Basic Grey - Wisteria Card

Basic Grey never seems to disappoint. This spring season has brought some great lines from the company and Wisteria is one of them. The purple and green colors are delicious. My neighbor's children bought their Mother a Wisteria plant for Mother's Day, several years ago, and ever since I have enjoyed watching it bloom.



Here is one of several cards I have planned with the Wisteria Paper Kit I got from Lil' Lambs Boutique. The branch accents and Thank You plate are from the Storybook cartridge by Cricut. If you do not have this cartridge, I highly recommend it.

National Scrapbooking Day....Contests on Lil' Lambs Boutique

You could win this exclusive kit!!

I know that none of you have forgotten that National Scrapbooking Day is coming up here soon on May 2nd. Quite a few of my friends are packing off dear husband with the kids and getting them out of the house, for a completely uninterrupted day of scrapping.

Well, don't forget to check Lil' Lambs Boutique blog for contests we'll be running that day. Stay tuned here for more details or keep on eye on the LLB Blog . If you want to get ahead of the game, you can create your flickr account here. We will be using flickr as a hosting ground for your contest uploads and a gallery for your work. Sign up now so you don't have to figure it out on NSD.

A Fork in the Road...

We all have them in our lives. If we run into at least one "fork in the road," we'll run into 100s. Have you had a life changing "fork in the road" moment? Don't forget to scrap it. It will reaffirm your choice and give wonderful insight into yourself for your descendants.

This layout uses the new line of Basic Grey paper - Porcelain.



I used several types of distressing tools and techniques on this layout. Here, I'm dry brushing some acrylic paint onto sanded chipboard letters. If you dabble your dry paint brush into just the smallest bit of paint and tap it on your paper to get rid of the excess, you can swipe it across the letters for a distress effect. I also swiped my background paper too; to draw all the colors in together. Don't forget to dab a little distress ink in the shadow portions of your letters. Here I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink by Ranger.



Here's a fun distress tool...Crackle paint by Ranger & Tim Holtz. But not just regular crackle paint. This is Tarnished Brass added to Corrugated Cardboard. Brass color in a crackle medium...divine!! I also swiped a little acrylic paint here too for a more grungy appearance.



This is a favorite distress technique of mine. Take a stamp (I used a Hero Arts stamp here) and add Versamark Ink to the stamp. After stamping the image, emboss with clear embossing powder. When you rub the distress ink across the area, the embossed image will resist the ink, giving a reversed stamped image effect. And of course distress inks are perfect for making your own weathered or vintage paper (Antique Linen and Walnut Stain used here).



A lot of papers now have many distinct images in them, that are very suitable for cutting out and using as die cuts. Pop them up for some dimension like this bird cage from the Basic Grey Porcelain line.

I just received even more Basic Grey goodies today from Lil' Lambs boutique (see sidebar for link). I will be creating new projects from the Wysteria and Lime Rickey lines. Keep checking back for my latest projects.

Take the time...it doesn't take long

I know life stays busy, busy, busy...but sometimes you just have to stop and remember what's important. Important things like telling good friends how much they mean to you. So today, I put together this card for my friend that really came through for me, with words of encouragment, when I needed it most. I think I should purpose to tell my loved ones and friends more often how much they mean to me.

The key to this card is trying to highlight an element in the stamp that I used. I stamped the complete image on a neutral piece of cardstock. After distressing it lightly with a slightly darker Distress ink (I used Antique Linen by Ranger), I colored in the elements with subdued colored pencils. I restamped the image on a white piece of cardstock and cut the one element out that I wanted to highlight. Using brighter colors, I filled in the stamped image using colored pencils and then glazed the top using Glossy Accents. I added foam to the back to pop the element, create depth and draw the focus to the highlighted element.



Don't forget, you can use brush markers to color in the one element on your stamp and then stamp the image on the inside of your card for a coordinated look. Try creating a highlighted element in your next stamping project.

When the 50th isn't common anymore

So I just got home this weekend from my in-laws house, where we celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. I love to hear of the big anniversaries like this, because they are so far and few between in our world of "irreconcilable differences." To celebrate, I gathered my favorite paper, Basic Grey and my favorite embellishments, Tim Holtz/Ranger products and got to work.




If you haven't gathered from this post, you will soon enough...I'm a distressing addict. I confess. Distressing is a wonderful tool to add dimension to your project. Don't be afraid to add a masked image over top of a busy patterned paper. If you choose a color ink to use on your mask that is already part of the patterned paper, you'll get a more natural look, as if it were already there (notice the clock image above).



These Idea-ology items from Ranger are so fun to play with. I grabbed some grunge board items here and used crackle paint to give an antiqued look finishing off with some Perfect Pearls for the edges.







Don't forget to pop up some of your embellishments with foam for more depth. Make your own die cuts by stamping an image and then cutting it out. If you have not learned to use a swivel exacto knife, I promise you, it will become one of your favorite tools. Give it a try.

Here I used the same mask as on the front, except did a reverse embossing. I used Versamark ink to cover the areas surrounding the mask and then embossed with clear embossing powder to give a reversed embossed effect.

Enter the blogosphere at your own risk

So I have determined to conquer this world of blogging. Can I just say that coming up with a name alone just about turned all my hair gray. I actually stayed awake at night thinking about what to call this blog. And funnily enough after 2 sleepless nights and a final decision, I ended up changing it as soon as I saw it on paper. Go figure.

That's the great thing about scrapping. I'm a sketcher...a planner. It's pretty much a must before I start a layout, a card or a project. But as soon as I start creating, I can change it as I go along. In my accounting work....not too much can be creatively changed or I might find myself in a bit of hot water.

So here I am with my new blog. Can't wait to see how it will change as the months go by. I hope to get some of my latest projects and creations up soon. Header elements created using digital kit by NewLifeDreams.