Guest Post for Inspiration Journal

Hello everyone, today I am honored to be the guest poster at the Inspiration Journal! My project makes a nice little gift. I gave these to my Mom and Mother-in-law for Mother’s Day but you could also make some to give as an end of the year gift to the kids’ teachers. Somewhere I read that the larger matchbook of Tim Holtz’s Matchbook Set die perfectly fits a standard Post-It pad. By golly, it’s true! Take a look:

 

If you'd like to see how I made these, head on over to Inspiration Journal and catch all the details. Don’t forget about the May challenge this month, Don’t Quote Me. Check it out and link up your project by the end of the month for a chance to win $50 to spend at Inspiration Emporium!

Most of the supplies I used here can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Use my code JUICE if you go shopping there and save 10% off your order. =)

What's New?

It's that time again, the May challenge for Scrapping Everyday Miracles is here! This month we are focusing on a project that represents something new in your life. This was a thought-provoking project for me. It feels like life is the same old thing lately! I need a change of perspective though and that is my prayer.

The journaling on the pull out card reads:
I have definitely been feeling stuck in old ways of thinking and going through the  motions of life. I long to be transformed on a daily basis and be renewed. I feel like I’ve been in the desert (spiritually speaking), and I’m not quite sure how to find the way out. I want to be able to truly see what God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will for me is. I am so thankful that He cares about me and that He will change me for the better. My prayer is that God will start a new thing in my life and help me to get on board with it.  

The twist for May's challenge is to have something on the project that is old and something that is new as of this year. Pretty much everything I used is stuff that has been stashed in my stash for quite a while! (paper, flowers, embellishments) The really old stuff is the page of music I tore out of an old hymnal and the strip of lace that I colorized using Distress stains. The "new" items are the cameo and rectangle dies I used, the honeycomb embossing folder, and the new Tim Holtz Distress Paint. (fun new toys!) The paint is really quite fabulous. Here's a detail of the shabby chic, distressed look you can get with it:

To create this frame, I first adhered a sheet of the Ranger foil tape sheets onto a piece of chipboard. I then embossed the whole piece with the honeycomb folder. Then I used the embossed piece and cut out the cameo frame shape. Then the fun really began. I dabbed on Victorian Velvet, Broken China and Antique Bronze and blended them a bit with my finger and a few light spritzes of water. I mostly dried it (leave a few wet spots) with my heat gun and then added some layers of Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo. I partially dried that and then went back with a cloth and rubbed away part of the paint, exposing the colors underneath and even the foil tape in parts. I played around with some more layers of color and then did a final layer of Black Soot which I mostly wiped off again, just leaving some black in the nooks and crannies for definition. I'll have to do more of this because it was so much fun! The metal bird I colored using alcohol inks (Snow Cap and Cloudy Blue).

I hope you go and check out all the challenge details at SEM and to see the wonderful projects the rest of the DT has done. You have until the end of the month to link up your project and you'll have a chance at winning our sponsor prize, a gift certificate to BlueMoonscrapbooking.com!

Most of the supplies I used here can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Use my code JUICE if you go shopping there and save 10% off your order. =)

Mother's Day… it's coming!

Well, I was looking at my calendar last week and said, "Holy smokes, Mother's Day is in two weeks!! (So that means it is LESS than two weeks now! Just as a heads up you know.) I'd better get crackin' with my projects!" I've made a good start with these cards for my Mom and Mother-in-law (Don't look Mom!)

At Inspiration Journal the May challenge is to create a project with a quote in it so I chose some great "mom" quotes for my cards. One is tongue in cheek but that's to be expected in a quote from Phyllis Diller. ;-) I am so thankful for these two women who are in my life. Of course my Mom has always been wonderful and such an important part of my life. I feel so blessed also that my MIL is a wonderful person and we get along well. She did a great job with my husband, lol. Thank you ladies for all the love, support and help you give me!

Most of the supplies I used here can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Use my code JUICE if you go shopping there and save 10% off your order. =)

Card Crazy!

I seem to have turned into quite the card maker! My scrapbooks are feeling neglected I think. ;-) At any rate, here is a new card and a background technique you can try.

For the background, I cut a piece of sticky-back canvas to fit on my card front. I then tapped an acrylic paint dabber (Butterscotch) over the stamp and stamped it onto the canvas. (Don't let the paint dry on your stamp!!) You could use a very light or dark paint color for greater contrast but I wanted the effect to be a bit more muted so I chose the Butterscotch paint.

After the paint is dry, you get to have fun with Distress Stains! I misted the canvas first so they would blend better. Then I just swiped on stripes of Tumbled Glass, Iced Spruce, and Shabby Shutters. I spritzed it a bit more with water to help the colors blend further.

After letting it dry thoroughly, I peeled the canvas off its backing and placed it on the card - adding stitching for decorative effect. This is a fun and easy technique to do. Of course you can vary the stains and paint colors used to get all sorts of different looks. Have fun!

Most of the supplies I used here can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Use my code JUICE if you go shopping there and save 10% off your order. =)

Perfect Pearls

Perfect Pearls are one of those products that you can do so much with and they add such elegance to a project. You can use them with reinkers to make your own glimmer mist, mix a pinch with a few drops of water to make your own glimmery watercolor paint, and one of my favorite techniques that I was recently reminded of is to brush it directly onto a freshly stamped image (VersaMark ink works well). I incorporated a bunch of other techniques in this card too so let's take a look:

The background I cut out of watercolor paper. I laid down a mask first and then lightly misted the top half with blue and the bottom half with green. Next I used a Tim Holtz technique called Brushless Watercolor. All you have to do is ink your stamp with various colors of Distress Ink, mist the stamp with water to allow the colors to wick and blend, and then stamp onto the watercolor paper. Lift the stamp immediately and dry with a heat tool. Easy!

The stamped sentiment looks hard but is really easy too. All I had to do was stamp with VersaMark ink and then brush the various colors of Perfect Pearls onto the ink with a soft brush. When you have covered all the ink, brush away the excess powder. You can get some really beautiful effects this way. Check out the Papertrey Ink blog right now, they are highlighting it for their Make It Monday challenge. It's also not too late to join in the April challenge at the Inspiration Journal. Just make something cool using masks or stencils and link it up on the blog. You can have a chance to win $50 to spend at the Inspiration Emporium!

Most of the supplies I used here can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Use my code JUICE if you go shopping there and save 10% off your order. =)

Card Sketch…

Well as you know from my previous post, Scrapping Everyday Miracles now has two options for the monthly challenge - a card or a layout. I just completed a card based on the layout and I want to share it with you! Here is the sketch from PageMaps:

I kept pretty close to the sketch because I like it so much. I created a card for friends that just had a little baby boy. It will go into the mail tomorrow!

I used all sorts of goodies from my stash, which is one of my goals this year - use up some of the stuff I already have. Don't forget the scrap twist - washi tape! I have a strip of brown polka dot tape at the top of the card. Let's see what you can do! There is still time to enter the challenge. You have until the end of the month and you'll be eligible for a great prize.

Sketch challenge at Scrapping Everyday Miracles

Oh, we have a great sketch challenge for you at Scrapping Everyday Miracles! Feast your eyes on this versatile sketch (I love PageMaps!)

In my quest to someday actually complete the baby albums of my sons, I chose some baby pics of Jon to use. (What a cutie!! And I don't think that is just a mother's bias ha ha)

 

This was a good stash buster of a layout. I used some Sassafrass paper and stamp set and raided my paper scrap folders. The misted background texture was created by sticking down some letter masks (Tim Holtz Ransom mask) and then spritzing with mist. I used Distress Paint on the plastic title letters (that stuff is GREAT on plastic!) Of course the scrap twist for the challenge is to use washi tape so I included the red polka dotted tape for a nice pop of color. Be sure to go check out the challenge at SEM. Link up your take on it and you'll be eligible for the prize. ALSO, there is a option make a card for the challenge too! The sketch for the card is there too.

Most of the supplies I used can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Use my code JUICE at checkout and save 10% off your order. Have fun creating!