Natural Beauty

 For the Random Day Giveaway click HERE

 This is my entry for the Blue Fern March Sketch Challenge. I used the new Swirlydoos kit Ballad which had these gorgeous papers from Blue Fern Studio's Timeless collection. 

 

This is the first time I have scrapped a soft photo with a dark background. I am still weighing in on how I feel about it. This gorgeous young lady is one of my daughter Ashley's best friends Kelly. I did some pages for her engagement album. Now I  plan on doing a few from the wedding.

The kit also came with these gorgeous Finnibair  mechanical hearts! Had to use a couple! The background is simply done with a layer of clear gesso covered with some molding paste and one of my favorite stencils Art is. I then just dripped two different colors of mist across the script and sprayed some water. I  used Shimmerz coloringz in princess and punked up purple. 

This is a Blue Fern chippie Flutter Medley done with various colors of embossing powder. It didn't quite stand out enough so I went over it with a soft gloss. Again you can see a mechanical heart and a flair from Lemoncraft. You can also see the new rubons and foils from Prima Marketing, I am absolutely in love with these and will be investing in more rubons and different colors of foil! They were an absolute joy to use!

A chippie from Prima and some blooms finish off the page. A few splatters of both color and gesso were added to the background to soften the black.

This is the sketch I used from Blue Fern Studios

And I am also entering this in the Challenge with instructions over on the Swirlydoo site.

I apologize if my blogging today seems fragmented. It has been a very difficult time for my family and I. Please bear with me.

Also don't forget to enter my Random Giveaway before it's too late!

All the best! :)

Random Day Giveaway

 Good morning!! I have been trying to de-clutter my scrap space these past  few weeks  and have come  across many things I won't use. I've decided if it's been in my room for more than two years it's going up for grabs. So welcome to the first of several Random Day Giveaways.

This is the first prize pack up for grabs. It contains the following:

10 sheets of We R Memory Keepers papers-Chalkboard

one matching sticker sheet from the Chalkboard collection

MMe DecorativeFrames

Thickers Alphas Amy Tangerine

Say it in Crystals from Prima

Flowers from Prima

12 by 12 Stencil from Prima 

7 by 7 stencil from Prima

And to win is easy!! 

All you have to do is

1. Become a fllower of my blog

2. Leave me a comment below!
3. If you share this on FB you get an extra entry!

That's it that's all. I will draw the lucky winner on April 5th!

Good Luck and have a Great Day!! :)

It's that time again at More Than Words for A Challenge.

And here it is!

This is my submission:

My layout is entitled Bliss . For the word inspiration I wanted to show what bliss means to me. Being by the water has always brought me a sense of peace and tranquility. To be able to experience these two things together is pure  Bliss for me. That is why I live in this small northern town, because it is very close to the water. I could never afford to own a home on the water but that's what dreams are for!

A few quick close-ups

I used gesso on my background to both lighten the work area as well as provide a good medium to hold my mists. I also used Gesso to primer all my Disty Attic pieces.

More Dusty Attic and some Petaloo flowers. I used several different Maya Design papers for this from the Nyhaven, Coffee in the Arbour, Enjoying the Outdoors, Ska vi ta en Fika? & It's Christmas Time Collections.

I did the usual heat embossing on the chipboard and the page as well as some stamping.

I used the following:

Our Main Challenge is based on a Word Inspiration & a Creative Challenge.

This challenge is open to layouts, canvases and art journal pages only.

Word Inspiration - BLISS

Creative Challenge - GESSO

What does the word BLISS inspire you to create?

You can choose to use the word somewhere on your project or to simply be inspired by it. Please explain in your blog post how the word inspired you
if it's not already obvious.

For our creative challenge this month, we want you to use GESSO on your project.

Chances are you have a bottle of gesso on your craft table, ready to be dipped into when it's crafty time! Be it white, clear, black or any other colour, light or thick, smooth or textured, we want to see you incorporate it in your creative process. Try it on your background, chipboard, embellishments or however you desire! If you don't have any ready-made gesso, you can even make your own!

(Google 'handmade gesso recipe' and you will find numerous alternatives!)

It's 'prime' time to get crafty!!

VERY IMPORTANT!!!  You have to incorporate both parts of the challenge, the word inspiration & the creative challenge, on your project to be eligible to win.  When we vote, we specifically look for projects that display BOTH requirements, and not just the creative challenge. Just look at our DT members' interpretation as example.

Remember that you must include our board image
and a link to our blog in your entry post.  

Please check out our RULES!  

And here are our awesome

All our prizes include international postage!

MAIN CHALLENGE WINNER

a $50 USD prize package from COLOUR BLAST

(exactly as shown below)

Here is more information about our 1st place sponsor this month:

"Colour Blast is an Australian based manufacturing company that produces a range of mixed media products for the paper craft industry. Our products have been developed with lots of colour and shimmer in mind - because we believe that is what all paper crafters love! Our products are sold wholesale to scrapbooking and paper craft shops throughout Australia and New Zealand."

Next, 4 runners up will each be awarded a prize as follows:

1st RUNNER UP

a $25 USD prize package from COUTURE CREATIONS

2nd RUNNER UP

a $25 USD gift certificate from THE SCRAPBOOK DIARIES

3rd RUNNER UP

a $25 USD prize package from 7 DOTS STUDIO

(image below is for illustration purposes only)

4th RUNNER UP

a $25 USD prize package from STUDIO 75

In addition, we will draw 1 random winner from all eligible entries!

RANDOM WINNER

a $25 USD store credit from THE DUSTY ATTIC

Each month, we hand pick a winner from all participants who have not made it to our TOP 5, but who has captured our attention someway, somehow. We might pick a project due to its original use of a certain product, the cleverest title, most beautiful photo, etc.  Who knows what we will be looking for?  

That's why we call it our mystery winner!

MYSTERY WINNER

a $25 USD prize package from FABRIKA DECORU

And last, but certainly not least, we will randomly award a prize to 1 lucky blog follower who has commented on any of our March BLOG posts.

LUCKY COMMENTER

a $25 USD store voucher from FLUTTERBY DESIGNS

To learn more about all our generous sponsors, click on the SPONSORS tab above.

We cannot wait to see your interpretation of our 

March BLISS & GESSO challenge!

Link up your project using the LinkyTool in the right sidebar

by March 31st at 11:59 pm EST.

(Please note that you need to share your entry for our main challenge 

via a blog post to be eligible! We unfortunately cannot accept entries 

via Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr or other.)

See you there! All the best!! :)