Ta Da!

As promised my Feb. page. A little late I know but here it is. I made felt flowers and used the clothespins as leaves. The rest is kind of self explanatory.

As Promised...last month's page

I finished. It's my first day of Spring break and I just finished my Feb. page. It was really hard to use all of the embellishments but I did it. Except for my clothespin because it broke. . .oops. Here are some more close up pics of it.

The finished: My Dearest Loira

Well, I finished mine. I don't know about you guys, but I had a hard time figuring out how to use everything, and I was the one who picked the items! I had a couple totally different ideas for creating this page, but in the end I decided to make it about my grandparents love letters during WWII. I copied an original letter onto tracing paper. The letter itself was written on paper just as thin. My other patterned papers are below the letter. Since some of the pink was too light I had to tone it down. I used alcohol ink on the clothesepin, and on the pink eyelets.
I had some clear UTEE (ultra thick embossing powder.) After painting my tag, and then putting some distressing ink over it, I added an old valentine rub on I had. Then, I embossed it with my UTEE. I embossed several layers. If you guys don't know about this stuff, it's really cool it makes everything you use it on look plastic. So after several coats I bent it back and forth and it crackled. I did a paint/water wash over the heart sticker to tone it down and added the buttons.
I had the best time stitching! I love stitching! I painted some newspaper with watered down pink acrylic paint, cut a heart with pinking shears. Then I used the blanket stitch on the purple felt. I attempted the chain stitch on the pink heart, not sure if I did it right, but it sorta worked. (I used my new to me, old Good Housekeeping book and studied different stitches!) I figured since I was sewing it on, I'd add a little fluff, so I stuffed some batting in it.

I put the acetate tag onto the patterned paper and I attached the ring to it. I thought this could symbolize their engagement ring.

I stitched my lace onto the page. I put my pink gem into the bottle cap. I had some silver beads I threw around the edges. I used purple crystal lacquer around the outside, and I used pink on the inside. I also made a little purple heart out of the purple crystal lacquer in the middle (you can't really see it) This picture is a bit blurry, sorry. Oh, and crystal lacquer is another cool thing that acts kinda like resin. I have it in a bunch of colors. You can also use it on a page and make your own bubbles. (I love to buy weird stuff like this at scrapbooking stores when it goes on sale!)

Baby Anna

So it ended up being a late night last night ladies, but I completed challenge #1. After 30 minutes of trying to post the thing I gave up. So I'll giver another try!


I ended up doing a 8X8 page because I wanted to do a smaller book of my niece with just the most precious pictures. Its all there I swear all the bits and pieces you sent me Bek...there on the page. Here are a few up close shots.

The banner at the bottom used up most of the items. It was a challenge to fit it all on this little page, but as most of you know I love to make the most of a page!

The tag painted and covered with pink paper. The felt heart the final touch!

left my heart

Here to inspire...Presenting Jessica's rendition of February's C*J Challenge! I faithfully used each and every pretty component of my kit. How handy-dandy that I'm currently working on our honeymoon scrapbook...A love theme was a cinch! First, I used Bek's reused tag from the Body Shop. I slathered it with pink+red+white polka-dot paints and layered a scrap of coral-colored paper and my acetate tag. To finish it off, I secured the threesome with my large pink eyelet.

Next I tackled my bottle cap. I must admit, I've never used a bottle cap on a l/o before!! Good thing! I painted the bottle cap and added 2 layers of stickers. At first I used the heart sticker, but I felt that it needed something more. Amy's valentine stickers to the rescue!! I dug these out of my chocolate box of embellishments. Love that thing! I wasn't sure how to adhere the bottle cap. I stacked 3 pop-dot stickers to span the height of the cap. It worked pretty well.

Last but not least, I had a blast with all of the cute embellishments! I decided to line them up on my title block, to draw attention to my stitched, felt heart. I used plain white thread AND my sparkly red string leftover from Bek's wedding invites! I like how the double stitching turned out. :)Can't wait to see what the rest of you ladies come up with!!

Contents: The February Scraps of Love Package

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
-Picasso

Well, FINALLY I think everyone has received their package. (So sorry Jess) Here is what is in it:IN THE ZIPLOCK BAG:
-2 eyelets (1 pink, 1 purple) and 1 pink snap eyelet
-1 mini clothespin (pink or purple)
-1 pink epoxy valentine sticker (on acetate sheet)-you can be resourceful and use the plastic piece it comes off of
-1 pink jewel
-1 acetate tag (just so you know-this is a sticker-the backing peels off, so you don't need adhesive for it-again, you can use this plastic backing-an acetate tag!
-1 bottle cap (Sam likes beer!)
-1 ring (one of my old ones-you may recognize them!)
-3 vintage buttons (from my stash from Salvation Army)

LOOSE IN THE ENVELOPE:
-1 piece of wool pink felt

-3 scraps of Basic Grey paper
-1 red ribbon (from my wedding)
-1 piece of crocheted "ribbon" (from a bag of crocheted goodies from Savers)
-1 piece of purple ribbon (from a bag of goodies from Savers)

-1 of 5 assorted recycled tags (from my Christmas gifts-more on this one later)

-And for fun, I made a Scaps of Love CD for all of you to enjoy while scrapping!
-And Pink VS Panties! (Jess, Amy, and I have been exchanging on V-day for 8? years now!)

(*You guys do not have to make a CD each time, or include another gift-just so ya know)

And you each got a card-one that I already had made they were all different, I didn't take a pic of those-one was an octopus love postcard, 2 of a clothes swap extra invite, one from a card class

One more time, the list of everything at one glance. Make sure you got everything and didn't miss anything in the envelope.
-2 eyelets and 1 snap eyelet
-1 mini clothespin (pink or purple)
-1 pink epoxy valentine sticker (on acetate sheet)-you can be resourceful and use the plastic piece it comes off of
-1 pink jewel
-1 acetate tag (just so you know-this is a sticker-the backing peels off, so you don't need adhesive for it-again, you can use this plastic backing-an acetate tag!
-1 bottle cap (Sam likes beer!)
-1 ring (one of my old ones-you may recognize them!)
-3 vintage buttons (from my stash from Salvation Army)
-1 piece of wool pink felt
-3 scraps of basic grey paper
-1 piece of red ribbon (from my wedding)
-1 piece of purple ribbon (from a bag of goodies from Savers)
-1 piece of crocheted "ribbon" (from a bag of crocheted goodies from Savers)
-1 recyled tag (from my christmas gifts-more on this one later!)

The Rules:
Make a 12x12 page using everything in the bag. (You can alter however you wish, and you don't need to use all of it. For example, if you only use 2 inches of the ribbon that is fine, as long as part of it is on there. I am excited to share some ideas to come on why I picked some things and some ideas. You are free to do whatever you would like. You can include a picture on the page, but you don't have to. You can also add other things you have already to the page, you are not limited to just what is in the bag. I hope you have fun and I hope this stretches you creatively. I can't wait for the months to follow to see what everyone else comes up with!

The First Challenge: Scraps of Love

Creativity is a continual surprise
-Ray Bradbury

Welcome to this little blog full of inspiration. This month I (Becca) will be posting all sorts of things that inspire me. 4 of you will be receiving a little package shortly. I can't wait for you to get it! I'm excited about this blog, because as nice as it is to see what talented perfect strangers come up with, I think it will be neat to see what my gifted friends think is cool. And isn't technology amazing? Combining the best of both worlds: snail mail and the internet is a grand idea. So we are starting with February, and the theme I came up with is Scraps of Love. And since I can't wait for you guys to get this, I just had to give you this sneak peak.
Just a little taste of what is to come:




I have so many surprises and goodies for you guys, just wait and see! So as soon as I confirm that everyone has received their package, I will list the contents. In the meantime, I may post some inspiration because I have sooo many ideas floating around in my brain. And I have the shortest month (although I do get an extra day) Leap year is such a strange thing! So plan to be inspired.