Kassel - CSI Case File No.154

Dear all,

how are you all today... Hope you are all as great as you could be. This time I would like to make it a little bit different with every post that I do. I would like to say hi, and would give you some encouraging words before we start with everything. So here's my encouraging words for you, "You never fail, until you stop trying." That goes for me too, as I need sometimes something as well.

So here's another case to solve from CSI (Color, Stories, Inspiration) with Case File No.154

We're so excited to welcome back 2Crafty Chipboard as our main sponsor.

 2 Crafty strives to offer affordable and versatile laser cut chipboard products to the Australian and International craft market. 2Crafty’s products are manufactured here in Australia and offer products suitable for scrapbooking, cardmaking, altered art, invitations and mixed media, and with over 1000 designs, every area has been covered.

2Crafty’s owner Vanessa, stumbled on the demonstration of the laser cutter at one of the Sydney craft fairs back in 2006, and although her background was Human Resources and payroll, her creative mind could see unlimited possibilities, and so began her journey into the world of a craft wholesaler.

2Crafty designs are supported both locally and in the overseas market, and Vanessa strives to offer the highest level of customer support, and is happy to discuss personalized orders with customers via their local scrapbooking store.

2Crafty also offers a fabulous blog that is updated several times a week with projects created from its talented international Design Team.

The 2Crafty website, although a wholesale website, offers you a bird's eye view of all the wonderful designs that it offers. Make sure you check out the stockist list, and don’t be afraid to ask your local store to order products that they may not have in stock.

Here is a sampling of the beautiful 2Crafty chipboard that one CSI player can win this month:

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As always, we're grateful to have our generous permanent sponsor, Flying Unicorn...it’s about One of a Kind. ...it’s about One of a Kind. They offer an incredible selection of products for all paper crafting artists. Their Kit of the Month is filled with the latest and greatest and includes an off-the-page project to keep your creative muse flowing! Be sure to check out the Flying Unicorn forums, a hot and happening place which includes monthly challenges, tips, techniques and friendships that last! They also have a blog and a Facebook page where you can find loads of inspiration!

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And we are so happy to have Scrapbook Fantasies as another permanent sponsor. Scrapbook Fantasies is donating a prize of beautiful embellishments each week to our Star Witness.  Scrapbook Fantasies is a Scrapbooking, Papercrafts and Mixed Media business opened in November 2002 in Gladstone, Queensland.  The well stocked store receives new stock daily, and supports a boutique style online store here.  The owner Alicia Redshaw runs Weekly Challenges and many other competitions giving away over $250 dollars in store vouchers every month.  The Gallery  hosts thousands of customer creations, and is available for viewing without login. Parcels are posted within Australia at a flat $6.50 or the actual postage rate (whichever is the lesser), or FREE for orders over $100.  International parcels are posted at the actual postage rate.

Here's my layout for that

The Color Scheme : Cherry Red, Kraft, Bright White, Black and Olive Green

The Evidence : Polka Dots, Alphabet as Design Element, Metal

The Testimony : I chose Presentation - I use a mix of letter/fonts for my journaling and mix handwriting  with letter stickers. It said, "First time visit to uncle's place was so fun and happy"

The paper is from Teresa Collins - World Traveler and Basic Grey - Little Black Dress. I didn't do much with the paper as it's already great except did a bit with the black paper in the middle. I used structure paste with the stencil from The Crafters Workshop - Doodling Template and then stamped it with Finnabair - Vanity Vintage No.4 instead of using ink, I used gesso to create a white grungy looked. Once it dried, I spray some water and brushed over some acrylic paint from Maya Gold - Fire Red and Lumiere - Metallic Olive Green. I arranged the embellishment and voila it's done. Thank you for stopping by and you're all have a great day. Hugs, Merry.

Duo Love

Hi all,
time really getting too fast. Can't believe it's February by now. What have you done in January? Mine was quiet. A little bit snow here in Germany but not as much as two years ago. Anyway, here's another challenge from 123 Challenge Blog - February Challenge

We have two generous sponsors this month - Scrapping Life and Scrapbook Fantasies:

Please check our rules (here), especially our modified multiple challenges information.  We would also like to remind you to ensure that when entering your layout that you link to your actual Blog Post (or Image Gallery page), and include your Name and Country.

Here's my layout for that....

I thought I make it simple this time..... Started with white paper plus gesso. Sprayed the paper with Dylusions Ink Spray - Postbox Red, Lemon Zest and London Blue. Once dried, I used Kaiser Craft Stamp - Film Edges and started stamping behind the photo, used Finnabair -Vintage Vanitiy No. 4 and stamped the background. The title "LOVE" is our chipboard. I colored it black and added Stickles - Midnight Blue and finished with Glossy Accent. I added a few details by splattering the colors from blue, red and yellow from the sprays around the background to create a messy kinda look. I stamped duo in two different colors then I used Perfect Pearl - Ocean Blue and Rouge to highlight them. I hope you enjoy what I made. And as February quite identical with the month of love, have a month full of love everyone!!! Hugs, Merry.

One Fine Day - Sketchabilities Sketch No.132

Hi,

how are you today? Hope you all great. Here's another sketch from Sketchabilities with Sketch No. 132

Here's my layout for that...

I have used the paper from 7 Dots Studio - Love Is In The Air. Their paper are just amazing for mix media. I didn't do much with the background as the colors were already perfect. I used a Mini Leaf Frame Stencil from Balzer Design. Once it dried, I stamped the edges as well as the photo with Kaiser Craft - Film Edges and the background paper with Kaiser Craft - Triangle. 

I glued everything straight away before I did some spraying but left the photo for the end so my embellishments won't stand out to much but still match the colors that I've sprayed for my background.

Then I sprayed my background with Dylusions Ink Spray - Black Marble and Lindy's Stamp Gang - C'est la vie Cerise to match the background colors as well as to pop out my photo. I splattered some black acrylic paint all around my page followed with Cosmic Shimmer H2O - Orange Gold, Blue Lilac and Purple Violet. I really love this H2O colors :) I corrected the colors a little bit (behind the photo or the flowers that didn't got spray) with this H2O colors. Once I satisfied, I glued my photo to my layout.

And here's our sponsor for this challenge. 7 Dots Studio is here with us as a Premium Sponsor in 2015.

7 Dots Studio was born from dreams and for dreams. We are a European scrapbooking company. Quality of our products is our top priority. Our collections are created by very talented artists - from clean, graphic designs to mixed-media, grungy collage look. But what you can always be sure are high quality and thickness of our papers, which make them work perfectly with all kinds of media. Among our products you will find scrapbooking papers, alpha stickers, die-cut elements, collage sheets, 6x6 paper pads, element stickers and tags. We are amazingly happy and feel very blessed to see that so many crafters and artists love our designs! 
Please visit 7Dots Studio Media Links below.

Hope you enjoy my layout this time and thank you for stopping by. Take care, Merry.

Home Sweet Home - JAN IAR Challenge

Dear all,
how are you all doing this week? Mine was great. My passion for mix media has grown stronger and stronger lately. I adore it very much. And comes to mix media, flowers are always brings beauty, especially the one from I am Roses, and somehow just realize a few months after using their products, that they have a challenge blog too, you could see it here. And for January, they have their challenge theme "Anything Goes". I love anything goes, so I thought, why don't I give it a try? I'd also like to include the challenge from The Mixed Media monthly challenge with this moodboard "new to you" since I wanna make something different with new technique..

I bought couple of months ago a plate. It's from NANU-NANA, a great shop for home decoration in my city. And here's how the wooden plate look.

I thought I bought and I wanted to make something different out of it. But can't figure it out what, till I saw the challenge from I am Roses. After a few make over, here's my wooden plate came out...

I did a lot of gesso, but before that, I applied a good amount of Mod Podge (Matte) all over the surface and covered it with some tissue. Once dried, I sprayed Lindy's Stamp Gang - Cape Cod Coral and Bodacious Blush. I then used structure paste with our stencils, to create more texture for my background. I set it aside and let it dry, while preparing my word "HOME". I hand drew the words on a water resistant paper. I cut it and line on the wooden plate to make sure they fit. I glued cardboard on the back of the words to give a  3D look. I applied similar technic with how I did my background to the words which was with gesso and structure paste. 

I glued the words "HOME" to the wooden plate and started to place the flowers where I thought I wanted to be. The flowers that I used from I am Roses are R2-426, R21-595(I took out the middle part and cut it in half and I placed it under two of the words) and S3-426. You could see more details on my photos. I added the glassbeads from 13@rts to create small splatters around the flowers, and some microbeads from my stash around the background with loads and loads of Mod Podge (matte). This idea came from Finnabair of course (I love her works) and I really like this new technique. Once dried, I brushed (to make more details came out) Inka Gold - Champagne around my flowers, my background textures and on the beads.

I would like to thank I am Roses and thank you The Mix Media Monthly Challenge for the challenges. Thank you all for stopping by and I hope you like what I made. Hugs, Merry.

Beauty - CSI Case File No.153

Dear all,
how are you doing? It's been a cold day here in Germany for these few days. It's even start to snow for days now. My little one get crazy with snow... she's very cute. :) Anyway, today I would like to share with you again another case from CSI (Color, Stories, Inspiration) with Case File No.153

And we're so pleased to have A2Z Scrapbooking as our January sponsor!

a2z Scrapbooking is proud to be a premier Hero Arts Retailer. Our Etsy store carries an extensive array of Hero Arts  products and we love special orders. Our company, which is run by volunteers, was founded in 2007 in an effort to raise funds or Celiac and Behcets awareness. Have a question or a special request? Please contact us! 

Be sure to check out the a2z Scrapbooking blog for lots of inspiration from their design team, who will be joining us as Guest Detectives this month!

a2z Scrapbooking is donating a gift certificate for each of our Case Files this month.

Here's my layout ...

The Color Scheme : Pale Coral/Peach, Orangey-Red, Pale Seafoam Green, Pale Yellow, Dusty Brown.

The Evidence : Border Punch, Drip Something, Texture Paste, Circles, Cake Accents, Sprinkle Something, Baker's Twine/String, Liquid Pearls.

The Testimony : I chose Presentation - Stack journaling Tags.

The tags said : "You can't eat beauty, it doesn't sustain you. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion, for yourself and those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul. -Lupita Nyong'o" 
I have used My Mind's Eye - The Sweetest Things (Tangerine-Wonderful). I prepared my background with gesso and stamps from Finnabair - Honey Comb and Kaisercraft - Film Edges. Then I used our stencil - small circle all over the paper, behind the cake to make more texture. I stacked 3 layers of paper to make the cake. You could see it more on the top left photo.

The banners I made it myself from the Pinterest, the tutorial you could fine it here. I cut all the photos since I thought they fit better to the cake. But then, before I glued everything, I saw something wrong with the cake, it didn't look like one. So I decided to use gesso to create the icing on top of the cake, and before it dried, I sprinkled it with Martha Stewart - Fine Glitter to make  the icing more real. Once it dried, I sprayed it with Lindy's Stamp Gang -  Cape Cod Coral, Clam Bake Beige to match the cake. All of our chipboards I colored black, rubbed Inka Gold - Apricot and finished with Glossy Accent. Once I'm happy with everything, I used Viva Decor Pearl Pen - White, all over the page and even on the cake. Hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs, Merry