Butterfly Suncatchers

It finally seems that the rainy days are over and the sun is shining!

I thought I'd make some pretty suncatchers to make the most of the sunlight.  These can be placed in plant or flower pots either indoors or out, but they are partly paper, so they are not 'rain friendly' ! 

All the crafty instructions on how to make these are up on the Crafty Power blog today.  They are really easy to put together....even kids could make them!  There is also a video, so stop by there and take a look.  Click HERE to find the butterflies!

Hope you are enjoying the weekend and catching some sun wherever you are! 

Inked!

June seems to be running away on me, so before it does, here is my take on Sue Sykes' June sketch:

BabyOfTheFamily is 13 and experiments with her hair.  A LOT.  She found some YouTube tutorials on how to colour hair using chalk.  The best part?  It's temporary!

As she is talking about trying this out, I say, "Hey, let's get out my Clearsnap Chalk Inks and give it a go."  [I probably shocked her with my enthusiasm]

The bright red and teal parts are blond streaks she coloured with the ink, but I think the purple showed up well at the dark bottom parts of her hair.

TIP 1:  After rubbing the chalk ink against your hair, heat set it a bit with a blow dryer. 

TIP 2:  Vibrant and bright ink colours work best.

And the part I was happiest about?  It cost nothing!

I used Glitz Design"Uncharted Waters" collection that has some fun plastic embellishments.....

Vintage slides

A cute banner

One of my favourite butterfly punches

I cut some chevrons from patterned paper

My Little Shoebox glitter alphabet stickers

I didn't colour my own hair, but I did alter the colour of my title letter stickers using a Spectrum Noir alcohol ink marker.  I got a great deal on my markers over at Canuck Crafts.  Click HERE to visit their online store.  Awesome service....and they know everything there is to know about alcohol markers.

Here is my quick video tutorial on how I coloured these alphabet stickers.  Or you can click HERE to watch it on YouTube.

After you're finishing colouring your hair....or your alphabet stickers..... stop by the Sketchy Challenge site over at Canadian Scrapbooker and have some fun!

My Mind's Eye is...AMAZING!

When I first saw the My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart collection, I was smitten!  I immediately knew I wanted to design a class layout with the "Be Amazing" papers...just love those hexagon patterns!


Here is what I came up with...

 

I created some cool embellishments using Ranger Inkssentials Foil Tape Sheets and alcohol ink. 

Here are some close ups...

These buttons are part of this collection...I made the black butterflies using a Martha Stewart punch.

Love the dimensional stickers from this collection too!  And the ribbon is Maya Road.

 Making these foil embellishments was really fun.  I cut the sun freehand, but the butterflies and hearts are cut with Sizzix dies and my Big Shot.  

To make any of these elements, you'll need Ranger Foil Tape Sheets, alcohol inks, a piece of paper, dies, an embossing folder (I used a damask pattern by Tim Holtz), and a die cutting machine (Big Shot).

I coloured my sun and hearts with Caramel (or Butterscotch) alcohol ink and the butterflies with Stream.

Cut a piece of foil that will fit the size of your die, peel off the adhesive backing (CAREFUL:  very sticky!), and adhere to a piece of paper (you can use any piece of scrap paper).

I didn't use just any piece of scrap paper...I used a lovely extra piece of MME left over from my layout :)

 Trim the foil/paper piece so it can be cut by your die...

These butterflies are movable dies so they are sitting on a base tray (they are magnetic).

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Roll through your Big Shot and cut out the butterflies.

Place foil butterflies in damask patterned embossing folder and run through the Big Shot again.

And your butterfly will now look like this....I just LOVE how this foil tape embosses!

Gently squeeze Stream alcohol ink (or any colour you like) onto the butterfly.

Spread the alcohol ink using the tip of the bottle.  The more ink, the darker the colour.

 Because the foil is flexible, you can now play with your embellishments and bend them however you like....

I adhered only the centre of this butterfly with a pop dot and then lifted its wings off the page.

 The possibilities are endless with this "Amazing" line of papers by My Mind's Eye!

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!