PPC114 Playing in Paradise Challenge

Good morning everyone!  Yay!  It's Friday!!  As you read this, I am off basking in the sunshine of beautiful Victoria.  I hope your Friday is as wonderful as mine!

     I am hosting a new challenge at Playing in Paradise today.  The format for the challenge is going to be changing, so be sure and check out the blog today as Pam will be explaining everything!

     I planned this challenge quite awhile ago when I thought that by now we would be surrounded by green grass and budding trees.  As I have been complaining to you for awhile now, this is the "Spring that never was".  It's still snowing and cold, cold, cold.

     But you know what .... let's create our own Springtime Joy!  Show me what you love about Spring:  colours, flowers, birds, sunshine ... craft it and perhaps .... it will COME!

     I have long wanted to try a mixed media canvas, so that is what I did for you today.  It has soft colours, flowers - lace, stenciled, paper, rhinestones, flower chip board, birds, and garden lanterns.  I love gardening so this canvas is my garden of Hope.

I started with an 8x10 canvas board from the Dollar Store and began gluing down torn pieces from Bo Bunny's C'est la Vie paper collection.

It was pretty BRIGHT, so I took some gesso and painted over everything with a very light coat.  (A friend has told me that her "go to" product for doing this is Picket Fence Distress Stain, so next time I will try THAT and see how it looks.)

The next thing I did was add some texture with templates and molding paste.  Glued on a couple of pieces of lace and then sprayed with "Bamboo Leaf" and "Bed of Roses" Shimmer Spritz, as well as Sunkissed Peach TA Glimmer Mist.  I also embossed a pink butterfly towards the middle but it is very difficult to see.  To "frame" the canvas, I went around the edges with blue Gelatos, one from the 50's Diner set and one from the Blue set.  Just "crayoned" it on and blended with my finger and a small amount of water. 

To make my "sun" glow a little more, I rubbed "Old Silver" Inka Gold lightly over the stenciled area.

I picked out my embellies and started placing them, but couldn't decide on what colour of green to use for the leaves in the upper left corner, so I did up some samples on the chipboard packages, and then it was easy to choose!  I went with "Verdigris" Embossing Antiquities by Ranger.  I've had it in my stash for many years and don't know if they still make it, but it's very similar to Stampendous' "Aged Hunter"Embossing Enamel.

Here's a closeup.  The flowers were  painted with "Blackberry Cordial" TA Glimmer Mist.

I wanted my lanterns to be brown with a tiny amount of colour and Lindy's Stamp Gang Moonshadow Mists are perfect for this.  I used "Landlubber Green" and you just get the slightest hint of green when the light hits it the right way.  Lots of beautiful glimmer too!

Then the fun began, adding flowers, lace, pearls, a resin bird, and even an old broach from my jewelery box.  (I'm still recycling Dawn!)

I hope this challenge puts a smile on your face as it did mine! 

Head on over to Playing in Paradise, check out the rules and the up-coming changes, and join in.  I would love to visit your blog or photo site this week and see your Springtime Joy!  (Please note you don't have to have a blog to join the challenge - the rules explain this.)

Be sure and visit the rest of the design team's blogs (just "click" on their names) and see what they were inspired to create this week.  For some, it is their final week with Playing in Paradise and I know you will want to become a "follower" on their blogs to keep up with them.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today.  I love getting visitors!  Give the challenge a try and create some Springtime Joy for yourself!!

Watch for lots of up-coming posts about flowers, as my number one destination 

to go to in Victoria is Butchart Gardens!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Linda



Supplies used were:

Bo Bunny C'est la Vie patterned paper

Bo Bunny & Prima flowers

Prima resin

Want 2 Scrap Pink Pearls

Dyan Reaveley "Dotted Flowers" Stencil 

Crafter's Workshop "Flowers" Template

Dusty Attic Chipboard and lace from my stash

Bamboo Leaf and Bed of Roses Shimmer Spritz

Sunkissed Peach TA Glimmer Mist

Cosmic Pink Moon Glow embossing powder (Lindy's Stamp Gang)

Inka-Gold "Old Silver"

"Landlubber Green" Lindy's Moonshadow Mist

Embossing Antiquities "Verdigris" - Stampendous Embossing Enamel "Aged Hunter" would be a good alternative.

Teal coloured Gelato

Gesso

Molding Paste

Old Karen Foster title sticker

Piece of canvas board from the Dollar Store

The pink broach is an old one from home.

Supplies available from Scrapbooker's Paradise:

Gelatos	"Aged Hunter" Embossing Enamel	"Landlubber Green" Lindy′s Moonshadow Mist	Inka Gold "Old Silver"
Dyan Reaveley "Dotted Flowers" stencil	Want 2 Scrap Pink Pearls	Bo Bunny C′est la Vie	Gesso

PPC113 Playing in Paradise Challenge

Well... GOOD MORNING!... everyone.  It's supposed to get up to 9 degrees today, no snow, no rain (for today).... LIFE IS GOOD!

And to put an even bigger smile on your face, Dawn is hosting a new challenge today at Playing in Paradise! She wants us to use something that has been recycled.  Now this was crazy fun!  I have had a spice jar of my grandma's sitting around for a long time.  There was nothing fancy about it, just a plain glass jar, but she kept her cinnamon in it and it had sentimental meaning to me as Grandma spoiled us with many wonderful baked goodies when we still had her with us.

I forgot to take a picture of the jar before I altered it, but it was very similar to this one.  Just a small pickle type jar.

To start with, I painted the whole jar with gesso.  Once that dried, I took a sea sponge and dabbed Liquitex Light Modeling Paste all over, making sure to give it a rough texture.  Then it was time to play with some mists.  I mixed two of my favorite brands together.  For the first coat, I sprayed Lindy's "Ethereal Emerald" Moonshadow Spray over everything.  When that was dry, I took TA "Decadence" Chalkboard Mist and sprayed it a little heavier, but only in certain areas, so that it dripped.  When I'm misting I always mop up the extra mist with a piece of ribbon, so that I'll have something that coordinates if I need it.

To make the little embellishment below, I recycled a broach that I haven't worn in years.  I embossed an oval piece of chipboard with Stampendous "Aged Ivory" embossing powder, glued it to a Bo Bunny flower that I had pulled apart to make it flatter, and then glued my broach to that.  When I'm gluing stuff like this, I always use Beacon's 3in1 adhesive.  It holds everything really well.

To attach the lace, I used my OTHER favorite adhesive Scor-Pal.  It's perfect for turning the ends under neatly.

Then I added a few flowers from old arrangements, tucked in some vines from Prima's Engraver line (love these), and finished off with my misted ribbon.  

Total recycled items used:  old jar, broach, silk flowers!

So now that you've seen how fun it can be,  drop by Playing in Paradise this week and show us what you've decided to recycle!   The rules can be found here, and they are very simple.  

After you're done checking out the rules, be sure and visit the rest of the design team's blogs (just "click" on their names) as they've been working their magic again.

The prize to be won this week is:  The Sweetest Thing paper, stickers, brads, and die cuts.  This awesome package is worth $25 and you get a chance to win it just by linking your project to the challenge!

Thank you for stopping by my blog today ... I hope you'll give the challenge a try. 

 Have a great weekend everyone!

Linda

Supplies used:

Bo Bunny flowers	Ethereal Emerald mist	3in1 Adhesive	1/8 inch Scor-Pal tape
Prima Engraver Vine	Gesso	Tim Holtz Crinkle Ribbon

Feather Your Nest

Hi everyone!  I was given the honour today of hosting Showcase Monday over at Scrapbooker's Paradise.  

A while back, I made this birdhouse for the Ultimate Design Challenge at Swirlydoos.  I had never blogged about it, and felt I would like to share it with everyone at Scrapbooker's Paradise.

If you would like to see more pictures, and details on how I created this from a plain wooden birdhouse that I picked up from Michael's or the Dollar store, go here, to the Scrapbookers Paradise Blog!

Hope you all have a great week!

Linda

PPC112 Playing in Paradise Challenge

Good Morning everyone!  We are starting a new challenge at Playing in Paradise today.  Allison is hosting and has provided us with another wonderful sketch to work with.

I decided to make a birthday card using a combination of Prima's "Firefly" paper and G45's "Place in Time".  

I cut the leaves for my flowers with Spellbinders "Bitty Blossoms" die, and thought I would share a tip with you that I just learned this week.  After you've cut the leaves - ink the edges, use a stylus to give them a "cupping" effect, and then FOLD them as shown in the photo.  Then they will tuck perfectly under your flowers.  I never knew to fold them!  *shaking head in amazement*   The die that I used for the vines is from my stash and is called "Leafy Flourish" by Die-namics.

Sketches are wonderful when your mojo has gone into hiding.  I couldn't think what to do this week, and then I decided I wanted to use my favorite doily die for the circle on the sketch.  From there, I just kept adding elements as I looked at the sketch.  Next thing I knew .... I had a card!

So DO drop by Playing in Paradise this week and try out the sketch for yourself!!  We'd love to see YOUR interpretation of it.  The rules can be found here, and they are very simple.  

After you're done checking out the rules, be sure and visit the rest of the design team's blogs (just "click" on their names) - it's so inspiring to see how different all the projects are even though they start with the same sketch!

The prize to be won this week is:  The Sweetest Thing stickers, brads, enamel dots, doilies and layered stickers.  This awesome package is worth $25 and you get a chance to win it just by linking your project to the challenge!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Supplies used:

Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms

G45 "Place in Time"

Cheery Lynn Italian Flourish Doily Die

PPC111 Playing in Paradise Challenge

Hello everyone!  It's Friday and time for another challenge at Playing in Paradise!  Jessie is hosting this week and has asked us to create something that incorporates embossing - wet, dry or both.

I wanted to practise with my Copic markers, so I pulled this little girl stamp from my stash and used her for the focal of my card.

I embossed the pink mat with a Cuttlebug Polka Dots embossing folder.  The lace butterfly was from my stash and I inked it with Copic marker RV14 Begonia Pink and added a little Prima pearl swirl.

For the green mat, I just used my Scor-Pal and scored lines every 1/2" in both directions.  The little piece of doily that you can see peeking out above the "love" die cut, was made using a piece of Kaisercraft paper and the "Distressed Doily" On the Edge Die by Tim Holtz.

I made the green flower using the same Kaisercraft paper and dabbed it with "Lettuce" paint to make it a little greener.  I used my favorite Spellbinders die "Bitty Blossoms" to cut it out and form it.  Some pink Stickles was dabbed on the flowers to make them sparkle a little, and I made the flower cluster from bits and pieces of flowers and chippies that I had left over from other projects.

I really hope you will try some embossing for our challenge this week.  It is a very simple way to add texture to a card or layout. The rules can be found here, and they are very simple.  I love seeing the beautiful work that everyone comes up with, and visiting your blogs!

After you're done checking out the rules, be sure and visit the rest of the design team's blogs (just "click" on their names) - they have done some wonderful work this week.

The prize to be won this week is:  The Sweetest Thing stickers, brads, enamel dots, doilies and layered stickers.  This awesome package is worth $25 and you get a chance to win it just by linking your project to the challenge!

Have fun crafting!

Linda

Supplies used were:

Copic markers	Dots Embossing Folder	Prima Mini Swirls	Scor-Pal
Distressed Doily On the Edge Die	Stickles	Cardstock	Green cardstock
Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms