***Inked*** Lisa Gregory June Guest Designer

 Hi there, Lisa here with my last post as Guest Designer for Donna Salazar Designs. But it won't be my last post using the wonderful line of products and papers from the fabulous collections I received. I have had an awesome  time getting Girly Grunge with this next project. My daughter has some beautiful works of art inked on her arm. She is definitely the definition of Girly Grunge. She is leather and lace, and all that it implies. I thought the Family Jeans paper collection was perfect for this layout, to show that there is a beautiful soft edge to my tattooed grungy girl. I just love the wood grained patterns in browns and blues in this collection. Some are mixed with swirls and butterflies that soften the  patterns. Throw in some inks and spritzes of color, and Girly Grunge comes to life!!

 To get the splats of brown color on the page, on a non stick craft mat, I mixed some smooch, inx and a spritz of water and soaked up a small piece of cotton ball with the color, laid it down on the paper where I wanted the splat and gave it a good whack with the flat top of a magic marker I had.  Lift the cotton ball and admire a perfect splat.

 I took different patterns from the 6x6 pad, cut strips of different widths and notched the ends and placed them behind the photo along with some torn and inked punched papers.

I just inked the edges of the alpha chipboard with Mix'd Media  Inxs in Leather. And I tucked some sprightly sprockets under the fold backs of the paper.

I created little layered flowers with the smallest die in the Carnation Creations set, adhered a small pearl in the middle of each of them and popped them along the leafy vines.

  Just a closeup of the wonderful textures and colors of the layout. I inked the flowers even more using the Mix'd Media  Inxs in Leather. I find that inking everything on the layout just ties it all together.

It has been an honor and a pleasure and oh so much fun during my Guest Design Spot this month. I look forward to many more hours of creative pleasure working with DSD products. Thank you Donna and Natasha for having me.  I also look forward to the rest of the Guest Designer lineup for 2013 and the works ahead!! And I always xoxo

 Products Used

Dies:

Spellbinders - Donna Salazar Sprightly Sprockets

 Spellbinders Donna Salazar Rose Creations

 Spellbinders On The Vine Grand die

Chipboard:

GCD Studios: Donna Salazar - chipboard alpha - Family Jeans

Paper:

GCD Studios  Family Jeans 6x6 and 12x12 paper pads

Tools:

Zutter Distrezz it All

Clearsnap Colorbox Stylus Handles and Tips

Ink/Color:

Mix'd Media Inx Leather

Smooch Spritz  Sea Breeze

Punch:

Fiskars Notebook Border Punch

Other Products Used:

Recollections flowers

Aleenes quick dry glue

pearls

Reminder, Google Reader is going away on Monday...

Hi there! As most of you know, Google Reader will be "gone baby gone" on Monday.  Don’t use Google Reader as your reader?  Then you’re fine! But if you do, I recommend switching to Bloglovin’.
I havent a clue why Google decided to axe Reader as I know most of you use it to follow your favorite blogs and keep up with our creative world as we know it. So I have made the transition to Bloglovin’ to read up on the blogs I love and follow.  It was actually super simple and literally took all of 3 minutes.
You just create a Bloglovin’ account and in the process it asks if you want to import the blogs you read on Google Reader to your new Bloglovin’ account.  Click the button to import and that’s it!
You keep your Blogger account as is, you are only using Bloglovin to catch up on the latest posts from your favorite blogs. Super Simple. 

Bird House Beauty...

Hi there.Here I am with my second post as Guest Designer for Donna Salazar Designs. I had been thinking of what I could do with the gorgeous wood grained designed papers of  Natural Beauty. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to build something. I wanted a challenge. Then the inspiration  came to me, as I looked at the birdhouse collection in my scrap studio. I was inspired to "build" a birdhouse myself. Not any ordinary birdhouse. This one could be considered sort of a mini. One that holds Tag Cards. The house is a Laura Denison Design from Following the Paper Trail. The  pattern is the Bird Abode May Flowers. And I had the perfect paper in Natural Beauty to work with!! The beautiful earthy colors were just perfect for my project. It looks as though I built my house out of wood. I sat in my family room one night, and created all of the flowers and leaves, then just set them aside. Creating with this collection just made everything so easy for me. Once I started, I couldn't stop. Instead of a saw and hammer, I used a paper cutter and glue. Here is the front view of the house.

 Here is a view of the side that has the flowers and leaves trailing up towards the roof. The little fence at the base was created from a Spellbinders die.

I clustered a variety of flowers and leaves to create my trellis vine.

 I also clustered flowers and leaves for the roof of my birdhouse. And added flowers and leaves under all 4 eaves of the roof.

As you can see here, the roof comes off of the house.

And this is an inside view of the base of the house. I used Kraft paper from the Mixed Media Stax to create the accordion folds that are attached to 2 sides of the inside walls of the house, where the 5 tag cards sit nicely tucked in. I also used the Kraft paper to create the base of the cards.

Here is a view of one of the tag cards that slips easily out of the house.

Here is a front view of the tag card. The roof pitch on the front of the card is cut lower than the one on the back.  I adhered a flower and leaves to the lower part, and added a piece of patterned paper to it to be used as a photo mat or some journaling.

  When you open the card. one side is left intentionally blank for photo's and the other side has a piece of Basics Papers for journaling.

 Thank you for joining me today on my second post as Guest Designer. And once again, it hit me. Another idea for my bird house. I think I am going to create more bricks like the ones I created in my tutorial post as Guest Designer, and randomly add brick to my little bird house. How cool do you think that will be. I am always looking for ways to grunge up a project!!!
Thank you Donna, Natasha and the entire Design DSD Team for making me feel so at home there. I have had a lot of fun with my Guest Design time. I will have one more project for the end of the month. And I will be creating  a little Girly Grunge for sure!!!..Till next time...xoxo

 Products used: 
GCD Donna Salazar Mixed Media Stax
Spellbinders Donna Salazar Rose Creations
Spellbinders Donna Salazar Carnation Creations
Spellbinders Donna Salazar Bitty Blossoms
Spellbinders Foliage
Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fleur De Lis Accents die
Spellbinders Nestablilties Classic Scalloped Circles
Clearsnap Smooch Spritz Green Olive
Mix'd Media Inx Leather
Mix'd Media Inx DSD Peaches
GCD Studios: Donna Salazar Basics paper
GCD Studios Donna Salazar Designs Natural Beauty in 6x6 and 12x12
Papers used from Natural Beauty:
Blue Fence
Casual Elegance
Flying Free
Fee
Green Burlap
Nancy's Mushrooms
Rosey
Teal Burlap
Wall Vines
Other:
ATG gun
wooden dowel
stamen
Chip board (saved from the backing of paper reams at work) trash to treasure!!

Cast Iron Twine Holder.

 A couple of weeks ago, I was attending one of the Prima Live shows hosted by Frank Garcia. He showed us a wonderful little find that Jodie Lee gifted him, at a sweet little shop when they were out and about one day. It was an antique twine holder. I fell in love!!! So during the show, I went on a hunt. I hit Ebay first, and after only a minute or 2 of searching. I found it. It was perfect!! Not the same one that Frank had, but I liked this one even better!! A Cast Iron Twine holder. A duplicate of a genuine antique. And I have always loved the Fleur De Lis design. I think you will be seeing more twine on my layouts now. It's the little things that make me happy. And this is one of them!!

Let's Get Ready To Rumble - Lisa Gregory

Hello there. Lisa here with my first post as the June Guest designer for Donna Salazar Designs. I would like to take this time to thank Donna and Natasha for inviting me to work with all of the beautiful product they sent me. Each collection was just as beautiful as the next. This layout was done using  papers from the Natural Beauty collection. All of the flowers and leaves were made using the papers from the 6x6 pad. I wanted to hoard , I mean save, the 12x12 paper for my other projects. A couple of 6x6 pieces of paper goes a long way!!!

As I was creating this layout, I realized that I should have used the masked bricks onto the layout before I turned pack the peekaboo areas on the sides of the layout. It is almost impossible to do it in the pattern I envisioned after the paper and flowers had been adhered permanently. That is when I came up with the idea of creating the bricks to cut apart. That way, you can use them anywhere you want!!!! It worked out beautifully!!! It took a little time, but was so worth the effort. I hope you enjoy my grungy, manly layout despite the flowers. I cant help it, I love Donna's Spellbinders flower designs!! And for those of you who know me, you know I love to create my own flowers. The dies make it soooo easy!!

Here is one of the turned back peek a boo spots. I love the corrugated paper underneath.

Donna's Spellbinders Sprightly Sprockets Die set just lends a little grunge to add to the theme of this layout.

I used the biggest die in the set to frame my photo. I stitched around the edges of the photo.

Once you have the bricks all done, (tutorial below) simply glue them to the spots on your project. They can be cut down further if a shorter piece is needed.

I inked the flowers before assembling them. I also used some watered down ink (press the ink pad down on a non stick mat and spritz some water into it creating a puddle )and a small  paint brush to splatter some if the ink around the layout.

Products List for the layout:

INK/ COLOR

Clearsnap Mix'd Media Inx, Leather and Honey
Smooch Spritz-Green Olive

Paper

GCD Studios Donna Salazar Natural Beauty 12x12

GCD Studios: Donna Salazar 6x6 paper pad - Natural Beauty

Want 2 Scrap 8x10 Corrugated Board

Chipboard

GCD Studios Chipboard Alphabet Stickers, Fun and Funky

Dies

 Spellbinders Donna Salazar Sprightly Sprockets

 Spellbinders Donna Salazar Carnation 

Spellbinders Donna Salazar Rose Creations die set

Spellbinders Foliage

 Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms

 Mask: 

Want2Scrap Donna Salazar Designs-Brick Wall

Punches:

Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page-Raindrop

Adhesive:

Aleens Quick Dry Glue

ATG Tape Gun

Other:

Texture Paste 

Zig Pen
small paintbrush

                                                              Brick Tutorial  

Step 1.
Take your ink pad and stamps a few swirls on the non stick craft mat. I just press it to the mat and give it a twist. 

 Step 2.
Place some texture paste in the middle of the ink swirls. 

Step 3.
 Using a palette knife start mixing the texture paste into the ink mixing well to distribute color evenly.

 Step 4.
 Place the brick stencil onto a piece of card stock and spread on thickly. You want to see some texture on the bricks.

Step 5.
Carefully lift the stencil from the paper.

Step 6.
You can either let the bricks air dry, or you can speed it up with a craft heat gun.

Step 7.
 Cut the bricks apart. I did mine while watching  Charlie Sheen on an episode of Anger Management....(random I know)

Step 8.
Ink the edges of the bricks using the ink.

Step 9.
Spray the inked bricks and the ink will bleed out a little creating a washed look on the bricks.

 Product List to Create  Bricks:

ColorBox Mix'd Media iNx-Leather

Texture or molding paste (thick)

Non stick crafting mat

Want2Scrap Donna Salazar Designs brick stencil

palette knife

Water spritzer bottle

heavy card stock

Thank you for joining me on my debut day as Guest Designer this month. Donna will be sharing a few more of my projects throughout the month on her blog  Donna Salazar Designs.

The photo is of my husband, getting ready to "feed" his brothers 1964 modified Falcon. The water bottle you see in his hand contains Alcohol (no..silly, not the kind you drink). The alcohol is used to start the the beast I mean engine...You see, my husband and his brother have their  NHRA (National Hotrod Association) licenses. Every Year, we all participate in a friends Fundraiser for Thanksgiving that helps in  feeding familes that are less fortunate, a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner. Terry and Rhonda Hunt, put on the big fundraiser which is a car show, barbeque, showstopper!! In the end, the Big Boys, get to race their car down the street to show everyone what kind of muscle they have. Of course it is all controlled by the local highway patrol to keep safety in mind. But you leave with a great feeling  of having helped a family in need, to have a wonderful Thanksgiving. To enter the show on the grounds (they have a gorgeous home/barn/dock/well you name it, you have to bring a frozen turkey and some boxed and canned goods AND a covered dish for the barbeque. That's it..No ticket, no money, just the goods. There are also lots of raffles and prizes to help in the donations. It is a lot of family fun and the company is always awesome!!! I am proud to see a lot of my husbands very talented work at the show (He builds custom hotrods and does restoration)...

 These are just a a few of the cars that my husband had in the car show.

The party isn't complete until a friend lands his helicopter on the grounds to join the party...

  We have a HUGE biking community, so they also show up with their gleeming machines to help out. Now you see why I used brick on my layout. The property is paved in them as well as the brick wall that surrounds it.

This is my brother inlaw leaving the property to give everyone a show.

  Here is a front view...The engine makes the streets rumble, thus the title of my layout. That is my daughter in law Ashley up against the brick wall waiting for my brother in law to tear up the street.

And here you see Pinallas Counties finest keeping it all safe and in control.

And check out this article from a couple of years ago from the event.Scroll down and see my brother in laws "Backasswards" truck that my husband did the paint, bodywork and flames on. When it is going down the road, it looks as though it is driving backwards...lol..But the whole truck was built backwards. The back is the front and the front is the back..Pure genius...My boys, I tell ya, they make me smile!!!

 Look at them..This is the life. Under the gorgeous Live Oak trees..Perfect spot for a Hotrod picnic!!
The 55 Chevy besides the truck is one of my husbands pride and joy...

Thanks for letting me share a day in our wonderful life. We get to do this every year in the beginning of November for the last 15 years. Just one of a few charity events we participate in during the year. Having it all is wonderful...Giving back is a gift we love sharing!!!...xoxo

A Comfy Cozy Kitty, a Picture Wheel, and an Upcycled Wall Hanging

 Grab your Tuesday  morning beverage. I hope you enjoy this Blue Fern Studios Blog Post from yesterday . I have 3 new projects for your viewing pleasure. With the warmth of Summer around the corner, I hope June brings you much inspiration from Blue Fern Studios. Head on over to the blog to see what the wonderful designers do to chip board.

 My first Project is a 12x12 layout. This was inspired by our Sketch this month. Don't forget to join the June Sketch Challenge. There is an awesome BFS prize you could win!! And this may be a shameless plug, but for all of my projects here, I used mostly  product from  C'est Magnifiques gorgeous June kit to complete my projects. There was still  sooo much left in my Kit and the add ons, after already completing 5 projects,  that I just have to use it some more! Who couldn't resist the beautiful Maja papers.

And see the bicks that are on my layout?..All I am saying is return to my blog tomorrow and you can find out a little trick and how I made them myself!! You dont want to miss tomorrows post..I am VERY excited!!!

I used a Ranger crackle paint in Vintage Photo, directly on the chipboard daisies. Easy easy..Once the paint dried, I enhanced it further with a darker ink that bled into the cracks.

I painted the Vintage key with Ranger distress crackle paint. Once dry, I hung the keys on the chain using small jump rings from Tim Holtz.

  I love the chain. The set comes with 2 pieces. I used the curved piece as shown in the sketch. I painted it wit crackle paint, and added some Bo Bunny oval trinkets to match the shape of the chain link.

                                                                     Page Chains

Vintage Keys

  Garden Daisies - Small

This next project is a picture wheel that I created and wound some great silly pictures of my daughter mounted on a diecut filmstrip.

To keep the filmstrip wound round the reel, I tied it with some twine.

I heat embossed distress powder over the butterflies on both sides as you can see the underside when I folded the wings up for dimension. . The branch was inked with distress ink, cut apart, and tucked into the flower cluster.

 I found the Urban Words set to be so much fun, and perfect for these silly photos of my daughter as the words are integrated in her everyday language.

I opted to use the insides of the chipboard and save the other pieces for another project. Sometimes you throw away the cutout pieces, in this case I used them for this project.

Just some more silly pics that my daughters friend took while sitting in the back seat of my husbands truck on a long trip home. Yup, they sure know how to entertain themselves...LOL...

I was surprised to see this Urban Acronym in the bunch!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!  Hey, it's real life! What the freek isn't bad....LMAO..See?? addictive huh??

  I used a distress ink with a foam applicator and rubbed it over the chipboard.

                                                                Brigitte Butterfly Set

Organic Vine

Urban Acronyms

The last project I want to share with you is little  wall hanging I created using the throwaway parts of a couple of products. The little wooden box that once held Prima Icons, and the background paper was once the packaging back of a pack of  the Prima floral vine. My beautiful friends  Miranda Edney and Limor Weber were my inspiration for this one.

 The gate was heat embossed with some Ranger Tim Holtz distress powder in Vintage Photo, and I went over it twice to create a rusty old gate effect, rubbing some of the powder off after it dried.

I tucked some flowers, a tiny birds nest, and punched out butterflies into the little shadow boxes.

Here is another view of the sweet little wall hanging that now hangs in my scrap studio wall.

Garden Gate

Thank you for visiting my blog today. Come back for more inspiration on how to adore your chip board. I will be back on Blue Fern Studios Blog on the 3rd of each month with a new blog post and more inspiration for you.
I would like to take this opportunity to bid a fond farewell to some of the current Design Team Members that are finishing up their term this month. It was a pleasure getting to know some of you, and a pleasure working with old friends, and glad to call you all my friends. I wish you all creative joy in your journeys as Scrap Artists.
 I would like to extend a warm welcome to the new Artists commissioned to the team. I look forward to getting to know you all.
I am honored and excited to be staying on with Blue Fern Studios for another term. I look forward to finding new ways to Jazz Up the gorgeous chip board from Blue Fern Studios. Thank you Leslie and Valerie for believing in my work. xo