Stuck?! Sketch Challenge + Ink sponsored by Frosted Designs

Hi everyone! And Happy New Year!! I have been seriously neglecting my blog lately, but it's not been on purpose. I got a major virus on Christmas Day with flu like symptoms and fatigue for 3 days, then right after that my hubby got the virus, only his morphed into stomach issues and he couldn't keep anything down for 4 days, while I am supposed to go back to work instead I'm spending all free waking moments taking care of him. So needless to say, we are almost 100% better but it was not that great of a holiday break for us :( I didn't even do any of the projects I had hoped to start except a few christmas cards that I made to send out to friends and family. I didn't even get to take pictures of them.  But enough of my whining! So sorry friends that you had to listen :(

What  I am here to share today is my reveal for the new challenge over at Frosted Designs! We are sponsoring STUCK?! Sketch of the month this time with a gift certificate to the store! If you haven't checked out all the new products we have in for the new year, you need to go look! We also have an awesome new twist to our monthly kits, a 'messy fun' option for those inky scrappers like myself who prefer mixed media style projects, or a 'clean fun' option for the more clean lined scrappers who like traditional elements on their pages. The best part about this is its all absolutley free! The messy or clean option is included in the price of the kit, or you can pay a little more and get both options!! Go check out the new 'Love is in the Air'  January kit today at www.frosted-designs.us

The sketch we are using this month is courtesy of STUCK?!

And here is my take on the sketch:

A few close ups of my project . I used papers from the Snapshots collection by Bella Blvd as well as Studio Calico Thataway stickers, Studio Calico wood veneer cameras, and Colorwash tags by Pink Paislee. For the tags I spray inked them with several mists and then inked the edges and doodled on some of them with black marker.

For the wood veneer cameras, I tried a new technique, I actually colored them in with black marker, then inked them up good with embossing ink then some UTEE 'Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel' then heated them. It gave them an overall shiny/ metallic kind of look which I really liked then I added some bling for the 'flash' on the cameras.

So I hope you will join in on our challege this month and play along with the sketch + plus use ink or mist on your card, layout, or off the page project. Link it up to our sidebar on at www.frosteddesigns.blogspot.com and you have until January 29th!!

Until next time, peace y'all~ VV

mixed media: altered 6x6 chipboard beach trip album :)

Hi everyone! I am already feeling withdrawals from blogging, and it's only been 10 days since my last blog post! Sorry for the delay everyone... I plan to update at least 1x per week but man I feel like I have been running around like crazy lately...like a chicken with it's head cut off! I have my couch re-do project still in the works...pictures to come when I'm done!!! Also I think I might post my Halloween wreath cause it's super cute and funky, and well it's just that time of year!! Work has been pretty busy, and I'm still working on projects here and there trying to get our house in shape before the end of the month...2 big things happening then, Jimmy graduates and we have out of town company from Chicago coming. So I'm not even halfway done with my list, and to top that off we're going on VACAY to Portland, OR in less than a month now too! I'm super excited about that trip but seriously I'm an Alabama girl born and raised, so I need to shop for some better fall clothes. Anyway, enough of my rattling on... I did manage to complete another small project, an altered mini chipboard album of our beach trip this summer for my other Aunt's bday, which is Dec 3rd, so I guess I'm actually ahead of the game on that one. But I completed it in just 3 late nights this week, which is pretty darn good (considering I worked 43 hours too makes me proud)! It turned out well for my first time really working with a chipboard album. Here are some pics, check it out and let me know what you think! This is the whole album, standing up cause I made it so fat. 

It's about a 6x6 scalloped square.

 These are the first 2 inside pages. I used paper from a large paper stack that I bought last year by Me & My Big Ideas called 'Fashion District'. Alot of the floral patterns in it remind me of something tropical, so I used most of the papers on this album from it. I also inked all the edges of all the pages with a Colorbox chalk cat's eye in Chestnut. Also I matted all the photos in the album with white cardstock and inked them all in different colors, depending on the page. 

 For these two pages, I inked the photos with a Colorbox chalk cat's eye in lipstick. Also I added several different textured embellishments for interest, a felt flower with a rhinestone, a 3d sticker and another flower sticker that I added some bling to.

 The title of this page came out of the 'Travel' pages kit from Me & My Big Ideas. I loved this kit because I used a little bit of everything in the kit on 2 projects already and I saved my fav papers and embellies from it for when I finally do MY beach trip album. (HA if I"m not too tired of these pictures by then LOL) To the chipboard title, I used extra pop dots and inked it in Chestnut. I also tied several scraps of ribbon and fibers from my ribbon box to the 2 sides of the title. 

 This is a close up of the first page of the album. I used my tear tool to tear paper on both edges and then matted the title and a photo of the house we stayed in with kraft paper. For the flower embellies, I used paper flowers by Prima, also a felt flower, buttons, bling, a pearl dew drop and a fish sticker which I covered in 2 coats of liquid glass to make it appear more raised. At the bottom I used small alpha stamps to stamp the name of the place where we stayed.

 For this page, I used more papers from the 'Fashion District' paper stack, also some round sticker letters from the Me & My Big Ideas kit, which I covered in liquid glass. Also I used a few Jolee's embellishments and a cut out from the 'Life's a Beach' cricut cartridge. On the sun and also the Jolee's flowers, I used Distressed stickles by Tim Holtz in 'scattered straw' and also regular stickles in lilypad.

 For this page I used another chipboard title, putting it on with pop dots and added some ribbon for simple flair. the 2 palm trees are from 'Jolee's by You' and I blinged them up with some lilypad stickles.

 Here's a close up of the letters and stuff.

 On this page, I used one sheet of 12x12 flip flop paper by Jen Wilson from the 'Breaking Free Adventure Series 1' that I bought as a single sheet, and I swear I have used it so much already! I need to find a whole pack of her stuff! I cut out the title from the 'Life's a Beach' Cricut cartridge, and added some clear turquoise dew drops for the dots of the I's. Also the journaling block is from My Mind's Eye LUSH collection in Orange. I used the rest of the Jolee's accents here, and added more lilypad stickles to the flowers.

 Close -up of the title that I cut out on cricut and added some stickles to.

 Close up of other cricut title that I added dew drops to.

 For this page, I just used some hot pink flocked letter stickers that I found in my stash, a few stickers, and added some lilypad stickles to the centers of the flowers on the patterned paper background. 

 On this page, I inked the photo and the journaling block with a Colorbox chalk cat's eye in Butterscotch. Also I inked the other patterned paper in the background with Chestnut. I layered another journaling block from My Mind's Eye LUSH collection in Orange, as well as some Jolee's accents, the oranges and the flamingo and the flower. Here's a close up.

 This page is one of my favorites, cause both of the pictures are so good and also I used 2 different colors of stickles on this page. One is Aqua and the other is Lilypad stickles over top of a clear sticker from the Me & My Big Ideas Travel page kit. I wanted to keep this one simpler to focus on the great photos!

 Here's a close up of the stickles work:

 For the last 2 pages, I used my tear tool and ruffed up the edges of several patterned paper scraps, mostly from the 'Fashion District' stack by Me & My Big Ideas.There is also a few small scraps of Basic Grey paper in there from the 'Lemonade' collection. I used paper flowers from Prima, The Robin's Nest dew drops, some bling, Colorbox chalk inks in lipstick, chestnut, and butterscotch. To add another element of texture I added one of my fabric paper clips from Pier 1 Imports to one side of the photos. Also the journaling block is another one from the My Mind's Eye LUSH collection in Orange. Here are a few close ups. 

 For the outside decoration, I used lots of fibers, notions, and ribbon to the ring itself. Almost too much cause the album barely closes! LOL! Also for the finishing touch I put a tag on there that I made at a tag swap last year at Croppin' on the Coast in Gulfport, MS. Still one of my favorite tags I've ever done! The crab has googly eyes...how could you NOT love it?!

Okay, so now all that's left for me to do is wrap this baby up and get it in the mail in a few weeks...just in time to surprise my other Aunt on her bday ;) My favorite part is when they call me, all hysterical, crying about how much they LOVE it.I hope yall LOVE it too. Until next time, scrappers~ VV