Tea Time Tuesday 3-22-2011

Hello, all! I think I may be coming down with something! I hope nothing hits me too hard; I hate being sick because it stops me from scrapping and everything I have to do. Well, I don't know about you all but flamingos remind me of Alice in Wonderland where Alice plays croquet with the Queen. I was trying to think about what to do for the Extremely Excessive Exorbitance Challenge at scrapbook.com where one had to use a minimum of 3 feet of fiber and for the twist you would use 7 feet. I was at W-mart recently and passed by the knitting aisle and saw this great roll of fibrous knitting yarn in white that reminded me of feathers. So I dyed the fibers with Worn Lipstick mist that I made and combined that with a Color Room sketch and color palette #11 and a flamingo digital stamp from The Octopode Factory.

The Color Room Palette and Sketch #11.

Flamingo layout. Here is my take on Color Room Sketch and Palette #11. I saw this flamingo at The Octopode Factory and knew I had to use it! So cute, I think. The background paper is stamped using various leaf and flower stamps and The Paper Studio Pink and Lime Green, and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks. The photos are not mine but are open stock. I also drew white stitches around the page with an opaque pen.

Flamingo Close-Up. This is a close-up of the fibers I dyed with Worn Lipstick mist I made using Worn Lipstick re-inker and Perfect Pearls. I ended up using 12 ft of fiber.

Monochromatic Monday

Hello, all! Just stopping in really quick today to share a monochromatic layout! I am in the middle of helping my eldest daughter move out of one apartment and into another, so my sleeves are rolled up and my ponytail is in full swing! lol! Getting tired but it must be done! So for the Monochrome Challenge over at scrapbook.com the 4th Week was Bright Bluebird Blue with the twist of "Let's All Sing."

Lullabye & Goodnight layout (I realize that Lullaby is misspelled but I wanted it that way! Lol!). This is my son with my BFF while she was pregnant. My son wouldn't leave her side while she was expecting and this day he was so tired that he fell asleep on her. All the papers are from Tim Holtz' Vintage Shabby paper stack. The letters are Thickers and I used some ribbon, Faded Jeans Distress Ink, and Baby Blue Stickles.

Sketch Inspirations and Scraps of Darkness

Hello, all! Today I have a page to share with you that involves a Sketch Inspirations and Scraps of Darkness! Scraps of Darkness is the sponsor this week over at Sketch Inspirations and the SOD DT decided to chip in and each contribute a page as examples. I hope you'll go on over to Sketch Inspirations to check this week's sketch out and play along! The winner this week will get an SOD kit as the prize!

Sketch Inspirations Sketch #212.

Your Ancestors layout. This is the page I created using Sketch Inspirations Sketch #212. The photo is of my FIL's family. I handmade the flower and used my March SOD kit, which was full of Paper Loft For the Record papers.

(Paper) Trailmakers Sketch Challenge

Hello, all! I just wanted to give you a heads up about the challenge going on over at the (Paper) Trailmakers' Blog. There is a prize of a $15 gift certificate. I hope some of you will join in! Here is the description according to Karen:

It's a Sketchy Challenge this time!!

Hello everyone - welcome to Challenge #2 for March here at TrailMakers. I am so excited to share this sketch with you all!! Our very own DT member - Amarilys designed it specifically for YOU so please make use of it!! Remember, even though it shows a bunch of flowers, you can use any type of embellishment in place of it. Also, remember this is all about YOUR interpretation of her beautiful sketch so you can follow it exactly or make your own creation based off of it!

You will have until Saturday April 2nd to link your sketch creation to Mr. Linky. Also - reminder to you that if you participate in both challenges and put in your comment section that you are interested in a GDT spot, you are in the running for Guest Designer for May and also everyone who participates this month in the activities posted here on the blog are eligible for that $15 gift certificate to my store The Paper Trail. Each time you participate you get a chance to win!!!

This is a fabulous sketch and prize! So I hope some of you will give this a try!

Saturday Steampunk 3-19-2011

Hello, all! Here we are on another Steampunk Saturday! I am a huge Nathan Fillion fan. I watch Castle every Monday and I loved Firefly. Wish the networks would bring it back! The Science Network is actually airing reruns of it, so at least that is a start! Lol! Then Nathan Fillion was featured on this week's Entertainment Weekly cover and I was inspired to do a page about that awesome, amazing show. I watched a couple of episodes to get inspired and noticed the connection of steampunk to the show. The aesthetic of the show is a cross between old westerns and space travel. So here is my page dedicated to one of my favorite television shows of all time! Firefly!

Firefly layout. I found this photo on the Internet and I loved the panoramic look to it so I used it for this page. The papers are from the Tim Holtz Lost and Found paper stack. I used my Cricut Expression and the Indie Art cartridge to cut out the gears. I misted the background with Lindy's Stamp Gang Burnt Umber Moon Shadow Mist. The stars are stamped on with a star stamp and Adirondack Heirloom Gold paint dabber. The dots are Heirloom Gold and Pearl paint.

I also made some gears using a mold I made and UTEE in platinum and bronze. Here is a link to my tutorial on how to make your own embellishments with UTEE: http://scrapsofdarkness.com/TutorialUTEEembel.html.

Whatever Wednesday 3-16-2011

Hello, all! For Whatever Wednesday today I wanted to share another Scraps of Darkness project I was working on. This is a Prima Mist-a-bles canvas, although you can't tell any more! Lol! I kind of went overboard with the ink! I just saw Red Riding Hood yesterday and I was greatly inspired to use an image I found on the Internet almost a year ago (I think it was at the Graphics Fairy). I also completed a layout with the Thursday Sketch from the Pages in Time Blog for 3-10-2011, which I will share below.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? layout. I was inspired by the movie Red Riding Hood, which I saw yesterday and remembered that I had this image saved. I used my March Scraps of Darkness kit on this. I used Be Positive and Stiletto Glimmer Glam on the background then stamped and embossed the flourishes with Lindy's Stamp Gang Gold Embossing Powder. I stitched on lace, and added a flower that I made using my own tutorial for Dechire Style Flowers (See link below) and some Prima flowers and Prima metal flowers. The gold rose was white and I misted it with Lindy's Stamp Gang's Gossamer Gold Moon Shadow mist. The wolf eyes are from my Immortal Love paper stack. The vine, Thickers, and black mini roses are from my stash.

Link to Dechire Style Flower Tutorial: http://scrapsofdarkness.com/TutorialDechireFlowers.html 

Thursday Sketch at Pages in Time Blog for 3-10-2011.

Birdies layout. I used the Pages in Time Sketch for 3-10-2011 for this page. The photos are of birds we saw while my family was visiting the Cameron Park Zoo in March 2010. I used Heidi Swapp papers and Thickers.

The Scraps of Darkness March Release post is below.

Tea Time Tuesday and March Scraps of Darkness Kit Release

Hello, all! What a wonderful day for sharing some scrappy projects! Today is also the release of the Scraps of Darkness March kit release! The name of the kit is Vintage Revelry! I want to tell you this month's kit was a lot of fun to work with; full of Paper Loft and Graphic 45 papers, Prima flowers in metal and fabric, and tons of extra goodies to embellish your pages. I actually used my March kit to complete a Wonderland-y project (more on that in a bit). Here is the March Kit - Vintage Revelry!

Scraps of Darkness March Kit - Vintage Revelry.

Scraps of Darkness March Sketch

 by Suepup aka Charlotte.

Chic layout. My take on the March Scraps of Darkness Sketch. The Graphic 45 Curtain Call line really plays up French drama and I wanted to add a little drama to my page. I used Moon Shadow Mist by Lindy's Stamp Gang in Gossamer Gold from my kit on all the flowers and used my UTEE melting pot to melt bronze UTEE and make the mask and roses in molds (A tutorial for how to make your own embellishments and molds is below). I used the gold embossing powder from the kit on the flourished I cut out of cardstock. I also used UTEE to cover the Kaisercraft birdcage. The pin on this page was made exclusively for Scraps of Darkness by Craftysprinkles aka Mandy.

The Pot of Gold at the End of My Rainbow layout. I was in the St. Paddy's Day mood and came up with this page. The pot is an image from the Internet. The papers are Bazzill Fresh Kiwi and Graphic 45 Curtain Call Leading Ladies from my March SOD kit.. The clover is made of hearts cut with my Cricut Expression, the rainbow is made of buttons from my stash, and the title is from my ever growing stash of Thickers.

Family - Etched in Our Memories layout. The Vintage Revelry kit really inspired me to create heritage layouts. These photos are of my father-in-law's parents. I wanted to really focus on the photos and the vintage look so I used lace trim, Paper Loft For The Record Family Tree and Journal papers, and some Paper Loft Words and Titles. I also used my Fiskars Threading Water border punch with some Bazzill Coal cardstock, Rainboots Thickers, and a flower I made (a link for a tutorial for this flower is below).

So Vain layout. When I saw the Graphic 45 Curtain Call Moulin Rouge B side pattern of peacock feathers, I saw the opportunity to scrap some of my peacock photos from the many trips to the zoo my family has taken. The large photo and the feather photo are not mine though, lol! Mine were not very pretty and I wanted to show the true splendor of the bird. The smaller photo at the bottom is mine. The color add-on for the March kit is amazing!!! The color on the peacock paper is Starburst's Tibetan Poppy Teal by Lindy's Stamp Gang. You should see the shimmer on this in real life! I used the Bazzill Fresh Kiwi cardstock, some gorgeous and bright Prima flowers, a Kaisercraft birdcage; all from the kit, some fuchsia cardstock with various border punches, Stickles in Lime Green and Distress Stickles in Worn Lipstick, Fabric Thickers, and some lacey trim I had.

Beauteous layout. Another heritage layout form this month's SOD kit! I loved the vintage feel to all these papers and I just had to scrap another old photo. This is my father-in-laws mother. The journaling reads "This is Grandpa Gil's mother. We don't know much about her, except that she was loved." I used the Moon Shadow's Gossamer Gold Mist on the flowers and for the masking on the cardstock. I also used a Prima fabric flower, a couple of Prima metal flowers, and lace trim from the kit. The brown "pearl" embellishments are drops of UTEE from my melting pot. The crystal flourishes are from my stash and are colored with Adirondack Espresso Alcohol Ink.

Doorway to Wonderland Altered Album Outside. I wanted to create something for the Altered Alice Challenge this month which is about the Hall of Doors and part of the challenge was to create something with a door and an extra of having it open. So with my SOD March kit, I created this altered album. I bought an old scrapbook album at a flea market (Before picture is below the next photo) and decoupaged the entire thing with Modge Podge and the brown paper bags that the kit comes packaged in. I used Paper Loft For the Record Estate paper, a Graphic 45 door knob and plate, and a Prima butterfly from the kit. The forest moss and hinges are from my stash and I stamped and colored the mushrooms. I also added some additional wings to the butterfly, which I cut with my Cricut Expression and covered in Turquoise Stickles.

Doorway to Wonderland Altered Album Inside. This is the inside of my altered scrapbook. The photo is one of my favorite illustrations from the Alice in Wonderland book. There's something about that checkerboard field. I also added a cut out of the White Rabbit. All the flowers on this are from current and past Scraps of Darkness kits. I also added some stained wood flourishes at the corners. Don't know what I'll be using it for yet, but I'm thinking it will do quite nicely as an art journal.

Album Outside Before.

Album Inside Before.

Link to the Dechire Style Flower Tutorial : http://scrapsofdarkness.com/TutorialDechireFlowers.html

Link to the Making Embellishments with UTEE/Molds Tutorial: http://scrapsofdarkness.com/TutorialUTEEembel.html