This is the second post for today, and although I usually avoid this, I have to meet a deadline for a layout I prepared the very last minute!
So Chrysa from Scrap and Grab has prepared a second challenge for October. I managed to prepare a layout for this challenge as well:
It's an inspiration challenge. Combining Van Gogh's saying and the photo you see below, Chrysa has asked us to prepare a layout for an item that we love (not people!) and use turquoise orange and two more colours of our choice.
I was thinking about the item I could kind of dedicate a layout to. At the beginning I was thinking about the dishwasher (I'm not kidding!) and then I thought "what would really mess me up if I ever lost it?" Well, my iphone of course! And that's how this layout came about. The design with the squares is inspired by the iphone applications...
Well, today is the last day of October (even though the weather in Greece doesn't seem to get it yet!) and so the end of the month full of card challenges at Get Creative... The participations were all outstanding, and they reached 220! wow!!!
The winner cards were announced over at Get Creative yesterday, but I wanted to thank separately the ladies that have participated at my challenge, even more those who tried for the first time a new technique they had never done before... Especially since there was a new challenge every two days, I understand it's not very easy!
So I wanted to show you the winner card that has already been announced over at Get Creative, but also because we had many stunning participations, to share with you my favourite cards - aka top 5
So the winner for my challenge is Natassa Tsouf with the following amazing card. I liked very much the design, colours and the quality of the technique!:
And the top 5 is:
Xenia with this awesome card - I love the colours and the new resist technique she has tried out with a simple glue stick! Why don't you go over at her blog, she has a video with the tutorial she has found!
All the team was enchanted by Alexandra's cards with her signage romantic-modern and definitely elegant style:
Sofia, who even though she just gave birth to her second baby a few months ago, she managed to participate in some of the challenges and I'm sure she knows I'm a big fan of her cards:
Our art journaling guru and teach Myrto who brought as the xmas spirit with all of her cards - the snowman is just sooo adorable!
Last but not least Lefki with her simple, clear and so beautiful card with a great colour combination:
Thank you again for all your participations (although the selection becomes more and more difficult every month!)
It's been a while that I wanted to make a layout with these photos. As soon as I saw Chrysa's sketch at Scrap and Grab I thought this was my chance! Here's the sketch:
So the day came for Andrea to start eating baby food. The happy aunt took her camera and went to take photos... Poor baby, he really didn't enjoy it that much! Most of the baby food ended up on his face. At the end he was so angry he couldn't stop crying...
So I used my favourite Lawn Fawn papers and for once I used a bold colour for the background. Once again looots of paper piecing, both for the embellishments and the numbers. But I really enjoyed the layout!
Now when I look at my nephews' albums I'm really happy with how they turn out!
I hope you like it! There are two more days left for you to play, so why don't you come by Scrap and Grab, the sketch is awesome!
Finally autumn is here (and by "here" I mean Greece!). I mean, I love summer, it's my favourite season... but boy, did we need the change of weather!
So last night I made a layout that I really enjoyed. It is for White With One October's Challenge and this time the challenge requirements are
WHITE + YELLOW + STARS
I saw the stars and was so happy - I have a soft spot for them. So I prepared a layout with my sweet-sweet-sweet nephew/godchild Nikolas:
Until he was about four months old Nikolas would cry quite often. And when his aunt says often, it means a lot! Luckily after the first four months he changed completely and now he is one of the happiest, smiliest babies I've ever known!
So one day I went over his house to babysit for about an hour. I have to admit I was a bit worried about him crying the whole hour! Luckily, he was sleeping most of the time, so I took the opportunity to take him some (many!) photos. And that's how I have the photos that I used.
For the background I used a mask, modeling paste and yellow acrylic. I started with just a hint of colour at one corner and I kept adding color as I was moving on, until the colour at the other end was more profound
And a few close-up photos:
I used the glitter thickers (although I'm not a glittery girl!). But I love these letters, they are so shiny and fitted the title perfectly!
I made some stars confetti, put them in a vellum envelop. The hearts are rub-ons. Oh, and I LOVE my new sewing machine!
All around I wrote the lyrics from Twinkle, Twinkle, Little star in funny/childish letters. As for the background stars, once the modeling paste dried, I used the mask again and added a bit of shite, you can get an idea from the photo above I hope!
...ooops! I almost wrote "Talking fringe"... now that would be really interesting! (Well, yes, I do watch "Fridge" every week!)
Anywaysss...
So, I just finished a really easy and quick project... I gave my fridge the chance to remind me of the things that I have to buy!
Well, it has been a quick and easy project with the help of my Silhouette SD. The other supply that I needed was the Silhouette chalkboard vinyl. I found online a free bubble talk file, I converted it into a Studio cut file and I cut my vinyl. After that I just added white faux stitching all around, white thicker stickers... and it was ready! And immediately on my fridge:
The layout I want to share with you today is very special to me.
The last year and a half has been very tense for my family. Joy and sorrow mixed. Like a roller coaster. First we found out that my cousin was pregnant - the first of the new generation. Two months later, we found out that her sister was pregnant as well. Really crazy happiness.
But then, their father got ill. In just a few weeks, one year and six days ago, he left us.
Then the first baby was born at the end of January. And the second came along towards the end of March. More tears of happiness.
Ten days ago it was my uncle's memorial. In four days, we celebrate my nephews' christenings.
At the memorial I realised that I cannot see my uncle's photos without getting really, really upset. So I decided I should have a photo of him on my desk.
Then I thought that preparing a layout, actually working with one of his photos, might help even more. I started looking online of inspiration, and I was lucky enough to find what I needed. And here is the layout that I prepared:
(Apologies for the blurred faces, it is my cousin's request and I respect it).
So, the grandfather and his grandchildren... the circle of life. It's the thought that keeps coming to my head this last year. The circle of life.
So I got the inspiration from two challenges: The Studio Challenges - Oct 7 - Family, which inspired me for the theme of the layout - what family means to me this last year.
And although circles are not my favourite elements, as soon as I saw the following sketch from Sketches in Thyme #89, I thought once again the circle of life and I immediately "saw" the three pictures of the three protagonists.
At the beginning it was quite difficult for me to finish the layout. I didn't want any embellishments, nothing. But I did want to add some meaning in the layout. I started it last Sunday and it took me three days to finish it, having achieved what I wanted, and being much more calm. That's why I referred to scrapbooking as being therapeutic.
And a few closeup photos
I teared the vellum paper in circle with the help of a plate. Below the vellum I stamped a number of words, above it I glued more words, all of them related to my uncle, my nephews, or all three of them.
Around the circle I wrote lyrics from the "Circle of Life" from the Lion King.
The journaling expresses what family means to me this last year and a half. I have a second hidden journaling which I have glued behind the title.
Faux stitching with white gel pen around the circle, messy stitching at the top and bottom of the layout (and some more hand stitching to better "glue" the vellum paper on the kraft background, but you cannot see it in the close-up photos!
So, that's all from me today... And here's the song from Lion King:
"It's the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle
The Circle of Life"
oooh yes, it's my turn to set the Get Creative, yoohooooo!!!
So, for this challenge, what I would like you to do is to use the resist technique!
The are so many ways to do the resist technique (one of my favourite techniques!). I have prepared a number of small cards with different techniques to give you an idea. I hope you will find them helpful! So here are all the cards together:
And each of the card separately with a short description of the technique:
Resist with white embossing powder:
(First you do your heat embossing and then colour the rest of the area)
Matte media Resist:
(You stamp with Matte Media instead of an ink, and once it has dried, you colour the rest of the area)
(For this technique I used a foam stamp)
Acrylic paint resist:
(You stamp with acrylic paint instead of an ink and, once dried, you colour the rest of the area)
Resist with white embossing powder on canvas:
(You heat emboss on the canvas, colour the rest of the area with a water-based ink like Distress Ink and then you mist it with water)
Oil pastel resist:
(You draw your image with white oil pastel and then you colour the rest of the area)
Embossing ink on glossy paper:
(You stamp with an embossing ink like Versamark. Once it has dried completely, you colour the rest of the area and puff the excess ink with a slightly wet cloth)
"Trapped" resist with clear embossing powder:
(You stamp your image with a colour ink and the image you want to show below the embossing. Then you continue with the clear embossing technique)
I hope you got an idea... If you have any questions or want more details regarding the techniques, please feel free to ask!
So why don't you try out your favourite technique? We would like very much to see your cards! A lucky winner will get the following gift:
Dont forget to post your card to the side bar under the challenge link. The challenges will be running till the 29th of October and the winners will be announced on the 31st of October.
Three posts in three days... I must have broken all of my records! ;o)
Today I wanted to show you the card that I made for October's challenge over at Scrapbooking in Greece:
The theme for October is about the autumn days... which have still not arrived - at least not in Greece! So create a card, layout, art journal or whatever you feel like with this theme and the following sketch:
For the clouds, I painted white cardstock with Distress Marker, then I stamped the clouds, added some white flocking and cut out the clouds. Here the flocking shows better than my previous card!
And of course glossy accent for the hearts... For some reason it is impossible not to use Glossy Accents on my stamped hearts! I didn't have a sentiment stamp that would work for the card, so I just printed the one that I wanted on my printer.
I hope you like it!
So why don't you come over at Scrapbooking in Greece to see the beautiful creations by the design team for more inspiration, take a look at the gift that the lucky winner will get and play along with us! We'll be waiting!
Well, you know my love for the Lawn Fawn stamps and products - I think it's quite obvious as I use the Lawn Fawn stamps for most of my cards and for layouts.
And one of my very-very favourite challenge blogs is Lawnscaping Challenges. I always check the blog, not only for participating at challenges when I have some time, but also for great inspiration by the design team.
Well then... you can imagine how happy I was when Laurel asked me to be guest designer for this challenge! Yay!!!
So... let's get to the point. This challenge is about...
yes, texture!!!
So, it can be a number of things... it can be embossing, felt, lace... you name it!
Here's what I came up with:
The idea came to me when I was thinking that I wanted to use some flocking. I went through my Lawn Fawn stamp sets, and as soon as I saw these cute bunnies, I knew what I would make. I had so much fun preparing this little cute couple. Here's a close-up to get a better idea of the flocking effect (although I still couldn't capture it very clearly:)
And yes, I couldn't resist and used some glossy accent on their cute little hearts.
As a second texture effect, I dry embossed the background with Sizzix's swiss dot folder.
I hope you like it!
So why don't you come over at Lawnscaping challenges to get amazing inspiration by the design team and play along with us? The challenge is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp!
