One Man's Trash Was My Treasure

This is a layout that features my sweet Daisy. Although she is no longer with me, she is always in my heart.

Daisy was another victim of the horrid puppy-mill world. She was used over and over again to produce liter after liter of babies, then when she was all used up, and had just had her last liter of puppies, her owner dumped her out on the street like trash. She arrived at our place of business, and my husband got her to come to him, and he started feeding her. After a few days, he called me and said he was afraid she was going to die, would I be willing to take her at the house and see what I could do and if she made it, find her a home. I, of course, said yes. He brought her home and she was a mess. She was extremely undernourished, flea ridden with patches of fur missing and teats that had just started to dry up and were covered in mammory tumors. I took a few days to get her settled and comfortable with me handling her, and then took her to the vet. She did not seem to have ever been vetted, due to her condition, she was guessed to be about 7 to 8 years old, although her poor body was more like that of a much older dog. It was also discovered that she had heart worms. We worked on getting her weight up and then had her fixed and all the mammory tumors removed and went through the process of de-heartworming her. Daisy healed, went from 82 pounds to 120, grew a gorgeous, shiny red coat, and in the process stole my heart. The decision was made for me to keep her, and we quickly became best friends. She loved going for long hikes with me and our Jack Russel-Jack. She really loved the lakes and just had the most amazing disposition. She trained really easily for an older dog and lived to please. Six months later, I thought she had allergies, so I took her to the vet and dropped her off. I got a call that afternoon- and I lost my heart. Daisy had lymphoma that had spread through her whole body. Within days, she became so ill she couldn't get up, and I had to make the choice to put her to sleep. I was devestated-still am-even though it has been 3 years, I am still sitting here typing this with tears pouring down my face, as if it were yesterday.

It was so hard, but I swear, even knowing the outcome, I would do it all over again. She brought something special to my life, and I like to think that God gave her to me so that she could die happy and with someone who loved her, not on the street and lonely. She didn't deserve that.

I started the layout with some Glitz pp that I distressed and inked. I then took a 2nd piece of K & Company pp, cut it to a square, inked and distressed it. The next layer is a Glitz layering paper piece, on top of that is a distressed and inked circle that I added some beads to, and the last pp layer I cut to a rectangle and punched. I placed two pics of Daisy amd added some rubons, chipboard and doggie bone bling.

I took a Prima Felt Ribbon and built my flower layers, adding a hand made tag with part of my title on it, and popped on some bling.

I took a metal piece I had in my stash, painted it with Perfect Pearls Green Pantina and some Tattered Angels Glitter Glam. Cut a butterfly from some cardstock, and Utee'd it to get the glossy look, and attatched it to the metal piece, then used some sticker letters to create another piece of the title.

For the last part of the title, I rubbed a Prima felt rubon onto pp, cut it out, used a label maker for the words, and added some brads. I took a daisy paperclip, my son found on the playground and gave to me when he was in kindergarden, and painted it with Perfect Pearls and Glitter Glam, and slid it onto the paper layer. In the corner I used another Prima felt rubon and layered some Prima hydrangea blooms onto it and for the finishing touch, I used Daisy's tag from her collar that I had kept and tied a rafia bow through the hole and added it into the corner piece.

Thanks for letting me share a little piece of my heart with you. ~ Renea

Whispered Prayers Card

 

 

I wanted to create a card for a friend of mine, who has been hospitalized now for over 2 months, and could use a little cheering up. I created this card using my Scraps Of Darkness May Kit. I, first, took some white cardstock, and misted it with some of the color add on mist. I then took some gold mist and spritzed it with that, and then went over the mists with some Tim Holtz distress ink just to get a good color variation. After it dried, I then cut the cardstock to the size I needed, and made the fold.

For the outside, I put some glitter lace at the bottom, then took some seam binding that I colored with Tattered Angels mist, ( a little trick I learned from Lisa G (aka Starsailor),  and made the bow . I took a Prima bird from the kit and glued it to the center of the bow.

I added a Prima Trinket from the kit with a sweet little brad just to add an extra touch. Next I fussy cut  a cherry blossom branch from some of the kit pps and adhered it to the card with pop dots for added dimension.

For the inside of the card, I did some stamping with the Prima Stamp that was included in this months kit, cut out, distressed and inked some journaling, and then popped on another one of those sweet little Prima Birds. I hope this card makes Debi feel a little better, and I hope that you guys will each whisper a little prayer for her as well! ~Huge Hugs Renea

Legacy

The following is a layout, I did for Celina-Our Mistress Of Mayhem's~ The Darkest Side Challenge~ over at Scraps Of Darkness. This months challenge topic was poetry, so I used my May Kit plus some stash pieces to scrap a poem that I wrote, called Legacy. The poem is about the ebe and flow of emotion that we experience after loosing someone we love.

I started with a stash piece of cardstock and I stamped the edges with a vintage photo corner stamp. I then took some of the cardstock from the May add on cardstock and painted it with Tattered Angels Glammer Mist Paint and inked randomly with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink. The stamping at the top and bottom of the cardstock where done with the Prima Clear Stamps of the kit, I then added bling to the corners and lined the edges with liquid pearls.

I took a Dusty Attic Birdbath and painted it with colored Snow Tex to emulate concrete and then painted dabs of gold acrylic paint for contrast. I then wrapped some grape vine wreath around the birdbath to add some texture and inked the little bird.

I took some Dusty Attic twigs and painted them with gel medium mixed with glam to get an almost pink color, then heated it with a heat gun to get the rough look of real branches, painted the branches with Rustic Glam-heated to dry, then accented with Golden Goddess Glam. I then pulled apart a prima vine and glued leave to my branches. I was really happy with the way they turned out, so much like real branches!

I printed my poem out on to cardstock and cut it to fit the Dusty Attic Scroll Frame that I had gussied up with some T.A. Cherry Chocolate Mist and kit bling. I stamped the outside edges with the Prima kit stamps and some T.Holtz Vintage Photo Ink to add interest. I took some of the card stock add on, and misted it with Moon Mist and then using  Lisa N (Raining's) Dangerous Beauties Tutorial, (which you can view at Scrapsofdarkness.com), I created the large flower. I didn't have the exact dies that she has so I improvised a little to get as close as possible. I then took one of the Prima Vintage Trinkets from the kit, inked it with some Glam and used it for the center. I took some of the kit flowers, painted them with rustic glam and made centers from the same cardstock as the large flower, and added some stash ivy vine to complete the flower cluster.

I took some of the Prima birds that were included in the kit and used metallic Prang Markers to change the colors to match this layout and used some bling to change the eye color. I then connected them with one of the kit Prima trinkets. For the finishing touch I cut apart a stash Prima SIIC Rose Flourish and placed it randomly to add an elegant touch.

The following are the words to the poem:

Legacy

Weep,

Oh my child, as the reality hits you
that from this world I am gone

Smile,

When you realize that through you,
a piece of me still lives on

Cry,

For the lose that makes you feel
that your world has been torn apart

Laugh,

When you realize that my love lives on
in the memories written on your heart

Grieve,

Without shame, let sorrow rage through
your body like a wild storm

Celebrate,

When you realize that my legacy lives on
through each new generation that is born

I hope you celebrate each precious day that you are given! Thank you for visiting my blog! ~Renea

Secrets

This layout was done for Lisa N's (aka Raining) "Skeletons In The Closet" challenge over at Scraps Of Darkness. This is an amazing challenge that forces you "out of the box" and takes it to a personal level. The challenge was to scrap your emotions-not a photo-based on the Goo Goo Doll's song "Iris".  I chose the following words from the song to inspire my piece:
And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything seems like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive

This piece is very personal and every inch of it came from something in my life. The outside represents the secrets that I kept my whole childhood. How on the outside everything looked beautiful and tranquil. The locked gate represents how I locked everything inside and let no one in to see the truth.

When you fold open the gates-you reveal the truth. The broken heart, broken dreams, broken trust, broken spirit. The girl represents me with her mouth that I sewed shut to keep the secrets, and the key around her neck that is the key to her freedom. The Poem is one I wrote about those years as a young girl and the wrenching heartbreak I felt.

I started with a piece of canvas from May's kit that I painted with acrylic paint and gel medium to get the texture. I then took a piece of Dusty Attic (Bracket Frames) and Painted it with white acrylic paint, rock candied it and went over it with Tattered Angels Tinsel Town Glam Glitz. I then punched some of the kit pps and adhered it like lace around the DA piece. I fussy cut out the tree from some more of the pps.

I

I took a Dusty Attic Gate and stained it with TA Espresso Bean Glam, tore apart a Prima vine from my stash and added the little roses from my stash to decorate the gates. I then glued on a vintage lock that I had. I cut some more of the kit pp, twice the length of the gate and folded the ends inward so that the gate could open.

The walk way is some Tim Holtz Acrylic pieces that I broke and stained then used a piece of chipboard for the backing, and layed the tiles using Snow Tex.

The title was made from Chipboard that was included in the May kit and spritzed with some of the Lindy's mist from the color add on.

I

I printed out the poem I had written and glued it to the inside middle section of the gate swing out.

Lost

I have bought into the lie,
sold my soul to the world

Forgotten my noble birth,
the darkness has unfirled

The light has gone out,
my blood is frozen in my veins
My heart has hardened to stone,
surrendered to life's pain

Come wake me from this nightmare,
I am in such misery
Show me the grace of Your love,
breathe Your Life back into me

I have fallen,
fallen so far down
I know now what I have lost,
is it too late to turn around?

I hear that soulless whisper
"Your too lost to be saved."

This doesn't feel just like another
pit, it feels just like my grave

My tormented mind cries for death,
My wounded soul cries for redemption
I am on my knees praying and crying,
Do I still have Your salvation?

I'm holding my last breath, afraid to exhale
My tears have turned to ice, my existance
is a living hell

The monsters here are very real,
the demons of my past now possess my soul

My God, my Savior, please come save me now,
piece me back together, make me whole

Save my soul tonight
Bring me back to Your light
Hurry before by the numbness, I am overcome

I have fallen,
fallen so far down
Oh God, I feel so lost

I painted the back ground of the section with a paint dabber,  painted the wings with TA Stilleto Glam and then added the clip art to the top, sewed her mouth shut, and affixed the key around her neck.

I used the same paint dabber for the opposite side then added the "broken" with all the words around it. I drew the heart out onto chipboard, cut it out colored it with silver ink, rock candied it then did some inking and rubbing to get the grunge look.

Thank you for taking the time to look at such a personal piece. I believe that we can all do pretty, but it is when we do honest, real and yes, sometimes ugly that we sometimes achieve something out of the ordinary-art. ~ Renea

Her Fairytale

It seems like yesterday, that I used to carry my niece around with me, and now I have turned around and she is all grown up and getting married.  This Scraps Of Darkness layout features a pic of Megan with her soon to be husband, Johnathan. Where did the time go??!

I started with a piece of the cardstock from the add on. I stamped the corners using the included Prima stamp and then used a Prima mask and did some misting. I then scalloped, water distressed and inked the edges of some of the pp. I then used a circle template and a scallop template to cut out the paper and roll back the edges. I then distressed, inked and stamped the rolled back edges. I took the Prima package paper from some trim and punched the edges and used it as the background for the photo.

I took a Dusty Attic Dress form painted it with white acrylic paint, then crackle distressed it and rubbed pink acrylic paint over it. For the stand I rubbed some gold mica over the white paint. I added some prima flowers and pearls, as well as some dyed seam binding laced into the form. I then tied a bow to the bottom and added a ribbon flower. I cut out some b & w cardstock butterflies, painted the insides of the wings with micas and then used black diamond Stickles for the outside of the wings, and attatched them to the dress form. Next I took some Dusty Attic Doillies, painted them with pearlized paint, used puff paint on the edges, heated the edges to puff, then painted them with gold mica and added some of the kit flowers and bling to the centers.

I took some cardstock b & w letters, colored them with colored markers, then used UTEE to give them a glass look. I took some Tim Holtz photo corners, painted the scroll pattern with pearlized paint and added them to the corner of the photo.

For the last touch, I used a cardstock dragonfly, stickled his body then UTEE'd the wings and affixed him onto the scalloped circle.

Thanks for dropping by and helping me to celebrate my sweet nieces engagement. It is my hope that her fairytale will have a " happily ever after!"

~Scraps Of Darkness May Kit~Now And Zen

It's reveal time at Scraps Of Darkness, and are you in for a treat! This months kit is called "Now And Zen".  Your Yen and Yang will definitely be in alignment when you see the yummy, gorgeousness that is in store for you this month. The kit features the breathtaking Sakura Papers by Christine Adolph. From the moment I saw them along with all the beautiful add ons, I couldn't wait to get my ink stained fingers on them. From the gorgeous flowers in our brand new add on, Flora and Fauna to the stunning mists in the color add on, this months extra's are to die for. The Main Kit; includes 10 sheets of premium patterned paper, as well as embellishments that will coordinate with those papers, along with new sketch each month, specially designed by Suepup for that kit.

This is my first Design Team assignment with Scraps Of Darkness, and I think I came on board just in time! The following are some of my creations using the totally gorgeous May Kit ~Now And Zen~

Dream

This layout was done, using the May Sketch by the uber talented-Suepup. You can stop by our message board and enter our monthly sketch challenge yourself. Your layout could win you a prize from the Scraps Of Darkness store!!

My interpretation of the sketch features a pic of one of my friend's DD-Jordan. Her brother is a professional photographer and I love this pic he took of her. It captures her shyness as well as her beauty!

The first thing I did was draw out how I wanted to cut the foil paper. I love funky angels, and sometimes the only way to get what I have visioned, is to draw and then cut the pattern myself. I then distressed and inked the edges.

The background is a piece of cardstock from the SOD cardstock add on.  I stamped the leaf and swirl image, and then came back in and stamped the floral pattern. Then glued the foil pp to the background.

I then made a background for the pic from the same cardstock, misting it with some of the Moon Shadow- Mystic Malachite that came in the color add on. (That stuff is gorgeous-such a beautiful shimmer that is hard to see in photos.)  Rubbed the Prima word Dream onto the pic.

I then took some Dusty Attic Foliage, and used some of the Prima rub ons that came in the kit to add color and pattern, then took some Tattered Angel Golden Goddess Glam and painted the entire piece. I then took the beautiful Prima flowers from the Flora and Fauna add on, made some centers with a punch and puff painted the circles and added a bling center.

 For the large flower, I used Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die. I then took Acrylic Modeling Paste and mixed it with acrylic paint and mist until I got the color I wanted and then painted it on thick and with lots of texture. Then added the Prima/altered flower on top. I then popped one of the Prima Birds from the kit in.

I then took the chopsticks that Mandy Harrel altered with gesso and bling, and yes that were included in the kit, and framed the pic. I took bamboo pieces from the kit and glued them horizontally, adding a stash Prima vine, and the kit included asian umbrella and Prima bird.

I took the kit, pink fan, and rubbed some of the Prima images onto it. Did a Prima Bird Cage rub on at the edge and onto the pic on the bottom left hand corner. Took and printed out the Chinese Symbol for dream, inked it with jet black Stayz On, then UTEEed it to get the glossy look, and that was a wrap! I hope you have enjoyed my first layout ! Thanks for all your support!! ~Renea

Magical Dreams Of Childhood

This Scraps Of Darkness layout, features my family's own little fairy-Emmie. Emmie has the most gorgeous blue eyes, just like my precious Granny had. In fact Emmie reminds me so much of my Granny, and I just love to scrap her and her gorgeous eyes and curls! I wanted this layout to look like an old fairytale book complete with lock and key. A magical creation, from my little girl dreams. I started with a piece of the foil pp for the background.

Next I took a piece of the cardstock add on and cut it to make a binding strip. I then did a technique that I learned from my high school art teacher. I took white tissue paper, crinkled it up than glued it onto the cardstock to get a really distressed look. I then took two different colors of ink, one light and one dark and inked it to look like worn leather. For the flourishes, I used a metal flourish stencil and painted gel medium onto it and then lifted the stencil and let dry. I then randomly painted the flourish with Tattered Angels Tinsel Town Glitter Glam. Next I took a set of Dusty Attic Hinges from my stash and gussied them up using rub-ons to create the pattern, and then painted over them with the TA Tinsel Town GG.

I took a 2nd piece of pp, punched around the edges to create a background. I took the beautiful Dusty Attic frame, included with the kit, and painted it with white acrylic paint, cut Emmie's photo to fit it and popped it in. I then made some of my Astrid Flowers out of cardstock and inked, painted and accessorized them to match the layout. You can view the tutorial for those flowers on the Scraps Of Darkness website.  I then took some of the filter paper embellies from the kit, spritz them with TA Silver Sugar mist, folded and tucked them behind the flowers, hand drew a fairy onto cardstock and glittered her up and tucked her into the flowers also.

I created a tab with a lock, using the same technique as I used for the binding, added a Tim Holtz Lock from my stash with some bling from the kit.

I made a little "fairy hidey hole" for the key that goes to the lock. I took a 2nd piece of the same background pp and fussy cut out some of the flowers, added pop dots to add dimension. *This is a trick that I use a lot. I purchase the pp add on, and fussy cut out the images, designs or just use it as extra layers. It's a very inexpensive way to add dimension to your layouts. Then to finish the layout I took some of the kit Prima rub ons and rubbed on the journaling. I hope you have enjoyed this journey into my childhood imagination, where fairies and magic were as real as bills and laundry are today!! ~ Renea

Cutie Pie

 Here is another layout of Emmie, using this month's Scraps Of Darkness Kit. I love this pic of her when she was just itty-bitty wearing that big floppy hat! As we say in the South, "She is such a Cutie Pie!" 

I picked out the background pp, and then began building my layers from there. I cut out a large square and punched the edges with a fan punch and added some bling from the kit.  I cut out a rectangular background for the pic from the cardstock add on, distressed  and inked the edges, then misted it with some of the mist from the color add on. I then punched around the edges with a lace punch and laced up the edges with some stash ribbon. The title was made using the kit chipboard letters, which I then painted with acrylic paint and frosted with some white glitter.

 These pps were perfect for fussy cutting and I did a lot of it. I cut out the lanterns from a 2nd sheet of the same pp as the background, and added pop dots to give them that added dimension I love. I also fussy cut out some of the flowers and added them to the corner of the photo.

I then took some of the flower from the Flora and Fauna add on and began building my flower arrangement for the side. I fussy cut the tea pot from some of the pps , and added some bling from one of the add ons. I took one of the fans from the kit and misted it with some of the mist from the color add on, then stamped it using one of the Prima stamps from the kit. I tucked it in behind the tea pot then tucked in one of the kit's asian umbrellas. I then cut out one of my cardstock butterflies and UTEE'd it up to get that glass look. For a final touch, I took a monarch butterfly punch and randomly punched some of the edges of the layout. Emmie now looks like she is ready for an Asian influence tea party! Thanks for joining me for a spot of tea! Toodles for now! ~ Renea

P!NK

This Scraps Of Darkness layout was created for the Stalker Challenge that I am hosting over at ScrapsofDarkness.com. For more info and rulz just visit the Scraps Of Darkness Challenge Forum. Come play with us and your Stalker layout could win you a $10.00 Gift Card to spend any way you would like in the Scraps Of Darkness store.

  My layout features one of my favorite musical artists Pink. I love her tough girl attitude, and the fact that she doesn't care what people think of her.  She just does what she does at the top of her game!! I started with some of the add on card stock and then took some of the kit pattern paper, cut a frame that I distressed with my Zutter, and then took the leftover piece and cut the back drop for the paper, and distressed that. I would normally have inked the edges, but this time I just left them raw, because the white looked really good against the black.

Next, I took some cardboard stripped it to reveal the corrugated inside then painted it with white acrylic paint. I then painted randomly with black puff paint and puffed it with a heat gun. After that I took some pink paint, mixed it with modeling paste and painted it on thick randomly , and sprinkled some gold mica on top. I then poped Pink's photo on top.

I took the 2 chipboard swans from the kit, water distressed the edges to get a peeled look, inked them with black Staz On then gussied them up with some black stickles and edged them with the paint and modeling past mixture. I then put them together for the cool emblem at the bottom of the pic. I painted some Thickers with white acrylic paint and spelled out the name adding a piece of bling for the dot.

I misted some of the Flora & Fauna add on flowers with Tattered Angels mist and formed my flower clusters. Added in some stash bling.

For the finishing touch, I took some B & W cardstock butterflies and painted the black edges with Stickles, and put a bling butterfly trail coming from the large butterfly.

I hope you enjoyed getting to see my grungy-girl side. Until we meet again-"Be Wrong In All The Righ Ways!!" ~Renea