Mystery in the (Concrete) Jungle

Hi everyone! Sharing with you my latest creation from my scrapbook room. Over at CSI we have a beautiful color scheme and as usual, I have used the amazingly beautiful Blue Fern Studios

products. 

I am entering this piece in the Blue Fern Studios January Sketch Challenge. There will be a lot of competition this month, so I am just hoping for the best. Their method of choosing is by a drawing, so we will see. Here is the sketch, by the amazing Michele Singh, who  creates many of the Blue Fern Studios collections! For this layout, I turned the sketch upside down. 

 Here is Michele's sketch: 

If you are familiar with my scrapbooking journey, you know that development of "my style" has been a long time coming. It has been in the last year, after a lot of fun experimentation that I achieved this goal. I love a classic, romantic look when choosing paper. A lot of fun work on the background paper is a must. Stamping, painting, texturizing and embossing on my backgrounds is the part I enjoy the most.

After the background is complete, I can add the lovely little elements from the collection. In the photo below, it is the sweet little cherub. I always purchase two pieces of paper so I can use one for fussy cutting. I use markers around the edges so no white shows. Then, I create a chipboard piece a little smaller than the piece that has been fussy cut. This gives the little cherub more stability so it doesn't get warped or damaged over the years in a scrapbook. 

The last step is to add the embellishments. I have recently discovered the brand new Blue Fern Studios Imagine Ink embossing powder. All you have to do is dab a little Ranger/Tim Holtz Perfect Medium on the chipboard, then sprinkle the powder onto the chipboard and heat. It's super easy! 

PRODUCTS

Blue Fern Studios paper (Blush

     collection/Cupid's Folly), chipboard,

     Imagine Ink (embossing powder) and stamps

Crafter's Workshop template
Gelatos
Liquitex modeling paste
Petaloo flowers

Prima Color Bloom Spray and mailbox 

     embellishment

Ranger Perfect Medium
Stampendous embossing products
StazOn ink
From my stash:
     sequins

The journaling reads: 

Lee and Allie enjoy the fast pace of "the big city". When they visited Liz in Austin, they boated on Lake Travis and enjoyed the unique music on Sixth Street. One of the most enjoyable activities was to view the area that has been seen by millions... Grafiti Park at Castle Hills. It is a fun place to have your photo taken! The Concrete Jungle is alive and well! 

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment. 

Noel

Greetings, scrappy friends! It has been a while since I posted due to minor but much needed surgery. I'm doing fine and am well on my way to being back to my normal activities, and then some!

Over at CSI, we are doing a lovely color scheme with red as it's boldest color, just in time for Valentine's Day.  Be sure to stop by at CSI to see all the lovely creations and to be inspired by the stories and creativity. Also, check out our sponsors and participate to have a chance to win some of the wonderful prizes! 

I can't wait to see what everyone will come up with for this case file! 

I am entering this piece in the Blue Fern Studios January Sketch Challenge. There will be a lot of competition this month, so I am just hoping for the best. Their method of choosing is by a drawing, so we will see. Here is the sketch, by the amazing Michele Singh, who  creates many of the Blue Fern Studios collections! For this layout, I turned the sketch upside down.

 Here is Michele's sketch: 

For this layout, as for most of my work, I stamped the background, painted it, embossed and texturized it. Having done all the background work I embossed the chipboard, fussy cut the lovely flowers in the paper and popped them up for a 3-D effect. Last, I added the flowers, tule and photo.

After getting the background just right, I focused on the other layers. Here, you can see the beautiful chipboard that I embossed.

PRODUCTS

Blue Fern Studios paper (Vintage Christmas/Deck the Halls), chipboard, embossing
    powder and stamps
Crafter's Workshop template
Gelatos
Liquitex modeling paste
Maya Road tule
Prima flowers and Color Bloom Spray
Pro Art gesso
Ranger Perfect Medium
Sizzix die
Stampendous embossing products
StazOn ink
From my stash:
     pearls

The journaling tag was also texturized before adding the story behind the photo. The tag is meant to be pulled out  and read. It says, "When I was a little girl, my paternal grandmother used the same recipes for our Christmas Day meal that I use today. My mother was given them as a young married woman and Mother has passed them along to me. These amazing recipes for the cornbread stuffing, the turkey, giblet gravy and pumpkin pie are all made from scratch and are a huge undertaking, but one that I am honored to carry on. I have only one recipe needing improvement: Giblet Gravy. I hope to improve on the gravy and pass these recipes on to future generations in our family!

Thanks for taking a peek and leaving a comment.......see you soon!

Hugs,
Patty

Brown Eyed Girl

Hello my scrappy friends! This layout was created for the CSI (Color, Stories, Inspiration) Design Team. I enjoy the challenges at CSI and think most any scrapbooker would also like the fun of meeting all the criteria in a creative and fun way. Most importantly, I enjoy saving the stories of my family for future generations, and wish that I could read and pass along more stories from my ancestors. In order to compete and have a chance to win lovely prizes, as seen here, you need to join the group, follow the color "Scheme", include at least three items from the "Evidence" category and one from "Testimony". 

It won't take long to feel at ease each week as you enter the challenge. I will share a little secret with you....a good story almost always increases your chances of being featured! 

For  this layout, here is what I wrote for my description: 

Color Scheme: All five colors used

Evidence: Stripes, music accents, string/fiber

Testimony: Use a song title or lyrics as part of your journaling. I chose Brown Eyed Girl performed and written by Sir Van Morrison. This song is iconic rock and roll from the sixties and because my daughter has brown eyes, I wanted to journal about her eyes. Here is my journaling: 

Brown Eyed Girl

by Van Morrison

Standin' in the sunlight laughing

Hididn' behind a rainbow's wall

Slippin and a slidin'

All along the waterfall

They say, "the eyes are a window to the soul", and I agree. Your eyes reflect the happiness in your soul, Elizabeth. You sparkle and shine in every way, my "Brown Eyed Girl"!

I love using certain techniques to make my layouts interesting. One technique is to use paint splattered on parts of the background paper and another is to texturize the background with modeling paste and a stencil. In addition, I use a stamp to highlight the area around the picture(s), and am a big fan of layering and 3-D work. 

I had this layout almost finished when I received my first shipment just in time to use the brand new Blue Fern Studio Imagine Ink Embossing Powder on the chipboard title! So excited to now have five different colors of this very fine powder! It makes embossing the chipboard title, frame or other elements a breeze! 

In the photo above can be seen quite a bit of the heat embossing I applied to the background with a chunky embossing powder. Below, is a little piece of costume jewelry that I purchased years ago to use in my scrapbooking. It was part of a necklace that had about fifteen little charms on it. I used a few inches of embossing thread to hang it from the chipboard. 

In this photo can be seen three of my most used techniques: fussy cutting, layering and texture on the background paper. 

PRODUCTS:

Blue Fern Studio (Frolic paper collection), 

       chipboard, embossing materials and stamps

Crafter's Workshop template
Gelatos

Liquitex modeling paste

Petaloo flowers
Prima Color Bloom Spray, flowers, template and 
        crystal
Pro Art gesso
Ranger  Perfect Medium, Crackle Accents
Stampendous embossing products
StazOn ink

From my stash: embossing floss and  repurposed

        charm

Last, but never least is my hand written journaling. I almost always adhere a little library pocket to the the back of the layout...close to the top....so it can be easily pulled out and read. 


Back to my scrapbook room for more creative fun! See you next time!