Fabscraps and Websters at the Flying Unicorn!

I just love this time of year with all the new summer releases hitting the market! Today I have two layouts to share with you, both done with recent releases.

First up is the luscious Fabscraps Shabbylicious collection.  I love the soft pinks, greens, and blues of this paper!

 

 This page is dedicated to the memory of our sweet Chena who many of you may know from the stories of Escape Kitty and Chena wandering the world together.  We lost Chena very tragically three weeks ago to gastric torsion.  It was so sudden and with her age at 12 1/2 and recent bout with pneumonia, we decided that it was too risky and the recovery too difficult, to put her through the surgery required to untwist the stomach, and so we said good bye to her.  Kitty's Mom, Jen, and 5 other of my scrapping buddies had just arrived for our annual scrap retreat at our home, it was definitely a horrible way to start the weekend but having them here helped us get through those first difficult days.

On a happier note, we have a lovely new standard poodle puppy, Tisha, and she is helping Nika and my husband and I smile again.  Stay tuned for lots of puppy layouts!

This is my favorite photo of Chena, it really captures the mischievious light in her eyes and the little girl look that always made me laugh.  I miss you sweet girl.

 

 

Supplies:

 

Cardstock:      Bazzill

Patterned paper:  FabscrapsShabbylicious collection:  base & mixed stripes - Chic Mix,  bird print - Shabby Birds, pink stripe - Chic pinks, pink check and title paper - Chic Chairs

Letters:  Making Memories tiny alpha

Chipboard:  Fabscraps

Embossing powder:  Stampendous aged green and shabby green

Diecuts and punches: Sizzix Framelit,

Flowers:    Fabscraps Romantic Roses Marie Antoinette, Petaloo, pink handmade

Ink:  Versamark oasis green and malted mauve, Prima Old Rose

Mist:  Dylusions White Linen, Glimmer Mist Gumdrop

Masks:  TCW mini grunge hearts, Prima mini flora,

Paste:  Texturez Crusted Coral

Other:  Prima resin bird

Next is a layout done with Webster's Postcards from Paris II. I love the beautiful images and pretty colors of this paper line.

I thought  the frame and roses printed on this paper were so pretty, so I decided to just use this one sheet of paper and add masking to embellish.  I used two different Crafter's Workshop masks, screen and peacock feathers.  The screen is masked with Distress Tea Dye and the feathers are masked with Viva Mother of Pearl cream paste.

 

Supplies

 

Patterned paper:  WebstersPostcards from Paris II:  base - Tres Belle, fussy cut butterflies - My Heart Flutters, Tags and Prompts stickers

Chipboard:  FabscrapsWordlet,

Embossing powder:  Stampendous aged ochre

Flowers:    Kaisercraft paper blooms coral, Petaloo Mini Textured blossoms apricot, Prima Encore Ivory 561369, Prima Divine Fabric flower dyed red with Lindys

Ink:  Mix'd Media Inx peridot,  Distress Tea Dye

Mist:  Heidi Swapp Iridescent spritz GA Peach, Lindys Frosted Forget Me Nots, Cape Cod Poral, Cosmopolitan Pink, Rudolph Red Nose

Masks:  TCW Window Screen, TCW Peacock Feather,

Paste:  Viva Modeling Crème Mother of Pearl Champagne

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

 



Webster's Postcards from Paris II, available at the Flying Unicorn!

Webster's Postcards from Paris II is now in stock at the Flying Unicorn. Yippee!!! Websters papers are a great heavy weight and perfect for whatever mixed media you want to throw at it!!

On this layout I used a new mask from TCW and Shimmerz TextureZ. Love love love this mask, its perfect for my sweet Chili layout. I used Flying Unicorn Metal Adornments to embellish as well as a Dusty Attic corner chippy that I heat embossed with two colors of embossing enamel and of course an assortment of Prima and Kaisercraft roses.










Supplies:
Patterned paper: Websters Postcards from Paris II collection: Base-Mademoiselle, trellis and fussy cut roses - Paris BouquetChipboard: Dusty Attic Corner Flourish #3
Embossing powder: Stampendous Shabby Green & Aged Green embossing enamel
Flowers: Kaisercraft paper blooms coral F662; Prima Encore Ivory 561369, Prima Le Mia 571535
Masks: TCW 416s Mini Grunge Hearts
Paste: Shimmerz TextureZ crushed coral
Other: Flying Unicorn Metal Adornments



Here's a fun tag that has an envelope that you can tuck a note into.




Supplies:

Patterned paper: : Websters Postcards from Paris II collection: Tag - Paris Bouquet, Websters Postcards from Paris II envelope

Diecuts and punches: McGill leaf punch
Flowers: Manor House, Prima Le Mia 571535
Ink: Prima Rosebud
Mist: Lindy's Ponderosa Pine on leaves
Other: May Arts ribbon


Be sure to stop by the Flying Unicorn store and get some of this paper!!  It is soooo delicious, the colors are just fabulous and perfect for scrapping all your favorite photos!

Sweet Days - Flying Unicorn March KOM creations.

Wow, its already March?  Wasn't it New Year's Eve just the other night???  It really amazes me how  quickly time passes, if I had one wish I think it would be to slow time down!  But one fun thing, it's time for another kit reveal, yippee!!!  The Flying Unicorn March kit is full of scrappy goodness; it features Webster's Park Drive collection and Kaisercraft's Marigold collection.  The Flying Unicorn main kit ALWAYS includes an off the page project and this month the OTP was a real homerun!!  It is a Kaisercraft cukoo clock that is simply wonderful.  Take a look here  at our creative team's clock designs!

We left home on January 15th and headed south to enjoy some spring weather while the rest of the country was deep in winter!  Our first stop was New Orleans and what a great place that was!  We were there close enough to Mardi Gras to see decorations and a parade through the French Quarter, but early enough to miss the huge Mardi Gras crowds.  For me, that was just perfect!  We also ventured out of the city and took a boatride through the swamp and encountered this cute little guy in the water!

This first layout features Websters Park Drive collection and the green sheet is from Kaisercraft's Marigold collection.  I added a Scrapfx chippy over top the white diecut leafy flower embellie.  I heat embossed the chippy with Stampendous aged bronze embossing enamel.  If you haven't tried this product, you are missing out!!  It is so perfect for making your chippies really stand out!  I diecut the leafy vines under the flowers with a Spellbinders for Heartfelt Creations die, Bella Rose, and used the matching HC stamp.  Finally, I did some masking using TCW mini tiles mask and molding paste.  Then I tucked a little burlap from my stash under the floral clusters to add some natural elements to my page.

 

 Here's my sweet Chena; I came across this picture not too long ago.  She was only 2 years old then,  and she will be 12 in just 3 weeks.  I think this is my favorite picture of her, she looks so coy, she is definitely flirting with the camera!  Again I used mostly the Websters collection but added the lime green striped paper from the KC Marigold collection.  The brown paper is something from my scrap bin.  I used a lot of punches on this layout, all from Martha Stewart, Wildfowers, Deco Flower and Deco Fan.

 

 

 

I love the little wooden birds that came in the kit and this one I painted with Viva 3D paint in moss.  This paint goes on so smoothly and has a glitter sparkle to it.  It also has body to it so it can be applied thickly if you wish.

 

 

The embellishment addon includes two Viva Decor pearl pens.  Have you tried these?  They are wonderful as you can make perfect round pearls with them!  I used the copper Viva Decor pearl pen to add the pearl accents on the key below.  I think it added a really pretty touch to the key.  Oh by the way the key and hearts are from my stash, they are part of the new Flying Unicorn metal adornments.  These metals are sooooo gorgeous!

 

Tomorrow I will share my OTP with you, its such a fun clock, can't wait to show you!  I've got to get it assembled today!

August kit creations - Flying Unicorn

Our niece was married last weekend and for her wedding gift I am making her a scrapbook of her engagement and marriage.  I used the Flying Unicorn August kit to do this first page for her book.

I had lots of fun with this layout using Kaisercraft Lake House collection.  In the upper left corner I used molding paste and a Prima mask to create the corner detail.  After the molding pasted dried, I used Distress Victorian Velvet ink to bring out the detail in the masking.  On the lower right I have used a Dusty Attic corner chippy that I painted with white gesso.  I borrowed a technique from fellow CT member Shona, and mixed some micro beads into the gesso to give texture to the gesso.  The title chippy is also Dusty Attic and that is painted with white acrylic paint and Luminarte paint.  The chippies and flowers are from my stash. everything else is from the kit.

Detail of the molding paste masking.

Chippy painted with gesso mixed with micro beads.

This kit seems to work really well for romantic occasions!  This next LO is me and my sweetheart celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary and doing what we love to do, drinking champagne!   I used a mix of  Kaisercraft Lake House and Websters In Love papers.  I  especially loved the wooden Kaisercraft wood chippies that came in the kit.  I painted this one with Liquid Pearls in bisque.  I'm not very good at using Liquid Pearls to make pearls but I love using it as a paint - I usually water it down just a tad to make it glide on smoothly.  The floral vine, tiny pink roses  and vintage pink seam binding are from my stash.  Everything else is from the kit.  That seam binding really is vintage, my Mom gave me a box of laces and seam binding.  Some of the seam binding was priced at 25¢!

I love these Prima flowers that came in the kit!

Thanks for visiting!  There are still a few kits left, go here if you want to see more!

The continuing sage of Chena and Escape Kitty

So when I last heard from Chena she had lost Escape Kitty when she stopped at Uncle Willie's.  Poor Chena she watned EK to meet her dear sweet favorite person (besides me of course) and EK jumped out  of the motorhome and ran away.  Well now, finally that dog is  home and it certainly is time.  As I suspected, she had been swilling champagne with her Uncle Willie as you can see in this picture.   I sent her an email and told her that EK was home with jrabs and everything was A_OK so she finally decided to bring the rolling doghouse home!!  She was quite elated to hear that EK was home as she really was worried about her dear kitty friend.  They are indeed the odd couple but I think they had a grand old time in Alaska!  But OMG, that motorhome sure does smell.  What's up with that cat that she can't clean out her littler box?  Me thinks that Miss Kitty just might be spoiled.  I believe she might be a little princess!!  I just have a feeling those two ar eup to something.  Chena is sneaking around, using my computer when I'm not watching,   I don't know what the heck she's searhcing for but I keep seeing addresses to far away places.  And then the other night, she was watching I Dream of Jeannie online.  What's up with that?  You know, why can't she lay around and chew on a bone like a normal dog??

I did this layout for a challenge at Flying Unicorn to use punched or cut paper.  See the challenge here.  I used 3 different items that I cut on my Vagabond, the Umbrella Man, gear, and the rosettes.  I also cut the trim using a Martha Stewart deep edge punch - scrolled hearts.  The papers I used are Webster's Ladies and Gents and I won this pack of papers from Flying Unicorn.  Sweet!!

I love layers and layers and I love patterned paper.  You don't usually see much cardstock on my layouts other than buried deep in the background or maybe used to make flowers.  Some of my scrappy friends tell me that they have trouble with layers so I thought I'd tell you how I approach layers.  First of all, as you begin to use layers, it is easier to work with a collection of papers because then all you don't have to worry about your colors coordinationg.  When selecting your layers you want to pick things that work together.  Generally a large print and a small print will work better together than two large or two small prints.  A stripe is always a nice mix into your collection of patterns.  Look for contrast in the colors you select too.  That helps each paper stand apart for the others.  Contrasting patterns look good together, i.e. a stripe, a check, circles, large print, small print.

Here's my selection of papers and in the order that they will be layered.  I chose the light green paper to cut a circle from.  This is where I will place my photo.  Although this paper has a pattern it is a "quiet" pattern and won't distract from my photo.  If you are layering your photo onto busy paper, it is a good idea to mat your photo with a solid color.  I chose that very lively striped paper to go behind the circle, after that the Webster's diecut that has some will reside mostly in the background and finally the blue as a bottom frame.  Notice I have cut the center out of the blue paper.  It wouldn't show so why waste that paper?  I used in on another LO.  The brown and white stripe I cut using Martha Stewart scrolled hearts border punch.  In the next frame you will notice that the blue is different and that's because I fliiped it over.  I liked the green colors in it and it sort of pulled all the colors together.

 

Next I put all the pieces togehter to see if it pleased me.  I decided I liked the arangement so next I thought about embellishments that might work.  I like this trim with  fuzzy balls on it, I think it works well on a guy layout.  But when I put the trim on the border cut, the border cut got lost on the layout. 

I thought maybe a piece of solid cardstock under the border cut would bring it out so I chose a green piece of cardstock the color of the leaves on the Websters die cut.

Yes, I think that helps alot!   I love paper rosettes, they work well on guy layouts, so I used my Alterations paper rosette die to cut these two rosettes.  I always ink the edges of those too.  Ink adds dimension, I use it on everything.  And one of my favorite things is the Umbrella Man so if I can work him into a layout, even better!!  I cut  this one using Timmy's glassine paper.  Then I brushed on some cappucino Perfect Pearls and set that with my heat gun to give the Umbrella Man a little shimmer.

At this point I am happy with my over design so I start putting my layout together.  BUT, before I adhere anything, I have to distress and ink all the edges.  I used a little water on the circle and striped paper edges so that I could curl the paper a little to give my layout some added dimension. 

You can see that after I got my papers adhered I added some extra embellishments and a title.  I outlined the letters with a brown pen after I put them down.  They needed a little extra emphasis as they were getting lost on that busy striped paper.  I added buttons to the rosettes to liven them up a bit, some journaling and the large gear which has been coated with bronze Perfect Pearls.  Willie is a car guy so I added the Tattered Angel car Glimmer chip.  Added the burlap and brown lace as those are always on the EK and Chena LOs.

I hope this gives you some ideas on layering and helps you get started using layers on your layouts!  Thanks for visiting, I really appreciate it!!

Arthur Strickland

Arthur Strickland, my grandfather that I never knew.  I won  a great paper prize pak from Flying Unicorn and this is the first LO I made with it, Webster's Pages, Ladies and Gents.  These guy LOs are more difficult because I don't like to add a lot of flowers and bling to them.  Let's face it, its relatively easy to make a LO look great when you put pretty flowers and sparkly bling - not so easy otherwise!

Home; Wilderness

These pictures sure brought back some memories as these are pictures of the first house that
Dick and I bought in the Washington DC metro area.  We got married while living there and it was from this house that we moved to Alaska.  We remodeled our first kitchen in this house and went on to remodel 2 more kitchens in other houses that we have owned.    Dick is quite the handyman and there's nothing he can't do, well, except cook. 

Journal:  February 1992


Dick and I spent a lot of time searching for our first home. He wanted a nice garage, I wanted a nice kitchen. “They” wanted a lot of money! We were making our home in the Washington DC area where real estate was just so expensive. After much searching, we found this home that met our needs and our budget.

Dick signed all the necessary paperwork at closing for me as I gave him a power of attorney. I was in Florida packing and finalizing everything with my office. I was changing jobs but not employer.

We were moving from Florida, me from Pompano Beach and Dick from Palm Bay. After a very long drive, I got to our new home first and discovered a really sweet note from Dick welcoming me home. Next to the note were two new champagne glasses. I looked in the refrigerator and there was champagne for us to celebrate our love, our new house, and our new life.

I ordered a pizza for delivery and Dick arrived around the same time as the pizza. By this time it was probably 9 pm and there was no way we were going to start unpacking. So we sat on the floor in the dining room, ate our pizza and toasted our new beginning.

We still have the champagne glasses and they are very special to us. In fact, I got them out last year when we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.

I used bits and pieces of left over Swirlydoos kits for this layout and a few things from my stash.

Cardstock: Cricut Greens and Black
Patterned paper: Webster’s pages - Life’s Potrait and Hollywood (vellum over pp), Prima matting, 7 Gypsies burgundy piece, MME small brown patterned strips
Letter stickers: Pink Paislee Expressions Licorice
Chipboard: Dusty Attic corner scrolls #2 DA0464, vintage key DA0392, vine DA0459
Flowers: Prima large flowers, small unknown
Ink: Distress black soot, Glimmer Glam Tinsel Town, Bronze UTEE, Glimmer Mist Tattered Rose, Distress stain vintage photo

Chipboard scrolls were first covered with bronze UTEE but I left areas uncovered. Then stained with Distress vintage photo and then coated with Glimmer Glam Tinsel Town. Key is coated with bronze UTEE
*****************************************************************************

Here's a layout that I did for the Words and Perspectives at the Just Perspective blog.  This is a picture I took on our honeymoon in Alaska in Denali National Park.  It was already fall there and in fact it snowed a couple days after we left and they had to bring people camped in the park out in a convoy led by snow plows.  It was a freak storm that dumped 2' of snow at the park and caught everyone by surprise.

Journal:    I love the wilderness of Alaska, it feeds my imagination and its vistas are a feast for my eyes. I love to drive the few roads that pass through this scenic wonder, for who knows what I may see? In the spring, I keep a watchful eye for a moose with her newborn calf or perhaps a goose or duck shepherding her flock across the road. If she is frightened, she will shoo her flock into the brush and she will feint injury by dragging her wing, hoping to divert my attention from her babies. In the fall, I keep watch for the majestic Bull Moose with the velvet rubbed from his antlers; he is searching for a mate.


I have seen the beautiful trumpeter swan with her mate and cygnets gently floating in a pristine lake with water as clear as glass. Once I sat for hours and watched two beavers hard at work engineering a dam so that they would have a pond where they could build a lodge and store their winter food supply. I have seen bear cubs playing with each other as only children do. Their mother was watching from a nearby post and when she called them with a quiet woof, they responded immediately. Ah, but then, there was the time I saw Mama bear smack her cub “upside the head” because he was being a bit too rambunctious! I guess kids will be kids, no matter the species.

There are places I go in the wilderness that were once covered by glaciers, and even today, receding glaciers are visible in the distance. I wonder what it was like in the glacial age, how did any living creature survive the constant cold? I wonder what lies under the glacier and as the glacier continues to recede, what secrets will unfold for scientists to study.
More than anything, the wilderness is God’s country. It is there that I see and feel the wonder of our earth and experience the simple pleasures of observing so many creatures quietly going about the business of living in the wild. My eyes feast upon the wide-open vistas and the dark forests, the glacial valleys, the snow covered peaks, all this natural beauty that surrounds me and my heart just sings.
***

You can probably tell that I really love Alaska, if there is anywhere else like it on the earth, I haven't been there yet but I'd like to go!
Supplies:

BasicGrey Curio Collection

• Linen – base pp
• Textile – solid yellow
• Ophelia – yellow print
• Victoria – Orange square
• Chiffonier – small print circle
• Diecut stickers & letters

Core’dinations green cardstock
Tattered Angels
• Glimer Chips Tattered Traveler – compass
• Bingo Card Travel

Prima metal flower mix #4
Prima e. black pearls and crystals
Distress ink – wild honey and black soot

Thanks for visiting!  I really appreciate the comments that you leave!

Escape Kitty and Chena - the continuing saga...

When last we saw Kitty and Chena they were literally nose to nose with Mr Moose and in the snow.  See this great page that my friend Jennifer, Jrabs, did. (You really should visit her gallery, she is incredibly talented!!) But now the snows have melted and the girls have made it to Alaska!!!  Chena peemailed this photo recently and I just had to scrap it.  Don't they look soo  cute?!!  I think Chena must have stopped somewhere and had her hair done 'cause look at that cute little bow in her hair.  Wonder if Kitty put it there for her?

I made all the flowers using the Tattered Floral Alterations die and a tiny daisy die for the centers.  The paper is a mix of Bo Bunny Gabrielle and Websters Life Story.  I did this layout for a challenge at Swirlydoos to use unusual papers and mine are the travel journal which is embossed and inked aluminum foil and next to it, the brown with lace is dampened paper towels embossed and then dried.  Thanks to my friend Colleen for that idea.  It was a fun challenge!!