Putting Left Overs To Good Use

If you have not joined Scraps of Color what are you waiting for?  If you are on Scraps of Color and are not joining an event you are missing a lot of excitement!  I recently joined a few swaps and the ladies are creating awesome high end projects!  First let me share what I've been working on.  My inspiration started with Tiare's Art Party.  Although late coming in, I was determined to make it.  This canvas journal was left over from a kit.   The cover was painted and I selected paper to stamp a few clocks, used modeling paste with a brick template on the middle left, sprayed some Tattered Angels mist all over and distressed the edges.

Check out the back cover, which was inspiration from my blog Papercrafting Paradise.  Guess what?  There are 16 pages in all so you know a Sistah is inspired to complete it right?  I used watercolor pencils with this one.  It seemed a little difficult even with a coat of Gesso.  Maybe I'll try the acrylic paints on my next page.

Let me go back to what I was telling you earlier, because it all started with this blank canvas by Recollections.  I participated in the Altered Prima Journal swap and my partner Tia B's color was pink.  This kit had lots of pink and cute chipboard embellishments to work with.  Everything was used except the canvas journal.  So do you think I put the left over canvas in good use? 

By the way, this was the Altered Prima Journal made for Tia B.  Kevin Hart may say "Turn it Up", I say pull out those kits and "Use it Up"!

Thanks for stopping by, 

Princess

Pinterest Inspired

As Aysha stated in her post on Saturday, "inspiration is all around us." A few days ago I was inspired while looking through quotes pins on Pinterest. I came across one that really made me smile. The quote read "I always buy another book when I still have ten to read." For me this is so true, I'd also just received a book as a birthday present from my daughter. It was a Walter Mosley novel, he's one of my all-time favorite authors. As you can tell from the photo in the layout, I still have three of his books on my summer "To Read" list.

After pinning this cute little quote, I decided that I would do a layout page of my summer reading list. I also searched for more reading quotes to go along with the first one for my layout.

Read by Tena Ellison. Supplies - Patterned Paper: Webster's Pages, Authentique; Title Letters: American Craft Thickers;

Ink: Colorbox; Twine: Doodlebug Design; Punch: EK Success; Clear Stamp: Recollections (Michaels);

Inspiration Quotes courtesy of Pinterest.



The quotes were not ready to be used "as is" for my page so I did a little editing using the Format Picture tool in MS Word. I changed the background colors, added a texture element and a shadow border to the inside of each one. I also re-sized them before printing and cutting them out. I think they turned out perfect for my page. Now all I have to do is start reading!

I hope you find time this summer for your favorite book or you can always just scrap about it, like me. LOL.

Inspiration Everywhere

Happy Saturday!  As many of us have heard many times before, inspiration is all around us.  That sounds like a wonderful concept...until you sit down to create a project and realize you are experiencing "scrapper's block."  How do you find inspiration when you are stuck?  One simple solution is to open up a magazine.  When you think about it, magazines are FULL of layouts.  If you think about it in scrapbooking terms, a magazine can be a book of sketches!  Here's how I took a magazine layout and converted it into a digi-layout.

First, I found a magazine layout that I thought would work well as a scrapbook layout.  Tip: Search for layouts that have distinctly shaped photos as opposed to layouts where the image floods the entire background (although that might be a cool idea also).

 

Next, I created a sketch in Photoshop.  If you choose not to work in a digital program, you can also draft a magazine-inspired sketch with good old-fashioned pencil and paper.  (Download this sketch for free.  Just right click and save.)

Here is my completed layout!  I really like how it came out and I will definitely use this technique again.  Give it a try!

Inspiration Magazine Layout Source: www.dbadesign.com.au