Sweet Stamps Guest Designer: Butterflies

The Challenge
This month I am thrilled to be a guest designer with Sweet Stamps. I love working with their red rubber stamps which gives a much cleaner edge than clear stamps. They have weekly and monthly challenges, so there are 5 challenges a month if you'd like to participate. The challenge theme this week is Butterflies. If you have a project which features butterflies, then link it to this post at Sweet Stamps.

The Layout
For my butterfly project, I wanted to make a layout with butterfly patterned paper. I stamped my own background using just one stamp (Bold Medium Butterfly) in a variety of colors. To keep the emphasis on the colorful butterflies, I faded my photos prior to printing them. For more details on this layout, please visit Sweet Stamps' blog.

The Supplies

Cardstock: Bazzill

Patterned Papers: My Mind’s Eye

Chipboard Stickers: My Mind’s Eye

3-D Stickers: My Mind’s Eye

Alphabet Stickers: Doodlebug Design

Brads: My Mind’s Eye

Wood Shape: Studio Calico

Stamp: Sweet Stamps

Date Stamp: American Crafts

Ink: Prima Marketing, Stampin’ Up

Pens: Copic

Glitter Glue: Ranger Ink

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More!: Anything Goes

Flutter By Wednesday: #251 Anything Goes with butterflies or fairies

Thanks so much for flutterin' by,

My New Design Team

I wanted to share with you all that I am part of Paper House Production's new design team! They carry a lot of products for scrapbooking, gifts and home decor.  I'll be working with their scrapbooking papers and stickers over the next several months, and I can't wait to show you all the projects I'll be creating. I'm so excited to be a part of this creative team. 

Come by and meet everyone on the team!

Christine Meyer

Dana Tater

Grace Tolman

Joann Jamieson Larkin

Susie Bentz

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,

A Fishy Wall Hanging

The Project

I made this framed wall hanging of my nephew, Fisher, eating fish for the first time. His reaction was a happy thumbs up. Since his name, the food and baby shower tag (orange fish) are all fish related, I chose an underwater theme. 

The Sketch

Today is my last day as a guest designer with Sketches in Thyme. I was given this 2 paged sketch to work with. A great way to design a horizontal wall hanging is to use a 2 paged sketch as the base. 

Variations on Sketch #121

• I only had 3 photos of Fisher instead of the 6 photos in the sketch. Also for a wall hanging, I wanted larger photos. As a solution, I took the larger background patterned paper block and made that the photo block.
• I took the row of photos and made that a strip of patterned papers. 
• I used a tag from his baby shower as the journaling and moved that to one corner as an embellishment cluster. 

The Details

I had a picture frame meant for a collage of pictures. I used an X-Acto knife to cut out the central portion of the mat so I ended up with just one central rectangle. The rectangular space was much wider than 12 inches across so if I used two pieces of paper in the background, there would be an obvious vertical seam. My solution was to make my own background design. I sprayed some Dylusions Ink Sprays in blues and yellow on the cardboard backing that was already in the frame. I then painted on a wavy design with some blue craft paint. 

To build upon my background, I placed the photo block on top. Then on top of the photo block, I added a row of 1" squares. Like with tiling a floor, I found the middle of space and adhered the squares starting from the center. That way the squares would end up evenly spaced on both sides of the frame. 

Here is a look at the title section. 

Here is a look at the journaling cluster. I used some clear pearls for air bubbles along with adding some smaller dots with a Pearl Pen. This set of fish is from a different company than the ones by the title, so to unify them, I later added some goggly eyes to these too.

Supplies

Frame: Columbia

Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants, Little Yellow Bicycle, My Mind’s Eye

Alphabet Stickers: Colorbok, Doodlebug Design

Felt Stickers: Sassafras, Just Brads & Eyelets

Brads: Just Brads & Eyelets

Jewels: Kaisercraft

Craft Paint: DecoArt

Ink Spray: Dylusions

Ink: Prima Marketing

Dimensional Ink: Pearl Pen by Viva Decor

I'm entering this in:

Simply Create Too: Challenge #44 For a Child

Crafts-Too Challenge You: Summer Days, Beach Colors

Five Simple Things: Inspire Me Fridays #117 Anything Goes

Thanks so much for swimmin' by,

An American in London Layout

The Layout
I wasn't sure how to scrap my photos from London as they all looked similar - selfies in front of various famous buildings. Instead of having to choose between the specific sites, I decided to make a fun general page. At least I now have a representative page for the whole trip.

The Sketch
When I saw the August sketch from Life.Paper.Scrapbook., I thought it looked like a camera with photos in the lens so I decided to run with that idea.

Variations

• I rotated the sketch 90° counterclockwise.
• I made the patterned paper square into a camera. 
• Instead of the two photos, I made one circular photo to fit in the entire lens. 
• Since the Instagram icon camera was square,  I replicated that look. 

The Details
I wanted a soft wash of color on my white background to anchor my camera. I stamped some blue ink onto a craft mat and sprayed that with water. I also sprayed water on my white cardstock. I used a sponge to dab the ink onto my paper. The water made the ink bleed and spread out like watercolors, which was the effect I wanted. It took me three tries experimenting with different products until I achieved the look I wanted.

Here is a closer look at the background with the title cluster. Since I used the Instagram icon, I wanted to use "Insta" in the title. 

I brought back some souvenirs for the purposed of scrapping them so I wanted to incorporate stickers I bought from the Tower of London gift shop, leftover coins and a keychain. 

Underneath my journaling ticket, I made a row of embellishments from the keychain charms and coin. 

In the camera viewfinder I placed a tiny picture of my husband in front of the Queen's Guard's sentry box. Of course next to him I had to use the Queen's Guard sticker. 

It is always fun to interpret a sketch in your own way.

I'm entering this in these challenges:
Life.Paper.Scrapbook.: August Sketch
MilkCoffee: Bon Voyage/Vacation
Paper Crafting Journey: Anything Goes

By Lori Designs: #53 Aqua and Red

Thanks so much for  visitin'