Drowning in Flowers

Flowers are my all time favorite embellishment and it is rare that I can manage to complete a layout without them. I selected flowers in all sizes and styles to create this rainbow around my frame. However, since I didn't have any dark blue flowers, I inked some white flowers to complete the color range. You can easily  alter paper flowers with inks, mists, or chalk to suit your project. Visit the ladies at Practical Scrappers to see more ideas on what you can do with all those gorgeous pre-made flowers you have in your stash.

Fun With Letter Stickers

What can letters be used for except for titles and what can you do with all those mostly used ABC sticker sets when you’ve used up all the vowels? If you don’t know, then stop by Practical Scrappers today and be inspired to think outside the box. 

I used letter stickers as a mask.  After I stuck my letters down, I used a spotty stamp and brilliance ink to stamp over the top of the stickers.  When I was satisfied that I had a dense enough background of dots, I removed the stickers to reveal the word.  Actually, I made my letters of washi tape because I knew that washi tape is easy to remove. I was very pleased with the confetti-like background for this trendy wedding card so I experimented with inking a rainbow colored confetti background.   

I hope to look at my collection of background stamps and try different patterns when I use this masking technique again.  (tip: Before removing the stickers, make sure that there is no wet ink clinging to the slick surface of the sticker that will smear onto your project by carefully laying a tissue over the area and gently blotting.)  

Fabric Tags

I wanted to work with stamping directly to fabric and then painting the image with watercolors. Today’s theme “TAGS” at Practical Scrappers was my jumping off point.  I made a tag shape from a scrap of linen fabric and used permanent ink to stamp the image of the woman with sunglasses.  Then I used chalk to shade the skin and watercolors to paint the hair and clothes.  To make this summer card sizzle, I added gold netting, sea shells, and ribbons. The card couldn’t hold everything I wanted to use so I extended the sun and palm leaves over the edge of the card.  I love the extra dimension this adds.

Visit the ladies at Practical Scrappers for many more original ideas on how to use tags.

Squirty Squirt

I usually struggle to be messy but I really enjoyed working with spray mists. I used one leaf & swirl stencil that was only 2x8 inches long to make my background. I kept turning it and flipping it to vary the design. Occasionally, when I wanted to flip the stencil over, instead of wiping it clean,Ii would use the ink that had clung to the plastic stencil as a stamp and press it to the paper.  That resulted in a second textured layered appearance. This is a great way to not waste any of your ink.  The next time I use mists and stencils, I will get a second 12x12 sheet to stamp off the excess ink.  That way I'm making two backgrounds at the same time.  I also did a bit of machine stitching to emphasize the rays of light that appeared to be spotlighting the dancers. The rays were a great unplanned result of the stencil. You will notice there is a lot of metallic on this page and I embellished with skeleton leaves, gold netting, variegated metallic thread, & wire spirals.  The sprays are flying today at Practical Scrappers. Stop by and take a look.

Celebrate: Red, White, & Blue

On may layout, I created a large number 4 to be both an embellishment and part of the title. I fussy cut the 4 from cardboard and colored it with a red permanent marker before dabbing Versamark Ink allover it and heat embossing it with red glitter. I created a washi tape rosette which added a lovely texture to the page. Stop by and visit the ladies at Practical Scrappers to see all the great projects featuring Red, White, & Blue.