Bella Linda (Featured at "Get Creative")

Created this page for Get Creative using their pretty sketch.  Check out their site to see what the other members have created at http://craftycroppersgr.blogspot.com/: One of my favorite color combinations is green and purple, and since I had a few pieces of the winter collection from Creative Imaginations left over, I set out to create a page for Bella Linda.  Here’s Linda at nine months pregnant with her first son.  She’s a beauty here and I hope to procure more photos from her so that I can create more pretty pages.

The white space on the sketch inspired me to create my own background using the 6 x 6 chicken wire stencil from The Crafters Workshop, light molding paste, two colors of mist and a small Prima Stamp.  To get the smooth edges to stamp on the light molding paste, you have to make certain you run your tool across the stencil on top of the molding paste so that you don’t get any hard edges.  It makes the stamping process so much easier. Also, when you apply the molding paste on to the stencil don't fill in all the spaces; it will allow the mists to fill in some of the smaller spaces within the stencil and adds a little texture also.

The Dusty Attic corner flourish was painted white, then embosses with green and gold embossing powders, and a touch of glitter.

Thanks for stopping by.

http://craftycroppersgr.blogspot.com/

Cousins (C'est Magnifique April Challenge)

http://cestmagnifiquekits.blogspot.com/2012/04/april-sketch-challenge.html

I was so fortunate to grab one of the last two remaining April kits at C'est Magnifique this month. The Scrap Cake papers,  flowers, chipboard pieces and resin piecs from the April Kit are just fabulous.  And to have another opportunity to scrap one of Nadia’s sketches is always a treat for me.  I changed my mind several times in deciding which background paper to use on this layout, and in the end, I chose to use a white textured cardstock to show case the old photos of my cousin and I at age 6 at one of our Easter family events.  My aunt found these pictures of the two us, and I was so very grateful to her for sharing them with me.

Like so many others, I so enjoy transforming a piece of cardboard into something pretty to look at.  Here’s a close up of the Dusty Attic piece that was a part of the kit.

Thanks for looking and stop by C'est Magnifique to see what the other members have created using this fabulous April Kit.

Wanderlust (Featured at C.S.I Challenge #14)

http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/page/some-rules

Like so many other Suspects at C.S.I, these particular color combinations inspired me to jump in and solve the case and challenged me to be a little more creative by creating the background paper using the Wet medium (Evidence criteria), and creating a little marine animal as the Animal accent. I also printed and used some of Michele Singh’s pretty coordinate papers to assist me in establishing the tone of the Scheme in this case.

Evidence:

Animal accent: I made the little star fish (marine animal) out of clay and
stamped the clay with a small Prima script stamp to create texture on
their little bodies. Each star fish is unique because I had to carve the
little creatures out by hand using a paring knife, but they were so much
fun to make! This was the first time I used this particular clay which you
allow to air dry and is as light as a feather when it’s dried, it’s almost
a paper mache like quality. If you’re interested in the clay product, I used La Doll Premier, light weight stone clay.

Wet medium: For the background paper, I started with white card stock and
masked and misted with Glimmer Mist, Shimmerz, small amounts of acrylic
paint, and added pink embossing powder to fusible webbing for those small pink webbing bits I added throughout the page.

Something sand-like: On the background paper, a gritty, sand-like molding paste was used on top of a mask to give the pattern a sand-like texture.

Ruffles: Glimmer Mist was applied on white rayon
seam binding, and the ribbon was weaved in a ruffle in between each of the
hand-sewn pearl beads.

Testimony:
Write a Haiku: For me, this was the most challenging aspect of this case, and after several attempts, I was ready to give up, but I was really inspired by the idea and kept at it until I finally came up with something that I liked.

Hidden journaling:
This picture was taken during our Santa Barbara vacation trip when you were 14 years old. During the two hour drive to Santa Barbara, you asked me how long was it going to take us to reach our destination. My answer didn’t sit well with you and you asked if we could drive farther so that it would take more time to get to our destination. What? This didn’t make sense to me,
and when I asked why, you said that two hours wasn’t going to be enough time for Marcus, your first boyfriend, to miss you and you wanted to be missed terribly. Ha ha. I see so much of Scarlett O’Hara like qualities in you!

Thanks for taking a look.

Mustang Scotty (Featured at The Color Room)

I used the color palette and Lydell Quinn's sketch at The Color Room to create this masculine page. Let me tell you it was so difficult for me not to lay down a flower or feminine embellishment. The whole time while creating this page, I hummed the tune of "Mustang Sally". I bought this 1966 Mustang in 1976 for $30.00. It wasn't running and required an alternator. This old beat up vehicle got me to college and part-time jobs, and left me stranded too. I could not drive more than 20 miles without having to pull over to a gas station and fill up the radiator because it had a small leak. One day I had locked my keys in the car at a mall and called my brother Scott and another brother to come rescue me and requested they bring a clothes hanger. In those days you could slide a metal clothes hanger through the side of the window and hook it on the metal door lock to release the lock. They found me at the mall, got out of the car, popped open the trunk of their car and pulled out a wooden clothes hanger. I stared at them in disbelief, speechless, and all kinds of unfriendly thoughts were going through my head. How could I be so lucky to have two stupid brothers? And then I lost it! I yelled at them and told them to go back home and bring back a metal clothes hanger. They bursted out laughing and went back to their car for the metal clothes hanger. Scott is a jokester, and I should have seen that one coming. After I landed my first real job, I handed down the Mustang to Scott. He love it! One day I came home and found that the Mustang was painted a shimmering blood red color. It was spectacular. Upon further investigation, I saw that the transmission was sitting on the back seat. The pretty Mustang sat in the drive way for months.

Thanks for stopping by.