Kreatorville Krafts July Sketch and Let's Get Shabby

Another month, another Kreatorville Krafts sketch!

Lately I've loved making LO's using more than one picture, so I was really happy when I saw the KK July sketch:

Though I'm still not all that comfortable using sketches, this sketch spoke to me and the LO just seemed to make itself. Here's my take on it:

That's me when I was 17 months old (en 2 years old in the cut-out pic)... recognize the chubby cheeks LOL??? I guess my mom liked cute red raincoats in those days ... I chose the title because well, our belgian summers here are famous for their amount of rain. It seems usually we can't have more than two or three days of sun before a storm heads our way. This can't be said at this moment though, we've had almost tropical temperatures for quite a few days now. Today I only went out into the garden to go and cool off in our swimming pool ... just to go and hide back inside just as quickly! I'm not complaining though, as far as I'm concerned this weather may go on throughout the whole of the summer vacation!

Except for the red dotted pp, all the materials used came out of left-overs from previous KK kits. Make sure to head on over to the KK blog to see the other DT members' take on the sketch! And why not give it a try yourself! You have until the end of the month to post your LO based on the sketch (marked sketch #3) into our Flickr Group, I would love to see you there!

And just in case you hadn't heard yet ... Keandra is offering some of her previous kits (november through february) for 50% off. You can find all the details here... better hurry!



Let's Get Shabby

This wonderfully inspiring blog is turning 1, happy birthday to you all!!!! I can't believe it has been a year already. Ever since the blog's birth, I've been wanting to play along. However, shabby is something I'm not good at. Believe me, I've tried, desperately I might add, because I really love the shabby look, but ... it's just not for me, I just can't seem to be able to make it work. This month, their challenge is to use stamps. At first I thought I would have to give it a miss again ... those of you following my blog know by now I'm afraid of stamps. Silly, I know, but I just don't know how to incorporate them in a LO and I'm always afraid I'll screw up and will have to start all over again. Being afraid of them hasn't stopped me from bying them though, which means I have a nice collection of unused stamps here. So I thought ... why not give it a try this time??? I'd like to say I merely did this to show my courage, but in all honesty I must admit the awesome prize the ladies over at Let's Get Shabby are offering might have had something to do with it LOL. They are giving away a US$100 store credit for Purple Onions Designs ... they have the most beautiful stamps!!!!!

For their challenge, I decided to alter this little leather-like book:

into this:


I started out by painting over the black in several colours, and then added a Tim Holtz stamp. Then I figured, if I'm gonna use stamps, I might as well go all the way, and I decided to try if embossing it might work on that surface and over the paint ... and it worked. It actually turned out pretty cool. I have some close-ups to show you the effect:





It really gives a cool effect, it looks even better IRL! And it feels good as well, I can't stop rubbing over it with my fingers LOL. I'm so happy with this that I've promised myself to take out my stamps some more in the future!



Finally, I would like to thank all of you who took the time to visit my friend Vicky's blog. She was so happy to receive your comments. She's a little unsure about her scrapping (we all were in the beginning and I'm sure we still are at times...) and your words did her the world of good. Your visits made me feel glad once again to be part of this community.

Hugs
xxx Peggy

Kreatorville Kraft March Kit and then some...

Hello ladies,

The Kreatorville Krafts March Kit has arrived, and it's a beauty! Head on over to the KK blog to see the full reveil!

Here's the first project I made using the march kit. I made my very first vintage LO, and though I'm not a vintage kind of girl , (I like it, don't get me wrong, I just don't seem to be able to create one myself) I'm pretty proud of this LO!

When I saw these papers, I just knew they would be perfect for the vintage picture I have from my grandparent's wedding day, and I was right. I so love the result, even though it's a simple LO as far as techniques and embellies are concerned. Keandra's papers and alphas made it easy to create the perfect feel for this page. Thanks Kean, for making me create out of my comfort zone!

When Kean shipped the march kit to me, she included some goodies for my girls ... did I tell you already what a sweetie she is ... yeah, I'm sure I did! Here are some pics of the girls playing with their new treasures, just look at those happy faces:

The bear goes swimming wearing his pearls and bathing cap, which actually is her glove LOL. Her resourcefulness and imagination always impresses me...

Bling Bling Bear ...

An original where to carry Baby Bear around ...

Thanks Kean, for making my babies happy!


Though the Kreatorville Krafts March Kit is up and running, I still have some February kit projects I haven't shown you yet. Again I went way out of my comfort zone and made two altered projects. Again, not too difficult to begin with for first attempts, but both projects make me happy looking at them, especially the altered quotes book.


My second project was turning this ...


... into this ...

And for those who don't recognize me, yes, that's me in that picture, some 20 years ago (big heardo and all...). My best friend didn't even recognize me ... she thinks I look "unapproachable" in this pic, and I think she was being polite LOL. I like it though, it reminds me of "slimmer and wrinkle-free" times LOL.

I've also been working on some art journal pages ... yes, I've been creative these last weeks! And those of you who know me a little by now, know that hasn't been good for my pile of ironing, which apparently, if one doesn't iron every now and then, steadily keeps on growing LOL. However, this has been a long post already, so I think I'll post those one of these days.

On a final note I would like to thank all of you who left me encouraging comments on my canvas painting in my previous post. I was really nervous about putting it here for everyone to see, and your sweet words did me the world of good!!!

Talk to you later ladies!
Love xxx Peggy

Song Bird Scraps Second May Lyrics/ and altered project

Song Bird Scraps DT example / Entry Aussie Scrapjacked May Challenge

A bit too late, but my DT example for the second Song Bird Scraps May Lyrics finally got finished. Thanks you Skye again for being so understanding.

The lyrics to choose from were:

Angel - Jack Johnson

I've got an Angel,

She doesn't wear any wings

She wears a heart that could melt my own,

She wears a smile that makes me wanna sing

She gives me presents

With her presence alone

She gives me everything I could wish for

She gives me kisses on the lips just for coming home.

So Beautiful - Darren Hayes

Whether I'm up or down
There's no crowd to please
I'm like a faith without a clause to believe in it
And if all the world was smiling
I would only ever want to see your frown
You know they can sail away in sunsets
We'll be right here stranded on the ground
Just happy to be found
You make me feel so beautiful
Nowhere else in the world I wanna be
You make me feel so beautiful

I used the first lyrics as inspiration for my LO:

I wrote the full lyrics given in the challenge on the right side of my page. My husband remarked that he couldn't read them well enough, and totally didn't get it when I said this was how it was supposed to be LOL. The lyrics in fact aren't that important, I just wanted to create a messy, chaotic look, and I thought a bit of writing would do the trick. As I said, even after explaining, he still didn't get it LOL. It works for me though LOL. I actually got the idea from the Aussie Scrapjacked may challenge. The LO to be jacked this month is this beautiful LO by the fabulous Ruby Bisson. Take a minute to check out her blog, this girl is certain to blow you away with her amazing art. Especially, brace yourself for this, when you realize she just turned 15!!!!!!!! This is her LO which has to be jacked:

Isn't this amazing?? As you can see, there's some text used as a background, hence my writing. You get it don't you LOL???????
So, I will be entering their challenge with my She/Angel LO. It turned out a bit different, but it was totally inspired by above example. I just don't have it in me to be this messy yet, though I really tried.

I first masked the "she" with different colours of distress inks (peeled paint, dried marigold and vintage photo). Then I used Ranger's Acrylic Paint Dabber (copper) on the background paper, which is daisy d's Garden Green Gingham (I so love that paper, I wish I had bought some more of this...). I then placed the "angel" thickers (American Crafts - Rootbeer float) over the mask, in the hope to make the whole look a bit more interesting.

I should mention that the copper paint is much darker in real life. The paint caught the sun when I took a photograph of the LO, which gives it that shiny look. It really depends on how you position the page...

To really jack the original, I probably just should have placed my pics and be done with it, but like I said, sometimes things just have to look a bit more "dressed up". So I placed some white paper under the photos (which is the paper they wrap new shoes in - so wonderful to work with, don't throw it away!!!!!), and stitched it to the background paper. It added to the feel of the page, since these are pics we took for Chloë's first communion.
The wings are grungeboard, inked with mustard seed and vintage photo distress inks, and given a coat of glossy accents. Really, inked grungeboard on itself is real pretty, but with a coat of glossy accents they just become irresistable!!!!!!! And that's it really, a simple LO, but I like it. Especially the combination of inks and paints, I'll definitely be doing that again.


My first altered project and my very first card!

Yes, you heard right, I made my very first altered project, and it shows that it's my first LOL. The kids love it though, and Kurt thought it looked very cool and he loved the bright colours, so I couldn't be happier with it.

I started out with a remote-control box (I don't know the word for this, sorry, I'm gonna keep calling it "the box"), and I painted the parts that would remain visible with white gesso (twice).


This is what it looked like after putting papers on all of the surfaces:


It looked pretty great then (to me at least LOL), but the child in me wanted to add some extra's:


Fun, isn't it? Haha, I know, I'm just a big kid LOL.


I really like this, which is more than I can say for my very first card. I almost didn't want to post it, but decided to do it anyway, we all had to start somewhere, no? It looks really simple and yes, again a bit childish, but I think my SIL (I made it for her to thank her for a wonderful weekend we spent together) will be happy with it. She might think the kids made it though LOL, still deciding on telling her the truth or not if she does haha.


Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike it, it just doesn't measure up when you compare it to other cards shown on the net (oh yes Julie (scrapnut), I'm definitely thinking of your wonderful creations!!!). I actually quite like the birds. I painted them with a waterbrush and distress inks (broken china, peeled paint and worn lipstick). I loved how bright and cheery the colours came out ... I hadn't expected that, using distress inks...

Well that's it. Did you make it all the way down here ... congratulations!!!!! You're a true friend LOL.

Love you all
xxx Peggy