Pinspiration Layout + a tutorial / Chickaniddy Crafts

Hey, everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  I'm up on the Chickaniddy Crafts Blog today with a layout inspired by a Pinterest project.   I was so excited to find this gorgeous design on our Pinspiration Board this month!  I was immediately inspired to create a fun and unique watercolor background.

I started with plain white cardstock, watercolors, and a few coordinating colors of Heidi Swapp Color Shine.  I sprayed and painted here and there with different colors, added sprays of water, and did a lot of dabbing with a paper towel.  A few times I held up the paper to let the wet color drip down the page.  I kept adding paint or mist as I saw fit...it really just depended on where a certain color was needed.

I combined the Date Night and Twirly Girly collections for this.  All the background colors were pulled from the papers and embellishments I used.  I knew I wanted to use the amazing gold foil paper, so I also added some gold heat embossing to my background for some extra shine.

These brads and die-cuts are awesome for creating smaller clusters.  These added the perfect touch by my journaling area.

I cut that large gold messy circle on my Silhouette Cameo...and let me tell you, this gold foil paper cuts VERY smoothly!  I threw in some thread for an extra pop of color and interest underneath my title.

I love combining all the fun embellishments together...like the Mini Sticker Tags, Sentiment Stickers and brads.  Here you get a good shot of the gold heat embossing I did...I just love the result!

More heat embossing, more thread, more layers and more gold foil paper!  That stuff cuts so beautifully in the Cameo!

It's so much fun to search Pinterest for inspiration...it sure doesn't take long to find something beautiful there!

Supplies Used:  Date Night: DN140S09 Together is Better Paper, DN140S08 Wallflower Paper, DN14EB01 Alpha Stickers, DN14EB04 Mini Sticker Tags, DN14EB06 Brads; Twirly Girly: TG140S08 Itty Bitty Ballerina Paper, TG140S02 Birthday Girl Paper, TG14EB01 Alpha Stickers, TG14EB04 Mini Sticker Tags, TG14EB05 Mini Sticker Sentiments, TG14EB06 Brads; CN14SP001 12x12 Gold Foil Paper; Other: Cardstock, Watercolors, Gold Embossing Powder, Tim Holtz Circle Stamp, Recollections Script Stamp, Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine, Sharpie Black Pen, Smash Date Stamp, Stampendous Ink, StazOn Ink, Thread, Silhouette Cameo.

Here is a little insight on how I created this watercolor background.  It's a lot easier than it looks.

I always use my trusty watercolors and different colors of Color Shine.  Any mists or sprays will work.  And I always have a napkin or paper towel handy.  I just use regular cardstock.

For this page, I started with the Color Shine...just spraying it in random spots.

Hold the paper up and let it drip.  Even spritz water on top of it if you need or want do.  Add as much color as you like.

I like to blot it with a napkin.  If it's too light in color, spray again and repeat.  It does help to have a heat tool to dry it in between.  That way you can see the true color.

I like to add in watercolors here and there...along the edges and in random spots on the paper.

More napkin blotting...

Repeat the process with more colors.

You can treat the mist as paint, too, and pull in your brush to mix it around.  Add water as needed, and blot with napkin as needed.  You may not want to blot...it's certainly not a requirement :)

Change colors when you need to.  My paints here are well loved...haha.  I mix colors a lot, and I don't mind it getting all messy!

Here's where I add in some orange.  You really just need to play with the color scheme and see what suits your layout best.  The good thing about this is you really can't mess it up.  And if you do, you can cover it up or add some gesso over it to fade it out.

Add some splatters if you'd like...just thump the brush a bit.

Here's something fun I added to this layout.  I cut these coffee stain shapes with my Cameo and use them as a stencil/template.  I pulled out my blending chalks and went over the stencil with Qtips.  I don't have anymore makeup brushes, so I improvise :)

Isn't that cool?!  I love this look!  These chalks are from Michaels...I bought them a long time ago, but I still see them there.  If you use a coupon, they're only like $8.  I've gotten lots of use out of them.

I hope this inspires you to create a fun watercolor background!  And also to check out Pinterest...you can find SOOOOO much inspiration there! Be sure to check out what three of the other Design Team members created based on their Pinterest finds!

Thanks for checking in today!

My Scraps Sketch #79

 ***Go HERE for the My Scraps and More NSD Blog Hop!***

Hey there, friends!  I hope your weekend was fabulous :)  There's a new sketch up over on the My Scraps Sketch Blog, and I know you'll be inspired by it.  I love the simplicity of it;  there's a lot of room for interpretation, which I love.  Check it out:

I have so much American Crafts goodies just waiting to be used...I had every intention of using some of the Plus One collection for this, but that didn't happen.  I was drawn to some of the other stuff once I got going with it.  Gosh, I think this this from Polka Dot Party...I have all of my AC stuff together, and sometimes it looks similar.   I made my design a little larger than than the sketch shows, and I started with strips of washi tape on the right side.

This rub-on didn't exactly "rub on" all the way.  I literally rubbed and pushed hard for a few minutes, and it still didn't transfer all the way.  I have some trouble with AC's rub-ons most of the time...they are really hard to transfer without leaving some of the design on the transfer paper.  I still like the way it came out, though, and I like that it's layered under the flowers sticker.

My favorite thing to do...layer!

This tag is actually a sticker.  I added some cord and layered it behind the top of my photo layers.

Be sure to come check out the My Scraps Sketch Blog.  There's a new sketch every Friday, and every time you upload a layout, you're throwing your hat in the ring for a prize!  It's worth a shot, so come on and join us!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Sunday!

NSD Blog Hop with My Scraps & More!

Hello and welcome to the National Scrapbook Day Blog Hop!

If you're here out of order, start from the beginning at the My Scraps and More blog.

Each of the 6 Designers have used one of the items in the image below in a project.

Hop along to each blog to see how they have used the product, and then leave a comment for each DT member.  One random winner will be chosen from one of the DT's blogs to win each of the items that the design team used!

Here is what I created using one of the Jillibean Soup Placemats.  I first used it as a mask and spritzed some Color Shine over it.  Then, I cut three large triangles out of it and backed each opening with patterned paper to create a collage of colors.  I used the new Sightseeing Stew line for this.

There are so many fun elements in this line...these placemats can be used whole, in pieces or as masks.  Definitely room to get creative :)  I embellished with one of the wooden nickels, one of the cute sprinkles, and lots of stickers.

Here's a close up of the placemat.  Backing it with patterned paper is really easy and has a great effect!

One more close up...I just had to use this cute airplane piece since my page is about traveling and we are actually in a plane :)

Comments close on Sunday, May 4th at midnight, and the winner will be posted on the My Scraps and More blog on Monday, May 5th.  Your kit prize will include:

2 Jillibean Soup Placemats
October Afternoon All Boy 6x8 Paper Pack
Jillibean Soup Wooden Nickels
Fancy Pants Nautical Envelopes and Pockets
Simple Stories DIY Kraft Labels
Fancy Pants Artist Edition Chalk Tape

Also, be sure to check out and LIKE our Facebook page for another chance to win ANOTHER prize!

Here is the hop order:

My Scraps and More
Audrey Yeager
Tammi Bennett
Tracy Rhodes
Wendi Robinson
Lisa Moen
Missy Whidden

Thanks for hopping, and we hope you have a wonderful National Scrapbooking  Day!

Outdoor Girl + a sketch

It's Wednesday...yay!  Hope yours is going well so far.  Today, I'm sharing a sketch I created for the April Sketchathon going on over on the My Scraps & More forums.  Today is the last day...it sure went fast!  This was up on the boards last week.

I used some of the awesome October Afternoon Daily Flash goodies for this one.  I just love the color combo here, and it looks really pretty up against the grey & white striped background.  And I knew that cute little deer would be perfect for these photos of my little outdoor baby :)

This layout came together pretty easily.  It's a lot of paper layers with some tape and embellishments thrown in.  This collection made it easy to embellish.

I pulled out one of my Martha Stewart border punches...hadn't used any of them in a while it seems.  I also mixed my title with some old Lily Bee alphas and some burlap Thickers.

I found these cute wood veneer flowers on clearance at Michael's, and I used a Ranger paint dauber to color them.  I also traced around the edges with a white pen.  They're great for layering with paper, stickers and cord.

Here I combined a tab, a banner date sticker, a die-cut arrow and a chipboard piece to create a little corner cluster.

The sketchathon was so much fun...I have one more sketch and page to share.  Each design team member created five, and I've shared four of mine so far.

Thanks for taking a peek today!

Today / My Creative Scrapbook

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Today I'm sharing my final page featuring the April Main Kit from My Creative Scrapbook.  It's also my final layout as a Design Team Member.  I have decided to step down from the team.  As much as I love being a part of it, life has just gotten busier these days and I had to let something go.  I don't like feeling rushed to complete projects, and my time limits just didn't allow me to put the time and energy into designing with the kits like I wanted.  I will truly miss designing for Pam and the team, but I know it's the best decision for me at this time.  A huge thank you to Pam for allowing me to work with her and her beautiful kits for the past year!

Now, onto my page.....I went crazy with the white Thickers for this one.  I decided to use them as a background design.  (There's a little tutorial following my close ups on how I did this).  I wanted to go simple on this page and allow the black and white photos to stand out.  I also didn't do any journaling on this page...I felt that the photos and the small title sentence spoke for themselves.

I loved creating this letter and number collage for my background.  It came together really easily and fast.  I die cut the word "today" on my Cameo and layered it on top of the Thickers and photos.

These adorable flower die cuts are fun to work with, and there are a ton of them in the kit.  They're from the Pebbles Garden Party collection. There are also Prima flowers included.  I sort of tore them and crumpled them up to layer them under the photos.  I don't like a lot of bulk, so I smushed them pretty good so they'd fit under the pictures.

And here's a pink one..aren't these colors just gorgeous?

Here's a quick little How-To on my background.  I created this sample after I created my layout, so I used the left over Thickers. 

Easy!  You can certainly do this same technique with acrylics or mists...I just always have my watercolors out because I use them a lot.

I hope this inspires you to go through all your old Thickers and alpha stickers (you know you have some older ones that you haven't touched in years...haha!).  Use them up....especially all the odd leftover letters you'll never use.  Chances are, you will never use them in a title.  So create a background with them!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Creative Scrappers #267 + Design Team Call

Hey there!  I hope you were able to hop along with our awesome Creative Scrappers Birthday Blog Hop this weekend!  So many amazing sketches and layouts were revealed to inspire you...and it was so much fun!  Today is our next sketch reveal....and it's a GREAT one!  Check it out...

I used the new Summer Bliss line from Echo Park for my layout.  I wanted bright and summery, so I pulled out some pool photos to scrap.  Echo Park has a way of making me go very bold :)  I just wanted to use up every embellishment on this one page...haha.

My usual "thing"....layers, paint, stickers, thread, tape...but it always works!

I think there is one of everything in this close up...paper, tape, stickers, die-cut, brads and my pop dotted title sticker.

How many close ups did I take here?  Haha!  I just couldn't help myself...color was bursting everywhere and I just kept snapping.  There's some chipboard and a button :)

Okay, one more :)  Isn't that light teal color just gorgeous?  Oh, man...it goes perfectly with these gorgeous summer colors.

Be sure to check the Creative Scrappers blog and see what the rest of the team created, and then upload your layout there, too!

In case you missed the announcement, Creative Scrappers is having a Summer Design Team Call!  If you'd like the chance to be on this amazing team, click HERE to read all about applying.  Kristine is a dream to work for, so give it a shot!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a GREAT day!