tuesday...Distressed Background Video Tutorial

Good Morning! It has been a little while since I post here! 

Life, work and kids have kept me busy BUT I'm out for the summer and I worked on a distressed card last night! I ended up recording it and would like to share with you.

Here's my card:

and below is the Tutorial Video on how to make your own distressed background paper:

(You can also watch on YouTube if you prefer.)

Don't forget to Follow me here on the blog and on YouTube!

Have a great day!

monday...Our Daily Bread Designs June Release

Welcome to Our Daily Bread Designs June Release and Blog Hop!

This month's release is perfect for those masculine cards that everyone finds so hard to make, specially with Father's Day around the corner! This month also features a few summer sentiments and stamps for those happy-go-lucky summer days! Check out the full release on the Our Daily Bread Designs Blog today!

Three randomly selected winners will each receive a $25 gift certificate to the ODBD Store, to be used toward the purchase of ODBD Stamps found in the "stamps column" of the website just for commenting on the Design Team cards! You have until June 2, 2015 at 9:00 p.m. EDT to leave your comments on the Designers Blogs for a chance to win! The Winners will be posted on the ODBD Blog on June 3rd, so be sure to check back there to see if you won!

Here's my first card:

ODBD Products: World's Greatest, Workshop Tools Die, Pegboard and Hooks Die, Vintage Ephemera Collection

I just love these new tool dies! They look so realistic and the possibilities are endless! I kept this card fairly simple but did a few paper tearing and layering to add some depth. For the tools, I added Glossy Accents to the handles to make them look more realistic.

and here's a close up at the tools:


My second card is a bright and cheery card!

ODBD Products: Hello Sunshine, Sunburst Background Die, Asters and Leaves Die, Fancy Foliage Die

For this one I used the new Sunburst Background Die and fun new sentiment! I added a bright flower from the Asters and Leaves Die and finished it off with a few pearls scattered throughout the card.

Here's a close up of the card:


Here are the NEW Products that I used for these two cards:

For more inspiration and a chance to win, please visit the rest of the talented ODBD designers:

Julie * Cathy * Lori * Sandee * Dawn * America * Amy * Chris * Grace * Sabrina
* Angie * Lisa * Silke * Audrey * Wanda * Loretta

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day!

wednesday...April ODBD and OWH

Quick post to share with you my take on April's Our Daily Bread Design Challenge by Operation Write Home. This month's theme is masculine card and I just got a new (to me!) Our Daily Bread Designs stamp that is perfect for masculine cards!

Here's what I came up with:

I stamped and lightly colored the image with Prismacolor Pencils and blended them with OMS. I used a bunch of layers and inked the edges for a distressed, masculine look. I finally added some twine and two small brown circles as embellies to the bottom right corner and called it finished!

I love how it turned out and I'm so loving this new stamp! Here's one last look at my card:


Thanks for stopping by today and come back soon! Have a great day!

saturday...masculine anchor card

Hi everyone, welcome back! I have a masculine card to share with you.


I recently received my order from Our Daily Bread Designs and I had to use this awesome anchor stamp that I got from them! I love it already as it's awesome for masculine cards, which I know most people struggle with (I'm one of those!).


I colored the image with Prismacolors and blended them with OMS. I distressed and layered the papers to make it look 'rugged'.


I used a variety of Heartfelt Creations dies to embellish the card. I used the gears and the chain dies as well as leaves to add a bit of green into this card. I added an anchor charm at the end of the paper die cutter chain (this was so easy to do!).

I'm entering this card to these challenges:
ODBDSLC232 Anything Goes
Dies R Us Challenge #23-Masculine Card

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a blessed rest of the weekend!

tuesday...Heartfelt Creations September Alumni Hop

Welcome everyone to my blog for the Heartfelt Creations September Alumni Blog Hop!

Be sure to leave a comment on all the participating blogs. One participant will be chosen to receive a $25 Gift Certificate. The more you comment the more entries you get into the random draw! Be sure the check the Winner Announcement on Sat, October 04. If you win, please send an email to Emma Lou and write "Winner of September Alumni Hop" in the subject line.

Hop ends on Friday, October 03 at midnight.


This design is based on the Swirlydoos September Sketch and I used the Sun Kissed Paper Collection from Heartfelt Creations. The colors were perfect for this sweet picture of my son and I when he was just 2 months old!

Here's the sketch:


and here are some close ups of the layout:

I made the flowers with the new Arianna Blooms PreCut Set and it's coordinating die. This was my first time working with them and I have to say that I found a new favorite flower from Heartfelt Creations! You can do so much with them! Of course, I distressed them and made them vintage for my layout.


The little sign on the paper was perfect to add my title with the tiny BoBunny alphas. A few more distressed blooms and a butterfly finish this area.


I used quite a few layers of papers (all from the same collection minus the black and white stripe paper) for this layout. I wanted a masculine but shabby layout to reflect both my son and I. I added some journaling right below the pictures to remember this day in which my son was extra snugly.


Here's one last look at the layout!

Here are the Heartfelt Creations products that I used on my layout:

Thanks for visiting and taking your time to comment on my blog!

Your next stop is: Candy Slabaugh

Here's the blog hop order in case you get lost:
Vicki Dutcher - http://allidoisstamp.blogspot.com/2014/09/heartfelt-creations-september-alumni-hop.html
Giovana Smith : http://giovana-believe.blogspot.com/2014/09/heartfelt-creations-september-alumni.html
Glenda Brooks - http://glendabrooks.blogspot.com/2014/09/heartfelt-creations-september-alumni.html
Cibele Glazer http://flowerfoot.blogspot.com/2014/09/september-heartfelt-creations-alumni-dt.html
Selma Stevenson http://selmasstampingcorner.blogspot.com/
Amarilys Doria-http://amadrian8.blogspot.com/2014/09/tuesdayheartfelt-creations-september.html
Candy Slabaugh http://candyscreationsblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/september-heartfelt-creations-alumni.html
Alissa Wells http://willrunforstamps.blogspot.com/2014/09/one-in-million-heartfelt-creations.html
Lisa Gregory http://what-a-beautiful-mess.blogspot.com/2014/09/heartfelt-creations-alumni-september.html
Debbie Seyer http://www.debbieseyer.com/my_weblog/heartfelt-creations/
Sarah Miller: http://plainandfancypapercrafts.blogspot.com/2014/09/heartfelt-creations-september-alumni-hop.html
Mary Faus http://merrymstamper.blogspot.com/2014/09/heartfelt-creations-alumni-dt-sept.html
Tesa Broman http://tesasscrap.blogspot.com
Lisa Allen-http://toddandlisacreations.blogspot.com/2014/09/heartfelt-creations-september-alumni.html

friday...Swirlydoos October Kit Layout #5

Happy Friday and 1st of November! November is so hectic for us since my hubby and my cousin's birthdays are on the 7th and my brother-in-law's birthday and my birthday is on the 8th! This month, we also have my mother-in-law's birthday and my little cousin's birthday and to top it off, Thanksgiving is also this month! Do you also have one of those months that are so hectic you feel like you barely have time to take a deep breath!?

Well, anyway, let me not get ahead of myself! Today I'm sharing a masculine layout that I made using the Swirlydoos October Kit, The Sweetest Thing.

The picture is of my hubby with his cowboy hat earlier this year. He was in a good mood so I took advantage and took a few pictures!

It has been a while since I've shared a new sketch so, here's a brand new sketch from me!

Here are some close ups of my work:

To pull off a masculine layout with this kit, i first pulled all the neutral papers and embellies aside so I could choose what I wanted to use. I used the distressed wooden pattern paper as the background because that screamed masculine to me. I distressed all the layers of papers and used burlap and corrugated cardboard to add a bit more ruggedness to my layout. 

Of course, i had to use flowers on my layout but I used these neutral, distressed flowers with a pop of the yellow flowers for added color as my embellies. I also added some distressed leaves as well.


Here's a close up of one of the corrugated cardboard that I added to the layout. I painted it with white acrylic paint and distressed it with Vintage Photo distress ink.

These little chipboard pieces are the leftovers from the birdcages. I inked them and added them to the layout to look like chevron arrows.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Have a wonderful weekend!

saturday...Masculine Card Set with HC stamps

I hope that you are all having a great weekend! Spring has definitely arrived here in Orlando, Fl! It has been raining for 3 days now but I do see the sun trying to peek through!

Today I have a set of masculine cards that I made because, well, you can never have too many masculine cards with a family of 5 brothers between my hubby and I! I have always had a hard time working on masculine cards and even layouts but I've noticed that as I do them more often, it comes easier!


I used Heartfelt Creation's latest release-Sweet Serenity Collection! Did I mention that i loved this release? It's so versatile! So far, I've made pretty girly layouts (you can see them HERE and HERE) but I'm working on an Easter card for next week and now I made these very masculine set of cards. I used the Tranquil Evening PreCut Set and the Natural Beauty PreCut Set for these cards. I used the same design and just changed up the stamped image, which I stamped on light brown cardstock.


Here's a close up of one of these cards. I left them blank so I can use them for pretty much anything. I added some greenery, a blue button and a die cut cardboard star. I inked and machine stitched everything to give it a cohesive masculine look. I just love how they came out!

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow as I'll be sharing another one of my Use you Scraps layouts. You don't want to miss this one! :)

tuesday...background and flower tutorial (Tim Holtz)

Hi and welcome back! As promised, today I will show you how I made the background using only scraps and the flowers using Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.

Like most scrappers, there comes a time where you feel overwhelmed by all the scraps left over by the projects that you have created! Well, I think I hit that point (AGAIN!)!

You see, I've been scrapping since 2003 and have served in a quite a few DTs and well, things have accumulated.  I actually do love my 'scrap drawer' and my system for scraps. You see, my scrap drawer is more like 5 drawers and I separate them by color:

RED/PINK/PURPLE
YELLOW/ORANGE/BROWN
BLUE
GREEN
BLACK/WHITE/CREAM

I've been using this method for the longest time and it has worked really well for me!

Well, the other day I noticed that I was having a hard time closing and opening these drawers so I thought it was about time to do a little spring cleaning and use up those scraps!

Yesterday's layout is my first layout using said scraps. Here it is in case you missed it:

(You can read all about it HERE)


For the background  I went through my BLUE and BROWN scraps drawer and pulled a few larger than 3x3 pieces of coordinating papers. I trimmed them down and distressed them with my Distrezz-it-All.


I then used the TH applicator and distressed all the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.


Afterwards, I just adhered each 3"x3" square on a scraps white cardstock (I had cut out smaller squares for a card a few days earlier). I lifted the edges a bit to add dimension and that was it! I now had a unique background to work with!


Here's a close up of the background.

For the flowers:

Step 1. Die cut the flowers using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals using denim and cardboard (these are the boxes that I get my DT stuff in every month). You will get two of each flower in two different materials.


Step 2. Distress with Vintage Photo distress ink the corrugated flowers.


Step 3. Layer them using a cardboard flower and the same type of flower in denim and so on. I held them together using a mini brad (remember those?).


Step 4. Add a Prima wooden button and a thin hemp cord bow.

I hope that you enjoyed these two quick tutorials!