"Marching" into March...

Happy March! There's nothing like a good scrapbooking crop and challenges to get my creative juices flowing, and this weekend, Shimelle is hosting one over at her blog:

It was just the boost I needed to get started on my March Counterfeit kit! The first challenge I took was the older photos/monochromatic challenge. I used all the yellows in my March kit, plus several neutrals, such as gray, black, and white. (ps-I love yellow and gray together! Reminds me of sunshine breaking through the clouds!)  Here is my layout:

I layered up a bunch of the journaling cards, washi, a frame, a couple of diecuts from my scraps bin, and a few cameras cut from the Amy Tangerine camera paper from my kit, flipped the green chipboard stars over, and inked them with charcoal American Crafts ink (that's actually why you notice a couple of smudges on my page, I tried to put them down before they were fully dry-oops!). I also glittered a wood veneer camera from my kit, and stamped a few of the stamps with the AC charcoal, as well. I love it, smudges and all, because it records a moment in my life that I actually haven't documented yet-my high school graduation. And it does it in a rather unexpected way, by telling what I thought my life was going to be like at that time, and how it is much richer and better now than I could have dreamed. Bonus:I got a great start on my March stash kit! We'd love to have you join us over at the Counterfeit Kit challenge blog!

Scrapbook Stamping Saturday...Fun with Ombre ink!

I have had this fantastic new ombre ink

for a few weeks now, and I thought it would be just the right motivation to start my Saturday Scrapbook Stamping back up with!
 I also had some pretty scraps from a previous counterfeit kit, some fun border Stickers from my May add-on kit, Buttons and Bows, and this is how it all came together for me:

The ombre inks worked beautifully with some large flower stamps for layering, and just added the perfect touch of pizzazz to the layout. I layered several of the border stickers in the center of the page, over the join of the papers.
The stamping:

All Layered Up:

I got a little bit of ink on my finger while stamping, which I promptly smudged on my layout:

Which is why I decided to stamp the three small butterflies on the upper left side! What do you think? Good enough for a cover up?

Sharing my homework...Wilna's Art And Design Class

This class was one of my favorite classes related to scrapbooking that I have ever taken! For any one that missed the original run of it on Big Picture Classes old website, she is now offering it in her shop, iheartstudio . I felt it was well worth the cost of admission, just for the cut files, much less the wonderful inspiration and instruction! Here are a few more of my pages inspired by the class, click on "Wilna's Art and Design" in my category tab to see more:

I fussy cut the "Primeval Whirl" title from an actual photo that I took of the sign. I painted the smear across the page with Gelatos, and the "Awesome" was a cut file from the class. I know that every time I use Gelatos, I think of Wilna, and her videos for 2Peas, because I never would have discovered them if not for that.

A couple of embellishment close ups:

The "windows were also a cut file offered up in the class, and I had such fun scrapping once forgotten photos from my honeymoon, and filling the grid up with little bits of loveliness from a past counterfeit kit, such as these fun stamped and painted mixed media embellishments:

I love the tiny textured treasures on this page. The stamped cork and canvas really adds a fun bit of texture to the page!

Saturday Scrapbook Stamping: Inspired by Wilna/Stamping With Mist

I am still feeling very inspired by Wilna Furstenberg as I prepare for today's edition of Saturday Scrapbook Stamping. This page was inspired by a layout that she did for her Art and Design workshop at the old Big Picture classes. My page is a little different from Wilna's, but I did want to share what inspired me to get started and go in this direction. I am also using some of the cut files that she included in the class downloads (the die cut title and light bulbs).

This will be an adventure, as I have never stamped with mist before. Won't you come and learn with me?

I started by spraying mist from my April kit into a styro plate:

 I then selected some stamps-Tim's stamp set should give just the grungy look I want:

And inked it up. As you can see, the mist pooled quite heavily in some areas:

So I stamped a few times before inking again, and repeated across the center of the page:

I liked the look at this point, but felt like it needed a bit more. So, I dripped the remainder of the mist onto the page:

And this is how it looked when I was finished:

I still wanted a bit more variation, so I gave it a quick shot of mist from about 12 inches above for a fine mist, and then took the nozzle out of the bottle to make few more small drips and splatters with the straw:

 *WARNING! Spraying from high above it did cause the mist to over spray my craft mat a little bit!

I liked it at this point, so I let it dry while I did my die cutting, and then mounted it to a sheet of black and white cardstock from my kit:

Now I decided to have a bit of a play with my homemade texture paste:

I wanted it to be yellow, so I dumped some homemade yellow mist (I thought I dumped too much, but it turned out about right):

I mixed it up and added a spritz of Gold Lame as well:

Then I put the light bulbs on the page where I wanted them to be:

And picked them up one cluster at a time, and added a thick layer of the colored paste:

And then set the cut files on top of the paste. After they dried a bit, I pressed them down into the paste a little bit more:

I die cut the title out of a light yellow cardstock scrap, but it was too light, so I decided to mist it with my homemade mist:

There, I like it better already!

I added my photo (after rounding the corners and doing an offset mat on two PL cards from my kit), some scraps, some of the yellow vellum hearts, and some of the black sequins, and a few dabs of Paper Glaze where the light bulbs hadn't adhered completely, adhered the title, and came up with a fun, artsy page, very much inspired by Wilna, that used quite a few bits from my kit, and stamping in a different sort of way!

I hope I inspired you to break out your stamps today!

Scrapbook Stamping Saturday...Background Stamping in a Line

I'm back for another edition of Scrapbook Stamping! Today, I am focusing on adding stamps to my background to add texture to my page. Specifically, stamping in a line on the background of my page.
I started with one of the simpler patterns from my April kit and used all of the ampersand stamps from my kit to stamp a pattern in a line:





And then I took most of the diecut ampersands from the kit (all were cut files from Wilna's Art and Design class) and layered them on top of the row of stamping:



And added lines of ribbons and washi for my page

And here is my completed (STAMPED!) page:

 And I have to say, it makes me feel really good to use my stamps on my pages. I am using them instead of just collecting them!  The Easter Eggs and "Happy Easter" were also stamped, using some Studio G Easter stamps:



Thanks for stopping by, I will be back on the 20th with a special post for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog. You don't want to miss it!

Saturday Scrapbook Stamping: Adding Stamping in Through Layering

Welcome back for another edition of Saturday Scrapbook Stamping. Last week I took the week off for my "Forgeries on the Fourth" post, but I am back to stamping on my scrapbook pages today. One of my favorite ways to use stamps on a scrapbook page is to use them as a layering piece. For this page, I am using my April Fantastic & Fabulous kit, and the background sheet that I made with my homemade texture paste last week. I started with a sketch from My Scraps and More (they are having a fun sketch-a-thon this month!):

There was an additional challenge to "add mist, paint, spray, or ink to your page". So, it was perfect for stamping and using my page with the homemade texture paste! I started my page by layering some strips of paper on the background. I chose a stamp from my kit that was versatile, funky enough for my bright paper choices, but a simple enough shape to use a couple of times. I pulled out my much loved black Staz-On, and stamped right over the paper strips:

 I stamped on opposing sides of the page, using the stamp in place of the circle element of the page:

And then, just started adding in other decorative bits like washi tape and a journaling card in place of the frame:

I finished it all off with a sprinkling of other small embellishments from my kit, like the vellum punched hearts, Sparklers in the center of the stamped flowers to help them stand out, and a tiny bit of sequins and bling in my clusters:

So, there you have it. I think the bright colors and scribbly stamped flowers suit my child of the eighties layout very well! Be sure to come back next week for more Scrapbook Stamping on Saturday!

Saturday Scrapbook Stamping: Using Stamps To Enhance your Backgrounds

I  am back, as promised, to share what I am doing with my stamp-inspired kit. I have decided to use the stamp set included in the kit in several ways to enhance my layout. The first way I am using my stamps is to create butterfly embellishments by stamping the butterfly stamp in several various colors.

Adirondack Sunset Orange:

After I would stamp a few, I would use my trusty favorite (baby wipes) for stamping to clean my stamp before moving on to the next color:

I stamped in several colors, but my favorite was one of my oldest ink pads, VersaColor Raspberry (at least 13 years old and still super juicy!):

After I stamped several butterflies in several colors, I fussy cut them, and moved on to my background paper. The plan was to enhance the paper and create movement across the page with Walnut Stain Distress ink:

I started in the adjacent corners, making sure to stamp over the edge:

Next, I wanted to enhance the stamping with some splatters of Mr. Huey's:

I let it dry, and then it was just a matter of putting it all together:

I also added pearls to enhance the stamped flow across the page:

I love the feeling of texture and movement, and it was great fun using my stamps and inks on a scrapbook page!