A Marvelous May :D

Good evening all! I hope everyone's week has gotten off to a good start. I am just back from my 5 day girls weekend in Gulfport and Biloxi, MS at Croppin' on the Coast 2012 'Crop-o-De-Mayo ( full of cropping, girl talk, swaps, contests, casino-ing, pool time and spa time too) AND Hangout Fest 2012 in Gulf Shores, AL. All in all, May has been the best month so far this year!!! A GREAT kickoff to a busy, fun summer! It was so great and just the break from my retail life that I needed. So this post is going to be all about the great projects I worked on while I was there as well as some of my friends work...always love to share some inspiration for others- so be forewarned- 

PHOTO HEAVY POST AHEAD!!!

One of my favorite things about going to weekend crops is all the inspiration you get while you're there. Whether it's learning a new technique, or just trying a new tool or product. I was able to get 7 pages done on my sister's wedding album and also complete 10 tags, and 10 cards for the swaps! I loved being able to help out with the swaps!!! So much fun! First off, we'll start off with the tag swap, my fav and I will show y'all the tags that I made and some of my friends too...they are all really cute. Forgive me for not giving credit to all the artists here...but they are all just so cute! Take a look: 

This was my 'name tag' for the weekend, made with supplies from my stash:

These are the tags I made for the tag swap. I used a template for a tag that I already had from another set to cut them out. I used paper from Tim Holtz' "Lost and Found collection as well as Tim Holtz distress ink in tea dye. I roughed up the edges first, and glued my stamped sentiment to the center. Off to one side I put 2 Prima paper flowers from the 'winter wonderland' collection, also to the cluster I added a paper ticket that had been inked and a stamped grungeboard butterfly. I used Tim Holtz' grungeboard and stamped the mini butterfly with distress ink in 'vintage photo'. On top of that I squirted Tim Holtz distress stickles in 'peeled paint' and kinda smudged them around with my finger. To the other end of the tag I tied some black and brown fibers and a fabric button to top it off! I really like how they turned out and I was hoping for something really edgy and different with these :) Here are a few closies:

 And here are a few of the other tags I was able to 'SWAP' for. All of them unique and different and fun, just like the ladies who made them:) I think these first ones are by Melissa Wendt:

 And her mom, who I also had the pleasure of meeting, Heidi Wendt:

 And these, my scrappin' gal pal Carmen Johnson made! Love the stamps she used!!!

These are by my other scrappin' gal pal, Mary Leanne Northan:

 And these last three, by the lovely Gintner ladies, Ashley Gintner Davis, Audrey Leigh Gintner, and Sharon Gintner, wow!! Loads of talent in that family I'm telling ya!!

Next up are the cards I did for the card SWAP. I was trying to do another technique on this one, something I kind of made up on my own, by making my coffee cup on the card look like real 'pottery'. I  made 12 of these so I would have extras to give to friends :) Here are the pics:

 For the 'pottery' technique for the coffee cup, I did a few steps. First, I stamped my cardstock with a coffee cup stamp that Carmen let me borrow. Then I outlined it with a brown Zig marker. After that, I used some old school colored pencils in royal blue, light blue, kelly green, and purple and colored in each stamp making sure to overlap the colors a bit when I was adding new colors. On top of that I sprayed a little glimmer mist in 'Lily Pad' and kind of rubbed it in with my finger. Then to top it off I added a thick coat of Glossy Accents. I also made sure when I was outlining to do the bottom part of the stamp pretty good. After that I added some hand drawn swirlys, lots of tea dye ink to the edges, a handwritten saying at the bottom, and a vellium sticker that I swiped with Adirondack Ink in Watermelon and stickles in fruit punch, then hit it with the heat tool. I am really happy with how the turned out!!

 Before the Glossy Accents was all the way dry:

And the back of the card:

 
Last, I will share a couple of the completed burlap earring holder frames that we did in our first 'class'. They turned out really cute! I have stuff left over from the kits so I am thinking about advertising them on facebook for a discounted price if anyone didn't get a chance to buy one at the crop:) I will have to see how much I have left!!! Again, the 2 'A' frames were made by some A+ students, Ashley Gintner Davis and Audrey Leigh Gintner:) I loved how different they both were and how they both seemed to match their style and personalities perfectly;)

Okay everyone, that's all I have to share for now. I have to take photos still of the mini album I submitted for Scrappin' Frenzy DT and put it up here...also have to get going on DT assignments for  June and unpack/reorganize my scrap room!!! Looks like it will be a long night but hopefully I will have another creative share for y'all tomorrow to keep that MOJO going!!  Until next time my scrappy friends ;) ~VV

Supplies List:

(Tags)

Tim Holtz 'Lost and Found' paper stash

Tim Holtz distress ink in 'vintage photo'

Tim Holtz paper distressing tool

Tim Holtz grungeboard

Tim Holtz distress stickles- 'peeled paint'

cream colored cardstock-Bazzil

fibers,tickets,and fabric covered buttons- from my stash

mini butterfly stamp and sentiment stamp-borrowed from Carmen J. ;)

Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels in 'Lilypad'

Smooch Spritz by Clearsnap in 'Caramel Mocha'

Prima paper flowers- 'winter wonderland' collection

(Cards)

red/dark red cardstock-Bazzil

white filler paper from page protectors!

Tim Holtz distress ink in 'tea dye'

fine tipped/brush tipped brown marker- Zig

"GI Brown' Wink of Stella marker-Zig

heart vellium stickers, smooch stickers- from stash

Adirondack brights acrylic paint dauber in 'watermelon'

Stickles in 'tropical tangerine'

Tim Holtz paper distressing tool

Tim Holtz distress stickles 'tattered rose'

Martha Stewart crafts cat's eye ink-tan

Glossy Accents

Crayola colored pencils-kelly green, light green, royal blue, purple, light blue

coffee cup stamp-borrowed from Carmen J.