Hello and welcome to my little corner of the web, where I will be sharing my scrapbook layouts, current project ideas, tutorials and more. I'm new to the blogging world, so come along for a wild and creative ride!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Unity

Good morning, well afternoon now!  Can't believe I've lost track of time today...but I got some scrapping done!  I want to share with you a new lo I titled Unity.  I took part in today's 5 step progressive challenge at scrapbook.com.  Seven individual steps are outlined, but you only have to do 5 of them to complete the challenge, you get extra points if you do all 7.

I love the Progressive Challenges.  I learn new techniques and come up with awesome lo's I wouldn't have otherwise.  This lo is scraplifted from Kotten's "Smile".  I really loved her curling/weaving technique. 

To creat my lo, I used 2 sheets of Prima "The Second Wind" paper collection, 1 sheet of Bazzill 12 x 12 French Vanilla cardstock, a 1/2 sheet of Basic Grey "Hello Luscious" (frame and flowers), and a 1/2 sheet of K & Company "Best of Brenda Walton" (polka dots). 

I started out by distressing the edges of the 2 Prima papers.  I inked the edges of the green paper with Colorbox gold ink and left the edges of the pink paper raw.  I cut the poka dot paper into strips and did a simple weave. 

I used Fiskars "Lace" combo corner punch and Martha Stewart's "Loop" corner punch to create the flowers.  You can find the tutorial here

I used Basic Grey "Undressed" Chipboard letters and followed this tutorial.  I put my own spin to the decorating by using ART-C glimmer mist in Red and inking the edges with a mix of the Colorbox gold and bronze inks.  Once it was dry, I randomly stamped over the letters.

I loved this challenge!  I look forward to using this techniques I learned in the future.  I hope to see you at the progressive challenge next month. 

Friday, October 28, 2011

Tell us 10 things about yourself that not a lot of people know

Hello all!  This post is going to be a little different than my others!  I'm taking part in a "Blog Challenge" and my challenge this week is to tell you 10 things about myself that few people know!  So....here goes:
1.  Favorite color: don't have one!  I actually like a lot of colors, but most range in the deeper shades; burgundy, gold, hunter green, dark purple, and teal.
2.  Pet Peeve: People who believe everyone owes them...take responsibility for your life and work for what you want!
3. Favorite Author(s):Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb & Stephanie Meyers
4. Favorite Band(s):Train, Script, New Kids on the Block, & Backstreet Boys(yes!  I'm still a teeny bopper at heart!)
5. Favorite T.V. shows:I love Survivor, Biggest Loser, Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives and Big Brother
6. Dream job(s):I have 2!  To be a published author and to own my own vacation resort in a warm sunny place!
7. Favorite Bible verse: Psalm 23
8. Favorite vacation spot: Myrtle Beach, S.C., Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg,TN,
9. Places I want to visit: Ireland, Memphis, TN, Bahamas
10. I grew up in a big city, but I now live in a tiny town and I love every minute of it!

So there you have it!  10 things that people outside of my family don't know about me.  I have ecclectic tastes in everything and I like it!  I like knowing that I am uniquely me.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Clearsnap & Epiphany Crafts bloghop

Good morning all!  Hope you all are having a wonderful week.  Just wanted to drop a quick line or two about the bloghop going on over at Clearsnap & Epiphany Crafts.  Clearsnap is the maker of Smooch Spritz and ColorBox inks and Epiphany Crafts makes the Shape and Button Studio tools, which allow the crafter to make their own expoxy or acrylic embellishments.  Both sites are featuring great project ideas throughout the week; and of course offering some great "candy"!  Hop over to their sites and take a look!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Our Treasures

Hello all!  I'm back today to share with you another layout.  I found this sketch from Flying Unicorn a while back and saved it to my sketch file. 
I actually forgot that I had this one saved until yesterday when I went looking through my file for inspiration. I wanted to scrap a formal portrait of my children taken last year but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.  Instant excitement!  Here's my interpretation on this sketch:

For this lo I used Bazzill Mysterious Teal and Burgundy cardstock, BasicGrey Simply Grand from their Hello Luscious Collection, and K&Company KO Addison Blue Garden Swirls papers.  I used my Cricut and the Lacy Labels cartridge to cut the shapes I placed behind the picture and I used the Serenade cartridge to cut the flowers in the lower right-hand corner.  For the little flowers I glued to the trim I used an old punch I had.  I found the gorgeous trim at Michaels and the title sign and the corner decorations are from the K&Company Elegance Die-cut pack (the reverse side has the word family printed on it, I flipped it over and hand wrote my title).  I also used some blue-y teal gems for some extra sparkle!  I love how this lo turned out and it was so simple to do!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Heritage Layout

Hello all!  Hope this post finds everyone doing not only well, but great!  Today I want to share my newest Heritage layout with you that I've entered in the 1,000 views challenge on MLogan Design blog.  The prize is a Scrap FX chipboard pack worth $50.  Check it out!

Now onto the lo:
I generally scrap my immediate family pictures, but recently I've started scrapping Heritage pictures from both mine and my husbands families.  I love taking a look back & seeing where we come from.  I want my children to know those who walked before them, even though they may not have had the chance to meet them.  My children love to look at the heritage pictures that my husband and I have, and I want to make sure that these priceless memories are preserved for future generations.

In this layout, the picture features my husband's grandmother as a young woman and his mother as a baby.  My children were and are fortunate to have known both of these amazing women. 


For this lo, I used Bazzill 12 x 12 cardstock in French Vanilla as my base and added an old beautiful print paper as my next layer.  I water distressed the edges and then inked with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye and with Ditto dye ink in Red.  The next layer I used a paper doily that I spritzed with ART-C Glimmer Mist in Red.  The color was more pink than I was expecting so I used the Ditto Red ink to bring out the detail of the doily.  I then used a small square of really old (circa 1998) paper that had a cream lace pattern as my next layer.  I water distressed the edges and inked with the Tea Dye.  I matted the picture on a piece of paper from the Me & My Big Ideas 8 x 8 Pismo kit.  Then I took 2 small chipboard pieces from the Fancy Pants Scrolls collection and inked them with the Red ink.  Once that was dry I embossed around the edges (should have paid more attention to the label, I thought it was clear, turned out it was white lol), I spritzed over that with the Red Glimmer mist, inked the edges with TH Tea Dye and embellished with some red gems.  I added the flowers, pearls and leaves and then used small pieces of Prima's Say It With Crystals Swirls in Clear.  For the title I used a metal sign from Making Memories Girl line, it reads "Absolutely Delightful".  I smeared a little bit of white acrylic paint over the letters and wiped it off to make the words stand out.  It's hard to see in the picture, but irl it looks great. 

If you have never tried scrapping your Heritage pictures give it a try.  Who knows, maybe you'll love it as much as I do!

Thanks for taking the time to visit!   
Denay

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall everyone!  While I'm very sad to say good-bye to summer I'm looking forward to Fall.  The crisp weather, the changing leaves, pumpkins, apples and the local Festivals, Halloween and Thanksgiving; what's not to like?!

Today, I'd like to share a new layout I completed this week.  The pictures were taken in October, 2009 while we were on a weekend trip to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, TN.  On the corner of the main street in Gatlingburg was a "harvest" vignette, including an outhouse!  My kids were laughing and joking about the outhouse, so of course I just had to go sit inside! (you won't catch me in a working one lol!).  My son thought that was great and had to ham it up also.  My husband thought we were crazy, and took the pictures to prove we were!

I used 3 pattern papers and a small strip of solid pumpkin colored cardstock.  Love the layering.  I inked around the sides with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Tea Dye to add a little definition to the papers.  I'm not much on stickers, but I used them on the banner, and the pumpkins are punch-outs both are adhered with Pop Dots to add dimension.  The title "Autum" and the corn embellie came in a fall kit I've had for years, also adhered with Pop Dots.  Love how the sun cast shadows behind the embellies!  
This is one of my favorite family fall memories!  What are yours?