Do You Love Paintables? -- You Will Adore Paintables Stamps!!!!

Due to unforseen technical difficulties.... we interrupt our regularly scheduled guest design team roundup for November that was supposed to run today.  Instead, the fabulous projects from our guest design team members during November will run this Thursday.  Today, I will talk about one of my favorite new products...

Have I ever mentioned that I just LOVE Prima's Paintables?!  They are like coloring books for scrappers.  So you can imagine how excited I was when Prima came out with Paintables Stamps!  Now you can add that little something extra to your layouts and paper crafts in colors you choose, and they are fantastic for cards!!!!



I stamped Flowers #1 on water color paper using Staz-on black ink




Just look how crisp and clear the image stamps!




Now comes the fun part -- I colored in the image with watercolor pencils!




I added water with a blender tool (a brush would do as well!)




And VOILA -- watercolored images!




I am thrilled with the way this turned out -- I plan to trim the square
and use it on the front of a card, but it could be used
as an embellishment on any number of projects!

Prima Paintables Stamps make fabulous stocking stuffers for the scrappers and paper crafters on your list -- and don't forget to pick up a few for yourself!  Make sure you stop by tomorrow to welcome Tiffany and Janet, our December guest design team members and on Thursday to see the gorgeous projects all these talented girls on our guest design team made in November!!

Guest Design Team Summary: Tonya and Jolaine

I don't know about you, but we've really enjoyed Jolaine and Tonya's blog posts this month!! Each month, we post a summary just in case you missed anything and to thank these talented ladies for all their fabulous work!! Up first this month is Jolaine:

This month Jolaine showed us how to make vintage-print flowers, shared her beautiful wedding layout made with Parisian Anthology, showed us her wicked fun halloween album and for November's Flamingo Five she made an adorable art journal for her daughter!

More of Jolaine's work can be seen here on her blog!

This month Tonya shared with us how she challenges herself to use old products mixed with new, showed us her clever holiday organizer, inspired us to make 2011 calendars as Christmas presents and, for November's Flamingo Five, she made the cutest Christmas tags!

More of Tonya's work can be seen here on her website or here on her youtube channel!

So we really hope that you enjoyed what Jolaine and Tonya shared with us this month as much as we do!  Please go leave them some love if you haven't already!!   Tomorrow, we will have another guest design team round up with some fabulous items to inspire you.... and we will be back on Wednesday with our next two guest design team members, Tiffany and Janet, to inspire you!! 

Interested in being on our next guest design team?  Don't worry about missing our call... we have decided to wait until after the crazy holiday season and do our next call in January!!

Weekend Whimsy: Quilt Love

I'm a huge quilt lover.  HUGE. :)  Maybe it's because I grew up with an Aunt who makes quilts.  And then I married a cute guy who also loves quilts. :)

So for our 5th anniversary this year, I gave his this quilt:

I bought this beautiful handmade Amish quilt on my trip to Pennsylvania to visit my brother and sister-in-law earlier this year.  Here's some close-up shots of the hand appliqued details:

The only machine work on the quilt was to piece together the background white squares. :) 

And I make the occasional quilt.... this one I made last month for my niece!

So what does this have to do with scrapbooking?  For me... lots!  I love to add stitching to my layouts with my sewing machine.  Like this layout I did several years ago:

Ajsevall's Gallery: Personality (Dec 2nd sketch)

See all the sewing details along the edges of the papers?  Totally quilty looking in person!  And then I like to use the patchwork quilt look every once in a while like here:

Product details here.

So I have a whole set of quilt blogs I follow for inspiration.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Oh, Fransson! (love the sew alongs -- she's so quick too!)
Film in the Fridge (one of my recent favorites -- she has a knack for picking out fabulous fabrics!)
Craftastical (check out this hexagon quilt... amazing!)

I was inspired by that hexagon quilt to make this card:

From Flamingo Scraps: Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage patterned papers

Other supplies:  American Crafts cardstock; sewing machine + thread

Of course, it took a different turn and ended up an entirely new pattern!!  But I love how it turned out.  Have you ever found inspiration in quilts for scrapbooking?  Or do you have any quilt blogs you think I should add to my blog reader?! :)

Black Friday and Cyber Monday

How many of you shop on Black Friday?  Personally, I never have and I don't think I ever will.  I know there are lots of bargains available on this kickoff day for Christmas shopping but suffering the crowds and lines are just not worth it to me!  I will be spending Black Friday in the Ocala National Forest watching DVD's, crocheting and playing games with my nieces in front of a crackling fire; thank you very much!  But more power to all of you who brave the crowds and lines~I admire your spunk!

Lately, the Monday after Thanksgiving has been dubbed Cyber Monday.  Now that's my idea of shopping. Just me, my laptop and my credit card looking for bargains on the Internet.  I do believe I will go Christmas shopping on Monday!

Flamingo Scraps will be getting in the spirit with a big sale starting on Cyber Monday.  Hundreds of items will be on sale through Christmas.  Additionally, to get things started, we are offering $5 maximum shipping on Cyber Monday.  Shop all you want and the most you will pay for shipping is $5*!

So be sure to check back on Monday and start your online Holiday shopping with Flamingo Scraps!

*Free and Discounted shipping offers available only in the Continental USA

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  There's so much less hustle and bustle than Christmas.  All that's expected is a hearty meal with family and friends.  Throw in football, the Macy's parade, board games, good conversation and it's my idea of the best of days. 

This year, we will be going out to the hunting camp in the Ocala National Forest and spending the long weekend there.  We will be trying our hand at frying the turkey!  Although I've eaten fried turkey before, it's always been prepared by someone else.  Keep your fingers crossed that we don't mess things up!

And of course, what would Thanksgiving be without expressing what you are thankful for?  One thing I'm always grateful for at Thanksgiving is a sense of smell!  Mmmmm, all those luscious smells emanating from the kitchen all day long are just such a treat!

I'm grateful for friends and family.  My life is so full and rich because of you all.

I'm very grateful for Flamingo Scraps and all our wonderful friends/customers that make up our little scrappy community.  It's such a joy to wake up each morning knowing I get to spend the day with all of you through this blog, on Facebook and our eBay store.

So on behalf of Suzanne, Amanda and myself, have a Happy Thanksgiving.  We hope your day is filled with love and laughter~friends and family~smiles and smells...........

Guest Blogger Heather Landry: FP Like Father, Like Son -- Not Just for Boys!!

Did you know that Fancy Pants Like Father Like Son line is not just for boys? I'll show you a girl themed layout with it in a bit! But first, I wanted to share one that I made of my son at the beach. When I first saw the colors in this line, I immediately thought of these beach photos. The navy paper with the swirls reminded me of waves. I had a blast grunging the papers up with Tim Holtz distress ink.

Don't you just love the rich colors? I so totally do! I also created a sketch based on my layout to share with all of you in case you would like to use it. You can right click, and then click on "Save As" to download the image to your computer.

Here is the girl layout I decided to do. I thought that the masculine colors would work well on a layout about being outdoors even with a feminine subject. I used photos that I took of my daughter on the same trip to the park. Since I scrapped both sets of photos with the same paper line, they will look really great as companion layouts when I put them in my scrapbook!

From Flamingo Scraps (for both layouts!): Fancy Pants Like Father Like Son Paper, Tim Holtz Weathered Wood Distress Ink, Tim Holtz Peeled Paint Distress Ink, and Prima E-line Gems.

Thanks again to Suzanne, Susan, and Amanda for having me! I had a wonderful time creating for Flamingo Scraps!

We thank Heather for joining us yet again to share even more of her fantastic work with us!!  To view more of her layouts and read about her adventures of three adorable kiddos, please check out her blog! 

Incorporating Memorabilia into Layouts

I come from a family of hoarders -- bad for my storage space, but fabulous for family memories!!!  For instance, I have every single one of the letters my father wrote my grandparents from Korea -- and he wrote everyday!!!!  I also have a background as a historian, so perhaps that is why I feel so strongly about incorporating memorabilia into my scrap pages, whether heritage or current. 




This is a layout I did of the recent paint job on my house --
 I scanned the estimate and used it and
 the paint chips of the colors used. 



This heritage layout includes a copy of a letter from my great grandfather
 to my father planning this fishing trip.  The letter tells my father to make sure he
 has some boots for the adventure, so I cropped a picture of his boots to use in the layout.



This two page layout of my great grandmother features a picture of one of her dolls still in the family and a scan of her funeral card.   



This is my grandmother's wedding portrait -- the tiny album features scanned, much reduced newspaper articles about the wedding and tucked in among the flowers in the upper right hand corner is a small piece of lace from this dress (which I have in a shadow box) tucked in a protective envelope.   One day I hope to remove this bit of lace and incorporate it into a memento for my nieces to carry at their weddings!

Everyday presents us with memorabilia that can be used in layouts -- from concert tickets to small shells from a beach trip.  If you have vintage/heritage photos to scrap and don't think you have memorabilia to use -- think again.  It is relatively easy to find things like census records online these days and the census record of one of your ancestors makes a fabulous addition to a heritage page!!!  Try incorporating memorabilia into your pages -- I think you'll love it!



Happy Birthday Mama!!!

Friends, I beg your indulgence today -- I am hijacking the blog to wish my dear Mama a happy 80th birthday!  Of course, I will have to wait until she gets here for Thanksgiving for her to see this as she doesn't do the computer thing, but it is the thought that counts!  Those of you who saw the recent Dear Lizzy post, saw my layout of some pictures of Mother taken this summer (no, she doesn't look 80 at all!!!!).  But I'd like to share with you a couple of older layouts and photos waiting to be scrapped!!



Entitled "Beautiful," this layout was for a bling challenge

 

I can't wait to scrap this wonderful picture of Mama and her brother John taken about 1935.  What do you think of Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 -- Perfect!!!



This wonderful picture was taken by my Uncle John in New Orleans -- I'm thinking Hollywood Vogue!!

I'd better get scrapping with all this wonderful material to inspire me -- but in the meantime -- Happy Birthday Mama! I love you!


Weekend Whimsy: We are Grateful!

To all our readers, followers, friends, guest design team members and guest bloggers.....

We are grateful for each and every one of you! 

This week, we were very excited and grateful when we found out we are in the running in the Blog Guidebook's Top Blog of 2010!

And we are thrilled to be in such great company!!  So please go check out our fellow nominees... and please go vote starting today!!  

Thank you again - we truly appreciate you!!

Christmas is Here at Flamingo Scraps!!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Flamingo Scraps!  You asked for Christmas and this year we went all out!!!!  We are carrying FOUR Christmas collections with something for everyone!!

We restocked the wildly popular Pink Paislee Mistletoe & Co.
and it is selling at a bargain price!

Webster's Pages Waiting for Santa is a Fabulous collection in
traditional colors with that famous Websters Whimsy!!

Teresa Collins NOEL is a fantastic mix of traditional and
surprising in a wonderful color pallete featuring red, black, and gold

Sweet Seasons, also by Webster's, has a fun bright
color scheme and images of sweet treats!

What would Christmas be without glitter, glitz, and sparkle??

New this season are Maya Road Ultrafine Glitters in
 Cherry, Kelly Green, Iridescent, and Licorice!

and fabulous embellishments from Prima!!!

Who could resist these poinsettias and roses in Christmas colors from Prima!

Christmas is the perfect time for mini albums for gifts and for displaying your own photos!



Some of the many mini albums we carry at Flamingo Scraps

Make it a handmade Christmas!!  Stop on by the store to pick up some of our fabulous Christmas offerings!!