Winter, Summer AND Fall!

Check out the view from my scrap room today. YIKES!!! Snow!!! I sure hope it doesn't stick around for Halloween!



For my last page at Ally Scraps this month, I scrapped these pictures from our last summer vacation. I used a mixture of Jillibean Soup and Scrap Within Reach . The brads and chipboard letters are from my stash.



Have I told you how much I love Scrapbooks Etc. Quick Pages? I love that I can cram a bunch of photos together in a streamlined collage. :) Perfect for vacation pages like this one. :)

Thanks again to Cathy, Dana and everyone else over at Ally Scraps for having me for the month! I had a great time! :)

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Now for some bittersweet news. :( This page is my last page for Urban Anthology as a Design Team member. Kari has decided to close the kit side of her business to concentrate on her Scrapbook Retreats. (You can read the official announcement here on the Urban Anthology blog .) The store, blog and forum will remain open, so please stop in if you are feeling the need for inspiration. :)

Her last kit, Snowed Inn, will be up for sale and shipping shortly. I grabbed one for myself, so you just may see a couple more pages from me, but not officially as a DT memeber.

I created this page using the October 2009 "It Leaves You Breathless" kit. I added the letter stickers, buttons, and blue flower from previous Urban Anthology kits. The paper leaves are painted with a wash of Spiced Cider Blingz by Shimmerz Paints. The ink misted in the background is actually Walnut Ink . . . yep the kind from six years ago. Normally, I would use my Spritz's, but I didn't want a Shimmer effect on the background this time around, so I used my Walnut Ink.




I'll leave you with a peek of Urban Anthology's last kit, Snowed Inn. (Full reveal will be up Nov. 1st)



Thanks, Kari, for a great experience! I wish you all the best and continued success on your retreats!

Jana

Urban Anthology and A Little Shimmerz, too!

I've been doing a couple of projects with the Urban Anthology October kit (only 2 left!) and thought I would share them with you.

Handsome - This is the picture I took of Owen for his Baptism invitation. It was one of those moments where you look at your child in a new light and realize just how fast they are growing up on you.



I had fun playing with the transparencies from this kit on this one and love the subtle way they give homes to my title and journaling.

July - Yep! I'm still scratching away at my summer pages! :) These are pictures of us on our annual 4th of July picnic with my BIL & SIL and their family.



Give Thanks Door Hanger - Included in the kit is this really COOL shaped acrylic page by Prima. I wanted to do something special with it and decided it would be really fun to make a Thanksgiving Season door hanger for our back door. If you'd like the instructions to this project check out the Urban Anthology blog HERE.



I added Gold Glimmer Blingz by Shimmerz to the leaves and flowers. I love the way these paints make a simple paper embellishment into something SPECIAL like THAT!!! Fun stuff!



Well, that's all for now. But I'm still creating! Check back soon for more!

Hugs,
Jana

Family Time Layouts

It snowed at my house yesterday. Can you believe that?!! The leaves haven't even started turning yet, and it SNOWED!!! It's a good thing it's sunny today, because I was ready to give Mother Nature a talking-to! LOL!

I've been scrapping some summer memories using the Urban Anthology "Oops! I Did it Again" kit (sorry, sold out). On this first one I experimented a bit with some brads and string. I decided to "sprinkle" some pearls all around it. (I've had a thing with "sprinkling" lately . . . I guess it's my modern day form of sticker-sneezing! LOL!) It was late at night when I made that decision, and now I'm worried I went a little too far with it. LOL! But it was still fun. :)




I love the mix of papers in this kit. On this page I added some plaid to give it that cozy, cabin-feeling I was going for.



I'll leave you with some shots of the October Urban Anthology kit, "It Leaves You Breathless". Available for Preorder NOW! (The store cart says there are only FOUR left!!!)





Have a great week!
Jana

New Sketch

Here's a new sketch for you to play with! I did this one for Urban Anthology using the September "Oops! I Did It Again" kit (sorry, sold out).



This is my brother- and sister-in-law whom we love dearly. They are definitely our best friends and we LOVE to hang out together! Miss Amy stops by my blog all the time, but she never leaves a comment. :( I guess she doesn't love me as much as I love her. :( J/K! ;) (I just had to call her out a bit! LOL! Hi, Amy!!! *Waving!*




I used Shimmerz Spritz in Sapphire to create the masked flower images on the background overlapping the circles. I then used the Spritzed chipboard shapes as the center layer to my book paper flowers. I added the red polka dots to the bookpaper flowers using Fire Engine Red Shimmerz paint, crumpled them up once dry, and layered them together.




Also, I wanted to extend a warm welcome to all the gals stopping over from the Cricut.com website from the Scrap Room thread. :) Thanks for all the sweet comments! And just so you aren't worried for me anymore. . . NO, I moved my camera from underneath the sink. LOL! I reorganized a bit and found a better spot in the cabinet ABOVE the sink. :) Thanks for being worried about my camera and watching out for me! ;) HUGS!!!

I actually have better pictures of my scrap room now, but haven't taken the time to post them. Hmmmm. Maybe I oughtta do that this coming week.

I hope you'll stop by again soon!
Jana

*Sniff, Sniff*

My littlest one started Preschool yesterday. And I must admit it . . . I cried. :) She wasn't afraid one bit, just marched right in there excited to begin this new adventure. I'm glad for that. It's much better than crying and screaming and needing me every second of the day. But I just had to shed a few tears at the fact that all my little ones are growing up . . . and there is nothing I can do to slow it down. :)




She had so much fun! She loves her teacher and can't wait until she gets to go back and "try it again" tomorrow. :D

I have a few scrappy things to share with you today!

First of all, you are going to want to stalk the Shimmerz blog on the 21st to see the New Fall colors . . . very vintage and very fun! There will be lots of projects posted that week by the designers to help you decide that you absolutely need them all! ;) Here's a little sneak peek for ya!



Second, Urban Anthology is getting ready for another Design Team call. WoooHOOOOOO! I have to say, I LOVE Kari's kits! If you love designing with a kit that has a mix of manufacturers, is loaded to the gills, and includes unique items, and lots of flowers and trims, then this call is for you! Watch the Urban Anthology blog on September 15th for additional details! :)



Finally, I have a couple of whimsical Nikki Sivils layouts to share with you today using the Boo-tiful collection. Can you believe Fall is just around the corner?! I can't wait! This is my very favorite time of year!



The ghost on this next page is actually a page from the Ghost Chipboard Album. I painted him with crackle paint and added some googley eyes, and now this cute little guy is holding my title. :)



Thanks for coming by!
Jana

Watermark Look with Spritz

Today I'm going to show you how to make a watermark look with clear embossing powder and Spritz.

First, gather your supplies. You will need: Smooth cardstock, a background stamp (this one is by Green Grass stamps), watermark ink (like VersaMark), clear embossing powder (mine is by Ranger), a heat gun, paper towels, and your favorite color of Spritz! I am using Bed of Roses Spritz.




Stamp your image on your cardstock using watermark ink. I stamped mine twice to create a row of my dot pattern. I wasn't too concerned about lining up the pattern exactly because I knew I was going to be building my layers on top of the watermark.

While the ink is still wet, pour clear embossing powder onto the stamped image. Shake off the excess and melt the powder using a heat gun. Your paper will look something like this.



Next, spray your ink over the image. The ink will soak into the cardstock, but not into the clear embossed pattern. Use a paper towel to blot the ink off of the clear embossed powder.

You will now have a watermark type image showing through your Spritz.




Build your layout for a really neat look! Page created using the Urban Anthology August Tea for Two kit.



To enhance the flowers on this page I painted them with Gold Glimmer Blingz. I love this color! Such a warm hint of shimmer.






Thanks for stopping by!
Jana

Urban Anthology Sketch

Oh! I have one more sketch for you today! This one posted at Urban Anthology while I was away on vacation last week. :)





Sketch created for Urban Anthology using the August "Tea for Two" kit (sold out).

Did you see the sneak peek of the September kit? Reserve your "Oops! I Did It Again" kit here.

Make Chipboard Shapes S-T-R-E-T-C-H!

Happy Friday to you! I have a tutorial/tip to share with you today. This is a Thrifty Thursday technique I did for Urban Anthology using the August Tea for Two kit (3 left).

This is a really fun, shabby technique. Have you ever bought chipboard shapes and thought to yourself, "I wish there was more than one of this flower?"
Or . . . "I really love this chipboard mini-album, but I just don't make mini-albums that often."
Well, then I do have an idea for you!

I received this cute Maya Road flower mini-album in a kit I purchased. I'm not really a mini-album kind of gal, so I decided to use the flowers as accents on my page!

I cut off one sheet from the album and then soaked the chipboard flower in water for a minute.



Next I pulled the layers apart, so I had several flowers. Maya Road album pages are particularly thick, so I was able to get FIVE multi-layered flowers from ONE page!!! WOW!!!
Next I scrunched them up and shaped them and dried them with my heat gun. Here is what they look like.



I painted two of them with White Distress Paint (one is in the top left of the previous photo) and then coated them with a layer of Hi Ho Silver Blingz by Shimmerz.
Layer some other flowers and embellishments on top, and you have a darling flower embellishment for several pages! Yippeee!!! Love that!




And here is my page with my flower accent! Have fun! Just think of the possibilities!!! Cool!

Urban Anthology August Kit Workshop: Using Interior Design as Inspiration

Happy weekend, everyone! For my August Kit Workshop at Urban Anthology I decided to show you how I look to interior design for inspiration.

When I'm not scrapping, you can often find me perusing interior design magazines or watching HGTV. Not only do I love the inspiration interior design gives me for my own home, but I LOVE to adapt the ideas I see into my scrapbooking. Let me show you what I mean. (Both pages created with the August Tea for Two kit )

I loved the feeling of this room. The pinks/reds/greens/brown against the cream really caught my eye. I also really loved the type-treatment.



I used a light, creamy colored background for my page, just like the walls in the photo. The Basic Grey striped paper reminded me of the drapes hanging on the windows. I accented the vertical lines in the paper by stitching in between the stripes. I used the yellow/white October Afternoon paper as a grounding layer underneath my photos, just like the sisal area rug on the floor in the picture. I accented this grouping with a bouquet of pink/green flowers like the flowers on the coffee table. I treated my title the same way as the magazine spread, adding a few red letters to my pink title. Finally the red buttons on the flowers add a punch of interest, just like the red painting in the room.





Here's another example:

First my interior inspiration.



For this page, I used a creamy background again, like the paint in the background of the photo. I loved the way the striped paper met up with the wood floor in the picture, so I did a similar treatment on my page. A striped paper on top and a yellow/white patterned paper on the bottom. I decided to cut the yellow paper in a curve and add the brown cardstock trim by using the curve/color of the shoerack. I lined up my photos side by side, just like the shoes in the picture. I then used blues/green/browns/pinks as my accent colors, just like the colors of the shoes.




Next time you are at a loss for inspiration, try using an photo of an interior as inspiration and see where it leads you!