'Grace'ful Daisy

In November, we lost our beloved Saint Bernard, Daisy, to stomach cancer. Many of you may recognize Daisy - she has been featured in some projects here for Authentique Paper.

And she frequently tried to art direct me while making them.

When it came time to set her free, the staff at the hospital made a cast of her paw. I've wanted to do something with it, to create some way to remember my special girl. I finally was ready this month, and I chose Authentique's new "Grace" line.

Daisy was not graceful by any means. But her personality was sunny and warm and lovely. 

I love the color combinations in this collection. Lots of pinks and greens and an awesome carmel - or Saint Bernard - brown. Look closely and you'll see the edges of the papers are all torn and inked to enhance the distressed look of the paper - the paper has a great weight to it that stands up to all kinds of tearing, sanding and inking.

Look even closer, and you'll see the letter "D" is covered with a piece of "Grace". Creating your own coordinating chipboard letters is an easy trick! - See my step-by-step below.

Our girl's pawprint sits nicely along with my favorite photo of her. Paper grass edging reminds me of her love of a good roll on the lawn. The tattered rose reminds me of how she would always insist on laying under "her" rose bush, regardless of thorns. The daisies remind me of her sunny, spunky personality, and her weird habit of smelling flowers in the garden!

In January we adopted Loki, a two year old Saint Bernard. He's fitting in quite nicely and is already trying to "help" me in my crafting corner. I'm sure he'll be featured on something very soon. 

In the meantime, I thought I'd share how to make your own coordinating chipboard letters so you can enjoy customizing your projects and layouts, and find a great way to use up those odds and ends!

~

Custom Letters in 4 Easy Steps!

I have tons of chipboard letters for paper collections that have been completely used up. So I started turning them into matchable letters to go along with whatever papers I'm using.

It's so easy, are you ready?

Step 1 - Assemble your papers, letters, Glue N Seal, and Xacto knife.

Step 2 - Apply a thin coat of Glue N Seal to the front of each letter and set onto your paper. Remember that the letter's "front" needs to go face-down so you get the paper you want on the front of the letter.

Step 3 - Cut out the letters. I use scissors to do most of the cutting, then use the Xacto knife for the intricate cutting. Don't worry if it's not perfect, because...

Step 4 - Sand the edges of the letters. I use a sanding block, and also an emory board for the tighter spots. 

And there you go! 'Grace'ful letters to go along with the whole collection.

~ Materials Used ~

"Grace" collection from Authentique Paper

"Spun Sugar" and "Victorian Velvet" Distress Inks - Ranger

Glue N Seal - Inkssentials

authentique is "fresh" for june

hello gypsies and happy summer! 

authentique is under way with their color challenge for june. this month's challenge features the colors of their "fresh" collection, and the collection itself! 

i love that authentique's collections all come with 12x12 sticker embellishments. it makes it sooo easy to create. featured is my personal favorite image - the bathing beauty. she's actually featured on the "free" sheet from the collection, and is fancy-cut and inked. 

authentique would love for you to play along!
just use the challenge inspiration to create as many projects as you'd like. a winner will be randomly selected to win an authentique paper prize pack {the more projects you create, the better your chances are of winning!}

i also had the opportunity to feature "fresh" during the authentique&epiphany crafts cross-promotional last week. the epiphany shape tools are really cool and made creating this locket a snap!

i used a pair of epiphany's oval metal charms to create a locket. on the front casing i used the shape studio oval to cut a bit of "fresh" paper and seal it under an oval bubble cap. then i added tiny pearls and a shell, creating a three-dimensional cameo.

 

for the inside of the locket, i cut a tiny bit of text paper from the "fresh" line, inked the edges, added a little sand paint and "life" from the "fresh" miniwords. the phrase "the tiny life" came out accidentally, but it's perfect for this tiny treasure!

the portrait is cut from another piece from "fresh", and is set in an oval bubble cap for added depth. the tiny clam shell is attached with a handmade wire spiral.

thanks for stopping by the caravan today. i'll be gearing up for CHA with authentique, and there will be lots of great surprises coming! so stop by again soon!

10 things i love about you

welcome back gypsies! 

i got a chance to explore my softer, more pastel side recently and i have to say i liked it! the challenge? turn a box of flowery pastel papers and a frame into something memorable. so in the spirit of advent calendars, i created this sweet little way to count up the many ways i love a certain someone. 

the whole frame is painted, first with copper, then picket fence crackle, and then tinted with tumbled glass distress ink to create a patina. then came the flowers - fabric ones, paper ones, and my signature smooshie ones too. corrugated cardboard scraps get a facelift thanks to glimmer mists in turquoise and copper.

10 tiny pockets dressed with pearls, crystals and ribbon. 

each tiny pocket holds a tiny card - 10 tiny places to hide secrets, love notes or tokens.

i hope this romantic fancy strikes your fancy! 

i'll be teaching this as a class at scrapbook island in san jose (408.978.8900) on april 15th. 

smash this!

take one K&Company SMASHjournal, a box of Echo Park papers and some bits and pieces and what do you get? an awesome vintage journal to die for. i received the journal and papers in my design team project box from scrapbook island. never paid much attention to them in the store but now...

 

this is actually the "pretty style" SMASHjournal with the bright pink spine and pen holder. the inside papers are muted and vintage,  so to coordinate better with the mood of the pages, and the Echo Park papers, I covered the spine first thing. then i used "worn lipstick" and "iced spruce" distress inks to bring out the beautiful embossing on the cover. a spritz with "cappuccino" pearl mist add just a little bit of glam - vintage glam that is.

next i divided the book into sections. since this is a project destined to become a store sample, i focused on embellishing the divider pages, instead of trying to make over the whole book. and frankly the papers inside are so cool, it would have been a shame to cover them up. i used SMASHpockets, and SMASHpad notes, and papers, stickers and paper bits from the Echo Park "Times&Seasons" collection. the sticker sheet comes with number flags, which made perfect section dividers.

the final touch was replacing the flamingo pink elastic pen holder with a loop of cream ribbon instead. the pen is a combo pen and glue pen - sweet!

after wrapping up the book, i have to say i'm thinking of getting one for myself! i wasn't impressed with them on the shelf in the store, but after having a chance to play with one i can definitely see the potential for fun, especially for tween and teen girls. this seems custom-made for younger scrappers who want to journal and save keepsakes without the heavy time and craft investment of more traditional scrapbook.

**gypsy disclaimer - i was not compensated for expressing my opinions on this product. and i wasn't invited to offer my opinions either. as always, the gypsy calls it like she sees it.

cabinet of wonders

halloween is coming and it's one of my most inspirational seasons. i can never get enough of vintage rhymes, eclectic keepsakes and random spooOOOookiness.

so what better way to celebrate than to combine my scrapbook island team project box o' joy - containing authentique's "glowing" papers how's that for serendipity - with tim holtz's configurations. the result?
a cabinet of wonders.

each tiny box is a vignette, a story all its own. and each  one features a special technique or discovery inspired by the "spirit" of someone special. can you find them all? tortured block letters, wrappings and rappings, edgar allan poe, potions and quotations, and trappings of woe?

hold on to your coffins gypsies, and away we shall go...

rattling and groaning and scratching at the door...

{i love happy accidents. when i took the heat gun to the 13 to save some time, it bubbled and blistered instead. love this look and i'll to do it on purpose next time.}

haven't we met in the graveyard before?
{the quote on the door is George Bernard Shaw's and as soon as i read it, i knew i needed a project with a skeleton, and a closet. i love how random elements can come together.}

dead man's hand will slowly creep...
{ghastly vapors (made from a not so ghastly cotton ball) pour from the glass bottle. the leering witch is stamped on acrylic and lit by "candlelight". the hand from the grave is a "shaker" box with dirt, bones and gravestone sealed behind a piece of acrylic - cut from the sheet that comes with the configuration.}

skeletons scratching while you sleep... 
the mummy is created by layering cheese cloth over one of the idea-ology "creepy dolls". i was inspired to make something of both "creepy dolls" after doing tim's classes. they just have so much potential! can you spot the smaller doll in disguise? and just to go outside the box, i created a hanging graveyard along with a tavern-inspired black cat to hang at the door.}

you've made it to the end of the road, but you're not out of the woods yet.  
next week i'm starting a new  feature - "technique of the week" - and you get to help choose what the first 'nique will be. choose one of these spookiliscious objects from the cabinet of wonders , post your choice as a comment by 8/28, and the one with the most votes wins!


1) wrapped up mummy
2) witchy votive
3) tortured letter blocks
4) door #13

pretty little things

so now that CHA is done and i can keep my cyber-clothes on (see the last post and you'll understand why you should now feel safe in your own home) it's time to actually create something!

this month's design team project was all about authentique paper's new line "journey". in honor of trips and summer time, i created a suitcase full of memories. i took a stack of paper bags and turned them into a minibook stuffed full of cards, with plenty of room for loose photos and keepsakes.

check out the details - each card features something different. we've got acrylic tags, flocking, "sugaring", ribbon distressing as well as my traditional ripping and inking. all of the cards fit into the chipboard suitcase made from tim holtz's alteration die.

in the center of the minibook is a spread made with one of my favorites from the paper line, a little bit of prima bling, and a tim holtz tissue tape flower.

my favorite card is this one with "sugaring" around the edges, and custom tinted flower ribbon using tim holtz distress ink and ribbon flowers.

look closely at this ocean-inspiring swirl - it's actually flocked! i fell in love with "sparkly fluff" from "our craft lounge, which i came across at last year's scrapbook expo. note the tiny - and real (!) sea star too!

both the tags on the suitcase, and the tags here are made ala t!m holtz, using his acrylic tags adhered over authentique papers.

i love this fold-out - so reminiscent of maps! imagine tucking tiny picks in this multi-fold "map", tucked into the minibook

hope you enjoy the techniques featured. the combination of authentique papers and tim holtz embellishments made for an awesome exploration and a beautiful minibook, if i do say so myself!

yes, i have become a contest slut

so this is my first big "scrapbook industry year". up until now i have been one of the ink-stained masses, innocently shopping the local scrapbook store, not aware that there was a whole crazy scrapbook industry out there working tirelessly to get my attention as well as my dollars.

now however, i've moved up a level. no longer only an innocent ink-stained consumer, i'm now on a design team, i "like" scrapbook companies on facebook, and i have a blog. this also means i've been initiated into the mysteries of CHA, "sneak peeks", and swag contests.

it started out innocently enough. companies asking me to "like" them, post comments and share them, use their badges on my blog and facebook page, and write about them on my blog. it's fabulous. i entered one about my best/worst glitter experience and won - thanks jack&cat curio.

and now i can't seem to stop from throwing myself out there again and again.

which leads me to my latest contest...the gals at glitz design are launching three new and very beautiful lines at CHA this week - notice how i sound like a pro now - and while pink and blue would not normally be my first paper pull, i have to admit that their "beautiful dreamer" line is...well..dreamy.

the papers themselves look gorgeous - pinks, blues, browns, with that vintage distressed look that makes me all goosebumplie. but even better is the huge amount of embellishments available as well - journaling and title stickers, ribbons, jewels, tiny sticker letters and even a chipboard album. my favorites are the "whatnots" and "peek-a-boos"

so yes, i know i am selling myself like a naughty little contest slut. but hey, i get to satisfy myself, and you get an instant preview into a new line, and maybe even a new-to-you company. so we all go home winners!

back to work!

now that school is out, and the end of year craziness is done, it's time to get back to work. things have been busy at the gypsy camp - design team projects for june, and teaching my first class at scrapbook island. it's very exciting!

for the june design team project, i was given a special request - make something for father's day using the very groovy cosmo cricket "social club" product line AND these super girlie frilly embellishments from Prima by Marion Smith.

my response? "um...sure! no problem!"
my husband's reaction? "you need to make something that men will want to make? good luck!" - LOL

and actually it was a pretty good design challenge - how to take very feminine items and turn them into something that makes sense for a dad. first up, page layouts with an old-fashioned feel. tomorrow? a minibook that's all about why i'm so glad ur my dad. full of contrasting textures and rich colors, this manly spread makes a great layout to highlight that romantic man in your life.



special feature here is the corragated banner across the middle of the layout. i used pieces from a shipping carton and peeled off the top layer, exposing the ridges and leaving some fragments. a happy accident left a long narrow fragment that was the perfect place for "my tweetie".

the block letters are curtesy of tim holtz. the master of distress, the letters are chipboard squares and letters, acrylic paint, distress ink and glossy accents - thanks tim!



the "oh-so-girlie" embellishments by Marion Smith got a new treatment here. by taking pieces apart and attaching new metal treats, i created the watch chain. and i believe you can never have too many places to attach small photos, journaling, and keepsakes so i turned the clips into memorablia holders on both pages of the layout.



and my special treat of the month - create the look of corragated patinaed metal using cardboard and glimmer mist. take cardboard and peel off the top layer exposing the ridges. the mist with tuorquoise glimmermist, and follow up immediately with copper glimmer mist. the result is a copper patina look that transforms ordinary cardboard into a metal scrap! use them by themselves as accent pieces, or add a cropped photo on top and turn them into a photo matte.



stay tuned tomorrow for a mad men-inspired minibook all about dad!

happy-ness

another box of joy. being on a design team is great! i get a box of products and free license to create. this month's box was filled with basic grey's "sweet threads" line - "SWEEEEET"

my big discovery with this project was making "smooshie flowers". take a close look at the flower details and check out what happens when you mist and then smoosh up die-ut paper. the result is wonderfully whimsical. add a little ink or glitter, and the final look is so sweet. and check out my newest zipper flower! i used maya road's zipper trim and created a dahlia.

the other bit of fun was working with maya road's canvas dress forms. layers of tattered angels glimmer mist, add a cool stamp for texture, and you end up with a beautiful accent. add a couple of stick pins, and you also get a unique place to mount some small pics or keepsakes!

and finally, why not tuck away some fancy tags? a matted photo can become a great pocket to hold more photos, journaling, and keepsakes!

overall, i had a blast making all these elements, and using so many different products! stay tuned tomorrow for a whole minibook made of "sweet threads", zippers, glimmer mist and more!

the creative pot is boiling

hi fellow gypsies,

after my flurry of kick-off postings it's time to clear the decks and create MORE. and to start figuring out what techniques i do that would be worth sharing...

look for upcoming projects-in-process: "Book of Life", "Skeleton Closet", and "I am the sum of my parts". and look for new (hopefully new to you) techniques for distressing photos - yes you can distress and ink your photos without losing their beauty.

but what about you, fellow gypsies? what do you see out in the world that you would want to be able to do yourselves? a special technique? a project that makes you say "i wish i could make that"? post your desires and see what the suburbngypsy can provide...

Unbroken Chain

I wanted to make something really special for my mom for Mother's Day. My mom is totally into genealogy and has pictures of our family dating back to my great-great-great-grandparents. Since this was a Mother's Day gift, I decided to focus on the chain of mothers and daughters in our family.

This piece is built from chipboard panels covered in cardstock that was distressed and inked. Accents include micro beads, scraps of lace and buttons. I used a fern leaf and gold paint to make the gold prints, and then added the leaf itself to the cover. Repeated on each panel is "mother" and "daughter" because each woman in the piece has been both, except for my daughter at the very end. But of course she will be a mother one day too.