A wheelbarrow full of pansies

Hi everyone!  I've always loved pansies, and the new pansy dies from Sizzix's "Susan's Garden" make beautiful ones.  I have a tutorial today on the Sizzix blog showing how I created these flowers and a cute little wheelbarrow to display them in.  You can find my tutorial here!

Hope you visit me there!
Have a great weekend,

Jan

Urban Scrapbook's June Kit

It's already that time again for Urban Scrapbook's monthly kit.  I don't know where the time goes, it seems like I just finished  the previous month's kit!  Here's my layout:

This month the kit is filled with paper and embellishments from Cosmo Cricket's Honky Tonk collection.  There's also a little bit of Prima, Tim Holtz, ribbon, cardstock, and cork paper.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with that cork paper, so when in doubt, use hexagons!  Hexagons look great anywhere, and my trusty Sizzix die cut through the cork easily.  I embossed some of them and highlighted with Silks glazes and Inka Gold paint.  One of them I die-cut a small bird (Sizzix's Tim Holtz mini bird die), painted it, and then set it back into the hexagon.

The 3-d flowers were die-cut from Sizzix's Flowers w/leaves sizzlit.  I love how different the flower turns out, depending on how the petals are formed with a stylus!  My crackle looking background was made by brushing tinted crackle paint on my paper, then I used Tim Holtz distress paint on a crackle image stamp and pressed it into my painted paper.

The rest of the Urban Design Team layouts can be seen here.  It always amazes me how different our layouts turn out using the same kit.  I think we have a very talented team, what do you think?

I was busy receiving new stock yesterday at the store, and we got in the new October Afternoon "Travel Girl" collection(they never disappoint me!), Kaisercraft's True Romance, Miss Empire (love this one!), Blastoff and Webster's two new collections by Adrienne Looman.  It never fails, we get a ton of new stuff whenever it's pay week!

Have a great evening!
Until next time,

Jan

More Sizzix Graphic45 Cards!

I thought I'd share a couple of cards I did today, using once again, my Sizzix Graphic45 Framelits and stamp sets from my previous post.  I couldn't stop at one card!

I stamped and cut out two of each die cut, as in the previous post, and pop-dotted one on top of the other.  This time, I die cut a third one out of acrylic, and stamped the Memories stamp with permanent ink.  This one, I adhered behind the top layer. 

To color my die cut images, I used Majestic Blue Silks glaze and a small amount of Viva Inka Gold paste.  The flowers were all hand cut.

Again, I die cut and stamped two of each image, then pop dotted.  With this card, I coloured the images with Gelatos.  I used Kaisercraft's Porcelain Rose paper for both cards.  These die and stamp sets are so beautiful, I'm sure I'll use them many times!

Today, on the Sizzix Blog, there is a Design Team review with links to all of the designer's blogs.  I hope you check them all out, the projects they created last month are amazing!  You will certainly be inspired and if you aren't already, discover some wonderful new blogs to follow.

Have a great evening!

Jan

Graphic45 and Sizzix!

Hello everyone!  Today I have a card featuring two of Sizzix's Graphic45 Framelit die and stamp sets.

I used Sizzix's Graphic45 Parfumerie Framelit & Stamps set and Tea Time Framelit & Stamps set for this card.

To start my card, I stamped (with Archival black ink) this perfume bottle twice on plain white card stock.

Next, I cut out the images with the matching framelit die.  To colour the inside of the bottle on the left, I used Victorian Velvet Distress stain and for the bow, a Shabby Shutters Distress pen.  The die-cut with the coloured bow is my top layer.  For this die-cut I cut out the center of the bottle, and discarded it.

With pop dots, adhere the die-cut bottle that has the center cut out, on top of the other bottle.  I should mention here, that the stamp set includes two stamps/framelits that can be used in the center of the bottle to fill the blank portion.  I decided to leave this part plain for now, I think I might use rub-ons to spell out happy birthday or someone's name.

 

My card base is 5 x 7, the inside printed rectangle is 4 1/2 by 6 1/2, which I matted with black card-stock (about 1/8" mat). Using Sizzix's Ornate Labels Framelits, I cut one out of pink cardstock, the other from patterned paper.  On the pink one, I applied small black dots along the edge with a Viva Pearl Pen.  The green patterned die-cut was embossed with Sizzix's Floral & Vine Textured Impression Folder and lightly inked on the raised areas and edges. I stamped flowers and die-cut them out from the Sizzix Graphic45 Tea Time framelit set. These were coloured with Distressed Victorian Velvet stain and a Shabby Shutters Distress Pen also.  The petals of the flowers were shaped with a stylus, then the centers were highlighted with Ranger's black & green liquid pearls. The word"love" was stamped and die-cut from the Parfumerie Framelit set.  Once these parts were finished, I assembled my card.

Here's a side view, so you can see the dimension of the bottle and flowers.

I love these stamp and framelit sets, they are perfect for making those dimensional embellishments.  I know the flowers will be used many times!  Can't wait to use that teapot too!

Until next time,

Jan

  

Enjoy the Journey - Burlap Panels

Happy Mother's Day everyone!  Hope you are having a wonderful day with your families!

I have a tutorial today on the Sizzix blog, hope you join me there!  Here's a sneak peek:

After die cutting the Sizzix Tapered Fringe strip on this project, I was inspired by the shape to use it on these two tags:

I die cut two tags using the Sizzix Tim Holtz Tag die and the Tapered Fringe.  

Next, I glued the fringe to the tags, cutting the fringe apart.

I completely covered the tag with black crackle paint.

Now comes the fun part!  Using Viva Colour's Inka Gold Metallic Rub first and then to highlight the colour, Silks Acrylic Glaze, I applied the colour.  Love this metallic rub!

I just rubbed a very small amount on my tag using my finger.  You can't tell in the photo, but it has a beautiful shimmer to it.  

I added a small amount of the Silks glaze for extra colour.  On this tag, I added a Tim Holtz rub-on in the corner.

After the tags were dry, I added in my embellishments.  With this one, I die-cut flowers from Sizzix's Tattered Flower Garland Decorative Strip with very thin chipboard.  I painted these also with Black Crackle paint and then glued to my tag.  Once they were on my tag, I applied the metallic rub to these also.  I added a Tim Holtz metal embellishment and ribbon to finish it off.

With this tag, I die-cut a patterned piece of paper with the Sizzix On the Edge Torn Notebook die and cut out the number one using Sizzix's Movers and Shapers Number Set.  I die cut the number one out of chipboard, painted, then applied a rub-on to that.  I glued it to the tag, matching the negative space in my paper.  I also cut out Sizzix's Mini Pocket Watch out of chipboard, applied the Metallic Rub and then attached a Tim Holtz compass coin embellishment to the middle (it fits perfect inside the watch).  Add in a few more embellishments, ribbon, and you are done!

I love the effect the fringe die has when you use it this way.  I need to look at my other dies and see what they would look like using this technique!

Don't forget to visit me at the Sizzix blog!

Hope you have a great day,

Jan

May's Monthly Layout

It's time for Urban Scrapbook's Monthly Layout!  This month's kit is filled with beautiful papers and embellishments from Pink Paislee, Heidi Swapp, Prima, and a few others. The Urban Design Team came up with some amazing layouts, as usual.  You can see them here. Here's my layout:

I thought this photo of my daughter, Cassandra was perfect for these Pink Paislee papers.  My layout was chosen for the kit that is for sale, so a photo and directions on how I made it are included. These monthly kits are popular and sell out fast in case you are interested!

I can't believe it's almost over for "Fashion Star". There are only two episodes left and tomorrow we find out if Cassandra has made it as one of the final three for the finale.  There's been a few times that we thought she wasn't going to go on, but she hung in there!

I tell her all the time, how many of you that visit the Urban Scrapbook are cheering her on, and she is so grateful and surprised!  Thanks everyone and I know she appreciates your support!  Don't forget to watch tomorrow night!

Have a great weekend!

Jan

Tea Time!

It feels like a long time since I have posted.  This month has flown by!  It seems like I say that every month, I wonder if life will ever slow down?  To start with, there were seven birthdays in my family this month, a trip to Vancouver Island, and of course, Fashion Star Fridays!  Added to that, our printer had to be replaced and the following week, we purchased a new computer after realizing that it was so old that it couldn't handle any new programs.  So, it was a busy month and also very expensive!
That being said, I'm still getting used to the computer and the upgraded programs.  We switched to a trackpad instead of a mouse, which  has been very challenging, not sure if I'm 100% on this one!   It's so touchy, and I've lost a few things, just by resting too many fingers on it and too heavy!
So finally, here is something I've created using the beautiful new Tea Cup die from Sizzix's Brenda Walton:

I just have to mention that these dies come in beautiful boxes and I'm such a sucker for awesome packaging that I would buy it just for that!  I did have more photos of how I made my tea cup, but somehow they have disappeared in the transferring of all our files to the new computer!
Long story, but for awhile there, I thought all my photos were lost, they wouldn't load onto my Aperture Program!  Yikes!

Anyways, these tea cups are easy to assemble and would make great Mother's Day gifts, filled with goodies.

After assembling, I applied small dots of Ranger's Liquid Pearls around the rim on both sides, the handle, and above the base.  Once that was dried, I die cut flowers from Sizzix's Scrappy Cat Flower Bloom/leaves die.  I use a lot of flowers on my projects and I think this one is a great addition to my flower die collection.  I also cut out a few small flowers from my patterned paper (Authentique's Grace collection) and tucked them among my die cut flowers.  To finish off my project I die cut a doily from Sizzix's Doily die, to sit under my tea cup.  I have used this die so many times, it's my go to doily die!  It measures about 4 1/2" in diameter, perfect for cards or layouts.

I can think of so many uses for this tea cup die, but if you have any, feel free to pass them along!

And because, here in Alberta, we are once again back to winter weather; here's a couple of photos of my favorite place to visit, Buchart Gardens in Victoria. Hope it gets your mind off the snow!  Yes, for those of you who are lucky enough to live in warmer climates, we had snow yesterday and -5C.  Just days ago, we were at +21C.  By this weekend we are expected back to double digits!  Crazy!

Even though it was raining, it was so nice to wander along the paths.  Usually we go in the summer, and it is packed full of tourists, but look how quiet it was!

Hope you have a great week!

Jan