The Best Day Ever~Scraps Of Darkness January Kit-Waterways

Thank you to everyone who has been slinging a little sun and sand my way, because at least the rain has disappeared and the sun has finally came out. It is still cold, so I have just had to content myself with working with my gorgeous Scraps Of Darkness Waterways Kit in front of my window. From inside it doesn't look half bad with all that sunshine-lol!

This layout was created using a photo of my husband's cousin Johnny, and I loved the photo as soon as I saw it. It was taken on the Market Street Walking Bridge here in Downtown Chattanooga, and I love the perspective of the bridge behind him. I love to roam my local parks and places and Downtown is one of my fav places to hang.

I used lots of layers of the kit papers plus a piece of the Pink Paislee (Outstanding) paper from this month's paper add on. I did lots of edge punching, and paint flicking, splattering. I just love getting messy, of course you should have seen my sink area by the time I finished. I had to do a complete cleaning smack down when I got finished :0

I cut some banners from some of the papers and then layered on some of the Pink Paislee Ephemera pieces from the kit with foam tape for dimension.

Here you can see where I took a piece of the Pink Paislee Artisan Ribbon, misted it, then stamped it and added it on. The wood clock is one of the Prima Clocks from this month's Romance Add On that I added a stash Tim Holtz metal spinner to.

The cogs are some stash Dusty Attic pieces that I first painted with the Jacquard Lumiere Paint from this month's color add on then stamped using a Heart Felt Creations stamp that was in a past kit.  You can also see all the splatters and paint flicks up close. I took some of the Pink Paislee Photo Tabs from the Romance A.O. and stapled them onto the edges of one of my layers.

Underneath the photo, I created a pocket, and then created a hidden journaling piece, by taking one of the Pink Paislee frames from the kit, backing it with one of the journaling pieces that I cut from some of the paper. I then added on a stash T.H. charm and swivel clasp.

Here you can see how the journaling spot pulls out so that one can record their memories there.


I just loved those Pink Paislee Papers and Pieces this month~so perfect for pulling off  feminine or masculine layouts.

Thanks for the visit! Hope to see you soon ~ Renea

Scraps Of Darkness Design Team Reveal

The gorgeous Waterways Kit was revealed last week during the Scraps Of Darkness/Scraps Of Elegance Blog Hop, and now this week it is the Design Team's turn to show it off.

Before I get down to reveal, I wanted to announce the blog hop winners for the "hidden" prizes that were being given away:

Scraps of Darkness Winner- Amy Voorthuis
Karens Winner- Светлячок
Mandys Winner- Robin
Rachaels Winner-Colleen
Drychas Winner- MichelleMc

A great big Thank You to all who participated and Congrats to all the winners of those FAB prizes!!!

Now, onto the reveal!!

I just loved all the wonderful summer, elements to this kit!! Each kit comes with an amazingly inspirational sketch, by the most talented Sue Pup, and here is this month's sketch:

Such a breathe of fresh air in the middle of Winter!

Here is my take on the sketch. It features some photos that my talented sister, Tammy,  had taken of her daughter (my niece) Haley and her friend, Gracie. I just loved all those soft blues, and yellows with the pops of black~so had the feel of a perfect summer day!

I used 3 different pieces of kit paper, plus a piece of this month's Paper Add On, Pink Paislee paper. I scalloped the edges of my 2nd layer and then sewed the edges with some different stitches, and then water distressed the scallops to get a nice, soft feel.

Here you can see where I did lots of fussy cutting. The scalloped pieces were fussy cut and then layered with foam tape for dimension. Each one of those little circles was fussy cut from the paper, then dotted with puff paint for texture, then applied with foam tape for dimension-what was I thinking!!!

The flowers were a mix from this month's Flora & Fauna, as well as from a past kit. The foliage was cut from the kit paper with a gorgeous Spellbinder's Die Cut that was a gift from my Scrappy Sister, Lisa (Raining). I love those dies Lisa!!~Thank you so much! The title was fussy cut from some of the Authentique Phrases from the Kit.

I used one of the Authentique Frames from the Romance Add on behind the main photo of Haley, then puff painted the edges of one of the Authentique Puzzle Pieces and added it on top with foam tape. The matt behind the photo was machine sewn, and distressed.

I created the illusion of a banner with lots of the Authentique pieces, and the other 2 photos. I "hung" the top piece with a little 7 Gypsies, metal hanger from a past kit,  then added on flowers from the Flora & Fauna, as well as some hand tinted ones from my stash, and more of those FAB did cuts.

Here you can see a close up off all those little textured dots (that nearly drove me insane), the gesso drops, and the machine sewing details.

Such gorgeous, papers to capture a perfect, sweet, summer day!!!

With my next project, I went in a totally different direction. I can tell it was a full moon, because my mood went from summer and sweet, to crazy and cool!!

This is a hanging banner that I created using this month's Creativity Kit. I love this add on!! It allows me to take some of the kit pieces and put together something totally unique and beautiful!

I took the wooden plaque from the Creativity Kit, and covered it using my textured tissue paper background. You can find the tutorial on the Scraps Of Darkness website or just click this link:

Textured Tissue Paper Background

I used the following paints from the Color Add On:

Jacquard Lumier-Pearlescent Blue

Jacquard Lumier-Bright Gold

Jacquard Lumier-Real Turquoise

I also used the following Pearl EX color from the Creativity Kit:

Ver Printemps

I stamped the background lightly with the Woodware Magic Curly Stitch Stamp from the Creativity Kit, and the letters are the Pink Paislee Stickers from the Romance Add On, I just painted them with the Jacquard paint to get the color I wanted.

 The mermaid is an image I got from Google Images, and then totally altered. I used tons of Stickles in her hair and on her face. I then added little starfish from the Creativity Kit into her hair, and little Prima pearls from my stash. I did tons of pearl work in her hair and across her chest with Ranger Pearl Paint. I added little shells from the Romance Add On as her bikini top.

 I added another one of the shells that I glittered up to the corner, popped on a metal seahorse charm from my stash and one of the Prima flowers from the Flora & Fauna Add On.

 I created a bottom layer out of corrugated board that I painted with the Jacquard Paints. I crushed sea shells created a collage with them, added lots of seed beads, glitter and some more of the little starfish.

 I wrapped some stash sea glass and some of the sea glass from the Creativity Add On, and the shells from the RAO, with blue wire then strung more wire with beads and strung them together to create the dangles on the bottom of the banner. I made a middle piece out of pearl strands and ribbon, and then used the same ribbon to create a hanger for my banner.

I am now dreaming of Mermaids and far off beaches, but it looks like I will be staying here in Tennessee, and will just have to comfort myself by getting to create some more with this FABulous kit!! If you get to head off to some exotic place, please be sure to collect some sea shells for me, and blow a little sand and sun this way!! Hugs till then~Renea

Scrapmatts Design Team Reveal

I was very excited to learn that I had made the Scrapmatts design team for the 2013 term. I have wanted to be on that team, since the very first time I got to work with some of their amazing products when I first started designing with Scraps Of Darkness. I am a super busy mom, wife, business owner & person, and limit my DT positions, so when the call came up, it was at a perfect time, because I had cleared my plate enough to take on one more :) 

I just loved digging into my box of goodies and getting to work!! I used lots of Scrapmatts chipboard and combined it with this month's gorgeous Scraps Of Elegance Kit-A Dream Within A Dream to create a layout that kept to the criteria of "About Me". I chose to scrap my roll of mom, and titled it "Love Being Draven's Mom". Somehow when we become a mom, our identity tends to change from our name, to such and such's mom. Well, I went from being Renea, to being Draven's Mom, and it is one identity change that I embrace with all my heart, and I absolutely love, being Draven's Mom~ I have a wonderful relationship with my son, and although I may be a bit biased, I think he is turning into one of the most incredible and most beautiful souls I have ever had the privilege of knowing. He just has this amazing personality and intellect that makes my heart overflow with joy and love. 

I created this layout using a sketch that I found on Pinterest by Anita Bounds. Sketches are a great way to get your mojo going and to give you a starting point when you are stuck, so thank you to all the amazing sketch artists out there who inspire us all. The top photo is one that my sis, Tammy took of us back a few months ago, and the smaller photo is one that my husband, David took of us when Draven was around 9 or 10 months old. The large photo is surrounded by a frame that I created using a Scrapmatts CB6011 Ornate Frame 09,  and two end pieces that I cut from CB5095 Ornate Frames 16 , and then inked and stamped, then added ZVA pearls to.

I used 2 of the CB1107 Clocks 08, and inked them and their hands with Ranger Denim Ink, then spot painted them with puff paint, heated the paint up and let it puff. I attached the hands to the side and topped them with a ZVA pearl. I love using my hands in strange places on clocks, because it represents how I live outside of time when I scrap. Me and a scrapbook friend,  Stephanie-TwoBoysForMe, were just discussing the other day how when we scrap, time seems to disappear. Scrapping has a way of taking me to another place and the world and all time seams to fall away when I get caught up in a project.

I then topped each clock with a sweet little Scrapmatts dragonfly-CB1036 Dragonflies 04, that I had painted up with Stickles.

Here I created the "Love" part of my title, by taking a Scrapmatts CB1168 Assorted Words 10,  inking it with black ink, painting it with Stickles and layering it onto a Tim Holtz Book Plate that I had inked and painted, then sealed.

I took a small Scrapmatts Frame CB5095 Ornate Frames 16, and popped out the inner frame, then inked and stamped it to match the large frame. I then topped it with another one of those glittered up dragonflies CB1036 Dragonflies 04, and some ZVA pearls.


I just loved how this layout turned out, and will treasure it for years to come~

This next layout was created using some past Scraps Of Elegance kit pieces and lots of Scrapmatts Chipboard, and was scrapped using this months DT criteria of "something new".  My son, Draven does photography and gets a lot of his work displayed at one of our local visual arts museums, downtown, and he had taken this photo of a seeding dandelion head, and when I saw it, I thought about how something can be at what seems the end of  it's life cycle and actually it is at a new beginning. So, I took his photo and digitally added the journaling, " What appears to be the end...... may really be a new beginning", and based my layout on that concept.

I did lots of layering and modeling paste work.

Sorry, I know these photos are a bit darker than I like, but the lighting has been terrible here. I reshot the main photo, but didn't have time to reshoot the details, and no amount of tweeking in PhotoShop seems to help either.  For the top right and bottom left corners, I used Scrapmatts CB1126 Australian Federation Corners 01, that I painted with gesso, then misted, and then sponge stippled with a lighter color. I then layered a little heart from the CB1166 Cupids O1 set  , onto each one that I had inked and then painted with puff paint for texture.

For my flower layers, I created lots of hand made flowers with some pre packaged ones, and then used some Scrapmatts flourishes, CB1004 Flourishes 05, that I sprayed with mist for foliage pieces.

Here I took a Scrapmatts Clock CB6047 Clocks 01, and tucked it into my smaller flower arrangement. I ordered this chipboard piece in white mist, and I just love the 2 toned coloring~no need to do anything to it, just add it onto your work.

Thanks for stopping by for my first Scrapmatts reveal! I hope you have enjoyed my layouts and all the chipboard techniques that I have used. Have a great week, and I hope you find the time to create something beautiful of your own!! ~Renea

Studio 75 Blog Giveaway!!

With the launch of the latest collection Studio75 - Vintage Memories - designed by  novinka  - Studio 75 is having a blog giveaway!
 
You can win a Vintage Memories  Kit!

For all the rules and a chance to win be sure to check them out!!

Studio75

Scraps Of Elegance Kit Winner!

We have a winner!

Winner of what, you ask?  Well a winner from our January Blog Hop, of course!

Amy Voorthuis

has won the January Scraps of Elegance Kit - 

A Dream With A Dream

And don't forget to check our designers' blogs to see if you may have won one of those hidden prizes!! 

Here's a little hint, you may want to make sure you don't miss Mandy's, Rachael's, Karen's, and Drycha's)!

Congrats!! ~Renea

Blog Hop Announcement

Scraps Of Elegance January Kit Reveal

Due to the Holidays and CHA being scheduled this month, we are running a little late with reveal, but this month's kit was so worth the wait. The Scraps Of Elegance January Kit is appropriately named A Dream Within A Dream, which describes the 13 Arts Papers in it  perfectly-they are a dream within this month's kit which is a dream itself!!

Each kit you receive comes with a sketch to go with it. Here is this month's inspirational sketch by our super talented sketch artist, SuePup:

And here is my layout based on that sketch:

The 13 Arts papers in this kit just called for some distressing as well as a little girlie grunge to go along with them.

I used lots of texture and technique work for this layout, creating a mat and a background flower out of one of my fav mediums, corrugated board that I grunged up with lots of ink, gesso and glitters.

Here you can see were I punched the papers then cut strips and water distressed them, then added cheesecloth and lace pieces. The flowers are from the Flora & Fauna add on, as well as some hand crafted ones. The circles were cut from 13 Arts papers and then I added puff paint for some yummy texture and dimension. All the numbers you see were also cut from the papers and added on with foam tape.

I used a Donna Salazar Sprightly Sprocket for this corner piece and the butterflies from the kit are Ice Butterflies from my Etsy Shop. Each month I design butterflies to match the kit and they are included with each purchase.

This next layout was created with a handcrafted, wire hanger and an acrylic background so that it can be hung directly onto a wall, peg or door handle. The chubby little angel image is one that I got from the Magical Moonlight blog. I then did a lot of tweeking on, colorized it and added angel wings. It is hard to tell in the photos, but I also added bling to the wings for an extra sparkle.

I painted the acrylic piece lightly with gesso, stamped it, then coated the edges with ultra fine glitter.

The sweet resin frame, little chipboard hearts, and netting were from the kit. The flowers are stash piece mixed with flowers from the Flora & Fauna Add On, and the sticker banner is from the Embellishment Add On.

Here you can see a close up of the wire hanger that I created and attached to the layout so that you can hang it.

The butterflies are hand crafted My Romantic Heart glitter glass butterflies from my Etsy Shop.

This last layout was created with the kit and features lots of technique work as well.

I varied layers of the kit papers with layers of card stock and distressed the edges for a nice, soft look. As you can see there is lots of gel medium work and inking.

I used the netting from the kit to lace up my background layer, and lots of the roses that were in the Flora & Fauna Add On, as well as a few from my stash. The butterflies are hand crafted Pink Lemonade Crush glitter glass butterflies from my Etsy Shop.

The Pink Paislee Chipboard hearts are from the Kit, and the wings are ones that I created out of paper clay. All the banner strips are the Melissa Francis Banner Stickers from the Embellishment Add On.

Thanks for joining me for reveal! I just love how you can go from Girlie Grunge to Vintage, to Romantically Feminine with the Scraps Of Elegance Kits. They truly have something for everybody~ Renea

A Perfect Day Together

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2013! I hope you had a great, long holiday and got to spend some time with the ones you love. I have not scrapped since before Christmas and I must say I feel a little rusty-lol! I am trying to get back in the swing of things, and put together the following layout using my Scraps Of Darkness December Kit-A Long December. It features 2 different photos of my neighbor and super sweet friend Michelle's three children. Each year they create a Christmas card with a photo of the kids and the first one is one when they were just little and the 2nd one shows them now that they are getting so grown up. I can't believe that Michelle was pregnant with their daughter Adrienne when they moved in here and now look at her~ Such a gorgeous wonderful family, and I am so lucky to have them for neighbors and friends :)

I did lots of layering, distressing and created snow flakes and snow, using modeling paste and bling.

Here are some closeups of the detail work I created using lots of kit pieces and items from this month's Add Ons:

Thank you for stopping by! ~Renea