hello best smiles!

14 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, My Favourite Things

Tags

Mixed Media Layout, My Favourite Things, Twinkling H2O's, watercolour

This past Thursday was the last class of the year at The Paperie and it was the second last class of My Favourite Things for 2015 (we’ll finish up the album in January).

I knew I wanted to use watercolours, specifically my favourite Twinkling H2O’s, but was unsure how to incorporate them until I saw Kristina Werner do a simple masking technique to make some trees. I simply extrapolated to a larger size and made what might be my favourite pages for this class ever! The colours are amazing!

As a head’s up, if you want to try this, it works just as well with regular (and super cheap) watercolours. You won’t get quite the intensity of colour, or the shimmer, but they still work perfectly – I demoed with regular watercolours for class just to see!

This was the simpler, but still impressive, first LO. We used black gesso for the center and the Twinks around the border.

For the title we used Heidi Swapp watercolour paper words and coloured them with the same paints. I also added some Dear Lizzy gold foam Thickers.

The second LO used a ton of masking but it was worth it!

How much fun are all those colours?!? Looks just like stained glass, especially with the shimmer!

This time, we used black gesso on the watercolour words, plus some more of those Thickers:

And just look at the sparkle from those paints!

Seriously, these shine and shimmer like crazy!

Do you love them? We all did – it was a fun class and worth the masking work – please tag me if you try it out because I’d love to see!

Cheers!

Best Ever

10 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, ScrapBook

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Dear Lizzy, Dina Wakley Media, Mixed Media Layout, My Favourite Things

It’s December and there’s snow falling on my blog! I love that feature of WordPress – so awesome!

I’m teaching the last Fave Things class of the year tonight (we have one more class in January to clue up 2015) and it occurred to me that I hadn’t shared last month’s metallic goodness with you all!

The base layer and texture layers for both of these LO’s were made using Dina Wakley Media metallic paint. In class, someone used red for the base instead and layered the metallic over and it looked incredible!

We also punched circles from Tim Holtz Metallic Kraft Core and sprinkled on some Stampendous embossing enamel.

My most favourite thing are these Dear Lizzy Thickers – they’re gold foil over foam and all kinds of awesomeness.

The second LO uses the Gilt paint which is an orange-y gold:

You can see we dripped paint for texture in this one, but we still used those awesome Thickers – with a twist!

20 - title

I showed everyone how to make their own silver ones! The best part? It looks like they were made this way!

I’m hoping to be back tomorrow with the LO’s we do tonight – they just may be my most favourite ever!

Cheers!

The Doctor & Ms. Longstocking

28 Saturday Nov 2015

Posted by Sara in Mixed Media, ScrapBook

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Balzer Designs, Mixed Media Layout, Prima ColorBloom, Stampendous Embossing Enamel, The Crafter's Workshop, Wink of Stella

Molly asked for almost a year to be Pippi Longstocking for Halloween and Gabe, as usual, just wore what I brought home for him and loved it!

While I was at the Paperie Retreat I just wanted to play a bit with some pastes, powders, and sprays – This was the outcome. It’s not exactly what I wanted but it was still fun to play! I do love the texture of the bubbled paste and embossing enamel, especially when mixed with Prima ColorBloom Sprays and Freckled Fawn silver puffy hearts:

And these gold Thickers are my new faves!

Plus, look at the sparkle on the wood veneer from the Wink of Stella pens – I’m a big fan of the white one, it’s so cool!

Have you had fun just playing lately? What products are you using these days – I’m always on the lookout for new ones!

Cheers!

Simple Scrapper | November 2015

05 Thursday Nov 2015

Posted by Sara in Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Simple Scrapper

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Mixed Media Layout, Simple Scrapper

The templates for this month are super cool because, although there are five different ones, they’re all based on one original sketch! Here’s my take:

I had fun with Dylusions Ink Sprays here! I masked off outer area with wide washi tape and then used skinny washi to make the squares:

And then I used four shades of spray to ink it all up:

Pull off the washi and done! I went a little crazy with the Freckled Fawn embellishments:

Love that little camera! And the wood veneer words are fabulous:

Plus, I’m all about those teeny, tiny enamel word dots.

The story starters this month were so much fun and gave me the chance to scrapbook this funny picture of Molly:

Lots more Freckled Fawn goodies, including gold arrows:

And I used my typewriter for the journaling:

Make sure you check out the Pinterest page to see all the other LO’s from the Creative Team – they’re all kinds of awesomeness!

Cheers!

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.

Sweet Sunny Smile | My Favourite Things 2015

29 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, My Favourite Things, ScrapBook

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Dylusions Ink Spray, Little B, Mixed Media Layout, October Afternoon

edit: Ack! I forgot to hit post yesterday! Sorry!

You know how you have products you love but sometimes they get laid aside so you kind of forget about them until you’re looking for something new and/or different to use and suddenly hey! there they are and you fall in love all over again?

Yeah. That was me and Dylusions Ink Sprays this month. The colours. Seriously people, the colours. Yum.

Look at that face. First day of school and she (actually they) let me take pictures even though it was cold outside.

I added rub-ons, iridescent sequins, and those amazing gold feathers from Little B:

For the second LO – hello sweet little face –

I punched it up a notch with overspray, ghosting, and overheated molding paste.

I still added the same embellishments to tie both pages together:

And I love how the titles worked out on both! Those alphas are from October Afternoon’s new holiday line, Under the Tree, and I love how it can be totally Christmassy, or not.

As always, it was fabulous seeing how everyone used the exact techniques and products I did and yet they are all so different. Gorgeous and amazing pages were made, as usual! If you’re a regular who missed the class this month, you really did miss out! #sorrynotsorry Lol!

Cheers!

hello love | My Favourite Things 2015

14 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, My Favourite Things, ScrapBook

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Distress Ink, Mixed Media Layout, My Favourite Things, Perfect Pearls, Ranger

I think the August class of My Favourite Things was one of the most popular so far – everyone loved the technique (which I originally got from Jennifer McGuire) and everyone’s turned out so beautifully but all so amazingly different.

I love how the ombre turned out on this one! Molly’s favourite colour these days is blue and since the Distress line has so many incredible blues, I decided to use a bunch! What better way than ombre? You can’t see it, my photography skills are just not up to the challenge, but the shimmer of Perfect Pearls over the Distress Ink is amazing!

We embellished up the LO’s this month with cork stickers from Crate Paper, some paper strips from Amy Tangerine, and more rub-ons from a few months ago.

The second LO is the exact same technique but with a different shape, ink colour, and Perfect Pearl colour.

Still more cork and rub-ons for the title and journaling work – I love how those pieces all came together!

We also mixed a few colours together on this one; you can see the blend if you look closely. It added great depth without breaking up the visual of one colour tone.

And now we’re almost there – on Friday I’ll have you all caught up with My Favourite Things so make sure you check in for that!

Cheers!

Sweetness | My Favourite Things 2015 (& Happy Thanksgiving Canada!)

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, My Favourite Things, ScrapBook

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Balzer Designs, Mixed Media Layout, My Favourite Things, Prima Color Bloom, Stampendous Embossing Enamel, The Crafter's Workshop

Back in June, a local photographer, Stacy Breen-Crane, was offering mini photo shoots with the proceeds going to charity. I jumped right on board and got some amazing pictures of Molly and Gabe at the park on one of the only nice days we had that month! They were perfect to use in our July class with lots of Prima Color Bloom sprays.

We layered mist through a stencil, then modeling paste through a large stencil, then more paste through the same, but smaller, stencil. All of that was heated in between to overdry and bubble up the paste, making lots of gorgeous texture. Then, we sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. And dripped. And tossed on some Stampendous embossing enamel while the spray was still wet. Look at the awesome texture!

As if that wasn’t enough shine, we dusted Perfect Pearls over the spray to take down the stickiness (thanks to Cathie for that fabulous tip!)

You can see there’s also gold thread under the photo, and we finished with some sticker labels and rubons:

Believe it or not, the second LO is almost identical, including the sprays. Just to show how different these colours can look depending on how much you spray and how you layer them, I used the exact same colours but in different order and intensity:

We also sprinkled the embossing enamel on the paste before we dried it, which allows it to cover a completely different area than the first LO.

There’s still tons of shimmer and texture, just done in a slightly different way:

We had a ton of messy fun doing this one, and it was incredible to see how different all the LO’s were, even when people used the same products and colours.

For my fellow Canadians, it’s Thanksgiving – enjoy, eat lots, and have fun doing your thing!

Cheers!

Foxy Guy | My Favourite Things 2015

09 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, My Favourite Things

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Derwent Inktense Pencils, Mixed Media Layout, My Favourite Things

Yeah. So…. I’m waaaaaay behind in posting the Fave Things LO’s. Sorry. 😦 The nice thing for all of you is that there will be a whole bunch in a row which means lots of awesome inspiration – yay!

The class we did in June featured Derwent Inktense pencils. If you haven’t tried these yet, they’re incredible! They’re watercolour pencils but better. The lead is ink based and so the colours are super vibrant and blend really well when wet.

We coloured over some dried texture paste and misted water to blend. We followed that up with layers of paper, drywall tape, and cheesecloth. I love how the title turned out – black marker covered with Sakura Clear Stardust pen for shimmer:

The second LO was very similar, though the placement of the elements was different. The big difference here was the way we used the pencils. Instead of just misting and letting them run, we misted and used our fingers to blend the colours together more smoothly, leaving less pencil marks on the paste.

We had some fabulous chipboard stars from Bella Blvd. as our embellishments this month and I love them!

Adding a bit of white paint pen to each really makes them pop as well! The star sequins were added because, of course, I need a bit of sparkle and shine on my layouts!

See you Monday with the next set – they’re all about Prima Color Bloom Sprays!

Cheers!

Simple Scrapper | October 2015

07 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by Sara in Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Simple Scrapper

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Distress Ink, Mixed Media Layout, Simple Scrapper

Yay, I’m all caught up! Whew! 🙂

I had fun with this month’s LO’s – the templates and Story Starters were, as always (I know I say it every month) fabulous! Jennifer and her Team behind the scenes knock it out if the park each month with the templates. Although I’m not a digital scrapper, I love that they come as a sketch and also as a layered Photoshop template; it means I can use pieces on my traditional layouts too.

For my Story Starter LO this month I used a fun picture of my scrappy friends and I at a Retreat our local scrapbooking store, The Paperie, puts off twice a year. It’s an awesome time – 4 nights and 4 days at a hotel with great people. Sometimes we get lots of stuff done, other times, well, we just have fun and relax! A few retreats ago the store started bringing props for pics and we have taken full advantage!

It may have been fairly late and there *may* have been some wine involved. Just saying….. 🙂

I had fun with Distress Inks and water to make the background panel and then used OCtober Afternoon plus several colours of Kelly Purkey alpha stickers for the title work:

One of my favourite tricks is to outline letters with a black pen to make them pop out against a busy background. It’s amazing the difference it makes!

My template LO has lots of white space but still uses lots of paper – a great way to use up those favourite bits and pieces you might have left over.

Some epoxy Freckled Fawn hearts and Amy Tangerine alphas gave it some shine, and a wash of watery Distress Ink grounded the whole piece. And then I just layered and layered paper scraps that I had distressed:

And there they are! Make sure you take a look at my sidebar for links to the rest of the Team and see what they did this month. You can also check out our Pinterest page for a quick overview!

I’ll be back Friday with some My Favourite Things LO’s – we did some fun techniques over the summer!

Cheers!

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.

Simple Scrapper | September 2015

05 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by Sara in Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Simple Scrapper

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Distress Ink, Mixed Media Layout, Perfect Pearls, Ranger, Simple Scrapper

Back, as promised, with more Simple Scrapper LO’s today! These are using the September Premium Membership materials – both templates and Story Starters.

I used a fun Distress Ink and Perfect Pearls technique on both my LO’s this month – they’re super shimmery and colourful in real life!

One of the slight twists I used this month was with the doilies – I layered two and flipped one backwards so it has just a subtle pink tint coming through. The white wasn’t quite right, the red was too deep and the pink I had wasn’t the right shade. Flipping the red doily over worked perfectly!

I used my favourite Amy Tangerine Kraft Thickers for the title and added some detail to those and the cork hearts with my white paint pen:

The Story Starter LO has this year’s annual cabin pic of my kiddos and my best friend’s kiddos – she added an extra one to the mix this summer!

Every summer we spend two weekends at our family cabin with this crazy crowd and have the time or our lives! Unfortunately we missed a weekend this year because I was delayed due to weather on my way home from Mexico. I’m not complaining – we got four more days of sun and got to see some family during our stopover – but I did miss our second weekend together.

I punched circles from a previously made watercolour background paper and added wood veneer chevrons that had been coloured with a Sakura Stardust pen:

I don’t have a decent picture of the border, but I simply drew two lines and scribbly doodled in between to frame out the piece.

And that’s it! Check back Wednesday for the October LO’s using the all new materials from Simple Scrapper. Also, don’t forget to take a look at the 2016 planner Jennifer has designed – it’s really awesome and it comes in five different sizes!

As always, if you have any questions about how I did something, just ask and I’ll try to answer. If you want to know pretty much exactly how I made the shimmery background, check out this video from Jennifer McGuire!

Cheers!

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.