Jenni Bowlin Studios | All Things Gold and Glittery

Happy Friday all! I am sharing a few cards made highlighting some of my favorite things from the new Jenni Bowlin line available in the Come on Get Crafty Shop today here.

 

   

Here are a few cards I created using some of these items:

These cards came together really quickly and were so fun to make! 

**OTHER SHOP ITEMS USED: PL Card Kit journaling cards-pink, yellow stripe, and houndstooth), Bella Blvd (star patterned paper and "hello" sticker tag).

Have a fabulous weekend! 

Suz

Skipping 5 & Social {Media} Butterflies Blog Hop August Edition

Hi All! After a short summer hiatus, the butterflies are back post-summer CHA (now CreateNConnect) inspiration overload and we are so excited to be designing with Skipping 5 this month! Nattarida (Natt) Smith is the owner of Skipping 5 and her e-commerce store is based out of Denver, Colorado. Her store has everything from cute stationary, adorable puffy stickers, sequins, stamps, and yummy "candy" embellishments. Here is a link to her store: http://skipping5.com

A special shout out to Natt for sponsoring SMB this month! Thanks for joining us! :) :)


Now, on to my creations and a little bit about them!

When these little pieces of "scrap candy" made it into my mailbox? Well,  I squealed. They are so adorable and I love that they add texture, dimension, and pops of color to my creations!

The little square candies reminded me straight off of gumdrops! And when I saw them they reminded me of my big sis, "Linny," and how much she loved gumdrops. So, these little scrap candy "gumdrops" inspired me to create a layout of some of her favorite things.  (For those of you who may not know, we lost my sister suddenly about 2.5 years ago. So, I often turn to something I love--scrapbooking, to help remember her and to leave some lasting memories for me, my niece and nephew, and the rest of the family and friends she left behind. Scrapbooking is my form of grief therapy. (Thanks for listening).

Now, on to my layout! :) It is bright and fun and cheerful and totally screams Linda! (I know she would approve. :) :) She was all about big, bright, bold, and bling!! ;)

And here are a few cards I created with the puffy things.

For this card, I broke into my jar of modeling paste again and used the Glitz roller doodle anchor stamp to make the background texture. Then I painted over it with gelatos and metallic watercolor paints.

I really love the added texture and dimension it gives to the card and plan on getting creative with mixed media again really soon! (Thanks Wilna Furstenburg and Rhonda Palazzari!!) 

Next up on the hop is the lovely and talented Kristin! Click here: http://rukristin.com/blog/2013/08/social-media-butterflies-august-blog-hop/ to continue hopping and to be inspired! Be sure to leave a little love for each contributor along the way. I know they appreciate hearing feedback on their designs!

**********************GIVEAWAY AND SALE ALERT!!! **************************

And not only can you receive a 15% discount on your Skipping 5 order by using the promo code SMB15 at checkout, you can win one of 2 giveaways of 4 sets of Skipping 5 stickers! So be sure to leave some love along the way to increase your chances of winning!!
Good luck and happy shopping and hopping! ;)

Suz

Guesting with Fiskars

Today I am excited to share that I am guest posting over on the Fiskars (Fiskateers') blog with a few cards that I created with my Fiskars trimmer, microtip scissors, and a few Fiskars punches.

First up is this card: "YOUR LOVE IS LIFTING ME HIGHER" 

To create this card, I cut some background patterned paper to add to my card base. Next I "drop" misted all over the background paper with Opaque White Studio Calico Mr. Huey's. I used the Fiskars postage stamp punch as the "basket" to my hot air balloon. For the main portion of the balloon I drew a simple pattern out of some left over packaging (really thin parchment-like paper) and cut it up into pieces as show below. 

Then I used the pattern and traced around each piece with the various patterned papers and pieced them together by adhering to another piece of the parchment like paper. I then cut around the perimeter of the ballon paper piecing. (*Note: You could leave out this step and just adhere pieces of the balloon directly to the card, but this technique allowed me to move the balloon around as a whole for better placement instead of having to reposition each piece if it wasn't just the way I wanted it). Then I used my sewing machine and added some stitching for added dimension. 

For the balloon strings, I added hemp cord and adhered it to the back of both the balloon and the basket with washi tape. I added dimension to the balloon & basket by using pop-dots. Next, I punched out two clouds from basic white cardstock and adhered to the card. I used my handwriting to write the card sentiment, stitched around it, and adhered to the base of the card. I placed a small heart (Crate Paper Pier Collection) that I misted with SC Mister Huey's sunset to the "basket." And there ya go. One card done and one to go!

Next up is my "HELLO THERE" card:

For this card, I began by placing the Lily Bee chipboard banners in the pattern shown onto the card base.  Then I cut an "X" through the center of the card base and trimmed back to leave a square shape to make the opening for my sentiment. Then I placed the chipboard banners on the yellow patterned background paper and traced around them leaving a small border. I removed the chipboard banners and cut around my tracing, discarding the center and leaving the remaining yellow patterned background paper. I adhered this to my card, centering it. I then adhered the chipboard banners into place and stitched as shown. I typed my sentiment onto a small scrap of the yellow patterned background paper, stitched around it in a square shape and adhered to the inside of the card, centering it so that the sentiment could be read through the peek window.

I really had fun making these cards! Below is a complete listing of tools and supplies used to create them.

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have regarding them in the comment section below! And be sure to head over to the Fiskateers' blog here! I believe there is a creative challenge and a giveaway involved! ;) Enjoy the rest of your week! Happy crafting!

Suz

 

Hi All! Back with you on this lovely Tuesday to share with you some weekend inserts that I use when working on my everyday life documented. Since much of what my family does together is shared on the weekends (or more of the fun, exciting stuff anyways) I almost always implement some sort of page insert into my PL spread that highlights the weekend activities. This works for me because I have more time to take pictures on the weekend too. And this past weekend happened to have a bunch of activities, so I actually used two page inserts! (*Yes, I have always been a rule follower but find that breaking creative rules are kind of fun the older I get). That's one of the many things I love about this type of documentation; you can make it fit your needs, or your creative style!

So, on to my weekend inserts:

First up, I loved, loved, loved seeing this patterned paper by Bella Blvd show up in my DT goody package!! I knew immediately I wanted to break out my Copic markers and have a little bit o' fun coloring outside the lines! (*There I go breaking the rules again! LOL)

Beneath the photo I have another Becky Higgins PL card that has journaling about the story behind the wand bottle opener my friend is holding (er, I mean waving). ;) I simply used my tiny attacher to staple the front photo (on green heart BB sticker)  to the back card. You can still lift the photo and easily read the journaling.

Here is the back side of the first weekend insert:

 On the backside of the "hello" PL journal card I wrote about having our eldest son's GF over for dinner for the first time.So surreal that I have a son old enough to drive and to have a girlfriend. *Sigh.  

The front of weekend insert #2:

We attended a concert by a fave local 80s band of ours after the taekwondo pool/bbq party. So, so fun and the weather was perfect for this outdoor event! I loved that the theme gave me great reason to break into the awesome neon Freckled Fawn Enamel Dew Drop Stickers that are in the COGC shop. ;) The orange "80s" and "Members Only" is a cut up concert wristband I saved. I always find it kinda fun to work ephemera and memorabilia into my PL spreads.

Some close ups highlighting several of the adorable stickers from the Bella Blvd Everyday and Snapshots lines (*now available in the COGC shop!) 

I used Becky Higgins Design H page protector for the first weekend insert and American Crafts for the Second.

 And the back of the second insert:

The top card flips up to reveal hidden journaling. Journaling talks about my hubs playing some mean ragtime on the piano and everyone at the party  enjoying it. What some didn't know is that it is also a player piano, so when he was finishedreally playing, they had others go up to the piano and give it a try. Then they set the piano in motion! It was a fun surprise by a quite a few! LOL

**SHOP ITEMS USED:  BB Daily Chevies Pickle Juice Patterned Paper (B side-black with white stars),

Bella Blvd Daily Chevies Everyday Bookplate Stickers, Bella Blvd Play Date Tab Stickers, Bella Blvd Snapshots Bookplates Days Stickers, Bella Blvd Snapshots Bookplates Stickers, Bella Blvd Snapshots Captions Stickers, http://comeongetcrafty.net/collections/chic-tags/products/road-trip-note-clips,  Project Life Kits , Freckled Fawn Neon Enamel Dew Drop Stickers  

I also have been using digital templates to make quick and easy photo collages/hybrid inserts for my weekend pages. I will be sharing this technique a little bit further down the road as I don't have a wide format printer at home currently and the templates I have been using are 6x12 and will fit into an American Crafts 6x12 page protector when printed. So look for that tutorial or post here on the COGC in the near future.

Enjoy the rest of your day y'all! Thanks for stopping by!

Product Showcase | Summer Mini Album | American Crafts Raspberry Decorative Tags

Hi all! I am over on the Come On Get Crafty blog today to showcase these lovely little tags from American Crafts Raspberry Line! I love the texture of these little pretties and decided that they were just begging to become a simple little summer happiness mini album!

I simply printed out my photos to 2.5inches by 4.5 and trimmed a touch, embossed the "Summer" with red Zing, added a few other embellishments from the  COGC shop and from my stash, some sentiments, some stitching (I swiveled out the pp to sew on it so as not to sew through the burlap), and a ribbon. *The red circle ring is from 7 Gypsies.

I used my Cropadile to punch the holes through papers and embellishments. 

 **SHOP ITEMS USED:  American Crafts Raspberry Mixed Tags, Lily Bee Sweet Shoppe Letter Stickers, Lily Bee Chipboard Shapes, American Crafts Mayberry Shady Lane 12x12 Patterned Paper, May Arts Red Twill, Basic Grey Mint Julep Bottle Cap Stickers, Crafty Bits Kits

The thing I love about mini albums? Near instant gratification. :)

So, what summer mini albums are you working on? Post your creations over in the Come On Get Crafty Flickr Inspiration Gallery here. 

Have a great Wednesday! First day back to school for my youngest. Sixth grade already! *sniff sniff

Elle's Studio August Gallery Plus A New Option!

Happy Saturday everyone! This Sat is particular fun and exciting because it is the reveal and launch of Elle's Studio August KitS! Yes, you read that right! KITS! Elle's Studio now offers another exciting kit, a layout kit to help you get even more memories documented!

And here is the August PL Kit! Both are on sale now over at Elle's Studio. Remember, the PL Kit is $9.99 only until midnight today, and then the price goes up to $11.99! 

Here is the AUGUST KIT that is on sale now!

And here are my August Design Team Gallery designs for this month:

First up is a layout  about my DH, our eighteen years of marriage, and our anniversary trip we took to Vegas a few weeks ago. My journaling (on the vellum "special notes" kind of is a reminder to us that we need to take time for each other and do things just with each other more than we have. Never having family super close to us physically, we have not had that many date nights or weekends alone since the boys came along. That's 15 years people! We both had a wonderful time together in Vegas, and we decided two things: 1. We need to do this more often (not necessarily a big trip-but alone time together) and 2. We still kinda like each other. Like. A lot. :)

This is my most detailed layout of my gallery. I actually used gelatos  to paint an ombre effect on the die cut and then applied glazing medium over the top to add a big of sheen and dimension. (*IRL= more dramatic effect). I also machine stitched around the love. (Also, a much more obvious and fun effect IRL). I used the Cameron stamps with Frosted White Cat's Eye ink along with some Prima Chalk Old Road to stamp onto the layout. Mist used was SC Mr. Huey's Clay. The moon stamp is from Studio Calico (Old kit-Paper Moon, I believe). A few Freckled Fawn Stars and MME enamel dots, some more machine stitching and done.

PHOTO CREDIT: The lovely and talented Jen Haggerty. Thanks so much Jen!

Another layout using the adorable Cameron pp below. This layout highlights a road trip stop we made to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola on a family trip we took to Florida last summer. *Perfect travel destination for this momma to boys! ;)

I cut up the patterned paper to resemble pieces of a crumbling brick wall and stitched around the sentiments for added texture to the page and to highlight them a bit. Mr Huey's Dewey and Prima Chalk Ink Teal Damask coordinated nicely with the patterned paper.

*Note: Cloud stamps are from American Crafts Amy Tangerine.

 And here's a birthday card I created | "Time 2 Celebrate":

I used my cameo to cut the title, then back it with pp and sewed down a few tidbits. Stamped the clock image ad added some enamel dots and called it complete!

This layout takes me back to my cleaner and simpler days with a simple grid design using several tags. A bit of stitching and stamping and wood veneers finished it up nicely. 

My journaling documents a few facts about my YS at the age he was in this picture. *sigh

Not to leave out the last member of my family of four, here is a layout of my OS and his best friend on his 15th birthday. The inspiration for this layout was the packaging of the new skate wheels he bought for his board and the "Best BrOTHER" (Best Other Brother). I stitched around the word "other" in brother and the journaling  beneath the title tag better explains the title meaning. ;)

Below is my PL spread using a fair amount of the August kit as well as some tidbits from July's. I actually have three locations where I have implemented hidden journaling on my spread.

(*Click on any image to view larger).

 Noted below are the locations along with close ups of two of them.

 And there you have it! My August DT gallery! I hope it has left you a little bit inspired. Please be sure to head on over to the Elle's Studio Design Team Gallery and leave some love on the other design team members' creations! And if you are still with me, there is more!!! Check out the deal below:

Ok, now, I am really done! Have a super scrappy Saturday! Thanks for stopping by. :)