Technique Tuesday - Faux Metal

This is one of my favorite techniques. This is one of the very first techniques I learned way back before I ventured into scrapbooking!

You will need the following supplies:

Versamark pad, embossing powder, heat gun, stamp, sanding block and cardstock. I used the silver embossing powder but any metallic colour comes out beautifully.

Take a piece of paper the size that you want your metal piece to be (I used a 2" x 2" square) . Then put the entire piece of paper in the Versamark pad. You will need to move the piece around to make sure you cover the entire top of your card stock.

Cover your piece with embossing powder, shake off the excess and heat with the embossing gun. Don't worry about imperfections as they will only enhance your "metal" look. You may want to use your pokey tool (that is my technical name!!) to hold the paper so it doesn't fly away. Once you are done, lift the pokey and heat that spot to make the pinprick hole disappear.

Let your piece cool for about a minute. Then take your embossed piece and cover it again with Versamark and then the embossing powder. Continue to melt your powder with your embossing gun. Your powder is now going to be thicker on the cardstock. Repeat the step for a third time.

Place your stamp into the versamark pad before heating this final time. That allows the image to release easily and you won't have a problem with the image sticking.After you heat the powder for the third time place your stamp directly into the embossing powder. Be sure to press hard but carefully as it is easy for the stamp to slip.

The best part is if you don't like the image you can either reheat and try again or put it back into the Versamark and put more embossing powder on to add a new layer.

You now have the faux metal piece! I sanded mine of a bit of a weathered look ....stay tuned to see what I create with it! And please share yours!

GO CANADA GO!!

Woooooohooooooo! Way to go Team Canada Juniors! They just captured their 5th gold medal in a row! It was an exciting game and hearing them all sing the anthem at the end honestly makes me cry. I often hear people say that we Canadians aren't patriotic enough but I have to say that I am proud to stand up and yell "I AM Canadian!"

And on that note...you may notice a link on my blog to other blogs that I follow. Well, I stumbled upon a site the other day that promotes Canadian scrappers and bloggers! Her blog is called CANADIAN SCRAPPERS BLOG CARNIVAL and I honestly urge you to check it out! I noticed that she hadn't posted in a while so I sent her a quick message to ask if she was going to continue it and was thrilled when she answered back that she would be doing so in the New Year. From what I read, she would like her blog to be bombarded with requests for blogs to be showcased so I am asking you to do just that! Please send her any blogs that spark your interest and will inspire others! I could honestly spend hours blog-surfing and am excited to read more about Canadian scrappers! And while you're at it, leave me a comment and tell me about YOUR blog!

Happy Scrappin'!

Challenge Layouts

This layout is from my sketch of the week "Split in 2" - I love how this turned out! One of the good things about scrapping at home is that it inspires me to try all kinds of things that I don't usually do when I go out to crop, probably because it is so hard to decide what to take with me! I love the social aspect of a crop but am really trying this year to do a little more at home. These are fall pics that I took of my daughter this year - I am loving editing pictures and thought this was a good way to showcase them.

This layout is from my design teammate Jerusha! Apparently I missed part of her instructions that I was supposed to scrapbook something new (oops!!) but technically, there are a few new things in here - a new baby bunny and I used brand new brads and 2 stamp sets! The other part of the challenge was to include 4 brads, something with the colour green, and ribbon so I think I kinda qualify! I can't wait to see everyone else's layouts using either one of these challenges!

BLOG CANDY!

I am such a blog surfer and came across some really neat sites tonight...and to top it off, they are allhaving a giveaway! Please check out the following sites and make sure to enter! STARVINGARTISTAMPS
PAPERCRAFTSBYRACH
LESLIESLOFT
and my fellow design team member JERUSHA

Hmmmm...makes me think I should find some candy to share too!! So tell me what it is you would love to win!

Sketch of the Week!

Woohoo our first sketch! Please post your pics here whenever you get them done! I will be posting a brand new sketch every Monday - enjoy !

This is a 2 page layout.

Stitching Freebies!

The last Crop Circle challenge got me inspired to stitch a little more on some layouts. Bazzill has a great product called IN STITCHES to get you started. It is so easy to use, you just position it, poke it out and stitch in the holes!

I also came across a few free patterns so I thought I would post them and share! I would love to see any layouts you do using stitching! Please send them to me :) To use these patterns, simply right click the full size pattern and select "save as" to save it to a folder on your computer. Next, insert the pattern into your favorite word processing or image editing program to resize and print the pattern and you're ready to go!

Crop Circle

I feel very blessed to have been chosen as part of the design team for A PILE OF SCRAP! If you head on over to our forums at www.apileofscrap.1forum.biz you can meet a bunch of very talented, and incredibly friendly women who also love to chat about scrapbooking. We do a monthly online crop called CROP CIRCLES and they are very fun. This month, the 5 challenges were

1. do a LO with a self-portrait
2. do a LO using arrows
3. do a LO using scalloped edges
4. do a LO using altered photographs
5. do a LO using stitching
I had so much fun doing them and these are the LOs I created.

Here are my layouts! If you click on them, you can see them even bigger :)

First one - this is so outside of my box it's not even funny! This includes the arrows, stitching, altering pictures (sanded, painted and stamped on)and self-portrait (of my hands because I detest having my picture taken!) This also has an acrylic piece with the alcohol ink technique that I just discovered and is so amazing! I wish the colours would show a little better as they are so vibrant and pretty. This is the first page I have ever done of something other than my kids, the second time I have ever doodled on a page, and the second time I have ever hand-written on a page!

Second one - is of my handsome son on his first day of school. This is the layout with the scallops. This also includes more of the alcohol ink technique. Also a little out of my comfort zone as I am usually a very linear scrapper! I think I have 3 centering rulers...just in case!!

Hope you join us on the boards for more of the fun!