" All Girl"

This is another LO of little Violet. For all who do not know, Violet has been fighting a brain tumor for over a year. She had been an angel though it all. She never complains, she always smiles and continues to make us all laugh. She just wants to return to her normal daily rountine of being all girl. Violet plays with neighbor children and rides her bike in a dress and three inch heels. I believe she was born with heels on. The journaling reads:
" She is gentle. She is wild. She's a
riddle, she's a child. She's a headache,
She's an angel. She's an Girl.

"Dark Lady"and "Savor" Burnt Glue and Candle technique

Here are a couple examples eith close-ups of this technique

This is a old techinque I used many year's ago. I am getting burned out of doing just plain paper layouts and need to try something creative and different. This is glue burning technique and candle wax. I started with a sheet of tissue paper. Applied tacky glue to the tissue paper and smeared over the surface. I next placed the glue over a candle over close and let the glue burn and bubble. I next started painting the surface with wax. Once the wax dried, I painted the surface with alcohol inks. When fused, I quickly passed a heat gun accross the surface. This creates a separation of ink and wax. I love the look of this, I wish you could see the separation better in the photo. I next keep building layers as described above, until I am satified with the wax and ink layers. I next added the tranfer rub ons, stamped quote and the metal elements fly. I then inked the edges and hightlighted areas with alcohol ink. Love doing this technique and will use it again.

" So Strong"

Here is the sketch 041710 for "So Strong" LO below.

This LO was created in Honor of my best friend.
She is one of the strongest, toughest and wonderful women
I know. Currently, her 7 year daughter is battling a brain tumor
as well as her father is battling with cancer. In addition she
lost a child 10 years ago. She is as strong as a rock and as sweet
as an early summer strawberry. "She got's faith there's no quit in her"
Whenever, I here the song I think of her
"So Strong" it describes her perfectly.
Here are the Lyrics that inspired!
this LO!
In her bare feet, white cotton dress
A ribbon holding back her curls
In a sweet gentle voice, she sings a lullaby
To two sleepy little girls
In the nightlight glow as her babies drift off
She looks so fragile, looks so so soft
She's strong
Solid as a rock
Like a lighthouse standing alone
She's strong got the world on her shoulders
She keeps carring on
She can take the heat, she can take the cold winter
She's got faith there's no quit in her
She's strong
Yeah so strong
There's a crayon picture says 'We love you mom'
She keeps it in a frame on her desk
There's a friend of a friend
Who calls now and then
But she's not ready just yet
She might get lonely in the still of the night
But she'll hold out till she knows it's right
And sometimes when nobody else is around
She gets down
And sometimes in a moment of weakness
A single tear falls, and that's all
She's strong
She's strong
She can take the heat she can take the cold winter
She's got faith there's no quit in her
She's strong
Yeah so strong
She's strong
Yeah so strong

This LO is a gift for my BFF's mother. I left the journaling card blank so she could journal about "V".
"V" is my BFF's six year old daughter who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. She is currently under going Chemo. This little girl is so tough and strong, she never complains and keep us all laughing. "V" is a dancer, and dreams of dancing professionally when she grows up. I know I will see this pretty princess dance on broadway someday.
Keep dreaming pretty princess.

How do you define a decade? Is it a single moment in time? A story? A trend? An Invention Or An Event?

The first decade of this new millennium is coming fast to a close and a new decade dawns on us-it is only a few days away.

The first decade of the millennium has brought us blogs, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, Reality TV, 14,000 songs in a device the size of a credit card- IPod, You-Tube and Talking Cars.

But we also saw the fall of Twin Towers, The DC Sniper, terror alerts, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the lowest economy in 40 years, some of the most destructive Tsunamis and Earthquakes ever, two US president deaths, the first US African-American President and Hurricane Katrina.

What moment, trend or story defined this new decade you? Scrap it!

This is for a challenge that I am hosting. I plan to complete a LO in paper. This help get some of my ideas flowing.

If you are interested here is thelink:
http://www.scrapbook.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/1522569/post/new/#NEW

Distressed Paper Christmas Poinsettia

Distressed Paper Christmas Poinsettia


Supplies you will need:

1. Durable paper.
2. Scissors
3. Glue
4. Ink pad
5. Wire Cutters
6. Wood Cooking Skewer or Reed Diffuser
7. Floral Wire
8. Floral Tape
9. Floral Sprays

Picture

Step One:

Draw two different size teardrop templates-the size is up to you. Cut out the templates
(These will be your flower petals)

Step Two:
Trace Seven big flower petals and six small flower petals. You should have a total of 13 petals. Now cut out the flower petals.


Step Three
Cut 13 pieces of wire. Cut each piece of wire 6 inches long.


Step Four:
Take one large flower petal and turn it over with the wrong side facing you.
Now apply glue to the entire petal.


Step Five:
Place a piece of the 6 inch floral wire in the middle of the petal and secure again with a drop or two of glue. Next, take another large flower petal and place on top of the flower petal with the floral wire. You will be sandwiching the wire between two large flower petals.



Step Six:
Smooth the flower petal with your fingers on both sides. You want to remove any air bubbles and secure the edges of the flower petals.

Step Seven:
To distress the edges of the flower petals, this will give the flower more dimension and richness of color. Use an ink pad to ink the edges of the flower petals.


Step Eight:
Take a piece of 14 inch floral wire and fold in half. Leave a small loop where the wire bends/folds. Now thread three floral sprays through the loop. Once you have the floral sprays through the loop, bend upward and secure with a piece of floral tape.



Step Nine:
Begin adding small the petals around the floral sprays. As you add a flower petal wrap a piece of floral tape around the bottom of the petal and wire stem. Continue to add all the petals around the floral sprays. Always add petals directly across from each other.
Once you have all the small petals added, repeat the steps with the large 7 flower petals..
A trick to getting floral tape to stick is pulling the tape as you wrap the tape around the wire.



Step Ten:
Take the Cooking skewer and roll the tips of each petal downward. Once you have rolled
each flower, begin arranging and shaping the flower with your fingers.


Step Eleven:
Take a yellow permanent marker and run gently across the floral sprays to color the
center of you poinsettia.

End result:

Flirting with Fourty

The title says it all. I am just a few years away from the big 40.

Turning 40 is going to be a big milestone. Some say the Big 4-0 is the entry to middle age, and one step closer to old age. But is it also not true that 40 is the new 30? As I approach my fortieth birthday, I have lived and experienced enough to learn from my mistakes, yet young enough to chart a new direction in my life. I am just so blessed to have lived long enough to be Flirting with Forty. There are many who did not have the privilege of reaching their fortieth birthday. I will continue to celebrate the blessings in my life. The next 40 years, I am not going to let the important things pass by like, calling family, forgiving an enemy; I plan to chart a new course for the next 40 birthdays!

This LO is more blue than gray but I can't seem to get the blue to translate to the photo. I started with the design in my Gypsy then cut the masking items from my Cricut. The flowers are a combination of Prima Flowers and my own made vellum flowers stamped with Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks.

Newest Sketch

Friendship LO

Distressed Paper Flowers

Distressed Paper Flower

Supplies you will need:

1. Durable paper ( scrapbook paper, paper bag cardstock)
For this example, I used cardstock.

2. Scissors
3. Glue
4. Ink pad
5. Water
6. Wood Cooking Skewer or Reed Diffuser



Step One:

Take a piece of paper and mist with water, you want the paper damp not wet.

Step Two:
Fold the paper three times into a square. Now cut a two inch petal with the scissors. When you cut this petal you will have six two inch petal.



Step Three:
Repeat step to with the exception of cutting two inch petals now cut one inch petals.


Step Four:
While the petals are still damp, crumble and twist the petals. Now slowly and carefully unravel and open the petals.



Step Five:
You will need to let the petals dry. If you are like me, I am inpatient so I used a heat embossing gun to dry each petal. If you use the heat embossing gun to dry the petals, grab the tip of one petal with a set of tweezers a gently run the heat embossing gun across each petal. If you hold the gun too long in one place it will burn the paper.

Step Six:
Begin inking the tips of the dried petal with the ink pad. I find that using two colors one darker than the other creates a more distressed look for the petals. Ink the tips and edges of all the one and two inch petals.



Step Seven:
The first layer, glue the six petals together. The top layer, glue the smaller petals just as you did in the first layer. Now to get the flower to pop up and develop the distressed dip in the middle, I place the flower on a soft surface (the best thing I have found is a soft mouse pad) Next take a rub on tool, I like Basic Grey’s rub on tool the best. Begin rubbing in a circular motion working from the center of the flower to the edge of each flower petal. The flower will begin to curve upward.
You can further distress the petals by inking the edges of the petals, by lightly brushing the ink pad over the whole flower.








Step Eight:
Now it is time to decide what to use as your center. In this example I used my distressed paper rose. For instructions on how to make the distressed rose check out either my blog http://suepup.blogspot.com/
or the tips and challenges in the forum section of PagesTime at http://pagesintimestoresite.ning.com/forum/topics/distressed-paper-roses.
If you do not want to add the distressed rose you could use any alternative center, like filigree brad, flower, rub on-the possibilities are endless.

Final result:

Handmade Paper Flower vine

Handmade Paper Flower Vine


Supplies

1. Floral tape
2. Floral wire any gauge 18 and above
3. Wire cutters
4. Paper flowers on wire stems
5. Paper leaves on wire stems



Step One:
You will need to cut three pieces of floral wire.
1st piece 10 inches
2nd piece 8 inches
3rd piece 6 inches

Step Two:
Decide where you want the vine to intersect. Once you decide, you will need to wrap the second and the third piece around the long 10 inch main vine piece.





Step Three:
This next step can be done two ways:
You can wrap the entire vine with floral tape.
Or
You can start adding the flowers to the bare wire. I prefer unwrapped, because I find the bare wire easier to work with.



Step Four:
Start wrapping the wire stemmed flowers and leaves to the main vine. Before you start wrapping, decide where you want the flowers and leaves placed on the vine. It is better to decide this now, once you get them wrapped on the main vine, it is hard to remove the items. Continue wrapping all the flower and leaves on the main vine. Once all the flowers and leaves are wrapped to the main vine gently start bending and arranging the leaves and flowers to you liking on the vine.



Step Five:
In this step you will begin creating the swirled vines.
Cut six pieces of floral wire at 6-8 inches long. Now wrap floral tape around each piece making sure to cover the entire piece, including the ends. Hint: if you pull and stretch the floral tape as you wrap it makes the floral tape stick to the project better.



Step Six:
Take all six pieces of wrapped wire and begin wrapping them around the skewer or diffuser reed. Hint: the skewer or diffuser reed is smaller in diameter creating a more delicate looking vine swirl.



Step Seven:
Now attach the swirls to the main vine using floral tape to connect them to the vine.



Final Step:
Now the wrap the entire vine with floral tape, remember to pull and stretch the tape as you wrap around the wire. Now you can gently rearrange the vine to your liking.



Final result: