Liberty Single Layout

This one is my favorite recent layout.  Photos are mounted on Walnut Cream cardstock, my most recent favorite color of cardstock.  The one thing that is hard to see in the photo is on the dark gray background piece, I used a script stamp with VersaMark to create the background.

The stamp is by Stampendous, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness".  I stamped and embossed it, distressed the paper with Pumice Stone Distress Ink, double matted on red and blue, and used mini gold star brads on either side.  Top photo is matted, has medium gold stars in the upper right corner and natural twine wrapped around the bottom.  

Here is the entire view of the layout.  I still look at this layout and am in awe, over the gorgeous photos (taken by my brother).  I am amazed at the grandeur of the bald eagle.  I get chills when I think about this symbol of our country and get verklempt over how looking at this makes me feel.  The beauty...  The patriotism...  The intense look of the eagle in the top photo, something about it reminds me of how we look at those who defy us as a country, or those who are enemies of our allies, it's a "don't mess with me look."  I just love it and I am reminded of how thankful I am to be an American and how especially grateful I am for the men and women of our military.

The three lower photos have the natural twine tied around them, and have a gold spiral clip at the top of each photo.  The bottom piece is stamped multiple time with a stamp by Northwoods.  I ten colored in the areas with Copic markers.  I also distressed the piece with Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  It is double matted on red and blue.

Cubs Single Layout

I loved doing this one, because it reminds me of the trip we took to Chicago and we got to see the Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals.Ill explain the different parts.

This photo is a close up of the journal square.  I stamped the guy in the lounge chair and colored him with Copic markers.  I then did a masking technique to stamp the blue and red dotted lines.  They are stamped with Distress Inks.  I wrote the journaling.

This is a view of the full page.

This is the bottom, photos are double matted.  I cute the center embellishment with my Cricut.  Two circles and the letter 'c'.  I did slightly distress the edges with pumice stone distress ink and a foam blending tool.

This is the upper portion, I love the photo of the Cubs sign.  I had photos where there were words showing, but I decided to use one without anything lit.  Then I used white Staz-on to stamp 'Cubs Win.'  I love it!!

This is a close up of the title, I stamped each letter and cut them out, I really wish I had punched them out, it would have looked cleaner, but not punch.  They are mounted with pop-up dots over strips of slightly darker paper.

Donna Jean Single Layout

So I broke this up, into portions, top and bottom and the whole layout is in the middle...

All right, let's see, I used some patterned papers on the layout including some by K&Company and Pink Paislee.  The title "Donna Jean" is stamped with a set by Leaving Prints (out of business) and fussy cut.  The mat under the title is embossed with a Tim Holtz texture fade, the brick one--it matches the brick in the bottom photo, and inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  The pins are by Making Memories, and I just used some raffia I had on hand.

The flowers are stamped using Brilliance Ink in a few different colors and a Stampin' Up! set.  They are fussy cut and put on with pop-dots.  The small ones have Mark Richards 2mm clear gems.

 

Again the pink mat is embossed with the brick texture fade and inked with pumice stone Distress Ink.  The flower was made by sewing a basting stitch along the folded edge of a few used dryer sheets.  Slightly stitched in the center to tighten and with a decorative button center, I sprayed the dryer sheets with a few colors of Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels.  I love how cute this turned out.  The homemade flower really stands out and that is how I think of Donna, she tends to stand out and she always makes me smile.

Baptism Single Layout

This layout was fun to do...  For starters I really love my brother (hard for me to call him my baby brother when I look at this picture).  But I also love RJ...  So two of my favorite people are in this photo.  Then, add to this that it was such a special occasion for both of them.  RJ is Bob's first born, and this was his baptism.  What a special event for all!

So, to start, I used several random stamp sets with some different inks to stamp on the background of blue paper.  There are blue, clear (VersaMark) and black inks.  The blue accent pieces are stamped with a variety of stamps by Creative Imaginations and Hero Arts.  Again I used VersaMark, black, and blue inks.  I stamped the stamp on the green with a Scrappy Cat stamp and VersaMark and traced it with a clear stardust pen.  The buttons are from my stash and I clustered them and placed them in some of the circles on the back ground paper.  The colors remind me of water, as the circle remind me of bubbles, that make me think of water, which is what you get baptized in, so, hence my layout...  The big 'S' for special-- for the special day; and smile--cause how can you not on a special day; and simple things, because really, what is more simple than following God's commandments?  I just love this layout!

Card--Shabby Chic

First, sorry the photo is sideways...  I promise it was upright and every time I've uploaded it's sideways...

So, this card, I love this one, it is a total favorite.

I started with white card stock and painted it with black acrylic paint.  After the paint dried, I stamped the fleur de lis/flourish with VersaMark and embossed with clear embossing powder.

After the embossed images cooled, I took a light green acrylic paint and pounced it randomly on the piece.  Then I also used an off-white color and an antique gold.  Pouncing these around blended the colors and created a faux patina-esque finish.  After the paint dried, I used a damp paper towel to wipe the paint from the embossed images.  I did have to redo a little bit of the painted areas, but I know next time to allow the paint to dry a little longer.

I stamped the butterflies in the antique gold paint, when they were dry I applied a little bit of Peeled Paint Distress Stickles.

The sentiment was stamped on a separate piece of card stock.  The corners are punched using the scallop Corner Chompers and the edges distressed with Distress Ink, Pumice Stone.  It is adhered with pop ups.  The ribbon at the top is by Pebbles.

I love this shabby chic look, it is a fun look and while it does take a few steps and some time to achieve a vintage type look, I think this card turned out terrific.

Card-Happy Dots

This card was fun to make.  I began by stamping the paisley and then masking them.  After I masked them, I stamped the dotted background in red.  The 'happy' is stamped in the frame which was also stamped and cut out and put on with pop ups.  There are gems in the corner.  I cut slits in the frame to thread the ribbon through, there is nav, sheer, polka-dot ribbon and white rick rack.  The edges of the card are slightly inked with blue ink.  There are also gems in the flowers in the paisleys.

Inside is a matching stamped paisley and a sentiment stamped in red.

The stamps used are all by Stampin' Up!  Ink is Distress Inks, in Barn Door, Broken China and Tumbled Glass.  Gems are by Mark Richards, the 2mm size.  Ribbon is American Crafts and Bazzill.

Card--Truffles....

I love this card, mostly because I love the stamp set I used to make it!!!  The set is a clear set by My Cute Stamps.  I stamped the sentiment in black on the small pink strip.  The strawberry is stamped in Distress Ink, Pumice Stone and colored with colored pencils (I was going to use my Gamsol on it, but couldn't find it)...

The brown background piece was stamped with the 'chocolate' word stamp from the set in VersaMark and run through with a texture embossing folder.  There are pink gems at the bottom.

There are also a variety of truffles stamped on the brown base of the card, also in VersaMark.  They are not very visible in the photo.