Creativity comes in many forms

As the title says, Creativity comes in many forms. For me, this past month has been very creative and only partially has anything to do with scrapbooking. So bear with me if you were looking for a new sketch. But I will show you some new uses for some of those scrapping supplies. Scrapping those Halloween pics is right around the corner.

October is the start of the Rennaisance Festival here in Texas. If you've never been it's truly a magical experience. Almost every year they have several themed weekends and my favorite is the 1001 Dreams Fairy weekend.

Last year I made my costume and although it turned out cute, to me it seemed like it was "handmade", you know that feeling that you could have done some extra things to make it more professional looking, but you didn't?  Well, this year I was determined that was not going to happen!

Well I knew I wanted a new corset but I was not in the mood to try to struggle to make one! If you have ever attempted this you know what I mean! So I went to eBay, I love eBay, and I found an awesome maker of fine corsets. Going by the name VonLancelot, these corsets are handmade and are breathtakingly gorgeous! Here's the one I bought, of course, I wore mine without the white shirt thingy underneath and I changed the blue ribbon to braided cord which gave it a more earthy feel, you know like a wood nymph, (see 3rd & 4th pics for braided lacing):

Front

Back

Lacing

Close up of Lacing

So I gathered my ideas, the corset and my money bag ...oops, I mean my husband, and headed to JoAnn's. Turns out he has a great eye for design! He helped me pick out all the materials I used for thee costume.

I knew the type of skirt I wanted but I wasn't sure how to go about making it so I did a search and found a really neat site: You Can Make This.com. I found the tutu skirt I was looking to make, found the instructions, downloaded them and here is my result:

The full tutu skirt

Close up of waistband

Next, because the tutu is see through, I needed an over skirt. This is where things got a little tricky for me. After numerous google searches using every word I could think of for jagged or ripped or torn edged skirts and turning up not one single usable pattern, I knew I was going to have to rely on my limited drawing talents. Luckily my hubby found the awesome blue sheened leather looking material that I used. So I took a white eyeliner pencil, yes I know they make chalk pencils for this but I need a smooth flow and the eyeliner did an awesome job, and I started drawing what I thought looked like a jagged edge. After cutting the first piece out with my cutter bee scissors so I could get all the smalls jags I drew, I had a template to use. And here is the result of the overskirt:

Overskirt

Closeup of jagged edge and material

Now I know by this point you are thinking, "Okay so she has used her cutter bee scissors but I don't see any other scrapping supplies being used." Remember I told you this year was going to be different, more realistic, truly fairylike. And a fairy is not complete without her wings!

Last year I bought some gorgeous butterfly shapped wings, unfortunately, this is the best picture I was able to find that was close to them, although mine are white, or pearly irridesent to be exact.

And here is where the scrapping supplies came in handy. As you can see the wings are pretty but plain. So I decided to glam them up a bit. First, I had my amazing hubby use his artistic talents and draw the pattern on a large sheet of brown shipping paper. I didn't want the ink from the marker to get on my wings when I traced over it. So I covered the entire thing with wax paper and taped the wing down. Next I pulled out my stickles, some bling and some cool leaves I had bought for one of my fall scrapbok pages. After 2 and a half bottles of stickles in Patina, Lime Green, and Mermaid, numerous blue, green and clear bling crystals, and one package of leaves, I had created my dream wings! Here are the pics:

Full wing design

Close up of Wing design

Close up of Leaf pattern

Close up of curly design

Happy Scrapping!

A couple of Happy Scrappy Announcements

I am so happy to tell you that Scraps-n-Such has reopened, so stop by to chat, share, or just check it out.

I'm also happy to announce that the Scrapbookers Clubhouse has "The Road Home" October Kit  ready with yours truly's sketch duet! You have to purchase the full kit to get the scrapbook and card sketches. Trina did an excellent job with this kit, it is just beautiful, I love all the different things to use for journaling. Super fun! Here's a picture of the kit:

Where is all the scrapping time?

Why is it that work & life always seem to cut into valuable scrapping time? For the past month, it seems like I've had about 15 mins to scrap! But I was able to accomplish something special!



During the month of October, I have been invited to design a sketch duet for the Scrapbookers' Clubhouse. I will be making one scrapbook sketch and one card sketch that will be available in the October kit. Check out the Scrapbookers' Clubhouse or drop by the forum for more information.



And if you haven't seen Gabrielle Pollacco's amazing scrapbook work over at Such a Pretty Mess, then you must feast your eyes on her exquisite works of art! She is a truly gifted scrapbooker! She also just opened an etsy store, so some of her amazing pages could be yours!

A Sad Farewell

It is with a sad and heavy heart that we said farewell to a wonderful scrapping group, Scraps-n-such.com, this month.

Bethy was a wonderful host and she always tried to bring us the lastest scrapping news, creative challenges and always made you feel welcome right from the start!

Bethy, thank you for all your hard work and dedication that you put into our favorite forum. And thank you so much for allowing me to share my sketches with the group.

Although the forum is now closed, Scraps-n-such.com is still active. There you can keep up with Bethy's new adventures or buy some of the great AC Bailey products that she has for sale in her store. (Try the monthly kits for perfectly coordinated pages!)

My Mysterious Hiatus

I apologize for my long hiatus. I have had some personal issues that I needed time to deal with. But I am slowly getting back into action and hopefully will start pumping out a few sketches over the coming weeks.

I want to thank each and every one of my readers for not unsubscribing since I haven't been updating. I will be bringing you news about fun scrapping forums, blogs of note, perhaps a few contests, as well as some other exciting scrappy stuff.

Here are a few noteworthy forums to check out in the meantime:

• Scraps-n-Such


• Serendipity Scrapbooks


• Scrapfreak


• Paper Passion

Happy Scrapping!

Sketch of the Week Sketch #39

After being without my computer for a week and a half, I feel like I'm months behind. Luckily, I didn't lose any of my information but I did find out I had a ton of malware and viruses! Thank goodness the IT guys work for doughnuts! They fixed everything right up and got me protected again. Fortunately, nothing was compromised, just slowed my computer waaaaaaaayyyyy down. But I am back trying to catch up on all the posts I missed. Starting with sketch #39.



The Sketch:






B&W Printable Version:

Gina's Example: Adore - The kids, the flowers, the colors, the title, and the hand journaling, it's all perfect! And I love how she does this to her pages. She pulls the colors from her pictures and brings the page together with color coordinating embellishments, hand doodling and pretty ribbons.

Heather's Example: Wishes - I love how she went with a simple design that mimicks here photo subject. The white on the bg really draws your eye to her amazing photogrtaphy skills. Then she added a bold title down the side that leads your eyes around the page.


Bethy's Example: Hot Cocoa - This layout convinced me I was drinking hot cocoa! Starting with the chocolate title that looks like you could eat it off the page, the chronological pictures of her daughter stirring the hot cocoa, blowing on the hot cocoa, and testing the hot cocoa, and then the polka dot bg that has a feel of mashmallows dancing on the page. And that big scallop holding the journailing could very well be another huge marshmallow!


Angel's Example: Baby Sumo - This cute title gets you ready for the adorable picture of this chubby cheecked darling. The greens and blues assure you this the gender of this little guy. As always I love all her coordinating hand doodled embellishments and the finishing touch was added with the green ribbon and safety pin.


My Example: Miranda - The pictures of my Goddaughter, Miranda, really bring back memories of the first time I saw her. As soon as I saw her open eyes through my camera lens I knew she had my heart forever! I sticlked the title and scalloped edges, then added pink pearls to the pink and white glittered flowers that I separeted, inked, and glued back together. I got lucky with the soft pink bg patterned paper as it had the three hearts right beside the title.

My Puter is broke :(

The past couple of weeks I have been experiencing some computer problems. This week I should be getting my computer fixed. When everything is up and running I will post the sketches that I have missed, starting with last week's.

In the meantime, you can go to the Scraps-n-such forum. Last week's sketch was posted on the forum. Just remember if you sign up for the forum, make sure to fill in as much information as possible so Bethy doesn't think you are a spammer. Happy Scrapping.

Sketch of the Week - Sketch #38

The design team absolutely loved this week's sketch and I hope you love it too. This easy-to-use 4 photo sketch is simple and fun. This is one of those sketches that is great to use when you are in a hurry. For variations, change the bg circle, reverse the picture positions, change the angel of the photo strip, add more or less embellishments, or whatever it is that makes your page unique. Happy Scrapping!

The Sketch:

B&W Printable Version:

Pat's Example - Making Cards - The repeating heart pattern through Pat's layout really draws your eye to the card Chloe is holding in her hand. I love how the supporting pictures show her in the process of making the card. And the mixed b&w photos help to keep the page from being to busy.

Gina's Example: Beautiful Child - I love how she used the soft boy colors and the hand doodling around the scallop and rest of the page really add depth to the layout.

Bethy's Example: Cheer - One thing I love about this layout is all the purple accents, which really draw your eyes toward that cutie pie holding the pom-poms. And the scalloped journaling circle mimics the circular background pattern.

Michele's Example: Call it Puppy Love - I love the open heart shape and how she used it to frame the main photo. The brown, pink, and white background paper really help that adorable puppy pop off the page.

Angel's Example - Pretty in Pink - The b&w photos against these gorgeous muted colors really draw your attention to the beautiful baby in the center. One thing I love about scrapbooking is getting good pictures to scrap and these are perfect pictures! I love the expressions on her sweet little face.

Alecia's Example - A Cat's Life - Alecia never ceases to amaze me. I love the way she pulled the colors from her photos to match the background papers and the embellishments. And why is it that cat's sleep in such weird positions??

My Example: Family Photos - I love this picture of my cousin Christina. And the supporting photos let you see what's behind that beautiful smile.

Scrapbook Sketch # 37

This has been one crazy week. It seems like there is never anytime to scrap anymore! I could use an entire week were I did nothing but scrap. But I guess I'll just keep dreaming of that day! So here is this week's 4 photo sketch and examples. The edges are supposed to look torn but I haven't quite mastered that yet in PSP X2.

The Sketch:

Pat's Example: Rock - I love the guitar cutout and the added bling adds that special touch. And look at the concentration on her gd face! So cute!

Gina's Example: Brothers - The way she split the photo, used the stencil for the word brothers, used black, brown, and tan colors really gives the page a masculine feel.

Michele's Example: Toad Suck Bog, what a name for a place! We got a good chuckle about this over at Scraps-n-Such! I love how she added the butterfly to the top of the pic.

My Example: Cat's Out of the Bag - This is my furrbaby Pandora. She loves plastic bags, still haven't figured out what her fasination with them is, but I think it's the noise it makes. And btw, she was in the bag for a few hours! She fell asleep in there!

Sketch of the Week Sketch #36

The design team had a blast with this week's 2 or 3 photo sketch. Their scrapbook pages look awesome with all the flourishes and bling on them.

The Sketch

Black & White Printable

Pat's Example

Heather's Example

Bethy's Example

My Example

Flashback Reunion Crop at Serendipity Feb 20-22

Do you remember big hair, rainbow brite, and the rest of the 80s? Well Serenditipy is ready to take you back to the 80s again, with an anniversary crop that will knock your skates off. Celebrating thier 3rd year and calling back all past design team members for a crop to remember. Join in the fun at Serendipity Scrapbooks Feb 20th-22nd.

Shimmerz Design Team

Think you have what it takes to be on a design team? Shimmerz Paints is looking for a couple of DT members to use their fabulous products. Shimmer & Shine in '09. These water-based paints are so versatile. I feel in love with them the first time I used them a few weeks ago, I made the Fairy doors with them to give the door that special shimmer. I think it gave them that magical shine that can only be found in the Fairy Forests. What do you think?

Here are some Reasons Why Crafts Love Shimmerz

- They're already mixed. No recipe, no mess.

- They're ridiculously shimmery.

- They dry on glossy or non-porous surfaces, so they're perfect for use on acetate or metal.

- They're made in the USA.

- There are 35 spectacular colors of Shimmerz and 9 brilliant shades of Blingz.

- They're non-toxic.

- They're water-based.

Scrapbook Sketch #35

This week the SNS design team produced some more amazing work with this 3 photo scrapbook sketch. With techniques such as paper tearing, inking, hand doodling, ghost shapes, chipboard, polka dots, flowers, flourishes, buttons, and lots of sparkles these layouts are each truly unique.

The Sketch

Printable Version

Alecia's Example - Our Getaway - I love the polka dot paper against the red. And all the embellishments she added really gave the page dimention. The "Route" journaling tag really makes it a travel page and that font is really cute.

Bethy's Example - Never Stop Exploring - I love all her doodling and the paper she chose was perfect for this page. The three pictures really show the funny and serious faces of her adorable son!

Heather's Example - Cookies - I love the torn edge frames for the pics and title. And those ghost snowflakes really add some sparkle to the page. The mixer and whisk are really cute embellishments for this cute page.

Pat's Eample - Play Hard - I love her long arrows with the 3 brads on them pointing to the title, it really leads you around the page. And the polka dot pattern repeated in the frames and brads really give the page a uniform look.

Gina's Example - Party of 5 - I love the colors she used on this layout. And the hand doodling around the frames really adds a nice touch.

My Example - Out To Pasture - I had alot of fun with this sketch. The wrap around vine pointing to the title, the gold doodling on the circle, frames, and letters really helped to bring out the pictures.