Fabulous Fundamental: Flower Power

Do you own a bounty of flowers? No one was more shocked than I when I opened a drawer and found a plastic container stuffed to the brim with flowers! Well that was just the impetus I needed to start using them...but I must admit, I find flowers hard to use. Why? I really don't know but I know I use almost every other accent in my stash before I use flowers on my layouts and cards.

In this layout, I combined flowers from Heidi Swapp, Prima and a ribbon rose from Websters. And if I do say so myself, it looks charming! My flower centres are a combination of pearls from Prima. The chipboard alphas are from Basic Grey. As I did not have alphas all of the same colour, I decided to lightly mist the alphas to even out the colour and draw some continuity between the main title and subtitle.

Supplies:  Close to my Heart (cardstock); House of 3 (chipboard heart); BoBunny (pattern paper, die cut sticker); Stampin' Up (notebook punch); Pink Paislee (label); Heidi Swapp (large flower); Websters (ribbon rose); Prima (paper flowers, pearls); Basic Grey (chipboard alphas); Tattered Angels (mist); American Crafts (Writer)

So have I inspired you to use your flowers?

Scrapping with Scraps

Frequently, I challenge myself to utilize as much of my pattern paper as much as possible. That means, I use even those odd shaped and sized scraps leftover from my main projects.

In the layout below, I pieced together my odd shaped and sized pattern paper off cuts into a block that was the same width as my photo block. The journaling was created using the mini alphas and word phrases from an Authentique collection - it is not something I would normally do but you know the technique is growing on me and allows me to use my collections to their entirety.

Supplies:  Bazzill (cardstock); Prima (alphas); Authentique (die cut stickers, mini alphas, word phrases); American Crafts (Writers); Urban Lily chipboard circles; Kaisercraft (pattern paper)

For this layout, I notched the strips of Kaisercraft pattern paper to create "pennants" and overlaid my photo blocks on the pattern paper. Then I quickly added some Prima Alphas and Authentique mini alphas...and the layout was done...20 minutes (that might just be a new record for me!)

Supplies:  Bazzill (cardstock); Kaisercraft (pattern paper): Prima (alphas); paper clip (source unknown); Authentique (mini alphas)

Lastly, I used my remaining scraps of the Kaisercraft pattern paper on the layout below. The strips appear longer than they really are due to how I layered them behind the photos! This again was another 30 minute or less layout!

Supplies:  Kaisercraft (pattern paper); Cosmo Cricket (chalkboard alphas); Prima (alphas); Urban Lily (chipboard circles); Evalicious (felt accent); Studio Calico (mistables); Tsukineko (mist)

I hope I have inspired you to use your scraps in unique and eye catching ways!

Fabulous Find: Art Anthology

In the store, Sandy has been carrying some fabulous products by Art Anthology. At first thought you may think...it looks like another version of a mist or paint or resist media...right? Well, don't let your first impressions give these products an unfair assessment! I would like to share my thoughts and experiences with you on these products.

 Let me start with the mists...they come in a great variety of colours, colours that are different from others currently on the market. As well, I quite like that the mists are in "stainless steel" aerosol cans. When I use the mists, I achieve a nice even fine spray without alot of pumping - this feature I like alot!

In the sample card below, I sprayed the card base with Art Anthology mist and then I overlaid the Art Anthology mist with 2 colours from Tattered Angels. As I often overlay and mix colours, I quite like the effect of the different misted textured backgrounds. Then using pattern paper scraps from a BoBunny collection, I whipped up the remainder of the card.

The butterfly die cut is created by an Elizabeth Craft die and finger painted with Art Anthology Dimensional Glaze. The glaze is a wonderful texture - it's thick without being goopy and is speckled with pieces of glitter. The glaze can also be used as a resist with your mists but in this case, I wanted to quickly "paint" my butterfly die cut.

In this sample, the background is again sprayed with Art Anthology mist and overlaid with 2 different colours of Tattered Angels mists. The flower is created by an Elizabeth Craft die and the bottom layer of the flower is an Elizabeth Craft Shimmer Sheetz.

I hope you enjoyed this introductory post on the Art Anthology products - in the coming weeks, I am planning to show you other projects enhanced with the fabulous Art Anthology products.

Fabulous Finds in the Store

Oh me oh my...what do I see in the store that has caught my eye?

Well, I am loving the American Crafts Zazz glitter glue...and that is big for me as I rarely use stickles or the like but I am loving the glitter. Oh and the colours are dynamite too!

I absolutely can't resist the Studio Calico wood veneers.  There are oodles of shapes in each package and they are so darn cute! The wood veneers also take on colour well from mists or ink pads or markers...and don't let me forget about stamping on them. Yes I am in serious love with these!

Now I can't talk about wonderful new products without mentioning WRMK Envelope Punch Board. I am so excited to use this new tool but from everything I have read and seen, this board is easy to use and can create beautiful products. Watch for a blog post soon about the Envelope Punch Board.

What are your favorite products?

Die-Versions: Oh Thank You!

Everyone here at Scrap Shotz hopes you have had a terrific Canada Day and if you are an American friend, we wish you a wonderful Fourth of July!

There are oodles of fabulous products in the store now so watch over the next few weeks for samples of the items. Let me start off with the Die-Versions: Sweet Spot Oh Thank You die. Not only does this die have a super cute font, it is one of the few Thank You dies that I have seen in a circle and cuts like buttah!

For my samples below, my youngest needed a few thank you cards for a recent birthday. A card doesn't get any easier and faster than this!

Supplies:  My Minds Eye (pattern paper), Bazzill smooth (cardstck); Bow-Easy (typing bow); ribbon (source unknown)

My thoughts about the die....well this is the second Die-Versions die I have used and I have been thoroughly impressed by how sturdy it is given the "fragility" of the die design. Other dies have I have used in the past with slim and intricate designs have broken or crinkled in my die cutter (yup, I put my products through their paces!) As well, I usually cut 2-3 pieces of cardstock at a time - despite the thickness, each die cut was perfect. However, 3 is the limit! Lastly, the die worked wonderfully on thick cardstock, pattern paper, very light "aluminium" like tin foil and thin very starched fabric - burlap was a bit of a challenge but I think it had to do with my much loved plates than the die...however I will try it again soon!

I hope you will give Die-Versions a try!