No. 2

Yeah, that is the title of this layout.

Probably not my best choice for a title.

But I didn't realize that until I started typing up a blog post about it!

So typical.

Anywhoooooo, this layout is not about poo, but instead about the 2nd cruise we went on this past June.
My husband heard recently that you get some kind of special VIP status after you have cruised with Carnival for 10 times.
Now he is on a mission to see how fast we can get to 10!

So I figure I will make a layout like this for each cruise we go on.
It'll just have the who, what, when, where of each trip
and I can always do another layout or 2 with all the other pictures & details of the cruise.
Anybody want to go on a cruise??!

I used the Salt Water Taffy kit to make this one.

{there are still a couple left}

I pulled the Thickers out of the Jump & Jive kit because they matched a bit better &

I added a bit of bling from my stash.

Also I employed the crafty hands of Virginia to do the fun doodling on this layout!

She added the perfect touch to the page!

Happy Monday yall!
:)
gretchen

Mixed Media Flower Canvas- a mini tutorial!

Hello lovely friends! I hope you've had a great week and are looking forward to a fun weekend!

I know that we've had a lot of requests (coughcoughShannoncoughcough) on the message board for mixed media tips; Britt has shared several great ones here on the blog, and I wanted to throw in a few too!

I started off with a background I'd already created and cut a simple flower, with circles cut from the Salt Water Taffy kit and some text paper.
Tip #1: to make it look less like paper just glued to a canvas, add some paint on TOP of the patterned paper. You can see that the big red outer circle is completely painted over, and I've added some streaks of red around the outside of the whole flower. I also began adding a few rub ons (from the Salt Water Taffy kit) around the edge.
Here you can see where I began adding paint to the stem and leaves. This is all just acrylic craft paint.
Tip #2: paint with your mists! I unscrewed the lid of my mists and dipped my paintbrush inside, and began painting on the stem and leaves with a green mist.
Tip #3: let your rub ons do the work! I bought some great Hambly rub ons from Noel a while back, and began adding them onto the outside of the flower. I have a small stash of rub ons now saved just for canvasses!




Tip #4: Outline with pen & marker! This step is crucial to making everything really stand out and look defined. I grabbed this marker a while back from my LSS. It's a big thick marker, and it's made for this kind of art.
It dries quickly and is permanent, so I do small sections at a time. Just outline a little and then rub with your finger to get a smudgy affect.
And here's my final piece!

(Final tip- don't forget to finish your canvas edges! I did mine with the washi tape in the Salt Water Taffy kit!)
I hope you guys start trying out mixed media! Make sure to share your results with us! :)

A few cards!

Hi friends! Sorry for the late post today but I've been a little under the weather with a summer cold. Today I have a few simple cards to share with you using the Jump & Jive, Mary Ellen & Very Virginia kits.

First, a little friendship card with Jump & Jive...

Here's a sweet baby girl card with Mary Ellen...

And finally, a romantic wedding card with Very Virginia.

See you next week!

Jill

Stamp It

I have challenged myself to use more stamps. Like many of you, I don't always use my stamps as often as I should. One of my favorite ways to use stamps is to stamp the design on patterned paper and then cut it out. I did this with the Jenni Bowlin butterfly stamp in the Salt Water Taffy kit.

I hope that you challenge yourself to use your stamps more often as well. They are actually are really fun to use and there are so many ways to use them!

Until next week!
-Diana

Heya everybody!

Hope you all had a great weekend! We made a whirlwind trip home to my mom, followed up now by a bit of a crash and burn yesterday. I feel like I was in the car all weekend, and can I say, it's good to be home? I spent a few hours yesterday working on my scrap pile which seems like it grows exponentially overnight, and I can never get a hold on it. I made a few cards and am going to be butterfly punching, accordion folding, and whirligiging the sweet bejesus out of that pile until it is under control!

Here's a few little things I made:



I used a combination of my Mary Ellen and Salt Water Taffy kits for this one. It's hard to tell, but it is actually an A2 size card. I cut the scalloped paper to hang over the top and right side of the card.



A couple of tags I made using some more of my past Noel Mignon kits. LOVE that Crate Paper Restoration flower paper. I'm a fussy cutter and proud!



I got the idea for this little tag from Gretchen's cards she did last week. Love the little sideways pennants!

That's all for today - happy scrapping!

Birthday cards!!

Good morning!!

I've got a couple of big birthdays coming up soon
(my husband's and my mother-in-law's)

so I decided to get a jump on some cards using my

Salt Water Taffy kit!
To save time I basically created the same card twice.
I just made one girly and one more boy-ish!

Here is the girly one...

And still using my Salt Water Taffy kit, I made this one a little more masculine...

2 birthday cards done in less than 45 minutes!

sweeeeeeet!!
:)
Have a great week!
gretchen

Day of the Dad and available kits

Hi there friends! I wanted to post a quick LO I did last week of a photo I snapped of all the guys on Father's Day. I called it "Day of the Dad", which I thought was kind of silly... ;-) Most of the items are from the Jump and Jive kit, and I was happy with how quickly this one came together. I need to get back into scrapping the 8 1/2 x 12 pages.


http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
As I said, this one is done with mostly Jump and Jive stuff. This kit is still available, along with a few others, and then I just posted up some Limited Editions, so I thought I would post those here too, in case you all hadn't stopped by the shop lately.
AVAILABLE KITS:
Jump and Jive

Mary Ellen

Salt Water Taffy

LIMITED EDITION Dew Drop

LIMITED EDITION Daisy Chain

LIMITED EDITION Club House

LIMITED EDITION Gumdrops

As you can see I have plenty of kits available for purchase and a wide array of color schemes to choose from. I will be putting up the September kit near the end of the month, as I am awaiting a bunch of new CHA goodies for it! I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend!
-Noel