Texas beauties ~ Bluebonnets & Firewheels

I was afforded the opportunity of seeing beautiful Texas wildflowers blooming in April 2012.

It really is breathtaking to see these gorgeous beauties covering huge fields and the sides of interstates with color.  Near central Texas, in hill country, as it’s known, the sight itself doesn’t complete the whole picture.  Birds and insects and rustling sounds among the flowers (probably field mice) were all you could hear.  No sounds of cars or honking or people talking or airplanes flying overhead – just pleasing peaceful silence.

This is my first of several layouts showing the beauty Texas has to offer.  I live in Louisiana, but Texas is a next door neighbor.   I took these photographs myself. They are the flowers named bluebonnets and firewheels.   Among the gorgeous flowers were hundreds of tiny butterflies, so that’s why there are so many butterflies on this page, all of which I printed; fussy cut & made wire antennas for.

The Bo Bunny collection Rose Café really spoke to me on this one.  The navy blue dots with the contrasting golden yellow background were absolutely perfect for these photos!

The first part of the title is a printed outline of the state of Texas on red orange cardstock and The Dusty Attic mini script letters heat embossed in white with inked edges of dark navy blue. 

The second part of the title was printed on photo paper, using a dark navy blue background with white letters.

 

The circle die cut with the intricately detailed butterflies comes from Wild Orchid Crafts. It is fabulous!!  I didn't want anything to 'compete' with the beautiful colors in the photograph, so I heat embossed this beautiful chippie in solid white.  As well, I left a tiny white border around the other two photos.

 

In an effort to replicate the firewheel flowers, I painted some paper flowers with Lindy’s Stamp Gang Starburst colors Tiger Lily Red Orange (retired color) & Yellow Rose of Texas.  Firewheels have yellow color on the tips of each petal, making it look like it’s “on fire”.  Pretty cool!

To the centers, I glued Flower Soft in Sunshine Yellow color.

 

Thanks for visiting and hope your day is wonderful!  Lisa   : )

Products used:

Bo Bunny collection - Rose Café, page names: Dot, Heirloom & Bistro

EK Success punch - Scroll Pattern

The Dusty Attic - Mini Script ABC set #DA0859

Martha Stewart - large circle cutter

Wild Orchid Crafts - Wycinanka (Poland) die cut - Louvre Frame with Butterflies #GST-091

Recollections embossing powder - Snow

Michael's bargain bin flowers

LSG Starburst sprays - Tiger Lily Red Orange & Yellow Rose of Texas

Flower Soft - Sunshine Yellow

VersaMark chalk ink - Night Sky

White Cheesecloth

 

 

 

Beautiful Greta made the cover photo of Paper People 5-29-15

So happy that our beautiful Greta made the cover of Paper People!  She well deserves it!

My Daffodils

I really love to scrap my garden flowers! This is a layout of my tiny 1” to 1-1/2” sized daffodils.  I always keep my flower layouts very simple because for me, it’s truly about the photos. 

These little beauties were bought on sale many years ago in the florist section of the grocery store.  They have since multiplied fabulously in my front garden by the boulder (apparently the perfect spot for them).  Who would have ever guessed?!  Since they are a bulb plant, I get to enjoy them every year in early Spring!

 

WOW! Bo Bunny’s Country Garden collection fits perfectly!!!  Rather than coat the paper with gesso to tone down the orange color, I decided instead to glue down some torn coordinating paper from the same Bo Bunny collection.  It seems to have helped the photos to ‘pop’ and be more easily seen.

Besides the photos, the other best part of this layout is the little mulberry yellow & orange daffodils from Wild Orchid Crafts!!!  They are ADORABLE!!!  I bought them specifically to scrap my daffs : )  How awesomely perfect the colors are in comparison to the real ones!!   It makes me feel like screaming…I’m so giddy.  Hee hee   The green long grass, also from WOC, closely resembles the leaves of the daffodil plant! 

 

 

Since the page had some really nice muted print on it already, I decided to take that inspiration and simply added chipboard chicken wire to go with the chicken wire print already on the paper.  I inked it with jet black archival ink and glued it on.  The butterflies are all K&Company Susan Winget.  I made the wire antennae on them.  I love Susan Winget’s art.  Her art is in two bedrooms of my home.  : )

 

Hope you enjoyed viewing my bright, springtime daffodil page.  Of course, the daffodils bloom here (way down south in Louisiana) in March.  They are all gone now, but that’s what beautiful photos are for – to help us remember the sights, fragrances & feelings we had in that moment.     

Thanks for dropping by and have a great day!  Lisa : )  ^..^

 

Products used:

Bo Bunny collection - Country Garden (page names:  Country Garden & Dot)

Wild Orchid Crafts - Yellow/Orange Daffodils & Green Long Grass

The Dusty Attic - Chicken Wire Panel

K&Company - Susan Winget butterflies

Momenta - Bronze bottlecap

Misc:

Ranger Archival ink - Jet Black

ColorBox Pigment ink - Picante

Distress Stickles - Tea Dye

1" Circle Punch

 

You were the best

Here is a tribute layout of Greta with photos taken in June 2011.  I've mentioned before that Greta loved to run and fetch tennis balls in our backyard.  So, what is more fitting than photos of her taking breaks in the cool grass - one with a tennis ball in her mouth!

I so loved to kiss the jet black part of her muzzle right above her mouth.  I swear to God it felt just like velvet.  I was never ever even a tiny bit afraid of those massive jaws and huge teeth.  I totally & completely trusted her.  My kissing would sometimes get on her nerves & she would give me a big wet lick in the face and then run off - LOL!  Sure miss that Greta!

 

A fellow scrapper gave me some Prima Color Bloom sprays!!!!!  I immediately fell in love with the gorgeous purple color Pressed Petal.  I chose the perfect papers in the Kaisercraft Botanical Odyssey collection that has the same deep plum colors!  WOW the colors match astonishingly close!   Because this collection has a pretty blue in it, I also used the Prima spray Summer Sky.  Purples & blues are my most fave colors!  Thanks to my wonderful gift of gorgeous Prima sprays, I am very pleased with how this layout turned out!!  This is the first time I have ever used these sprays and I absolutely LOVE them!  Thank you dear, sweet friend : ) 

Using the Tim Holtz round blending tool, I inked the edges of the entire layout with Distress ink Broken China (blue color) to form a 'smoky like' perimeter frame.  Then I misted & splattered with the Summer Sky blue spray and added splatters of Pressed Petal color too.

The deep plum colored flowers were doused in the Pressed Petal spray.  WOWZA!  Aren't they gorgeous!?!  The blue one with plum color in its center and on the petals was covered in Summer Sky blue and then paint brushed with Pressed Petal plum.

 

 

The title is custom cut chipboard from Want2Scrap.  At first I heat embossed the tops of the letters with Lindy's Stamp Gang Morning Glory Azure and the bottoms with LSG Royal Burgundy Blue.  Although they were unique and cool looking, they just didn't look right on the layout, so I re-heat embossed over the blue using the Royal Burgundy Blue (rich burgundy with a blue shimmer).  Here is a close up:



I chose pieces from the Kaisercraft Collectables - leafy stems; words & tags; and the tiny word "June" at the top of the LO among the flowers to signify the month these photos were taken.  All of the butterflies are from the collection that I scanned & enlarged and then fussy cut.

 

BTW, just a tidbit to share.  I keep all of the sticky foam pieces that once had foam dots in them.  They still have the wax paper covering just like the dots had.  I can cut pieces from it in the sizes needed.  These pieces work especially well for tiny things, like the butterflies on this layout : )

 

For a subtle plum-ish color, the beaded ribbon surrounding Greta's gorgeous photo was sprayed with LSG Starburst Bodacious Blush.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you have a wonderful day!  Lisa : )  ^..^

Products used:

Kaisercraft collection - Botanical Odyssey

DCWV – The Gauze Paper Stack

Prima Color Bloom sprays – Pressed Petal & Summer Sky

Tim Holtz Distress ink – Broken China

Want2Scrap – custom chipboard title words

Lindy’s Stamp Gang – embossing powder Royal Burgundy Blue; Starburst spray Bodacious Blush

Martha Stewart punch – Double Arches

Fiskars corner punch – Scallop

Flowers – Prima Annette collection (Belina); Recollections; The Paper Studio; Wild Orchid Crafts

Hobby Lobby – beaded lace ribbon

Creative Charms – Vintage Pink brad

VersaMagic chalk ink – Perfect Plumeria

Gorgeous & more Gorgeous

Another layout of my gorgeous Miss Gali!   Because of her show cat status & quality markings, check out the bottom photo that shows her back legs!  Doesn't it look like someone used painter's tape to spray paint her white paws?!  WOW!  This has always astounded me so much!  Such a perfectly straight line!
Just a tidbit of info:  one of Miss Gali's nicknames is "Gorgeous & more Gorgeous" - hee hee  ^..^

 

I started with coordinating papers in the Kaisercraft Remember Me collection.  I punched the outer bottom piece all around the edge and then cut the center out (so I can use it in the future on another layout).  I stenciled the main page with copper crackle in a pattern to match what is printed on the paper.  Then 1/2" was cut from all sides and the edges inked with Distressed ink Vintage Photo.  The two pages were adhered together with double sided tape.

The title is custom cut by Want2Scrap.  After a gesso prep, I heat embossed the words with Tim Holtz Distressed Embossing Powder Frayed Burlap.  Then each piece was sprayed with Lindy's Stamp Gang retired Starburst color Saxifrage Olive Copper.  It's really a beautiful olive green color with copper shimmer.  Super stunning!  I also used it to splatter the background : )

Here is a couple of title close ups:

 

A few flower embellishments in coordinating colors were added.  I enhanced the large one at the top of the page by rubbing copper wax on its petals and the bead center.  The same copper wax helped tone down the red roses.  Adding a bit of reddish/natural hemp added a little rustic look.

 

The Dusty Attic small filmstrip chipboard piece is precious!  I decided to add photos of Miss Gali inside four of the open sections.  I simply inked this chippie with Distress ink Vintage Photo, lightly spritzed it with LSG Starburst retired Saxifrage Olive Copper and then added archival jet black ink to the edges.

 

Thanks so much for having a look and I hope that you have a very nice day!  Lisa :) ^..^

Products used:

Kaisercraft collection - Remember Me

Martha Stewart punch – Swirling Lace & Rose Leaf

Heidi Swapp 6x6 stencil - Lattice

Prima Texture Paste – Copper Crackle

Want2Scrap – custom cut chipboard (title)

Tim Holtz Distressed embossing powder – Frayed Burlap

Lindy’s Stamp Gang Starburst – (retired) Saxifrage Olive Copper

The Dusty Attic – Small Filmstrip

Michaels – large flower & metal filigree bead cap

Wild Orchid Crafts – mulberry roses (red rosebuds; open red roses; olive green cottage rose)

Little Yellow Bicycle – wood shapes

Tim Holtz Distressed ink – Vintage Photo

Ranger Archival ink – Jet Black

Viva Décor Inka Gold – Copper

Hemp – burnt red/natural

Cardstock - copper colored

 

little beauty

My layout today is a July 2010 photo showing just how fabulously gorgeous my Grand-kitty Marcy is.  As you can see, she closely resembles a Great Horned owl (LOL) because she is doing exactly the norm for a cat - listening on all sides and behind.  I LOVE this photo because it shows off her vivid colors!
To show Marcy's girly side, I incorporated pinks, purples and greens to the color theme.

 

Here's a pic from the internet of a Great Horned owl ~ told you!!!  LOL!!

 

Keeping it simple, I stenciled mini Tile Texture with pigment ink color "Fresh Green" onto the main page.  The pretty green grass and Marcy's lovely green eyes were accentuated by adding a few green flowers.

To focus on Marcy's beautiful colors, I tore jet black cardstock and distressed a piece of white corrugated cardstock to go under her photo.  The addition of white lace and a white crackled fence helped tone down the richness of colors around the photo.

 

What better to go with green than pinks & purples?!  I'm very pleased with the outcome.  Marcy looks ravishing!!

 

A couple of close ups:

 

 

Have a great day!  Lisa : )

 



Products used:



 

Hobby Lobby - The Paper Studio "Flourish Fusion" collection

Black cardstock; White corrugated cardstock

TCW 6x6 mini stencil - Tile Texture

Want2Scrap - chipboard fence

Prima Texture Paste - White Crackle

Martha Stewart circle punch - Doily

Momenta - stick on puffy letters

Mark Richards Crystal Stickers - purple-pink color

Wild Orchid Crafts & Recollections - flowers

Petaloo - velvet leaves

WalMart - lace

Pigment ink - Fresh Green; Black



forever friends

Hi everyone!  This is a layout of my favorite photos of Greta and Marcy - together as 'sisters'. This isn't a layout that I tried to be artistic with fancy techniques.  It is just for my memory - to enjoy looking at it in the years to come.  To remember these moments.  I wrote a caption under each photo with a date.  Close ups of each are below.
The very most saddest part of this story is that Greta passed away.  Marcy lost the only sister that she ever knew.  Poor Marcy!  After a bout with depression, Marcy is now happy to have Harvey (her kitty brother) in her life.   
 

I chose to use this beautiful, dainty page by Maja Design in the Crea Diem collection because the translation to English of 'Verae amicitae sempiternae sunt' is "True friendships last forever".  This is definitely the case with Marcy & Greta.  If Greta walked through the door today, Marcy would be overjoyed!

The pink paper under each photo is from a very old collection by My Mind's Eye named "Totally Girl" that I have had since I started scrapping in 2010.  It is a perfect match to the pink on the main page! : )

The metal title by Momenta is exactly what Greta & Marcy still are today - "forever friends", even though Greta isn't here.  This was a bond unlike any I've ever seen with a dog and cat.  Marcy would grab Greta's muzzle with her little paws and Greta being SO SWEET and patient as she always was with Marcy, would allow to be 'cleaned' and licked to death! 

They even played chase in the house!  We have a ranch style home with a very long main hallway. Picture this: an 85 lb. German Shepherd chasing a tee tiny Calico cat; then the tiny cat turning and chasing the huge dog!  OMG!  It was HILARIOUS and gave us the best, most WONDERFUL memories!

Here is the title close up:

 

I used Want2Scrap stick-on pearls, cutting and dividing the pieces; placing them where I wanted them.  I had the perfect color pink flowers that I bought from Hobby Lobby in the wedding section!  I formed two little hearts in the center of the layout with the extra stick-on pearls.

Finally, here are close ups of each photo on the layout:

 

Thanks so much for stopping by for a quick view  : )

I hope that you have a beautiful day!  Lisa : )

 

 

Products used:



Maja Design - Crea Diem collection

My Mind's Eye - Totally Girl collection

Momenta metal - title words

Martha Stewart punches - Cherish & Doily Lace

Want2Scrap - stick on pearls

Hobby Lobby - pink wedding flowers

Greta

This is the first layout I've created of my wonderful Grand-dog, Greta, since she passed away a couple of years ago.  She was the love of my daughter's life.....and ours too.  She was the sweetest, most patient dog I've ever known.  We all miss her very much. 

I wanted to keep this layout simple, but definitely girly.  The gorgeous Bo Bunny Madeleine collection had the right colors needed to showcase this perfect beauty.

 

Using the Bo Bunny page named "Stripe", I punched the scroll heart pattern on one edge and then glued this 3-1/2" piece to one side of the layout.

Since the main layout page has a damask design on it (stunning), I chose to carefully stencil individual damask designs strategically placed on both the main page and the striped piece.  I was able to get to an exact color match to that in the paper by mixing acrylic paints in mustard & fawn colors with the white texture paste.  I am quite pleased with the result!

The custom ordered chipboard title by Want2Scrap was heat embossed with Lindy's Stamp Gang color Queen Sheba's Silver.  Then the tops of the letters were embossed in the color Chateau Rosé.  A few touches of baby pink colored Stickles added some glimmer.

The metal pieces were found in Michael's bargain bins. They both have significant meaning....the 'Love' safety pin is because we love Greta SO MUCH and the heart lock is because Greta holds the key to our hearts.
I made a flag and placed a word sticker 'my happy place' on it. These words are so fitting because Greta's favorite place at our house was the backyard (photo taken there) where she could run and play fetch.  We had to use a "Chuck It" because I sure didn't have the strength to throw a tennis ball over and over again.  This neat thing can 'chuck' a ball very far.  We have a very large backyard where Greta loved to run and play fetch.  So this was always fun time, play time, happy time and exercise time. 
Adding dainty baby pink lace, a white paper doily, beautiful flowers, berry stems and some jute string finished the layout.

Here is our gorgeous, sweet Greta:

Thank you for visiting and hope you have a wonderful day!  Lisa : )

Products used:

 

Bo Bunny Madeleine collection - pages named "Madeleine" & "Stripe"

Bo Bunny - small paper doily

Want2Scrap - custom chipboard title

Martha Stewart punch - Scroll Heart

TCW 12x12 stencil - Damask

Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powders - Queen Sheba's Silver & Chateau Rosé

Michael's - berry stem, jute string, mustard colored flower, metal heart lock & 'Love' safety pin

Wild Orchid Crafts - roses & cosmos daisies

Pigment inks - Amber Clay, Pink Sky, Peony

Stickles - Cotton Candy