Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Humpty Dumpty - Before the Fall



Well here is my last custom layout page for my customer creating the Ida McKinley scrapbook. He was super fun to piece! I used an embossed background paper by K&Company. I loved this paper so much that I hated to cover it up! I just love the "Once Upon a Time...." story it unveils. I kept that part of the paper as untouched as I could.

I think the wall was my most favorite part to explore. If you have never used Core'dinations cardstock - you've got to try it. It comes in a variety of colors. This particular color was a light gray with a black "core". After lightly drawing the wall with a pencil, I used a file to literally sand the stones in the wall. By sanding this topmost layer, the black was able to peep through - giving beautiful shading around each stone. The more you file - the darker the color is that permeates through.

All in all, I had a wonderful time creating these pages. I was so excited to be a part of them. Now it is back to my creations for Ebay. I have many new ideas in mind...so stay tuned!!


Thanks for looking!












Sunday, June 13, 2010

Bo Peep - with sheep!





Well Little Bo Peep finally found her sheep - lol!! No photo areas for this layout. Just the actual poem from a vintage Mother Goose book. This is 3 of 4 of the layouts I am creating for a scrapbook about Ida McKinley. My sweet customer wants to add the nursery rhymes to show what Ida would have read to her daughters.

I used many different fabrics and laces to design Bo Peep. And I just love my new Belgium lace (used on her bodice). The two little sheep have been brushed and fluffed.

Thanks for looking!










Friday, June 11, 2010

Lil' Bo Peep (w/ no sheep...yet!)


Hi guys!

So I finished another portion of the custom pages I am working on for a sweet lady in Ohio. The next two pages I have to finish are both going to be nursery rhyme themed. I decided to do Little Bo Peep for my first page. And here she is! I really like how she turned out! I used many many different fabrics and laces on her. My favorite part was this beautiful lace I bought from Belgium! It is the main part of her bodice and has the most beautiful pink flowers embroidered on it. Simply gorgeous!

I think she turned out nicely! Now I need to get going on the sheep - she really did lose them - lol!










Here is a close-up of the Belgium lace



Thursday, June 10, 2010

TPE Challenge #11 - Black and White


Good evening all!

Are you ready for this week's scrap challenge over at The Paper Elephant? This weeks theme is "Black and White". So dig out all of those black and white photos that you are dying to use and get moving! LOL!

For this design, I again did digital layout using images from the Shabby Princess "sprout" series. This picture was actually in color. So with my photo editing software, I made the entire photo black and white except for the bride's shoes. I just love the fun spunky feel of this photo! (Again taken by our friends over at m&d photography, ltd.)

Since her shoes were yellow, I wanted to keep that as the main theme of the layout. I used a soft yellow background and creamy accents to keep the layout spunky - but elegant.

Now pull out those b&w photos and get scrappin! Click the banner below to see all the designs from our Design Team!






Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Custom Pages - Ida McKinley





Good evening all!

Well the Blackhawks and Flyers are on the tube, my husband is sporting his Blackhawk jersey, and I am nibbling on yummy lemon cranberry cookies - warm and gooey right out of the oven!! I am hoping - for his sake and my sanity - that they win! He gets so passionate about his hawks!

So I wanted to share a little sneak peek with everyone. One of my sweet customers is creating a scrapbook for Ida McKinley (President William McKinley's dear wife). She has asked me to create a few pages to add to her masterpiece. Ida had two daughters (Katie and Ida). Sadly, both passed away at a very young age. To preserve the memories she spent with her girls, I designed a page depicting her reading to her two girls. Since there are not many pictures of Ida, this page just depicts the scene with paper and vintage style fabric and lace. I tried to capture the Victorian style of the early twentieth century with different woods and ornate decor. I hand pieced and shaded each piece of the wooden floor - which may be my favorite part! Beautiful crown molding and wainscoting line both pages.

I am so pleased with how these two pages turned out - and hope she is as well!

Thanks for looking!







Full view of the left side page


Dimensional bookshelf with many lovely children's books for Ida to read to her girls

Side view to show dimension of fabric and girls


Full view of right hand page (notice the sparkly chandelier)

A closer view of the toy chest, rocking horse, puppy and table with lace runner.

Close-up of Grandfather clock and tea set

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Shabby Frame featured on Melissa Frances Blog!



Happy Saturday Everyone!

I was so excited to see my frame featured today on the Melissa Frances blog!! I absolutely adore her products. The soft feel of her papers is just to die for and is perfect for that shabby chic look! I simply can't get enough!
For this frame I used the following Melissa Frances products:
12x12 Alysha Paper (Hush a Bye Baby Boy collection)
12x12 Kaitlyn Paper (Hush a Bye Baby Boy collection)
Baby Boy stickers

The frame was distressed and painted with acrylic paints and a crackling medium. I added bits of vintage lace and a vintage dress pattern flower. You can usually punch many layers with your favorite flower punch then fluff it up a but and - VOILA!Thanks so much for looking! Please let me know if you have any questions! Check back soon for more Melissa Frances inspired designs!

And if you want to purchase this frame....you can find it here.

The little boy photo was taken by our dear friends over at m&d photography . Bop on over to see beautiful pictures for your own inspiration!

Hugs!




Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Pink Elephant Challenge #10



Happy Thursday everyone!

For this week's challenge at TPE you are to follow this sketch:(click on the sketch to see all the beautiful layouts from our Design Team!)

Since school is out, I have found more time to become a computer couch potato! The internet is such a great place to find ideas, supplies - and inspiration! So while I was sitting, I decided to do a digital layout for this week's sketch challenge. I simply LOVE visiting the Shabby Princess site. She has tons of freebies for personal scrapbooking use. This particular kit is called "SPROUT". I love the shabby chic feel it has! The images she has are breathtakingly beautiful and so easy to use! She also has free desktop calendars for your computer each month- just add your favorite photos!I usually use Macromedia's Fireworks program for all of my digital work. But there are other free programs available online. Sometimes it is nice just to play around with digital images to get ideas for your own scrap pages.

The photographs I used for this layout were taken by our friends again at m&d photography. Don't they just blend seamlessly with the SPROUT collection? Love it!

Thanks for looking today!