Pat Pat - Updated

That's me reaching around to pat myself on the back. It's not too often that I get REALLY excited about a project I create, but these little guys have me feeling pretty good. I have updated this post to list the colors of alcohol inks I used on each egg. These colors are to the best of my memory as I did not take notes as I created. The key to this look is the Blending Solution. This is what allows all the colors to mix together to make such pretty patterns. My method was to take a felt pad, add a couple drops of alcohol ink, add a drop of blending solution and dab all over the egg. Then I would get a new pad and do the same with a different color. I never mixed my colors on one felt pad. You really just have to work with it. The Blending Solution can lighten colors as well as remove them.


Here are some detailed pictures of each egg. I colored them with my Ranger Adirondak Alcohol Inks. Just place some drops of various color inks on a felt pad, add some Blending Solution, and "sponge" away on the egg until you reach the look you're going for. It's fairly simple. Clean it is not though. My fingers were stained some pretty funky shades for a day.

Then you just embellish to you heart's content. Here I glued some trim around the egg and topped with some flowers and a crystal. (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Lettuce, Meadow, Raisin, Butterscotch, and Stream)


A closer look at those flowers.




This one just got some sheer ribbon and a strand of sequins. Can you see the gold in that egg. I used some Gold Mixative (also from Ranger). (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Gold Mixatives, Stream, Lettuce, and Meadow)



Believe it or not, this egg was my least favorite til the end. I glued some Prima flowers around the middle and topped each flower with a teeny little butterfly. The butterflies have a dot of Stickles on them. (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Wild Plum, Stream, Stone Washed, and Butterscotch)

For some reason, this egg makes me smile. I feel like it's dressed in a skirt and bonnet. (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Butterscotch only)

Top view of the flower. I used placed a large blob of Perfect Pearls into the center of the flower and set a crystal on top. Waited a bit for it to dry and viola!

Some ribbon, ric-rac, and a crystal flower to dress this guy up. (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Wild Plum, Red Pepper, Butterscotch, and Cranberry - I think)

I think this one is my favorite and the picture doesn't do it complete justice. He is dressed up with some Making Memories ribbon and topped with a QK die cut flower from patterned paper which is then topped with a Prima flower and crystal. (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Raisin, Lettuce, and Butterscotch).

Top view.

Still not totally sure about this guy. I created a swirl out of crystals and dots of Stickles. (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Wild Plum, Stone Washed, Bottle, and Butterscotch).

For this one, I just tied a piece of ribbon into a knot and glued to the top. Then I sporadically placed crystals all over the body. (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Lettuce, Stream, and Raisin).

I had the hardest time standing this one up its photograph. The charm and button make it a little side heavy and it kept taking a dive on me. (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Wild Plum, Butterscotch, Stream, and Lettuce).

I like this one a lot too. There's 4 mini butterflies randomly placed on the upper half of the egg. Then two Making Memories flowers are layered with a larger butterfly resting on top. I used Perfect Pearls to add a little something to the bodies of all butterflies. (Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink colors used: Butterscotch and Red Pepper).

I actually busted out my glue gun for this project and used it for almost everything. It dries so quickly and doesn't harm the egg.

I hope you enjoy these and perhaps get inspired to try the alcohol inks. They are really neat and the possibilities are endless.

Finally!

So I am finally digging out the Easter decorations and much to my dismay, we don't have that many. A few little hanging plaque like things that say "WELCOME" or "Spring" but certainly not enough to make you think it's actually Easter if you walked into my house. I think I have a date with my Silhouette tonight. Nothing like decorating the house 4 days before the holiday. Guess that means it will be Easter in my home until at least May. :)


In keeping with Easter preparations, Hannah and I just finished some egg coloring. She was SO much better this year than last year. Definitely more careful which is a wonderful thing. So far, no broken eggs and no spilled cups of color. My hairstylist friend told me last night that she can't say dye, even though that's the proper term to use with Easter eggs. It's because "you don't dye someone's hair, you color it." I think she passed her complex onto me, because notice Hannah and I "colored" eggs.


So here's a picture of my little girl who is growing up WAY too fast and her masterpieces. More egg coloring to be done tonight when Daddy gets home.

And check back either tonight or tomorrow for an Easter project I am so excited to share with you. I am pretty happy with myself and that doesn't happen too often. Just need to find some spare minutes to add some finishing touches and then snap a few pictures.

Also, I found out what was wrong with my blog or should I say computer. Somehow I had managed to expand the font size on my web browser so anything I was looking at was much bigger than I am used to. This explains why no one else saw the problem. All is well again.

Hmmmm ...

Does my blog look weird to you all? Like the font is a little larger? I was playing around with trying to add a new background (it didn't work) and now, when I am looking at my blog, everything looks enlarged by quite a bit. It's not the worst thing in the world. Will be better on my eyes. But I have no idea how this happened. I deleted all the coding I entered into spaces so my settings should all be as they were before and yet things are bigger. Hopefully it didn't screw up what you guys see. I am guessing it didn't because I am noticing the same thing when I look at anyone else's page that is a blogspot.com blog. Let me know if I jacked it up though.

Good night!

Upcoming Classes

This Friday I will be debuting my May and June classes at Scrappin Good Times. Here are some sneak peeks. It was crazy getting these finalized, but now that I am there, I am very pleased. These classes are being offered for $15 each. An amazing deal!!! Better yet, they only take 1 hour. So no longer do you have to dedicate a large portion of your day to take a class. It's designed to be quick and budget friendly and yet still hold to the high quality that SGT classes offer. Spots are limited so sign up if you're interested.

Saturday, May 16th 12PM - 1PM Fun w/ 6x6

Sunday, June 14th 12:30PM - 1:30PM Fun w/ Photo Page Protectors

With less than two hours to spare ...

... I am holding good on my promise and posting some pictures of layouts I recently completed for the store.

Here's one about how lucky my youngest is to have an older sister that cares so much about her. I used paper by Autumn Leaves. These pictures are from our photo shoot last month that I blogged about. Told you some of the pictures came out well (if I do say so myself).





I was so proud of this little journaling piece until I noticed 3 typos in it. One I can live with. Three? No! So I had to pull the sucker off and redo it. Grrrr.



I am not sure how I feel about this technique I used. I cut a second exact copy of that strip of patterned paper and then cut out each individual square character. I then covered these squares in two layers of Diamond Glaze and then dipped the edges in glitter for some added sparkle. Then I adhered them to the layout over their matching character on the original piece of patterned paper with pop dots. You can see some bubbles in my Diamond Glaze which doesn't thrill me, but I was not about to toss these little hand made embellishments after all that time. Talk about them being the bane of my existence for a little while.

I hope you can see the Glimmer Mist I sprayed on the pink flowers. This product is by Tattered Angels and they have some demos on how to use here. I am liking this product a lot. It gives just a hint of shimmer to anything you spray it over. I used the popular color Pearl for the flowers.

I LOVE this QuicKutz ladybug. He is just too cute for words. And can you believe this is the first thing I have used him for after having him for about a year? Shame on me! Oh! I just want to make a million of him and scatter them. He'd make cute table confetti. Don't worry. I don't have nearly enough time to even contemplate doing that.

Here's my other layout. Photos again from that same photo shoot. It's about my love for both my girls. I think I will put this one in Hannah's book since that left page really focuses on her with that big picture of us. I used Basic Grey's Porcelain line. I really like the colors. I am looking forward to seeing how others from the store used the line. I know there's a couple of projects going up in April that feature this line.

Here are some AccuCut frames cut at the store and tied together with some ribbon. Then embellished with some Heidi Grace stickpins and a Prima flower with added crystal. Then I hand wrote "mommy's beautiful girls" on a strip of paper and used scalloped scissors to cut the edges. Tore the ends and inked it. Then I added some dots with Ranger Perfect Pearls. I really like this product too. It has a pearlescent finish (hence the name, right Krista?) and only takes a little while to dry (maybe an hour).

These birds were also cut with the AccuCut at the store. One of their newer dies I believe. He's pretty popular. And you can see why. That brad/eyelet thing is from WeRMemory Keepers. Finally got to use it. I have had it for such a long time, waiting for the perfect layout. What better than one about my special girls?

So there you have it. I wasn't lying when I said I had been working. I put some links in this post but just in case, "the store" is the wonderful Scrappin Good Times. (there's another link for you). They're a great store and worth a visit if you're in the So Cal area.

I'm working away!

I have quite a few projects going on right now. Hopefully pictures can be posted of some of them tomorrow. Been working on some layouts for the store. A card kit for the store. Two classes coming up in May and June. And finally putting the finishing touches on that mini baby album I posted back in February. Had to add a bit of personalization to it. I will be so thrilled to finally give that one away to my good friend. So needless to say, my scraproom is a DISASTER. And to top it off, my cousin is coming over tomorrow night to raid my stash for an album she's working on. I need to get it cleaned up ASAP!

I also have a few Easter projects in mind that I would like to do with Hannah. I feel time is going to run out quickly.

Anyways, like I said, hopefully I can post a few pictures of the layouts I have been working on tomorrow.

See ya for now.

A Great Weekend!

Just returned from a really nice weekend of camping in Carpinteria. The girls had a great time. Hannah was having such a fun time playing in the small waves. One snuck up on her though and rolled her pretty good. Here's the before and after.

How is she not affected by the frigid temperature?!

She was a little more wary of the water afterwards.

Cool tip I learned from a friend prior to this trip: baby powder sprinkled over sandy limbs will make the sand dust right off. It works! I am so glad I knew of this. And it leaves there skin soft, smooth, and smelling very fresh.

Hope you all had a nice weekend as well. Now I am off to cleaning the house (something I didn't get to prior to leaving) and finishing prepping for next Saturday's scrapbooking class; along with various other assignments. Let's hope midnight doesn't come too quickly.

Flower Patch by Making Memories

Somehow, when I was at CHA, this line did not catch my eye. I am always a fan of Making Memories' stuff but nothing wowed me at the show. Same thing cannot be said for when I saw it in the store last week. So I snatched some up. And to my wonderful surprise, the pictures I took of the family last weekend seemed to match with it perfectly.

So here's my layout. I think I will put these up on my mantel for the celebration of Spring/Easter coming soon.

Page 1

Page 2

Title - Sparkled it up with some Stickles

Making Memories ribbon is so yummy!

Tip for ribbons: dab some glue inside that knot so they don't come untied.

Also dab some glue on ends of ribbon to keep them from fraying.

Love the 3D Making Memories flowers that go with this line!

Added the crystals for a little more sparkle.

I added some paper flowers underneath the sticker for a little added dimension.

Too Cute To Pass Up

Is this little hat not the cutest thing you have ever seen?!!!! I had to get it for my 3 year old. I can't wait for it to arrive. I am not sure how well the picture will come out because I had to do a copy and paste from this gal's website (AnyaLarre). We met her while at Disneyland. Her daughter had the most beautiful headband on and my friend couldn't help but compliment her. She said she had made it and offered us her card. I have been carrying around this card in my wallet for months now. In a momentary cleaning spree of said wallet, I found her card. Also happening to be in front of the computer, I typed in her website address and found this lovely little fashion must have.

I am envisioning the cutest photos of Hannah in it. Now if I can just get her to leave the "Chandler Smile" behind (see post from a few days ago), we'll be in good shape. I'll be keeping my eye out for that perfect scrapbooking paper for these photos.

Hurry mail man, hurry!

Hopefully you get the idea

Here are some layouts I finished recently for Scrappin Good Times. Unfortunately I didn't think about photographing them until minutes before I was rushing out the door to turn them in. So that will explain why they are in their plastic sleeves, thus contributing to the poor picture quality. If you want to see the real thing, just pop into the store. They'll be up along with all the other talented design teams' projects.

This one is a layout about my littles one's favorite stuffed animal, Tubby. She loves this little guy and we love him too. (the funkiness going on in the middle of the pic is due to a poor attempt to make two pictures look "stitched" together -- bad bad bad)

And this layout is about her toothy smile. Before she was 9 months old, she had 8 teeth!

Both layouts feature Basic Grey lines (Urban Prairie and Marrakech)