Sketches: Creatively Yours - a new sketch and layout

I'm a little late with this post as I was out of town all weekend at a fabulous crop with some of my bestest scrapping friends!!   We had sooo much fun scrappy shopping, sipping a little wine and eating, laughing and just having girl fun!  Thank you so much Kathy for hosting us!

But enough about that, here's another great sketch from my good friend Ali at Sketches: Creatively Yours.  It's a great sketch, be sure to go over and check out all the DT examples and then use the sketch and link up yours to the site!

I did this layout using the sketch for one of my bff's dating back to our college days.  The occasion is when her father retired from Eastern Airlines.

I used some Dusty Attic wings and corner chippies that I sprayed with Lindy's Starburst Mist (yellow rose of Texas).  I accented the corner chippies with Liquid Pearls for the raised effect.  Prima Printery and Bo Bunny Et Ceteral papers. 

Thanks for visiting!

PARTY TIME AT THE FLYING UNICORN!!!!!!!!

6pm EST tonight the Polar Bear and Pajama Party crop starts!!  Be there, fun and games, challenges, prizes, wooo hooooo!!!!!!!!

Ruby Rock-it from Australia - Flying Unicorn

One of the things that I really love about Flying Unicorn is the unique  products that the owner, Alda, tries to stock in the store.  She is always scouring the globe looking for the next great paper line.  This week we are featuring Ruby Rock-it papers from Australia and they are 10% off through January 22nd.

I did three layouts using the fabulous Avalon collection from Ruby Rock-it.These are a great heavy weight paper perfect for misting, distressing and inking, all those things we like to do to our paper. This first layout is a vintage picture of my grandparents probably taken in the 50's or maybe even earlier. I have so many wonderful vintage photos, unfortunately, most of them are not labeled as to the who or the when.

I started with a white paper, Celestial, from the collection and gave it a quick spritz with Cadillac pink Glimmer Mist. Then I cut a 10" square from Fantasy and used my Wild Flowers Martha Stewart punch to punch all around the page. Since the photo and Dusty Attic bracket frame cover the center of the paper, I fussy cut some of the flowers from the center of the page and tucked them behind on the upper left and right side of my layout. Behind the photo and filling to the edges of the DA frame is a green paper, Illusion.

The Dusty Attic frame is painted with Distress picket fence Crackle paint and then lightly inked with Distress pumice stone.

I used two rubons verses on the left and right, the butterflies are also rubons, all from Ruby Rock-it. From my stash I added the Prima canvas resist floral spray and birdcage. These are resist treated so you just ink with Distress in to bring out the details. The flowers are mostly Primas .

To finish off this layout, I added two special pieces that were given to me by a couple of our Unicorn members! The beautiful white butterfly was crocheted by our Cathi and is really perfect for this layout as it reminds me of the crocheted pieces that my grandmother did. That fabulous cameo was made for me by Tammy and I so appreciate it!!

Well I had that string of beads laying around and, I don't know, it just looked good tossed onto the layout so there you go, not alot of careful thought there, LOL!!

This next layout is of me and my sweetheart. I used Ruby Rock-it's diecut Stitch, Daydream in the center, and the base page is Noble. The tattered green under the diecut is Illusion.

I used a Dusty Attic Holly Flourish on this that I misted with Lindy's Starburst Yellow Rose of Texas.

I also used some Ruby Rock-it rubons here, the flowers and butterflies. The two larger flowers are handmade using McGill's Floriano and EK Success Retro Flower punches. The pearl accents are Ruby Rock-it embellies.

I wanted to mimic the circle pattern in the diecut so I used molding paste and a mask to dress up my center paper. You can see this technique in my tutorial here.

The title Always is a Making Memories Eclectic Metal that I mounted on a Tattered Banner diecut from Alterations as is the hand written sentiment under the photo.

And finally I leave you with these two cuties, Nika and Jen (aka Jrabs, Escape Kitty's Mom). Jen and some of othre favorite scrappy friends visited us last September and she and Nika fell in love!! I just adore this picture of them, it is soooo sweet!!

The papers I used are all from Ruby Rock-it Avalon, Melody-pink frame, Mysterious - floral (my favorite sheet in the collection!), and Illusion- green border strip. The flower is a Petaloo velvet and the greenery is a Sizzix diecut. Again I used Prima Resistant canvas for the chair inked with Distress Bundled Sage.

There's some Dusty Attic Fancy Trim #3 peaking out from under the lacy flowers trim from Hobby Lobby that I painted with Shimmerz pink paint. I added some heart lace from Hobby Lobby and Pink Paislee Mistable letters inked with Victorian Velvet.

Thanks for visiting!  Be sure to check out all the Ruby Rock-it lines!

Puppy Love - Flying Unicorn

My sweet babies snuggling together on the couch in the RV while we were driving down the road this past fall. I used Fabscraps Shabby Chic pps for this, I love these papers and they should soon be available at the Flying Unicorn store.

The chipboard is a Dusty Attic piece, Vine Flourish, DA0485, its one of my favorite DA pieces.  For a fun and different look paint your chippy and then stamp on it.  I painted this vintage white and then stamped using a script stamp and pattern stamp with archival ink coffee. I love this effect. The letters are Jillibean Soup corrugated that I slopped some white paint on and then inked with Distress walnut stain.

Around the circle I gathered some Tattered Angels Mistable Crepe Ribbon that I inked with Prima teal damask.

The flowers are handmade from the same Fabscraps paper.  They are just a simple 2 layer flower with sunburst centers and a Prima crystal.  I inked and added a couple Prima resin corners and that's it!

Graphic 45 at the Flying Unicorn

we are featuring Graphic 45 and all their wonderful papers at the Flying Unicorn store  this week.  I love their papers with their rich colors!!  Here's a couple I did for the feature using the new G45 Tropical Travelogue collection.

Here I am - "Enjoy the Moments that Make You Smile" and yes I was enjoying myself!! I went with a vintage style on this layout employing a sepia toned photo with an oval fade frame applied to give it that old look. I used lots of layers that I distressed and inked with Distress Gathered Twigs and Vintage Photo. The title is a Dusty Attic piece that I have painted with gold Smooch paint, it really is gold although it looks orange in this photo. The 2 bird images are from the Tropical Travelogue Botanica paper, I just love them!! I think the net and shells adds the perfect touch to this tropical layout, they were included in the January KOM!! I really love the unusual things that Alda always adds to the kits!

The largest flower is handmade using the Alterationgs Tattered Floral die, I have a tutorial for it here. The other flowers ar some older Prima flowers from my stash. The two black swirls are printed on a transparency, then I cut them out and added to my layout. The butterfly came from LisaG, I simply added some black diamond Stickles.

Here's another layout, again using Tropical Travelogue. I lived in Florida for 14 years and of course these G45 papers really remind me of my time there. I took this picture many years ago while I was taking a nature photography course at Blowing Rocks Nature Preserve. I thought the colors in the stump and surrounding flowers went great with these papers. And Laura is hosting a challenge to make your own flowers so I did this as inspiration for her challenge.

I used Spellbinders Sunflower 2 die to make the sunflowers and misted them with yellow daisy Glimmer Mist. The centers are micro beads and because I only have silver microbeads I had to dye them with black alcohol ink, that was kind of interesting!!

In addition to Tropical Travelogue papers, I used Bo Bunny Back to Basics Clover Dot for the base paper and cut the black swirls with a Sizzix die from some very old black patterned paper from All My Memories. The leaves are fussy cut from Tropical Travelogue Rainforest. I just have a hard time with peach colors so I used Distress ink Scattered Straw on the G45 Hibiscus paper to turn the peach more orange, Distress inks are great for those kind of problems!! I water distressed the inner edge of the frame that has been punch with Martha's Stewart's wildflower punches and also water distressed the peach dotted layer.

Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks for leaving your comments!

Flying Unicorn round robin!

We've got a fabulous Round Robin going on at Flying Unicorn with SEVEN teams!  Each week in January 7 new layouts will be revealed that are lifts of their team member's previous weeks layout.  The competition is fierce and the sneak peeks during the week have been great!

Here's the layout I did for my team, the Scrapping Divas!

This is a LO I did for a dear friend, this is her Dad on the occasion of his last flight for Eastern Airlines - the day he retired.

I used Core'dinations vintage collection for the base pp and the diecut is Bo Bunny Et Cetera, in the center of the diecut I layered a circle cut from Printery Love Ledger. I also masked the circle using distress ink in pumice stone. The clock face is Prima resistant canvas, above itis a Prima Vintage Trinket (memories), the beaded lace is from Hobby Lobby. Underneath the diecut I have layered tattered newsprint. TFL!





Flying Unicorn adds Shona to the Creative Team!

I am so excited to tell you that Shona has joined the Flying Unicorn Creative Team!!  Shona and I have been scrappy friends for a year or two now and she is just the best!!  Shona's style is shabby and vintage and sometimes grungy, in short her style is fabulous!!  Please stop by the Flying Unicorn Forums and give Shona big welcome!

Polar Bear & Pajama Party Online Crop at the Flying Unicorn!!

We're having an online crop, all weekend so go mark your calendars now!!  The party starts at 6 pm EST Friday, January 20 and ends at 6 pm EST, Sunday, January 22nd.   There will be some special challenges for the crop and each challenge will have a RAK for the challenge winner.  All of our winners are chosen by Random.org so everyone has a chance to win!  We'll have live chat going on and games galore, posting prizes (that's kinda like a door prize!) and who knows what else!  So make sure you send everyone in your household off for the weekend, make sure you've got pizza delivery on speed dial and come join us!  Just click on the badge below to link to our Polar Bear Pajama Party!!  Be there!!

Papa a Paris - Sketches: Creatively Yours

Ali at Sketches:  Creatively Yours has designed a great  new sketch up to start off the new year!  I t was the perfect sketcch for the Kaisercraft Bonjour papers that I chose to use with my vintage picture of my Dad taken, where else, but in Paris at the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.  The photo was taken shortly after the end of WW II and is signed by my Dad simply, Love, Carl.  He must have sent it home to my Mother.



The picture frame does most of the embellishment work for me with its beautiful image of the Eiffel tower.  I just added a few blooms to add some dimension.  I also added Dusty Attic baroque corners to the picture and a name plate.  I used Tim Holtz glassine paper to make a paper lace frame around the photo and added green and blue Perfect Pearls to give it a touch of color.  I painted the outside of the bookplate and the baroque corners with Shimmerz mossy stone.  I painted the inside of the bookplate with Perfect Pearls in biscotti.  Then I added a ZVA pearl swirl to finish it off.

At the Flying Unicorn this month, we've got some GREAT challenges and I will also post this layout as inspiration for Tammy's distressing and lace challenge.  My "lace" is paper, hope it counts!

Did you know that Flying Unicorn has 10 GREAT challenges every month AND we have great RAKS every month too!!  I'm hosting a round robin this month and we have 7 teams!  We're having a blast and you know what, I need one more player to fill the Jan 30th spot on team 7, it could be YOU.  Come on over to the Flying Unicorn forums and join in the fun!!

I Can't Stop Loving You! Flying Unicorn challenge

Come join us at Flying Unicorn for our version of American Idol!  there's a $100 gift certficate to be won!!  Hurry, auditions for Hollywood week are going on now!

So here's my entry for the challenge, I chose Houston and Roy Orbison for my "audition" piece.  We had to use a song by our chose artist and I am using I Can't Stop Loving You.  Those of you that know me know that red and black are my favorite colors to wear and this also carries over to scrapbooking, add a little cream or white and you've got me!  These IOD  Devotion papers from Creative Imaginations suit me to a T and I love the added green in the paper line to give it some pop!!

This is probably my favorite picture ever of Dick and I!  I love the big smile on his face!  I think the picture really defines our relationship, fun and loving!  

EK Pirate and Chena - Where are they off to now?

EK Pirate and Chena - Where are they off to now?

 Oh my gosh, what ARE those two up to now? I thought it was kind of odd when I saw her digging around in the attic in the old costumes bin. But you know with Chena, she could as well be looking for a long forgotten bone as a costume. Oh but no, she was looking for a skullcap. Am I the only person in the world with a crazed animal that is overtaken by wanderlust? Um no, Jen aka Jrabs has Escape Kitty that is Chena's partner in crime. And from the appearance of the lamp post I'd say these two are gearing up for a sail to Australia. I sure hope Kitty knows how to sail 'cause all Chena knows how to do is drive our motorhome.

Oh just makes me start humming CSN Southern Cross, love that song.

Be safe Kitty and Chena, watch out for the sharks and crocodiles. Chena mind you manners and be sweet to Kitty, I don't want you to end up in the brig! 

Be sure and visit Escape Kitty blog for the rest of the story!!  There's a link on my sidebar.

Reveal - Flying Unicorn January kit - Wishing and Hoping

I am so happy that I can finally show you the January KOM from Flying Unicorn.  Its filled with papers from one of my favorite manufacturers, the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue collection.  The colors are so bright and cheerful, love the tropical imagery, perfect for the cold winter blues!  Click here to purchase and learn more about the kit.  But do hurry, they sell out fast.

Here's another from the kit. Photo is my mother when she was about 16. Lots of fussy cutting going on here, all those leaves are fussy cut from the Rain Forest pp. I made the flowers (with stuff from my stash) using a McGill Floriana punch and cut them from Tim Holtz glassine paper. Then I brushed gold Perfect Pearls on the flowers and heated with my heat gun. The heating sets the Perfect Pearls, really a neat effect. On the right under the flowers is a Petaloo rose leaf spray from mystash. The black pearl swirls are a Prima SIIP that I cut apart, also from my stash, Flying Unicorn has some great bling swirls from ZVA in the store!

This might be my favorite LO that I did using this kit.  This is a photo of my Mom taken back in the 40's, probably 1944. I love the netting that came in the kit this month and chose to use that to represent the sea along with the blue papers. You can see some fish swimming around up there! I fussy cut some flowers from the Garden Isle pp, the frame is Seaside Holiday, stripes Tropical Travelogue, fish Oceania. The 3D flower is from my stash and is from ZVA. Behine the photo I've used Lindy's Stampgang fusible webbing (here's a tute that my good scrapping buddy Joyce did)  and used two different colors of embossing powder, its representative of seaweed and then I added some silver microbeads indicative of bubbles you see in the water. Oh you can't really see it, but there is a pearl in the upturned shell. TFL!

The January kit also contains a really fun Off the Page Project - glass painting.  The kit includes 3 glass bottles, a glass plate, candles and glass paint to really get your creative mind working.  Here's what I came up with.