Soul Less

Lisa, (aka Raining) over at Scraps Of Darkness just started a new monthly challenge called Scrap That Title, and of course I had to play along!! Here is the criteria for the challenge:

This challenge will run Sept 15- Oct -15

Each month I will give you a title. You need to use the title as it stands on your layout and scrap what it conjures up for you. Imagine how fun it will be to see all the different interpretations of the same title.

The rules are: you must use the title I give you and you must use 50% Scraps of Darkness products.

This months title is: SOULESS (OR SOUL- LESS)

I love Goth Art, so as soon as I saw the word, I knew what photo I wanted to scrap, and this is what I came up with:

I used my Scraps Of Darkness September Kit-Passages, along with the Dusty Attic sketch for this month to create this layout. I started with some Bo Bunny pp from the kit and then took a piece of the Teresa Collins kit pp and cut and punched it for my background.

I then had this crazy idea that I wanted to use an old book cover for the framing of the photo, so I went into my junk closet and found an old hard back book, ripped out the pages and used it for the bottom frame layer. I actually loved the pp on the inside of the book cover so I left some of it showing, and then took a piece of the kit Teresa Collins pp, distressed it, inked it, and then punched the holes for the ribbon. I didn't have any ribbon that matched my colors, so I took some cream ribbon, and sprayed it with the Smooch Mist from this month's color add on to get the color I wanted. The ribbon tying was a lot harder than lacing, because you had to cut individual pieces of ribbon then lace it, and tie the bows to the correct size.

I then adhered my photo and attached some of the fabulous Vintaj metal pieces from the kit and accented them with pearls from my stash.

On the opposite side of the book page, I took a Prima flower from my stash and popped in some of the BoBunny CB pieces from the kit behind it. I then took some of the kit pp that had words on it and cut out the letters for the first part of the title from it "Death's Sword Is".

I pleated my punched paper upward and then took some more of those Vintaj metal pieces that came int he kit, and strung ribbon through them to form a tie down to my pleating and then popped some more pearls on for interest.

I then took a Prima Mask and misted the bottom part of the layout with the Wood Smooch spray from the CAO. Took 2 Dusty Attic Flourishes and Smooched them with the Berry Smooch from the CAO, stamped them with a music note stamp, then tied some of the same ribbon around it, adhered one of the little Vintaj metal keys from the kit onto each flourish and popped on some stash pearls.

I took some of the Bo Bunny CB letters from the kit and made the last part of my title "Soul Less" and then added one of the Prima Butterflies from the Flora & Fauna Add On, and finished up the layout.

I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of Lisa's word, Soul Less, I know I had fun creating this kind of dark, goth look layout. I love going outside the box sometimes, it keeps life interesting! ~ Renea

Week Two Of The Scraps Of Darkness Feature At The Robin's Nest

The Design Team over at Scraps Of Darkness is all a chatter, because it is week two of us being featured over at the Robin's Nest's Blog- "The Chattering Robins"! The Scraps Of Darkness August Kit-Envy featured items from the Robin's Nest line, and the DT caught there attention with so many gorgeous layouts that they decided to do a feature on us. They are doing a 4 week feature on Wednesdays, and this is the last week of that feature.  We are so proud of Melinda and all the hard work that she puts in to designing these kits for us, so this is a well deserved honor for her and the super talented Design Team. We hope that you will join us over there, and help us to celebrate yet another big accomplishment for such an amazing Kit Club! ~Renea

The Writing On The Wall **Scraps Of Darkness** Round Robin and Dark Side Challenge

I have so many layouts I want to get to with this month's amazingly gorgeous kit from Scraps Of Darkness called Passages that I had to double up on challenges to pull it all off! The following layout is playing double duty to both the Round Robin hosted by Lisa (aka Raining), and the fun Darkside Challenge hosted by Celina (aka forevervampress).

In the Round Robin, I am on Team 2 with Erica, Courtney and Monica. Erica kicked it off with her beautiful layout:

I am following Erica with this layout which is also my take on Celina's Challenge using communication. I chose The Writing On The Wall as my communication venue, and it features a photo of my son's friend Lauren standing in front of one of the many graffiti covered buildings popping up around town. Thanks Erica and Celina for your wonderful inspiration!

I started with the beautiful plum colored cardstock from this month's add on, and then took a piece of the kit Teresa Collins pp, and punched around the edges. I then cut out a circle from the same colored card stock and punched around the edges.

 I then took a chipboard weathered clock from my Etsy Store, painted it with antique linen crackle paint, then inked it. Took one of the Teresa Collins Brads from the Romance add on used it to connect and attach the clock's hands.  For the layers behind the photo I took some card stock from last month's add on and deep distressed it and inked the edges. I took another piece of Teresa Collins pp from the kit and distressed and inked the edges of it, and adhered it with foam tape for dimension, then attached the photo with foam tape for layering dimension.

Next I took some Dusty Attic Bricks and cut them out randomly, then painted them with crackle paint then inked them and adhered them randomly throughout my layout. I then took a Prima Coventry Rose from the Flora & Fauna add on, along with some Prima Bella Notte flowers from last month's add on, that I touched up with some Tattered Angels Mist to match my layout, and formed the corner flower cluster.

I then took the cork piece that Mel included in our kit, cut it with my Sizzix then stamped it with the Prima brick stamp from the kit, took a chipboard flower, soaked it to get it to curl, painted it with TA Mist then popped a clock face in the center and a feather on the corner for interest.

I took the same plum card stock and punched it for the fan shaped border, added some stash Prima Pearls and then laced the fan with the Teresa Collins Trim from the kit.

To finish out the layout, I stamped my title onto pieces of the plum card stock with the black Mixed Media Ink from this month's color add on and randomly spread it over the layout, popping a couple of those super cool wire hangers from the Romance Add On, and then popped on some of my Elegance In Flight butterflies from my Etsy store.


I love challenges and this one was doubly fun! I also, love that Mel packs our kits full of such wonderful and unique pieces that bring out our creativity. Thanks for looking! ~Renea

Tell Me What You Want Blog Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who played along with my "Tell Me What You Want Blog Giveaway"! I feel so lucky to have made so many wonderful friends in the world of scrapbooking, and I can't say thank you enough to everyone who visits my galleries and blog, and to those of you who have been so supportive of my work this past year.

Now without further to do-THE WINNER IS.......

MONICA!

Monica has won $25.00 worth of scrappy goodness from my Etsy store! Congratulations girlie!

SCRAPS OF DARKNESS SEPTEMBER 21st- OCTOBER 21st STALKER CHALLENGE

Each month, I host a Challenge over at Scraps Of Darkness  called the Stalker Challenge. This month's challenge invites the participants to stalk the internet or their files for one of those images they have always wanted to create something with, but haven't found the venue for, and create a Gothic Arch with it.  I have scanned in a copy of the templates for the different styles of arches. Just print them out on some heavy card stock and you have a set of templates for your scrap art arsenal. (Be sure to click on the image, and get the larger sized image that will print out onto a 8.5 x 11 size sheet to give you the correct arch size. Then hit Ctrl and the P on your keyboard to send it to the printer).  I just love pushing people out of their comfort zone, and getting them to try new things, and the girls are always such good sports about it, and come up with some really amazing works of art. I hope that you will join us!

The Rules:
1. Use at least 50 % Scraps of Darkness product. This can be kit product or store product.
2. Stalk the internet or your files for one of those images you love, but haven't found a venue for yet.
3. Use a piece of chipboard
4. Use a piece of paper bag somewhere on your arch
5. The most important rule of all-HAVE FUN!!

Here Are The Templates:

Here is my example for the challenge:

Original -Twisted Sketch #120 Twist-Button **Scraps Of Darkness**

Twisted Sketches just unveiled their sketch for this week and I was so happy to be playing along. If you would like to join us for Sketch #120 with the Twist-Button, just hop on over to Twistedsketches.org and join in the fun. Here is my take on this weeks sketch that I created with my Scraps Of Darkness September Kit-Passages. It features some photos of my son, Draven when he was around 2 years old. The photos are a little grainy, but I just love the tough guy look he had going on-he really is such an "Original"!

I was trying to get the worn, vintage look of denim on this layout, so I started with a piece of the  Teresa Collins pp from the kit and then started layering on top of it. I took a piece of the Bo Bunny pp from the kit and randomly punched it, distressed it, tore, inked it and then hand stitched it in places. I then took a Prima Mask and layed it onto the pp then misted the pp with some of the Colorinz Mist from a previous kit and then gesso'ed on top of that, then randomly stamped on top of that. (Wow, did that piece of paper get a work over! )

I then took a stash piece of pp and created the navy layer and then another piece of kit pp to back the photo. I distressed and inked the edges on those 2 pps and then took my larger photo, gesso'ed and used a paint dabber on it to soften the background.

I then took some chipboard stars that I had hand drawn and fussy cut out, and gave them the grunge treatment to get lots of dimension and then stickled the edges and popped one on each opposite corner of my photo.

Next, I took some of the Prima Canvas Mistable sheet from the color add on of a previous month's kit and misted it with the Colorinz Mist that I used on the pp and then cut it out in the shape of a pocket and hand stitched the detail. I then tucked a small photo of my son, along with a train embellie and a Tim Holtz ticket, into the pocket and foam taped it onto my photo for dimension.

I took a zipper that I had in my stash and cut it down to size then opened up one end and arranged some of the wooden buttons (the twist) from this month's kit into it, putting string through some of the buttons and wire through some of the others for texture.

I then took the leftover part of the zipper and glued it around the tear at the top of the page, tucked in some of that misted canvas and popped one of the buttons laced with wire in the peek a boo. I then finished out my layout with the title, by taking some stash corrugated alphas and inking the edges, then staggering them on the bottom.

Sketches are a fun way to get your groove on, and it is amazing how many different ways they can be interpreted. Just take a look at all the different layouts that the DT came up with from that sketch at www.twistedsketches.org and you will see what I mean! Thanks for dropping by! ~Renea

Scraps Of Darkness Is Being Featured On The Robin's Nest Blog!

The Design Team over at Scraps Of Darkness is all a chatter, because we are being featured over at the Robin's Nest's Blog- "The Chattering Robins"! The Scraps Of Darkness August Kit-Envy featured items from the Robin's Nest line, and the DT caught there attention with so many gorgeous layouts that they decided to do a feature on us. They will be doing a 4 week feature starting today, September 21st and running for 3 more Wednesdays after that. We are so proud of Melinda and all the hard work that she puts in to designing these kits for us, so this is a well deserved honor for her and the super talented Design Team. We hope that you will join us over there, and help us to celebrate yet another big accomplishment for such an amazing Kit Club! I am so excited, I am sure you can hear me TOOTing all the way over there where you are!! ~Renea