We might as well dance

Last week when my son told me about a dream he had where animals were dancing around on 2 legs, we both got a little (a lot) goofy and laughed ourselves silly imagining bulldogs in tutus and kittens doing plies. I couldn't get the images out of my head and so created this art journal page inspired by my son's creative idea.

The background is made using Dylusions inks and a mix of stencils. I'm still scrubbing the ink off my fingers cause I had so much fun playing with these fabulous inks. I used stamps from Dylusions as well - some of the leaves are stamped & coloured directly onto the page (heat-setting will allow you to colour with Copics over water-colour sprays!) whereas others were stamped on white card, coloured and fussy-cut.

Here's a close-up of one of the dancers. I found a vintage black & white photo of several ballerinas online, printed it off and coloured with Copics. I fussy-cut the dancers out, ran a black marker along the edges (to give some definition and help the images stand out more) and then chopped off the  heads! It was hard picking out the right animal faces but my son liked the expressions on the final choices.

 

I think the page needs something more - the space between the pink & green ballerinas seems too empty. Any ideas or suggestions? I'm not going to seal the page for awhile yet in hopes that inspiration will hit.

 

Anyway, I'm new to art journalling but I'll be doing more of it, especially if I can get the kids to share more ideas! Thanks for looking!

 

Challenges:

Crafty Creations - anything but a card

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Marker POP - pink

Totally Papercrafts - let's dance

Copic Marker Europe - anything goes with Copic

By the Cute & Girly - cute & girly

Bird bringing best wishes

Today's card didn't photograph very well - the white flowers look way brighter than they really are. Believe it or not but this card started as a napkin! The centre block is cut from a napkin with paper clay added under the bird to create a 3-D look. Once everything had dried enough I added touches of H2O's to the bird & surrounding flora to create a bit of shine.

I have to give credit for the idea (of using napkins and clay) to Debi as she taught this technique at a class at Country Lane Scrapbooking. My only complaint about how the bird worked out is that the backing cardstock wasn't thick enough and so it warped as it dried. I was able to flatten it enough through the use of lots of Sookwang tape and a heavy book but I also matte the image several times to give it even more stability.

To turn the bird into a card I used the sketch at Sketch Saturday - I like how the ribbon is woven through the layers of matting.  The background paper is Basic Grey plus gold foil paper and brown cardstock from my stash.

Challenges:
Top Tip Tuesday - luscious layers
Paper Playtime - use some brown
Scrappy Frogs - something new (new technique)
My Tme to Craft - things with wings
Sketch Saturday - sketch

Special packaging for a special friend

I finally got this gift to my BFF over the weekend so I can share it here on my blog. The gift inside wasn't anything special but I made up for it with customized wrapping.

I was inspired in creating this envelope wrapping by a posts at Home Sweet Homemade. I started with a scrap of wrapping paper which I cut to size and then folded so that the gift inside was fully covered plus an extra 2 inches at the top for a flap. I found this absolutely perfect paper in my scrap bin for the flap - I just love the shaped edge. Even though the envelope is glued together at the sides, the final touch was the ribbon woven through the gold eyelets (for extra strength and shine).

Challenges:

• Anything But a Card - tie it up
• Crafty Catz - anything but a card
• Frosted Designs - give a gift

Brrrr...

I just adore how this (very late) Christmas card worked out. The main image (the seal) was cut from a Christmas tag that I used last year (The Paper Company Studio); he was just too cute to throw away! I think I spent more time playing with his bristly whiskers and making his googly eyes bounce around than I did making the card. The papers are all from my scrap bin and the "Brrrr" sticker (Sandylion Stickers, "Winter Collection") has been in my stash for years.

Challenges:
Corrosive Challenges - out with the old
That Craft Place - snowy Christmas
365 Day Cards - 3D element that moves (check out his googly eyes and whiskers)
Simply Create Too - snowy
Aud Sentiments - winter sentiment
ABC Christmas Challenge - animal
Creative Belli - winter
Sisterhood of Crafters - winter

Resemblance to dinos is pure coincidence

A couple of friends are hitting landmark birthdays this year and when I saw Lucy Abrams' card in the January/February 2013 issue of Paper Crafts Magazine (page 55)  I just knew that I had to scraplift the design. I printed the sentiments directly onto kraft card blanks (in case you can't read it from the picture, I've put the sentiment text below the photo). The dinos (from Dustin Pike's Doodle Dragons Studio) are printed on patterned paper and then paper-pieced and coloured. The papers are all from Basic Grey "Granola". The grey ribbon is an upcycle item as it came wrapped around a blanket that I bought a couple of months ago (love "free" stuff).

*Image is for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to a real person (i.e. you) is purely coincidental. 

Challenges:
Charisma Cardz - birthday
365 Day Cards - kraft
ABC Challenges - CAS
Tammy's Scrapin Corner - manly cards
Basic Grey Challenges - anything goes

My boys

I picked up the Winter 2012/13 edition of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine on the weekend and was totally inspired to create a couple of pages scraplifted from its pages.

Alex @ 7

The first layout is based on one by Sherri Funk that appears on p. 26. I've used Bella Blvd "Man of the House" papers and Echo Park "Note to Self" element stickers. My favorite part of this layout is the monochromatic line of numbers (ending with "7", my son's age) along the main image.

 

Luke @ 9

 

The second layout is based on one by Joanne Burton that appears on p. 83. I've used Simple Stories papers"Aweso{ME}" papers and "Destination" element stickers. The hexagons were cut using Spellbinders dies. The sweater my son is wearing is so dramatic with te black stripes that I added the black flourish to the shield to balance it. I think it works pretty well.

 

Challenges:

Cards Galore Scrapbook Challenge - anything goes

Crafty Creations - anything goes

Creative Creations Challenges - anything goes

Scrap Fit - use stars (layout #2)

The Paper Girls - use ledger paper (2 of the hexagons are made with ledger paper)

Unstampabelles - use 1 or more dies (hexagon die on layout #2)