Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Seashell Cheesecloth Flower Tutorial ~ BOAF June Kit

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial weekend! I scrapped this page using the Birds of a Feather June Kit and these vintage photos of my Grandparents from 1955.

The Dear Lizzy "Lucky Charm" collection worked well for the distressed, beachy look that I was going for. I used one of the die cut cards as a stencil to paint the chevrons on the background. I made the dots with gesso and a Crafter's Workshop template.

I also painted the Jillibean Soup diecut frames using 4 different colors. I can't believe I used new buttons with all the vintage buttons that I've inherited, but really loved how well these Lilybee buttons from last month's kit extras go with the colors on here.

I just LOVE these cute little folders that come in the kit!!

I added the cheesecloth from my own stash and to come up with these flowers using kraft cardstock.

For the large flower I cut 2 flowers using my Cricut (Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge flower #2) at 3 1/2" and 2". To make the medium one cut 3" and 1 1/2", and for the small one cut 2 1/2" and 1".

Then I used Distress ink (frayed burlap) to go over the edges.

For this next step use some wax paper to prevent your glue from sticking to the table or your page. Cut a piece of cheesecloth big enough for your flowers and lay it down on the wax paper. Then use your glue ( I  use Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue) behind the flowers and adhere them to the cheesecloth. After about a minute take it off of the wax paper before the glue dries.Just flip them over until they do.

Once your glue is dry, cut the cheesecloth around the petals leaving about a quarter of an inch around the edges.

Using the end of a paintbrush curl your petals up towards the center and down on the ends.

Now glue the smaller flower on top of the larger one.

To finish it off glue a seashell in the center. Here's a look at the medium flower on the bottom. I also used my Cricut (Life is a beach cartridge) to cut out the starfish.
For a brighter version of this flower check out the 2nd LO that I made here.Thanks for looking!


Thursday, May 23, 2013

Pocahontas

I've been saving this adorable photo of my little cousin for many years now,  just waiting for inspiration to strike. Well that's exactly what happened when I saw this new challenge blog  Scrap Around the World.

I was immediately inspired by the colors, fringe, leather, and textures in the mood board, and knew it was time to finally scrap this photo! I used some older Bo Bunny "Gypsy" papers, using silver paint around some of the edges.

At first I was going to slice my photo into 3 sections to mimic the sketch, but decided to divide my background into 3 sections instead. Before cutting it though, I painted, misted, stamped, and embossed it. 

I folded back the tops of the first two sections to reveal the orange paper on the other side. 

I used a specialty brown suede paper to make the title and the fringing on the bottom of the photo. I wanted to use tags like in the sketch, but thought it overcrowded my page. Instead I hid my journaling on a tag that I embossed and hid it under the fringe.
I am so happy that I was able to participate in the first challenge at this fabulous new site, and looking forward to the next one!!

Monday, May 20, 2013

BOAF May Kit Reveal

I really let my girly out with my last 2 projects working with the May Birds of a Feather Kit! One of my favorite papers from this wonderful kit was the vellum paper with the stitched butterflies by American Crafts "My Girl" collection, which I used on both projects. In this first one, I scrapped this fabulous photo of my friend Jenna's beautiful daughter, on her 2nd birthday. Doesn't she have the most beautiful blue eyes?
 I started by fussy cutting the border from the yellow "Spread Sunshine" paper by Simple Stories "Vintage Bliss" collection. I used the other side behind the photo, and to cut out some of the flowers. For the background I used Gumball by Lily Bee "Sweet Shoppe" collection which you can buy in the extras. Here's a closer look at the vellum butterfly paper!
I used inks along the bottom of the quote and to highlight her age on the bingo card. I used the yellow sheer ribbon, which comes in the kit, behind the Spread Sunshine sticker, which I added an eyelet to, tying some yarn from my own stash through it. 

I also used the large blue flower from my own stuff, and stamped, embossed and hand cut the rest, using the dots from last month's kit for the centers. I used the Lily Bee stickers to make the tag and date.

For my next project I used this sweet photo which I had saved in my Clip Art folder. Since it was a while ago I don't remember the site it came from.

I used the rest of the vellum butterfly paper, minus the butterflies, for the background of this page, gluing it onto white cardstock. The rest of the papers are from Simple Stories "Vintage Bliss" collection and come in the extras along with the chipboard umbrella. I LOVE these bling rain drops which come in the main kit!
I made these easy flowers with my Cricut and distressed the edges. For the centers I used the chipboard flowers from the extras, and the same dots I used on the previous page that I had leftover from the April kit.

Be sure to get your May Kit before it's gone! I still have so much to play with, and love how well everything goes together! Thanks for looking!


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Saying Goodbye to the Paper Mixing Bowl

As I was creating this page using the May recipe for the Paper Mixing Bowl, I didn't know that it would be my last one for them. Unfortunately the site will be shutting down after this last recipe. I'm going to miss the wonderful design team, and wish the best for everyone wherever your scrappy paths lead!!
In honor of Mother's Day, I scrapped my beautiful Mother, which is what my Spanish title translates to in English.
Here's a look at the recipe and how I used it.
Utensils:
*Mother of Pearl-some of my buttons
*Stitching
*I heart Mom- I used a heart photo of my Mom
*Get messy. I used gesso, mists, and Stickles to create the doily heart on top.
I also got messy misting the lace, which was first used to mask the background and the blue paper under the photo. You can see a bit of it peeking out in the photos above and below.

*I tore and water distressed my papers.
*I stamped the scallop heart on the photo and used a Prima flower stamp. I didn't use any journaling.

The butterfly was printed a long time ago from Swirlydoos.
Here's  a close-up of some of the beautiful Prima and Petaloo flowers that I used mixed in with some old buttons.

 Thanks for looking!


Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Ladybug Scallop Tutorial for BOAF

Hello! Drea here with another tutorial for you.I used the Birds of a Feather May Kit to create this page using a photo that my Mom took of her ceramic garden boots. I started by distressing my green background Core'dinations Cardstock  (grassroots) using sandpaper.  I made the ladybug scallops using my own supplies of 1 sheet each of red and black cardstock, some black embroidery thread, 20 black buttons, scotch tape, glue, Big Bite or hole punch, and white puffy paint.
I actually traced and cut out the red scallop paper from another sheet that I had in light blue. Since I distressed the edges anyway I didn't have to worry about cutting it out perfectly.
Then I used my Big Bite to punch out the circles, punching 3 large circles on each scallop and 6 on the corners. If you don't have a Bit Bite then just use a regular hole punch.

Then using the smaller hole punch I punched more circles in between the larger ones.
Now you can glue your paper onto black cardstock and trim around the edges using scissors. Next step is to distress those edges.
To make the legs I cut about an inch and a half of black embroidery thread and folded it in half, taping it underneath the back twice for each scallop. I decided to leave the corners alone, but feel free to add legs there too if you want.
At this point I glued my scallops onto the green cardstock and added this paper from Lily Bee "Sweet Shoppe" Collection which comes in the extras.
To make the ladybug heads I used 20 black buttons with two holes in them. Instead of the full skein of black embroidery thread that I used for the legs, I divided it in half using 3 strands of thread to make the antennae. I looped the threads through the button holes and knotted the ends.
Then I glued them down in between each scallop using the holes as guidelines for their eyes, remembering to have one hole on part of the scallop and the other onto the pp.
The finishing touch is to make the eyes using white puffy paint covering the holes of the buttons.
I used this sticker from Simple Stories "Vintage Bliss" collection, which is also an extra, for my journaling. 

The best part of the extras are these cute embellishments by Lily Bee "Sweet Shoppe" collection, including the baker's twine which I used to wrap around my photo. I love the blue Prima flowers which are included in the main kit. I stamped and inked the other flowers and used black puffy paint for the centers. I also stamped the black leaves.
I had so much fun with this page and fabulous kit!! Be sure to check it out for yourself!


Thursday, May 9, 2013

BOAF May Kit Reveal

As always, the May Kit at Birds of a Feather is wonderfully put together!! I was especially drawn to the wood grain papers by Simple Stories "Vintage Bliss" collection, and love how it matches the wood fence in the photo.
I'm always drawing inspiration from my photos, which gave me the idea for the hand stitched grid, which just happens to be the twist for the May Sewing Challenge that I host at Scapbook.com. All of the beautiful embellishments come in the kit except for the shells that I used. I also added my own Glimmer Mist to the background paper, and a touch of  gesso on the wood grain paper.
For my 2nd layout I was ready to start scrapping a different photo, when I happened to see this one on my cousin's Facebook post. I was so excited by how perfect the colors and patterns went together with the kit, that I scrapped this instead.
Looking at this photo I thought of a picnic at the park with a nice, comfy quilt on the grass, which resulted in this design. All of the stitching was stamped. I used some of the stickers and chipboard on the bottom right, which come in the kit extras.
The blue bow by American Crafts was the perfect accessory here!!
Thanks for looking!!