My Flying Unicorn September Challenge - "What I Did On My Summer Vacation"

"What I Did On My Summer Vacation..."

This is my first time hosting a challenge at Flying Unicorn; I hope you'll pop by and play along!  As usual, there are beautiful RAKs up for grabs for all challenges, and international entries are welcome.

Where I live, school starts the first week of September, so my challenge to you this month is to create a layout along the theme of "What I Did On My Summer Vacation," similar to the reports we had to do in elementary school.

Rules for the challenge:

1) Layouts only, no digital, must be new as of September 1, 2012

2) Following the theme of "What I Did On My Summer Vacation"

3) Must include: some kind of ruled paper; some elementary school-type art supply, such as paint, crayons or pencil crayons; journalling and either paper clips or staples

4) Limit of 2 entries per person

Here is my example:

I had the good fortune to take a couple of classes with Anna Dabrowska, aka Finnabair, this summer, so I wanted the style of my layout to be a tribute to some of the things she taught us in class, but with my own style mixed in.  I used Bo Bunny Weekend Market and Simple Stories Aweso[me] papers and distressed the edges with my Ingvild Bolme Distressing Tool, then went to town on the edges with several border punches and finished them off with ink and some lace and flower parts tucked underneath.  I inked my background heavily with Distress Ink in Salty Ocean, Squeezed Lemonade, Tea Stain, Mowed Lawn and Weathered Wood, and once it was dry stamped several background stamps with black Archival Ink. The hexagons are cut by hand, distressed, inked and painted with Picket Fence Distress Stain to tone them down slightly. I finished off my background with some gesso bricks, burlap and some Dusty Attic chippies.  My journalling is hand-written on the pennants which I've cut from Prima canvas tape.

Here are a couple close-ups:

And here is the gorgeous RAK that is up for grabs:

Standard Rules:

1) Challenge closes at 8:00 EST on September 30th

2) Winner will be selected by random draw

3) Each individual can only win one challenge at Flying Unicorn per month - enter as many challenges as you'd like to increase your chances of winning

4) Layout cannot be used for any other Flying Unicorn challenge

5) Projects must be uploaded to the challenge thread and the Gallery

6) Leave love in the Gallery for other participants.  We all like to feel our work is appreciated!

7) Winner will have 7 (seven) days to claim their prize by PM'ing Alda their full name and mailing details or will forfeit their RAK

Hope you can play along - I can't wait to see what everyone was up to on their summer vacations!

G45 Ladies Diary Side-Step Card

It's been awhile since I've made a card, and I have 4 birthdays to celebrate in the next couple of weeks, so it's time to switch gears for me. My DH's grandmother is a very classy lady who is about to turn 97, so the papers from G45's Ladies Diary are just perfect for her.

 

Lots of fussy cutting here! This card was made for Denise's Mid-Month University Challenge at the Flying Unicorn, where she has included a step-by-step tutorial for making a side-step card.

The inside of the card reads "Happy Birthday Dah-ling".

Thanks for stopping by!

Jackie

Riddersholm Design Papers * Flying Unicorn CT *

Today it's my turn to show you some projects I made with Riddersholm Huntington Garden papers, available in the Flying Unicorn store.  I have never worked with Riddersholm papers before, and let me tell you, I'm in love. These papers distress like a dream.  I am currently obsessed with my Distress Inks, and these papers take ink like no other paper I've worked with.  They take the ink strongly, but in such a way that they are still easily worked with water so that you can achieve the level of color you're aiming for.

I've prepared 3 projects for you today, and have a couple pages left that I am hoarding for some future project.

For this layout I wanted to leave my papers ink-free for a softer feel; the picture was taken at my wedding. I used the July sketch from Once Upon A Sketch as a jumping off point, and stayed pretty true to the sketch.  I distressed all of the papers using my Ingvild Bolme distressing tool. The Ingvild Bolme pillars are available in the store, and along with the crocheted doily from my stash lent the sophisticated feel I was looking for.  The smaller flowers are Prima and Petaloo from the store; the larger blue flower and birdcage are from my stash.



Here is a closeup:



For my next layout I shifted gears and got inky!  The beautiful bright colors of these papers brought to mind a small town in France called Roussillon that my husband and I visited on our honeymoon.  The hills are unbelievably bright and made of ochre.  I broke out my Distress Inks for this one, using Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Salty Ocean (from the Summer 2012 set) available in the store. The tags are cut from one of the sheets of paper.  The little peach flowers that complement the papers so well are Petaloo from the store.

Some closies:
 

 

The hinges are Dusty Attic from my stash, covered in Lindy's embossing powder.


My last project for today is a simple card I made for Kelly's Card Creations Challenge, which runs through September 14th.  If you haven't played along yet, there's still plenty of time, and a lovely RAK up for grabs.  Check it out in the Flying Unicorn Forums.  The card is based on the current Cardabilities sketch. I used scraps of the Riddersholm papers, and fussy cut the flowers and birds from one of the tags.

 

Remember, Riddersholm papers are 20% off in the Flying Unicorn Store until August 30th - no coupon required!

Flying Unicorn CT Guest Designers at Once Upon A Sketch

I've been waiting to share this layout for a while.

Flying Unicorn is sponsoring this month's sketch at Once Upon A Sketch, and the Creative Team was asked to create layouts using this beautiful sketch:





This month's theme is to interpret and journal about the theme "Season".  I knew instantly that I wanted to use a photo I'd taken of my second son, Brennan, at Whistler this past winter.

I used papers from a fall 2011 Glitz line called "Vintage Blue" which is one of my all-time favorite paper lines.  I still have lots in my stash - it was so yummy I bought 4 sets :)  It is still available in the Flying Unicorn store, get yours while you can!

I wanted to soften the colors, so I applied Picket Fence Distress Stain over a Crafter's Workshop snowflake template on the background paper.  I love the way Picket Fence mutes colors without masking them - it's a must-have for me for sure. The birds are fussy cut from the coordinating Glitz Paper Layers.  I used feathers to add a softness to my clusters to mimic the snow and tucked in some muted Prima, Maya Road and Kaisercraft flowers and a little bit of bling behind the Thicker title which I covered with Distress Stickles in Tumbled Glass.  The photo is matted with a Glitz Peek-A-Boo transparency.

I love the way this layout turned out and it has been enjoying pride of place on my mantlepiece for the past month.

Be sure to visit the Once Upon A Sketch blog to view the creations by my fellow Creative Team members.  There is still lots of time to play along and there are some fantastic prizes up for grabs.

I hope to be back soon with some more projects to share.  I've been busy creating Creative Team projects for the Flying Unicorn that I can't wait to share with you come September 3rd!

Hope you are all enjoying the last couple weeks of summer!

Jackie

Flat Can Be Fab * Flying Unicorn Challenge *

I like my layouts fussy, embellished, distressed, inked, painted and busy.  So when Flying Unicorn member Marcia challenged Shona, and anyone else who was interested, to go back to doing a completely flat layout I was more than a little nervous to throw my hat into the ring.  But I did, intending all the while that I would make the flat layout, post it, and then go back and tweak it by adding layers, dimension, embellies and spray.

But you know what?  I actually like the way my "flatty" turned out, and am leaving it as is!

I admit, it's a lot busier than my original layouts would have been.  I don't think I could ever go back and create a layout with a couple small pieces of cardstock, a smattering of sticker and some doodles and lots of hand-written journalling.  But I did try to incorporate some of these elements with the doodled stitching and the flower and bird stickers.

These are my three boys, each at about 10 weeks of age wearing the same "Mr Milk Man" onsie that I absolutely adored.  Elliot is on the left (2006), Brennan in the middle (2009) and Colby on the right (2011).  I'm getting over my fear of using pink and flowers on boy layouts, as you can see.

Everything on this layout is from the Basic Grey Kissing Booth line.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jackie

I Love Happy Beginnings - Flying Unicorn Challenges

This month the members have control of the challenges at Flying Unicorn, and my have they come up with some fantastic ones that really have the Creative Team, and fellow forum members, taking their creativity in whole new directions.  DonnaDee challenged Laura, mother of 2 boys, to create her own background using only the colors pink, brown and white, and to use some feminine embellishments, including ribbons and bows.  The challenge, called Backing It Up With Pretty In Pink, can be found here.

Being the mother of three boys, you can imagine I don't use a lot of pink on my layouts.  I don't tend to use cardstock, either, relying on beautiful patterned papers to inspire me, so I found the idea of creating my own background a little intimidating.

At the Anna Dabrowska class I recently attended, she showed us a technique for creating backgrounds using Distress Stains that was beautiful.  The only problem is that I only have 3 Distress Stains, and none of them are pink.  To achieve a similar effect I used two pieces of chipboard to create a mask and sprayed alternating layers in between them with a combination of Tattered Angels and Lindy's Stamp Gang mists.  I then sprayed in a couple random areas and splattered some mists across the page.



This is a total departure from my normal style, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

I hope you'll come and join in on the challenges - there are some beautiful RAKs up for grabs, and unfortunately for me CT members aren't eligible.

"Livewire" for Mojo Monday at Flying Unicorn

This week I had the opportunity to do the inspiration for Mojo Monday at Flying Unicorn based on a gorgeous sketch by Maggi.  I used a lot of Bo Bunny Weekend Market available in the Flying Unicorn Store and did a lot of hand stitching.  And I mean a lot!  I really have to dig out my old hand-me-down sewing machine and learn to use the thing - I love the look of stitching, but can't always make the time to do it.  Here I've stitched around the entire layout in the holes left by the Martha Stewart Cherish punch, as well as around each of the smaller blue circles surrounding my photo.  I didn't have the right color of thread, so I made my own, dyeing some white embroidery floss in a Ziploc baggie using some Lindy's Starburt Spray.  The title reads "Livewire" and is made from gold colored wire that I bent using a pair of DH's pliers.  I wanted some contrast between the layers so I used gesso to highlight all of my edges.

This is a photo of my niece several years ago jumping on my sister's trampoline.  I love the way her hair is sticking up all around her head from the static electricity - so sweet!  I can't believe she's turning 10 next month.

 Here is Maggi's beautiful sketch:

 I hope you'll be able to play along this week!

There are very few of the gorgeous August Kit Of The Month left in stock, get yours today before they're gone!

Flying Unicorn KOTM Reveal - Remember the Tomorrows

Happy Kit of the Month Day !

That being said we are thrilled to show you Flying Unicorn's August Kit of the Month - Remember the Tomorrows .

KIT OF THE MONTH - REMEMBER THE TOMORROWS

PAPERS :

WEBSTERS—IN LOVE

Heartbeats

Our Song

Something Old

Lifetime

KAISERCRAFT LAKEHOUSE

Spa

Resort

Relax

Springs

Getaway

Serenity

Break

Country

WEBSTER STORY TELLER ALPHA CARDSTOCK STICKERS

EMBELISHMENTS :

Prima Mistables

Tattered Angels Glimmer Glass

Lake House Rub Ons

Zva Pearls

12” Rose Ribbon trim

12” White Ribbon Trim

1 6” crochet dollie

8 chipboard tags

Perfect Pearls—Heirllom Gold

FLOWERS :

Petaloo Small Peonies

Mixed Hydrangeas

Petaloo Mixed Hydrangeas

OTP—OFF THE PAGE

6x8 Canvas Panels x 4 by Fredrix

Reeves Gouache paints 12 colors

PATTERNED PAPER ADD ON:

WEBSTER IN LOVE

· DIECUT

· ARRIVE IN STYLE

· I DO

· SATIN AND LACE

· WORDS OF LOVE

· THE DRESS

· CUT THE CAKE

· BUTTERFLY KISSES

KAISER—LAKE HOUSE

· VILLA

· RETREAT

· THE COTTAGE

EMBELLISHMENT ADD ON:

· LAKEHOUSE STICKER SHEET

· CREPE RIBBONS BY TATTERED ANGELS

· KAISER MIN I STAMP—LEAVES

· LAKEHOUSE DIE CUTS

· FIREWORKS MIST ANGEL PINK

· FIREWORKS SPRAY BAMBOO LEAVES

· VERSA MAGIC CHALK INK SPANISH OLIVE

CARD STOCK ADD ON:

CORE’DINATIONS CARSTOCK

· AMARYLLIS

· LATTE

· COCO CREAM

· CELERY STALK

· PURPLE MELON

· WEATHERED TIN

· DECO CORAL

· SAND

FLOWER ADD ON:

· PETALOO FLORETTE

· PETALOO FLORETTE CRÈME

· MELISSA FRANCES MINI FLOWERS

· BBP SWEET TWISTED FLOWERS

· PRIMA BRETTON VINE

· PRIMA PARISIA MAYFAIR MIX

Here are some of the amazing creations by the Creative Team

The Off the Page Project, which is part of the main kit consists of 4 canvas panels and Gouache Paints

Here are some of the creations by the Creative Team :