11 Months

This is my first February layout for Mon Scrapbook, using the "Cupid" collection from Pink Paislee. I love the colours in these papers. Although they are intended as a Valentines collection, I think they work well for other themes, and are just perfect for pictures of little girls!


I added some stitching with embroidery floss. I used one of the templates from "The Crafter's Workshop" to create the flourishes. So much easier than drawing by hand.


The roses on this page are made from some of my scraps from the layout. A flower punch, a little ink, and some folding & rolling are all it takes. Voilà - flowers perfectly matched to your project!


Matériaux / Supplies:
papiers / papers - Pink Paislee "Cupid" (Eternal Love, Hearts Bloom, Love Potion, Bow & Arrow)
découpe / die cut - Pink Paislee "Cupid"
décalques / rub-ons - Pink Paislee "Cupid"
lettres / alphas - Pink Paislee "Bubblegum Whimsies"
carton agglomeré / chipboard - American Crafts Thickers "Darling Accents"
gabarit / template - The Crafter's Workshop
epingles / pins - Fancy Pants
encre / ink - Colorbox
stylo / marker - Staedtler Triplus Fineliner
fil à broder / embroidery floss - DMC

In the Blink of an Eye

This is my second January DT project for Mon Scrapbook, using the beautiful "Vintage Glam" collection by Rose Moka. At first glance these papers seem feminine, but I think they work equally well for "boy pages".


Sometimes I start a page and find that I have no perfect place for the journaling. With this layout, I had lots of space on the photo that turned out to be just right.


I added stitching with jute twine, and orange dew drops as accents. The colours were ideal for a fall-themed layout.


Matériaux / Supplies:
papiers / papers - Rose Moka "Vintage Glam" (Amy, Mya, Eva, Léa)
feutre / felt - Prima Marketing
lettrage / alphas - Rose Moka
encre /ink - Ranger Distress Ink (Walnut Stain)
dew drops - Robin's Nest
stylo /marker - Staedtler Triplus Fineliner
autres / other - ficelle de jute / jute twine

Alcohol Ink Pens - a primer

(This is my first tutorial for my DT at Mon Scrapbook. It can be read en français on their blog.)

Do you love alcohol inks, but wish they were a little easier to use? Maybe you would like to try alcohol inks, but are a little intimidated, and would like an easy place to begin? Let me introduce to you the Alcohol Ink Fillable Pen by Ranger. These pens make working with alcohol inks as easy as grabbing your favorite marker.

The pen comes empty, and you fill it with your favorite colour - there are many from which to choose. Ranger makes 48 colours, plus the blending solution. (And yes - you can also fill these pens with blending solution!)

When filling the markers, you will want to protect your work surface - you wouldn't want to drop the ink on your favorite wood table, for example. I prefer to work on my silicon mat.

Start by removing the tip with a pair of tweezers.


There is a brush tip on one end, and a fine point tip on the opposite end. Remove only one at a time.


Insert the tip of the ink bottle into the pen and squeeze lightly for 3-5 seconds. Be careful to not overfill. Replace the pen tip and cap, and repeat with the opposite end. The directions say to lay the pen flat for 5 minutes to allow the ink to flow into the tips. I found it took a little longer.


Now that you have the pen filled, here are some ideas on how you can use it. One way to use it is for coloring transparencies with more precision than using a paint brush. You can also use these to colour on transparencies you've stamped with StazOn. Just make sure to colour on the opposite side from the stamped image (otherwise, the alcohol ink will disrupt the stamped image).


Of course, you can use the pen on any surface that you would expect to colour with alcohol inks, including glossy paper, metal, glass and ceramic.

I love to use the pens to customize my embellishments, such as these pearls:

It also works great on crystals...


and dew drops!


When I can't decide which colour I want of a new design in crystals or pearls, I choose clear or white, because I know I can customize them with alcohol inks.

It's also a great way to alter plain white buttons!


I hope you will give these pens a try!

Matériel /Supplies:
crayon/pen - Adirondack Alcohol Ink Fillable Pen
encre alcool / alcohol ink - Ranger
transparent/transparency - Prima Marketing
perles /pearls - Kaisercraft
cristaux /crystal flourish - Prima Marketing
dew drops - Robin's Nest
boutons /buttons - Buttons Galore

Decidely NOT Camera Shy...

*sigh* I wish that title described me, but alas...

If you've seen my layouts for any period of time, you'll know just how far from my regular style this layout truly is. It's pretty much the opposite of what I normally do. But I guess that's what challenges are for, right? I'm participating in a tournament over at Let's Capture Our Memories (aka LCOM), and this was the first week's challenge - create a layout in the "Clean & Simple" style.


I'm very happy with the results, but I was instantly reminded of why I stepped away from this style - it takes me twice as long. :P

Supplies:
CS - Bazzill
PP - Collage Press
foam letters - American Crafts Thickers
twill ribbon - My Mind's Eye
felt - Fancy Pants
pearls - Kaisercraft
ink - Ranger
marker - Staedtler Triplus Fineliner

At the Parc

I think I love every paper that Rose Moka makes - I couldn't wait to get my hands on these new collections. The Urban Chic collection was ideal for this page about my son at the park, and the Vintage Glam collection coordinates with it perfectly.

A few masculine brads added to this lace stamp make it look more like ironwork.


Even though the papers already have a distressed look, I couldn't resist doing a little tearing, and adding some mists.


Matériel/Supplies:
papiers / papers - Rose Moka Urban Chic (Sam, Téo) & Vintage Glam (Eli, Mya)
cartes de texte / journaling tag - Rose Moka
feutre / felt - Prima Marketing
étamp / stamp - Prima Marketing
lettrage / alphas - Rose Moka, American Crafts
encre /ink - Ranger Distress Ink (Black Soot), StazOn (Jet Black)
mist - Tattered Angels, Tsukineko
attaches parisiennes / brads - Karen Foster
stylo /marker - Staedtler Triplus Fineliner

Happy Together

This is the fourth layout that I've created with the December Kit from Crazy Daisy Kits. As usual, I'm getting lots of mileage with this kit. I love how there's always lots of paper in their kits.

I added some Distress Stickles (in "Peeled Paint", "Picket Fence", and "Rock Candy") to the Kaisercraft rub-ons. The "Peeled Paint" colour was a perfect green for this kit.


I used more of the white lace from the kit as a border on this layout. It adds a nice texture, and if you fussy cut around the design at the end you get a great shape to your border. I included another stamped image on transparency. I love the little flourish stamp from the We R Memory Keepers set. This is a stamp that I can see me using over and over.



Supplies (from the kit):
PP - Kaisercraft, Making Memories
large letter stickers - Prima Marketing
rub-ons - Kaisercraft
other - lace fabric trim

Other Supplies:
chipboard buttons - Making Memories
small letter stickers - My Little Shoebox
twine - Shabby Green Door
Distress Stickles, ink - Ranger
marker - Staedtler Triplus Fineliner

Baby's 1st Christmas

Here's another layout that I created with the December Kit from Crazy Daisy Kits. Please ignore the date on the journaling - this photo was actually from Christmas 2008, not 2009; I have since corrected the date.

I pleated strips of patterned paper for my circle border. I like the added dimension this gives.


I spritzed the white cardstock with "Marshmallow" glimmer mist, for a little extra shimmer.


I wanted to try something a little different with the embroidered lace trim in the kit, so I fussy cut several of the poinsettia shapes and used them like flower embellishments.


Supplies (from kit):
PP - Making Memories, GCD Studios
other - cardstock, lace fabric trim

Other supplies:
buttons, flower, journaling block - Making Memories
floss - Shabby Green Door
dew drops - Stamping Bella
glimmer mist - Tattered Angels
ink - Ranger

Visit with Santa

Here's another layout that I created with the December Kit from Crazy Daisy Kits. I'm really liking the mix of papers in this kit - the variety of styles allows for creating different seasonal pages, to suit different photos. Which is great, because seriously - do all your Christmas photos look good on the same papers? I know that mine don't! Some of my photos are very traditional, and others are silly or funny.

Stamping on transparencies allows me a little more freedom in how I use stamps, including the option of reversing the image and creating mirrored images, which is what I did with ones of the flourishes in the kit.


One of the ways that I like to attach ribbon is with staples. I like the added texture from the folded ribbon, and it looks a little less formal with the staples.


Supplies (from kit):
PP - Making Memories, GCD Studios
stamp - We R Memory Keepers
letter stickers - Prima Marketing
other - ribbon

Other supplies:
poinsettias - Making Memories
pearls - Prima Marketing
ink - Ranger, StazOn
blank transparency - 3M
marker - Staedtler Triplus Fineliner
other - staples

Caught in the Act

Have you seen the December Kit from Crazy Daisy Kits? It's jam-packed with Christmas goodies - hop on over and check it out. This is my first layout with the December kit. And, um, yeah, I'm finally scrapping pictures from last Christmas. (Long story - really long story - but that's for another day.)

With one of the stamps in the kit, I used StazOn ink and stamped on a blank sheet of transparency. That allowed me to test where I wanted the stamp before using it on my layout. It also allows me to stamp across neighboring surfaces and still get a consistent image.


A close-up of the journaling. My sister will be thrilled to find this picture on my blog. ;)


Supplies (from kit):
PP -GCD Studios, We R Memory Keepers, Crate Paper
letters, flowers - Prima Marketing
buttons - Basic Grey
rub-ons - Crate Paper
stamp - We R Memory Keepers

Other supplies:
small letters - Adornit
ink - Ranger, StazOn
glimmer mist - Tattered Angels
markers - Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, American Crafts Slickwriter
blank transparency - 3M

System Crash

You guessed it - this is another layout that I did with my kit from Scrap Attack Scrapbooking. I got so much mileage from this kit! I love all the flocked papers from this SEI line.

I love sleeping baby pictures. Especially when my kids have just 'crashed' somewhere, like in this photo. My daughter fell asleep in her high chair in the middle of supper.


The crystals on this Prima flourish actually started out clear, not the colour you see in the photograph. But I wanted a warmer look, so I coloured them with a copic marker - it's a great way to customize crystals and pearls!


Supplies (from kit):
PP, die cuts, boarder sticker - SEI
chipboard letters - Chatterbox
pearl/crystal flourish - Prima Marketing

Other supplies:
ink - Ranger
markers - Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, Copic