A bit of Craftiness.... :)

Hello bloggers...again life has taken over and I have't blogged in forever. So to make up for my absence, I have lots of fun crafty stuff to post. :)

First up is a layout I made today. I tried a fun new technique...which I will share below.

Isn't it just super cute? I just totally love these pictures of Bailey when she was a puppy. Her favorite toy was her squeaky balls and I love these photos of her playing with them. And speaking of playing, I played with some of the papers from the April's Scarlet Lime kit....which is gorgeous by the way. Lots of bright primary colors paired with elegant black papers. I only used yellow pieces for this layout, but there are a ton of blues and reds too...Another layout is in the works with the kit so stay tuned. :)

The technique I want to share with you today is the black accents with the text type paper behind it. Believe it or not, this is all stamping! Except for the largest element on the layout which is a clear sticker from Heidi Swapp. I found a roll of 100 of these stickers at Tuesday Morning for $1.99 so you will probably be seeing A LOT of these on my upcoming projects. :)

So want to know how to get this super fun look? I simply used a few basic stamping supplies and 2 of my favorite stamps from Hero Arts:

              

Hero Arts Cling Stamp: Friend Definition                       Hero Arts Clear Stamp: Speckled Ornaments

 

1. Stamp the friend definition onto plain white cardstock using a black chalk or shadow ink. This gives the background the look of newsprint. I used the mini stamp press from Fiskars to mount my stamp on. I find that it gives me more control over where I place my stamp and also helps give me a more crisp image.

2. Adhere your cling stamp to an acryllic mount and stamp it on top of the image you stamped in step 1 with Versamark Ink or other favorite clear embossing ink. Sprinkle on black embossing powder and heat your image with a heat gun.

3. Cut out around the stamped image leaving about a 1/4 inch border around the image.

4. Use your favorite adhesive or pop-dots to attach your embellishment to your project.

I ended up using these flourish images on a set of cards that I made to have on hand.

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I also thought I would share a few of my other recent projects that I have been working on. Enjoy!

This layout was super fun and easy to put together. I followed a sketch out of a recent issue of Creating Keepsakes, altering the colors and elements to match my photos.  These photos are from a fun evening that my friends and I shared back in 2007. We had a bonfire and a hayride, which had a haunted stop along the way with a little church and a "ghost". It was a really good joke and we all still talk about that memorable adventure.

This is another sweet layout of my puppy Bailey out in the snow.  She loves to be outside in the white fluffy stuff and always ends up covered from head to tail in snow.  I had a lot of fun playing with these papers from American Crafts and adding some bling snowflakes from Basic Grey to add that special touch to the layout.

This layout was created for this month's design team challenge over at the If It's Groovy Blog. We were asked to get creative with shadows in our photographs and so I snapped this sweet photo of my parent's shadows on our driveway as they embraced. :) I was able to use up a small bit of my Valentine's paper stash by using these fun papers by Chatterbox and Carolee's Creations. The scalloped border is created with Paper Frills from Doodlebug and I used Prima roses to give my layout that special touch. 

Some Great News and a Sneak Peek at Tomorrow's Technique :)

Hello there my blog friends! :) I am stopping by to let you all know of some great news.  We are extending the Birthday Bash over at If It's Groovy until the end of the month, so you have plenty of time to enter my challenge as well as the other designer's challenges over at the blog, http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/.

Here's the new, updated info on my challenge. :)

I challenge you to make a crafty project using cupcakes. You can submit anything...a layout, a card, a mini book, or even an altered craft project. It's your choice. Just make sure you have at least one of these delicious treats somewhere on your project. Easy right? Then once your project is finished, snap a picture of it and email it to me at janeenbeuchel@comcast.net by Sunday, January 31st and you will be entered into the drawing on February 1st to win this fabulous prize pack of cupcake themed goodies.

This gives you an extra 3 weeks (yes 3!) to finish your projects and enter them into the drawing! Good luck everyone! :)

And since I am stretching out the challenge, I am also going to stretch out my techniques a bit. So I will be showcasing my next technique on Friday's post, but here is a sneak peek at a few of the tools you will be needing tomorrow.

Got your attention didn't I? Now you will just have to tune in tomorrow to find out how I am going to use these household tools for scrapping...

Show Us Your Funny Faces on the If It's Groovy Blog

This month over at If It's Groovy, the design team was asked to make a layout showcasing funny faces.  I had a blast creating my page and being challenged to scrapbook newer photos. (These are from a trip we took to the zoo about a month ago!)
 
Here's my work as part of the design team on the blog. 
 

 
These pictures are all from a day I spent at the zoo with my friend Rebekeh and her kids. They all hammed it up in front of the camera and I got some really fun shots to use for the challenge. :)  The paper is all from Scenic Route's Grafton collection. It was originally meant for beach layouts but the colors were perfect for my photos. I used a square punch to punch all of the small photos to the same size and created a grid to contain all of my photos. Buttons with jute threaded through them and some zoo stickers from Me and My Big Ideas finished off the layout and gave it this fun, graphic look!
 
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If you want to get in on the challenge and create your own funny faces layout too, check out the information below and be sure to go to the blog and get inspired by all the other funny faces out there. http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/
 
"Ladies and Gentlemen it is time that we see some smiling faces, not just any smiling face though, we need to see some FUNNY FACES! Choose one model for your pic or many. Enter as many times as you like, but make those faces look funny.
Goodies will be sent to one winner chosen at random so please expect to email your mailing info once the winner is announced on October 1 on If It's Groovy."
A slideshow is up and running on the If' It's Groovy blog ( http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/ ) showing the work of IIG's Uber Talented DT!!! Email yours to groovydeb@yahoo.com so we can add it there too :)"

Now get out there and start scrapping those funny faces photos!

Scrap Happy News and a Layout to Share

Well, today's the day I can reveal my scrappy news.....

I have been asked to join the design team over at the If It's Groovy Blog. The fabulous lady who is in charge of the blog contacted me on scrapbook.com and asked me to join the team as a 2-page designer. The whole thing went public today so be sure to check it out here!

http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/

Keep checking back because I have some really fun layouts coming up and the rest of the ladies' projects are fabulous too!

In other news, I applied to work at my local Archivers and today I had my interview. :)  Everything went really well and unless there is a major snag, I will probably start working there next week. So if you're ever in the mall down by Macy's, come on in and see if I'm there.

I was also inspired by some new Bo Bunny Press products while I was in Archivers this week and used their new "Flutter Butter" line to create the layout below. The colors are so beautiful and they really brought out the feel of my photos.  If you get a chance to play with Bo Bunny's stuff, give it a shot. It is so beautiful and whimsical and fun!