Time for Scrapping

Hello blogland. I have been on quite the hiatus. My mojo left me for a good long while, but it's back and can I just say....it is ON!!

You can now follow my blog on Bloglovin!!! If you prefer Bloglovin just click the widget to the right.

I have posted a few on the swirlydoos facebook gallery but haven't made it here. I'm warning you now that this post is very photo heavy.

Let me get you up to speed in 2016...

This page was created using Donna Salazar papers,, various Prima flowers and pieces from the Prima Almanac collection.

I used Prima's Optimist collections for this one. I had started the background a couple of years ago and just needed to pick it back up. I really loved the die cut frames. I've also been hoarding Prima doors forever and this was my first time using them.

This page actually won layout of the month over at swirlydoos in March. This is a conglomeration of a few kits and one of my fav stamps....that bird cage is fantastic.

I was lucky enough to find Prima's Nature Garden in Jodi Lee's Etsy store to make this LO of Aubrey's costume from 2014. 

This is an exploding box card I made for hubby for his birthday. The entire thing collapses flat. It was very fun and turned out very cool.

This is a LO made with the February kit using lots of Prima Salvage District and even some really old stuff from my stash.

This is another LO with the Swirlydoos February kit. I just adores the Blue Fern Studios papers here. 

and my final LO to share is another of my Aubrey Sue. This is one is one of my favs lately. There was so much detail here and it just came together so well. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my work. I have some of my latest stuff yet to post as well, so stay tuned. 

Until then....{{hugs}}

Andiepants

ePlay challenge - Altered Bottles

It's that time again! Everyone ePlay!

This month's challenge is altered bottles. 

Bottles are so much fun and when you drink as much wine as I do...well...there's never a shortage of bottles to alter.

I was obsessed not too long ago and came up with this beauty:

Lots and lots of found objects, charms, and gel medium. I used Luminarte primary elements in order to make a home made mist for the all over color of the bottle.

There was really a lot going on there. HAHAHA

This time I decided to change my altering from a bottle to a wine glass...I'm altering the challenge a bit;)

I had a couple of my crafty girfriends over and we drank and altered wine glasses. For this one I used Silks glazes in the following colors:

Snapdragon

Teal Zircon

Mallard Green 

Blue flame

Solar gold

I first had to cover the glass in gesso

I then used Viva Decor 3D stamp paint to stamp the image on the glass using my Tim Holtz Damask stamps.

For the bottom I used E6000 and Sprinkled Distress glitter in antique linen.

I hope you are inspired to make an altered bottle of your own. Make sure you post your link on eP for your chance to win a gift certificate to the eP store.

til next time

{{hugs}}

Andiepants

ePlay Challenge for May - Stencils!!!!

Welcome to the May ePlay Challenge...Stencils!!!!

Wow was this a kick start to my mojo....first a preview...

Remember I said I was visiting my girl? Well we went scrappy shopping first thing when she picked me up at the train station and when I saw this Prima Bloom stamp in person...I knew I had to have her. I kinda had been wanting her anyways. I decided to do tags so that I could play a bit without a large commitment...and WOW!!! This was so much fun to do all the different things with.

First...it was time to get serious...

Kim got serious too..

and now we can start with our TAGS!!!

Using Distress inks in all sorts of colors I created LOTS of different backgrounds

Then using my Timmy layering stencils I began to layer different colors one at a time. I only worked on one tag at a time.

My favorite technique with the stencil is to use a similar color or just a tad darker than the background. This gives an almost airbrushed effect that is just way super cool. For busy patterns use lighter colors, like the polka dots, and for patterns in the foreground use darker colors, like the ruler.

I stamped directly onto the tag, used my Distress marker to highlight some, and embellished as desired.

For some of the other tags I used embossing paste through the stencil instead. Love the effect layered on top. Also, this tag really shows the "air brush" effect that I was referring to.

For the blue tag I gessoed over my final stencil and then stamped and colored on the gesso.

Here are some closeups of the individual tags:

What will you decide to do with stencils? 

Remember to upload your stencil project to the ePlay challenge before the end of the month for your chance to win a gift certificate to the eP store!

I hope you were inspired by my lovely Prima stamp, Hope :) Check out some of the fantastic face stamps Kim has in the eP store.

{{hugs}}

Andiepants

eP Get Altered Challenge and 7Dots January Challenge

Get ready to be shocked...I love 7Dots! 

*GASP*

I know right? Anyway...I purchased Messy Head through the Swirly boutique a while back on an impulse. I'm not a big pastels scrapper but I figured...eh! why not.

Of course...I fell in love. What is with this paper company?! For realz! The brick wall patterns and splatters are  instant faux texture on your page. Anything you layer on top just makes it that much more fabulous. 

7Dots has a monthly challenge over at their blog. This month was geometric shapes. Instantly my tiny circles template came to mind. I had to use it!!!

This is a photo that my GF Kim took while she was here scrapping for the weekend. I was coloring flowers and didn't have any protective gloves.

 I decided I wanted to do something monochromatic so I stuck with pinks and only added black and white to accent the photo since my shirt was black and white.  I used the Kaisercraft gems to accent the pink on my fingers in the photo. The clock is Prima and covered in gesso and the doily is Kaisercraft as well.

This photo illustrates the texture created with the tiny circles stencil. LOVE IT! I used Wendy Vecchi paste in white through the stencil. The detail is amazing. The resin piece is from my stash and I did some rarely seen stitching with my sewing machine. I love the look but the time to clean off the sewing table, thread the bobbin, and then the jamming...THE JAMMING!!! Happens whenever I sew on paper. I'm a paper crafter gals...not a seamstress;)

Here you can see the doily stamp that I used randomly all over the page to accentuate the circle motif. I've  had these little metal frames FOR-EV-ER and when I realized I was doing circles....they were perfect. I used the salt and pepper letter stickers from 7DOTS Domestic Goddess for the titles and placed my pop dots under the stickers to lift the letters. 

For the eP get altered challenge we were to alter playing cards. I made this little trinket for my hubby...52 reasons I love you.

The cover is actually cut from cardstock and added in but is not actually a playing card. I used an older line from Echo Park that has been in my stash for the cover and the numbers on the title. The banner is stamp which I fussy cut.

I used basics for this since I was doing an entire deck. Gesso, mist, a little washi tape, and a permanent marker.

Started by covering each card with a layer of gesso. Then I laid out as many cards as I could on my spray mat and sprayed with dylusions mists in calypso teal postbox red.

Because the pattern which I laid out the cards was random the mist for each card was random.

For the last card I had originally set this one aside to make the cover and then realized I would not have 52 reasons!!! By this time I had put away all my mists so I used some of the washi tape that was on other cards and made the last card different

I hope you enjoyed my projects today.

Don't forget to leave a comment on my giveaway post for your chance to win a Time Holtz layering stencil. Winner will be chosen February 14th.

{{hugs}}
Andiepants

Brass Shilling

What a fantastic week! The family and I spent time up in Mackinac and I got 2...yes 2 additional layouts made. I'm so excited to share these these with you.

This page was just sooo much fun. There are so many layers of paper and gooey texture that I don't even know where to begin. All the papers underneath are from the Swirlydoos kit club Brass Shilling. I used up all my scraps and then used some scraps of tissue paper for added texture. Once all the matte medium was dry I covered everything with a layer of modeling paste randomly and in varying patterns. In the future I would do it thinner in some places so that the paper shows through more. Then I covered it with a layer of gesso. Again...I think I'll go a little less next time.

 I loved the transparency pieces that came in this moth's kit. I felt that I wanted to carry that theme into the picture by printing my picture on a transparency as well. I liked how you can see the texture through the picture as well.  I used TA mists in Sunflower, Coffee, and Suede. Liny's stamp gang moonshadow mist in Burnished Brass. I then went over everything with a black gelato and just used some water to blend. The black distressing is a stamp by Kaisercraft and stamped with Stazon ink.

Here's a closeup of the chipboard piece up top. I used the Silks glaze in Emperor's Gold before the gelato just to accentuate the area. 

This is a page that I made for the round robin challenge over at Swirlydoos.com. The first person creates a layout and posts it at the end of the first week and then the second person has to "lift" that LO. This is my lift of week one.

 I tend to not like titles. This page is a mix of Swirlydoos kits including Brass Shilling, Au Naturale, Vintage Chic and Midnight Waltz.

 This chipboard piece is by Dusty Attic and covered in Lindy's Moonshadow mist in Burnished Brass and Tawny Turquoise. The stamp was included in this months kit, Brass shilling. The metal corner up top is by Making Memories but is from my stash.

 Just a quick close up of my cluster. Here's a quick tip...I used Score Tape to adhere the ribbon. You can't even see the tape underneath the sheer ribbon. It's super fantastic.

Last but not least, here is a video tutorial for altering chipboard just one more way!!!

TFL,

Andiepants

Shabby Chic

Did you see the badge on the side of my blog?! It's official...I'm educating for Swirlydoos! I am really so excited to have this opportunity. Stay tuned for some fantastic videos, projects, and prizes.

I have also started an Etsy store! That too is located at the sidebar. I am just getting up and running but keep checking back as I add more items.

Shabby Chic is so in right now. Admit it...we love it. The white wash, vintage, soft, and oh so romantic look has stolen our scrappy hearts. 

I am no exception to this and so I am presenting a new class series called Shabby Chic with Andie! Classes will be once a month over at the crop n shop. You can check out their facebook page here:

CROP N' SHOP - Burton, MI - Shopping & Retail | Facebook

As my general swirly style is very 3 dimensional, I am having to seriously reign it in for these classes. Check out the first page.

Class will be May 8th from 6-8pm. All are welcome just sign up ahead of time!

I also wanted to share a page I made this last fall at a retreat. Of course I used a past swirlydoos kit. What else would I use?

 This is Liam at about 4 months old. His nickname was Sumo because he was so darn chubby!! The best part about a retreat is being able to use other people's stuff. The large stamp in the corner and the punch for the photo corners were all borrowed pieces.  This was one of my all time fav kits. Just sayin...I really love all of the different textures on this page. 

 Here I did a close up of my cluster. The flowers were from the kit but the stems were actually hand made!! I'll put a tutorial up on youtube for it.

Here is a close up of the stamp since it was difficult to see.

TFL,

Andiepants

A Girl Named Maria

Heidi Kelly happened to have a challenge over at...you guessed it...Swirlydoos.com! We had to create a layout using the packaging from our embellishments INSTEAD of the embellishments. This was definitely a challenge but was so much fun. This time...instead of my kids I decided to scrap someone a little different...my sister.

The letters and numbers are the negative from a chippy set that I used as a mask. I used Lindy's Moonshadow mists in emerald. The clock, banners, flowers, and butterflies are Prima packaging. The leaves for the flowers are Petaloo packaging. This layout is completely inspired by Solange Marques. To me she is an absolute mixed media genius. I love her work so much...she's so inspiring!

 The pearls are done with perfect pearls on a piece of acetate from a package. Probably from some other  bling. 

 The green butterfly is a piece of Bo Bunny packaging that I colored with alcohol ink on the inside and rubbed with Stazon to highlight the embossed parts. The petals for the flowers were backing from Petaloo flowers. I freehand cut them and embossed with a stylus then rubbed with brown pigment ink to highlight the embossing.

Here is a closeup of the butterflies cut from the Prima and covered with Stickles. I layered 2 cardboard pieces with a piece of wax paper between them for dimension. The stamp in the upper left corner is repeated throughout the layout and is a Kaisercraft stamp.