Snazzing up Kraft and scraps

I love Kraft paper and I don't use it enough.

I also decided to use all the scrap papers on my desk

from the recent Studio Calico kit too.

(I have one paper left) woohoo!

I started out by adding some texture to the Kraft with

an onion bag and some black and yellow ink.

Would you believe the stamping came last?

It did because everything else needed to be placed.

Loving the layerings at the top.

 More layers at the bottom and just for random fun

a duck with an umbrella.

 Love those tickets - still have some leftover

and tucked that 4 in for Amelia's age.

 I wasn't sure how I was going to like all the random papers

but it worked out really well and I guess that's why

its called a "kit". LOL. 

Love how the 5x7 photo dominates the page because

its soooo cool and one of the reasons

why I chose the Kraft because of the rustic look

and then girlied it up. Sigh.

Studio Calico.

Pastel watercolor palette.

And there it is - watercolors on watercolor paper.

Although in full disclosure - the yellow is some yellow from

the excess I squirted out when I was doing my bible

journaling page.

I muted it a tad with some gesso.

 Not knowing what to do with it I took some inspiration from

Ashli over at Purple Mailbox and whacked some up into pieces.

I did have to ponder it some on where to go from there.

 I lined the strips up and on the square ones I punched out

a butterfly and flower and used the positive and negative space.

I also decided to highlight some areas with watercolor because Ashli made 

it look really easy. And I can honestly say - her easy is very deceiving.

I tried the coral and found it looked welll....

dumb.

So I decided grey - Ashli highlights quite a using a soft grey.

Well my grey was anything but soft.

And wasn't I baffled.

 Therefore I got a mess going on and there's really no going back since

I used so much water the paper was tearing and I needed an emergency fix.

Therefore, I punched more flowers and glued them over the
rips and tears and

that sort of worked, I also decided that some

gelatoes were needed and I grabbed my onion bag for some texture.

WELL...the gelato picked up the excess from the onion bag

and that lovely teal I was using turned dark - because that's what happens

when you don't clean your onion bag.

It was exciting that the texture hid the rips and tears quite well.

 I do have to admit the darker version works and I totally embraced it,

because the alternative was to start all over again.

 I did splatter the watercolors around the page and that helped

hide some of the other sins going on.

 Tossing in some sequins helped hide quite a few sins

by putting them out there so to speak.

And it all came together rather nicely. There's a piece of

light pink toile behind the bow that's casting all sorts of shadows.

It perfectly reflects Annie's sturdy but dainty little legs doing ballerina moves.

And those tiny feet - ya just want to bite them.

Love how it turned out - I have more of that pastel paper leftover

so I'll need to think of more ways to use it.
I also have a huge pack of watercolor paper ready to go.

I used recollections 8.5x11 cardstock with some punches,
studio calico alphas and sequins

and gelato and watercolors.

Little bit of background play with an onion bag, ink and stamps

I've been playing around a lot lately and its been a lot of fun

in spurring the creativity.

As you can see I broke out the ole onion bag

and commenced to pounce ink around.

Love the different look it brings to the polka dot paper.

Broke out a flash from the past - a Creative Cafe stamp

and commenced to stamping around the page.

 I apologize for the blurry-ness as it looked okay on

the camera screen.

 Its hard to double check photos when you're in the zone, however, you get the drift
of fun inkiness spread around the page.

While I was in a stamping mode I continued on with some rectangles and circles.

I also splattered mist about because seriously there really wasn't 

enough going on. :)

 And then began the layer process around the photo.

And I swear in real life that color green on the pinwheel is more BLUEgreen

than green in real life.

 Still have trouble stamping with the Shimelle stamp

and honestly I worked in the school library - I really should know how it goes.

 I adore this cluster with its ridiculous cuteness of layering.

 And the finished product.

I still swear it's not as green. Really.

And you just have to wonder what's going on in the mind of a 3 year old.
Actually its probably better not knowing. LOL.

 Authentique, Simple Stories, Echo park, Creative Cafe, Studio Calico stuff,

Shimelle, and Paper Issues Swag Bag.

Simply Irresistable....

This page actually started without a picture.

My mojo took a little hiatus and I decided that maybe playing around would help. I did pick up a 6x6 My Mind's Eye pad at M's. I'd say new but at M's is all um...relevant.

I started with an edge punch, a couple of stamps (the bottom left is mostly covered up, an onion bag and a white dauber - that I had to hunt for.  I did some messy stitching to cover up some um.... things. OOO OOO and I flipped some glitter on the white paint too. I also sprinkled some mist about.

I found the flowers from Studio Calico Josephine Kimberling and they matched really really well. The heart doily was under my glass mat - very convenient.


Then I went to the wayback box for a photo and decided a portrait orientation worked better and actually found a couple of promising photos - but I loved this one.


When I got to the photo corner I took a break because the paper was eluding me and it needed something blue in the corner. After cleaning the dishwasher, reloading it and scrubbing the sink out, I strolled on back and lo and behold I found the paper I was hunting for.



And then I had to find more of the Bo Bunny I used for the photo corner because I wanted to use this QK label. And then of course that needed something. So I used my new butterfly punch that can punch anywhere. Swoon. And that fountain from Dusty Attic literally fell out of a basket I was hunting through for more do-dads. And then I decided that some washi was required to cover up seams. Then I had to find pearls.

The title from Making Memories actually jumped out of the bag too and I was kinda eh about it but when I put it on the label - I liked it much better and it goes so perfect with their pose.

Then after I adhered everything - I couldn't remember if I took a picture of the picture. Heavy sigh. Because of course I used permanent adhesive. I carefully yanked it off and took a photo in case anyone in the family would love to have a copy because I used the original.

Splashdown

It could be the capsule - remember the old days of astronauting??? I tried to tell my kidlets but alas they were born in the days of shuttles.

No splashdowns which I'm sure took all the fun out of re-entry - having to land and everything.

AND.........

No quarentine. This one had to be the big one - like you just got done spending a lot of time with the guys and there you were in quarentine with the same dudes.

Anyway, nothing better than a slide on hot day. And you get to do it over and over again until all the water has been splashed out of the pool. And then you add more. All without a quarentine. Life is good.

I messed around with this page. Splattering paint about - that ended up not being tooo splattered. I wanted it to run. It didn't run. I had to make it run which made it look like I made it run. Sigh. I also did some misting using an onion bag. I also used some Studio Calico stuff, Cosmo Cricket and Sassafrass Lass. OO OO and the title is from some really really old Basic Grey. Kinda like the capsule.