My Scrapbooking Blog » sparkles

Good Times Girl Scout Camp Layout

Wendy — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:45:01 +0000

Supplies used: My Mind’s Eye paper, Me & My Big Ideas specialty stickers, Close to My Heart Sparkles, and Kaisercraft Rhinestones.

Wonderland Workshop Layouts

Wendy — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:27:46 +0000

The Wonderland Workshop on the Go Kit includes:

Wonderland Level 2 Paper Packet ($9.95)
My Acrylix^® Wonderland Workshop ($13.95) (stamp set is exclusive to this workshop kit)
Foundry^® Pin Clips ($4.95)
Clear Sparkles ($2.95)
White Daisy Cardstock (2 sheets) ($.98)
Workshop Guide ($1.00)

Here are my pages:

I don’t have pictures on these yet because I think I will use them for my daughter’s 1st birthday pictures in December. This paper is so pretty!

Come back tomorrow to see the Bonus Project (cards) that go along with this workshop.

Would you like to attend my Wonderland Workshop on December 2? Order by November 4 to save on shipping.

CTMH Spotlight Blog Hop – Reinkers

Wendy — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 06:00:50 +0000

Welcome to the October 2011 Close to My Heart Spotlight Blog Hop! This month we are using reinkers. If you are thinking to yourself “what else are reinkers for besides actually re-inking your stamp pads” then this is the hop for you! As you hop through you will find a variety of ideas that I hope you will try. If you are like me it will be a good challenge!

This blog hop is a circle so if you are just starting, continue until you make your way back here. If you are coming from Adeline’s Blog, you are on the right track!

Supplies used are all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted: Amethyst, Heavenly Blue, Sweet Leaf, and Baby Pink reinkers, Prisma Glitter, Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint, Spray Pen, White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon, Paper Blooms Flowers (link is not exactly what I used but similar), White Daisy Cardstock. DCWV Alphabet Stickers, and Lavender Magic Mesh. Based on a June 2011 Page Maps sketch.

This closeup really shows all the glittery shine! Notice the Pearl Paint on the flowers, background paper, and title paper as well as the Prisma Glitter on the butterfly. Scroll down for full details.

I first used reinkers to create my background paper. I put the reinker on a paper plate and then dipped a crumpled up napkin into it and dabbed color onto my paper. Next, I mixed Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint and water in a spray pen and sprayed on the background to add a bit of glitz.

While this was drying, I used the Heavenly Blue reinker to dye some White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon and Amethyst reinker to dye butterflies from the Just Blooms Paper Shapes Flutter Shapes. I also sprinkled the wet butterflies with some Prisma Glitter. The new tweezers worked great for dipping. This is the first time I have played with reinkers and one thing I have learned is that the color is darker than you would think when you use straight reinker for dying. Next time I will mix with water to get a lighter color. Another thing I learned…make sure things are completely dry before adding them to your layout. I didn’t realize my ribbon was still wet and over time the dye soaked into the surrounding paper. Luckily it’s not very noticeable because of the background I chose.

I used reinker to color my flowers. I used a waterbrush dipped in reinker to color the petals from the outside inward, then I sprayed them with the same paint/water mixture that I used for my background paper.

I mixed Baby Pink reinker with Create-a-Shade Paint and painted paper that I used for the base of my title.

Other ideas for reinkers are:

mix with Liquid Glass
mix with Liquid Applique
paint with the reinker using brushes
mix reinker and water in a spray pen
use in glass ornaments to color

Thanks for stopping by! Your next stop is Elizabeth’s Blog!

For a list of all the blog hop participants, go here.

Believe Workshop – Christmas cards & matching box

Wendy — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 05:00:39 +0000

Join me for this month’s Holiday Cheer workshop!

The Believe Workshop on the Go Kit includes:

Believe Level 2 Paper Packet ($9.95)
My Acrylix^® Believe Workshop ($13.95) (stamp set is exclusive to this workshop)
Mini-Medley Accents Olive Collection ($4.95)
Dimensional Elements Stars ($3.25)
White Daisy Cardstock (2 sheets) ($.98)
Workshop Guide ($1.00)

Scroll down to yesterday’s post to see the layouts that I made with this workshop kit.

Here is the Bonus Project – 4 Christmas Cards and a coordinating box to store them in:

Add these items to your order to create the workshop bonus project:
My Creations Card Box
Holiday Pockets
Sparkles Red, Pink, & Purple Assortment

Would you like to attend my Believe Workshop on November 4? Order by October 14 to save on shipping.

CTMH Technique Blog Hop – Multicolor Motifs

Wendy — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Welcome to our Technique Blog Hop! This month there are 13 of us highlighting Multicolor Motifs as shown on page 110 in the 2011 Autumn/Winter Idea Book! This technique is when you use your markers to apply different colors to the same stamp for a multicolored image.

This blog hop is a circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the fabulous artwork incorporating this technique. If you are coming from Michelle Battatori’s Blog, you are on the right track!

Supplies used are all Close to My Heart: Miracle Paper Pack, Baby Pink cardstock, Love Life Stamp set, Crystal Blue Marker, Baby Pink Ink, Crystal Blue Ink, Sparkles, Bitty Sparkles, Miracle Irresistibles, Cricut Art Philosophy Collection, and Glitter Glitz – Stardust. August 2011 Page Maps Sketch.

Exclusive Inks markers make it easy to selectively ink parts of a stamp with different hues. Just apply each ink color using the brush tip of the marker, then stamp on your project for multicolored images. This is such a great technique to add more options to your stamp collection.

TIP: Once you have finished coloring your stamp, “huff” on it before you stamp. This will moisten the ink if it has taken you some time to do the coloring.

It must be the lighting on the first photo because you can see the border of circles just fine in real life. Here is a closeup that shows it better:

I created the circle border with one stamp (that had the multiple circles). To save some time, I first inked the stamp in Baby Pink (my lighter color) then I added Crystal Blue to every other circle using my marker. I used this same technique with the flourish, inking it in pink first and then adding the blue with a marker before stamping. You could also create lighter and darker shades of the same color within a stamp by stamping off the color and then using the marker where you want darker spots before stamping your final image.

Another modification to this technique is to ink only the portion of the stamp that you want (instead of masking!). I did this for the words on my layout and used ink pads instead of markers. I inked the middle word with Baby Pink ink. Some of the pink got on the other words but I didn’t worry about that since it was a lighter color. Then I inked the outer words with the edge of my Crystal Blue ink pad, this time making sure I didn’t get any blue on the word Laugh.

Thanks for stopping by! Please continue on to Bethaney Harlan’s Blog where you will find some additional artwork highlighting this technique! Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of my variation and happy hopping!

For a list of all the blog hop participants, scroll down to the previous post.

Fanfare Workshop Projects

Wendy — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 05:00:54 +0000

I really enjoyed using the Fanfare papers from Close to My Heart. Maybe it was because they were different for me in the fact that there’s no pink, ha! Funny thing is both girls wanted their pictures on these pages (they liked the blue). With the red/white/blue theme they were perfect for the July Challenge at Scrap Our Stash. The first thing I thought of when I saw these papers was Fourth of July but I didn’t use any of those types of pictures. These are really great, versatile papers!

Here are the layouts that I created with the Fanfare Workshop Kit:

By switching out papers for the above layouts, I saved the papers below because I thought they’d make really quick and easy layouts. As you can see I basically just matted my photo and added a few embellishments:

Challenges:
Cupcake Crafts 150: #29 – Include a number on your project.
Papertake Weekly Challenge: Anything goes

Challenge: Allsorts Week 111 – Free & Easy

Next are the cards created with the Fanfare Workshop Kit:

These last cards I made with the scraps left over from the kit and a few embellishments from my stash:

Challenge: Paper Cutz – ice cream cone (stamped)

Supplies used: Close to My Heart Fanfare Workshop Kit, Close to My Heart Sparkles, Colorbok Glitter stickers (stars on Make a Wish layout), brads, Close To My Heart Cranberry Ribbon, Cricut.

Love Layout

Wendy — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 06:00:33 +0000

Supplies used: unknown pattern paper, Technique Tuesday scalloped baseboards, layered title by Colorbok, Making Memories Rose Petal Paint, Making Memories Rose Petal Specialty Glaze, CTMH Sparkles, Making Memories flowers, unknown ricrac, and eyelets. Based on a Becky Fleck January 2011 Page Map sketch. Scrap Our Stash February Challenge.

The February Challenge at Scrap Our Stash this month is LOVE. I really dug into my stash for this layout. I think the patterned paper may have been from the Target Dollar Spot at least a year ago, the scalloped baseboards are from when a local scrapbook store closed years ago, and the eyelets and brads are even older. The ricrac is from a bag I found at a rummage sale! I am not one for empty space on a layout or just plain cardstock so I filled the white cardstock space with heart-shaped eyelets to create my own patterned paper. I painted the chipboard border with a pink base topped with a coat of specialty glaze.

Celebrate Good Times

Wendy — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 06:00:50 +0000

Layout Challenge: #140 of 210

A layout from the Jingle Workshop on the Go Kit.

Laughter & Smiles Layout

Wendy — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 06:00:42 +0000

Supplies used: Close to My Heart papers and Sparkles, and Cricut cartridge.

Layout Challenge: #96 of 210.

I just loved this large title!

Aurora Layout

Wendy — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:00:16 +0000

Supplies used: Another sheet of the 25-cent rummage sale paper, CTMH Chocolate Large Alphabet, CTMH Smokey Plum ink, and CTMH Sparkles.

Layout Challenge: #81 of 210.

I liked the Magical layout that I used the same design layout for this page. The picture is of my girls with Aurora in Disneyland.

Magical Disneyland Layout

Wendy — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 05:00:58 +0000

This printed paper I found on a rummage sale for 25 cents! The title is stamped with Close to My Heart’s Chocolate Large Alphabet and Smokey Plum ink. I had fun adding Sparkles (CTMH) to many of the flowers along the bottom of the page.

Layout Challenge: #80 of 210.

CTMH October Product Spotlight Blog Hop

Wendy — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 06:00:13 +0000

This month for our CTMH Product Spotlight Blog Hop we have opted to give you a variety of ideas that you can use that are perfect for the Holiday season.

The blog hop makes a circle so if you are starting here just continue until you make your way back and you will have made it through them all. If you have already started and are coming from Vicki’s blog then you are on the right track.

Products used are all CTMH: Dimensional Elements – Ornaments, Cranberry Ink, New England Ivy Ink, Vanilla Cream Ink, Finishing Files, New England Ivy Marker, Liquid Glass, Mistletoe Level 2 Assortment, Opaques – Pearl, Sparkles – Blue & Green Assortment, Sparkles – Red, Pink, & Purple Assortment, Ribbon Rounds – Holiday Collection, Colonial White Grosgrain Ribbon, Ribbon Rounds – Buttercup Collection, Peace on Earth stamp set, and Festive Thoughts stamp set.

These ornaments were a lot of fun to decorate. You can keep them together as a set or divide them up, keep them for yourself or give them as gifts. You can use them as decorations, not just ornaments and they can be used to embellish cards or layouts too! I added sentiments to the center of some of mine but you could also put a picture in the middle. I like to use Liquid Glass as my adhesive when working with Dimensional Elements (chipboard). It also works well to add a bit to ribbon ends to prevent fraying.

Now hop on over to Nikka’s blog!

See the previous post for a list of all participants.

CTMH October SOTM Blog Hop

Wendy — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 01:00:24 +0000

Welcome to the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring the October Stamp of the Month: Share the Magic. If this is your first stop, just continue through the hop until you make it back here. If you have already started hopping and came from Kami’s blog then you are on the right track. See the previous post for a complete blog list.

(click on image for a larger view)

Supplies used are all CTMH: Share the Magic Stamp Set (October SOTM), White Daisy Cardstock, Prisma Glitter, Liquid Glass, Black Bitty Brads, Bonding Memories Glue Pen, Red Sparkles, Watercolor Pencils, Blending Pen, Markers (Holiday Red, New England Ivy, Sunny Yellow, Clover Meadow, Baby Pink, Pacifica, Tulip, Heavenly Blue, Sunkiss Yellow, Key Lime, Taffy, Amethyst, Pear, Desert Sand, Lagoon, and Sunset) and Inks (Black, Outdoor Denim, New England Ivy, Sky, Cranberry, Chocolate, and Brown Bag).

This stamp set is great for making tags. I just grabbed my pile of scraps and stamped away! I used markers, watercolor pencils, and a blending pen with inks to color the images. To add some glitz and dimension I added sparkles to the Christmas tree, glitter to the snowmen, liquid glass to the Christmas lights, and bitty brads to the second snowman. These would also make a fun and simple craft for your kids or a group. The presents image works great for any occassion – Birthday, Christmas, or Baby!

Your next stop is Angela’s Blog. Enjoy the hop!

CTMH Acrylic Family Album

Wendy — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:51:31 +0000

Supplies used are all CTMH: Floral Tapestry Level 2 Paper Packet (retired), Just Blooms Big Pink Paper Flowers, Love Letters Rub-Ons, Spring Craft Buttons, Nature’s Ambiance Rub-Ons, Clear Sparkles, ribbons, and Liquid Glass as my adhesive.

This was such a fun album to do! The pictures I chose were just random ones from that summer. With the clear pages and different shapes the possibilities are endless!

You Rock Workshop – Taylor Swift & Girl Scout Layouts

Wendy — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:39:23 +0000

Products used are all CTMH: You Rock Workshop on the Go (which includes the You Rock Level 2 Paper Pack, Just Be You stamp set, and Mini-Medley Accents Outdoor Denim Collection, and Workshop Guide), Top Coats Rockin’, Bitty Sparkles, White Hemp, Rustic Alphabet stamp set, Goldrush ink, Outdoor Denim ink, Sunflower ink, and Edge Distresser.

These are sample layouts for next month’s You Rock Workshop. Even though it wasn’t what I had planned for the pictures, I love how the Taylor Swift layout turned out!

2010 Layout Challenge: 27 & 28 of 210

Taylored Expressions Challenge Card

Wendy — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:17:07 +0000

Products used: KI Memories paper, CTMH Sparkles, CTMH Life’s Creations stamp set, CTMH Noteworthy stamp set, and unknown flower.

I based this card on the sketch from the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #96. I’m not sure I like it but it’s different.

Evensong Christmas cards

Wendy — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:48:54 +0000

Products used are all CTMH: Evensong Paper Packet, Sparkles, Evergreen stamp set, Cranberry Ribbon Round, corner rounder, December Word Puzzle stamp set, brads, I Am stamp set, Card Chatter – Christmas stamp set, Say It In Style stamp set, Picture Perfect stamp set, and the flourish stamp set is from the Grace Workshop on the Go kit.

Challenges:
Simon Says – Merry Christmas
Scrap Our Stash – December Stash Challenge
The Pink Elephant – Challenge #45
Creative Card Crew – Anything Goes
Crafty Creations – Traditional Christmas
OCC Challenge – The Holidays are Here!
Practical Scrappers – Anything Christmas
My Grafico – Red/Green (not Christmas) - smile card

I’ve used the CTMH Evensong Paper Pack and you can see how versatile it is and how you can use it with many different stamp sets. I made a bunch of layouts with this set and then made cards with the scraps. It’s amazing how far scraps will go when you try using them up by making cards. This is a great way to use up paper and I love “finishing” an entire paper pack.

Christmas Banner Made With Card Kit!

Wendy — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:09:33 +0000

Now I know it’s not Christmastime yet but it will be here before we know it! Here is a fun and quick banner that you can make to hang over your mantle or anywhere else in your house. We made this at the CTMH Convention and it is super cute. We used the My Originals Around the Holidays Card Kit. We used the new Posterboard Alphabet for the letters but you could use any alphabet. The sparkles add a nice touch. You can also change it to any six letter word, or a shorter word, or add a decorative piece on the end. If you wanted to add a little more to it, you could decorate the back in fall colors and embellishments and you’d have a reversible banner. One word you could use for this would be ‘Thanks’. Below are some closeups of the individual card pieces.

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

Wendy — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:01:33 +0000

And to celebrate we are having a CTMH 2009 World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop! This is a great group of consultants who will be sharing some wonderful cards with you today. It’s a round robin hop so you may start here or if you have come from Debra’s blog you are on the right path and welcome!

I discovered the Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint when making this card. I used a paint brush to apply the paint to the B&T Duo paper. It gives it such a beautiful shimmery shine! I also like using the Creative Basics when making cards. It comes with bulk ribbon and paper to make sets of cards. This combined with the Wishes card idea book makes for quick cards at a reasonable price and is this paper is perfect for some funand contemporary Christmas cards. I have two pictures of the card to try and show you how much it shines. Give it a try!

Products used are a CTMH: Creative Basics – Jingle (paper & ribbon), Wishes, Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint, White Daisy Brads, White Daisy Cardstock, Juniper Cardstock, Holiday Jingle Stamp Set, Tulip Ink, and Sparkles.

Now go to Kathleen’s blog to continue hopping!

September CTMH SOTM Blog Hop

Wendy — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:01:49 +0000

Welcome to the September Close to My Heart Consultant Blog Hop featuring the September Stamp of the Month: Treasures. This set of 13 stamps definately fits in with the lately treads in scrapbooking!

I normally don’t have much to say in my posts (I am a look-at-the-pictures kind of girl) but there is a lot of info here and if you take the time to read through you just might learn something.

Boy oh boy, let me tell you – I really hit left field with this one. I will admit that this is just not my kind of stamp set. I’m more of a daisy girl. Then for some reason I got this idea of fireworks in my head and I had fireworks pictures that needed to be scrapped. I really thought it was a good idea, but it was harder than I thought to actually put it to paper. For one thing I these are Disney photos and the traditional Disney colors did not fit with them. Neither did a red/white/blue theme. So I decided to go for it and match the colors in my photos. Another obstacle I faced was fireworks on a white background. It just doesn’t seem right but I wanted them to be colorful. This just had to wait until the end when everything came together. I really didn’t know if I would like it until then. Another bump in the road was that I didn’t have any yellow cardstock! SO…my solution was to use my brayer to apply yellow ink to white cardstock strips. I could have made them a solid color but this worked out better in the end because I like to have some sort of patterned paper on my layouts and this solved that dilemma as well. After putting my layout together I needed to add some embellishing.

Did you know that you can cut your acrylic stamps? I suggest using a sharp scissors to make sure that they do not tear. If you have a stamp that you would use more often as two pieces then don’t be afraid to do this. I cut the Make a Wish…… stamp. This one was a bit tricky because the stamped parts were so close together (normally I wouldn’t cut one this close and would just ink the part I want to use) but because I was planning to stamp a lot it was easier for me to cut it. When I want to stamp them as one again I can simply piece them together on my block and stamp no problem! Another thing I love about acrylic stamps that you may not know is you can bend or straighten the image to suit your needs. You can see how I did this with the Make a Wish for my border. Yet another trick to acrylic stamps that I like is when creating a title. To make a word straight (or exactly how I want it) I will lay out the letters directly onto my layout. When I have them in place THEN I press down on top of them with my block to pick them up. They are in place and ready to stamp. I usually ink and stamp on a scrap paper to see if it’s how I want it and move any letters if necessary. Often times the CTMH alphabet stamp sets will come with multiples of the same letter. This is so you can ink a word that has two of the same letter at one time (like the a in my Magical). However, that was not the case for the stamp set I used but it is still simple because you can see through the letters to place the exactly where you want. What I did in this case was pressed the word “Magic” on my block. Then I removed the letter “A” (leaving the space) and moved it to the second position and added the L. I stamped the word Magical missing the first A and when I went back with just that letter to fill it in there was a spot where it fit perfectly. Sparkles were the perfect finishing touch to this Magical layout!

Now if you want another unusual idea for a stamp in this set….take a look at the smallest dandelion with the stem pointing up….looks like a spider hanging down if you ask me!

(click image for a closeup view)

Products used are all CTMH: Treasures stamp set, The Works Alphabet stamp set, Journaling Jots stamp set, Cherish, Sparkles, Hollyhock Organdy ribbon (retired) and Watermelon, Sunny Yellow, and Star Spangled Blue ink/cardstock.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the Fall Product Sneak Peak featuring a variety of new papers, stamps, and other products from the new Fall/Winter Idea Book.

Now hop on over to Beth’s Blog to see what she has created. We have nearly 70 participants this month so it may take awhile to get through the entire blog hop but it will be worth it!

If you get lost along the way go to this post for a list of all the participants.