Snug as a Bug in a Rug

Good Monday morning....well...hopefully...it is Monday after all!  I said I was going to do 2 layouts over the weekend, because I get so frustrated being such a slow scrapper...and lo and behold...I got one done!  YAY me!  LOL 

I created this LO for the negative space challenge over at scrapbook.com.  I don't normally do negative space, but I do like to challenge myself, so it's a great challenge for me!  This month we had to use either a solid white or black background and for the twist, handmade flowers.  All of these flowers are handmade by me.  They are my own creation, except for the centers which I borrowed some techniques from other designers, such as Lisa Gregory and Vicky A.  I also made the bling myself using dimension pearls, puffy paint, and transparencies.  I have some for sell in my Etsy shop, and I hope to be adding some more soon.

The flourishes were cut with my Sizzix BigKick using a sizzlits decorative strip.  

I used my silhouette to sketch the title and cut the tags.  I inked around the edges with jet black and fired brick.  I sprayed some white ribbon with red velvet glimmer mist and then put some black with it and wrapped around my brad.

I also added a little bit of the ribbon to my flower spray here. 

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

like a Princess - new layout

Good morning!!!  How are you all doing today???  I am good although last night was quite a mess when my 3yr old  got sick in the car seat 30 seconds from where my parents were camping and I had no change of clothes!  I pretty much stuck him in the shower at the campground clothes and all b/c he was covered, as was the carseat and some of the backseat and my car is brand new!!!  Well, it is a couple months old...but oh....who wants vomit all over their leather and cloth seats in their new car??  Well...shoot...who would want it in an old car?  LOL  Poor little guy had to wear a pair of underwear and a towel until we rigged one of his daddy's shirts for him to wear!  He definitely felt better though after emptying his tummy!

Anyhow....this post is supposed to be about my newest LO that took me 3 days to finish and is full of techniques!!!  I created this for the DIY challenges over at scrapbook.com.  I'm really happy with the end results of this and Shelby is thrilled with it b/c she thinks it is beautiful!

The reason I titled this like a Princess is because I came home from work Wednesday and wanted to try an upside down french braid in her hair.  It took us 3 tries, but I finally got it right.  Then we put a clip in it and spread the ends over the top of it.  On our way to church that night, she was kind of bouncy and happy and all of a sudden she blurts out "I feel like a princess!"  Well, that certainly does a mom's heart good and I felt happy that I helped her to feel that way!  So...here it is...lol

 The first technique shown here is the UTEE background by Wendy G.  I stamped the Pink piece with a script stamp and embossed with antiquities frosted crystal.  Then, I used pearl UTEE thickly on the top and bottom corner.  I also used this technique on the black mat of my picture.  For the twist of created my own BG, I tried some puffy paint on my bg piece.  I did the ruffled distressed edges by Gabrielle P and then added puffy paint to the edges.  Once dry, I heated it up and let it puff and bubble and crackle.  The end result isn't quite what I had imagined, but its something different.

 Here, I tried to create the Ribbon Rosebuds by Lisa Gregory but they did not turn out good at all.  I'm going to have to ask someone to walk me through these a little better b/c I just couldn't get it.  The leaves are a stamp from Heartfelt Creations.  I stamped the small leaves with black archival ink, then shaded them with a true green colored pencil, then cut them out.  Shelby made the flower, it is also by Lisa Gregory. 

 I used Fiskars Threading water punch and then laced it up.  Out of the top I had some homemade bling and mini roses coming out of the laces.  The 2 darker butterflies I sprayed with Adirondack Color Wash in Cranberry and the lighter pink is sprayed with Sweet Pea Glimmer mist.  Then I covered them wtih star dust stickles.  I added some small white pearls to the center.  The butterflies were a gift from Kelly Tracy...thanks Kelly!!! 

OK...I think I've given everyone credit and explained everything that I can think of!  If I have left someone out that deserves credit, I sincerely apologize and please feel free to point it out to me!  Thanks for looking and have a great day!!

Stephanie

Pinched Rose flower tutorial

I'm finally back with my tutorial on the pinched rose that I used on my layout friends.  I've made this flower using the daisy punches, the retro punches and the Tim Holtz tattered florals die. 

Flowers

Tim Holtz Die use: 2 extra large flowers, 1 spindly flower, 2 medium flowers, 1 small flower

Large flower using Retro or Daisy: 2-3" (extra large flower punch), 2-2" (whale of a punch), 1 to 4 - 1" (medium punch) You will determine the amount you need based on what type of bud/center you want to make.

Medium flower using the retro punch use: 3-2" (whale of a punch), 1 to 4-1" (med. punch)

Other supplies

Water

Small paintbrush or pen

embossing tool or something with a blunt point

Glue

Mousepad

1. Spritz lightly with water.  Turn the flower over and on the mousepad, gently press the edges of each petal with your embossing tool all around to cause them to curl in. Do this on all the flowers except the 1" unless you are doing a center where you are pinching the petals of the 1" also.  Heat with a heat gun or let dry before moving on.

 2. Flip the flowers over to the front side and on a hard surface, take your embossing pen or blunt pointed item and score a line down the center of each petal.  Be careful not to rip the petals off.  If you do happen to, don't worry about it though, you can glue it in later and you won't be able to see it.

 3.  After you have embossed a line, shape the petals.  Hold the end of each petal about 1/8" down from the tip with your thumb and index finger.  Then using your other hand, gently pinch the edges of the tip together to create a pinched tip.    You will do this on the 3" and 2" flowers and on the 1" if you are going to put a jewel or stamens in the center.

 This will be what the completed petals should look like when finished.

 4.  If you want to create a rosebud for the center, take your 4-1" petals.  Using the end of the paintbrush and the back side of the flowers, gently roll each petal side to side to cause it to round up.  Then press the end of the paintbrush into the center of the flower to cause the sides to pull up and cup.  Then, take the flower and gently roll between your thumb and index finger to make sure it stays in that shape.  Make one of them really tightly rolled for the very center of the bud.

 This would be the medium sized flower layers.  The 2-1" I shaped the same as the 2-2" so that I could put a jewel in the center.  I've also put some stamens and a pearl in the center that you can see in the final picture.

Layer and glue your petals starting with the largest and alternating the petals as you go.  Each kind of punch gives you a different look.

As you can see from the picture, you have several options for your bud or center.  If I do a jewel or pearls and stamens, then I will use 2-1" flowers and pinch the petals like I do the larger flowers.  If I create a bud, then I use 4-1". 

Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great day!

Friends LO and new flower

Good morning!  I wanted to share with you a new layout that I made.  I took my children out a couple of weekends ago and took some pics of them and was pretty pleased with the results.  This one of Shelby and Elias just turned out great and may be one of those pics that you just have to scrap more than once.

My goal with this layout, besides completing several challenges, was to incorporate both the boy and girl aspects, so I've got my flowers and bling to represent Shelby, and stars and branches to represent Elias.

This was done for several challenges over at Scrapbook.com, one of which was scraplift the person before you and I chose to scraplift BJscrapsalot's layout All Done. 

Another challenge I made this for was the Do It Yourself challenge.  I created this flower, which I have named "Pinched Rose" for it.  The tutorial will be up on my blog as soon as I finish posting this.  I also am hosting my own challenge this month at scrapbook.com Blooms N Bling, Stars N Sparkles in honor of my new blog name.  Please feel to come join it!  I couldn't figure out how to incorporate stars, so I decided to tear the top and insert them in there. 

As part of the Do It Yourself challenge, the 2nd option was paper embellies with the twist of making Amarily's Mountain Lily.  These are really beautiful flowers and fun to make!   The leaves are a stamp set from Heartfelt Creations - Swirly leaf that I saw on Lisa Gregory's layouts and fell in love with.  They have some wonderful stamp sets that I really cannot wait to collect more!  On my leaves, I used Citrus and pearl mixative alcohol ink with blending solution, then around the edges I used a paintbrush and meadow green alcohol ink to outline them.  I then cut out the leaves by themselves.  I stamped the leafy swirls directly on my layout then glued the cut out leaves over the stamped image. 

Thanks for looking and I hope you have a wonderful day!

5 Petal Daisy Tutorial

I'd like to share another flower tutorial with you that I used on my layout Be Free Be You.  I do have one slight problem with these tutorials that I've been making and it is that I have no clue what to name these flowers that I come up with.  So...if any of you have a better name, please feel free to share it with me, and if I like it, I'll use it!  Thanks so much!

For this latest flower, I used my 3 daisy punches.  2 of the extra large, which are about 3", 2 of the whale of a punch, which are about 2", and 1 medium which is 1".  I also used a Punch Bunch punch for the stamens.

Supplies:  Glue

Scissors

Daisy punches - 2-3", 2-2", and 1-1"

stamen punch, thick thread, or tiny strips of paper

pearl

small paintbrush or skewer



1.  On all flowers, snip between two petals halfway into the center, then overlap those two petals and glue them together to make 5 petal flowers.

2.  I make the center flower (1") with the stamens first so it has time to dry while making the other.

*I use three punched stamens in mine.  If you don't have a punch, you can just cut some small pieces of paper or you can use thick pieces of thread and tie a knot in one end.

*  Put a glob of clear drying glue (I like Aleene's quick dry tacky glue) in the center of the smallest flower, then stick the stamens into it (if using thread, stick the un-knotted end into the glue).  Then put a pearl in the middle of the stamens.  Set this aside to dry.

3.  The 2 largest, smoosh the bottoms a bit so the flower will sit flat.

4.  Then, on the 2 largest, using the small paintbrush, curl each petal backwards.  On the 2" (middle size) flowers, you can do them 3 different ways.

• Curl the petals back on the layer that will go on bottom and leave the petals straight on the top flower (flower to the far right in the bottom pic)
• Leave both of them straight (middle flower in the bottom pic)
• Leave the bottom flower petals straight and curl back the petals on the top flower (flower to the far left in the bottom pic)

In my example, I left the bottom layer flower (brown) straight and curled back the petals on the top flower layer (green).

5.  Layer & glue the layers alternating the petals

6.  Take your small center flower with the stamens and pearl and glue it into this flower.

Completed flowers

Retro Rose

The third of my flowers that I made and used on my "Be True" layout is what I have named the Retro Rose.

I used the Paper Shaper Retro Flower punches, Whale of a Punch and Medium punch.  Punch out 3 large and 3-4 medium.  (3 medium if you want to use a pearl in the center or 4 if you want to use a punched flower for the center).  You can ink the edges if you want.

1.  On the 3 large flower layers, you need to double-roll each petal backwards.  To do this, roll one side of the petal back, then roll the other side and part of the first roll.  Then kind of pull up on the first roll so you can see the detail better rather than a pointy tip. 

2.  Place them front side up on the backside of a mousepad and press with a stylus or something round at the base of the petals to draw them up.

3.  On 3 small ones, roll the petals backwards.  On 2 of them, I roll the petals at an angle so they will better squish into the center of the flower.

                    If you are making a bud with the 4th one, round the petals around a skewer, then pinch            together to keep it closed into a bud.  Snip off the bottom so it won't be so tall.

Here are the layers (no bud since I think it looks better with a pearl)

        
4.  Layer and glue the small petals first, alternating the petals as you go.  When you glue each one, press down into mousepad to draw the petals up and together.  Glue the bud or pearl in and press down for the petals to draw up around it.

     Then, layer and glue the large flowers.  Finally, glue the small flower into the large layers. 

Daisy Crinkle

The 2nd flower that I made on my "Be True" layout, I have named the Daisy Crinkle.

I used the daisy punches by Ek Success in extra large and the whale of a punch and also the Fiskars 1" flower punch.  I punched out 2 of each size.

1.  Spritz lightly with water or glimmer mist. 

2.  Using a mousepad and an embossing stylus, crinkle each petal starting at the tip of the petal and working down along the edge to the base of the petal.  All you have to do is press into the petal on the sides.

3.  After you do the edges of the petal, then press at a 45 degree angle into the center of the petal to draw one side inward more & create a crease in the middle of the petal (step 3 and 4 are done on the backside of the flower).

4.  Then, flip the flower over on the mousepad.  Using the stylus, press at the base of each petal to draw the petals up.  (this is the frontside of the flower)

5.  Heat the flower to dry it with your heat gun.  This will cause it to stiffen a bit and retain its shape.

Do this for all the flowers.  Here is what they should look like when finished.

6.  Layer and glue, alternating the petals as you go.  Place a small pearl in the center of the flower and you are done.

My 12 year old daughter did the top two flowers, so again, this is not a difficult flower to make.