For Scrapping Out Loud

~Scraps of Darkness Escape Kit Cards~

2012-02-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

I don't make cards very often and it's been a while, so I decided to make a couple of cards from the Scraps of Darkness January Escape kit. This has been another fun and versatile kit, which SOD is well known for and I have enjoyed every bit of it!! So here are a couple of cards I have been working on.

Tip: A little trail of Stickles along the border is super easy and can take the place of stitching when you are in a hurry.

Tip: Distress metal using alcohol ink and a knife tool. Drop a couple drops of the ink and dry, then scrap it with your knife here and there.

This is a little card I made for any occasion. I used the softer colors in the kit for this one.

Tip: Punch a section of your border and then use a chain punch to back it for easy layering.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Elegance Reveal and Blog Hop ~

2012-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

I am a bit sad I am not able to participate in the Scraps of Elegance 1st Official blog hop, but I did want to be sure and make the announcement here, so no one misses out!! It's just that I am going to be super tied up and won't be around to update for a couple weeks!! Because of my that I won't officially be DTing for Scraps of Elegance until the April kit reveal, but I still wanted to show off a bit of Scraps of Darkness' sister kit, so I created a layout based on the sketch using the SOE kit!! This kit is GORGEOUS!!! Plus scroll down to the bottom for the blog hop list and details on where to start!!

For this layout I used some of the newer chippies from Dusty Attic!! The photo is a pic I took of my daughter, Rylee. I threw in the larger flowers and letters from my own stash as well, but the rest are items from the main Scraps of Elegance kit!!

Here is the Sketch by the amazing Charlotte aka Suepup!

Here is a close up of the new Dusty Fountains, not yet available for purchase yet. These come in a three piece set with one large and two smaller fountains. For mine I just did a quick misting with a golden tone mist and used some Jasmine colored chalk ink by Donna Salazar for highlights.

I did do hand stitching all the way around, but as you can see I made the stitches a half inch so it went faster. I scrap as fast as possible lol!!

I wish the camera picked up the sparkly accents in these letters, because they are so pretty!!

A bit of cut work for the leaves layered upon with both kit ad personal stash flowers!!

Another chippie by Dusty Attic that I just painted white and sanded a little. This is a piece of the Corner Flourish #2. I actually used the larger portion on another layout I did previously. Always keep those extra pieces of chippies!!

The 1st official Scraps of Elegance kit!!

Now as for the Scraps of Elegance First Ever Blog Hop!!! We are super excited to announce Gabrielle Pollacco is guest designing with Scraps of Elegance this month!! You will want to be sure to take a look at her blog and her amazing work!!

Gabrielle's Blog!!

Here is the list of order for the hop!! Start at the top and work your way down!!

~*~

Scraps of Elegance Blog -http://scrapsofelegancekits.blogspot.com/
Gabrielle Pollacco-http://gabriellepollacco.blogspot.com/
Lisa Novogrodski - http://lisas-livingincolor.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Snyder- http://scrap-escape.blogspot.com/
Rachelle Sigurdson-http://rachiebabe56.blogspot.com/
Karen Zueger - http://lostcoastscrapper.blogspot.com/
Renea Harrison- http://www.myglittercoatedlife.blogspot.com/
Cheryl Casas- http://www.cherylspassion.blogspot.com/
Karolina Stopyra-http://drycha.blogspot.com/
Nancy Hanttula - http://justaboutthedetails.com/
Escape Kitty-http://escapekitty.blogspot.com/
Charlotte Jenkins - http://suepup.blogspot.com/

The rules will be posted on the blogs that are participating and the blog will run from the 1st-4th.

The grand prize is a......

3 month subscription to Scraps of Elegance!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!!

~Dusty Attic Old Wood Tutorial~

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Recently I created a layout of my son and used one of the new Dusty Attic doors. I treated so that it had a old wood look and I wanted to share how I did that today. I will apologize for the dark photos, but I have had almost zero natural light for several days with several more days to come!! That's the fun of living in Oregon!! Let's get started with the layout, so you can see the true colors of the wood look!!

Here's what you will need!! I used a round piece of chipboard that came out of the center of the large Filigree Frame from Dusty Attic!!

1) Dusty Attic Chipboard Item

2) Gesso

3) Paint Brush

4) Sanding Tool

5) Wood Stain (Smooch Spritz) or very dark brown to black Spray

6) Vintage Photo Distress Ink

7) Walnut Stain Distress Ink

8) Black Soot Distress Ink

9) Paper Towel or Rag

Step 1) Lots of Gesso to create a thick raised coat of paint

Make sure you stroke the brush in one direction and let it have raised, chunky areas! The smaller the brush the smaller the grain, so consider what it is you are treating and the size of the wood look you want to go for.

Step 2) After the Gesso dries sand it a little to rough it up, but don't over flatten the Gesso

Step 3) Now take your lightest ink, or Vintage Photo ink

Rub the ink lightly back in forth following the grain of the paint, so up and down so to speak. It should look like the picture below.

Step 4) Do the same thing with the darker brown ink or Walnut Stain ink

It should start looking like the picture below.

Step 5) Spray several sprays of your Wood Stain Smooch Spritz all over your chippie then quickly wipe with the grain back and forth. Before it dries!!

Step 6) After it dries go over it lightly again with your sanding tool.

Step 7) Very very lightly go over the front and the edges with your Black Soot ink. Not too much, just sort of here and there!!

Final Pic!! Again the pic coloring is terrible, but I think you get the idea of how cool this look is!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Dusty Attic and Punky Scraps Challenge #39~

2012-01-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is my last challenge for Punky Scraps and it's the funnest of the month!! The Get Picky Challenge!! I decided to use some of the yummy new chippies from Dusty Attic as well!! Here is what you need to get picky!! Choose three from the list and have fun!!

Kerry: Since it is the month of fresh and shiny new starts I'll choose something shiny

Cheryl: in the same vein as kerry, since you might wish to turn over a new leaf in the new year, let's have something to do with books

Misty: stenciling or masking

Jolanda: Use some charms

Ashley: have some negative space

Celina: Use silver or gold

Marie: Use Stickles

Kat: bubble wrap

I decided to go with a photo of Brooky playing in her Snow White dress. I called this layout Your Story to go along with Cheryl's pick of something to do with a book. I also did some masking, used Stickles, has shiny pearls, and had a tad bit of negative space. I used some papers from Prima and the Dusty Attic chippies are one of the brand new bird cages, type writer font, and the beautiful cherry blossoms!!

Here are some close ups!! For the partial punch work I used Martha Stewart's doily punch on the main paper and her Doily chain punch for the darker paper behind.

For these blossoms I used them first for masking which is pictured below and then I treated them with some purple and green Stickles for the blossoms! My weather here has been so dark and rainy, so decent pics are really hard to get! :(

This adorable birdcage is one of the brand new chippies not yet available for purchase. I chose to leave my bare with some pearl accents. So sorry about the poor pics, but the masking is behind this cutwork!

Here is a close up shot of the hand stitching and the typewriter font chippies from Dusty Attic!! Such a cute font!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Awesome News From Scraps of Darkness~

2012-01-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

This is a bit late, but it's some super exciting news that I wanted to share with you all!! We have had a lot going on over at Scraps of Darkness lately!!

We are expecting a new baby!! No, nobody at SOD is pregnant, as far as I know, but Scraps of Darkness is going to have a new little sister!!

On February 1st, there will be a reveal of a new line of kits, Scraps of Elegance. These kits will be a little different from what you are used to seeing from Scraps of Darkness, and we are honored to have a very talented surprise guest designer who will be helping us to show off our first Scraps of Elegance kit. In addition to that (as if that wasn't enough!), there will be a blog hop to kick it all off, so set your calendars to stop back by Scraps of Darkness on February 1st!!

Now the bad news is I won't be able to participate in this awesome hop due to some upcoming events I will be taking care of in my family life, but I will be sure to post where you need to go and how to get started on the hop on February 1st!!

~Dusty Attic~

2012-01-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

I am excited to say that I have been asked on for another year with Dusty Attic!! YAY!! With that said I got to play with some of the new chippies that aren't even available for purchase yet!! Here is what I made!!

I don't scrap my son very often, so it's nice to get a pic of him and be able to scrap a guy page for a change!!

The lock and key are some of the new DA chippies!! I embossed mine for a metal look!!

There are a bunch of different doors and these mini locks with keys as well!! I plan to do a tutorial on the old wood door technique!! Look for that very soon!!

Another new chippie are barcodes!!! For mine I just inked it real quick with black soot ink!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness January Kit Reveal~

2012-01-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

"Searching for my lost shaker of salt" ~ Jimmy Buffett

Another month and another amazing kit from Scraps of Darkness!! This month's kit is called Escape and it's packed full of Graphic 45 and tons of other awesome goodies and papers!! This is also another wonderfully versatile kit as you will see from my pages below!!

This first page is of my youngest daughter a couple of years ago. She was at a swimming pool having a blast. This page is based on Charlotte's aka Suepup's sketch for the month!! I called this one My Lil Guppy!

I added in some older Dusty Attic chippies from the Baroque Circle Frame Set! I coated them with some of the Lindy's Color Shot that came in the color add on. I just mixed some clear glaze, water, and color shot together and it came out beautifully.

I used to do this a lot when I made pre made pages way back when. I have seen a few people doing this again and I thought I would throw a picture ribbon on myself.

This is the other close up of the 2nd chippie from the same frame set.

This is a photo of my dh and three of my daughters at the Oregon Coast. It's such a beautiful and clean place to visit. This layout shows some of the warmer color tones included in the kit.

The sand dollar is real!! How cool is that?

This is tricky netting to use, because it larger than most, but I tacked mine down with some glossy accents and let it dry. After that it was good to go.

These are some super cute little tags and I inserted a bit of journaling into mine.

Renea made these gorgeous butterflies!! So cool!! For the corrugated cardboard I used Lindy's mists and painted some of it with TH crackle paint. After it dried I added some embossing powder over the top of it for added detail.

This next one is of my youngest and her best friend hanging out in the sunshine. I love the look on Brooky's face and they reminded me of a couple teenagers sitting around and gossiping. To get this crumpled up look, just spray your paper heavily with water and scrunch away.

The leaves for these flowers were cut from one of the pieces of patterned paper in the kit. The bottom blue layer was done using the stamp from the color add on and I layered the rest with a punch I had and some flowers that came with the kit.

I did the stitching by hand using some sparkly floss and it was such a pain to work with lol. Not as smooth as regular floss.

I added some more cut out flowers from the patterned paper to place behind this feathery flower.

I used some of the beautiful Lindy mists from the color add on for this and I added the white faux stitching and little dots using a Signo white pen.

My last one is the brightest! This is a pic of Rylee, Tyler, and a friend of there's. Well their shadows anyway! I thought it was a pretty fun pic!!

Here is another shot of one of Renea's super cute butterflies she created!!

I did some masking, but it's hard to see!! The doily tabs are from my EK Success Doily Flower punch.

Here is one last look at the main kit :)

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Punky Scraps Challenge #38 - Scraps of Darkness~

2012-01-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

I am sad to say this is my last month with Punky Scraps and this is my second to last challenge layout. Challenge #38 is the sketch for the month and here is my take! I created this page using some left overs from the Scraps of Darkness December kit and a couple chippies from Dusty Attic!!

This photo is of my youngest daughter. She is making the peace sign, which is a really common pose for her lol. She learned it from her older sisters.

Love these crocheted flowers by Basic Grey!! So cool to work with!!

I didn't do a lot to the chippies this time. Just took some distress ink and blending tool and went around the edges of the frame and bottom of the title.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Punky Scraps Challenge #37~

2012-01-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

Punky Scraps is back up and in full swing for the New Year!! We took a small break with only one challenge last month, so this month we are back to the normal three!! So here we go!! For challenge #37 you are given a photo for inspiration!! Now it's time to work your magic!! Have fun!!

Here is my layout with a photo of four of my kids. My oldest doesn't live at home, so it's hard to get new pics of her!!

This is the photo given for inspiration! As you can see I went with the colors :)

For these leaves I used a full mulberry flower that had six petals. I tore it into three pieces and it works super well for leaves!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness December Kit Cont.~

2012-01-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

This Scraps of Darkness kit has been such an awesome kit to work with!! I wish I had more time on my hands to play!! The Bo Bunny papers are literally to die for and I wanted to make one more page using them!! The photo is of two of my girls. I added a yummy Divine Diva Dusty Attic chippie!!

The stamp you see behind the photo was done using Gesso. A really easy trick is to use a sponge and gently go over the stamp. Comes out so cool on dark paper!!

Here is the Divine Diva chippie. I fluffed the wings by using a bit of water and a small knife. Then I let it dry and painted it white and added the sparkles. The body was done with watered down black acrylic paint which gives it a marble look.

The Prima canvas pieces were left bare on this, but you can add color to these and they come to life!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Guest DT for Donna Salazar~

2011-12-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

I was super happy to be a guest DT for Donna during 2011. I love her products and am a huge fan of her work!! Below are my three projects I created using her papers and products!! Thanks so much for looking!!

This first photo is of my daughter, Tyler, dressed as Red Riding Hood. I love this shot, because it reminds me of a still frame from a movie. I had lots of fun distressing this page.

The flowers were taken from her Crafty Chronicle newspaper!

The drips of white are with Mixed Media Inx embossing powder by Donna.

This page is of my daughter, Rylee. I edited the photo to give her wings.

For these beautiful sparkles I used Donna's Fairy Dust Glitter and Glue Gloss. The frame is Dusty Attic.

These feathers are made by Dusty Attic and you can buy them right now in my Etsy shop. I sprayed them with water first and then frayed the edges. After they dried I coated them with Donna's Mixed Media embossing powder.

The words are also Dusty Attic and I chose to leave these bare with just a touch of Mixed Media Inx Jasmine.

The butterfly is also coated in Fairy Dust.

This last page is of my youngest daughter, Brooklyn. She is out picking wishes which she does every year.

The Gemini clipping is from the Crafty Chronicle.

The Gnome is also from the Crafty Chronicle and the grasses are Dusty Attic chippies.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Brand New Dusty Attic in My Etsy~

2011-12-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

It's finally arrived!! I have stocked my Etsy with lots and lots of the newly released Dusty Attic chippies!! Don't miss out on treating yourself after the Holidays!!

CLICK HERE FOR MY ETSY SHOP

~My Darker Pages~

2011-12-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

I never really think about how many darker vs. lighter pages I do, but after seeing this write up on a the Russian Scrapbooking Resource blog I realized I do quite a bit of darker pages lol!! I think I love the mystery and romance of the darker pages and the colors are very dramatic! Plus I am a huge fan of fairy tales and imagination!! So here is my little toot that I thought I would share with you!!

CLICK HERE

~2011 Dusty Attic Design Team Layout~

2011-12-19T11:22:00.000-08:00

If you are a fan of Dusty Attic then you probably know that they have a large and wonderfully talented design team!! For the year of 2011 there were 16 designers total along with the lovely and creative owner, Jennifer Hedger. So for a fun idea some of the designers thought it would be a cool challenge to make a layout featuring all 17 photos!! This was one busy page lol!!

Here is a close up of one of the new Dusty Attic chippies. This is the Rose Vine DA0638. I coated this with white and pale pink chalk ink along with light brown distress Stickles.

This pretty corner chippie is from the Leafy Frame Set DA0605.

There's me at the bottom :D

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness December Kit Reveal~

2011-12-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Another exquisite kit from Scraps of Darkness is here!! This gorgeous December kit is called Winter's Eve and features the gorgeous Enchanted papers from Bo Bunny along with papers from Creative Imagination!! You do not want to miss out on this kit!! It's one of the most versatile I have seen yet!! Love this kit!!

Here's my first page based on this month's sketch by Charlotte aka Suepup! This photo is of my daughter Rylee. I sprayed the background with a pink mist from Lindy's Stamp Gang. The mists are included in the Color Add On!!

I misted some of the Prima canvas embellies, also in the color add on, for the pink leaves. I highlighted them with some liquid pearls.

I've had this Cameo for the longest time and finally found a layout it works well on.

This is another shot of my daughter, Rylee. This is more of a simple page, but I love how soft it is.

I cut the bird and leaves from some of the Creative Imagination paper!!

I used the doily punch chain from Martha Stewart and folded it back and forth to get this look. Easy trick to add dimension.

This is my Bo Bunny page that will be featured on their blog for an SOD showcase!! The pic is of me and I stuck with a full B&W layout!!

An easy way to create a cool corner effect is to cut a section of a doily out that has a 90 angle towards the inside. Then you can use the rest of the doily under something else on the page and it still looks full :)

This is a closer shot of my pin that I did for the Romance Add On. I embellished the bottom with bits and pieces of things on hand and lace from the kit.

I still have a bunch of pics from the Red Riding Hood shoot I did of my daughter, Tyler. This pic was my attempt to recreate the cover pic of the DVD. I have been waiting for the perfect papers for this pic and this months kit had what I needed. The small chandelier is a Dusty Attic chippie.

I sprayed the background and cut out the "Enchanted" from another sheet of this and popped it up a bit.

I inked the chandelier in black and covered it in black diamond Stickles!!

Here is a shot of the main kit!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Punky Scraps Challenge 36~

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Over at Punky Scraps we are having just one challenge for the month of December, but it's a good one so you should come play along!! For challenge 36 Punky Scraps has a sketch and photo to inspire you!! Check it out!!

This is a layout of my youngest daughter gazing at the tree last year. I got several shots of her doing this and I love them all.

I cut these little squares by hand so they aren't super perfect lol.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

~Scraps of Darkness November Kit~

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's almost time to move on to the December kit, but before that happens I have one last page from the November Purple Haze kit to share. This page has a photo of my daughter, Rylee. She reminds me of Blake Lively in this photo. I took this shot of her while she was looking at herself in the mirror.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Websters and Dusty Attic Product Swap~

2011-12-01T11:07:00.001-08:00

This is my second page doing the Dusty Attic and Websters Pages product swap. I had a blast working with Websters and was able to break out some of those older Christmas pics!! This layout shows a picture of my youngest daughter, during Christmas of 2008, opening up a present.

For this page I used items from the Websters Botanical Christmas collection, including some papers, Dazzle Me Gems and their matching Fabric Ribbon. The Dusty items were the Typewriter Font Alphabet Set, Corner Flourish 2, and the Lacing Tash chippies. The little roses are from a tutorial that Gabi P did quite a long time ago and I love doing them still.

I created the shabby chic look by painting the chippies with white acrylic paint and letting them dry. Then I sanded over the tops of them.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

~Webster's Pages & Dusty Attic~

2011-11-29T08:21:00.001-08:00

Dusty Attic and Webster's Pages got together to show off how lovely their products go together by doing a product swap, so I got to play with some yummy Webster's and some new chippies from Dusty!! How fun is that?! This is the first of two layouts that I did using both products and I will be posting another one on the 1st!

This is a photo of my daughter I took last year. She was memorized by the Christmas tree and it was such a magical moment for her. You can really see the true Spirit of Christmas in child.

For this I used papers, fabric ribbon, and dazzle me gems from the Botanical Christmas collection. The Dusty chippies I used were the Christmas Tree #2, Cameo Ribbon Slides, and Typewrite Font Alphabet Set.

For the tree I first sprayed it lightly with water and then took my little cutterbee knife and sliced upwords to create the texture. Then I inked it green and added some drops of silver liquid pearls and red rhinestones.

I had fun with these cameo sliders by giving them a different spin. I just inked them and used some of the Websters fabric ribbon and dazzle me gems.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Dusty Attic and The Color Room #84~

2011-11-16T14:08:00.001-08:00

Dusty Attic if sponsoring The Color Room this month and we are on our second palette this week!! It's a great one too, with very pretty neutrals. Here is my take on palette #84. I used a pic of myself and I call this The Pose because it's my best side and I tend to try to do a side shot like this if my pic is taken.

It's so dark and gloomy here in Oregon as usual, so my pics are not as true to color as I would like.

This is the lovely Dusty Attic chippie I used for this page. This is the Scroll #6 DA0578 and I coated it with Smooch Spritz and went over with gesso and chalk inks for highlights.

The tag reads, "Rylee took this picture of me during the Summer of 2011."

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness November Kit Reveal~

2011-11-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

"Well she's walking through the clouds
With a circus mind that's running round
Butterflies and zebras
And moonbeams and fairy tales
That's all she ever thinks about.....
Riding with the wind"
~Jimi Hendrix

This month we are getting down and groovy with the November Scraps of Darkness kit called Purple Haze!! This is another absolutely gorgeous kit filled with so many beautiful papers and embellies!! I am also the current Pandora's Box artist which means I did a tutorial on a full layout I put together which you can see below. Let's get started!! Here's the kit pic!!

This first one is my take on the Charlotte's sketch! The photo is of my daughter, Rylee, smiling, which doesn't happen all that often in pics :)

Clusters of embellies are one tip I give out a lot!! They always look nicer in packs :) The background is layered with cheesecloth that I spritzed with some pale green mist.

I used two of my pins which are included in the Romance Add On!

These letters are painted with Gesso and detailed with Stickles.

This next page is my Pandora's Box layout. The photo is of my youngest daughter. Here is the video if you want to check it out. I apologize for some of the extra boring parts lol.

After the video I did add a few extras to finish it off. I figured the most important part was the foundation along with the main embellies :)

My next page is of myself that was taken this summer. I used a few Dusty Attic chippies to add to this one.

These little birds nests by Prima are so cute, but a little chunky, so I cut the entire bottom off of mine. It sat on my page so much nicer after that.

These are the Sweet Pea Border Strips that I coated with Gesso and Distress Ink.

The last one for today is of my daughter, Tyler. I added the Dusty Attic Garden Frame on this one.

I used my EK Success Dahlia Flower Punch again. The hearts are Prima and beautiful!!

For the chippie I coated it all with Concord Grape Distress Ink and then painted some mint colored acrylic paint onto the inside area. I then wiped it down with a paper towel and used some Purple Chalk Ink to blend it out towards the outer edge.

These little Dusty nameplates are so cute. I used some of my kit paper along with one of the Bo Bunny rubs to make my title.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Urban Lily and Dusty Attic~

2011-11-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

I created this card for a friend of mine I haven't spoken to for quite some time. I wanted to let her know I was thinking about her and missed her! For this card I used items from Urban Lily and I included the famous chicken wire chippie from Dusty Attic!! I still have 5 or 6 of these 12x12 chippies in my Etsy if you want to get your hands on them! My Etsy!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Dusty Attic and TCR #83~

2011-11-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

This month Dusty Attic is sponsoring The Color Room and I encourage you all to play along!! I had such a blast being a Revolving Door Artist for TCR and was super excited to go back to play along during the sponsorship!! Here is my page along with this week's color palette. Sorry I posted it late, but you still have a day or so to jump in on this palette!!

The pic is of my youngest daughter wearing my Fat Baby boots. This photo was taken of her during the summer on our porch. I used the Garden Frame Set DA0606 by Dusty Attic.

I used Gesso to create a cloud look throughout my page and the hot air balloon is a rub on that I had.

I also used Gesso on the frame and then misted parts with Tattered Angels chalk mist. After it dried I applied a bit of Stickles.

I have using cheese cloth a lot more on my pages and had to place a tiny bit on this one too.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness October Kit~

2011-11-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm finishing up my October kit from Scraps of Darkness and I thought I would show off my sweet new little kitty, named Tobey. He was abandoned out by our house and we were able to catch him and took him in. He is probably only about 10-11 weeks old and I am planning on taking him to the vet to get him checked out to make sure he is healthy. What bothers me, is how someone could just dump this sweet little guy out in the country to fend for himself. We found him on Halloween, so we named him Tobey, short for October. I went with a simple little layout.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

~Scraps of Darkness & Dusty Attict~

2011-11-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

I still have some goodies left over from my Scraps of Darkness October kit called All Hallow's Eve. I also still have a lot of my Red Riding Hood photos that I took of my daughter. I love this one and it reminded me of sadness so that is what I decided to call it. I also used one of the new frames from Dusty Attic! Remember I sell Dusty Chippies in my Etsy and still have some of these frames left. I am still struggling with my lovely Oregon weather, so my pics aren't as good as I would like them to be.

I created these flowers with my EK Success Doily Flower punch. Love these punches!!

The Dusty frame is coated with Glimmer Glam by Tattered Angels and the color is Be Positive!!

Note to Self: Make sure your beads are hanging straight next time you take pictures!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Dusty Attic Halloween Chippies~

2011-10-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the super cute new Halloween chippies from Dusty Attic!! If not, I have my store stocked with them all right now!! Plus lots more other favorite chippies, like the Baroque Frame Sets and 12x12 Chicken Wire!!

Click Here For My Etsy!!

~New Scraps of Darkness DT Members~

2011-10-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

I wanted to congratulate Karolina Stopyra and Rachelle Sigurdson on making the Design Team at Scraps of Darkness!! These two ladies are crazy talented!! Check out their amazing work!!

Karolina Stopyra's Blog

Rachelle Sigurdson's Blog

Another fun thing over at SOD, is we have an official mascot!! Escape Kitty, the feline owned by our fellow DT member Jennifer Snyder, has joined in on the fun!

~Scraps of Darkness & Punky Scraps~

2011-10-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

It's time for another awesome challenge over at Punky Scraps!! This week's challenge is the Get Picky Challenge #32. This is the challenge where Team A picks items or techniques to do on your layout and you have to pick 2 out of 9 of the choices!! I chose all 9 and created this layout using the October Scraps of Darkness kit which is packed full of amazing papers and embellies!!

Your Choices Are:

Tamara - Hessian/Mesh

Kat - A Tag

Cheryl - Steampunk Imagery

Kerry - Your Own Handwriting

Marie - Black Mist

Jolanda - Picture of Your Eye/What do they mean to you?

Celina - Lace of Any Kind

Ashley - Doodling

Misty - Metal

My title "Windows" is what my eyes mean to me. They are windows to the soul! You can also see a shot of my pull out tag to the left of the photo as well as the lace.

My steampunk image is gears and it is under my flowers.

Here is a close up shot of my pin. This is my metal item and it has mesh on it! I used black mist to make the mask of windows.

I recently purchased a couple of the EK Success flower punches that you roll up and make super cute flowers with. I ended using mine to create an edge for my layout. They work great for trim!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Blog Hop Winners Announced~

2011-10-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

I just want to thank everyone who played along with us and helped make this blog hop a success!! The winners are posted up at the Scraps of Darkness blog so make sure you check there to see if you won a grand prize!! Plus check back at each of the DT's blogs to see if you won there as well!!

The winner of my blog hop giveaway was chosen via random.org and issssss!!!!

Kathy said...

Mandy, I am in total awe of your work. Words cannot describe its beauty. Thanks so much for the chance to win an incredible prize!

OCTOBER 17, 2011 6:33 AM

Congrats Kathy!!!

~Scraps of Darkness BLOG HOP and Reveal Day~

2011-10-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog!!

If you are participating in the hop you found me by way of the Scraps of Darkness blog! If you just popped in and would like to play head on over to the Scraps of Darkness blog and you can start from there. Our entire DT is involved and we are all giving out prizes, so you have a TON of chances to win and could even win multiple prizes!!!

On the Scraps of Darkness blog you can win one of two grand prizes!! The October and ever so yummy kit!! Just be sure to become a follower and leave a comment under the blog hop post as well as each individual DT blog in the hop!! International entries are welcome!! Here's the main kit!!

AND THERE IS MORE!!

I am also giving away a yummy prize on my blog as well!! To be eligible to win my prize you must become a follower and leave a comment on this post!! International entries are welcome!! Here's my giveway!!

Four Dusty Attic Chippies, Two Distress Inks, Two Distress Stickles, Crackle Paint, and Glimmer Glam!!

Info on where to go next is at the bottom of my reveal post!!

So here we go with the incredible Scraps of Darkness October Halloween kit, called All Hallow's Eve! Every month I am blown away with each and this one is no exception!! It's packed full with papers from Fancy Pants, Authentique, and Moxxie!! The embellishments are fantastic and the coordinating add ons are to die for!!

Here is my first layout based on the sketch by Charlotte aka Suepup. Scraps of Darkness is hosting a horror movie challenge and so I decided to play along and scrap pics from the movie that scared me the most as a child..... The Shining!!

Here is the sketch!

Ok these girls creeped me out so much as a child! I distressed the photo a bit to make it look worn and old.

This is really easy to do with an x-acto knife. Just take the blade to the side and tear at the paper.

I used cheese cloth that I dyed with some black ink. It's super easy to work with and no very expensive to buy.

I have scrapped this picture in the past and I've also scrapped a similar pic from this shoot that I posted a layout of yesterday. I love her look and had to scrap it in a more fitting layout. This kit and embellies were made for this pic!!

The days have been so dark and gloomy lately that my close up pics aren't the best, so I apologize for the coloring. The kit included these tiny chipboard spiders, so I attached a string to them and made it look like it was hanging from the bottles on the shelf above.

The paper bottles were cut from some of the paper and the smaller bottles along with the bottles on the shelf are Dusty Attic chippies! I inked them all and then used UTEE on them to make them have a glass appearance. Then I cut the labels from the same paper and stuck them on the fronts of each one.

I created this next one for the Skeletons challenge over at Scraps of Darkness. This month you are supposed to say something you do behind closed doors. I'm actually a really optimistic person, but I have been witness to so many things in my life involving ending marriages and losing people that I love, that I just have to say there are No Real Fairytales in life. I believe the happily ever after part comes in the after life. So although I try to be a positive person, I am a bit negative behind the scenes when it comes to this.

Again sorry for the poor quality photos.

This trick I did with the "No" I found on Pinterest and loved it!! I pinned it right away. All you do is take the negative from your chipboard letters and trace around the inside of them.

This is my signature ribbon trick that I do. :)

Lastly I have a page of my daughter, dressed as Red Riding Hood. I loved the new movie that came out and was inspired to do a shoot with the same theme. I'm also happy to say that when I took these photos they day wasn't so gloomy.

I am in love with the new EK Success punches that create these flowers. I bought a couple of them and this one is the Dahlia. I want them all!! They are so cool and easy to make!!

This is a chippie from Dusty Attic!! I covered it with ink and cookies and cream glimmer glam, which is the same color as the one in my giveaway!

I had to somehow incorporate a wolf into my page, so I went with the paw reaching over the photo :)

Ok Ladies!! Now you are off to Charlotte's Blog!! Good Luck and don't forget to become a follower, if you aren't already, and leave me a quick comment to be eligible to win my giveaway as well as the BIG giveaway at Scraps of Darkness!!

~Punky Scraps Challenge 31 & Dusty Attic~

2011-10-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

It's sketch time over at Punky Scraps and this months sketch is by Marie and it's so cute!! If you haven't tried out any of the Punky Scraps challenges, you really must, because they are a lot of fun and get you mind thinking outside the box!! I also added in some older Dusty Attic chippies; the tree and barbwire. I am currently selling Dusty in my Etsy shop as well!! Here's my page and the sketch!!

I just did a simple inking on this chippie, going a little heavier over the branches.

The barb wire chippies are fun to work with and I recommend getting a hold of them asap!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Punky Scraps & Scraps of Darkness~

2011-10-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Time for a new month of fun and funky challenges over at Punky Scraps!! This month's first challenge is all about doing a collage!! I remember doing these in school using all sorts of magazines. We would go through and cut out images of what we think represents who we are. Well I didn't go quite that far, but I did do a collage style layout of sorts, with a a bit of neg space to help break it up a little. I used items and papers from the September Scraps of Darkness kit called Passages. This is my last September kit page and I am excited to show you next month's kit on October 15th!!

This page features two of my daughters out in our barn.

Here is the collage image that was used for inspiration!

Some Close Ups!!

Be sure to check back next Friday for the newest Punky Scraps challenge!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness DT Call~

2011-10-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

It's that time again ladies!! Scraps of Darkness is doing another DT call and we want all of you to apply!!! Here are the current details and this is open to everyone!!

CLICK HERE FOR THE CALL DETAILS!!

Also Don't forget we are having our very first Halloween Blog Hop on the 15th and you won't want to miss out on all the fabulous prizes!!

~Panties in a Bunch Flower Tutorial~

2011-10-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

I created a video tutorial that shows how I created the Panties in a Bunch flower. This flower was featured on a the box I did for Scraps of Darkness using items from the September Passages kit.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness Altered Item and Upcoming BLOG HOP~

2011-10-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

Before I get started I wanted to announce our first ever Scraps of Darkness BLOG HOP on October 15th!! We are revealing the AMAZING October kit and giving away TONS of prizes!! The Scraps of Darkness blog will be giving away two KITS as well as prizes being given out at each of our DT's blogs!! The chances of winning are huge and you can even win more than one prize!!! Mark Your Calendars!!!!

SCRAPS OF DARKNESS BLOG HOP on OCTOBER 15th!!!

My father in law is a cigar smoker and he always has these really cool boxes left over. I snagged some up and decided to start with a basic box. I altered the box with items from the Scraps of Darkness September kit called Passages. Gorgeous kit!!

Here is a photo of the top. I call the large flower "Panties in a Bunch" and I will be doing a tutorial for it soon.

I decorated the inside with torn napkins and trimmed the edges in lace.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~New Dusty Attic Clouds~

2011-10-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

I received these clouds in my last DT pack from Dusty Attic and immediately I knew what I wanted to use them on. I just recently got around to finally doing it :)! This photo is of my daughter, Rylee, and the background paper is DCWV Immortal Love collection.

The clouds were done first with Gesso and after they dried, I went over the top with black chalk ink. I darkened some more than others.

The mesh came off my youngest daughter's Cinderella costume. There was a section that was too long and I had to trim it. I ended up keeping if for future layouts. You never know :)

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Beautiful in Blue - Urban Lily & S:CY~

2011-09-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

I love this photo. It is of my oldest and youngest daughter about 4 years ago. This is my last Sketches: Creatively Yours sketch for my DT term. This particular sketch was created by Ann Seleshanko and I used Urban Lily products along with some goodies from my personal stash.

This time I decided to flop the sketch and do a mirror image of it. I actually held the paper up to the light and looked at it from the backside. So I guess you can say it's flipped and reversed.

These Urban Lily papers were such a pretty blue and I was happy I had a lot of the same colors in ribbon and flowers, plus the rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness is Featured at the Robin's Nest~

2011-09-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

During the month of August we used some gorgeous papers from the Robin's Nest and I am so happy to announce that they are doing a series of blog posts featuring Scraps of Darkness layouts created by the Design Team. Every Wednesday they will feature different DT members. I would love for you to check it out!! Click here The Robin's Nest!!

~Scraps of Darkness - Vegetarian's Be Warned~

2011-09-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to be sure and warn anyone who is squeemish over seeing dead animals or is anti hunting.. This post is not for you.

Ok here I go :)

I created this page using items from the new Scraps of Darkness September Passages kit and a little from last months Envy kit. I have had this photo of my husband and his prize antelope for over a year now and I just now got to scrapping it. I think he looks so handsome in this photo!!

He waited 10 years to get the opportunity to hunt for an Antelope and he was so happy with the one he got. I kept the page a bit more simple as far as major embellishments. I wanted it to be mainly about the photo.

This is pretty much it as far as embellishments go.

This is the rest of them lol. Isn't he so cute!?!

I finally bought myself some more eyelets!! Just when I thought I would never use them again, I got inspired again!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~LOADS of Dusty Attic in my Etsy~

2011-09-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

I just recently stocked my Etsy shop with TONS of new and old Dusty Attic chippies!! I have also added 15 more chippies that I have never sold in my shop before!! Click below to head to my store!!

My Etsy Shop!!

~Scraps of Darkness Challenges~

2011-09-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

There are several really fun challenges happening over at Scraps of Darkness and not all of them require kit items to play. I created this following layout using the current September kit called Passages, but I really worked it in a different direction. The challenges this layout is for is the Dark Side challenge hosted by Celina Matthews and it's also for the Round Robin challenge hosted by Lisa Novogrodski. The Dark Side challenge is also going over at sb.c if you would like to enter and do not have any SOD items. The theme for this month's Dark Side challenge is Communication. So here is my page!

This layout really isn't a personal page for me, but it's probably one of the biggest problems in marriage today. Communication has got to be something that happens within a marriage or else it just won't work. I found this pic on the net and thought it was a perfect pic for this layout!

This background was painted in black and red acrylic paint and then I went over the entire page with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in a dark red shade. It hardens and creates amazing texture and color when it dries.

This brick wall was made using the Prima brick wall stencil included in the Color Add On. I used Gesso with a small sponge and went over the stencil lightly.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

~Blog Hop for Urban Lily and PSA Stamps~

2011-09-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog!! If you have been playing along with the blog hop you have found me by way of Adora's Blog!. If not you are welcome to jump in and start at the beginning by going to PSA Stamp Camp!!

For this hop I created a couple cards using Urban Lily products and PSA Stamps!! Right now from 9/16-10/1 25% off Peel and Stick, $29.99 for a custom stamp, and get a free alignment tool ($10 value) with custom stamp purchase. Both Urban Lily and PSA stamps decided to team up together and we all thought it would be fun to have a blog hop!! Here are the two cards I created using their products!!

PSA Essentials is giving away 1custom stamper. To win, readers must comment on each of the blogs and be a follower of the PSA Stamp Camp blog to win. Winners will be chosen on 9/19 via random.org and announced on PSA Essentials Facebook.

Urban Swank will be giving away a scrapbooking kit!! Plus right now at http://Scrap-Tastic.com all Urban Lily products are 10-20% off!!!

This first one is a birthday card!! We have a ton of Summer Birthdays to attend, so I made this card for a special girl!!

This one is an invitation to a girl's "Summer Fun" party!!

Remember to leave a comment so we know you were here and your next destination on the list is Eli's Blog!!

Here is the entire blog line up!!

PSA Stamp Camp: http://www.psastampcamp.blogspot.com
Petra: http://mittkreativakaos.blogspot.com
Adora: http://adoraconcepcion.blogspot.com
Mandy (me): http://forscrappingoutloud.blogspot.com
Eli: http://scrap-colors.blogspot.com
Marcie: www.marciemorgan.typepad.com
Andrea: http://andreasmetta.blogspot.com
Becky: http://beckyteich.blogspot.com
Kelley: http://myfrontporch-kelley.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Reveal Day!! Scraps of Darkness September Kit~

2011-09-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

"I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

~Robert Frost~

This months Scraps of Darkness kit is called Passages and it's another must have!! The Passages kit features the gorgeous Et Cetera papers from Bo Bunny and World Traveler by Teresa Collins. This is perfect for vintage, travel, grunge, and so much more!! So pretty!! I love the neutral colors and the distressed look of the paper along with the embellies!!

My first layout is based on the gorgeous sketch by Charlotte aka Suepup. This layout features a photo of my daughter. She is posing inside our huge barn. I added some Dusty Attic Cogs, some loose beads, and one of my hand made grunge sticks.

Passages Sketch

I made this grunge stick using a chopstick, tulle, and my melting pot. The cork butterflies were cut on my rolling die machine with the cork board included in the main kit.

I added these Dusty Attic cog chippies and covered them in embossing powder.

Here's a close up shot of three of my girls. If one of my brunette's was blonde they would make for a great Charlie's Angels lol.

I used a template to create the white dots. I just took a soft sponge and dabbed it into some gesso and went over my template.

This chippie is coated with embossing powder that I used in my melting pot.

Look at these cute little hangers made by 7 Gypsies.

Two of my daughters just chill'n on my deck stairs. I added the Dusty Attic frame and used one of the Dusty Attic skeleton clock pieces to mask n the corner. Another funny thing about me is I call my children, chillins! :D

I did a simple all over inking with Donna Salazar chalk inks and then used some Smooch paint to highlight the edges.

Here is a close up of the masking and my pin for this months kit.

I love this photo of Rylee. I created the background using masks and lots of inks. I have a youtube video that you can check out which shows how to create similar backgrounds such as this. Just look to the top of my page and click on the "videos" tab.

This chippie and the following chippie are both Dusty Attic pieces from the Wrought Iron Decal Set. I just coated this chippie with a very light coat of gold stickles. No globbing.

For this chippie I coated it with distress ink and used distress embossing powder to give it a rusted look.

The white stamp was created by lightly coating my stamp with gesso. Then I went over it again with brown chalk ink so it wasn't super bright white.

As always I will have more from Scraps of Darkness over the next few weeks.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Young and In Love~

2011-09-12T09:21:00.000-07:00

Oh to be young again! Remember your first loves? Well this is my oldest daughter, Raine and her boyfriend. They have been dating for awhile and he has given her a promise ring. Too cute!! I wish them all the best of happiness and joy!! I created this using one of the fabulous papers from the DCWV Colorful Life line. I added all kinds of older Scraps of Darkness kit goodies to this!

The chicken wire is a Dusty Attic chippie that I cut up and placed in a few different spots.

All these little flowers were originally a lighter color, but I wanted black so I misted them like crazy.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~I Got The Moves Like Jagger~

2011-09-09T01:19:00.000-07:00

So I love the new song by Maroon 5 and felt inspired to create a layout about it. I used a sketch by Ashley Van Etten over at Little Shop of Sketches. I didn't get super crazy with embellies, because the DCWV paper was so gorgeous and busy that I didn't want to add too much.

The green you see is bits of a paper towel I had used to wipe up some extra spray. I tore it in a few pieces and glued it to this layout. I went over each piece with Modge Podge glaze.

These butterflies were made using a rolling die cut machine and I used wire mesh. I sell these in my Etsy every once in a while.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~I Squeezed One More - Scraps of Darkness & Dusty Attic~

2011-09-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

Ok so I thought I was all done with the August kit from Scraps of Darkness, but I managed to squeeze one more page using a little of August and July kits. I also added some of the newer chippies from Dusty Attic. I wanted to enter the two month long Skeletons challenge over at SOD which ends on the 15th. This challenge was to take a well known phrase along with an image that goes along with that and tell how it applies to my life. So my phrase is "Glass Half Full" (I know it's not the whole phrase, but I figured a section of it would due). I based this on a sketch from Stuck on You Sketches.

Some close ups!

I added some of the newer chippies from Dusty Attic!! These are the small leafy stems and I inked them and used some distress stickles over the top.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~The Last of the Scraps of Darkness August Kit~

2011-09-05T01:56:00.000-07:00

I really squeezed every bit out of this beautiful kit!! This is my final page created with the Scraps of Darkness Envy kit. This was one of my all time faves for SOD. Loved it!! So here is my last one for August!! Can't wait for September!!!

I call this layout Time Well Spent. It has a pic of my husband, son and youngest daughter. I took several pics of them fishing in our pond.

The bird is a Pink Paislee Mistable. I just inked it and put a little water along the top for shading.

This is one of the new July 2011 Dusty Attic chippies, Birds on a Branch #2. I inked mine and painted on some mists.

You can kind of see the bit of masking I did with the Mistables. After working the cream colored cardstock so much, it started looking like canvas.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

~Pretty in Pink - Urban Lily & S:CY~

2011-09-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

This is my last month with Sketches: Creatively Yours and I will be doing two sketches for September. Here is my first take on a sketch by Ann Seleshanko. This is my tough little pup, Skidder, who is actually a boy dog, but this pic looked good with the pinks I think. I created this using Urban Lily products with some bits and pieces from my personal stash.

As you can see I changed it up a little by making it round with one photo. This was a fun sketch to play with.

Fussy cutting like this looks difficult, but it's not. Just find yourself a little cutting tool (I use the Cutterbee knife) and just go along the area where you want to scoot something behind.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Some More Scraps of Darkness Envy Kit~

2011-08-27T01:08:00.000-07:00

I finished another page using the Scraps of Darkness Envy Kit!! This kit keeps going and going!! There are so many amazing embellies and the papers flow so well together!

This page features my son and youngest daughter. They are dressed up in some camo and playing sniper. Well my son is playing sniper and he is trying to get Brooky to be his spotter. She just kept telling him good job and gave him a thumbs up :)

Some Close Ups!

The cute little white frames are made by Melissa Frances.

I added one of the new Dusty Attic sweet pea frames and stuck some of the Petaloo flowers on it. I did a very basic ink rub over the chippie.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Sketches: Creatively Yours and Urban Lily~

2011-08-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sketches Creatively Yours has another sketch up and ready for you to take a crack up. This week I used Urban Lily products to create my page. This layout is of me and my youngest sometime last year. She and I were taking pics of ourselves using the remote. I used one of the Urban Lily Secret Keepers on this. I just love those little things.

Ali MacDonald's Sketch

A Few Close Ups!

I totally forgot to check my pen tip and I made a mess of my "h"!! Oh well!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Designing Fun~

2011-08-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

I've had so much fun with Scraps of Darkness's August kit that I decided to use it for the newest Punky Scraps challenge.

If you are looking for a fun challenge then I have a couple for you. Punky Scraps is doing their monthly Team Pick's challenge and this month Team A picked fun things to do for Team B!! Here is what this week's challenge is all about!

Tamara - Use Paint
Kat - Use sequins
Cheryl - Use a transparency (branded or homemade)
Kerry - white space
Marie - something you found in your bag
Jolanda - Use something orange

Here is my take!! The layout features my oldest daughter, Raine. I used some of the beautiful pink papers that came with the SOD Envy kit. I incorporated all the items above: white space, pink paint along the border, flower shaped sequins, homemade flourish transparency, the orange trim along the photo, and a paper clip that I found in my bag.

If you are into cards then head on over to Sketches: Creatively Yours because they are doing their monthly card sketch challenge this week!! Such a cute sketch too!! Take a look!!

Here is my take on the sketch!! I created this little card with a plain white background for writing. Not too sure what I will use it for yet lol! The little die cut is a piece from the Dusty Attic Skeleton Clocks.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness Envy Kit Reveal~

2011-08-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

Green with 'Envy' baby!!! I absolutely LOVE this kit!!! Holy Smokes it's so pretty!! Again this kit is LOADED with gorgeousness!!! The colors are exquisite greens and shades of pinks!! Scraps of Darkness has done it again!!! Let's get started, because I can't wait any longer!!

This first layout is my take on the beautiful sketch done Suepup. The photos are of my youngest out picking dandelions and blowing wishes. I did add a beautiful brand new Dusty Attic chippie, floral frame set.

August Main Kit!

August Sketch!

To get this look on the chippie, just take a stamp with a small pattern of some sort. Stamp all over the chippie and then go over it sporadically with mist, paint, or ink of your choice.

My second page is a layout of my daughter, Rylee, and her horse Bru.

The brick negative and corner chippie are also Dusty Attic. I coated the corner chippie with ink and used tiny flowers to place over the leaf shapes.

The flowers in this kit as well as in some of the add ons are so gorgeous. There is a beautiful assortment of Prima, Petaloo, and ZVA flowers.

This is a close up of the pin I made for the Romance Add On.

This page is my husband, son and youngest daughter. They were fishing in our pond. I named this Just Fishin after the Trace Adkins song. A friend from scrapbook.com, Jennaroo, told me about that song, so I give her credit for the title.

Another close up of some of the pretty flowers and one of the cute little trinkets as well.

Lots of layers on this one. I wanted to give it an elegant framed look.

This last one is of my youngest again. She had the sweetest look on her face. I added two more pieces of Dusty chippies on this as well. I used one of the Ornate Corner #11 and the small Scroll #6.

Liquid Pearls are really an easy way to jazz up a page. I have a ton of colors and I don't use them enough.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Punky Scraps Challenge 25 and Urban Lily~

2011-08-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Another week and another challenge at Punky Scraps!! This week is a sketch challenge and I created my take using items from Urban Lily and other little things I had laying around!! Here is my layout :)

Here's a Peek at the Sketch!

This pretty butterfly is from the Urban Lily Secret Keepers. I sprayed the top half at an angle to get this look.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~All New Dusty Attic at my Etsy~

2011-08-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

I just received and have stocked my Etsy will the all new July 2011 Dusty chippies!! There are some gorgeous new designs that you are going to love!! Check it out!!

Click Here For My Etsy

~Scraps of Darkness & Punky Scraps~

2011-08-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Showing off a little more of the beautiful Scraps of Darkness Marrakesh Express kit along with a fun and funky challenge over at Punky Scraps!! This weeks challenge over at Punky Scraps is based on a Vintage Summer, which I ended up using for my title for this page.

The little girl is me back in 1981 and I just turned 6 years old. This was a photo of my very first trip to California. I just had the small photo which I scanned to make the grainier larger one.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Lots of New Dusty in my Etsy~

2011-08-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

I just received another awesome shipment of Dusty Attic! My Etsy is packed with lots of frames, skeleton clocks, and much much more!! Check it out!! I also have more coming and it will be all the new yummy goodies that Dusty just released, so if you don't see anything you want right now, I am sure you will see loads you want in my next order!!

Click Here for My Etsy

~Urban Lily Cardstock Secret Keeper~

2011-07-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

Urban Lily has their really cute chipboard secret keepers that I used on my first DT layout, but they also have full size cardstock secret keepers as well. So I decided to pull one out and get busy with one. Here is my most recent layout using mostly Urban Lily products! This is the closed cover of the layout. These secret keepers come in plain white. I chose to cover they front using a pattern paper called Lulu from the Lulliloo collection.

Here is the inside. It's one of my more simple pages, but when I work with black, red and white, I just love how clean it looks. The photos are of my oldest daughter, Raine.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Dusty Attic Giveaway~

2011-07-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

My good friend and fellow DT member over at Dusty Attic, Nancy Winter, is having a wonderful Christmas in July Dusty chippie giveaway!! You do now want to miss out on your chance to win these beautiful chippies!! Take a look at these beautiful snowflakes she is giving away!!

To enter to win just head on over to Nancy's Blog!!

CLICK HERE FOR NANCY'S BLOG!!

~Sketches: Creatively Yours & Urban Lily~

2011-07-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Another great sketch is off and running at Sketches: Creatively Yours. This is another awesome sketch created by my fellow SOD team mate, Charlotte. She makes some amazing sketches. I created this sketch using Urban Lily products along with items from my own stash. The photo is from a few years ago, of my oldest and youngest daughters.

Here is Charlotte's beautiful sketch!

I added some liquid pearls around this Urban Lily cut out tag.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

~Scraps of Darkness Marrakesh Express Layout~

2011-07-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

Here is another page from the gorgeous Marrakesh Express kit put together by Scraps of Darkness. The colors of this kit are just amazing!! So vibrant and beautiful, I love it!! The photo is of my daughter, Tyler, again. This is the third in a sort of series. I did Glamour, Grace, and this one I call Glitz.

These leaves are cut from the canvas that came in the Color Add On!

These are Martha Stewart butterfly punches. Great punch to have!! The liquid pearls was inspired by Celina aka forevervampress. She did a lot of pretty pearly drops on her pages this month and they looked so good!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness July Kit Reveal~

2011-07-15T01:04:00.000-07:00

Yay it's time!! The gorgeous Scraps of Darkness July kit called Marakesh Express is ready to show off!! This months kit is filled with the gorgeous Marakesh papers by Creative Imagination. Wow these papers are insanely gorgeous!! Here's my page based on the fabulous sketch by Charlotte aka Suepup!!

This one I call Smooch!! It's a new face that my youngest loves to make when I try to take her picture. I added a piece of Dusty from my own stash. I just love this paper!!

I sprayed the flowers with some of the purple spritz that came in the color add on.

This chippie is actually one piece, but I cut it in half for a different effect.

Another photo of my daughter, Tyler, dressed up. These pics were inspired by the papers. I used a Prima mask that came in the color add on along with some mists.

This is a photo of my oldest daughter, Raine. She had an awesome shoot with another photographer and I am still scrapping he gorgeous photos she gave me. I used some new Dusty chippies and also used some older brick chippies that I love. Again I used the stencil to create the background paper and then used a piece of the canvas to do some of the brick masking.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Beautiful Dusty Frames~

2011-07-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

I just love the new Dusty Frames. I am hoping for even more designs from Dusty in the shape of frames!! Check out this gorgeous scroll frame on this newest layout I did. The photo is a pic of my youngest and my husband. I allowed her to title it and she said it should be called "Me and Daddy".

I sold out of all my square and circle frames in my Etsy, but I still have 4 of these gorgeous frames left. Included is the large frame, a smaller frame, and two corner scrolls. Click here for my Etsy! Plus I will be restocking my shop with all of the frames again.

I treated the frame with Gesso first and then used some Tattered Angels lavender Glitter Glam. It came out this beautiful creamy color.

I have always loved my fellow Dusty DT-mate and friend, Natasha's, way of stitching, so I had to try it out and love how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~New Dusty in my Etsy~

2011-07-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

Good News!!! I have a nice amount of brand new Dusty Attic for sale at my Etsy!! I have those yummy frames that everyone is dieing to get their hands on!! Don't miss out!!!

Click Here - My Etsy Shop!!

~Don't Forget~

2011-07-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

Want some free inspiration today? There is a guest Sketch Artist over at the Sketches: Creatively Yours Blog this month! Her name is Charlotte AKA Suepup and she creates beautiful Sketches! Come see what I'm so excited about: HERE. :) I know you'll be glad you decided to check it out! Happy Friday!

~Scraps of Darkness~

2011-07-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share another couple of layouts using the June Welcome to the Jungle kit. This was such a fun kit and really versatile considering most of the papers were a jungle or animal theme. I had lot of fun using this kit and these were some awesome Bo Bunny papers!!

My first layout is of my pup, Skidder, who recently said good-bye to a certain part of his body. He was given the "Cone of Shame" for his own good. I feel bad for him, but it's a must. It took him a day to figure out how to get around with it. He had a problem walking with it because he would lower his head and get stuck on the ground. He would literally stand there until someone got him unstuck.

My signature ribbon/lace scrunching. I'm an addict!

Look at that face :(

This is a pic of my daughter, Rylee, that I altered in photo shop. I placed her in a dark forest and then stuck a scary wolf behind her. Hopefully you can see the wolf in the photo. The outer frame is actually the leftover piece from the Baroque Circle Frame Set from Dusty Attic. The little fairies are also from Dusty Attic.

The moss was from a previous kit and I loved it. I spritzed mine all up!

This crazy texture is a left over baby wipe. I've used them before, but ended up covering it too much to mention, so I left some showing on this page to show how cool it looks. I use baby wipes for cleaning stamps and applying inks and sprays.

The frame was coated with gesso, then inked. After that I used distress powder and then more ink :)

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Urban Lily - Dusty Attic - Sketches: Creatively Yours~

2011-07-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

I created a bit of a triple DT layout! I am very happy to announce that my good friend Charlotte is doing sketches for Sketches: Creatively Yours this month!! She has some amazing sketches and I really encourage you to get over there and check them out each week in July!! I created this layout using Urban Lily products and some other various items, including one of my favorite new chippies from Dusty Attic, the Baroque Circle Frame Set. The photos are of my oldest daughter, Raine. I call this layout "Beginning" which stands for the fact her adult life will soon be beginning. I can't take credit for these beautiful photos, but I sure love scrapping them.

I added some Prima and generic flowers from my stash along with some stamped leaves.

I love Glimmer Glaze from Tattered Angels. Love how sparkly this stuff is.

I used Glitter Glaze all along the border of my page. I'm loving that stuff!!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Sketches: Creatively Yours 10-11 & Urban Lily~

2011-06-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

A little mix of goodies for you. Sketches: Creatively Yours has another great sketch up by Ali MacDonald. I decided to use some of my Urban Lily goodies to create my take on it. Hope you like it :)

I still have a lot of photos of my oldest daughter's shoot left, so I used a couple from her. I think this should be her red carpet pose :)

This is Ali's sketch that I based it on. I went circular for the background, but kept the basic design.

I stuck one big bead in the center of this flower. The little chippies are made by Bo Bunny.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Punky Scraps 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Challenge~

2011-06-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Another great challenge is happening at Punky Scraps right now! It's a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 challenge!! Which means you have to use the following items!

5 Photos

4 Alphas

3 Patterned Papers

2 Colors of Paints/Mists

1 Stamp

All this with one twist!! Use the color blue somewhere on your layout!

Here is my example layout. I used a photo of my daughter, Raine, which I cut up into 5 pieces. I used parts of three different Tim Holtz paper, a Prima notary stamp, some blue mist from Lindys Stamp Gang, some Gesso, and my 4 alpha letters. This is definately one of my more simple creations, but I really like how this one turned out.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness June Kit Reveal~

2011-06-15T01:10:00.000-07:00

A new month and a new kit from Scraps of Darkness!! This months kit is called "Welcome to the Jungle" and it is packed full of fun and funky animal themed papers from Bo Bunny!! The featured line in this kit is Zoology! There is also some amazing addons with Prima, Tim Holtz, Petaloo and much much more!! Wow this kit is awesome!!! Let's get started with showing a pic of the main kit!!

This is my take on Charlotte aka Suepup's sketch for June!! I added the awesome Dusty Attic frame chippie that is new!

This is a shot of one of the stick pins I created for this months kit.

I used crackle paint and distress powder on the chippie frame. First time using it, so I hope I did it right :)

I love this pic of my two pups. This is Tracker (beagle) and Skidder (pitt bull). They are super good friends and even though Skidder and since doubled in size, they are still buds for life.

I just love the colors of these flowers!! So pretty with the natural tone of this kit!!

This one is a tribute page to my pup Rocket who passed away several months ago. This was my favorite pic of him. It just shows his "to cool" personality. He was never a ham for the camera, unlike my beagle.

I added in these little chippies from Dusty Attic!! I left them raw this time!!

The scrolls are a three piece set from Dusty Attic!! Gorgeous!! I coated them in ink and distress powder!! The bricks were made from torn and inked paper!! Easy little trick!!

This pic cracks me up!! She is such a little joker lol. I love this shot of Rylee too!! I attempted a little masking on the side to help break up the business, but I think it just added to it lol.

I coated these thick chippies with ink and embossing powder!

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Urban Lily Mooch Collection~

2011-06-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Urban Lily has some super cute collections and I'm excited to dive into more of them. Right now I get to show you a little bit of the Mooch Collection!! For this layout I used a pic of my daughter that she took of herself. Check it out!! To check out more Urban Lily products go to Scrap-Tastic!!

Mooch Collection

- Hyperactive

- Smooch

- Raw

I also used a tiny bit of one of the Urban Cuts sheet.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Punky Scraps & Sketches: Creatively Yours 9-11~

2011-06-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

The month of June is crazy busy for me with loads of birthdays, a wedding, a bunch of dental appointments and a graduation. So I had to be a bit creative on some of my DT work this month. For example I am combining a picture challenge from Punky Scraps with a sketch by Ali MacDonald over at Sketches: Creatively Yours. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. So here we go!!

This layout is some old pictures of my sister and I. The journaling reads, "My sister and I back in the 80's. She is eight years older than me and I used to annoy the heck out of her. I also used to tell on her, like when I caught her smoking cigarettes in her bedroom. My mother was pretty blind to her bad behavior. Pretty much is the case today!"

The tape is by Highway 101. I had to search high and low to find one in my house. Luckily I found this one in an old radio.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

~Urban Lily ATC's~

2011-06-09T00:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't made any ATC's in a really long time, so I decided I would make a couple. Urban Lily has some perfect little premade ATC cards that work great!! Here are the two I made a few days ago!

ATC #1 Supplies

1. Urban Lily Ready to Use ATC Cards

2. Urban Lily MayElla Collection - Cheeky Papers

3. Urban Lily Chipboard Circles

4. Stickles, Random Brads, and Ribbon

ATC #2 Supplies

1. Urban Lily Ready to Use ATC Cards

2. Urban Lily Everyday Lily Collection - Linen Stripe

3. Urban Lily Urban Cuts

4. Stickles and Lace

Don't forget to check out Urban Lily products at Scrap-Tastic!!!

~Punky Scraps Blog Hop~

2011-06-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is my very first blog hop and I'm super excited to be doing it with Punky Scraps!!! If you started from the beginning you should have made it here by way of the talented Tiffany's blog! If you stumbled across my blog or are already a follower, click the picture below to start the hop from the beginning!

Here is the current challenge sketch going at Punky Scraps right now!!

Here is my take on the sketch above. This is my oldest daughter Raine, showing off one of her recent creative impulses. She dyed her bangs red. I prefer it natural, but I did tell her if she is wanting to do it, then now is the time while she is young!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!! Don't forget to leave a quick post here and hurry on to the talented Wendy Morris's blog!! CLICK HERE!!!

~Scraps of Darkness and Dusty Attic Style Inspired Page~

2011-06-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

I have never done a double feature of the same layout, but I wanted to enter two challenges with this particular page. The first challenge is Scraps of Darkness's Skeletons challenge! This month the Skeleton's challenge gave us the song, "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls and we had to take from that song what most touched or inspired us.

The second challenge is over at Dusty Attic right now there is a challenge every couple of weeks that is a style lifting challenge featuring each of our DT members. From May 30th-June 13th Anna Dabrowska-Pekocka also known as Finnabair is being featured.

Here are both of my takes on these challenges. This first one is my example entry over at Dusty Attic and it features my oldest daughter, Raine, in a shoot she did.

This is the layout I did for an example over at SOD. I decided to take the line, "When everything feels like the movies, Yeah, you bleed just to know your alive." I created drops of blood and wrote those lyrics on the bottoms of the drops.

Now to explain this. When I was in my late teens I used to play an online game and was very caught up in it. It was a game that involved other players and you can go on and interact and play the game together. Well I got so caught up in it that I played every chance I got. When I 1st heard this song those lines described exactly what it was like when I played the game. I was so caught up in non reality that it was almost like I needed to pinch myself to come back to reality. That lasted a couple of years for me and I let it go, but part of me still misses it a little.

Here are some close ups!! Pretty easy to explain. I glued everything down and painted it all with black acrylic paint. I did spray a little bit of mist on it here and there, but it's hard to really see it.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Sketches: Creatively Yours 7-11~

2011-05-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

It's Friday and Sketches:Creatively Yours has a new sketch up!! This week I used a pic of four of my kiddos at the coast here in Oregon. I titled it family and friends because that's what they are. They are family and best friends. Don't get me wrong, we have our fair share of name calling and finger pointing, but when it really counts the love is there. Here is my take on the sketch! I know it looks really different, but I chose to smush my elements together instead of keeping them separate.

I took some close ups. I really love the color of these flowers. So dang pretty!

The alpha titles are Dusty Attic chippies. Love these!! They come on small sheets with several different titles on one.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~My First Official Urban Lily Layout~

2011-05-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is my first official blog post for Urban Swank as a DT member and I am sharing a layout I created using the Everyday Lily collection, along with a Secret Keeper window and pieces from the Urban Cuts. You can buy Urban Lily products at the Scrap-Tastic website!

The photo is of my oldest daughter and I included some journaling for her inside the Secret Keeper. I titled the layout "I Hope You Dance," from the song by Leann Womack. The papers I used were Sushi, Sushi Stripe, and Sushi Dot.

To get this finish on the Secret Keeper window, I just used some pink mist on the inside and painted it with light pink crackle paint.

Here is a close up of the Urban Cut Alphabet. I mildly distressed the edges with a knife tool.

I cut butterfly from the Sushi Dot paper and decorated it with glitter glue and rhinestones.

My daughter no longer lives with me, so some of these questions are things I might ask her when we talk. I used a tag from the Urban Cut Accents and trailed some glitter glue for added detail.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!

~Scraps of Darkness and Dusty Attic Tutorial~

2011-05-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

I was planning on posting this on Sunday, but I wanted to get the tutorial up since it was ready to go. I used the May Scraps of Darkness kit called Now and Zen. I added a couple new pieces of chippies as well. Here is my page and the link to the tutorial is below in this post!

I used a rub on for the fan.

These are the new Topiary Tree #2 Chippies over at Dusty. I created a tutorial on these to get this cool fuzzy texture that makes them look more like a plant. Check out the tutorial here! You may have to sign in at Dusty Attic, but it's a really quick and easy registration.

TUTORIAL FOR CHIPPIES

This is another chippie from the Baroque Square Frame Set DA0541. For these I sprayed them with mists from the SOD Color Add-On. Then I used a small amount of gesso and then went over it with some hot pink paint. After it dried I used Sparkle Modge Podge over the top.

Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!

~Scraps of Darkness May Kit Reveal~

2011-05-15T01:48:00.000-07:00

It's time for the Scraps of Darkness May kit reveal!! This month's kit is called Now and Zen and it's full of gorgeous colors and embellishments. This month features the Sakura papers from Creative Imagination. These papers are so gorgeous and have such a beautiful Asian flair. Check out this awesome main kit!!

I always like to start off my reveal layouts with my take on the monthly sketch that is created by Charlotte aka Suepup. This month I used items from the main kit along with the color add on to create this mixed media canvas.

This is the first time I've used this awesome Dusty crane chippie. I misted and inked it like crazy and then separated out the feathers to give it a more ruffled up look.

I pretty much coated everything, except the photo, with Sparkle Modge Podge. If you love Modge Podge and haven't tried the Sparkle kind, then hurry up and go buy some, because it's AWESOME!! The glaze gave the majority of my embellies the look of glass with sparkle. Yummy!!

Yup my "A" is off!! I left my layout to dry and a pair of three year old fingers came by to look at it and I didn't catch it until it was good and stuck.

Here is layout number two. I created this using a photo of my oldest daughter, Raine. She had this photo taken by a professional photographer. I titled this layout Enchanting. The snowflakes are from Dusty Attic and they were from my personal stash. I did use the mists from the Color Add On to treat them.

I'm starting to love my eyelets again. I've seen some of the gorgeous pages out there where people lace up there pages and use eyelets in the holes. I need to refill my stock of little eyelets.

These pretty little butterflies were put together by my fellow dt member, Renea. They can be found over at the SOD forum for printing. I did alter the color on mine just a tad.

I really like how this layout turned out. The DT was all frazzled coming off of two gorgeous earth toned kits and given this gorgeous colorful kit. So at first I think I had to just play around with some of it until the ideas started flowing. I really love how this one turned out and I was able to use several patterns on here.

I love this Dusty frame. I cut the photo just so it would fit in the center of the frame. The pic is one I digitally altered of Rylee.

Instead of a pin this month, Melinda had a genius idea to decorate chopsticks, so I bought a lot of them lol. I decorated them up and here is a close up of the set I received in my kit.

One more pic of Rylee that I cut out to create a fantasty themed layout. I call this one Fairy Night.

I added these Prima rubs on to the paper.

I cut up the Prima border bling to create the magically setting for my fairy.

These little chippies are from the Dusty Attic snowflakes set that I also used on the above Enchanting layout.

Thanks for Stopping by and God Bless!!