Perfect Crackling - Layout

I did it again....and I am stinkin' happy about it.

Actually it is two thing I did again and I am equally happy about it.

1. For the first time since November 2011 - and eight weeks since my operation - I have been able to power walk again. I am over the moon that I can get back into my health regime now without doubling over in pain. But for the moment there will be no running, just walking. I don't want to overdo it in case I jinx our upcoming holiday.

2. I scrapped yet again.....wahoooooo. And I still enjoyed the whole process of getting my fingers dirty with glue and paints. Life is good :)

Papers: Donna Salazar Designs, Making Memories

Stamp: Donna Salazar Designs

Inks: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap Inc

Mists: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap Inc, Cosmic Shimmer

Pearls: Want2Scrap

Stickers: Jillybean Soup, Jenni Bowlin

Picture frame: K&Company

Other: Doily, Embroidery Floss, Gesso

Hope you all are having a most enjoyable Sunday and a wonderful week ahead.

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Papermaze DT - August PT III

The below post has recently been published on the Papermaze Blog.

Today I would like to share a quick post on how to create some easy embellishments from your scrap left overs.

** click on each of the images within the post to enlarge their view **

The above three tags were all done using scraps and stickers from the Watermelon Gazpacho line of Jillybean Soup. They can easily be used to adorn layouts, minibooks or cards - just make sure you chose your sentiment stickers accordingly.

Here are now the tags individually for you to view.

Enjoy!

Additional products used:

• Cardstock: Bazzill
• Plastic Flower: American Crafts Greenhouse
• Pens: Uniball Signo, Zig Millenium
• Other: Pins

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Papermaze DT - August PT II

The following blog post has recently gone live over at the Papermaze Blog.

Whenever I work with a paper collection that at first glance "dictates" as to what kind of projects you should use it for, I tend to rebel against it.

Take the Watermelon Gazpacho Line from Jillybean Soup for example, with its watermelon and swimsuit designs. It pretty much screams "summer", "juicy", "hot" and "fun" and you wouldn't really use it for anything else but Summer/Beach layouts, right?

Wrong.

There is SO much potential in such papers, just think out of the box and embrace the flip-side, which is more often than not of a less prominent design.

Watermelon

Sprig of Mint

Ice Cubes

I decided that the pictures I took of one of the guards at Rosenborg Castle would be complimented perfect by the above papers, wouldn't you agree?

** click on image to enlarge **

And while I was in my "rebel-phase" I thought might as well go really mad and do what it generally seen as a "no-no" these days - to cut the object of the picture out of the photograph...yeah, I know: shocking!

But I LOVE using photographs as embellishments and this way my layout does not look dwarfed by including two photographs.

I simple raised the cut photograph with the help of some Stix2 Adhesive Foam Pads and stuck it on top of the other picture.

Another fun tip to make parts of your title stand out a little bit more from the background is to add some highlights to individual letter with the help of a White Signo Pen.

I hope my post has somehow inspired you to embrace your inner scrapbook rebel and to look for the alternative use of some themed papers.

Additional products used:

• Cardstock: Bazzill
• Stickers: Jillybean Soup, Jenni Bowlin
• Pearls:Other: Doilies, Pearls

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Papermaze DT - August PT I

Below is a post which has gone live over at the Papermaze Blog.

Do you sometimes look at some of you new crafting purchases and just sigh because you cannot seem to find the necessary inspiration? It can be frustrating if you are stuck and are just hoping for anything that may trigger your creative process.

Well here is how I usually snap out of it:

Take the papers that you have decided to work with and just lay them out in front of you.

Watermelon

Sprig of Mint

Ice Cubes

More often than not you will find a recurring dominant colour scheme within your papers, in the case of the Watermelon Gazpacho line from Jillybean Soup the blues and greens stuck out to me the most, so I decided to go with blue as my main colour and add a touch of green. To help kickstart my creative juices I went to search for images on the net, via Pinterest and found these two beauties

Browsing for the colour combination "blue and green" and looking at the pictures - which my search returned  - got me straight into creative mode and this is the result.

**click on image to enlarge **

Once I started there was no stopping me and I was pleased with myself that I managed to even come up with a little embellishment money saver along the way! See those flowers on the right bottom corner, the ones with the twine and buttons?

You could spend a pretty penny and buy them ready made (which incidentally may leave you with a pack of flowers in a colour you don't really want to use again), or you can grab some of your older stash such as American Crafts Greenhouse Lucy Flowers 

and some WRMemory Keepers Bakers Twine in coordinating colours

and just wrap this across the flowers (which are actually scored along each petal, so it makes it super easy to fasten the twine).

Finish it off with a button on top and you have a very unique embellishment.

The other rosette flower on the left bottom corner was created from the cut off-strip of paper which I usually have left over from trimming the 12 x 12 papers to my favoured size of 8.5 x 11.

I love those rosettes, as they are really easy to make. Recently I have created a step-by-step tutorial   on how to create the rosettes. Hop on over and have a look if you don't know yet on how to make your own rosette flowers.

Additional products used

• Stickers: Jillyeban Soup - Watermelon Gazpacho Cardstock Stickers
• Mist: Cosmic Shimmer in Twilight Black
• Stamp: Kaisercraft Grid

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