The Southern Girls Blog Challenge #63

Scraps Of Elegance is sponsoring Challenge #63 over at the Southern Girls Challenge Blog for the week of February 21st. Scraps of Elegance is giving away one of those gorgeous February Kits to the winner of the challenge, and the challenge is to use Banners and Pennants on your project entry. I used the  Scraps of Elegance Kit- LoveSong to create a layout especially for this challenge.

It features a layout of my niece Haley and her dog Eli looking at her like he is totally infatuated~love it!! I did lots of punching, fussy cutting and gel medium work as well as lots of technique work on the Gina's Design Chipboard pieces that were packaged exclusively for this month's kit. The Sweetheart Butterflies that you see on this layout, were designed especially for this month's kit by me, and can be found in my Reneabouquets Etsy Shop. That is just one of the many things that I love about working with Melinda Kelly, the owner of both the Scraps Of Darkness and Scraps Of Elegance Kit Clubs, she goes out of her way to support the papercrafting community and the small independent artists out there :)

Here you can see where I fussy cut out the banner design in one of the papers, water distressed the bottom and creased it, and then used lots of the banners and pennants from the embellishment add ons, as well as some hand cut canvas ones to create lots of texture and dimension. I randomly stenciled the pattern that I used at the top half of the page, onto the bottom and added lots of the ZVA pearls from the kit.
 I crackle painted the Chipboard doves and added them onto the banners along with some of the Pink Paislee Ephemera pieces and  flowers from the Flora & Fauna Add On.

Along the fussy cut banner, I used some of the silk bias and the butterflies to form a bow, a glittered up Prima Eros piece from the embellishment add on and lots of flowers from the Flora & Fauna Add on.

Here you can see the detail work that I created on the Gina's Design chipboard pieces. I used Pewter Crackle Paint, German Glitter Glass, Stickles, ZVA pearls and Petaloo flowers to add lots of texture and visual interest to both corner pieces.

Here is a side shot of the banners so that you can see all the depth and layering.

And here is a close up of the top gel medium and pearl work as well as a shot of the other piece of Chipboard that accents the photo corner.

I had lots of fun playing along with the Southern Girls Challenge!! I hope you get a chance to come play along with us and take a shot at winning one of those gorgeous kits!! Playing along with challenge sites is a FAB way to challenge yourself, make new friends, and to have lots of fun within the papercrafting communtiy. It exposes you to so many other different styles and new techniques, and just adds to the joy of this ever changing craft.

Thanks for stopping by!! Hugs, ~Renea

Scraps Of Darkness Reveals It's February Kit-Simple Pleasures!

Our February kit is a few days late... we wanted to bring you some of the newest and best from Winter CHA, and thought it was worth waiting for - we hope you will too.Kit Ingredients:

**4 double sided papers from Prima's Engraver collection
**5 double sided papers from Kaisercraft's Marigold collection
**1 double sided paper from The Paper Loft's Shades of Gray collection
**Prima Engraver Collection Say It In Crystals
**Prima Engraver Collection Vine
**Maya Road Vintage Findings - Antique Treasure Chest Key
**Maya Road Linen Mini Tag Pieces
**Maya Road Fabric Tape - Mocha Brown Stripes
**3 book pages from a 25 year old copy of Wuthering Heights
**The Paper Loft - Shades of Gray Destiny Accessory Sheet
**Kaisercraft - Marigold Collection 12 x 12 Cardstock Stickers
**Fabscraps - Memories word chipboard
**An inspirational new sketch by Suepup, created just for our Simple Pleasures kit

We're sure you will love this beautiful collection as much as we loved assembling it.

Because the kit ran a little late, the ladies
on our Design Team are currently working
hard to create some beautiful inspiration 
with it for you!  Projects will be added to 
the Scraps Of Darkness website and to 
their blogs as they are completed. So be
sure to check back for loads of inspiration!

I  can't wait to get to play with all that 
Prima!!

Guest Designer Spotlight At Colorful Creations

I am excited to announce that I have a Guest Designer spot over at Colorful Creations!! They offer up all kinds of challenges and all the DT are super sweet and friendly. They host a Guest Spotlight where they supply a sketch, mine was a FAB one created by Jenessa France, and the GDT works with the sketch for inspiration and then the members and DT play along. If you love a great sketch and are looking for a fun spot to hang out and play along with some challenges, then I hope you will join me over there! My spot  runs from February 10th to February 24th, so stop by and say hello~

Here is my take on the sketch featurring a photo of my son, Draven when he was around 2 1/2 lounging and sipping on his juice. I used the amazing Scraps Of Darkness January Kit-Waterways  and Add Ons to pull it off.

I used lots of distressed and punched layers to create this look. 

The star was hand drawn and fussy cut out of 3 different layers that were hand painted. All the layers were attached with foram tape for lots of dimension.

I got this textured look by taking corrugated board painting it with some Lumiere paint and then putting it into  a Pink Paislee frame and added on lots of Pink Paislee Ephemera pieces, a metal clock, and some oversized painted and inked up hands.

I loved all the puzzle pieces and ephemera pieces in this month's SOD  package. So perfect  for pulling off masculine layouts without a flower in sight!!

Here you can see the detail work of all the stamping I did, Plus all the stenciling and painting I did on the Pink Paislee Ribbon.

Thank you Colorful Creations for having me as a Guest Designer, and thank you to all the DT and members for making me feel at home~ Renea

Scraps Of Elegance February Reveal!!

The oh so gorgeous, and completely romantic Scraps Of Elegance Kit-LoveSong debuted on February 1st, and now it is time for the Design Team to show off their work with it.

Just take a look at all that scrumptous, soft, yumminess!!!

Each month the kit comes with an inspirational sketch done by the lovely and talented Suepup:

Here is my take on the sketch:

It features a photo of my Aunt Annie's daughter, Michelle, when she got married just a few months ago. She has a son, Mason from a previous marriage, and I thought this was just such a cute photo with the sweet little sign "You may now kiss my Mom"! 

I fussy cut out the glittered scalloped paper from the kit paper and attached it with foam tape for lots of dimension, and also so that I could cut the paper down some so that I could put the background paper behind it. 

Here you can see the flower spray that I created using flowers from this month's Flora & Fauna add on, some, a large flower from a previous kit and some rhinestone and pearl pieces had had been hoarding for some time :)

I loved this chipboard piece that was packaged exclusively for the Scraps Of Elegance kits by Gina's Design, and was in this month's Embellishment Add On. I really glittered it up and added one of those rhinestone pieces to it.   The Vintage lace and trims are from my stash, and the little red roses where in the E.A.O. 

The butterflies are Glamorous Butterflies that you can find in my Etsy Shop, and are perfect for adding dimension to any page, or project. 

Here you  can see all the dimension and details.

This next project is an 8 x 8 mini album that I created using this month's oh so romantic kit , that was so perfect for that Vintage Shabby Chic look that I love.

 Three pages of the album are chipboard and there are two hand sewn, toggle envelopes and inserts as well. All the chipboard pages where edged out in Melissa Frances Glitter and then lots of details were added on.

The Vintage Shabby Love Letters Hot Air Balloon, is one of those pieces that I carry in my Etsy Shop, and the other pieces include a hand crafted paper clay tag, a little heart shaped bottle with glitter glass, pieces from the kit and add ons, found items and past kit pieces. There are lots of trims, feathers, and Doillies that complete the look.

Here you can see how "chunky" my album is and it is tied closed with a sheer, wide ribbon.

There are pockets with pull out tags. 

This is one of the hand crafted and sewn toggle envelopes. This one has a paper clay tag, and a pocket that I created by taking an image that I colorized and altered, and then printing it onto T-shirt transfer paper and then ironing it onto the canvas.

The pocket holds another pull out tag.

This is the backside of the envelope. Inside it contains a hand sewn pull out that can house 4 pages of photos and journaling. 

This is one of those texturized, corrugated pieces with lots of gel medium, misting and seed beads.

A Sweet photo spot. The Sweetheart Butterflies were created just for this kit and can be found in the Embellisment Add On or in my Etsy Shop.

This is another hand crafted, and sewn, toggle envelope. 

This one also has a photo pull out.

Back side of envelope. It also has a 4 page pull out inside of it.

Here is one of those laced up spots.

It has a pull out tag as well.

And finally, this is the back of the album.

Over in the Scraps Of Darkness/Scraps Of Elegance forums, I host an ATC swap with our participating members and DT. The following is an ATC that I created for Sarah Bargo (Sarahsmiles). I hope she loves it!! I know I enjoyed creating it. I actually love to work on those smaller spaces sometimes. It is such a challenge to stay in that small of a space and still get dimension and detail.

Here are some close ups of the details:

Lisa Novogrodski (Raining) hosts a card swap in the forums as well and this is a shabby chic card that I created and that will go into the mail, for my scrappy sister Cathi O'Neal. Cathi is a card maker herself, so I took extra care in creating something that she can appreciate :) It was created with a beautiful sketch by Naddia Cannizo one of our DT members. Thank you Naddia for your beautiful inspiration!!

Here is the inside:

Upclose details:

A dimensional view:

And the back:

Can you tell, that I loved this kit???! Oh so gorgeous and romantic and perfect for creating almost anything you can dream up. Thank you once again, Mel for putting together the most amazing kits out there!! And thank you for dropping by! Hugs, ~Renea

Altered Memory Book Box

I love doing layouts, but I also love to take my work "off the page". The following is an Altered Memory/Keepsake Book Box that I created using some Scraps Of Elegance Kit Papers, along with some Scraps Of Darkness embellishments. I normally don't combine my kits, but the SOE papers went so well with some of the SOD embellishments that I just couldn't help myself :)

I took a Paper Mache Book Box and painted it in gesso, then got down to business distressing and inking up some Vintage look papers for a soft, shabby chic look. I then created a die cut layer, applied it with foam tape, then took some corrugated board, stained it and added lots of glass glitter. I then popped on a Vintage Image that I had purchased from Digital Collage Sheets, and digitally clorized it for a unique look that matched my colors I was using. I then 2 layer inked a paper doily and pleated it around a wooden Prima clock. Added some Vintage look lace, and layers of Crepe paper that I fringed. I then popped on some Prima flowers and leaves, some sequins with added on gem centers, and a Prima Butterfly to finish out the top of the box.

For the back of the book box, I added a layer of  the same paper that I heavily inked and distressed.

I did lots of technique work and inking to create the look of pages. 

I created the "binding" out of stained, and glittered up corrugated board.

For the inside I just 2 toned inked over the gesso to get a yummy, Vintage look.

This box will be so perfect for storing momentos, cards, or any small treasure one may want to keep safe.

Thanks for stopping by to view my work! Until next time~Hugs~ Renea