Flying Unicorn Gives Back - Nov 1 - 30

If there is any kindness I can show, any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.

William Penn

Gratitude. Pure and Simple.

FLYING UNICORN GIVES BACK.

It with humbleness and honor that we dedicate the month of November to helping the Anne Carlsen Center - which exists to make the world a more inclusive place where independence is a gift to all.

November 01 – November 30^th 2012 all completed projects that are uploaded into our gallery; we will donate $1.00 to a maximum of $1,000.00.

Every purchased made from the store from November 01- November 30^th 2012, Flying Unicorn will donate 5% to THE ANNE CARLSEN CENTER

You can donate directly on their website : CLICK HERE

(if you donate directly - please email me the amount at cs@flyingunicornllc.com - your name will remain anonymous - but we would like to beat our direct donation total of last year of $220.00)

Together, we will make a difference.

The Anne Carlsen Center is dedicated to “Nurturing abilities. Changing Lives."

Dr. Anne Carlsen, our namesake and former administrator, believed in the worth of every individual. Throughout her life she exemplified strength and nurturing, advocating for individuals with disabilities, and teaching them how to advocate for themselves, while creating a life of independence.

The Anne Carlsen Center offers a rich tradition of educational, residential, therapeutic, evaluation, and community-based services. Our individualized services include care for individuals — and families — of all ages with cerebral palsy; orthopedic, vision and hearing disabilities; autism, pervasive, and other behavior disorders; and other medical acuities.

The Center’s education program provides students with a safe, secure and loving atmosphere in which they can learn and grow. The Center is approved and accredited through the ND Dept of Public Instruction as a K-12 school.

The Student Council consists of a team of Anne Carlsen students dedicated to helping their fellow peers, classmates and friends. Student Council fund raises throughout the year to help students pay for necessities such as clothing, shoes, winter gear, school supplies or other needs they may not have the funds to cover for themselves. Fundraising also provides a yearbook at no cost to each and every student at the Anne Carlsen Center.

To read more and learn more head on over to their website :

THE ANNE CARLSEN CENTER

I hope that you will upload much and often and am so excited to be designing for a company who believes so strongly in giving back.

Jackie

Advent Calendar - Flying Unicorn

Jax here, and in keeping pace with the department stores, it's the day before Halloween, and here I am to provide you with a little bit of Christmas inspiration.

Although I confess to occasionally cueing up the Christmas carols on my iPod in July (c'mon, how much of a waste is it to have all those songs reserved for a measly month each year?), my husband Evan has a strict rule that the Christmas season does not start in our house until December 1st.  I did manage to sneak this little project by, though, on the argument that it needed to be ready for December 1st.  Now I'm back on the strict no-Christmas until it's Christmas plan.

I picked up this Kaisercraft Advent Calendar last December, but it got lost in a sea of Christmas cards and tags, and lay neglected amongst my scrappy stuff for the next 10 months.  My 6 year old is very into calendars (and candy!), so it wasn't an option not to complete this project before December 1st this year.  So off to the Flying Unicorn store I went and stocked up on Graphic 45 Christmas papers and away I went.


I wanted a vintage look for my calendar to go with the gorgeous vintage prints of the Graphic 45 Christmas Past and Christmas Emporium papers.  I started by appyling a basecoat of brown acrylic paint, and when that was dry applied a coat of Folk Art Crackle Medium, followed by vintage white acrylic paint.  Look at that fantastic crackle!


I decorated each of the boxes with G45 Christmas Past papers and postage stamps I cut from the 8X8 paper pad, then embossed the dates with the scrumptious Stampendous Aged Embossing Powder in Ivory I love how much dimension those gold flecks add.

I trimmed the top with Petaloo Magnolia and Berries Vines and Sprays, Maya Road gold mesh and handmade poinsettias made with the Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia dies. 

 

I used G45 paper from Christmas Past, sprayed with Dylusions in Postbox Red to give the poinsettias a deeper red, and trimmed the edges of each petal with Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel in Scarlet.

 

I hope you'll forgive me for the early Christmas post, and I hope to see some of your Christmas creations as the holidays grow closer.

Happy Haunting - Flying Unicorn

From now until the end of the month all Halloween products are 20% off in the Flying Unicorn Store.  Stock up now for all of those great Halloween pictures you'll be snapping on October 31st!

Today I have two layouts to share with you from Graphic 45's Happy Haunting collection.
The first is a layout of my middle son, Brennan, at Halloween last year.  He has been a giraffe every Halloween up until now (we're breaking with tradition this year and he's going as Optimus Prime from Transformers), and last year's giraffe costume was the cutest I'd ever seen.  Bell bottoms and a cute padded bum that wiggled when he walked - too sweet!

The sweet patterns on the Happy Haunting papers were a perfect compliment to the photo of Brennan at his preschool party.



I layered my Happy Haunting papers with black cardstock and added dots and swirls in Liquid Pearls in Hot Cocoa and White Opal.  I fussy cut the clocks with their sweet little witches and mounted them on Petaloo Peonies in Sage, and added fussy cut images and chipboard elements from the Chipboard Tags 2 sheet and finished the layout off with a title cut from Tim Holtz's Vintage Market die and colored with Liquid Pearls and Inka-Gold.  Isn't he just too cute to spook? 

For my second layout I stepped outside the box, and started with a blank canvas, literally.  I dressed up my white cardstock with mists, Inka-Gold and Silks paints, gesso and the lovely Mini Chicken Wire and Mini Harlequin masks from the store.



I painted my Dusty Attic Chicken Wire with Stickles in Starry NIght - just the perfect color for a Halloween layout - and embellished with a Glitter Cuts Scary Swoosh and some gorgeous Petaloo blooms from the store and ruffled black trim from my stash.

Take advantage of the Halloween sale to stack up on these lovely products, or any of our other spooktacular Halloween collections - we can't wait to see your Halloween projects.

Have a safe and tasty Halloween!

Jax

Flying Unicorn Mid-Month Card Challenge

It's my turn to host the Mid-Month Card Creation Challenge at Flying Unicorn this month.  This month's challenge is to create a card using a Mojo Monday sketch for inspiration.  Easy peasy, right?

I know many of us routinely use layout sketches as inspiration for our layouts, and some of us use card sketches as inspiration for our cards.  But the ability to translate a layout sketch into a card can open so many new avenues of cardmaking.  Some sketches are easily adapted to a card, while others need to be simplified to account for the smaller canvas you are working with.

Here is a card I made using the October 1st Mojo Monday Sketch.

And here is the sketch I based it on:

The off-center strip on this sketch made me think of a trifold card and I went from there.  To avoid my card being too busy I scaled down the number of flowers in my cluster.

I used the gorgeous Tea For Two collection from Cosmo Cricket, available in the store, for my card, along with flowers by Prima and Petaloo and a gorgeous Prima Say It In Crystals flourish.

All of the Mojo Monday sketches can be found in one convenient thread here.

The rules:

1. Card must be based off a Flying Unicorn Mojo Monday sketch.  Any Mojo Monday sketch - take your pick.  Have fun!  Please let us know which sketch you used when you post your entry.

2. Cards only, please.

3. Card must be new as of October 15th, 2012. Contest closes November 14th, 2012 at 8pm EST.

4. Up to 3 entries per person.

5. Winner will be selected by random draw.

6. Winner has 7 days to PM Alda their mailing information or they forfeit their RAK.

And the best part?  You could win this beautiful RAK, featuring the Cosmo Cricket papers I used on my card, Manor House flowers and stamps from LaBlanche and Creative Imaginations.

I can't wait to see your beautiful creations!

Disney Excitement - Flying Unicorn KOM

In the Flying Unicorn's September Back-To-School tutorials Kelly presented an amazing tutorial called Gesso Goddess 101 where she taught us some of her techniques for creating a rocking, one-of-a-kind background using gesso, mists and masks and I just had to try it.  Since I was working with the October kit at the time, my project is a little late getting turned in - detention for me!

I started with a Sears and Sons diecut paper from Kaisercraft from the October Kit of the Month and went from there, applying gesso through various masks, spritzing on Dylusions sprays and then gently dragging a paper towel across the surface to add some more dimension.

I fussy cut words and cogs from the Prima Craftsman papers, distressed them and tucked them here and there throughout the layout, along with Prima Resist Canvas shapes and Kraft Glassine flowers I misted with various brown mists.

A little gauze...

Some gold mesh ribbon from May Arts...

And a little Prima resin bird from Ingvild Bolme completed the layout.

All of the Back To School tutorials have been permanently moved to the Tutorials Group so that you can go back and reference them anytime.

Thank you for stopping by!  

Chalkboard paint *** Flying Unicorn CT ***

The Flying Unicorn October Kit Of The Month includes a bottle of chalkboard paint and a pack of Crayola chalk.  My kids love chalk, but I admit it has been years since I've used it in scrapbooking, and I've never used chalkboard paint.  But the possibilities were very exciting. 

Here is my first project using the chalkboard paint and chalks:

 

One thing to consider right off the bat is that if you don't want the chalk to smudge you will need to seal it somehow.  Enter the Multi Medium included in the kit - it can be painted on to seal in your masterpiece.  I have also read that a couple of coats of cheap hairspray will do the trick, but you want to make sure to apply it in thin coats so that your chalk does not dissolve.

I painted a piece of black cardstock with two coats of the chalkboard paint.  It is a very thin paint and a little goes a long way. After it was fully dry (because it is so runny it dries completely flat without any pesky brush-strokes) I stamped it with a Prima stamp and platinum archival ink and waited for that to set completely then colored in the diamonds with pink chalk and the dots with blue. I applied my chalk thinly, which gave me a more subtle shading once I'd applied the Multi Medium; if you want the chalk to appear more boldly you will have to apply it darker than the actual shade you are aiming for.  Once I'd finished inking I simply brushed on the Multi Medium, taking care to only brush over each area once to prevent smearing.  And then I panicked, because it looked like my hour of chalking had been wiped away by the Multi Medium.  Luckily as it dried the colors reemerged; it took a couple of days for the color of the chalk to emerge completely.

Here is a closeup:



I then matted my chalkboard background onto Prima Craftsman papers from the October "A Journey In Time" kit and added photo corners and a Dusty Attic Fountain from my stash.  I finished the fountain off with some Ivory and Aqua Aged Embossing Powders from the store - these powders are amazing!  Look at how the details on the DA still show through clearly.



I finished the layout off with the gorgeous Prima butterfly vine from the Flower Add-On and a picture of me at one of my happiest places on Earth, Edinburgh.

How about using the chalkboard paint on a card?  I thought that a hand-written "Thank You" from my 6 year old son would make a great card for his teacher at the end of the year, and would be something he could be proud of helping to make.  I wanted to keep it simple so that Elliot's hand-written message would be the focal point.  I mounted it on Prima Craftsman papers from the October kit and embellished it with some cute little metal flowers from the kit and Doodlebug twine from my stash.

And here it is:



Here are some layouts by other CT members to get your creative juices flowing.

Kelly painted brilliant little chalkboards throughout her layout and scribbled on them in chalk.



Denise used her chalkboard paint on the "B" of her "BOO" off-the-page project - love the foggy effect she created!



And Adrienne shared this beauty on her Today post at the Flying Unicorn several days ago. Because the chalkboard paint is very runny you do not get a crisp image when you paint through a stencil, but this beautiful, organic flowing effect.



As you can see, there are so many possibilities with chalkboard paint.  I can't wait to see what you all do with yours!

"B" - Flying Unicorn KOM

I've completed 5 layouts, the "BOO" off-the-page project included in the main kit and a cute little Boobird house to hold Halloween candy, and I still have tons of paper and product to keep creating from Flying Unicorn's October Kit of the Month "A Journey In Time".  Today I'd like to share a brighter project I made using Scrap Cake's "Summer City" line included in the kit.

 I reached for this picture of Brennan, our three year old, because the colours of his shirt and life jacket matched the colour scheme of the papers so well.  Poor little guy has a bandaged head from where he split it open on the rocks this trip and it had to be glued together at the hospital.  Lesson learned - eye patches and climbing around on rocks don't mix!

Adrienne's challenge this month in the Flying Unicorn forums is Sprinkles - to sprinkle something onto a wet medium on your layout for an added punch.  I applied gesso through a Dylusions mask, then sprinkled on some embossing powders and glitter while it was still wet and heat set it.

I then misted my papers with Dylusions sprays, and flicked some of the Postbox Red haphazardly over the page.  The red banners are Prima Canvas tape that I've sprayed and edged with Distress Ink in Weathered Wood.  The shapes behind the photo are all cut from the Scrap Cake papers, while the beautiful butterflies are from the Graphic 45 paper included in the main kit.

I painted my Dusty Attic Scroll Border #1 from the store with Smooch Paint in "Siren" and used Tattered Angels Glam in "Be Positive" on the B diecut from my stash.  The banners are Prima Poppies and Peonies banners from the store that I spritzed and stamped.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ruff Ryder *** Flying Unicorn KOM ***

Here is another layout for me from the Flying Unicorn "A Journey In Time" October kit.  I love this kit, and have been not-so-subtly urging Alda at Flying Unicorn to consider more like it in the future.  I love the grungy, steampunky, masculine, slightly more edgy feel to this kit, and the way it lends itself to mixed media so well.

This is our (very handsome, if I do say so myself) Lab "Ryder".  The title is a bit of a play on words - he plays rough, he "ruffs" 'cause he's a dog and there is a CFL (Canadian Football League) team called the Rough Riders (not that I follow football, but I liked the symbolism of the title!).

I started with the Kaisercraft Sears and Sons "Trilby" paper from the Patterned Paper Add-On and did a lot of work on the background to grunge it up.  I love the look of notebook punches but don't happen to own one, so instead I used my Bind-It-All (that rarely gets used for anything else) to punch the edges, then inked and distressed them.  I used a tea bag mixed with some Vintage Photo reinker to add some subtle splashes and drips to the background, as well as Goosebumps Matte Texture Spray from the Flying Unicorn store for some added subtle dimension.  I used the chalkboard paint from the main kit through the Mini Tile Texture stencil and gesso and the Mini Harlequin mask from the store for added visual interest and built from there.

I love the Prima Resist Canvas gears, clocks and keys included in the Embellishment Add-On.  I coloured these with sprays and the Pan Pastels from the Add-On and paired them with burlap and torn cardboard for a rustic feel.

Thanks for stopping in for a look!

Mom{me}

Kelly has challenged us to scrapbook "Me Right Now" this month at the Flying Unicorn.  Here's my layout:

Since I scrapped this over Canadian Thanksgiving, 4 of the 5 journalling criteria (on the tag tucked into the right side of the layout) focus on what I'm thankful for - my 3 boys, my wonderful DH, having a creative outlet on the Creative Team at Flying Unicorn and being so happy with the renovations we've done on our house.  The 5th journalling point is how I feel that I'm struggling to be good enough - good enough as a mother, good enough at my job, and how some days it feels as though I'm not accomplishing either.  The title alludes to that as well, that sometimes I feel that the "Me" part gets lost in the "Mommy" part of me.  I love my kids, I love my life, but I have to keep reminding myself that I'm still in here, too, and that it's okay for me to do things for myself.

I used Cosmo Cricket's Tea For Two papers and Ready-Set-Chip embellishments, Petaloo Dazzlers, an adorable Prima zipper and stencils from the Flying Unicorn store for this layout.

Thank you for stopping by!

Scrap Cake Summer City *** Flying Unicorn KOM ***

As soon as I saw Scrap Cake's Summer City release I knew these were papers for me.  Beautiful bright colours that I could use for boy layouts, great depth to the pages - I was in love.  So imagine how thrilled I was to see them paired with my other must-have release from Summer CHA, Prima's Craftsman line, in Flying Unicorn's October kit "A Journey In Time".

Even better, it's Round Robin time again in the Flying Unicorn forums and I'm captain of Team Blue.  So out came my Scrap Cake papers.

Here are a couple closies:

I used glass beads gel sprinkled with various embossing powders and sprayed with Tattered Angels Plain Jane in Light Blue to create a beachy feel.

I flicked some gesso across the background and made some circles with ink and Distress Stickles to complete my background.

 The funky Petaloo flowers and Color Me Crazy flourishes are from the Flying Unicorn store.  I heat embossed the flourishes with Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel in Aqua - I love this stuff.  It combines aqua, black and gold for amazing depth.

Natasha Naranjo-Aguirre had some funky circles on one of her layouts this week, and I just had to try some for myself.

I can't wait to see what the rest of Team Blue comes up with in the coming weeks!

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends, and for everyone else, I hope you had a fantastic weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Boobird House *** Flying Unicorn ***

Tammy from the Flying Unicorn CT designed an adorable little house for her Mid-Month University challenge running through October 14th at the Flying Unicorn - and the best thing?  It's designed to hold candy!  The roof is hinged so that you can tuck a little something inside, and if you complete the matching card it tucks right into the back of the house.  I'm thinking that I'm going to make some of these with Christmas papers for the boys' teachers' Christmas presents.

I used Burnt Sugar and French Roast Core'dinations Cardstock, G45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe "Opitcal Oddities" patterned paper and Prima Resist Canvas Shapes from the October Kit of the Month from Flying Unicorn and ribbons and Carta Bella stickers from my stash.  At just under 4" square, you can easily complete this project with 3 sheets of paper.

And a little note of caution to anyone who tries to touch my candy:

Less than 48 hours since the kit went on sale and there is only one October Kit of the Month left in the store!  You guys obviously know a good thing when you see it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jackie

*** Flying Unicorn *** KOM OTP Reveal

When Alda at Flying Unicorn shipped the October Kit of the Month to the Creative Team she told us that our kids would really enjoy working on our Off The Page (OTP) project with us this month.  And she wasn't wrong.  It is especially fitting in our household, as our kids love to scream "Boo!" at one another and everyone else, all the time.  Once I had Elliot (6) talked out of using cookies and real pumpkin seeds for embellishments we were on a roll!

For our paper mache BOO we were going for a steampunk/Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratory kind of feel, and I'm so happy at the way it turned out.

I wanted one of my O's to be damaged, exposing the gears inside the "machine", so I took my craft hammer and whacked away at it until I was satisfied with the dent I'd created.

To achieve the metal effect we ran foil tape from the hardware store through the BigShot in the Riveted Metal texture fade.  I then removed the backing and adhered to the paper mache, trimming to fit.  We then painted all of the letters with black acrylic paint, and blotted it when it was nearly dry to expose some of the metal underneath.

Here are my two helpers prepping the letters

They did a great job - very little touch-up work by Mum required!

I used my finger to rub in Inka-Gold paints to achieve a worn, rusted look. (In the pictures below you can see how the Inka-Gold covers most of the black but leaves enough showing through on the seams to give it dimension).

Time to embellish!  I wanted to achieve the look of a broken, cobwebby machine.  I took the chipboard gears we received in the main kit and heat embossed them with Platinum UTEE, then cut them to fit the contour I'd created and adhered them with hot glue.  The bats are fussy cut from some Carta Bella paper from my stash and are adhered to thin gauge wire "springs" I created from jewellery wire.

I painted my Dusty Attic spiderwebs with gesso, then heat embossed them with Lindy's Stamp Gang Magic Moon Pearls.

What evil laboratory is complete without brightly coloured Dylusions potions?

The spiderweb transparencies are from my stash and the spiders are from the same Dusty Attic set as the spiderwebs, heat embossed with black UTEE.  The switch plate is a Petaloo Color-Me-Crazy keyhole from the Flying Unicorn store that's been heat embossed with black UTEE and Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder.  The switch is a drinking straw covered in foil tape and coloured with Alcohol Inks from the store.  The cat is Carta Bella from my stash.

The October Kit Of The Month "A Journey In Time" is currently available in the Flying Unicorn store, along with a selection of fantastic Add-Ons.  Get yours before they're gone!

Thank you for stopping by!