November Flamingo Four (F4)

Happy 4th Friday Flock Followers! Our Featured Flocksters, Genie, Donna, Ramona, and Cheryl, have some great ideas to share with you this month. The surprises pack this month included : 

1) A piece of heavy chipboard
2) Stackable flowers
3) Lace
4) Rose cameo

Hi Flock, Genie here! 

Christmas gifts are still on my mind, so when I pulled out my Flamingo 4 bag this month, I immediately thought of a little door sign. I started out with the heavy chipboard and began layering the stackable flowers over it, using Mod Podge to glue everything down. I finished it off with the lovely lace, both as a hanger and ruffled along the bottom, and the cameo as a topper. I added a letter and a little paint from my stash.  I have three nieces with the first initial "A", so I'm sure I'll find a good home for it. Thanks for looking!

Hope you enjoy my take on the items we were given to play with.Happy Scrapping! Donna 

My first project is a sepia laser copy of a print that I put onto the heavy chipboard, then inked the edges. The flowers were misted with water, rolled into a ball, flattened, then misted with Glimmer Mist. The lace is ruffled onto to the back of the CB and attached it to a canvas board.Once the canvas was painted, a criss-cross design stamp was used for some background effects around the edges. I distressed the board to reveal some white and dabbed the edges with distress paint. The flowers are attached with a button brad from my stash and dabbed with paint. After inking some seam binding, it was then sprayed with Glimmer Mist. Prima Say It In Crystals is the frame highlighting the section with my Grandmother and her brother. Distress markers to added the color to their clothing and hair. 
My second project is just a simple little hair clip for my Granddaughter to match a dress I just purchased for her, I touched the edges of the cameo piece with Distress paint, Pumice Stone, then glued the Webster's tutu trim silver. When dry, I adhered it to a hair clip 

RAMONA'S PROJECT :

For this Flamingo 4 project I did a wall hanging. Using my Crop-a-dile to punch another hole to place the lace to make a hanger.  I used the Damask Stencil from Prima Mixed with molding paste and applied directly to the surface. I also altered the cameo by using Tim Holtz Distress Paint Wild Honey and some gesso.  I cut the title out of black card stock from my Cameo, and used the ephemera to make my flowers by cutting into them and wetting them down and crinkling them up.  I so love how these flowers turned out!!  I hope you like my creation as much as I had fun making it!

CHERYL'S PROJECT :

Hi, Cheryl here.For this project I started with out a light blue modeling Modellier Cream and brushed a base coat on. I then used a small stencil and again using my brush I put the cream over the stencil, carefully lifted it off, and let it dry. I adhered two of the whimsies on the surface and attached the flower.
On the opposite side I used the packaging from the whimsies and used it as a paper ledger. Taking one of the whimsies I used a 1/2" punch and punched out numbers from one of the whimsies and adhered it to the packaging,, and added a few more at the bottom. The lace is attached through the hole in the top corner. Since the packaging has a plastic surface, you can write on it with a dry erase pen when you need something to make notes on. 

Don't forget to follow Tonya's Ustream tutorials. On  December 2nd, Tonya will be coming to you live with part 2 of the December Daily. She will be using the beautiful 25th - Pine from Basic Grey for this year's journal. Kits are available at Flamingo Scraps  for $29.99. If you missed the first one, or need to recap, follow any of the links below.

• Ustream Channel
• Flamingo Scraps Facebook
• Tonya's Blog
• Tonya's YouTube
• Flamingo Scraps Blog

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend from The Flock !!

A Papercrafter's Christmas!!!!

Today I want to show y'all two little Christmas ornaments I made using supplies from Flamingo Scraps and from my stash!!  The first is this Christmas tree, which can be free standing -- how cute would a little forest of these be -- or hung on your tree!

Rosette Tree

I used my Tim Holtz Rosette Dies to cut two large, two medium, and one small rosettes from this solid winter white side of Carta Bella Winter Fun paper.  I think it is pretty clear that these dies are two of my favorites as worn as they are!!  I cut the paper into two 6x12 pieces, ran one sheet through my xyron machine and adhered them together, then cut.  I wanted to make the parts of the tree sturdy so it would last more than one Christmas!

The Tim Holtz Dies can be special ordered through Flamingo Scraps!

The Carta Bella paper is from the Combination and/or the Paper Warehouse Boxes

I sprayed both sides of each rosette with Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Mist

I used a Maya Road Wood Spool for the trunk
and round pearls from my stash to space the rosettes

I used white Prima Chalk Ink to stain the spool and a Maya Road
Pearl embellishment as a topper; I rolled the edges in wet adhesive and
then rolled them in some micro beads from my stash for a little bling --
glitter or even stickles would also work well

This tiny little ornament is as simple as can be!  

I used the small green tree from a Fancy Pants Mini Tree pack and the smaller of these adorable glass domes from Tim Holtz (each package has two each of two sizes)

I twisted off the wood base of the tree and stuck the wire stem into the cork stopper 

At just under two inches, this would be so sweet on a miniature tree, a Christmas tableaux, or even in a doll's house!

Items which can be special ordered from Flamingo Scraps

Tim Holtz Mini Glass Domes

Tim Holtz Alterations Dies -- Large Rosette and Medium and Small Rosettes

Contact Suzanne at flamingoscraps@yahoo.com to place a special order!

Items from Flamingo Scraps -- 

limited supply available, then can be special ordered

Fancy Pants Mini Christmas Trees -- Traditional

Carta Bella Winter Fun cardstock

Maya Road Wood Spools

Maya Road Pearl Embellishments

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

For today's post, I have chosen a 12 x 12 layout. It was a beautiful day with my family on the grounds of the historic Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, NY.
This is Donna, and this is my first design team post. After two guest design posts in July, I am so thrilled to be part of an awesome team!
I have used the Hope Chest collection by Pink Paislee from my Flamingo Scraps warehouse box, an incredible amount of goodies packed into one box! The possibilities are endless! This layout only used just a fraction of what's in the box!

I started with my background paper adding some embossed details using Tim Holtz Fabulous Flourishes stamp and one found object in my house. Here is where I chose my ink and spray color pallet. TH distress ink, rusty hinge to pick up the brick color in the photos, and two Glimmer Mist sprays, mustard seed and gumdrops, to blend with the paper pallet.

This photo shows the hidden journaling tag on the page and my ink/spray colors, and was also adhered with a stronger glue to reinforce the edges when the journaling tag is taken out and put back in. Each photo was matted with an 1/8" border, using patterned paper and inking the edges. I then decided on how I would embellish my page.

The scalloped fabric trim was Glimmer Mist'd, dried and cut to form my flowers for the page.

I knew I was going to want one flower on the edge of the page, the center flower, so it did not need to be a

perfect flower.

This white trim was also misted with the same two colors as the above flowers. I used these as flower center and also placed a couple on my page alone. I misted them with the Mustard seed first, dried, then misted again with the Gumdrops. No two will come out alike! 

With Webster's tutu trim, I simply took the piece and knotted one end and trimmed close to the knot to get the little pom pom flower. A dot of glue will hold the knot in place

This corner of my layout, I first fussy cut the legs from one of the papers, knowing I was going to overlap this onto one of my photos, I did not adhere it down completely at this point. With a piece of 'waffle' shelf liner I embossed directly over my piece, then stamped directly over the embossing, filling in the imperfect embossed image. 

Here is where I fussy cut another piece of patterned paper, cutting it so it was part of the background, but also overlay one of the photos. It also helps keep my hidden journaling flap down when it's closed.

A corner view with a flower cluster with butterfly clips and the embossed/stamped detail.

Here are two butterflies from the collection, they come in white and off white, 2 of each. I misted one with Gumdrops again. When misting on different paper surfaces, you get different tonal effects which makes each have there own look, but still coordinate together! 

Products used

Pink Paislee "Hope Chest"

Paper Collection

Label Stickers

Butterfly Clips 

Paper Goods

Prima Washi Tape stamp "123456"
TH distress embossing powder Peeled Paint (Special Order)

TH distress ink, Rusty Hinge (Special Order)

Stamper's Anonymous TH Fabulous Flourishes, large stamp (Special Order)
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Gumdrops and Mustard Seed (Special Order)

Webster's Sparklers (bottom flower center) 

White Daisy Trim, misted with TA mists

Hope you have enjoyed a day in the garden with us as I created my layout.

These photos were taken so many years ago, it was fun to relive the day!

Quick Assemble Cards!

Happy Christmas in July, Flockinistas! Melissa, here, with a few projects that will tickle your Christmas fancy and get you in the mood for that dreaded task of preparing Christmas cards.

Now, if you're like me, you wait until the absolute last minute and then end up buying cards because you don't want to spend the time making them. Who has time for that? Well, I have three different cards I made, using both of the Christmas kits available in the Big Pink Bird's Bargain Bin this month, and they each assembled in just minutes! Yes, there was a little prep work involved, but each card only contains one "fussy" item (that is an item that has to be die cut, hand cut, or has some kind of extra steps involved because it is more intricate). The rest of it is quick cuts, some inking, some adhesive, and ready to go out the door rather quickly!

Here, let me show you what I'm talking about:

This first set is fairly simple, and a more traditional card, in the sense of the stamping and the layout, but I really love how it turned out. It uses elements from both the traditional and the brights kits, some white lace ribbon (ask Suzanne about this if you're interested in it) that I soaked with a red Glimmer Mist (available via special order), a bit of green embroidery floss, ink (including Prima chalk ink in Rose Bud, available either as a set or individually via special order), and a layer of gold Stickles under a layer of yellow Stickles for the star. The stamped portion and it's mat are pop dotted off the card to give it some dimension, but it's still flat enough for a standard rate stamp. I considered my "fussy" item on this card to be two small things: the lace (because it had to dry, though the actual dying process took just moments) and the Stickled star (because I had to build up layers of Stickles to get the desired effect). All in all, I assembled five cards in about 5-6 minutes after prep work (the bow on the floss took a little extra time, but it's oh-so-cute!).

The card base for this card is 5.5"x4". The top pattern is 3.75"x3" with the bottom pattern measuring 3.75"x2.25". The mat for the stamped portion measures 4" tall, and is wide enough to give a .25" matting on either side. 

This second design uses the traditional kit only, and uses another ornament that I colored with Prima inks used like watercolors. Basically I dipped a brush in water, blotted the ink pad onto a craft mat, and picked the color up on the brush to paint the ornament with it. Because of this, my ornaments are stamped in Staz-On ink in black, so the colors won't run. I used some Stickles in Holly and glitter pens to bring more life to the ornament, and used some silver pipe cleaners that I had on hand from a previous craft project. I used my Silhouette to cut my borders, since to hand punch with my border punch would've taken longer (though not much... I've done it by hand before in the past). My "fussy" part on this project should be obvious: the ornament, which I stamped, then painted, colored, and Stickled. Once it was dry, I fussy cut it from the paper and pop dotted it to the card. All in all, I assembled five cards in about four-and-a-half to five minutes after prep work. 

The card base for this card is 5.5"x4". The top pattern is 3.75"x2" with the bottom pattern measuring 3.75"x3". The punched border is a .75" width (at the widest part).

My third card, and probably my most favorite, uses the brights kit only. It's a pretty simple design, but I really love it! It may seem like the simplest of all of the cards, but a bit of time went into the poinsettias. I used a Spellbinders Poinsettia die that *is* available for special order for those who love it as much as I do (one of my favorite die purchases of all time, other than my Silhouette), and it is more time consuming than I expected it to be, but that's mostly because I was unfamiliar with how the die actually worked when I started. So, basically, you have to run the die through once to cut the paper, and then remove the excess paper, flip over the dies, and run it through again with a self healing spacer (honestly, I just used a piece of extra chipboard and it worked just as well) to do the embossing. I did mine in four different card stocks that I had on hand: three shades of pink and a sheet of red bling, plus the green for the leaves. I curled the petals a little for added dimension and then layered them together in a specific pattern (dark to light, depending on which color was my largest petals). The finishing touches were the button for the poinsettia center, the lace, and the rub on sentiment (which is also part of the kit). The "fussy" part of this card is the poinsettia. The rest of it was fairly easy to put together! Altogether, I assembled four of these cards in less than four minutes after prep work. 

The card base for this card is 5.5"x4". The patterned paper for this card measures 5.25"x2.25"

So, if you've made it this far and don't feel overwhelmed, let me end this by explaining that, save for last year when there just was NOT time, I have assembled 50-100 Christmas cards by hand for the past 5 years or so. I generally spend a weekend on cards, and I keep my designs consistent to what I shared here: simple, with no more than one fussy item that I will prep for 5 minutes, here and there, over the course of a week. I cut all of the papers one day, then I will ink them (if I choose to do so). The next day, I create a little assembly line to put it all together. The nice thing about the assembly line is that you can get the kids involved in helping out, if yours are old enough to handle using the adhesive and sticking things to cards.

And there you have it! I hope you've found some of your Christmas spirit in this post and continue to do so as the month continues.

Until next time!
Keep scrappin',
Melissa

November's Flamingo Four

Cindy here!  I'm thrilled to be taking over as Flamingo Scraps' Flamingo Four coordinator.  Each month, three designers and myself will make projects using the same four items.  I guarantee that you'll be amazed how four different designers using the same four supplies can make four completely different projects!

For November, Design Team members Erin, Alicia, Ramona and I each received the following items:

 

1. Glimmer Mist (Clam Bake)
2. assorted wood veneers  
3. lacy trim
4. an empty Maya Road tin

You can find Glimmer Mist, all sorts of veneers, beautiful trims and tins full of Maya Road goodies in the Flamingo Scraps store.  After seeing the projects, you may want to make one or more of them for yourself!  Now let's hear from each of the four designers!


Erin's Take:

When I saw the box size I knew it would be perfect as a standard size photo frame. I found a fun picture of my hubby and I and glued it inside the box. I then used the died ribbon and glued it all around the edge of the box, one to hold it together and second a pretty finish to the outside of the box. I used the glimmer mist to die the ribbon and mixed the mist with various gelato colors to color the wood veneers. I used two Prima flowers of complementary colors and the wood veneers to cover up the words Maya Road in the top left corner, hence why the cluster is there, and left the phrase “for the journey of a lifetime” as it fit the picture. I then put magnets on the back and it became a magnetic photo frame to send my husband in Afghanistan.

Alicia's Take:

I decided to create a shadowbox out of my Maya Road tin. I dug through all of my stuff that I collected while we were in Hawaii, and found this awesome postcard (that I had completely forgotten that I had picked up). I loved the turquoise paisley background paper, but it was too bright to go with the colors in the postcard, so I just spritzed it with the Clam Bake Glimmer Mist and did the same with the bright white trim. The mist gave a great color to the trim, and a little shimmer to the background paper! I painted the rectangular wooden piece with a light coat of gesso and then wiped at it with a damp paper towel so I got a kind of whitewashed look, then I used some Jenni Bowlin rub-ons for "aloha". I sprayed the heart veneer with both Color Shine and the Clam Bake glimmer mist to give it a bit of dimension and used some paint, Stickles and another little spritz of glimmer mist for the flower. I decided to keep the slogan portion of the tin, so I rubbed it with a little teal Staz-On and added a little more of the patterned paper around the edge. I just glued the flower and butterfly on the edge and presto! Done!

Ramona's Take:

When I received this Maya Roads tin I right away decided what I could do with it....Mini Album!!  I first painted it with Tim Holtz Acrylic Paint Dabbers Pink Sherbet first and then a layer Elmer's Glue then Cranberry. Then I let it dry so I could start working on it. I just love how I got the wide cracks with this effect. Then I distressed it with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink to give it that Old and rustic look. I also sprayed Clam Bake Mist by Tattered Angels that had an green but old worn look to it. That gave me the sheen that I was desiring to. I used Prima Romance Novel 6 X 6 paper pack, chipboard, 3 index file cards (cut down) I also made hinges to connect the book pages together. These are the items that I used to make my Mini Album inside. Then I thought a closure....so I grabbed the lace that was in my bag and thought some distressing (dirty hands with Cranberry paint and Brushed Corduroy Ink still on my hands) sprayed it with Clam Bake ruffled it up and This was my finishing tie to this tin. I had so much fun with this challenge using something that I have not ever tried before!

Cindy's Take:

I thought about what I wanted to store in the tin and let my design go from there. My son Trevor needed a place to store the flattened pennies that he's recently started collecting; the tin was just the right size.  The next step was figuring out how to cover up the brand name and slogan on the tin.  What would stick to the metal of the tin AND cover up the words without interfering with the closure of the tin?  Washi tape!  I layered torn bits of washi tape and it worked beautifully. 

Because Trevor's pennies are from our travels, I decided to back the opening with a map. I found a 10-year old map of the western US that I haven't used in years and probably will never use again. I cut out the section of California where we live and attached it to the opening. I chose the heart veneer and misted it with the Glimmer Mist. Then I cut apart the trim and misted that.  When the mist was dry, I attached the trim and then added the heart.  The tip of the heart points to where we live. 

 

So what do you think?!  Isn't it amazing how different the four projects are, considering that we all used the same supplies?  We'd love to see your take.  If you make something using the same four supplies our designers had, please let us know and we'll feature it here on the blog!

Mixed Media Layout - Start to Finish

I've been in a bit of a scrappy rut lately and wanted to try some different things to see if I could stimulate a little creativity.   As Pablo Picasso once said "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working."

I pulled out some supplies that have just been sitting for a while; such as, some of my Glimmer Mists, Stamps, Stencils,and Goosbumps from Tsukineko. I even reached down deep in the hoard vault and pulled out my Strawberry Kiss - Raspberry Lemonade paper from Prima. I was inspired when I bought them, but haven't used them since. I set out to make a canvas, but decided on a layout instead.

This is my Niece Addie - running towards me during a photoshoot at Easter Time.

From Flamingo Scraps: Prima: Green Lace, Floral Stencil, Valentine Vine, Stamps: Hexagon, Build A Baubble, & Script, Paper: Script, Packageing, Strawberry Kisses - Raspberry Lemondae, Printery - Chipboard (Bird & Bird Cage), Wooden Ticket - Happy, Flowers; Tattered Angeles Glimmer Mist: Jack Frost (blue), Wheat Fields (brown), Perfect Peach, Sweet Clover (green), Cosmos (Pink); Ranger: Distress Stains - Tea Dye, and Walnut Stain. Rock Candy Distress Stickles; Other: Gesso; Tsukineko - Goosebumps; Hymnal Page: Jesus Loves the Little Children, Chipboard Letters Pink, 2012 - Party Confetti, Burlap

I ripped a page from a hymnal to use on the layout and was pleasantly surprised to read "Jesus Loves the Little Children" was the song. Devine intervention? Maybe, but regardless - I feel it was a sign that God was speaking to me.

Here is a closer look at the embellishments:

I have prepared a Step by Step video of the process for making this layout:

Thanks for stopping in today,

Eggs + Mist = Awesome

I haven't done a lot of scrapbooking recently- kids' crafts, cooking projects, and holiday decorating have taken up most of my creative energies.  But that doesn't mean I haven't used my scrapbook supplies!

Here are the eggs we dyed, using a typical Paas kit.

And here are some of my favorite colors of Glimmer Mist and Maya Mist.

Add a quick spritz.... 

... and you get these!

 

 

 

Happy Easter!