Natural Beauty

Good morning,

I tried to do a layout with the best picture of mom, just cant fool with it anymore.

I used some of my kit from the Flying Unicorn, Webster pages products and K&CO transparencies. I used Spellbinders vine border to emboss my card stock  leaf dies for little leaves peeking out, Martha Stewart punches for edging.

The story of this picture is that Mom dressed up Chris and me for photos and then the photographer insisted she have her picture made with us. Certainly a testament for her natural beauty. Since this is the first post with a Mom picture, family please feel free to comment and share stories.

2013 almost here...

Merry Christmas!

A card for the New Year, my own creation. The sentiment is from Just Rite via Amazing Grace kit. I used Spellbinders Angle tuck and fold die, ovals and Romantic Rectangle. The rose is Prima from my Flying Unicorn December Kit. The paper is K&CO Blue Awning and My Minds Eye Lost and Found.

By the Lake

I really like the "lost" look on Myles face in this picture. He was out at a lake trying to feed ducks but successfully chasing them. The papers are My Minds Eye Follow your Heart. The pearl flourish is Lost and Found that I colored with alcohol markers. Next time I will color them before I place them, this would allow me to fully cover them without coloring my page. The leaves and tan flourishes are Prima mistable canvas and the green rub on is K&Co. I used distress inks in old linen, brushed corduroy, old paper and sage to distress the edges.  

VROOOM!

My husband took a picture of the boys on the neighbors scooter. It's a little dark but their smiles are awesome  Mom would never have let us sit on this - Thanks Daddy!

So this is Bo Bunny On The Go. I played with molding paste on the Prima gears stencil - still practicing.

The gear stamps are Technique Tuesday and the die cuts are Spellbinders Spritely Sprockets in spray painted and naked chipboard and foil card stock. I added some primary colored mini buttons.

My boys

This layout is of the boys and husband in Sarasota. We took Myles to Wyland Galleries to emphasize what he could accomplish with focus and taking his time with drawing. The papers are Jilli Bean Macho Nacho Soup, via Boys Rule kits. I like the greens and blues. I used stamps from Tim Holtz, Pink Paislee and My Minds eye. 

Little Bits

I am in love with my children as every parent should. Patrick is just the happiest and warmest snuggley little bits. 

The papers are from Basic Grey Clippings via Boys' Rule kit. I kept this pretty simple rusty hinge and wild honey distress in on the hexagons. I inked the twine in rusty hinge. Some circles and stickers.

The Beach

I had some pictures for a walk on the beach however, Patrick was having a fearful day looking out at the water. Since he refused to take his eyes of the surf and Myles refused to to be so still I had no pictures of them together. 

I was practicing misting on a sea shell motif. The chipboard is from K&CO. I used broken china and weathered wood on the page and spun sugar on the cheese cloth. 

It's not a great page - but I like the diamond shapes of the pictures and the ghost ship stamp.

Christmas Cards 2012

I was out at the craft store one day and discovered a sentiment stamp that almost brought tears to my eyes and made me giddy at the same time.

"The best gift of Christmas arrived in a very small bundle with no bow"

It was the perfect Christmas card sentiment in beautiful script. 

So I had an idea for a Christmas card and little in the way of design. I began by coloring some child pageant stamps I bought on clearance early in the year. Then I received the perfect die in my Amazing Grace kit to place Mary and Joseph with a nice filigree stamp that matched. I inked Mary and Joseph's oval in antique linen and spun sugar distress inks. The background paper is Basic Gray Nordic Christmas with some white enamel accents. 

The baby Jesus stamp fit perfectly in the motif from Spellbinders Ironworks accents. He is inked with spruce and forest moss. Then I spun the edges of the die across Versamark embossing ink quickly to obtain a random coating. (In case you are tempted the distress ink tool wont behave with embossing ink to feather in the ink on the edges.) The die was then spun gingerly through a shallow dredge of gold tinsel embossing powder and heated. 

The back of the baby Jesus ornament and the tag are sprayed with a heavy concentration of gold perfect pearls on kraft paper. Once heat dried I stamped and embossed in clear. I used fired brick and spruce distressed inks with clear embossing powder. I didn't post before on the cards because I wanted the recipients to start receiving them as surprises. :)

The Flying Unicorn KOM

This month I treated myself to a kit that is less boyish. I had this good picture of the hubby and myself and I wanted to create a good layout of us. Most of the layouts I do are of the kids.

I the papers are from FabScraps and I borrowed border punches from my friend Jenn at the crop yesterday to complete the background. The lace corner is a spellbinders die from my Amazing Grace kit. I inked it with weathered wood distress ink and gold distress stain. Underneath the lace corner is tarnished and copper mica flakes. This is a new material for me but I like the random look of it. 

The flowers came with the main kit and the embellishment add-on. They include Prima, Melissa Francis, KaiserKraft and FabScraps. I loved going feminine on this layout, so fun. The chipboard is  Fabscraps I inked it in faded denim distress ink, embossed in broken china distress powder and then clear and picket fence glitter. I even was able to add some crystals and pearls. :)

Catching Up

I haven't posted since August. :(
I have been busy, I created a private birthday present for my aunt.
I have about five layouts to upload. I made Christmas cards and a mini album.
Oh yeah I changed jobs. Similar function different company.

So today I have some tags from a tag exchange that I participated.

I really loved the G45 Nutcracker Suite paper collection. Not sure my affinity to the Nutcracker but I love it.

This tag I use two mists Perfect Pearls Smoky Blue and a Ditto turquoise. Molding paste on my crafter's workshop 6x6 frames template and silver pearls paint to highlight some of the frame. The ballerina is fussy cut from G45.

This tag is G45 Nutcracker with clear glitter embossing powder over the Christmas Tree, Distress Barn Door stain on the background. 

I love the plaid in this tag. so I kept is simple.

Distress Broken China stain, G45 Nutcracker papers, distressing and inking. 

I fussy cut the darling Clara from the front cover of the papers.

Sugary sweet K&Co dimensional cookies and the cutest gingerbread man. 

More K&Co cookie stickers and clear sparkle embossing in the tag over vintage photo distress stain. I randomly embossed the edges of the Christmas element with tinsel gold.

I just love the swirly tree stamp. 

Pamela Young's Layout from Pamela's World of Scraps:

I used my Boy's Rule Kit from July with a couple pictures of Myles swimming.

I love the Fancy Pants Shoreline pattern, I used the gloss accents to outline some of the light blue scrolls. The pinwheels are two patterns pasted together leftover from Patrick's layout. The background card stock was a light blue and I used a mist from Ditto Caribbean blue with distressed inks broken china, weathered wood and old paper. Truth is I went too far with misting I originally intended and ending up fixing it with distress inks and then re-misting for more sheen. (Looks like the bottom of a pool or a real mess) The twine is from my first Boys Rule kit and the shell buttons I picked up at Joann's. The chipboard is LYB except the sailboat that is Tim Coffey, K&Company. 

This one was alot of fun. I also love the tag that says Sandy Toes and Salty Kisses...too sweet. 

Boy's Rule July Kit

My July kit from Boy's Rule is awesome. It had Myles favorite color orange in abundance in the Fancy Pants Wave Searcher Shoreline. The little Yellow Bicycle embellishments were so cute and I love the Flags. So I have made 2 layouts so far and have many more materials left to make a couple more.
I stumbled across Pamela's World of Scrap blog and lifted two really neat layout ideas. First my Patrick:

I used the red and yellow smooch mist by removing the cap and using the end of the sprayer tip and tapping with my finger flicked on the ink. I used the papers from the kit and an embossed flower card stock from Bazzill with Tim Holtz broken china, peeled pain and wild honey swiped on the flowers. I really like the tile squares look. Some of the LYB chipboard and the flags and all done. 

Nap Time

Boy's Rule May Kit and a Jenny Evan's July 6th sketch. I tried to splatter with walnut ink and the boys smudged it. The My Mind's Eye Indie Chic pages are so bright and geometrical this was a lot of fun. I really liked the rosettes from the kit. Myles helped glue them and held them in place to dry properly. Not bad for three years old. I was given some contemporary paper clips by a colleague at work that have random type key symbols. I like them, easier to incorporate than buttons some days. the angel charm my father found in mom's old sewing box. The chevron stamp is embossed. I am improving on this technique.
The papers were so cool I kept flipping the cut out portions during assembly trying to make up my mind which side I liked best.

Happiest Boy

My June Kit from Boys Rule. My Mind's Eye Indie Chic and Authentique papers. I wanted to make on of the open space type layouts and ended up distressing and inking. I used distress ink pads  and tearing to rough up the pages. I embossed the arrow shape with gears and star from spell binders and used Distress Stickles to add some accent. I had picked up to shell and wooden buttons from Joann's.
My Patrick is almost this happy all the time. His smile with the curly hair is just the best part of the day.
As a side this page was very fun although I cringed every time I tore the papers.

My Boys Rule This and That Echo Park kit. I believe I was looking at a layout from Abby at Boys Rule. I cut out the banner border and sewed it to the page. I had a small pinwheel stamp from My Mind's Eye that I chalk inked to the page and two banner flags that were matching too closely to the background. The vinyl stars from my kit nicely gave a compass effect to the chipboard clock.
Papa has Myles hat and Myles has his. The posture of them gives the impression of a conversation although Myles could only utter "was at" (What's That) at the time.

I am sure I mimicked this layout from a Boys Rule layout but I cant pin it down which one. My apologies, I made this over a month ago.
This picture has the look of concentration that I grew up with watching my father build and sketch to create wonderful remodeling projects in our home and on job sites. So cool that Myles will pick up the same mannerism and step back approach from grandpa for problem solving.
The papers are Simple Stories - Awesome. I used my spellbinders circle and star dies. Tim Holtz vintage photo and antique linen to muddy the page. The title letters are K&Co. A little sewing, some brads and a page for the boy's family books.

One of my favorite pictures

One of my favorite pictures of Myles and Chris is this one I took at the aquarium around September 2010. I like the peaceful tone and the size comparison between the boys. the papers and embellishments are My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Two.