Wanna win?!

Have you seen the Spring Challenge Blog Hop on Sketchy Thursdays this week?!  Well.... Flamingo Scraps is sponsoring not one, but TWO fabulous scrappy prize packs for the challenge!!  I took one look at the sketch and knew it was perfect for a layout I've been brainstorming for a few weeks.  Banners seem to be all the rage right now.  Now me?  I just do not have a place to put one in my house at the moment, so I knew that if I wanted to do a banner it would be a mini one on a layout!  At some point I decided it wouldn't be a banner so much as a clothesline.... add the sketch and this was the result!

From Flamingo Scraps: pink paislee 365 degrees collection patterned paper, ranger glossy accents (to glue down the clothesline!)

Other supplies: making memories mini alphas, american crafts thickers, ecru embroidery thread, date stamp

Color photo taken by Jen Skibo, Passion for Life Photography

Hands down, one of my favorite layouts I've created to date!  Maybe it has something to do with the super gorgeous picture my cousin Jen took (Thanks Jen! Check out her other gorgeous pictures here).... or the happy colors from the pink paislee 365 collection.... or the sketch.... but I ♥ this layout.    I sketched out the shirt and pants on a piece of scrap paper, cut them out and used them as a template.  I had a pen boo-boo on the cute journaling die cut from the set and had to get creative.  I used it as a template to cut another out of a scrap of red patterned paper, glued it down on the die cut to give it a layered look.  Then added a circle cut from a scrap of light blue patterned paper that I distressed.

So hurry on over to Sketchy Thursdays to play along using this fabulous sketch!!

You have until Sunday, April 18th at midnight (EST) to link your entry.  Two randomly drawn participants will win some fabulous scrappy goodness from the big pink bird!!  Good luck!! :)

Mixin It Up

I don't know about you, but I have lots of Easter photos lying around the house.  Like any good scrapbooker, I take lots of photos of these family traditions.  And of course, that translates to lots of pages.  And of course I had to find some yummy new goodies to match. I was lucky to come across this blog, where I found a super cute sketch.

I have been using a lot of the new Pink Paislee papers, and of course loving them!  The colors are so bright and cheerful.  Unfortunately, these photos have a bit of an orange cast to them, and finding papers to match was hard in the beginning.  The photos seem to have an almost vintage look.  But the orange and yellow combination really worked together and with a bit of trim....

Flamingo Scraps Products Used:  Pink Paislee 365 Degrees:  Daydream, Dream Big, Punch Outs, Websters Pages: Seaside Garden Trim, Prima:  Melange Peach, Eline Pearls

Isn't it amazing how so many different manufacturers products just seem meant for each other?  The Websters Pages trim really gave the 365 Degree papers a soft look which worked so much better with these photos.

Hope you are getting some scrapping done.

Hugs.

Nancy

Queen Bee Framed

I like to have a list of projects up in my scrappy office and rather than continue to lose it on my desk, I decided to make a list I could hang up on the wall above my embellies and cricut.

I took this $10 frame I picked up this weekend at Target:

And cut a piece of my favorite paper from the new pink paislee Queen Bee collection down to the right size, then added a die cut and I had this in less than five minutes:

From Flamingo Scraps:  pink paislee Queen Bee patterned paper and die cut

I think in the end, it took longer to write my current to-do list and hang it up than it took to make the frame!

Now it is hanging under my mirror and next to one of my brother's photos he gave me as a gift a few years back.  The best part is that it is so simple to change the paper, I will be able to easily update the frame for holidays or seasons when I feel like it. 

I think I'll be framing more patterned paper from my stash for cheap wall art!


Happy Monday!

Ustream and Prima

Are you familiar with Ustream?  It is a great site that offers live and recorded videos on a numerous topics.  Prima has a wonderful channel on Ustream that broadcasts many times throughout the month.  You can find the calendar for the broadcasts at livewithprima.com.   On this site you can also purchase kits to complete the project, or if you are like me, use supplies from your own stash, things from Flamingo Scraps.

I have been enjoying watching Marion Smith's shows for a few months now.  She has so many fabulous ideas and great techniques and the time of her show is great for me to catch live.  And the Donna Downey show is always packed full of fun products.  And finally, this week, I was able to catch Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's class live.   In the short time she worked, she was able to create three gorgeous layouts.

Here is my lift of the third layout she did.  I even broke out the sewing machine for a super fun take on one of this seasons hottest trends, banners.  Who knew that making one could be so much fun.

Flamingo Scraps Products Used:  Pink Paislee 365 Degrees Patterned Papers. 

All of these shows are available on the Ustream channel, recorded, but if you get a chance to watch live you can participate in the chat...and maybe even win a prize!  Hope to see you there.

Hugs.

Nancy

Planning to Scrap

By nature, I'm a plan ahead kind of girl.  Heck, I planned our wedding for 125 guests at a bed and breakfast four hours from home in less than ten months on a small budget!  When it comes to scrapbooking, I tend to batch my layouts and plan ahead.  It's really hard for me to pull everything out and just do one layout at a time.  I have a limited amount of time to get scrapping done during the week, so usually I plan ahead by working for 15 or 30 minutes at a time planning out pages to get done.  In the last few months my trusty printer has been aging on me (almost ten years now!) and has stopped working on thicker paper like photo paper, leaving me to rely on photo printing services.  This definitely forces me to plan ahead even more than before! 

So I love using sketches and I also love the Easy Patterns from Creating Keepsakes.  And in one of my 30 minute power planning sessions, I pulled together two kits.  One is a layout from Sketchy Thursday's April 1st sketch using some pink paislee 365 Degrees collection paper (& die cut), a scrap piece from the pink paislee bayberry cottage collection and a pink paislee ribbon pleat.

All supplies from Flamingo Scraps except one piece of Bazzill Swiss dot cardstock.

My second kit is far more complicated since I decided to build my own kit using the pink paislee bayberry cottage collection.   This kit will make two 2-page layouts and three cards! 

All supplies from Flamingo Scraps except colored and white Bazzill cardstock.

I also write myself some quick notes about what I want to do on post-it notes and stick them all over the pieces of paper and sketches or magazines. Sometimes I even put my own mini sketch on a post-it and stick it to the kit.  Now all I have to do is order the pics I want to get printed for these layouts.  I will probably spend another 30 minute session cutting all my paper down to the right sizes and prepping for the pictures.  Then spend a final 30 minute session gluing the pics down and adding the final embellies.

So hopefully tomorrow morning, I can cut everything and get it ready for pics, get them printed so on Sunday I can finish them all up!  Hope you all have something fun planned for the weekend!

Not So Disney

I don't know about you, but my family loves Disney.  I can't even begin to count how many times we have been to Disneyland.  Add to that a week at Disney World and a couple of Disney cruises, and you have thousands of Disney photos.

While I have a large stack of "Disney" papers, you know the type; red, black, bits of yellow, sometimes I am looking for something a little different.  The new 365 degree papers from Pink Paislee were perfect for these....

  Flamingo Scraps Products used:  Pink Paislee 365 Degrees Collection Papers,Punch Outs, Weathered Wood Alphabet in Scarlet,  and,Ambrose Alphabet in Ocean

And, not to leave our favorite Disney princess out of the mix....Bayberry Cottage....

Flamingo Scraps Products used:  Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage Papers, Borderlines, Punch Outs, Ribbon Pleats, Weathered Wood in Blackberry and Ambrose Alphabet in Bayberry.

The huge white block is to tell the silly story of how my youngest became part of Snow White's story one afternoon.  I don't think I have ever seen a princess laugh so hard, and Ainsley had a great time.  Just need to select a font.  Any thoughts?

I really love the new larger, weathered wood, chipboard alphabets.  And the smaller Ambrose sticker letters are a great size and coordinate with the new paper lines perfectly.  And finally, the pleated ribbon is just gorgeous, and makes a cute little flower to boot.

Hugs.

Nancy

Anniversary Album

Every year, I do a layout about how we spent our anniversary.  If you want to see the first three anniversary layouts look here.  It took me a little time to get around to scrapping our fourth anniversary (we celebrate our anniversary in October!).... but it was totally worth the wait so I could use these fabulous new products!  I am in love with the new red Prima Valentine Vine and this was the perfect layout to use it on.  It has so much depth and detail.... so beautiful on the layout.   I also used the new Pink Paislee 365 degrees collection which is perfect for pretty much anything.   I love all the bright primary colors and fantastic patterns in this paper line.
 

From Flamingo Scraps:  Prima Valentine Vine, Pink Paislee 365 Degrees Collection patterned papers

Other supplies: cricut sweethearts cartridge (happy anniversary and journaling block), brown cardstock, brown sharpie pen

And just in case you are wondering, the Prima vines are super easy to use -- just glue them down with some liquid glue (like Ranger's glossy accents or some fabri-tac) and your page instantly looks finished. If you want more, you could easily add other flowers from your stash.  This whole layout took me less than 20 minutes! 

Right now, there are several vines to choose from in the store .....

So hurry on over to there and get a vine to try out -- you will not be disappointed!

Cracks and Shine

I have had a number of people ask me what the difference is between the Crackle Glossy Accents, the Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint, and the Rock Candy Distress Stickles.

First off, let me say that the Distress Stickles, are that....Stickles.  They are a type of glitter glue.  Distress Stickles are different from the regular Stickles in that they are made to cover larger areas, not to do fine work.

I hope these photos can help you determine the differences.

I started with three flowers cut from patterned paper.

I covered each with a different medium.  I do not like to use the tip of my applicator to spread the glues as I find it clogs the tip. For the Stickles, I use my finger, for the Crackle Glossy Accents, I used a brush.

I let each dry.  The Distress Crackle Paint dries the fastest.  Followed by the Crackle Glossy Accents, and finally the Stickles.

In the end, you can see that they all have a nice shine.


The Stickles has much more glitter than the other two.

The Crackle Glossy Accents have larger cracks, and while being quite shiny doesn't have the glitter of the Stickle.

And finally, the Distress Crackle Paint

It has small cracks, and not quite as much sparkle as the Stickles.

They all work great on your projects and each can be used for different things.  When the Crackle Glossy Accents dry, they become fairly stiff, while the Distress Crackle paint reminds fairly pliable.  So that, or the size of the crack may help you make the determination as to which of those products to use.  I usually only use the Stickles on smaller pieces as you could quickly go through an entire bottle if you coated large areas.

And finally, these aren't the flowers I showed above, but I did cover the large raised flowers with the Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paints on this Prima Pastiche layout of my daughter.

Flamingo Scraps Products Used:  Prima Pastiche Patterned Flower and Glitter Cardstock Stickers, Prima Mini Roses,Fairytale Roses,Eline Pearls,  Maya Road Olivia Chipboard Alphabet, Maya Road Deep Brown Ink, Maya Mist Cotton Candy, Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint, 

Hugs.

Nancy

BAYBERRY BANNER!!!!

A couple of weeks ago, Flamingo Scraps helped host a fabulous weekend scrap retreat and I was actually able to get some scrapping done!!!  Along with some layouts, I made this fun banner using a Maya Road Canvas Album and some of the gorgeous Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage.  Inspired by Nancy's beautiful anniversary banner and, of course, by my new best scrapping companion, Lisa Pace's Delight in the Details, I began to play!

The Maya Road Canvas Triangle Album is great as an album, but I took it apart and used a page for each letter.    In addition to the Bayberry Cottage paper, I used the coordinating Flip Notes, Prima Essentials Flowers, Stickles, Fancy Pants trim and mini ric rac, Flamingo Scraps pom pom trim, punches, brads, Prima Flower Centers, misc. chipboard letters, inks, Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Picket Fence, Maya Mists, and stitching (yes, I took my sewing machine to the crop!).  I made a triangular template a little smaller all round than the pages to preserve the rustic feel of the frayed and stitched canvas edges.

I don't know when I have loved a collection as much as I adore this Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage!!  A wonderful surprise was how well the Prima Rebellious Essentials coordinated with the papers.  And the Flip Notes are definitely not just for journaling -- I pop taped these for dimension!!  The chipboard letters are inked in lime and blue, inked the edges in black for a pop against the papers, and misted them with Iridescent Pearl Maya Mist.  A little bling, stickles, Flamingo Scraps rick rack (a perfect blue and available soon in the store), some great Fancy Pants green lace, a little machine stitching,  and I was on to the next piece!

More of the Flip Notes, black pompom trim, grab bag lace, rick rack, and some decorative brads make up this section.  The "R" was inked in rhubarb, then topped with Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Picket Fence!

The last piece has a punched paper border, some contrasting bling, and a Prima Artistry Blossom inked in Prussian Blue!

Easy as pie, I threaded grosgrain ribbon through the grommets in the album pages and Flamingo Scraps has a jazzy new addition to our scrap studio!!

Thanks for Looking!

Suzanne

Observed

Remember a week or so ago when I wrote about the yummy new spring colors from pantone's fashion color palette? 

Well I made a layout using amparo blue, aurora, eucalyptus, tomato puree featured in the Pink Paislee's Queen Bee and Bayberry Cottage lines, as well as a piece of Maya Road chipboard:

From Flamingo Scraps: pink paislee queen bee and bayberry cottage papers, maya road chipboard heart

Other supplies: american craft vinyl thickers (sprinkles), cricut simply sweet (flower), chalk ink, a date stamper and the font is pea leslie's happy font

This layout is a picture of my nephew and some of our observations of him from our recent time that we spent with him on vacation.

Have you created anything with the new Pink Paislee lines? Please share your art with us! We love to see everyone's fabulous crafty creations!

Home

As I run off for a weekend of fun with my family, I wanted to leave y'all a couple of cards I made using my fabulous new Maya Road Singleton Stamps -- the cute little tree set and the cute little house set!!

From Flamingo Scraps: Maya Road house and tree stamps, Tim Holtz distress inks and stickles

Other supplies: colored pencils, white cardstock and smiley monster font

The Create a Forest set is fabulous -- the solid "tree" top can double as clouds!  And for the second card I made my own patterned paper with the various little houses.  I just arranged my little stamps on a block and off I went.  Here's the outside of the card:

And the inside:

From Flamingo Scraps: Maya Road house stamps, Tim Holtz distress inks and stickles

Other supplies:  colored pencils, white cardstock, ribbon and smiley monster font

Have a great weekend everyone and if you celebrate the holiday... Happy Easter!

Inky Dirty

I love, love, love, Tim Holtz Distress Inks!  So was I ever thrilled when Suzanne called to tell me they were thinking of adding Ranger Products to the store.  It really is a rare day that I do a project without something on it getting inked up.  The Distress Inks can be used in so many different ways.  In this layout, I used them for many different things.

I used Walnut Stain, Mustard Seed, Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar to color a plain sheet of kraft paper.  They gave the background a beautiful, suede like texture.  

On the petals, you can see how I blended the same colors to make the rose.  One of the great things about Distress Inks is that you can just keep blending and adding colors until you get the result you want.  

And finally, did you know that you can use the inks to color metal and pearls?  I have found that if you heat the item first, getting it really nice and hot, the ink will stick.  Those pearls and flowers you see....they were the white Prima Say it in Pearls and Roses.

On this project I also used the Distress Inks.  I went much more heavy handed and darker with the colors.  And I inked just about everything in site.  Don't worry that when you ink brown ink over brown paper or blue ink over blue paper that you won't be able to see it.  You can!  It gives the color much more depth.

The sheet of die cut paper was the back side of a bright, red orange.  I just flipped it over to get white and then started inking away.  I then inked all the other pieces of paper with the color of the paper.  So the brown paper got brown ink, the blue paper got blue ink and the green photo mat....you guessed it, green ink.  Lots of tearing and curling as well.  Boy layouts can be such a struggle for me, I just need texture.  hee hee  I also inked the embossed chipboard and grungeboard to make it, more grungy.  

Well, I hope I have encouraged you to get your hands dirty with some ink.  I would love to see what you do with yours.  Leave me a link and I will for sure come by to check it out.

Hugs.

Nancy

A Little "Window" Shopping

So tonight I'm "window" shopping at Flamingo Scraps.  I mean literally.... shopping in many windows on my laptop! :)

Just look at all these beautiful, fabulous scrappy goodies that could be yours for the taking!

There's the gorgeous new Webster's Pages collections, beautiful new shades of tim holtz distress inks, sparkly pink paislee glitter alphas, cute little Maya Road Pink Pearl Trinket Pins, those addictive little sets of Kaisercraft Pearls and, one of my favorites, the Prima Flutter Vines!

So go for a little stroll through the store... you never know what fabulous scrappy goodness you might find hiding in there... we are constantly updating our inventory!!

Mini Album

I love making mini albums.  They are such a fun way to document a fun little idea.

I don't know about you, but I can't really remember the rooms of my house growing up.  I have some photos of them, with people in them of course, but not of bedrooms and not of the whole room on its own.  So I was thrilled when Flamingo Scraps got the Maya Road Mini Coaster Skinny House album.

I used the new Pink Paislee Queen Bee line to alter the pages.  The colors and patterns blend effortlessly and, since they are neutral, they don't detract from the photos.

I also used lots of Webster's Pages trims, Prima flowers and E-line bling and bits of Maya Road chipboard from the Mini Scroll album.  I think it will be fun, years from now, to look back and see what the house looked like.

Hope you have fun with your next project.

Hugs.

Nancy