Melanie's Monday Column 11-30-2009

Hi all! Today I'm gonna share layout #3 from the Flea Market Finds kit.

Included in the kit are some Maya Road Scrapbooking Scalloped Chip Pieces. I wanted to try something a little different this time and incorporate them into a layout rather than a mini album. I cut one the pieces in half, adhered pattern paper to it, painted the edges with a gold marker and applied the Jenni Bowlin gold butterfly rub-on. By putting 2 pictures between the pieces it now serves as a frame. I did attach some Maya Road ribbon in-between the pictures just to break them up. (the button is from my own supply)

Just to bring in more of the same color from the border around my photos I punched out some butterflies and inked the edges with gold and of course added a touch of bling.

Check out the awesome Prima flower in the kit. I thought the flower was little big for the spot I needed to put it, so I unraveled it and used the middle part leaving a piece to flourish under the main photo. The silver rhinestones in the flower didn't really go with my layout so I touched the gold marker to each one just to change the color.

On the very bottom of the page the paper included a "build-in" scroll so I used it to my advantage and placed the title of the page on it.

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure you check out the large selection of Holiday kits in the store.

~Melanie

Melanie's Monday Column 11-23-2009

Today I'm going to share layout #2 from the Flea Market Finds kit.

I worked on this layout at a local weekend crop and it was chosen the favorite out of all the ones entered. Which was very exciting and I won a little prize too! So many ladies asked how I get the edges to the paper to look like that. Well, it's all about tearing and inking. Tim Holtz Distress inks are my go to when beginning anything.Would anyone be interested in a tutorial technique on it? Let me know and if there's enough interest I would love to share.

I searched high and low for a quote or poem for my page. When I came across this one, I knew it would be perfect for this layout. Have you ever used a favorite quote or poem as the foundation of a page? If not, I would suggest giving it a try. I do it fairly often, sometimes in place of a title or journaling--it works great.


Here's a close-up of the poem.

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This is a close-up of the 7gypsies 97% stickers and the graffer tape included in the kit. I tore my tape into small pieces because it felt so overwelming with the big pieces. When you rip the tape (insteading of cutting it) you get more of a distressed look. I like the little strands of string hanging down-gives the page more texture.

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Here I used the flowers and the pearls (which are included on the alphabet sheet) for a nice simple embellishment. Do you see the green sheet next to the picture? That's a little reuse, recycle packaging from Prima.

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This is other side of the picture showing a close-up of the layering. Did you notice my picture? I sanded the edges to get a nice worn, distressed feel to the edges of the photos. It makes it blend better with the papers.

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a close-up of the graffer tape along the bottom edge of the photo.

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Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great week and those celebrating turkey day this week-have a great one!

I hope you are all applying for the design team! Applications are going to be due soon! For more info on this, please visit this link.

~Melanie

a Sewing Machine + Basic Grey goodness = great gift idea!

Looking for a quick, personal, & delightful gift idea? Try one of my easy and versatile stitched notebooks/journals - you'll be making stacks of them once you start!

If you've never stitched paper with your sewing machine before, this is the perfect way to start - no fuss & manageable!



The possibilities are endless, but here are the materials that I used for these 2 little sweeties -


& here are the tools I used, [or wish I had used! LOL!]:


[hint - click on the pictures to be taken right to the store + add them to your cart!]

Hope you enjoyed!

Wendy ;]

Melanie's Monday Column 11-16-2009

Thanks for stopping in on this wonderful Monday!

Today, I'm going to share my layout and a fun and easy technique of layering with transparencies using the new BlueMoon kit called Flea Market Finds.

This is the finished layout!



This technique is all about layers! First I cut a sheet of white sheet cardstock to 8.5 x 8.5 and inked the edges with my distress ink.



Second, I attached it to to the center of my foundation piece of pattern paper. I used the Jillibean Soup paper with the really cool script background. I sewed mine-completely optional, but I love the added texture it gives.



Attach the 12x12 transparency over the top and again I sewed my into place for texture. A little hint here: Behind the picture I cut out a large section of leaves before I sewed it into place. I'll use those a bit later on this layout for extra embellishing.



This is the mat formula I used for my photo frame to make it stand out on the layout. A brown sheet of cardstock and then pattern paper. I distressed the edges before attaching into place.



Here's one of the 7gyspies sticker, mounted on a pattern paper to make it stand out a bit more. Again distressing the edges of both the sticker and the paper for the worn look.



and now embellish with the Prima leaves, which are included in the kit and add some of the leaves hand-cut from the transparency.



To embellish the Prima flower. I removed some of the layers and used the stickles on the edges to to bring some shine and sparkle to my layout. This is a nice way to break up the petals and bring more texture to anything.



A better close-up of ALL the layers.



Thanks for stopping by today!

Just one more...Beware!

I just wanted to share one more layout from my BlueMoon kit, called Crow's Nest

This is a hand-cut bat cut out of the Basic Grey papers and just to detail it a bit, I used some black stickles and wiggly eyes.

I used the frame to frame my journaling.

Love stiching.
To make the letters stick out a bit I just outlined them with a black marker.


Thanks for looking, I hope I didn't scare you!

Come back Monday for my New BlueMoon kit called Flea Market Finds!

~Melanie

Melanie's Monday Column 11-9-09

This week I wanted to make a fall home decor piece for my kitchen table. I used the chipboard pumpkin pieces that are in my Crow's Nest kit.

With a little paint and supplies that you probably already have on hand, this is a fun and easy project to make.

First I punched 4 holes on each pumpkin with my Crop-a-dile.

Painted each one with orange paint.

After the paint has dried spread matte gel (or you can use glue) on the chipboard piece, rip some tissue paper into small pieces and spread them onto the glue. Make sure you leave bumps so you get lots of texture on the pumpkin.


After the tissue paper and glue has dried cut around the edges to clean them up. Coat with another layer of paint and let dry. I used brown distress ink on top of the bumps and around the edges. To finish them off I used the new Jack o' lantern Orange Glimmer Mist for a nice shine.

Using wire I laced up each pumpkin so they were all connected on each corner. I found the perfect bottom that fit the pumpkins perfect, which is just a top off a decorative box. For the bottom I painted it green, added green glimmer mist for a pretty satin look and attached a piece of yellow lace to finish it off.


I tied a piece of leftover wire to the front pumpkin.


I found the vintage piece with the little girl sitting on the pumpkin piece piece in the Creative Secrets Halloween book. This book is a must have, not necessarily for the journaling pieces but the elements.

I added some straw, which is sprayed with glimmer mist for lots of color and glimmer (of course).



***here's the small print...this is simply a decorative piece, I wouldn't burn a candle in it as it is paper and glue holding it together.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope I inspired you to get those supplies out, think outside of the box and create something for your home or as a special gift.

~Melanie

Chipboard and transparencies...oh my!

In my Crow's Nest kit there's some chipboard pumpkins and transparencies. Just by using those products look at the cute photoframe I made.

To create this just matte a 5x7 photo on brown paper, cut out the pretty flowers that are on the lower right side (behind the pumpkin), glue the transparency over the photo, add a pumpkin (which was colored with the 2 ColorBox Chalk Cats Eye Inks in yellow citrus and pumpkin spice included in the kit) and add the flowers on the pumpkin for a little extra embellishing.

Since I had 1 more pumpkin left, I used the awesome Tim Holtz stamps (which are in the kit!) to make a spooky embellishment for my next Halloween layout!


Do you see the sheen? I used some Tattered Angels Glimmer mist in the pumpkin color and black on the cat.


Thanks for stopping by!

Melanie

Melanie's Spooky Canvas

I love playing with canvas pieces, they come in so many sizes and shapes. Mine is 11x14. Blue Moon has some available in the store too. I know Lisa and the DT use them often for their projects.

I had an idea in my head and just went with it. This is something that you definitely have to work in layers and lots of them.

First I painted the entire canvas piece with yellow paint, after it dried I applied a nice shade of blue. I wiped it way to get the streaks of yellow to show through (which would later represent the yellow of the moon to show through the dark sky).

For the moon shape use a circle punch on white cardstock, distress it with yellow distress ink and a spritz of orange glimmer mist, to highlight the moon used some white ink. The clouds were handcut from white cardstock and distressed with the Tim Holtz distress ink called whethered wood and old paper. Add a touch of white for highlighting. I also used some black oil pastels around the edges and blending it all together.

The bats are from a Tim Holtz set I had and just randomly stamped them in the sky.


All the paper on the canvas is from the Crow's Nest kit. I handcut the house out and used scraps of paper for the shingles, chimney, windows and door. (a couple items not in the kit are the Tim Holtz mini grungeboard pieces and brads)

The fence was new, but I broke it up, distress it with a hammer and sandpaper and inked the edges with brown and black distress ink to make it look spooky and old.

Here's a close-up of the singles and the broken shutters. I used a pair of fabric scissors for the choppy edge on the roof line and bend the edges up with a pencil.

I wanted the steps to look worn and the best product for that is Crackle paint. I folded paper to look like a set of stairs and coated them with paint. The cute kitty, broom and pumpkins are from the Crafty Secrets Halloween Images. I know I said the other day these are a must have and truly they are so cute and easy to cut apart.

These are close-ups of the cute little trick-or-treater's (aka: my 3 children). I printed them out about 4 inches high, cute them out and attached them with pop-dots. That way I really get a cool profile to my canvas with all the layers.

Do you see the tombstones in the background? Those are actually from a picture at the pumpkin patch I took last year and just cut them out, used some oil pastels and made them blend into the background. Added some "grass" looking paper to really make them feel like they belong where they are.

The owl is also from the Crafty Secret Image book. All the tree images are from the Glimer Mist stamp set called Halloween Hauntings. I stamped each one on white cardstock with brown ink, used distress ink all over them, a spritz of glimmer mist and cut all the trees out.

Everything is tacked down with Matte Multi Medium which is excellent sealing glue-a glue with so many possibilities!

Mixing mixed media, collages, paper piecing and lots of layers is a fun alternative to layouts. Think of it as home decor.

Have a great day!

~Melanie