Contest at My Creative Scrapbook!!!

It's the 7th anniversary for MY CREATIVE SCRAPBOOK and they are holding a contest with mind-blowing prizes!!! Check out the above pictured prize!....this is the prize for the layout catagory.....but keep looking, here are the prizes for some of the other catagories in this contest!.....

Prize for mini-album catagory....

Prize for Altered Item Catagory.....

Prize for Card catagory....

What do you need to do to win these prizes you ask? Simple!! The contest is all about PAPER (7th anniversary is the paper anniversary, how fitting huh?).....create a new layout, altered item, mini-album or card and enter it into the contest between August 15, 2009 - September 20, 2009. More contest details found HERE

But the fun doesn't stop there!! At the end of the contest there will be a final draw for the Grand Prize inwhich all the entries will be gathered into a draw (even the winners of each of the catagories will be added to this draw).....and here is picture of the Grand Prize.....

And to add just a little more fun to this party.....Pam has added a weekly prize drawing as an extra bonus, all you need to do is join in the contest fun and post comments on the entries in the contest.....Pam will be watching and adding the names of the participants to a draw each week.

So pull out all those beautiful papers and get scrapping!!! The odds of winning are great and the prizes amazing!....Can't wait to see all the entries!

~Gabrielle xxx

My new Page Jewellery at my Etsy Shop!

Scrapbookers have come a long way when it comes to our pages and the things we choose to embellish them with. Flower vines, 3D butterflies, hinges, gems, you name it we use it on our pages to make them more special. So I thought, hey, why not page jewellery! I created these pretty vines to add that 'something special' to a page that demands something unique and pretty. (my first batch sold out very quickly, but I should have a whole lot more posted soon) They measure approximately 4-5 inches. (the ones on the black background are a combination of three of them layed out in different configurations, just to show different ways they can be used.....you can create a larger very intricate branch or you can lay them out like an 'L' to frame the corner of a photo etc.) Shown below are more varieties I've made (sold out, but I'll have more up soon





So come browse my Etsy Shop - Gabrielle's Tiny Treasures to add a little fun, flair and uniqueness to your pages.

Thanks!

~Gabrielle xxx

August Kits for My Creative Scrapbook!!

I was just crazy about the Limited Addition Kit for August from My Creative Scrapbook, full of summery goodness with a vintage flair!! Not only is this kit filled with beautiful papers, there are loads of lacey die-cut papers, velvety soft Prima blooms, New Prima branches and crystals and over the top GORGEOUS trims from Websters Pages (crochetted lace, pom-pom trim, velvety soft trims, eyelet lace). They were just perfect for the photo's I had taken of my girls recently. Above is a picture of Chloe, I tucked her top 10 Favourites at age 11 in a tag behind the photo, here are some close-ups of the kit goodies!.....


There's so much variety in the colours in this kit too, so I was able to make it work with photo's that had strong colours. This is one I made with the LE kit of my youngest daughter Meagan.....If you like the felted sweater bloom headbands the girls are wearing, I have more like them that I made and are for sale in my ETSY shop!

I called this one Wonderful Freckles, but in truth I'm feeling so guilty for not watching carefully while we were in Florida that she had on proper sunscreen.....she got quite the sunburn that thereafter turned into freckles....all mommy's fault. Note to self: keep sunscreen handy this summer! Here are some close-up pic's of more of the kit goodies (love the pom-pom trim and Prima branches!)....

And here is one more page I made up with the LE kit, with loads of leftover goodies to make more!! This one is of Meagan in front of a Magnolia tree....one of her favourite flowers.....and no, I didn't mis-spell the title, it's sort of a tongue-in-cheek play on words.

TIP: I used a little die-cutter by Boss-kuts to make the butterflies from the patterned paper in the kit. I never knew this before, but these die-cutters are as thin as the Quickutz so they can be used with your Revolution cutting Machine.....so if you ever see these on sale, you can safely purchase them to use with your Revolution.



If you'd like even more summery options for kits this month, check out the Main kit from MCS this month, I fell in love with this pretty white petal branch in the kit, and talk about bloom overload, this kit is filled with wonderful Prima blooms, along with the new Prima branch, theres also the Calipso roses, and a full pack of Prima Sprites! I have this photo I took of Meagan when she was a baby and I thought it worked nicely with it.....

Really a fairly simple layout, a little paper tearing, a little handstitching and I sketched out a brick pattern and used some water colour pencils to colour it in a bit.

TIP: When preparing to tear your patterned paper, lightly outline the area you want exposed with a pencil. This will help you to avoid tearing too far in or out. Also securing the vines can sometimes be a challenge, one way to make them really secure is using a couple of small stitches through your paper and over the stem of the vine. In this case I used a thick thread because I wanted it to show, to mirror the stitching at the top of the page, but if you use a fine thread and tuck the holes close to the stem it is not very discernable. Here are some close-ups......

Another page I made using the August Main kit is this one of Meagan by a pool with the sun shining down on her. I took one of the pretty Prima blooms in the kit and took off the back layer of the rose, still leaving a nice substantial flower. I ended up with a single 5 petal layer. I cut this up into 5 separate petals. I then curled each one and wrapped some sticky floral tape on it, then attached it to some floral wire, did the same for the leaves (simply some green cardstock cut in to leaf shapes) and this way I created little bud vines to go with the big bloom included in the kit. Here is the l/o and some close-ups....



The August Creative Kit this month has wonderful colours for both 'boy' and 'girl' pages. I made this page of my nephew holding his new baby niece.....

I cut some branches from brown cardstock and used a little flower punch to make some tiny white blooms to create a fresh summery embellishment for this page. Not comfortable cutting branches free-hand? I've got some lovely pre-cut branches at my etsy shop just like the ones I used here, you can mix and match the designs to create a branch or tree that suits your page. Here are some close-ups....

Included in the August creative kit are some fun clear heavy plastic embellishments. So I thought I would try my and at some embossing and using alcohol inks. I've seen my friend Irene Tan playing with these inks for quite some time now and have always meant to give it a go. So when I got these clear embellishments in the kit I thought I'd give it a try. I stamped the top of the arrow, buttons and picture corners with embossing ink and a flourish stamp. I dusted it with gold embossing powder and then applied a heat gun to it. You have to be VERY careful with this part because if you bring the heat gun too close to the plastic piece it can scorch it (it also may cause the piece to curl a little but you can flatten it as it cools).........the next step is to turn it over and apply a few different drops of alcohol ink. Once it's dry you can flip it over and you'll have a very unique embellishment for your page.....

I also created my own 'patterned' paper using a piece of cream colour cardstock cutting it in a bracket shape and randomly stamped the edges with some floral and script stamps. Then just chalk around the edges with black or brown chalk ink to finish it off. Here are some close-ups....



Want more inspiration? the rest of the design team girls have done a beautiful job with this months kits (there's also a wonderful Album kit too!) Come browse the Design Team Gallery for August and get your creative juices flowing!

LOL! I thanks for bearing with me through another of my LOOOONG posts!

~Gabrielle xxx