{crafty} Finnley Blog Hop

Happy Thursday! I hope everyone in the US is having a wonderful Thanksgiving today! I am blog hopping today with not just the digital design team but the traditional team as well! It is a long hop, but I can guarantee you the inspiration will be worth it! 

I am not going to profess my undying love for the Finnley collection like I do every. single. time. I use it. Nope, won't do it! But I will show you my latest digital layout using said awesomeness.

Supplies:
Glitz Design "Finnley" Full Digital Kit
Other: The Lilypad twine and staple, One Little Bird label, Valorie Wibbens

Be sure to check out the rest of the Glitz DT and see what they have done with this collection and leave comments along the way! Two lucky winners will be chosen from all the comments. One will receive the full Finnley collection and the other will win the full digital kit!

YOU ARE HERE ------ Amanda DeJong
Amanda Resende ------ NEXT UP
Barbara Sokee 
Donna Espiritu
Emma Poon
Fauve Van Maanen
Jaime Warren
Jocelyn Olson
Karine Cazenave
Kym Tsukamoto
Laura O'Donnell
Lea Lawson
Lisa Andrews
Magda Mizera
Maria Lacuesta
Marie Ramirez
Mary Martinez
Miki Krueger
Mou Saha
Nina Ostermann
Noel Culbertson
Smitha Katti
Stephanie Bryan
Tiffany Wheeler
Glitz Design blog 

{crafty} Thankful with Glitz

There are many things I am thankful for but my family and my surroundings are certainly at the top of my list. I am so blessed with an amazing husband and a incredibly quirky son who never fail to bring a smile to my face every day. And while I sometimes take it for granted in the day to day I often find myself in awe of the beauty God has created all around us and it brings so much peace in to my life. I live a truly blessed life. And I am so thankful for it!

What are you thankful for?

Supplies:

Glitz Design "Uncharted Waters" Element Pack 1
Glitz Design "Uncharted Waters" Paper Pack 2
Glitz Design "Dapper Dan" Element Pack 1
Glitz Design "Finnley" Full Digital Kit
Glitz Design "Yours Truly" Element Pack 2

Glitz Design "Yours Truly" Paper Pack
Glitz Design "Sunshine in My Soul" Element Pack
Glitz Design "Wild & Free" Element Pack 1

Other:
One Little Bird staples, Valorie Wibbens bow and stitches, Paislee Press wordart stamp

{crafty} Feathers and a Tutorial

This week Glitz Design is focusing on the current feather trend. Wild & Free and Finnley both have an assortment of fun feathers to choose from so I knew I wanted to pull elements from both of those kits. The woodgrain patterns from Dapper Dan were perfect to balance out the vibrant color from the other collections.

I knew I wanted to take this feather/bird image from Wild & Free and create a large cut out in my background. To do this in PS I opened the image and clicked on "Threshold" to turn the image to strictly black and white.

Next, you duplicate your layer and with the new layer selected click on ctrl + i to invert the image. With the inverted image still selected add a layer mask. Go back to your original image layer and select all and copy. Then hold alt and click on your layer mask from the duplicate layer and paste.

Next you can delete your original layer, the one without the mask, and you will be left with a black and transparent image that you can now use as a clipping mask. 

I open up my paper in a new window and paste my clipping mask over the top to decide on placement. The black area of my clipping mask is where my background paper will be so what I have done here is add black rectangles to fill in the area.

Next, select the shape layers and the feather layer and merge them together. Move the background paper above this layer and with it selected click ctrl + alt + g to clip your paper to the mask. Add your other paper behind it, and that's it! All that is left is to add a drop shadow to create depth. 

I hope that made some sense! I know there were more steps than photos but I tried not to make this too picture heavy. It does seem like a long process but once you do it once or twice it is quite fast. I'd love to hear if anyone has a different method of doing this!

Supply List: 
Glitz Design “Finnley” Full Digital Kit
Glitz Design “Wild & Free” Elements 2
Glitz Design “Dapper Dan” Paper Pack
Other: Valorie Wibbens Sprinkles V14 and By the Thread

Thank you for looking!

{crafty} Pinkfresh love

I recently had the opportunity to play with all the fabulous new items from Pinkfresh Studio. I created three new paper layouts and shared them over on the Pinkfresh blog. I meant to post about them here at the same time, but that somehow got away from me! 

I just adore Kinnari's products, hello color! They are so fun and playful and really fit well with my style. Whatever that may be. My Pinkfresh layouts never fail to be some of my favorites ever!

For my first layout I used the neon enamel frames and gorgeous ombre washi paired with plenty of SC items from my stash.

My "goodreads" layout was inspired by the "Literacy Addict" Fresh Press card which I cut and used in two pieces as separate layers. I took a screen shot from my Goodreads account of the books I had read the first half of the year and added layers using Pinkfresh washi and there is even an enamel frame back there too! I also covered that tiny arrow veneer with the yellow and blue ombre washi. 

For my last layout I again reached for the ombre washi and used it to create the base for page instead of paper. I layered on my photos and then went crazy with the enamel shapes and drop stickers. The bold colors were the perfect accent to my colorful photos from a day trip to Seattle. 

By the way, that burger!? Best I've ever had! It was a lamb burger with roasted peppers and onion, fried lemons and cilantro. Um, yes please! I highly suggest going to Uneeda Burger if you are ever in the Seattle area! 

Thanks for looking!

{crafty} happy little triangles

It's triangle week over on the Glitz blog and I couldn't be more excited! The triangle trend is by far my favorite when it comes to geometric shapes, I find them so much more versatile and fun than hexagons and arrows.

I know I have said it many times before, but Finnley is by far my favorite Glitz collection and I hadn't had the chance to play with it much. When we got the assignment to create something based on triangles I knew I had to break out this collection! A little while ago I put together a digital template with stacked triangles (which you can download for free here) and I began to use that for my layout but decided I wanted it to take on a different shape. I had this sketch pinned from ScrapFriends and started building a new template from that. I also used the sketchy circle from the Finnley digital stamps to add some background interest as well as paint splatter brushes which are easy to find on the web for free! I repeated the circle elements throughout the page to help balance the angular lines of the triangles.. And there you have it!

I have made my new template available for download as well! Which you can find here. I am pretty new to the template world so hopefully these are easy to use. I left the shadow layers in the template but feel free to delete them and use your own shadow styles. 

Thanks for looking!

{crafty} Wild & Free Blog Hop

It has been one heck of a week filled with back to school night, the first field trip of the school year, custom shop orders and countless errands. Thank goodness it's Friday! Blog hopping with the rest of the Glitz Design digital team showcasing the Wild & Free collection is a great way to end the week! 

This is such a fun and whimsical collection! I used the Giant Roller Doodle X's digital stamp to create a background then clipped the Dream Catcher B-side paper to it to create the gradient color. I added a little more background stamping and misting, minimal paper layers and a small embellishment cluster to keep it light and airy.

Glitz Design will be giving away a Wild & Free digital collection pack to one lucky winner who comments in the hop! Each blog you comment on gains you an entry so be sure to hop along through the rest of the team!  

Amanda De Jong - http://somethingsorta.blogspot.com/
Amanda Resende - http://amandaresendescraps.blogspot.com.br/
Barbara Sokee - http://sokeeb.wordpress.com/
Donna Espiritu - http://www.scrappydonna.blogspot.com/
Emma Poon - http://amazinglyscrapped.wordpress.com/
Fauve Van Maanen - http://www.fauvevanmaanen.blogspot.com/
Jocelyn Olson - http://redballooncards.blogspot.com/
Kym Tsukamoto - http://busybostyn.blogspot.com/
Laura O'Donnell - http://itsallrosie.blogspot.com/
Maria Lacuesta - http://analogpaper.blogspot.com/
Mary Martinez - http://www.marnels.blogspot.com/
Miki Krueger - http://thecountryteacher.wordpress.com/
Smitha Katti - www.smilingcolors.com
Tiffany Wheeler - http://iffycreates.blogspot.com/
Glitz Design Blog - http://glitzitnow.com/blog/

{crafty} OBW Cashmere Dame

Did you know Wednesday's are One  Buck Wednesday over at JessicaSprague.com? Today you can snag Glitz Design Cashmere paper pack for $1 and the Elements 1 pack is half off!

When we were assigned to create something with this collection I was a little nervous. I don't do well with themed kits and looking at the collection it is overall very feminine and frilly. Me and flowers don't typically get along! The first thing I noticed in this kit however was the "today will be awesome" die cut and I thought it would be perfect for Little Man's first day of school. I also knew I wanted to use several of the speech bubbles as a main repeating element on my page. I love the retro almost superhero comic look I ended up with using the starburst, which I removed the rhinestones form, and bubbles.

Be sure to check out the Glitz blog today for more inspiration using this kit!

I also completely neglected to post last week's layout for OBW! This was my page using Yours Truly, which was another fun kit to work with! I love a good woodgrain background and this whitewashed paper is one of my faves!

Thanks for looking!

{crafty} Exciting News of the Digital Variety

Glitz Design is one of my current fave manufacturers. I mean, have you seen the new Finnley collection!? It is down right cute and my number one must have right now!

So you can imagine my excitement when I was asked to be on their brand new digital design team! I believe I was grinning from ear to ear all day when I found out. Digital scrapbooking is a fairly new love of mine and I cannot wait to dive in to it head on with these amazing collections to work with!

Head on over to the Glitz blog to meet more of the talented Glitz Design Digital team and be sure to check back there tomorrow for the rest of the introductions!

{crafty} Toolbox digital layouts

I signed up for Studio Calico's Toolbox class this month, and I am so glad I did! The first week we went digital with Shanna Noel; using digital elements ranging from papers to brushes to templates for both digital and hybrid pages. I have dabbled a bit in hybrid pages before but I have learned some great new techniques and how to use product in new and different ways.

My first page is a simple digital layout using a chevron template, made by Catherine Davis, that was provided in the class.

My second layout is a hybrid page using several different brushes available from the class and previous Studio Calico releases. I stamped all the circles in black and then went back and randomly clipped color and digital papers. Once those were completed I stamped several other brushes in white over the top of a few of the circles and added the brush strokes and title. I printed my base page out twice so I could cut out a few circles and pop them up on the page for dimension and then added other embellishments, mainly keeping with the circle theme. 

My last page is another all digital page, although I am tempted to add some bits and pieces once I have it printed. I created a template of multiple sizes and layers of triangles and then went back and added my papers and photo using clipping masks just as I did with the last two layouts. I chose a few patterned papers for this layout but did not care for the color. With a quick fill layer of color I was able to customize my digital paper to suit my layout. There are several ways to adjust color for this but my preferred method when I want a tone on tone pattern is to create a new layer, use the bucket tool to fill it with your choice of color and then change the blending mode from Normal to Color. It's that easy! 

Next week in the class starts the mixed media portion with Celine Navarro and I could not be more excited! I hope I have as much time to play as I did with the digital portion this week. 

Thanks for looking!

{crafty} layout share & some news!

Well I sure am a bit late to the party here, but I do have some exciting news to share! I have been asked to join the Craft Warehouse DT! I am such a fan of the Craft Warehouse stores and couldn't be more excited to join them for my first official design team spot! If you haven't had the chance to visit one of these stores in the Pacific Northwest, you sure are missing out. They always carry the latest products and are packed full of inspiration at every aisle. It is definitely one of my favorite places to shop.

Keeping up with all news fun and good I can now share my FIRST and SECOND ever published layouts!

The first was briefly shared and featured at Studio Calico until I received the publication notice and had to have it removed. It was published in the July issue of Scrapbook Trends, which sadly was the first digital only publication for Northridge. I would have loved to get my hands on a print issue of this!

This one is in the current August issue of ST. I have shared it on my blog, again briefly, before I had to remove it. I created the word art in Silhouette Studio and printed it on white woodgrain cardstock, then stitched it to the printed paper to create the base for my page.

The last layout I have to share is my most recent page. I created this during the Studio Calico Inked class using several techniques that were demonstrated. For the background stamping I chose a smaller background stamp and colored it in with three different Tim Holtz Distress Markers, spritzed it with water and then stamped making sure to mask off the areas of the paper I did not want to ink. After I finished stamping I sewed along the edges of the chevron pattern to give it a more finished look.

Thanks for looking!

{crafty} Work Space

The last month has been a complete whirlwind of activity and to-do's to mark off my list. On top of shop orders, gifts to make, creating a 30 minute slideshow for little man's Pre-K graduation and other school activities I also decided it was a great time to PURGE. And that task was not isolated to my craft room, but rather the whole house. And while I was at it, why not do a little painting as well? My house has been a semi-disaster the last few weeks while all this was going on and now everything is finally pulling together and becoming less chaotic. Thankfully just in time, as my inlaws are on their way up from California to visit for two weeks and will be here tomorrow afternoon!

The master bedroom and bathroom are getting little makeovers, going from builder beige to Granite Grey. I LOVE the color we picked out and cannot wait to do a little decorating once I am completely finished painting. I may just have to post some before and after shots. 

The last few days I have been focusing on organizing my craft space. One thing I have learned about myself in the last few years is that if I cannot SEE my supplies I will most definitely forget about them and they will go unused. Aside from my paper all of my supplies are now completely visible on a shelf or in clear containers. I may even go wild and label them ;-)

Next time I take pictures I will do my best not to do it in the evening! These colors are not very accurate.

Several of my organizational pieces have been here since we first built my desk space when we moved in. Primarily the mason jars, magazine racks and hanging cups. I have been moving around the plastic buckets to be more practical and created tiered shelves for my paints and mists from spare pieces of wood in the garage. 

My tower of shelves holds my recent Studio Calico kits and current projects. On top is a tiered file organizer to hold the most recent kit. 

Now that all this organizing is done and life is slowing down just a bit, I am hoping to actually create something in my space! I have a few incomplete layouts that are in need of being finished, a brand new Dylusions art journal begging for paint and ink, and the gorgeous Studio Calico Atlantic collection to inspire something lovely!

{crafty} SMBiG Blog Hop with Paislee Press!

 This month the Social [Media] Butterflies are featuring digital designs from Liz Tamanaha of Paislee Press! If you haven't checked out her shop you should go take a look! She has so many gorgeous digital collections and templates to choose from.

You should have arrived here from Kristin's blog, if not head on over to Liz's blog to start the hop from the beginning!

I had trouble choosing what collection to use but ultimately I decided to go with the For the Record collection and mixed in a little of the Happy as a Lark elements. For my layout I created a digital base with a few of the papers, embellishments and digital stamps then printed it out to use as the background for my layout. I printed some of the other digital papers and elements to cut out and use on my page to add dimension and then finished it off with some Mister Huey and enamel dots!

This layout is out for publication, I will the pictures back as soon as the issue comes out!

Hop Order:
Shay
Ellie
Jen
Malika
Kristin T
YOU ARE HERE --- Amanda
Katie --- NEXT UP
Trisha
Kristin D
Suz
Jenny
Corinne
Ruth
Social Media Butterflies

Thank you so much for looking today! Be sure to keep hopping along and comment along the way to be entered to win a $25 gift certificate for Paislee Press! One winner will be announced on the Social Media Butterflies home page on Monday June 3rd!

{crafty} Chic Tags WINNERS!

Thank you to everyone that hopped along with us on Monday! We all hope you enjoyed the freebies and giveaways and walked away inspired! 

Speaking of giveaways, the winners are now posted over at the Social Media Butterflies home page! If you happened to miss the hop, head on over there to check it out from the beginning!

If you haven't had the chance to pick up the Road Trip collection from Chic Tags that we featured in our hop now would be a great time! Starting tomorrow Chic Tags is having a sale, so watch out for details!

{crafty} Chic Tags Blogapalooza!

Welcome back for this month's blog hop! This month Social Media Butterflies is joining together with Chic Tags for a Blogapalooza with over 20 projects to inspire you!

You should have come here from Adrienne's page, if not head on over to the Chic Tags blog to start from the beginning!

This road trip collection was so fun to work with! I decided to use it paired with Studio Calico's "Hook" kit for a layout of a recent overnight trip we took. And yes, I completely left the date off that tag! I realized it of course as I was taking the pictures, I still need to go back and add that in.

I couldn't sop with just one layout though! I have a terrible habit of starting minis and never putting any actual content in them. I am working on changing that! While I don't do PL I did recently get two Handbooks from Studio Calico, one that I plan on using as a travel album for our family vacation coming up this summer. I decided to get a headstart on the travel album and these tags were the perfect solution! The pocket system is a whole new world for me, it may take a little getting used to.

Thank you so much for looking! Next up on the hop with even more inspiration is Amy! 

Be sure to keep hopping, along the way, there are plenty of prizes and freebies-- Die cuts, printables and chances to win some of your favorite Road Trip paper goods, and one GRAND prize winner of the Road Trip, Everyday Life II & Birthday Wishes collection!!!! Good luck, and happy hopping! If you would like to purchase some of these adorable products, head on over to the Chic Tags website!