Find joy every day

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we actually did this.  To cast away the worries and the cares of life and to find the joy and pleasure in every single day!  Maybe I should begin to challenge myself to do this...even on the worst of days, to find joy in something!

I loved this picture I captured of Elias during our photo shoot.  He was actually showing us the sand mud that was on the bottom of his shoe, but he looked so happy and he was happy to be on the sand playing near the water.

For the background, I used the Heidi Swapp stars mask and used brown paint from Walmart to make the big star and the 6 stars in the bottom corner.  The bamboo was cut on my silhouette and inked with coffee archival ink.  The leaves are matching stamps and dies from Heartfelt Creations. I used the bold falling leaves and open falling leaves stamp sets along with the falling leaves die.  I found it easier to cut and then stamp, so I'll be doing a tutorial soon on how I did it.  I shaped some of the leaves to add definition to the page. 
On the bottom, I sprayed the textured spray paint (acid free) to make it look like sand, then glued down some seashells and starfish with glossy accents.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

The real Uninhibited me! layout

WOW...it's a good thing I go to work to get things done...lol...I don't know how I'd finish them otherwise!  Posting tutorials and layouts is time consuming!! 

I created this LO for the My Creative Scrapper challenge of scrap the scrapper and for the Do-It-Yourself Challenge at scrapbook.com hosted by Wendy G.  I've made 2 new tutorials to go with this layout, the Ribbon & Rose Vine  and Tattered Rose.  The pic is one I just took...well, actually Shelby took...when we went to the lake for the family photo shoot.  I edited it in Photoshop Elements using Vintage blush that I downloaded for free from The Coffeeshop Blog.  If you have PSE, you should really check out this blog...its got some great actions and goodies and all of it is free! 

For the DIY challenge, we were supposed to use the Ribbon Rose and Pinched rose.  My black flower is the pinched rose and I have 3 ribbon roses, 2 in pink and 1 in white.  I also did the twist for both DIY projects by making my own original tutorials that go with both.  I decided to use a pink and black color scheme for this LO b/c it went beautifully with the vintage blush effect on the photo.  I added some white flourish rub-ons from KaiserCraft.  Cut some black flourishes with my bigkick.  The title and the title block was printed/cut with my silhouette. 

The leaves are the swirly leaf stamp set from Heartfelt creations.  I inked some glossy paper with the Tim Holtz tuscan Garden alcohol ink.  Then I stamped the leaves with jet black archival ink and cut them out.  The mini roses in the upper left hand corner are Mini Paper Rosettes, I bought the punch just so I could make the flowers.  They are cute little fill-in flowers.

 Here is a close up of the ribbon roses, leaves, and the tattered rose.

 The pink fancy bracket pulls out to reveal my journaling.  It says: The real me is who I want to be, but it isn't who I've become.  I want to enjoy life more & take pleasure in the everyday moments.  I want to relax more and realize that some things can be put off until tomorrow.  Life is busy with a job, husband, kids, and a home to take care of, but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable.  I need to quit stressing about losing weight, so what if I never get back to my pre-baby weight.  I should quit stressing over the trouble that may come and just deal with what happens today.  I used to be so fun, ready always to try something exciting and go somewhere new.  I want to be happy.  I want to be free.  I want to be uninhibited.  I want to be the real me!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!!!

Tattered Rose Tutorial

This rose tutorial is my take on the new Prima Roses of Spain Anais collection.

Supplies:

         * Tim Holtz Tattered florals die - 2 of the largest flower, 1 medium flower, and 3 small.  If I put a pre-made rose in the center, I skip the 3 small layers and add a 2nd medium layer.

         * Glue, Scissors, Mousepad, Embossing stylus, water spritzer, small skewer

For the tutorial, I spritzed my flowers with glimmer mist before I assembled.  You could also wait until you were done or leave them without any.

Step 1: 2 largest flowers, cut about 1/8" into the center between each petal.  Spritz lightly with water, then using an embossing stylus & mousepad, gently crinkle the backside of petals near the tip.

 Step 2: Flip the flower over and on the frontside, press down into the center of each petal.

 Step 3: Shorten the petals.  There are 2 ways to do this.  The first is what I call a "fan fold".  I place some quick dry glue at the base of each petal (where you cut the 1/8" between the petals), then I fold the fold into the center, then back out.  Below are 2 pictures of this showing the what the front and back will look like when you are finished.

 OR...you can cut each of the petals off from the layer, then gently cup the base that is left from the layer, then glue the petals back on it.

 Steps 4, 5, 6: (sorry, but I didn't take individual pics of these steps).  The medium flower layer, you will shape just like the largest layer, except don't do the fan fold.  So on the backside, emboss around the tip of each petal, flip over and press into the center of each petal and the base of the flower.

1st small flower, following Lisa Gregory's style, curl in one side of each petal, add a bit of glue to the curled edge, then fold the petals up and roll between your fingers to create the center bud.

2nd small flower, Curl one side of each petal in, add a bit of glue to the base of each petal on the inside and glue the 1st small flower into this one, folding the petals of the 2nd flower around the bud.  Then, take your tweezers and gently curl back the outer edge of the petals (see pic).

3rd small flower, Curl each petal back at an angle.  Glue the bud into this.

This is what each layer will look like when you have finished.  The top left flower is the fan fold technique, the top right is where I cut the petals off and then reattached.

 Layer and glue all the flowers together.  Once glued, shape the petals, gently folding back the tips of the largest ones.

I apologize for the bad pictures.  I will try to re-do them and get better ones to replace these.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Ribbon & Rose Tutorial

Supplies needed: repositionable adhesive, organza ribbon 1" - 1 1/2" width, small flowers or roses, heat gun, ink (optional).  

Step 1:  take a scrap piece of paper any length you want and lay down several strips of adhesive.  I used my ATG adhesive, it was permanent, but I was still able to remove my ribbon from it. 

 Step 2: Start gathering your ribbon on the adhesive bringing the sides up to be squished and crumpled.  When you have the starting length you want, add your rose/flower wrapping the wire around the ribbon to hold the first part of the ribbon in place.  If you don't have a rose with the wire, you can just take a piece of tape and wrap it around the ribbon to hold it, then attach your flower on top of the tape.

 Step 3:  Continue to gather your ribbon on the adhesive shaping it as you go and add a rose/flower about every inch.

 Step 4:  When you have the ribbon and roses to the length you want and all shaped to the adhesive, take your heat gun and heat the edges and the top of the ribbon LIGHTLY!  This will cause the ribbon to pull up and keep its shape once you remove it from the paper.

 Step 5:  Remove from the paper.  You can leave it as it is, or in the bottom picturee, I used Tim Holtz distress ink and lightly inked the edges of the ribbon.  Now, you can attach it to your layout or card or altered item and shape it however you want.  I used hot glue to attach it to my layout.

Pretty simple tutorial!  Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Serenity

Here is my first LO created from the photo shoot I did of the family a couple of weeks ago.  Of course, I had to scrap my favorite pic first!!  This is my daughter, Shelby.  After taking the photos, I had to go on a shopping trip (of course) to pick up supplies to use on all these LOs I'm going to be creating.  I got the starfish and seashells at Hobby Lobby and found the sand at Walmart.  I loved this texture paint though that I found at Hobby Lobby.  It was $8.99 for the can (but I used a 40% off coupon), but on the back it said acid free for scrapbooking!  Woohoo!!!  I love this stuff...just spray a light coat on and let it dry and you get this really cool texture that looks and feels like sand without the bulkiness of the actual sand. 

So, I inked the bottom half of the paper in walnut stain distress ink, then sprayed the paint on top of that.  The top of the paper I inked with chipped sapphire distress ink to make it look like sand and sky.  The blue water paper and the sand-like paper behind the photo was in a price pack I won from scrapbook.com.  When I got it, it was a kit for a Hawaii trip and I wondered what in the world would I ever do with it...b/c I knew Hawaii wasn't in my future!  Well...I'm glad I kept it, b/c it'll work great with these pics.

The waves were pink border strips that I inked in adirondack color wash in stream, then pop dotted the smaller top layer for dimension.  The leaves were cut on my silhouette.  I inked them with shabby shutters distress ink, the edges with fired brick and the tips with walnut stain.  I love the finished effect.  The flower is my new Glittered Peony.  I glued some sand to the bottom and added some starfish and seashells.  I'm going to put a coat of modge podge over it all to keep everything in place.  I'm not happy with the title letters, so I might re-do those.  I cut them with a sizzix die, but they just don't seem to sit well together...so I'll see what I can change them out with.

Thank you so much for stopping by and looking!  Hope you have a great Monday!!!

Glittered Peony Flower Tutorial

Good morning!  It's Monday again...the weekend always flies by sooo fast, but I did manage to finish a LO and a tutorial over the weekend.  I was inspired to try and create a flower to match the Prima Guava Peony.  Using what supplies that I had, this is the closest I could get, but I loved the finish product, so I'll stick with it!!

Supplies: Sizzix Bigz Die Flower Layers 3, mousepad, glue, 8 petal punch, scissors, scalloped circles, and embossing tools, flower center (pearl).  I love these embossing tools, they are double-ended with 6 different sizes and a cushioned finger grip.  I got mine at The artist club, which was the cheapest price I could find.  I highly recommend getting a set, if you love to make your own flowers.  They are wonderful in so many ways!

To make the flowers, you will need staggering sizes of layers.  For mine, I used 2 of the largest flower on the Bigz die, 1 med and 1 small flower also from the Bigz die.  I used a 2" and 1 1/2" scalloped circle, and 4 1" 8 petal daisies.

 Using your mousepad and the medium sized embossing tool, gently shape each petal of each layer.  Start at the tips and in a circular motion, work your way to the base of each petal.  On the smaller petals, just run the embosser down the center of each petal.  Make sure to cut between the scallops on the scallop circles to make those into flower layers. 

Once you have shaped each petal, then run your embosser around the middle of the flower layer to draw all the petals up slightly.

Here is what the layers will look like when finished.  On the 4 1", you will curl bring the petals up tighter on each one.

 Then, start layering and gluing your flowers, staggering the petals as you go.  Put your medium sized pearl in the smallest flower.

 After it is glue together, I put the flower in the palm of my hand, then gently cup and smoosh the petals together to make it all tighter.  Rotate the flower and continue to cup and smoosh the petals all around.  When finished, I fluff the petals and on the very bottom layer, slightly pull them down.

 Add a bit of glue to the tips of the inside petals and add some glitter or diamond dust.  You could also just use stickles.  Let it dry and use it on your LO or card or altered project!

 Here are some others that I have finished.  I tried different punches and sizes of layers to see what I liked best, so these are all a tad bit different in design.  I also use clear glitter on these rather than diamond dust.

Thank you for looking and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!!

October leftovers challenge

I love the October leftovers challenge that Pat hosts over at scrapbook.com!  Its great motivation to use up all the little left over pieces of paper, not to mention stretching my creativity to use those papers! 

The LO that I created this month is title "When I see you, I see Love".  Its of my daughter, Shelby.  The journaling reads: You are the definition of love.  You have such a giving nature and a kind heart.  You give of your time, your belongings and yourself.  You are fiercely loyal and kind to your friends, no matter how badly they treat you.  You will stand up for what is right, and you believe in what is Godly.  You love the unlovable and that is why I love you!

Here is what Shelby said about the LO. The title wasn't true, because I don't even like her.  Saying that the journaling was wrong b/c I tell her she is selfish and the world doesn't revolve around her.  She doesn't understand that while the rampaging teenage hormones and defiance sometimes make me want to choke her, that I still love her unconditionally and that I feel and think so many wonderful things about her!  I told her I would quit doing layouts of her because she is always very critical of me and the finished layout, and she says, do you think I care.  Do you think it will bother me if you don't do any layouts of me.  OMG...and she wonders why I want to choke her?  Lord...help me get through the next 6 years with my sanity!!!

Anyway...on to the layout.  This layout was made 100% of scraps of Basic Grey paper.  I gather all the scraps of several different paper packs and put them in a pile, then just started mixing and matching.

The heart was a piece that I had cut out for a different layout, but didn't end up using it.  I saved it of course and it worked perfectly for this layout.  I inked it with T.H. worn lipstick distress ink, the edges with black soot, then I covered it in diamond dust.  The 3 flowers on the heart are from a beautiful tutorial I came across yesterday as I was surfing the web.  It's the Prima style flower by Rachel.  She used the T.H. Tattered florals, but I just used the retro style flower punch.  The outer two flowers in the corner are the Swirly Sweetheart Daisy by Lisa Gregory.  The middle flower is a twist on the Low Profile flower by Natasha.  Instead of using the tattered florals die (b/c I was too lazy to cut the flowers), I used my daisy punch in extra large and med (1").  On the 2 back flowers, I cut off the tips jaggedly.  On the 3 flower (middle layer), I cut off about 1/4" in a jaggedy cut (because I like my flowers a tad bit fuller).  Then I made the flower just like Natasha does.  I added some puffy paint to the tips and puffed it up once dry like Lisa Gregory does on her Sweetheart Daisy.

The journaling I printed on Microsoft Word.  I made the frame for the journaling following another tutorial by Natasha, Distressed fold back frame tutorial.  I am thrilled that I came across her blog yesterday, she has some really amazing tutorials and techniques...and she shares them all!!!  All the flowers were made out of left-over scraps as well.  The bling was a left-over piece that I bought back before I started making my own, and I just cut it apart to use it in multiple places. 

The title letters are stickers from a used Basic Grey Porcelain alpha sticker sheet.  I cut 'Love' on my silhouette (on a scrap piece of BG cardstock). 

Well...I think that is all!  LOL  I used up 6 pieces of scrap paper on this, and 1 left-over bling...all of those count as twists in the challenge!

Here are some close-ups of the flowers and journaling frame.

 Here is the backside of my page using up the scraps.



Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a wonderful day!!

Stephanie!