Turtle Soup August Mini Crop

I might have been absent from this blog lately, but I promise you I have been creating!  Not a lot of scrapbooking going on, but I have been making cards in between work and family life.

In August the team at Turtle Soup hosted a "Back-to-School" themed Mini Crop and I made the following projects.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Kraft Plus | March Challenge

I am playing along again at Kraft Plus and once again the challenge is a ripper!

The challenge is to use this sketch and add some houndstooth, all on a Kraft base of course.

I pulled out an older collection from Basic Grey called "Knee-highs & Bow-ties" to scrap this layout that celebrates the wonderful imagination that my youngest son possesses.

I used my Silhouette Cameo, a cut-file from the Silhouette Online Store and some stencil material to create a houndstooth patterned stencil.  I applied  Gathered Twigs Distress Ink through the stencil with an ink blending tool to give my Kraft background some subtle tone-on-tone texture.

I just love how the Kraft Plus challenges always get me to try new things- now I know how easy it is to make my own stencils with my Silhouette :-)

Kraft Plus | February Guest Designer

I am thrilled to be the Kraft Plus Guest Designer for February.  As usual, the challenge really pushed me out of my comfort zone, and that's what I love about challenges.

I created some postage stamp backgrounds with my Silhouette Cameo and utilized some old papers from Stampin' Up that had a postage stamp theme.  I aged everything with Distress Inks including the wood veneer letters from Studio Calico.

I hope you'll play along with the challenge!

Kraft Plus | November Challenge

I'm playing along at Kraft Plus again and the November challenge is a doozy! The challenge is to be inspired by P!nk, the artist.

I drew my inspiration from her song "Perfect" and turned my layout into a message to myself.  I have had a difficult time this past couple of years with mental illness and I wanted to remind myself that I am just perfect the way I am.

Her "I'm Not Dead" album cover inspired my use of floral patterned paper on my layout- more fussy-cutting than I would normally do, but worth it I think.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to create the song lyrics on the left hand side, removing random letters to let the paper underneath peek through.  When I got to the part I felt was the most important message, I removed all of the letters to make it stand out.  I used patterned papers from Crate Paper's "Random" Collection and the "Things I Know" stamp is from a really old set from 7gypsies.

The team at Kraft Plus sure do know how to get the creativity flowing- their challenges always push me out of my comfort zone and I love it!

Kraft Plus | September Challenge

I'm playing along again with the Kraft Plus Challenge Blog this month and the September Challenge is sketch-focussed.  I always love a sketch challenge- it gets me designing a layout outside of my usual "recipes".

I haven't been scrapping much lately- in fact my August Kraft Plus challenge entry was the last page a made- but when I do, I am trying to use older product in my stash.  For this layout I pulled out an old collection from Cosmo Cricket called "Jack's World".  I mixed some paint into some texture paste to create a sand colour and applied it through a Heidi Swapp dot stencil.  I then flicked some red spray ink about before adding my paper layers.  I cut an ampersand with my Silhouette Cameo, fussy cut my title from one of the patterned papers, added some wood veneer, journalling and machine stitching and called it done.  I stuck closely to the sketch but considered rotating it 90 degrees when I thought I would use a single 6x4 portrait photo.  I may still do that ;-)

Thanks for stopping by- as usual I love comments and if you have any questions I would love to answer them!

Feeling Sketchy | Sketch #127

We have a new sketch to play with at the Feeling Sketchy Challenge Blog and our challenge sponsor is Bugaboo Digi Stamps.

Here is the sketch we are playing with.....

I used this Bugaboo image, coloured it with Copics and fussy-cut it out.  I changed out the squares in the sketch for triangles and flipped it so my focal point was on the left hand side of my landscape-oriented card.

My background was created by blending Distress inks and by die-cutting a triangle pattern from white cardstock with my Silhouette machine.  Rather than attempt to get some dimension by using foam tape, I cut the panel three times and adhered them to each other for the dimension I was after.

I used my Distress Inks again on the banner and tried to mimic the same blend as the background panel.

Some Clear Wink of Stella was added here and there, and sequins were the final finishing touch.

Be sure to head over to the Feeling Sketchy Blog for more inspiration and all the challenge details.

Kraft Plus | August Challenge

I'm playing along again with the Kraft Plus Challenge Blog this month and the August Challenge really got my brain ticking over.

I have always loved the look of white on a kraft background so I decided to keep it simple and reach for my white gel pen, some vellum scraps, a piece of white card, some kraft (of course) and my Silhouette Cameo machine.

Now don't get too excited- all that doodling was done with my Cameo!  I selected some files from the Silhouette store, laid it all out in the software and then used my white gel pen and the sketch function.  Cool huh?

This "Rise and Shine" card is also a cut file from the Silhouette store....

  
I used white pigment ink to stamp the date.

There were a few spots that I had to touch up with my pen, but I love the sketchy look I was able to achieve.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kraft Plus | July Challenge

The Kraft Plus Challenge Blog has a new inspiration photo to get the creative mojo going and I just loved it when I saw it and had to play along.

A Mustard Explosion!

The Criteria:
Use Kraft as your background
Draw inspiration from the photo
and
Use Yellow Paint on your creation. 

I decided to give my Silhouette Cameo some lovin' and cut a jar of pencils (cut file from the Silhouette Store) and letters for my title from different Studio Calico Snippets Collection patterned papers which I layered on top of each other for extra texture and interest.

For my background I mixed yellow paint with Modelling paste and put it through a Donna Downey stencil.

I added some stickers and chipboard from the SC Snippets collection and a scattering of enamel dots from MME.

I also layered some loose yellow thread under my photo.

I traced around the letters with a black marker and then stitched over that to secure them but to also add more texture.

I then very roughly coloured in my pencils with markers to add to the hand-drawn feel of my page.

This was a small step away from my usual style but it was a lot of fun and I really love how it turned out!

Feeling Sketchy | Sketch #123

We have a new sketch to play with at the Feeling Sketchy Challenge Blog and our challenge sponsor is Kenny K.

Digi and rubber stamps from KennyK are a fun and edgy way to add the perfect dose of attitude and style to all of your creations!  The creator, the artist, the man: Kenny Kiernan (aka "KennyK"or the "Scranton Art Guy") wielded a mean crayon during his formative years in the Bronx, developing his signature funky-but-slick, urban-influenced style - and over the years has completed countless assignments for many of the biggest ad agencies and corporate clients in the business. His work runs the gamut from big-budget advertising campaigns and promotions, editorial illustration, toy/game and product packaging, to sexy pinup babes, anime and retro character designs, comic books, computer games, t-shirt and sticker designs and Flash animation - all that fun stuff!  I’m ElenaK, the woman behind the man, and the feminine touch of KennyKDownloads.com. I have been producing events for over 6 years in NYC and am an entrepreneur and a crafter at heart!  Kenny and I had been searching for the perfect collaborative project to combine our respective skill sets since we got married; we are now making it happen with KennyKdownloads.com and having a blast! 

Here's Sketch #123.....

I used an image from Kenny K, papers from Kaisercraft's "Shine Bright" Collection, a cut file from the Silhouette Design Store and my Copic Markers to create this motivational card.

I added some Clear Wink of Stella marker for some subtle shimmer on the girl image and on the heart.

Be sure to head over to the Feeling Sketchy Blog for more inspiration and all the challenge details.