Old Page Maps Challenge!

First of all, from us at Flamingo Scraps, Happy Memorial Day!!

I love the Old Page Maps challenge at Scrapbook.com!  The hostess posts four older Page Maps by Becky Fleck and the players do a layout with each one during a four week period.  I really like using Becky's fabulous Page Maps for inspiration and this challenge always inspires me and MAKES me make time to scrap!!

This is the page map for week #3. 

I turned it on its side to fit my group photo from our recent scrapbook retreat and used Kaiser Craft Pina Colada papers and embellishments (can you guess why I love this pattern so much?!):

(HINT:  It's the flamingos!!)

From Flamingo Scraps:  Kaisercraft Pina Colada collection papers and embellishments

The embroidered patches, punchouts, and brads that go with the Pina Colada papers are just too cute!  In addition, the collection has coordinating alpha stickers and color rubons.  I used Maya Road inks in orange and deep rose, and Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut the scalloped circles.  The swirlies are bits and pieces of old laser cuts from my stash.

We had such fun on our ride around Old Town St. Augustine in the Surrey With the Fringe on Top!  For more of our adventures, stayed tuned for my next Old Pagemaps blog!  Thanks for looking!

Scraptathlon Week # 3

This week's challenge threw all the Scraptathletes for a loop!  Our song title inspiration was "Stupid" by Toad the Wet Sprocket and we were to scrap something stupid.  Our instructions were to showcase something STUPID... something we said or something we did.  Or make the layout about someone else or something else. The word stupid, or a synonym had to find its way prominently on to our page.

Here's what Susan had to say about her Week # 3 layout.......
I knew immediately I was going to use the word "Twp".  My mother's family is Welsh and twp is Welsh for stupid.  But it's not an insulting kind of stupid, it translates more to being blissfully unaware of something and therefore is a more endearing term.  My entire family uses the word twp.  Twp is pronounced tup.

At one family birthday celebration, many years ago now, my youngest sister offered to bring the pinata for a party game.  Unfortunately, she was blissfully unaware that she had to buy candy and fill the pinata herself!  No one noticed until the kids had whacked the pinata to pieces and still no candy and goodies!  We all had a good laugh about how twp my sister was - at least the adults did.  The kids were pretty upset about no candy!


Here's my layout for Scraptathalon Week # 3 - I used a Page Maps Sketch by Becky Fleck:

Flamingo Scraps supplies used:  Kaisercraft's Penny Royale collection papers, brads and die cuts.  Prima Marketing's Madrigal Blossoms, Prima's Say It In Pearls and Roses Pink Swirl and Corner, Webster's Pages Postcards from Paris Storyteller Alphabet Stickers, Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

I chose the Penny Royale papers because I thought the terra cotta hues were representative of the southwest and Mexico.  I think they are a gorgeous color combination and the collection comes with many more coordinating items such as rub-ons and embroidered patches.  All available at Flamingo Scraps.  Thanks for looking!

 

And here was Amanda's take on the challenge.....
This one stumped me.  And forced me to head to the one hour photo once I figured out what I wanted to do and spent an hour trying to remember what year my stupid event I was trying to scrap happened in!  Ultimately, I chose to scrap about an unfortunate stupid accident involving my husband, our cat, her tail and the front door.  It wasn't pretty!!  If you want to read the journaling, you can click on over to here to read the typed out version.

From Flamingo Scraps:  Webster's Garden Gala patterned papers (background and brown patterned), Webster's trims (aqua trim and brown lace), Webster's alphabet stickers, Coco Ruffle trim and Prima white fairytale roses

Other supplies:  brown cardstock, brown fine point sharpie pen, martha stewart heart punch, Basic Grey Urban Prairie patterned paper (under photo collage and under date/name box), brown doodlebug simply sweet alpha rub-ons

Sorry for the kinda funky scan -- all those flowers make the scanner do wonky shadows!!  I made the journaling box for nala and the date by using the die cut sheet from bayberry cottage as a stencil.  I traced it, cut it out and doodled a mirror image line along the inside of the shape.  I also traced the unique mat under the photo collage by using a Making Memories mistletoe collection journaling book page as a stencil for one edge of the paper.

Hope you enjoyed reading about our stupid (twp) moments and the layouts they inspired!

Quick Cards!

Just a few quick cards I made from scraps to kick the weekend off!

This first card was inspired by this sketch at the Sassy Lil Sketches blog.  They have some fun sketches on there, go check them out!

From Flamingo Scraps: pink paislee bayberry cottage patterned papers and die cuts; pink paislee expressions ambrose alphabet in black; and Prima e-line pearls

Other supplies:  American Crafts white cardstock card base

My second card was made from scraps of a piece of pink paislee patterned paper from the 365 degrees collection.  Just a simple way to use up some scraps and one of the die cuts:

From Flamingo Scraps: pink paislee 365 degrees patterned papers and die cuts

Other supplies:  white mini ric rac

My final card was inspired by this sketch from the most recent PageMaps CardMaps (March 2010).  I love these adorable little trinket pins from Maya Road!  I'll admit, I always see these things and think I'll just end up stabbing myself with them, but rest assured... they are not very sharp at all!  So don't let that scare you away from trying them!

From Flamingo Scraps: pink paislee bayberry cottage and queen bee patterned papers and die cuts; Prima innoscence collection flower, maya road heart trinket pins

Other supplies: scrap of dark gray grosgrain ribbon and kraft cardstock

Hope you have a great weekend!

New Fancy Pants Designs Spring Collections

Flamingo Scraps has two, brand spankin' new, collections from Fancy Pants Designs!  These collections have just been released this month.

The first collection is Like Father Like Son.  Designed by Michelle Coleman, this collection is the perfect blend of masculine and playful for scrapping both the men and boys in your life.  Wouldn't this be perfect for a Father/Son Layout?

The second collection is Wishful Thinking designed by Heidi Larsen.  Wishful Thinking is a lovely feminine collection full of delicate designs and fresh Spring colors!  How about a Mother's Day or Dance Recital Layout using these papers?

These papers are 12x12, double-sided, 65# heavyweight cardstock and of course are acid/lignin free.  Flamingo Scraps has 10 different papers in each collection as well as a Die Cut Sticker sheet for each.  Sample Layouts courtesy of the Fancy Pants Design Team.

We hope you love these papers as much as we do!  Keep checking back for blogs on projects and layouts we've done with these luscious papers.

 Happy Scrapping!

Bayberry Cottage Chrysanthemum Flower Tutorial

So yesterday I showed you my travel journal.  Today, a quick little tutorial to show you how I deconstructed this die cut paper from the Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage line and turned it into a flower:

Carefully cut off the circles.  I trimmed all the cirles off and got two flowers out of the deal:

Cut or punch a circle out of cardstock or the patterned paper, about 2" in diameter (or whatever size you want!).  Then glue the pieces down in a spiral starting on the outside edge:

Finished it with a Prima e-line pearl in the center and glued it to my cover.

Even had enough left over to make a second smaller one for the inside:

For this one, I used a circle from the corner as the base and glued the smaller circles in a tiny little spiral.  So easy! 

These flowers are so cute and could easily be repeated with any piece of patterned paper and a small circle punch.  I can only imagine how fabulous these flowers would look using the turquoise side of this piece of patterned paper from the Webster's Seaside Retreat collection:

Or the pink plaid patterned paper from the Webster's Lullabye Lane collection:

Happy chrysanthemum making!

PS - If you make one, please share it with us. We'd love to see it!!

Travel Journal

I'm headed to Pennsylvania today!!  Why Pennsylvania you might ask?  To visit my brother and sister-in-law -- the Californians living in Amish Country!  For the past year they have lived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and in a few weeks they are moving 45 minutes away to Hershey for the next three years while she completes her residency in Pediatrics.

I'm a total tourist, history buff and foodie, so let me know if you have any suggestions for me!  Given how easy it is for me to forget things over a short weekend trip, I thought it would be great to take along a journal to capture everything at the end of the day.  Hopefully, this will give me something to look back at for my scrapbook pages later!

I took a simple, cheap old composition book that I had laying in the stash:

And covered it with this paper:

From Flamingo Scraps: pink paislee bayberry cottage die cut patterned paper

Added some Webster's alphabet stickers:

And this Chrysanthemum flower I made from the same piece of paper:

From Flamingo Scraps: Prima e-line pearl, websters alphabet stickers and pink paislee patterned paper.

Quick cover for the back using a scrap piece of patterned paper also from the bayberry cottage line:

Some simple changes to the inside cover and nothing but blank paper to scribble upon!

As for those chrysanthemum flowers..... they are super simple.... check back tomorrow and I'll show you how I made them for that fabulous die-cut patterned paper in the store!

LOVE THIS PROJECT INSPIRED BY KIM AT PAPER CRAFTS!!!

From the minute I saw Kim Kesti's butterfly mobile in Paper Crafts May/June 2010 issue (bonus online projects) I knew I had to try this gorgeous project!  My take is a little different, using Prima's Flights of Fancy papers, coordinating plain and patterned flowers, and glittered cardstock stickers, Prima Tropics Pebbles, Webster's Pages sparklers (vintage and scalloped) buttons (loving these!), Prima butterflies, Tim Holtz Rock Candy distress stickles and distress paint and magenta and turquoise stickles, misc. ribbon, Maya Road crystal trinket pin (hyped up a bit), Maya Mist in Iridescent Pearl, crochet thread in white shot with silver, wood embroidery hoop, and of course, misc. bling!!!!  While the focal point is the butterflies (sizzix and spellbinders), I also used other shapes cut using sizzix and spellbinders dies including hearts and scalloped circles and used the coordinating flowers for Flights of Fancy!

I did have a dickens of a time getting good photos and I'm still not sure I succeeded, but I hope y'all will get the gist!  I recommend using Kim's directions -- I will just comment on tips and tricks I used.

The ends of the 7 lengths of crochet thread are anchored by Webster's fantastic Sparklers buttons -- glue a pair together with the thread sandwiched in between -- I used zip dry adhesive on everything.  Then just continue up each length of thread using pairs of embellished butterflies -- glue only the center of the butterflies together and bend out the wings. 

Stickles, Distress Stickles, Rock Candy Distress paint, ink and bling highlight the shapes and make them pop!  Once I had the butterflies spaced, I filled in with other shapes, tiny butterflies, bling and the Tropics Pebbles and more of the buttons!

Per Kim's instructions, I attached the top ends of the thread to the embroidery hoop, covered the outer hoop with pink grosgrain ribbon and added two Prima butterflies and a stickpin.  Then I attached thread to gather at the top (Kim uses wire), tied it to a decorative ring, and it was ready to hang!!!  I'm already planning another, but this time I am going with a smaller hoop and shorter threads!

Thanks for looking!!

Scraptathlon Challenge - Week # 2

Our song inspiration for this week's challenge was Elton John's Border Song.  The challenge?  Create a layout with a minimum of four different borders.  The Scraptatheletes went to town and came up with some unique borders!  One Scraptathelete used journaling as a border!

Susan's layout this week was Gulf Sunset.  Here's what Susan had to say about her layout....

I have been jonesing to use some Webster's Pages Seaside Retreat collection in a layout.  This week's challenge was the perfect opportunity to satisfy my yearning.  I was inspired by Webster's Pages Design Team member Amy Tara Koeppel's layout, "One of the 7 Wonders".  I used the Seaside Retreat vellum sheet for the base.  It was a little scary when I crumpled up the vellum but it added dimension when I smoothed it out and sewed it with a zig-zag stitch to a piece of Bazzill cardstock - Border #1 complete!  I used two other papers from Seaside Retreat:  A Seahorse's Legend and Far and Away.  I used both sides of the papers for photo mats and punched a seashell border along the edge of one - Border #2 complete!  I used two different Seaside Retreat Fabric Ribbons for Borders # 3 and # 4 then I finished up by adding some embellishments in the lower left corner.  I actually managed a 5th border for good measure - it's some pretty crocheted lace from Prima at the bottom of the photo of my daughter.   Many thanks to my dear friend Andy for the Seahorse!  She used one of her Cricut cartridges and made Seahorses for all us Cropulators this year at St. Augustine Beach.

Flamingo Scraps products used:  Webster's Pages Seaside Retreat Collection - Vellum, Papers, Fabric Ribbons and Fancies, Webster's Pages Bloomers in Petal and Berry, Prima Marketing Tres Jolie Vines, Bling and Lace, Maya Road Trinket Pins - Hearts and Crystals.  Other supplies used:  Bazzill cardstock and K & Co. Seashell Embellishments.

Amanda's layout this week was Scarlet.  Here's what Amanda shared about her layout......

As soon as I saw the challenge posted, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!  I've been hoarding my Pink Paislee Queen Bee for just the right projects.... dying to use my new-ish Martha Stewart Loopy punch (I can't call it new because it's been in the house for months!).... and I had an extra copy of this picture of our dog Scarlet just waiting to be used!  Combine with a Sketchy Thursday sketch and viola!  This layout will be framed and hung in our house! As for my four borders... the first is the die cut paper for this line (gorgeous paper!!); the second is the loopy edge punched grey + yellow patterned paper; the third is the black patterned paper punched using the threading water punch from fiskars; and the fourth is the small yellow strip punched out with the small scallop heart punch.  I outlined everything with a pen, handcut my "leaves" to my flower and added my title.  The flower was made by cutting a scallop strip out with the cutterpede and gluing/folding it down to make a bigger flower-like base for my white primas.

From Flamingo Scraps:  pink paislee Queen Bee collection patterned papers, Webster's alpha stickers, Prima e-line pearl swirl (swirl, dragonfly + butterfly -- all one set!), Prima e-line pearls & crystals (center of flower) and Prima white flowers

Other supplies:  Martha Stewart loopy punch and small scallop heart punch, Fiskars threading water punch, cutterpede scallop edge, fine tip black sharpie pen

Would you like to see what all the other Scraptathletes did ?  Here's a link to the Scraptathlon Gallery.  Leave them some love by way of commenting on their work!

PS from Susan......Amanda's not about to brag on herself, so I will!  She took first place this week in both the neighbor's poll AND the judges poll!  Congratulations Amanda - YOU ROCK!

Happy Scraps to you!

FOUND: Inspired by Cindy!

Today, I wanted to share with you this fantastic layout by Cindy deRosier!

I LOVE the idea of using a mask to create a title like this using mists.  What I love about Cindy's version is the tone-on-tone approach she took with her misting and pen color, as well as the way she outlined the masked letters to really make them stand out!   Not to mention her amazing handwriting (at first glance I thought it was typed!), the subject she scrapped and the way she tells a story with her journaling.   That pretty much goes for all her scrapbook layouts!  She also has this beyond cute altered project in her scrappy repertoire:

These are recycled gerber puffs bottles!  Cindy used them as an inexpensive gift for all the moms in her son's playgroup!  Wouldn't these be an adorable Christmas decoration as well?  Or a cute container for holiday candies to give away to coworkers or neighbors?  How fabulous would it be to use some navy velvet ric rac from the store as the scarf?  Or some e-line bling as the buttons?! 

Think I'm going to have to make some snowmen.  And a layout with a masked title.  Cindy has definitely inspired my creativity!  I hope she has inspired yours too.   Please join us in thanking Cindy for sharing her ideas with us by stopping by her gallery on scrapbook.com or commenting below.  Hugs Cindy for letting me share, you rock! :) 

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Are you ready to mist?

All right, grab that cup of coffee and get ready for all things mist in honor of the fact that as of yesterday, Flamingo Scraps is carrying Glimmer Mist!

First up, a few of our favorite projects past using mists:

Susan's gift wedding album for her sister.  See that red cover?  That's mist coated chipboard!  So much easier than covering with patterned paper!  Read more here.  And I can't forget to include this:

Suzanne's fabulous scrap banner!  It's hard to see from this angle, but the letters were finished with a coat of iridescent pearl maya mist!  You can see more pictures and read about it here.

Up next, a few misting tips that I posted, that I keep going back to:

Using mists and Maya Resist to make my own patterned paper.

Embossing with Mists.

And of course, there's the stash: 

I store my mists in this basket.  Mostly because it's small and I hope it will limit my addiction!  And because I'm type-A.... here's my OCD way of organizing what colors mist I have in the stash:

Details here.

I have found the swatch book I created to be the most useful tool on my desk when trying to decide what color matches my project!
Finally, my favorite Glimmer Mist colors just added to the store:  Sweet Clover

And Susan's favorite: Starfish

And Suzanne's favorite:  Tattered Roses

So tell us... what are your go-to mist colors?  We are always on the hunt for recommendations for new colors to add to our stashes!  And we'd love to see your projects you've made with Maya Mist or Glimmer Mist, so share a link and we'll come on by to leave ya some love!