Farewell Post by Tonya Gibbs

Wow - I can't believe it has been a year already. Where has the time gone?  Honestly, I feel like I just started this creative journey.   I've enjoyed sharing with you guys each week, and I've made a lot of amazing friendships during this past year. My team mates are some of the world's most talented, and what an honor to serve next to them.  Marion is an amazing person, and I'm so happy that I can call her my friend!  Thank you for this awesome opportunity, and I look forward to future endeavors!

As my final project share, I thought I would create a masculine layout of my nephew and his first grade teacher.  I'm using pieces from Never Grow Up, Motley, Garment District and Nirvana in today's layout!

It is so fun to mix and match your collections to create the perfect project.   I love that all of Marion's lines coordinate so well! 

I have prepared a process video showing you how I made this layout!

Here are my projects from the past year.

It has been such an amazing year.  I've made some amazing friendship!  Thanks for all your comments, feedback, and love!  Let's stay in connected!  Follow the link to my blog and subscribe to all my social media outlets. 

Thanks for stopping in today, 

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomoms.com 

Resources for Today's Layout Share:

• Marion Smith Designs: Nirvana - Documented
• Marion Smith Designs:  Never Grow Up Never Never
• Marion Smith Designs: Never Grow Up Treasure Map
• Marion Smith Designs: Never Grow Up Wild & Free
• Marion Smith Designs: Never Grow Up Sleep Over
• Marion Smith Designs: Never Grow Up Self Portrait
• Marion Smith Designs: Motley Anthology
• Ranger Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Refill Black Soot
• Studio Calico:  Wood Veeners  Arrows, Speech Bubbles
• Glitz Designs: Glitter Tape
• Tim Holtz: Idea-O-logy - tissue tape
• Washi Tape
• Sizzix Tim Holtz  Alterations Block Talk
• 7Gypsies Postale Alphabet Stickers
• Plus Decorative Roller Stamp - Filmstrip
• Die-Versions Wee Petites - Super Stars
• Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft® Stamper's Big Brush Artist Pens - Black #199
• Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft® Essential PITT Artist Pens BLACK SX
• Faber-Castell PITT Soft Chisel Pen
• Cosmo Cricket - Gold Glitter Paper
• We Are Memory Keepers - Cinch Square Holes

Rosebud tutorial - by Tonya Gibbs

I just love making my own flowers. It is something I've been doing for years.  It feels amazing to showcase a beautiful piece of art and be able to say "and I made the flowers".  For me this just makes the piece a true masterpiece.  

  

A few weeks ago I had a request for a rosebud tutorial. So today, I want to share with you how I created these rosebuds that I used on the Marion Smith Designs and Glue Dots® blog hop last week. 

 

STEP 1:
For my Rosebuds I used Marion's Large Rose Die.  For a smaller bud, you may want to try Marion's small Rosebud die.  For the paper I used paper from a cheap Sketch Pad.   I colored the paper with Tattered Angels Sunshine before die-cutting the flower petals.

STEP 2:

To create a rosebud you need the 1" Glue Dot, 1 of each petal shape on the die, some floral tape, and a wire as long as you want your stems to be.   

STEP 3:

Cut your glue dot in half

STEP 4:

Overlap your petals slightly with the larger petal on the left, and apply your half Glue Dot  to the base. These glue dots are super strong and very sticky.

STEP 5: 

Place about 1/2 inch of your wire in the middle of the glue dot. 

STEP 6:

Begin rolling  your petal from the Right to the left into a cone shape.

This is how your rosebud will look. 

STEP 7:

Use some tweezers or a toothpick to roll down the outer petals to form your rose shape.

STEP 8: 

Spritz your floral tape with water to activate the glue on the tape.  

STEP 9:

Begin wrapping your tape around the base of your flower concealing the base of the rosebud, and the wire.  Continue to twist the tape down the wire. 

Your final rosebud should look like this. 

Look at how gorgeous these buds look wrapped in this floral spray.

   I have a tutorial for the Roses on my blog. You can check it out here. 

I hope you have fun making these rosebuds. If you do, please share your projects with us in social media by using the #MarionSmithDesigns  #BloomImpressionDies


Thanks for stopping in today.
Tonya Gibbs
http://www.psychomoms.com

Nirvana Mini Album by Tonya Gibbs

 

 

WOW this mini is jammed tight with lots of Marion Smith Design Products, and tons of techniques.  Yep - I'm still on a gold kick and wait until you see how these gold accents really bring this album to life.  I used the Nirvana Collection, scraps from several digital kits, Junque & Gems, all of  Marion's stamps, Marion's Dies, Bloom Impression Tool and some of the resin pieces on this mini.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Over the last few months, I've shared several tutorials that have led to the making of this mini.

Last week  I shared a tutorial on creating flowers with Marion's new Bloom Impression Tool.  This flower uses the Bloom Tool & Marion's Large Rose Petal Die, and Leaves & Stamens Die.  

 

 

A few weeks ago,  I shared how I made a Garden Mother's Day card, and used that same technique to create the section hinges.  and the pockets on the inside cover.

Here are a few of my favorite spreads

 

 

 

In January I shared with you  Wooden Ticket tutorial. I think these little tickets look awesome with your embellishment clusters.

Here is a complete walk through video of this little mini so you can see each page!

If you missed those other posts, I hope you  get to take a peek soon.

Thanks for stopping in today
Tonya Gibbs
http://www.psychomoms.com

Bloom Impression Tool Tips by Tonya Gibbs

Hi everyone, I'm so excited to bring you a few tips and techniques for using Marion's new Bloom Impression Tool.  Look at at these beautiful flowers you can make in just a few minutes.

I thought I would share a few tips beyond Marion's already amazing video tutorial. In today's tutorial we will make the flower on the right. However, the flower on the left follows the same steps, just a different petal shape.

Remember these simple things before getting started. 

• Papers 20lb - 80lb  work best.  The flower being demonstrated below is made from 80lb white cardstock paper with no texture.  The flower above on the left was made from standard 20lb copy paper.    If your paper is too thick then it will be difficult for the paper to shape.
• Paper should not be too wet!  It simply needs to be lightly misted. Thicker papers may require more moisture than thinner papers.  If the paper is too thin and too wet, it may rip when using the tool.
• For both flowers above I used Marion's New Bloom Impression Dies



Here are the steps.  Since Marion has already done a video tutorial, I thought I would do a written tutorial with my special tips. 



1. Start with 5 large petals, 5 small petals, 2 leaves,  7 stamens  (6 colored the desired stamen color and 1 colored the same as your flower color)
2. Mist your hand with water or your favorite watercolor spray.  By spraying your hand you will avoid excess moisture on your petals. Wetting the paper loosens the starches in the paper and allows the paper to be more pliable. When the paper dries, the starches help to keep the shape of your petal.   Too much moisture will cause the paper to rip.  The petal should be cool to the touch.  If the paper is soaked it will rip in the tool. It may take some practice getting the right ratio.  I have found 1 spray with a fine mist is perfect.   
3. Pat the petal in you palm rotating it to saturate both sides.
4. Place the petal over the hole of the bottom of the tool, I made sure mine went all the way to the rim of the acryclic. It is ok if the petal is over the edge a bit. 

5. Carefully place the top onto the petal pressing it firmly in place.
6. twist the tool back and forth 2 times is enough.
7. open the cap to see the bowl shaped petal
8. This is a look at the smaller petal (You can see a gap around the edges - this ok)  Repeat steps 5-7

9. Here is the shape of the smaller petal after twisting the tool.
10. This is a close up of the larger petal after twisting the tool.  You can see a side by side comparison of how the two have different size petals yield a different shape using the same technique.
11. Repeat steps 2-7 until all 10 petal shapes have been molded.
12. Use the stamen that is your flower color to build out your first base. I used hot glue for the sake of time, but a quick dry wet glue can be used instead.

13. Place a small amount of glue on one arm of the stamen, and place your large flower so that the cup barrels outward.
14. This is how your first flower petal will look.  If you prefer you can place the stamen to the inside of the flower rather the outside.  This would give a cleaner look to the bottom of your flower.  The stamen will be invisible when the flower is complete.
15. Overlap your next petal gluing it at the base
16. Continue until all 5 large petals have been glued into place. Slightly overlapping one top of the other. 

17. To start the inside row, off set your first petal between two petals on the back row. 
18. Continue layering the next petal slightly overlapping the first until all 5 small petals have been added.
19. I used Copic marker Y32 to color my remaining stamens, I colored 6 or 7 for the next step. 
20. Adhere your first stamen flat to the inside of your flower shape.  This will offer a nice base for your stamen cluster. 

21. Gather the petals of the stamen in the center and apply a small amount of glue to the back of the stamen (BE VERY CAREFULL IF YOU ARE USING HOT GLUE)
22. Add the Next stamen on top of the glue
23. Repeat steps 21 - 22 until the desired thickness of your flower center is achieved.
24. The stamens now look like a cluster.

25. Add your stamen cluster on top of the flat stamen inside your flower center.
26. You can leave the center alone, or dress it up a bit more with a pearl, rhinestone, piece of jewelry or a button. Be creative and make your flowers unique.   I used a pale yellow rhinestone (basically because I have tons in my stash that never seem to get used.  I made it match the stamens better by coloring it with the Green Gold PITT Artist Pen #268.
27. Cup your leaves the same way you did your petals in steps 2 -  9. 
28. This is how the leaves look when you remove them from the bowl.

29. Place the cupped shape over the bottom of your flower. Make sure you can see the leaves when the flower is turned over. You may have to glue it close to the edge.  
30. I like to include a few petals for better composition and have them overlap like we did the flower petals. 

Here is a glimpse at the finished flower.   Top and side view. 

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It really is super easy to create flowers now using this tool.  I look forward to sharing additional flower tutorials with you soon.   I have a few ideas for different techniques.    

Did you hear that the tool is now available at Scrapbook.com?  Get your's while supplies last!  

If you have this tool, we would love to see the flowers you create   #MarionSmithDesigns or #BloomImpressionTool in your social media outlets. 

If you have any other questions or need more info on this tool, please leave them in the comments, and a DT member will try and get back with you.  

Thanks for stopping in today,

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomoms.com

DESIGN TEAM CALL REMINDER:   - deadline for submissions is May 30, 2014. Here is the link with all the details!

Full of Wonder Mixed Media Layout by Tonya Gibbs

Hi everyone, I hope you're having an awesome week so far.  Today I'm sharing a mixed media layout of my niece Emily. I recently took this photo at Easter and the expression on her face is so precious. She's just oozing with sweetness.   I thought that the tag on the right from Marion's Mad Tea Party Collection said it all "Wonder, For the Curious At Heart the Wanderous Mind, and the Adventurous Soul"

I decided on Marion's Motley Collection  & Junque & Gems, because there are so many elements that can be fussy cut from this collection. The festive color palette was perfect for my sweet Emily! 

I used scraps from recent projects, and took this opportunity to fussy cut the elements that could be used as stand alone pieces  then cut banners from the rest. This is a great way to eliminate scraps.  Individually these small elements seem insignificant, but when clustered together, they really make a statement.

 

I used a neutral baby blue paper for the background, and then applied a few mixed media techniques to give it texture and depth.   I stuck with the hot pink tones so that my photo would really pop.  

I'm seriously in LOVE with Gold right now, and decided to spray paint some generic paper doilies with Krylon's Metalic Gold Spray Paint.  I love how they look inside my embellishment clusters, and the gold matches this collection perfectly! 

I placed my title in the bottom left hand corner inside another embellishment cluster. Her eyes were so bright in the photo I decided to include that reference in my title   "Blue Eyes Full of Wonder".  The title card was part of Mairon's Scarlet Digital collection.   

We would love to see what you have created with Marion's gorgeous lines. Don't forget to #MarionSmithDesigns when you share your Marion Smith Designs Projects in Social Media.  

Thanks for stopping in today. 

Tonya Gibbs

http://www.psychomoms.com 

DESIGN TEAM CALL REMINDER:   - deadline for submissions is May 30, 2014. Here is the link with all the details!