Embrace the Chaos!

I admit it I had a hard time with this months papers! I don't do well with small patterns & multiple colored prints. I was also creating & teaching my art journal class & just couldn't bring my brain back to scrapbooking. So I had a little help from some friends on this layout. I had printed out these Hipstamatic photos from my ipod & that was about it. Suzie Bentz worked on putting some papers, tags & a general layout together, then Deborah Mahnken took that & added the Bo Bunny paper, tweaked the layout & gave me some ideas. They are not responsible for the mayhem that ensued. The general plan was to add some stencil work on the edges of the layout. I had a photo of the layout but once I started going, I couldn't stop!! I had so much fun just completely junking this up!

I cut 2 pieces of the MLYB (My Little Yellow Bicycle) Harvest Rings, distressed the edges & inked them with Vintage Photo. Using the stencils I glimmer misted branches with True Blood & stamped the spider webs.This is one of my favorite techniques to give my stamped image a glimmer &/or multiple colors. I inked the stamp with Spiced Marmalade distress ink then spritzed the stamp with Tiger Lily Glimmer Mist. The stamped image is all glittery when dry. Next I started layering using the tags & pocket from MLYB. Once my photos were down I started stamping & embossing with wild abandon. I stamped/heat embossed like a crazy person. So great to just go for it! I cut the fences using a border punch & 2 of the papers-Burnt Orange Knit, & Walnut Knit. I used the brown underneath - gluing it a little up & to the side making my fence dimensional.

My cat & raven were die cut using corrugated cardboard. I peeled off the top layer for the raven & painted it with black soot crackle paint, adding silver paint when it was dry & a copic marker colored bling for his eye. The cat was spritzed with True Blood GMist- one of the new fall colors from Tattered Angels. Once dry I covered it with GGlam Hammered Copper which is this rich copper glitter that doesn't change the color of the bottom layer just adds tons of glitter without the mess of glue. A charm & bling were added to my scaredy cat. So much fun! Also Macs zombie shirt was made by tearing the holes in the shirt, adding aged mahogany distress ink, true blood & black magic glimmer mist in places-looks so realistic!

I added flowers that had been spritzed with True Blood &/or hit in parts with the Hammered Copper, giving them a beautiful glittery look. The skeleton was stamped on black card stock with white craft ink. The lock & key charms are new from Fabscraps & can be purchased at the check out desk of ScrapbooksPlus. Some of the tag labels are from last months Fancy Pants kit. Again this layout was so much fun to do after being completely paralyzed. Being forced to get it done and forcing the paper to work with my style not the other way around facilitated this fun, fun artsy time. Of course with a little help from my friends! So go grab that impossible layout & let loose!!!

Supplies to follow

It's Simple!

Simple in design, that is. I've been a fan of Cathy Zielske's simple style for years. This year on her blog she offered a free download for Halloween - the dotted lines dividing an 8.5 x 11 page and some Halloween phrases. I loved the clean & simple look of it.

So I decided to give it a try. I grabbed a two inch square punch and my November Little Yellow Bicycle kit. I had a lot of fun patterns to choose from, and ended up using six different squares of paper, one of the cute corregated leaves and one of the phrases from the cardstock phrases. I printed out the lines on a piece of kraft paper and just played with the layout until I was happy.

Want the download? You can find it on Cathy's blog here.

Mr Owl

I really loved working with the Happy Fall line from Little Yellow Bicycle.  It was a great combination of  colors and it was so easy to work with!

This layout came together quickly~ I love the whimsical owls on the bottom of the page.  To add some texture to the page I decided to stitch the strip on with some brown thread.  I also used some of the white lace sticker that came with the kit- it is very subtle- which I put on the edge of the mat under the picture.  For the title I used some of the Daily Junque wooden letters from Pink Paisley.  I painted them an off white color and them stamped some text on it with Ranger's Archival Black ink.  I love the way they came out.  Here is a photo of the letters close up: I apologize for the wrong orientation of the picture- for some reason it will not let me change it!

Stop by Scrapbooks Plus and check out the DT wall.
Enjoy!
Lisa

Are you ready for some football??

Come in to the store today to claim your football layout!  The Wednesday make and take this week features Little Yellow Bicycle's Game On football papers.  We have this same design in baseball and soccer so you could easily replace the paper on the layout for another sport!!  The free element included with the kit this week is the library card pocket which could be used with any of the sports' papers!
There are a limited quantity of kits available so hurry in today to claim yours!

Hello Fall!

There's a chill in the air in the evenings now and we know Fall is here... but the weather isn't the only thing ushering in the Autumn season!  The Scrapbooks-Plus Design Team kit this month features Little Yellow Bicycle's 'Hello Fall' line.  This line features beautiful papers with great Fall colors that are so bright and cheery you may forget the dropping temperatures- not to mention the early snowfall!  The shades are perfect for just about any photos or projects you have in mind-- not just your pumpkin picking photos!  The papers are complimented by many fun embellishments that are must haves and will make your projects come together with ease!  There are lacey crepe paper adhesive borders, fun cardstock stickers, canvas banners and borders, fabric stickers, journaling tags and one of my favorites- corrugated shapes... and so much more.  This is really fun line of paper and embellishments that will compliment just about anything you have in mind.  So hurry in today to check out what our super creative Design Team has put together with this kit and get your Hello Fall products to welcome this beautiful season!

Happy Halloween!

Loving this halloween paper! My two favorite scary children were hoping to look really scary. Not sure if it worked.

If you look closely, there is a small rickety house in the corner that comes from Tim Holtz' collection of die cuts.

The diecut is frosted at the bottom and on the chimney pipe with gold embossing powder. The embossing powders make a great accent for many projects. Be sure to pick up some of the great selection from Scrapbooks Plus!

Quick & Easy Mini Book

Want to put together a minibook but not sure how to begin? Here's a real quick and easy mini. It only takes a handful of paper, a bone folder, adhesive and your imagination.

Start by picking out your paper. I used four sheets from this month's Fancy Pants kit and a piece from Tim Holtz's Halloween kraft pack.  Cut them all to the same size - but double the size you want your finished book. I chose to cut all mine 8.5 x 11 inches. 

Then, score all of your paper down the middle and fold. The side of the paper that you want to show should be on the inside of the fold (except for the cover). All the pages will be glued back-to-back.


Here's the first page of my book. You can see it's made up of one sheet of patterned paper.

To assemble the book you'll be gluing each sheet to another. Start with the sheet you'd like for your cover and put each folded page inside the cover, one right next to each other. When you're happy with the order, place the cover open on your workspace with the inside facing up. Take the left side of the first page and glue it to the left side of the cover.  Glue to the right side of the first page to the left side of the second page ... and so on until all the pages are glued back-to-back.

Here's the rest of the pages. They have minimal embellishment and no photos ... until Halloween is done.