Sunday, April 26, 2015

Small Moments

I'm just sharing my second Scraps of Darkness layout for April and totally loving this kit!
The photo features my little boy being held by my sweet niece, who passed away a few years ago. She was such a joy. It has been hard to look at her photos, much less scrap them, but I'm trying to ease myself into it slowly because I definitely want her memory preserved. And what better way to do that than scrapping?

I used the pigment powder from the kit and some spray mist to create the hearts. I just cut some heart shapes out of plain, white cardstock. Then, I sprinkled on some pigment powder and dripped on some spray mist. I sprayed all that with water to give it this cool, watercolor effect.

I backed the hearts with some strips of the patterned paper, and tucked some of the flowers in. I love the dimension the flowers gave to the page!
Here's one last close up. I am so glad I have photos like these. This is what our memory keeping is really about. I'm so thankful that I captured this sweet moment with my camera all those years ago. My son has memories of her, but he doesn't remember this photo being taken. It makes my heart happy to know that I can show him the photo and tell him the story behind it.


Saturday, April 25, 2015

An UmWowStudio Layout

Hi everyone! I'm just stopping by to share a quick tutorial that shows how I got this super cool glittery sheen on my UmWowStudio chipboard. Here's my layout:




So getting that watercolor sheen on the chipboard was super easy! I'm using this cute little UmWowStudio chipboard elephant to show you how I created the look. 



First, cover the chipboard with a thin layer of gesso and wait for it to dry.



Next, I used some pigment powder. I just scattered it randomly onto my chipboard. Then, I sprayed it with some water to make the color run.






Without waiting for the pigment to dry, I dripped some spray mist on there and sprayed it again with water. This causes the colors to run together and it creates a really cool effect.



 I also went around the edges with a black pen to add an extra touch. Here's the end result:

 I also realized there was a happy bonus to this little technique. When I lifted off the chipboard after all that spritzing, I had this amazing background splatter and was able to use it as the background for my layout.


UmWowStudio products used:
http://umwowstudio.com/chipboard/100185.html

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Fly Away

Hi everyone! Today I'm sharing my first project with the April Scraps of Darkness kit. This kit is just so lovely!
This photo has been stuffed in a drawer for years. I had forgotten it existed! Lately, though, I've been hunting for old photos to scrap because my baby boy is now sporting a mustache and thinks he's too cool to be in front of my camera. I am getting very few photos of him lately!

I used some strips of the patterned paper from the kit to create a base for my photo to sit on. But first, I created the background for the page using some gesso and the teal powder from the kit. I covered part of the page in gesso, and added some drops of water after the gesso had dried. I then dropped my paint/powder on there and swirled it around with my paintbrush. When that was dry, I used the stencil to create the cool/scratchy looking surface on top of the paint. Love the way that turned out!

I used some of the embellies and twine to layer behind my butterflies. I adore these butterflies! They are cute a pretty, but the colors make them still manly enough to use on a boy page.
Thanks for stopping by! :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

An UmWowStudio Project

I just stopped by today to share this layout I created with my UmWowStudio goodies!
I simply adore this photo of my daddy and all his siblings. I wanted to make this layout bright and fun, because they are happy-go-lucky kind of folks. I started with a painted yellow background. I used the diamond confetti mask to add some white gesso into the background and then added a bit more white gesso using the circle confetti mask. Then I added in some chevron shapes cut from some patterned paper by American Crafts.

I covered my layered squares in white gesso before painting them with blue india ink. I went back over them with more white gesso, using a technique like the one I mentioned in this post. I wrapped some twine around them to top them off.

I also used some white gesso and paint to cover the noted piece from the arrow title mash and added a bit of patterned paper behind it.

UmWowStudio products used: 
 Diamond Confetti Mask
Circle Confetti Mask

Layered Squares
Arrow Title Mash!

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Another March Layout for Scraps of Darkness

I'm just stopping by to share my last layout with the March Scraps of Darkness kit. I created this layout with a photo of my sweet Daddy and I.
When I started this layout, I decided that I was going to use only the black and tan paper plus a white background. But I just couldn't do it. No color at all just doesn't work for me and my weird style. So I threw in some lime green buttons for good measure.





I created the top border by cutting some of the patterned paper into strips and making a loop at the bottom of the strips. Then I scattered around some hearts and clouds cut from the patterned paper as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, April 4, 2015

New Layouts to Share

Hi everyone! I have two new layouts to share today. This first one is a project I completed for UmWowStudio.



I just adore this page. I love the soft, pastel-ish colors. That is a big change from my normal bright, cheery colors. I created a tutorial to show how I used gesso and drywall tape to alter the chipboard banner pieces. You can check it out here.

And here's my third layout using the March kit from Scraps of Darkness. Talk about moving away from my normal color scheme! I went from my favorite bright colors to darker with this page. I am enjoying pushing myself to use the darker colors in the Scraps of Darkness kits. It's fun to be driven out of my comfort zone! I still haven't managed to give up my precious white space, though. lol

 This photo totally sums up my feelings about my son learning to drive. In other words: I am completely terrified! He is just now learning to drive our atv's and I am freaking out. How I will ever put him behind the wheel of a car and send him on his way is beyond me.

I have done a bit of everything with the kit this month. My first layout was a heritage page and my second was a sweet layout with a photo of Caleb and I. This third one is a goofy page. If that doesn't show that this kit is versatile, I don't know what does!

I painted the black circle on using my watercolor pen. I wrote the words with a pencil and went back to trace over them with the watercolor pen.

I created the chevron with pieces of the patterned paper and topped them off with a couple of the sparkly brads from the kit. Some of the chevron pieces are popped up on foam tape to add dimension. I also added a strip of paper down the center to cover up the lines where the pieces connect.

Thanks for stopping by! :)