Scrap FX July Reveal #1 + GIVEAWAY!!

Good morning everybody :)! Glad to see you here today, as I'm sharing with you my first project this month for Scrap FX~ AND a little GIVEAWAY!! :)...

It’s a new month and that means NEW releases and NEW inspiration!!! July is a very exciting month for Scrap FX as they’ve just released their brand new (and might I say AWESOME) stencils!! So today I wanted to show you how I used not only a pleasant supply of Scrap FX chipboard pieces, but also one of my most favorite of the new stencils, the “Stained Glass Quarter”…

"Remember"

Let’s take a look first at how I used the Stained Glass Quarter stencil:

 I applied the stencil not only to the upper left and lower right-hand corners of my layout, but also to the central circle of the page. For the bit of brown masking in the corners, I simply laid the stencil down and dabbed over it with a brown chalk fluid edger pad. For the masking over the circle, I placed the stencil over 1/4 of the circle , finding the center and making a little mark so when I did the remaining 3/4, I could easily line up the pointed end of the stencil. I took a paintbrush and dabbed on texture paste over the stencil, dried it with my heat gun, and then used the same brown chalk pad to add just a hint of color. I still wanted to retain the light blue shade of the paper beneath, so I was careful to keep the coloring to a minimum.

After my foundation was complete, I was able to place my photos and begin clustering!

 I started my cluster at the right-hand side of my layout with this beautiful new “Berries Stem”. I painted it first with gesso before applying a tan shade of chalk ink, dabbed the edges with a darker shade yet to add some definition before finally taking a dark brown chalk ink and stamping over it with a vine stamp. This stem was the perfect addition to this cluster, along with the other twigs and sprigs .

 There’s nothing like a beautiful flourish to set the stage for a cluster. The “Flourish V” one is particularly beautiful. I treated it the same as I did the “Berries Stem” and the rest of the chipboard pieces on my layout. I really love the effect created by stamping over the top of chipboard!

 The wordlet title packs such as the “Remember Wordlet Theme Pack” come as a set of three different chipboard words. I love that they’re just that perfect size for squeezing in anywhere! I tend to leave my title placement until the end of my layouts and more often than not, I leave myself very little room- so these are perfect for that!

I felt that the lower right-hand corner of my cluster needed a flourish too! Why not? I actually clipped this section from the “Flourish Flower”.

And of course my layout would not be complete without some hidden journaling. And my go-to supply for that is the many tags available from Scrap FX. This one in particular is from the “Tags, mixed kraft” pack. I simply painted it white with gesso and applied the same techniques as I did the chipboard pieces on my project.

Scrap FX Chipboard Used:

Berries Stem

Flourish V

Flower Flourish

Remember Wordlet Theme Pack

Tags, mixed kraft

Scrap FX Stencil Used:

Stained Glass Quarter

 Additional Supplies Used:

~Pink Paislee "London Market" papers (all except cream/tan paper behind my circle)

~The Scrap Cake "Moments in Time" paper (cream/tan)

~Manor House Creations, Prima Marketing, & Petaloo flowers

~Manor House Creations sprigs & twigs

~Prima Marketing Resin Treasures (birds)

~Pion Design butterflies

~Melissa Frances pearls

~Martha Stewart Border Punches: Optic Dot & Garden Rail

~Prima Marketing "Fairy Belle" vine stamp

~Martha Stewart Texture Effect

~Prima Marketing Chalk Fluid Edger Pad: Knotted Wood, Shabby Tote

~Tim Holtz "Frayed Burlap" distress ink

~gesso, doily, thread & lace remnants

Okay! So on to the giveaway!! How would you like to win that beautiful Stained Glass Stencil??

Easy! All you have to do is : (1) Make sure you're a follower of my blog, and (2) link up using the Inlinkz tool below! That's it! :) I will keep this giveaway open until midnight of July 13th and draw a winner shortly thereafter. I'm happy to ship to anyone, Internationally! Good luck! 

C'est Magnifique: Bits & Pieces GIVEAWAY!!

There's nothing better than winning something, and we're going to give you a chance to do that.  Leslie (the owner of C'est Magnifique) has gathered everything she has remaining from her July Kit, "Sweet Summer Days", and she's giving it away to one of our blog readers.

The July Kit features paper from Inkido (a Swedish manufacturer) and a couple of sheets from Teresa Collins (USA) for contrast.  Here's a look at what we're giving away which includes items from the kit, the flower add-on, and the embellishment add-on.   Please note that since this is Leslie's "Bits & Pieces", you will receive partial packages of embellishments and some of the paper will be less than full sheets.

So what do you need to do to win? Visit the giveaway post--->HERE, make sure you're following the C'est Magnifique blog, and add your name/country using the Inlinkz tool at the bottom of the post- that's it! Open Internationally!! You have until midnight July 12th. The winner, as chosen by random draw, will be announced July 13th! Good luck!

Guest Designer @ Scrap Africa!

Good morning everybody :). It's an early one for me today- 5:30 AM...my mom called me this morning all excited because after five long days her beloved cat finally came home after getting out of the house and gone missing. This was a huge relief to her- she's owned this cat for 10 years and is like a child to her. So she was so excited that she had to call me! And I'm the type who- if you wake me up- I'm up.

So here we are! But it's okay, I needed to get this post up as my guest designer layout is up at Scrap Africa! After being one of the winners of a challenge the previous month, I was asked to come back and help provide some inspiration alongside their fabulous design team! It's for Sketch #7, and for this layout I decided to go in a different direction and scrap myself. In this photo, I'm out fishing at the lake for the first time this year. I don't know what it is about fishing and hunting, but that time is so peaceful for me. I'm a rather impatient person by nature but for those two hobbies I have endless patience!...

"Moments"

Here is Sketch #7 from Scrap Africa:

And a peek at the details:

Who doesn't love a delicious flower cluster? Really loving those yellow Melissa Frances sprigs I picked up in the C'est Magnifique store- they're so delicate and pretty!

 Gotta say this is my favorite part of my layout. The frame here is actually a part of a gate chipboard set from Scrap FX (Gates A, large scrolls). I cut it down, painted it with gesso and then with texture paste. Then I took a Prima flourish stamp and some ink to stamp the pattern over the top before finally adding some pearls. The "Moments" title is also from Scrap FX.

 Hidden journaling, as usual! If you're like me, you have a lot to say- and it doesn't always look so great right out there front and center. So I usually stick it on a hidden tag so I don't have to restrict how much I write.

For the textured pattern on my background I used the "Fence Frame" template from The Crafter's Workshop along with some texture paste and ink. 

Supplies Used:

~Pink Paislee "Butterfly Garden" paper

~Scrap FX chipboard gate & title

~Prima Marketing flowers

~Melissa Frances yellow sprigs

~Melissa Frances pearls

~Prima Marketing "Fairy Belle" journaling tag

~Martha Stewart Texture Effect

~Prima Marketing Chalk Fluid Edger Pad: Knotted Wood

~gesso, book page, cheesecloth, chain, lace

Scrap FX Chipboard used here:

Gates A, large (scrolls)

Remember Wordlet Theme Pack

Thank-you so much to Svetlana and Evgenia for inviting me to guest! And I hope you all take a moment to check out this fab challenge site if you haven't yet! Always great prizes up for grabs and tons of inspiration :).

I hope you're all well...I'll be back soon! Take care,

GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!!!

Good morning everybody!! I hope your day has started off well :)- me, I got up at 6:00 AM as I knew I needed to get a head-start on organizing for my giveaway winners before the kids got up! And I'm SO glad I did- I learned a lot about randomizing lists, numbering them, screen shots, etc...thank goodness for Google!! Lol!

But before I let you in on the lucky winners of my five prizes, I just wanted to give you all another heartfelt THANK-YOU for your overwhelming support!! A few weeks have passed now since opening my new blog and I feel so at home here, thanks to all of you. I received so many kind and supportive words from friends old and new and they are all SO appreciated...

So thank-you :).

But let's get to it- I know you're all anxious...

This task was a bit of a trip, lol. Because I offered additional entries for sharing on Facebook/Twitter and personal blogs, I first had to create a list that included multiple names, according to the number of entries each person had. Then, I found www.randomizelist.com which took all of those names and scrambled them. After that, I headed over to www.textmechanic.com where they numbered my list for me and counted the number of lines. Finally, I used www.random.org to choose my winners. And since I had never learned how to take a screen shot before, I found this super helpful link HERE, which allowed me to take actual screen shots of my random.org results AND the corresponding winner's comments! Yay!

HERE are the lucky winners, starting with Giveaway #5 ($15 gift certificate to online store of choice!):

Winner of Giveaway #4 (foreign paper lot):

Winner of Giveaway #3 (chipboard pack):

Winner of Giveaway #2 (Basic Grey "Plumeria" Collection):

Winner of Giveaway #1 (Grand Prize!!):

CONGRATS, Ladies!! Please email me at erin_divisionair@yahoo.com with your info so I can get your prizes mailed off to you! Thanks again to all who participated :) and for making this new adventure in blog land a fun and enjoyable one!!

Take care,

C'est Magnifique July Sketch Challenge

Good evening :). I wanted to get on here quick tonight and share with you the July Sketch Challenge over at C'est Magnifique! We've got another great sketch for you, designed by the talented Nadia Cannizzo:

You do not have to be a member of C'est Magnifique Kits to participate in the sketch challenge! It's open Internationally and you are welcome to use whichever supplies you'd like to complete your layout. The winner, as chosen by random draw, will win this fabulous hoard of goodies, a prize package valued at more than $40- plus FREE shipping to anywhere in the world!!

Additionally, as an added bonus to show our appreciation to our members, a randomly drawn participant who uses one of our kits to complete their entry will receive a $10 gift certificate to the C'est Magnifique store!!

Finally, 5 layouts will be chosen to be featured on the blog once the sketch challenge has closed :).

You have until July 31st to enter. Good luck- have fun- can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!!

Check back tomorrow...I'm hoping to draw the winners of my Housewarming Giveaways!! :)

My first layout as a Once Upon A...Sketch designer!!!

**This is my second post today! Scroll down to the previous post to see my ScrapFIT project**

Hey there! Back again to share my very first post as a Once Upon A...Sketch designer!! So let's get to it...

Theme: Friend

We would like you to create a layout and interpret the theme "Friend" however you like based on the following sketch. You can journal as little or as much as you like, but your layout must incorporate this theme and the sketch below. Please make sure that we see some sort of journalling on your layouts and please tell us where your journalling is . Hidden journalling is perfectly fine. 

Ideas for journalling: one of your current friends, a childhood friend, an unexpected friendship,what having friends mean for you, a friend that you miss or have lost, family member who is your closest friend, a scrappy/online  friend,  a special person that has touched your life, someone who has helped you out lately, a friend that you couldn't do without, your children's friends / classmates etc., your pet and the friendship you have with it..

Here is my layout featuring one of my life-long best friends...

"The Promise"

 **I have hidden journaling written on the Scrap FX tag to the left of the photo**
I created this layout as a birthday gift for her and wrote some very special things to her on the hidden tag. She is such a beautiful person and I just wanted her to be reminded of that always...

 I've included a ton of gorgeous Prima flowers on this one!

 This beautiful title is from Scrap FX. I painted it white and then used a Prima Chalk Fluid Edger Pad to dab on just a bit of green ink to help it stand out.

 Some masking with texture paste and a brick mask from The Crafter's Workshop.

 The large chipboard flourish under my flower cluster is also from Scrap FX. I LOVE how big this flourish is- it was the perfect foundation for all of my florals!

So how about the prizes?? Once Upon A...Sketch has a bunch of sponsors and prizes up for grabs!! Here's just a peek for you...

We have 2 new featured sponsors this month. 

The first one is a gorgeous etsy shop by one of our newest Design Team member's Kay Fatula. Please welcome to Once Upon A...Sketch Kay's Kreative Korner. 

Arts & crafts has been my guilty pleasure since the first time I picked up a crayon.  With time, my love of crafts ventured into drawing, altering items, painting, stamping & finally scrapbooking.  Kay's Kreative Korner was opened in 2009.  It began simply as a way of sharing a few of my handmade items.  I opened my shop with a couple of handstamped cards & a few pre made scrapbook pages.  Within a year, I stopped making cards and decided to sell embellishments--specifically butterflies.  I've always admired the butterfly & what it symbolizes.  Change, transformation, a new start, beginnings...with this concept I started making scrapbook embellishments based on existing butterflies from all around the world.  Today I carry a couple of unique scrapbook embellishments.  In addition to the butterflies I specialize in vines & beaded flowers.  I make each item with much TLC and careful precison.  My greatest reward is seeing how others use my embellishments on thier own projects & pages...

Direct link to shop:

http://www.karlaskreativekorner.etsy.com

The second new sponsor for July is a new online store called Scrap Locker

Scrap Locker is a brand new online scrapbooking store with a huge variety of products from many favorite manufacturers including Tim Holtz, Prima Marketing, Zva Creative and many more. Scrap Locker also has many handmade items. Some of the handmade items include crochet flowers, bead sprays and albums. Scrap Locker ships to many international locations. Scrap Locker also has a gallery and would love for you to fill out a gallery inclusion form and share your crafty inspiration with fellow scrapbookers. Check us out today at www.scraplocker.com

Once Upon A...Sketch has a whole slew of prizes up for grabs, in addition to a guest designer spot!! The winner of this challenge, as chosen by the design team, will not only win that coveted guest designer spot but also this fabulous prize from Kay's Kreative Korner:

 

Prize consists of 2 mini embellishment kits (kits are called Desert Rose & Purple Rain).  Both mini embellishment kits contain 1 vine, 1 five inch stick pin & 3 coordinating butterflies.  One set of Auburn Rain beaded flowers (3 flowers in this set) & one set of Delicate Pink beaded flowers (2 flowers in this set).  All beaded flowers measure approximately 1 1/4" in diameter.  One set of 'glass' G1 butterfly embellishments.  These butterflies are made out of transparency & coordinate with just about any page or project.  Large butterfly measures approximately 3" inches in diameter. Medium butterfly measures about 2 1/4" inches in width & the smallest butterfly measures approximately 1 3/4" inches in diameter. **Measurement based on widest wing span**  Finally one set of Cinnamon Owl butterfly embellishments.  Largest butterfly measures approximately 2 1/2" inches in diameter. Medium butterfly measures about 2" inches in diameter & smallest butterfly measures 1 1/2" inches in diameter. **Measurements based on widest wing span**

The following prizes will be given to the next 4 winning entries:

Mini June kit from C' est Magnifique kit club

Scrapbooking Fantasies has donated TWO ribbon packs (for 2 winners) from Scrapbooking Fantasies . Each prize is valued at over $10AUS each and contains 25 half metre lengths of ribbons, trims and lace in shades of pink and aqua from quality brands, plus FREE international postage!!

And as if that weren't enough, there are FOUR RANDOM prizes to be won as well!! Check them out over at Once Upon A...Sketch---> HERE!!

Here are the rules, for those of you who haven't participated in a challenge at OUAS:

**This is an international blog, so anyone can enter

**You are free to combine Once Upon A..Sketch challenges with other challenges. We don't mind at all!!!

**You are allowed to enter only layouts  for our challenges

**You are also allowed to flip or rotate the sketch or alter it to suit your needs, but please make sure its still recognisable.

**Post your creation on your blog or an online gallery and link it on the right hand side of this blog using the Link tool. Please provide a direct link to your post, not your entire blog.If the link tool is down, please leave a comment on the comments section and link your layout there.

** The deadline for this challenge is midnight July 31st, Australian Eastern Standard Time . The Design Team will vote and the Top 5 layouts PLUS Top 5 featured layouts will be announced soon after the challenge has finished.

**You may enter as many times as you like

**Also, please consider turning off word verification for comments on your blog.

Have a great day and will be seeing you soon!!!

ScrapFIT Workout #71

Good morning everyone! It's been one busy weekend here- my husband's mom and her boyfriend have been up visiting to we've been running around, grilling, swimming, 4-wheeling, and staying out late! But they leave this morning after breakfast- so I wanted to get this post up before we had to take off for that!

Workout #71 @ ScrapFIT is titled "Home Sweet Home"- and it's a bit of a different assignment from ScrapFIT; the challenge is to create a paper craft to be displayed in your own home! It can be a banner, a unique way to display a photo, etc...

Here's what I came up with:

"Altered Mason Jar"

I've had this antique mason jar (one with the wire enclosures) sitting up on my shelf above my TV with a Christmas spray poking out the top and a penny laying at its bottom, lol- for the last year and a half- and I was so sick of looking at it! So I decided that this was going to be my altered project. For some reason, I was feeling the autumn colors and so I dug into my box of Fall Decor and found some pumpkin spice potpourri to go inside. It could also hold a candle too!

The sponsor for Workout #71 is Paper Issues:

They are offering a $15 gift certificate to their store!!

I hope you can join us for this "outside the box" challenge @ ScrapFIT! And I hope you've all had a great weekend- will be back a little later with my very first reveal for OUAS!!!