Faux Envelope

Just wanted to post an update to this post. I just realized today that Lisa a designer at Swirlydoos also did a faux envelope, so I felt bad, like I was stepping on her toes, even though I didn't know she made one. Anway I wanted to give her credit for the envelopes, but I will leave the tutorial here still.

I have noticed that a few ladies were using some old Prima packaging envelopes on their layouts. The look is incredibly cute and since I don't own any of those envelopes I decided to create my own faux one. Again these are VERY easy to do. Check out this layout I did with the Swirlydoos August kit: Here is what you will need as far as the basic plain envelope goes. I used an 8.5x11 sheet of cream colored cardstock, a corner rounder, a 1/2" circle punch, some pattern paper of your choice, two small brads, and some twine or hemp rope. (You can totally get creative here and use whatever fun things you would like to close your item)

Use the corner rounder on each corner of one end of the 8.5x11 sheet. Then fold over about an inch and a half of the top.
Now you can either choose to decorate your paper before you attach the the closing device or after, that's up to you. I punched two small circles of my pattern paper and attached them with brads, not glue. This way you can wrap the twine or cord around underneath it.
This is how I chose to wrap and close the envelope. Like I said you can totally get creative or just glue it down, whatever. Easy isn't it!!
When it comes to actually decorating your envelope, you can use basically anything and everything. I used a newspaper stamp and inked mine. Then I drew some stitching lines around the top of the envelope with a Zig marker. I also thought it would be cute to find some travel stamps or a top secret stamp, but I don't have any. You can even stick your cardstock in a printer and print something on it.

August Swirlydoos - LOVE It!!!

Oh YES!! My Swirlydoos August kit arrived and it's called Passion. I love it!! I have had a lot of fun with the purples in it. Check out what I have put together so far. Fun Fun Fun!!

Here is Tyler... I titled it Need because of all the reasons I need her in my life. I rumpled up the corner and stuck a pin in it.
Here is Rylee.. I didn't do a lot to this layout. I wanted to show as much as the pattern paper as I could so I mainly stuck to the center.

I think this is my favorite layout thus far... I absolutely love the feel of this page. I used the Heidi Swapp Invisible board and inked and misted it all over. This has such a fairy tale look to it.

My oldest daughter actually took this photo of Brooklyn and I. It's hard to see in the picture of the layout, but the photo is actually muted in color with a bit of a pink tone. I did some stitching on the left side of the photo with some GORGEOUS iridescent thread.

This is the layout I did based on the sketch that was made by Beggahuna!! I love these pics of her!!

Maya Road Tins

I have a ton of these really cute little Maya Road tins; from thin tins to the little lunch box style tins. I didn't want to throw them away, because it seemed liked such a waste. For a lot of the ones that are about 1 1/2 thick I used to sepparate out various alphabet letters, but I still have a lot left. Well here is a pic of one of the thin tins that I made into a picture frame/keepsake box. I just stuck the pic to the lid on the corners with mini glu dots and then I am having my hubby stick a little letter inside for Brooklyn to have, since this is her frame. On the back you can buy little stick on picture frame stands or make your own out of chipboard.

Make Your Own Transparency

Lately I have noticed a lot of neat transparencies that people have bought or have made. I decided to figure out a way to make some of my own. The transparency on this page is partially hidden behind the flowers. I just wanted a little something extra and I think it turned out pretty good. It resembles a stamp. I have also heard that you can buy a certain type of transparency sheet that is printable in your inkjets and I will soon go looking for those. Below you will find a super easy tutorial on how you can make these. Basically all you need is a clear transparent sheet (mine is a thin sheet of acrylic), some Sharpie markers (fine and medium tips), and whatever it is you would like to trace.

I then just place the transparent sheet over the design (feel free to secure the item with tape to help keep it from moving). The medium tip Sharpie actually goes on much thicker and darker, but the fine tip can be used for the tiny lines. I just went over it like the flowers were not even there, so that my vines just continued on their natural path.

The end result is this pretty, but not perfect lol, flourish that you can use to jazz up your layouts. Just cut it out close to the lines, but you don't have to get in to the really hard little areas. That is the nice thing about a transparency... it's hard to see the clear parts.

New Layouts!

So I am sitting on my sofa once again watching a movie called Swing Vote with Kevin Costner. We just ate an AWESOME steak dinner with blue cheese butter. If you have never had blue cheese butter on steak you are missing out. Ok! Ok!!! You twisted my arm. Here is the quick recipe to blue cheese butter:

1 5oz Tub Crumbled Blue Cheese
1 Cube Butter (softened)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon worctershire sauce (Absolutely No Clue on the Spelling)

Mix it altogether then stick it in the fridge for a few. Then when the steaks are hot, spread some over the top. SO YUMMY!

Earlier today I had some wonderful scrappy time. I normally do not post twice in a day, but I had to share right? So these first two layouts were from my newest kit of the month addiction, My Creative Scrapbook. I purchase both the main kit and the limited edition kit. I am saving the main kit for our mini vacation in late August, because it's all about road trips, vacations, etc. So these layouts are from the limited edition kit. This first layout is with Tyler and I really like how this turned out. The buds are my folded circles that you can get the tutorial for right here on my blog. I cut up some Prima crystal flourishes and created the vine. That's what I think a lot of people are afraid of, messing with premade embellishments. Don't be afraid to alter things you buy.
So this layout is of my youngest Brooky and I LOVE this picture because in it she reminds me of the gorgeous actress Liv Tyler. I didn't really alter or destroy anything on this layout. I just used some scraps from other paper to create the torn edges.
This next layout is of Tyler and it's my very first full scraplift. I fell in love with Robinsberdz (sb.com username) layout "Lovely" and had to have one like it. The folded corner had me at hello. This particular layout was done with various items in my personal stash. I highly recommend scraplifting once in awhile. I started ordering Swirlydoos kits the month after their Grunge kit and I wanted that kit bad, so I ordered the papers that they used and I had a lot of elements of my own that went along with the same concept. This was my first one and I had to do it of my son because I had this pic that was perfect.

Tear Chickie!

Hellooooo!! (Had that Mrs. Doubtfire hello in mind). Well let me see, it's been 6 days since my last post. I was wanting to do a tear bear tutorial, but I got to thinking that you need extra tools for that and this little chickie is so cute. Besides, it's always best to start with the basics then work up to the bigger stuff. I will mention that ebay has some great sellers who sell tear bear kits which include some mulberry paper and a fluffing brush. Some people use a hard bristle tooth brush as well. Ok as for the chickie.... Here is what you need.

I use a thick mulberry paper in light yellow that you can find on ebay the easiest. I then picked a bright orange, but you can use a peach too. The pen is a very fine tip Zig which I love using. I highly recommend getting the pack of these Zigs with all the different tip sizes.
On the back side of the mulberry paper draw what you see below. The head is always bigger than the body for these chickies. Don't worry about your lines.. just freehand it. We are hand tearing these out anyway and perfection isn't necessary.

Now you can choose to wet down the lines using a q-tip and water if you would like. This will make it easier to tear but you need to wait until they dry before using any adhesive on them. I just dry tore these.
Here is the pieces laying around. I originally made my wings way to big as you can see in this photo, so I tore some more of them off to make them look more proportioned to my chickie.

Now here comes some artistry. Please don't panic. Draw a beak and some legs. I totally just doodled these and they are nothing near to perfect. After you draw them cut them out. I like the lines showing on my chicks because it makes them look more cartoon like. However, you can turn around the legs and beak and hide the lines.

Here are a couple of finished chickies. I glued all the pieces together as shown with the head on top of the body not behind it. The wings then adhere to the front of the body and I usually cross them in case I want my chickie holding a flower or something. I just used my zig to dot a couple of eyes. So easy!! The one on the left is the little one I just did and the one on the right is one a friend did for her first time too. They look like a little couple don't they?
Well I hope you like the tear chickies. They look kind of silly, but on a layout they really dress it up a lot. I love these little guys on Easter layouts. In my country boy layout below in this blog, you can see two examples of chickies on that. I will do a tear bear in the near future, but I want to give people a little time to check out the ebay items for sale as far as tools go that you will want and need.

Another Grass and Rock Example

I just wanted to post this because it goes along with the previous post for the rocks and grass. It's a bit of paper piecing in your regular types of layouts. This is mainly Prima products. I love their embroidered papers. The flowers are Windsor Hampton Roses and I also used their black crystal swirls. The letters are Die Cuts With a View.

Paper Piecing

Oh paper piecing. I used to do a lot of paper piecing from hand drawing to using patterns. I decided it looks so very cute, but takes SO much time to have a very detailed page. The crazy thing is I used to make these strictly to sell and realized that I didn't have any for myself. What was I thinking!?! Anyway, to get to the point of my post, I know some ladies have asked me how to do it and I figured I would share a couple of really easy techniques.

I may as well post my most elaborate and most favorite 2 page paper piecing layout. This is the layout I called Country Boy. It is a full 2 page farm scene, complete with a boy, animals, tractors, a stream, plants, rocks, barn, fence, you name it!! I stitched just about everything humanly possible on this layout. The pictures don't even do it justice, because this thing is so 3D it's ridiculous. Anyway... the question I get the most is how do I make the stream, plants, and rocks? Well that's the easy part. All you need is different colors of heavy mulberry paper and green felt. To start I cut and laid the stream down and it is one piece of blue mulberry paper. I then used two shades of gray for the rocks. I drew the shapes on the back and cut them out. I layered them on the paper for more dimension. The plants are a mix of mulberry paper and felt. Both of these items can be roughed up and given some fluff. The felt is nice because it has a bit of stretch to it. All of the above things I would then go over and chalk for more details. The grass is cardstock cut and frayed out then stuck behind the edges of the rocks. I even made cattails that I drew and stuck on there. As far as all the flowers go, I bought them. You don't have to make everything. In fact if you can find little things to add detail then USE them!! It makes the pages so much cuter!! I did Grandma and Grandpa pages once and used various items like mini baking items and mini tools.

Ok here is the barn side with all my little farm animals. On this page the question I get the most is how did I make the pig and cow? So easy!! Ok I found a really basic (talking preschool here) coloring book about farm animals. I found a pig and cow in it that I like. I scanned it on to my computer and sized it down to fit my page. I made about 4 copies of each one on to cardstock. Now I cut out my shapes like the torso, head, legs, ears, and nose. Since it's a preschool coloring book there isn't a lot of detail which makes it EASY for paper piecing. Now I used my pieces as a template to use on the cardstock that I want for the animals. Pink for a pig and shades of brown for the cow. I then cut out my parts and pieced them all together. I chalked around the edges and drew my own eyes on separate paper. Anyway there is a lot more details that I could mention, but those are the biggest questions I get. At SB.com I have a bunch in my gallery but you have to go way back to the beginning. Feel free to ask questions. I figured I will do a little tear animal tutorial next.

Folded Circle Flower

Ok I have seen this flower on SB.com a couple of times and one person even said they had a tutorial on their blog, however, when I went to it I couldn't find it. So I studied her layout and figured it out, well at least a version of it. I decided it was so darn cute that I wanted to share how to do it in case others are trying to figure it out too! Here is a layout I made today with an example on it along with smaller versions of the same folded circles!Here is what you need: 8-2" circles of preferably double sided patterned paper, 1-1.5" circle, 1-1" circle, 1-.5" circle, a wedge, and an additional 2" circle for the backing of your flower. Now the wedge is an inch wide at the large end and I used my paper trimmer to create a perfect wedge.Here are the folding steps to follow. I tried getting a picture of every step with the exception of the very last half fold. You can do this without making the wedge and it still looks just fine, I just like using the wedge to get the tops even. I alternate the sides I fold so that it gives the flower a cool pattern when finished (4 one way and 4 the other). After you have all the petals made you can ink the edges. I like to ink them after they are folded so you know it is getting on the correct side.

Now I ran my pink 2" dot through my Xyron and made it a sticker with permanent adhesive. Begin placing the petals onto the sticky side of the adhesive and try to space them apart as seen in the picture. Continue to place all the petals all the way around. Your flower should look something like this. If it's not perfect, no big deal. I am so not into perfection because I just don't have the time. Now ink the edges of the smaller three circles to match the petals. Alternate the colors so they are opposites. I used adhesive foam to place the center layers for more dimension. Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy. Some people will paint glaze over these as well which looks pretty neat, but I left that off of mine for the purpose of making a less difficult tutorial.

Butterfly Tutorial

Ok this is how you make an alcohol ink covered acrylic butterfly or what I like to call the "really messy looking butterfly that actually looks pretty cool on your layout". This is a super quick and easy 3 step process.

Here is what you need!! Spray can of air, an acrylic shaped butterfly (or any acrylic item you want to do this with), your choice of alcohol inks in various colors, your choice of stickles, and a small paint brush.

Step 1: Take your alcohol ink and spread drops of each color all over your item.

Step 2: Use your can of air and blow the ink all around. If you see a spot that needs more alcohol ink then just apply as needed.

Step 3: Apply stickles to the ends of the wings with your paint brush. This is for that extra something your butterfly needs.

Finished Example: Here is a finished example of a previous butterfly I made. I used a flourish stamp for the trail and I used a slick marker for the antenna since it was on the corner of a photo.