Love in Bloom with Basic Grey's Fresh Cut Collection

Hi everyone! I'm here to share a layout today I did using some of the new fabulous 'Fresh Cut' collection by Basic Grey. I have been dreaming of spring colors, warmer days, and this collection has it all! I think we can all agree that spring can't get here soon enough in the US. Its been a cold one, especially being my first winter in Oregon! We got snow!!

Here are a few close ups:

I started my layout without a picture in mind this time....I picked 2 of the geometric patterns with shades of green and anchored my layout at the bottom with some flowers- all fussy cut from one of the other papers. For dimension, I pop dotted some of them over top of the others. I had the perfect hot pink ric-rac the add to the bottom with staples for some more texture.

As I have been doing on alot of my projects lately, I used some more of the Studio Calico wood veneers, These were colored with a regular colorbox inkpad this time, an older one that I re-wetted and the wood seemed to soak the color right up. 

I enjoyed doodling around the wood hearts and bee stamps to create some movement up from my flower cluster at the bottom. I used stickles from the FD store as well as a white gelly roll pen. One last look:

That is all for today! I hope you enjoyed my share and are able to get your hands on some of this wonderful collection before it sells out!! I like the mix of geometric and floral patterns, it makes it very versatile for any occasion like most BG papers are, that's w:hy they are my fav!! Have a great weekend and I hope you get some time to get crafty :)

Products used from the Frosted Designs Store:

Basic Grey 'fresh cut' 12x12 collection pack

Ranger Dylusions ink spray 'white linen'

Maya Road metal trinkets- heart bubble

Studio Calico wood veneer hearts

Gelly Roll pen white

Stickles- frosted lace & fruit punch

Punctuation Challenge at Frosted Designs

Hi there friends and followers! Its Friday again and you know what that means- its a new Fabulous Friday Challenge over at Frosted Designs! This week we are challenging you to use any type of punctuation mark on your card or layout these include: *&%^$()#@~!<> except periods, those are too easy- they are circles! The sponsor this time is Deep Red Stamps which is a great company with some great products, I already own the heart swirls stamp and the steampunk sparrow which are both made in the USA!!!

So here are a few pictures of my layout, I started with some of the fun, funky & vibrant papers from the Bella Blvd 'Snapshots' Collection. I then played with mists, inking and distressing as always, and more fun coloring my wood veneers with gelatos. I am loving this technique lately, I am thinking I may need to do a mini tutorial here on the blog soon about all the ways I have discovered how to color my wood veneers!!! The possibilities are endless...hmm that's an idea.Ok, on to the good stuff:

I entitled my layout #carmietales because everytime I take a photo of our sweet kitty who has TONS of personality I hashtag it with that on my instagram. It makes it easyto go back later and get all the pics together plus I could tell a friend or family member to search #carmietales on instagram and all my pics would pull right up! Gotta love technology!!!

That is all for today, short and sweet for ya. I would love to go around and give everyone some comment love, I will be off again Monday & Tuesday but I have alot to do, which includes starting to pack for our move on the 15th as well errands...but I am hoping to squeeze in studio time. I am dying to start my next art journal page now that my goodies from the FD store arrived:

Ok friends, have a great weekend and don't forget to link up your puncuation project to the FD blog by next Friday!!! Have fun & get scrapping!!!

SOS & Susan's Monday Challenge

Hi friends! I hope you are ready for Valentine's day! I am sharing a layout I did this week for the Sketch Challenge over at Scrap Our Stash. Frosted Designs is sponsoring this month and so the design team got to play along! It was pretty easy to put together the pink & red color palette but I added a bit of mint and black to pump up the volume. I had so much fun making this layout and using a old photo from my stash of me, my mom, sis, cousin and aunt on Easter 1989.

 I am also entering this for the Monday Challenge over at my friend Susan's blog: Where Life Meets Art...her challenge this week is to use red & pink on your layout. I originally wanted to do some cards but with the crazy weather here and my work scehdule not really changing...unfortunatley thats how retail is sometimes, I didn't have time. I am still really happy with this project and no harm in sharing it!

Here is the sketch:

The other requirements of this challenge were to use heart patterned paper, at least one premade heart embellishment, and at least one premade arrow.

Here is my layout:

I used several items from the Frosted Designs store:
Ranger Dylusions Ink white linen
Black arrows paper- Carte Bella Wildflower collection
Maya Road emphemra 'love' and heart
stickles glitter glue champagne, fruit punch & cranberry
Studio calico that-away stickers
memory photo frames

And here are some close ups for you:

I really enjoyed sharing today. It was pretty cold, snowy and icy here last week and I hope you got to see some of my snow pictures. It is starting to slightly warm up and I think everyone is looking forward to spring! Until next time friends- enjoy your weekend & great creative! You still have plenty of time to join in both challenges!

Rise & Shine/ Mix & Match

Hi everyone! It's Katie here to share with you a layout I recently did using several different lines from the store. I was digging thru my stash and I happened to find the perfect background paper to tie everything together. I also played a bit with the Dylusions mists and even mixed a color of my own using Sandee's recipe of 6 parts white linen Dylusions spray to 1 part color, I came up with a super pastel brown color. Here are some photos:

After I played with my background, I distressed and inked all the edges of the MME Cut n'Paste papers, and the journal block from the Carta Bella Wildflower collection. I laid them down and then my photos, the started adding the fun stuff. I used several wood veneers from Studio Calico some of which I colored with gelatos. I also used a Maya Road resin flower, some of the Sugar Dots, and the chipboard stickers from the MME collection.

The best part about completing this layout is that I mostly used large scraps from previous projects and all I needed was a background paper to make it work. I also used some of the little 'strips' that are at the bottom of most manufacturers pages to add a repeat of some of the patterns on the page.

Thats about it for today! I hope you enjoyed my share & i love, love your comments. They always brighten my day! If yoh havent checked out the Frosted Designs store you should go there immediately. We just started carrying Lindy's Stamp Gang products!!!! EXCITED!?!?! Until next time, peace y'all~VV



Items from the FROSTED DESIGNS STORE:
Dylusions Ink Spray white linen & melted chocolate
Mini Misters
Prima Everyday Vintage Sugar Dots
MME Cut'n Paste- papers & chipboard stickers
Carte Bella Wildflower collection-journal block
Maya Road resin flower
Studio Calico Wood veneers- traveler & weather collection
Faber Castel Gelatos

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

"My Favorite Things"

Hi everyone, it's Katie here again and you know what that means, time for a new challenge!! It's my turn to host, and I've come up with a fun way to incorporate one of my all time favorite Christmas songs, the 'Sound of Music' was the movie, and 'My favorite things' is the song.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens;
Brown paper  package s tied up with strings;
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels;
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles;Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings;These are a few of my favorite things.
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes;Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes;Silver-white winters that melt into springs;These are a few of my favorite things.
When the dog bites,When the bee stings,When I'm feeling sad,I simply remember my favorite things,And then I don't feel so bad. 

So the challenge this time is to use any combination of these words as part of your layout or project, at least 3 must be used.I have underlined 12 words since it is the 12th month of the year. For example, the color cream, Angel 'wings' and roses. I can already think of some yummy combinations!! Have fun and we can't wait to see what you create! Link up to the sidebar on the Frosted Designs blog no later than Jan 2nd to be entered to win our fabulous prize, which is A $20 GIFT CERTIFICATE TO THE FROSTED DESIGNS STORE!!!

Here is the layout I have completed for this challenge. The words I have used from the list are: ROSES, MITTENS, BROWN PAPER, STRINGS, SNOWFLAKES. It was fun to use some non-Christmasy papers and turn them into a festive winter layout with a non traditional color palette. The papers I have used are from the Wildflower Collection by Carta Bella, available in the Frosted Designs store. I have also used American Crafts cardstock, Studio Calico wood veneer snowflakes from the weather set, as well as some UM WOW chipboard chevron confetti and Prima Everyday Vintage sugar dots. I also took a lesson from Sundays with Sandee and did some handwritten font for part of my title :) I hope you will join us this time and share your projects on our facebook page too, we can't wait to see what you create!!!

Couch-gating and Crafty fun times!

I had so much fun on my day off! I got to invite 2 new friends over to scrapbook and we got to spend a little time crafting altogether in my makeshift studio. It was 3 of us sharing a 6ft table but it was fun. I showed them my cool little neighborhood and we walked to the coffee shop before we got going on projects. I made a non-DT layout but I did still use a few items from the Frosted Designs store. I spent slot of time showing them techniques by to still managed to finish a layout. Still it was a lot of fun and I was able to finish this layout. I think it got my mojo going, I hope I can finish a few more projects and work ahead for all TH  holiday stuff I want to make!! The best part is, with the holiday I've got some more time off and I think we are going to get our Xmas tree on Sunday :)

Here are a few pics of my layout:

That's about it for today...I'm off to the studio again to create, create, create! I will be back tomorrow to share my first "workdesk Wednesday" post an  then a special thanksgiving share of some things I've been thankful for this year! I hope everyone has a great holiday week!!! Until next time, keep scrapping friends~VV