posts in category #ColorShine

5.08.2014

inspired by...Heidi Swapp...a little mixed media layout

At the end of last month I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend with two of my very favorite people...

Heidi was teaching classes in a town not far from me and Sarah lives near me, too (jealous???) so we were all able to hang for a couple of days!

Heidi's classes covered a whole bunch of mixed media techniques this time around and I have to tell you that I was overcome with inspiration. First of all...if you ever get the chance to attend one of Heidi's classes, you must. And by "must" I mean cancel-all-your-other-plans-and-get-to-that-class-come-Hell-or-high-water. Not only is Heidi one of the best motivational and inspirational speakers I have ever heard, she is also a beautiful, kind & ridiculously talented. But you guys know all that...soooooo...

Anyway...like I mentioned...I was so inspired by Heidi and her projects that I came right home and set to work on a layout that used some of the techniques she went over in class...

Mixed media is not something I'm proficient at...in fact, it's something I'm not even all that decent with. BUT I am practicing...and I am learning...and I am trying and I am playing...and I'm having a BALL!

For this layout I stuck with mainly the new Dreamy Collection & Mini-Stencils (available at your local scrapbook store and online). I also included a few stamps from the Hello Today Collection (at Michaels), as well as some Color Shine & vellum.

To start, I cut a strip of the yellow houndstooth print side of a sheet of Pink Dream. I adhered this to a sheet of Choose Happy paper and stitched down the inside edge.

Next I combined some white acrylic paint with some Mustard Color Shine and spread a thin layer over my paper.

Now is where it starts to get fun...

Using the houndstooth mini-stencil, I applied some Modeling Paste in a few areas over my background and allowed it to dry.

A few sprinkles of Mustard Color Shine and a little yellow stamp ink rubbed on a few of the paste "houndsteeth" - (it's a new word) and I was ready for my photo and embellishments.

Just a few key pieces here and there (as well as some stapled vellum shapes!) was really all this page needed.

I love the way this turned out...and I'm so so grateful to Heidi for sharing her talent...

Supplies:

3.14.2014

a fun spring card & FREE instruction downloads!

So, even though it's still near freezing here and we are sitting under feet of snow and expecting more (AACCKK!), we are on the right side of Winter and Spring is only 6 days away!

Best. news. ever.

And, Heidi Swapp and her team (including me!) are sharing some super-cool fresh ideas for using stencils on cards!

This is the card I created for the project...

You can download the instructions HERE...

I had a great time playing with Heidi's new stencils and inks while I was making this card. But I gotta admit...I kept screwing up. I kept thinking of steps I should have taken, things I should have done first, or after, or whatever...but in the end, I'm really really happy with the result.

Head on over to Heidi's blog to get the instructions for the other 5 springtime card projects...

These are sure to drag you (read me) out of the winter blues!

6.10.2013

A Father's Day Layout...

In less than a week, a lot of us will be celebrating the wonderful men in our lives...our fathers and husbands.

And today I'm sharing a non-traditional Father's Day layout over on the Heidi Swapp blog...

My layout is all about my Dad long before he became my Dad...

My Mom recently received some photos of my Dad as a toddler and, because she knows how much I love vintage photos, she immediately shared them with me via Dropbox. I printed out a few of them on some 8.5"x11" photo paper, cut them to size and got to work.

To see more photos and see how I created the little photo openable, head over to Heidi's blog...

I've displayed this layout in my living room, and my kids are getting such a kick out of seeing their "Papa" as a little kid...and I've loved remembering this amazing man...

How do you plan to celebrate those special men in your life?

5.02.2013

How are you celebrating National Scrapbooking Day?

Over on the Heidi Swapp blog we are celebrating National Scrapbooking Day (May 4 - THIS Saturday!) with some new layouts and some of our favorite older layouts!

Today I'm sharing a layout I made to celebrate my daughter's 10th birthday...

As soon as I took this photo I knew just the colors I wanted to use for my layout...the Color Pop Grey Pop paper was just perfect for my background. I knew some Georgia Peach accents would be fantastic to highlight Kate's strawberry-blonde hair...so I taped off a section of the Grey Pop with some wide washi tape and sprayed just that small area with the GP Color Shine. I love how it provides a base/mat for my photo...

I added a No Limits Maps paper banner from the No Limits Paper Pad under my photo and a length of black & white striped Color Pop Banner Delights over the photo...a few scallops of Color Magic Ribbon sprayed with Mustard Color Shine and the Epoxy word "love" finish off my photo embellishments.

For the journaling on my layout I grabbed a scrap of Vintage Chic Bookkeeping paper and wrote a list of 10 things about Kate right now. I stapled the acrylic "frame" that once housed a Clear Pop Tag over my list...I love the way it adds another layer of texture without being overwhelming.

I found a little scrap from a print-out of the {Mo}tography class that Heidi taught with Jessica Sprague that was the perfect color orange...so I added it to my layout. But something was missing...that side of the page needed something else, so I started searching through my stash and found this awesome gold star stencil/embellishment/placemat (from Pink Paislee's LUXE collection), cut it down to size and added it over the orange scrap. I adore the way it looks and I love love love the gold!

I knew I needed more stars (because you always do, right?) so I cut a few from some parchment paper (and a scrap of Vintage Chic Textbook paper) with a punch - stapled them together and adhered them to a small wood stick...then I simply stapled the stick to the page. Again, I felt that I just needed a little something more so I took a Color Magic Star, sprayed it with Tropicana Teal Color Shine (I love the pop of blue against all of the other more muted colors!) and added it to the top of my other stars.

The Clear Pop Alphabet in Grey is the absolute BOMB! I stapled the letters KATE and the @ symbol to the page and used some Color Magic Chipboard letters (to spell out TEN) colored with Georgia Peach Color Shine to finish my page.

I have to say...I am LOVING the colors on this page...I think I want to work with some the orange/grey/gold combo again...it makes me so happy! And I really love how all of Heidi's collections work together so seamlessly...I never have to worry about keeping within them to create a project I'm proud of...

What will you be doing for NSD? Me? I'll be working with more Clear Pop, Color Pop and Color Shine. The possibilities with these are endless! No go! Create! Make Pretty Stuff! And don't forget to Google "National Scrapbooking Day" to find out about tons of fun things going on this weekend!

Products used in this layout:

3.14.2013

color inspiration thursday...

Time for another edition of Color Inspiration Thursday! This is really one of my favorite times of the week...I am soooo enjoying creating layouts using magazine ads as my inspiration...it's so much fun for me!

Today's photo comes from the January/February issue of Click magazine...have you seen this magazine yet? It's absolutely gorgeous...and it's packed with tons of information.

link

And here's the photo...oh my gosh...I just adore this...

This photo was taken by Shannon Sewell...you really must check out some of her work...it's absolutely beautiful...

And here is the layout I created...

I really loved the black, white and red of the chicken (OK..how cool is that?) mixed with the pinks, purples & yellows...these are colors I would NEVER have thought to work with together, but they look really neat...

Because I wasn't using tons of each color (like in the photo), I wanted to busy up the layout a little, so I added a bunch of different patterns...I love they way they look together...there's a lot going on - but not so much that you get distracted from the photo...

I challenge you...take a photo or ad and let it inspire you to create...I would love to see what you come up with! Tag me @MidwesternGirl5 with the hashtag #cit with your projects!

Items I used for this project:

2.28.2013

color inspiration thursday...

I had so much fun with last week's color inspiration self-challenge that I decided to do it again...yay!

Here is where I took my inspiration from this time...

The beautiful, fun, bright spring colors are just so much fun...they caught my eye right away...

Now here's what I made...

The day I took this photo of my daughter it was about 4:00 in the afternoon...a gorgeous October afternoon...and the sun hit her strawberry blonde hair in such a way that it made it look pink. The oranges and blues in the photo make it the perfect fit for this challenge...

I used a few embellishments from the new Dear Lizzy "Lucky Charm" line, as well as some from the new Maggie Holmes line with Crate Paper. I think you can also see a little Amy Tangerine tucked in there...

The background paper is from the The Girls' Paperie...and see my ever-present wax paper? It was a scrap I had left over after I had been using my Tropicana Teal and Mustard Color Shines.

The bottom paper piece is a scrap of Color Magic colored with Chartreuse Color Shine and the "LOVED" sentiment is made from Color Magic Chipboard Alphas...I sprayed the bottom of each letter with Primrose Color Shine and the top of each letter with Georgia Peach Color Shine...I love the sunset quality it gives the letters...and the Color Magic Banners and Arrow are also sprayed with Georgia Peach.

If you look closely you can see a piece of the new Heidi Swapp Serendipity Lovey Dovey paper behind the photo (it's the pale pink one with the hearts)...I can't wait for this whole line to be released in March!

And that paper "slide" to the right of my photo? Oh my gosh...you guys. This is from Maggie Holmes' line with Crate Paper. If I could have 20 of just those I'd be satisfied...I adore them.

I think this my absolute favorite layout right now...the colors just make me soooo happy...

I challenge you...take a photo or ad and let it inspire you to create...I would love to see what you come up with! Tag me @MidwesternGirl5 with the hashtag #cit with your projects!

Items used in this layout:

1.21.2013

Valentine's Day Paper Candy Cones

Warning...this post has A LOT of photos...and by "A LOT," I mean excessive...(smile)

I'll admit it...I'm not a super-huge fan of Valentine's Day. Not because of any bad experiences...I've just never been all that "into" it. I don't decorate my house for it, I don't bake cute little heart-shaped brownies and cookies, I don't send darling little love notes to my husband and kids. And, if the truth be told, I'm the Mom that doesn't buy my kids' Valentine cards for her kids' friends until the last possible moment (and yes, I said "buy" the cards...I don't hand-make them).

This year, however, I decided I wanted to do something a little different (you have to keep 'em guessing, right?). So I whipped up some really fun little paper cones for my kids and their teachers and a few of their friends...cute little paper cones that hold yummy yummy Valentine's Day CANDY! Yay!

For each of the cones I started with a piece of Heidi Swapp 12"x12" paper and cut it to 8"x8".

I wrapped the paper into a cone shape, hot-glued the bottom flap and stapled the top to keep the cone's shape. I grabbed my wax paper (my absolute favorite), made another cone and slipped it into the first cone. I folded any excess wax paper over the top of my cone and hot glued it down.

I cut a variety of Digital Banner Delights out of a number of different papers and hot-glued them over the wax paper at the top of the cone.

On each of the cones I added a Vintage Chic Note with the name of the recipient, and then I just embellished those babies up...

I punched a hole on either side of the top of the cones and tied on a length of seam binding that can be used to hang the cone.

On a few of the cones I attached a fun little dangle to the bottom. To do this, I first threaded a length of monofilament cord through the cone (before I added the wax paper), I attached my little embellishment to the bottom of the cord and then hot-glued the top of the cord to the inside of the cone.

I had so much fun making these little cones...

...and I'm amazed by the possibilities with this project...

...I switched things up a bit on Owen's cone and put the Banner Delight on upside-down...

...honestly, these can be made so easily for boys or girls, for any occasion, in any combination of colors. I dare say this may be the very first Valentine's Day I've been excited about in years...

How about you? What are you making/buying for the the kids and their teachers this year? Anything special?

PRODUCTS USED: