Graphic 45....is Paradise

When I first saw the Graphic 45 collection Tropical Travelogue, it was love at first sight.  The rich lush colors and patterns, the gorgeous vibrant images...all spoke to me, and I knew I wanted to design with them.

Knowing we were going to Mexico after Christmas sealed the deal, so I created this double page layout as a class for The Urban Scrapbook, which I titled "Paradise."

The photos are BabyOfTheFamily on the beach in Puerto Vallarta...paradise!

 Here are a few details and close-ups...

I added some Stampendous Mica Flakes to the edges of the beach sign with Glossy Accents, and also covered the palm leaves above the sign with Glossy Accents.   I edged all the fussy cut white flowers with Glossy and added clear chunky glitter.

The waves are super simple to create...just tear and roll the edges of the paper.  I added Martha Stewart clear microbeads along the tops of the "white caps" with Glossy Accents.  (I went through LOTS of Glossy on this layout!)

The Urban Scrapbook has just brought in some amazing and beautiful German Glass Glitter...and the turquoise colour with flecks of red in it were perfect for these papers.  Of course, my husband would say that the Germans make the BEST of EVERYTHING :)

German Glass glitter adhered on the top curve of the umbrella with Glossy Accents....plus I covered her bathing suit and cap with Glossy to achieve that "wet" look.  (Why can't I look that elegant in the water with a bathing cap????)

A glittered and Glossy fish.

These title cards are cut from "Seaside Holiday" and I glittered the top edges.

Is this enough glitter for you?  Nope...I also used Craft & Glitz microfine Glamour Glitter in "Sky Blue" to add sparkly borders to the background papers.

Here's how....

Adhere 1" wide SookWang double sided adhesive tape along one edge of the background.

Remove adhesive backing of tape and get your glitter ready.

It's a good idea to work with this glitter on top of a scrap piece of paper....in your  neighbour's back yard...because microfine glitter gets EVERYWHERE.  (Note:  Do not put your teenage son's clean laundry away, including his basketball uniform, after you have been working with glitter.)

But who cares about the mess...when sparkle is your goal!

Who can resist this gorgeous stuff?!?!

Dump it (yes, that's one of my scrapbooking terms) on top of the exposed Sookwang tape.

Be generous when it comes to glitter...you will get most of it back into your jar.

NOTE:  Avoid working with glitter late at night when you are so tired and need to rub your eyes....because eyeballs and microfine glitter do NOT mix well.

Rub the glitter into the tape in circular motions...this is called "Burnishing".  This will create friction and heat the glitter so it will stick to the tape and NEVER come off.

I use a Martha Stewart glitter brush to wipe the excess glitter off the border. Then just DUMP it back into the jar.

Aside from the glitter mania, I wanted to share a tutorial on how I created the palm tree......so get ready, I went a little overboard with step-by-step photos!

First, the palm leaves....

I learned his technique of altering the Kraft Glassine paper from Tim Holtz's 12 Tags in December...when he made some holly leaves for a tag.

I altered a piece of Kraft Glassine paper with alcohol inks:  Gold Mixative, Oregano and Meadow.

Here is a before and after of the Kraft Glassine....love the Gold shimmer.

TIP:  Heat set the inks into the paper with a heat gun after you apply them.

I freehand drew 5 palm leaves on scrap paper first and used them as tracers. (Yes, sometimes I'm a little bit of a perfectionist :)

After cutting out the leaves, I fringed them by snipping them with fine-tipped scissors.

Now for the trunk.....you need chipboard, Sticky Back canvas (Claudine Helmuth), Vintage Photo Distress ink, and a mini mister of water.

I drew a trunk template and then cut the trunk from chipboard.

Cut a 1/2 inch notches in the bottom of your canvas and rip 5 strips.

WARNING:  It gets pretty noisy when you are ripping canvas..so I don't recommend this technique for you scrappers who are crafting in the middle of the night!

Pull one or two strings off of one edge of each canvas strip to fray the edge.

Start wrapping your chipboard trunk with the strips, leaving about 2 inches extra (to attach leaves later)  Remember to wrap the strips with the FRAYED edge UP.

I have yet another photo....so why not include it??

Wrap tightly all the way down the trunk, with about 1/4 " overlap of layers.

 

The trunk in these photos is for demo only...a "stunt" trunk...because I didn't take photos while I made the REAL trunk :)

After the ENTIRE tree is wrapped, you will ink it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

We use Distress Ink on the canvas because the ink reacts when we mist it with water and the color bleeds beautifully through the canvas, giving you a beautiful brown color.

Love the Mini Mister!

After misting (pretend the ENTIRE trunk is wrapped please).

Here you can see the difference between the canvas that is misted (bottom trunk) and the color of the non-misted trunk in the middle.  (yes, "non-misted" is another technical term in the scrapbooking industry).

Let it dry completely, or if you are impatient like me, you can speed things up by gently heating with a heat gun. (I don't like the term "gun").

Now you will add your beautiful leaves at the top and wrap the extra bit of canvas around them.

You then will ink this white extra bit of canvas and mist it to blend in.

To keep the leaves in place, squeeze a little Glossy Accents (if you haven't run out yet!) in behind the canvas at the top of the trunk  in front and behind the leaves.

A final close-up of the leaves on the layout...

And here is the whole enchilada....as the Mexicans would say :)

Thanks for sitting through this extraordinarily loooooong tutorial!  I hope you enjoy this wonderful Graphic 45 collection as much as I did :)

Hola!

It's February 1st...which means a couple of things.  It's a new kit release and staff challenge at The Urban Scrapbook, where I teach classes...and it's time for a new Sketchy Challenge over at Canadian Scrapbooker magazine!

Today I'll post my Urban staff challenge layout and next week I'll show you my CS Sketchy challenge.

I promised myself to use some of my Mexico photos (WITHOUT the teenagers in them!)

HOLA!  and POW...how's that for colour???

Aren't those flowers gorgeous? I cannot believe they are real and growing outdoors there...amazing.

This month's Urban kit has the wonderful new Basic Grey "Kissing Booth" papers, alpha sticker sheet and die cuts package....plus a bunch of other lovely embellishments.  I'm usually not a big fan of large floral patterns, but this one I LOVED and knew right away I wanted it to be the background.

Here are some close ups....

Metal lock and key courtesy of Tim Holtz and Martha Stewart butterfly border punch.

Really cute tiny alpha stickers are on the Kissing Booth Alpha sticker sheet.

Banners are in the Kissing Booth die cut package and ANOTHER alpha from that sticker sheet!

The Prima "Say It In Crystals" have beautiful facets that catch the light. The green ruffle is ribbon tucked behind the paper layer.

I created a circle of yellow butterflies with another Martha Stewart punch.

I have a little tutorial on how I made the two pink flowers for the layout using 7Gypsies tape (a technique I saw Tim Holtz do).

I coloured the tulle flower below with alcohol ink and mist.

It is so easy to alter the colour of the tape to suit your project. I find that alcohol ink works best.

Here is what you need....

Tissue tape, Blending Tool and felt pad, Blending Solution, Snow Cap Mixative and Red Pepper Alcohol Ink

First you cut a circle roughly out of scrap paper...the size of the circle depending on how large you want you flower to be....

The Snow Cap Mixative (white) makes the alcohol ink more opaque. I also used it to change the Red Pepper to Pink Pepper!

You need very little Snow Cap on your felt to adjust the colour of the red.  The piece of tape should be MUCH longer because you will be pleating it (as shown below) but for the demo I used a short piece here.

Start anywhere on your scrap circle and just fold and pleat around the centre. 

For this flower, I put 2 layers of pleating, to make the flower fluffier (more dimensional).

The centre can be anything, a pearl, a gem....here I used a Prima light pink crystal.

So come on over to The Urban Scrapbook (or order online) and pick up your wonderful February kit! You'll also see all the layouts the Design Team has created....so many talented scrapbookers!

And remember....if you can't go to Mexico to see the beautiful flowers, then you can make some at home in your studio!

Good Memories.....Bad Photos

Where are all my layouts of Mexico?  where oh where?

It is taking me awhile to sift through my photos to find the right ones to scrap.  There are lots of BabyOfTheFamily....and that's about it.  The teenagers are in the "take a picture of my hand" phase....aka. MOM! Don't take my picture!  or....DELETE THAT!  I look ugly!

Here is a sample of what I am dealing with....some photos of DramaQueen over the past few months of special occasions....

Introducing.....THE HAND

The Halloween Pumpkin Carving HAND

The Christmas Eve HAND

Opening Presents on Christmas Day HAND

Happy Birthday to you (Jan 5 2012) HAND

How about a photo with your Uncle who is visiting us from Nicaragua? HAND

But I'm an optimist, and I think, hey...when we get to Mexico, the teens will be so RELAXED and beg me to take photos of their tans, their beach bods....

And here's what I got....the SANDY HAND.....

After much perseverance, I managed these two lovely shots....

I consider myself lucky that I got 3 fingers....instead of one.

Hmmmm....like mother like daughter??

These photos frustrated me so much that I had to self-medicate....while lounging on the beach...

(not my photo....and sadly, not my drinks either)

And this is why I cannot do something like Project 365....a photo a day?  yeah....right.

I think I'm going to plot my revenge....and for DramaQueen's next birthday, I will give her a mini album, titled..."A Year in the Life of Your Hand."