Alter Ego - My December Flying Unicorn Challenge

It's the beginning of another month, can you believe it?  And with the new month comes a new crop of challenges at the Flying Unicorn.

My challenge this month is to alter everything on your layout.  And I'm not just talking about distressing, inking and painting.  I want you to stretch yourself to use at least 5 different methods of altering your project.  Every piece of paper, embellishment, flower, scrap of washi or picture should be altered in some way.

Here is my example, using the November Kit of the Month and additional products from the Flying Unicorn Store.

Lots of altering going on here.

- distressing
- inking (pretty much everywhere, with Tin Can Ingvild Bolme chalk ink)
- doodling (on the flowers, on the spotted strips, on the word paper)
- punching (on the lighter background paper and the orange paper)
- sewing (and lots of it, on the lighter background paper)
- stamping (on the lighter background paper)
- misting (on the lighter background paper)
- folding (the washi tape and spotted banners)
- layering (the photos, elements on top of the photos)
- Liquid Pearls (on the strip, on the title)
- ink and Glossy Accents (the letters for "my")
- coloring with markers (on the hand diecut)

Here are some closeups:

As a further challenge, you cannot use gesso or molding paste on your layout.

And now for the rules:

1. Cards, Off-The-Page projects, Layouts and Tags are eligible, as long as everything on them is altered in some way and there are at least 5 different styles of altering represented.  (No digital)
2. Projects must be new as of December 1st, 2012.  Challenge closes at 8pm EST on December 30th (NOT the 31st).
3. You can enter as many times as you'd like.
4. Winner of this gorgeous RAK will be chosen by random.org.

I hope you'll play along!

Seeing Green - Holiday Cash & Card Holders

One of the Mid-Month Challenges in the Flying Unicorn forums going on right now is to make pop-up gift card holders and holiday money holders.  I have 3 pre-teen and early teen nieces and 1 nephew who really prefer money for Christmas and birthdays - easy for them, and super easy for me!  I took advantage of the 20% all Holiday products promotion running through November 30th in the Flying Unicorn store to stock up on Nutcracker Sweet papers from Graphic 45, which are perfect for this type of project, with a busier pattern on one side and a coordinating, geometric pattern on the reverse which does a great job as the card interior.

I have had these Petaloo branches in my stash for nearly a year now and have never really given them a second glance.  And suddenly I LOVE them!  I've cut each of the branches up into sections and used them for tons of projects recently and have them in 4 different colors ordered from the Flying Unicorn store and in the mail - can't wait until they get here!

I topped my punched snowflakes with Stickles to give them a perfect amount of shimmer.

What does a mouse have to do with Christmas?  It's been too long since I've seen the Nutcracker for me to remember, but the image is so brilliantly realized I just had to use it.

I saved these gold baubles from the Christmas crackers (the rolled plastic tubes that go "pop" when you pull the ends and dispense multi-colored paper hats and little goodies that keep everyone occupied throughout Christmas dinner only to be never seen again - oh, and let's not forget the jokes) at Christmas dinner last year.  I also pulled all of the ribbon off the crackers, and some tinsel pipe cleaner - I'm only too happy to help clear the table if it means I can pillage the garbage LOL.

 

And this is my pop up gift card holder, made with some leftover Bo Bunny Father Christmas papers from last year. 

The Mid-Month Challenges are open until December 14th, and as usual there are gorgeous RAKs up for grabs.  For instructions on how to make these timely pop up gift card holders visit the forums.

Holiday Treat Houses

Today I have a photo heavy post of some projects I've made with the whimsical Graphic 45 Nutcracker Sweet papers.

In October Tammy posted directions on the Flying Unicorn forum for some super sweet treat holders she called Boobird Houses for Halloween, and as soon as I saw them I knew that they would make great teachers' gifts for Christmas.  I made matching tags for each house, and plan to fill them with candy and with a little note acknowledging that the boys have each made a donation to the Christmas Bureau on their teachers' behalves so that other children in our community can have the necessities at Christmas.

G45's Nutcracker Sweet papers have a very diverse color palette, which makes them easy to customize - just look at how different each of these came out.







And the matching tags:

And a couple closeups:

Remember, all Christmas products are 20% off until November 30th in the Flying Unicorn store!

Wonderland Card

A quick share tonight of a Christmas card I've done for Alda's Holly Jolly challenge in the Flying Unicorn forums using an adorable Popcorn the Bear Crafter's Companion stamp from the Flying Unicorn store which I've colored with my Copic Sketch markers.

The papers are Bo Bunny Snowfall from last year.  I hated the smell of them when I first received them (I hear it's the smell of the glue), is it wrong that I really like it now?

I finished my card off with a Prima flourish and Petaloo flower.

Thanks for stopping by!

You Make My Life Sparkle

This layout is all about the sparkle! 

This is me with my second son, Brennan, when he was just a baby (can't believe he'll be 4 in a few short months).  Brennan is such a sweet little guy, and he truly makes the sun shine, hence the title of the layout.

The papers are Kaisercraft These Days from the Flying Unicorn store.  I distressed the edges, punched and layered them, then added molding paste through a mask and added light blue glitter and Pearlized mica fragments from Stampendous.  Once it was dry I brushed Glue and Seal over the whole thing to bond the mica to the page. 

I wanted my alphas to sparkle, so I added some Tumbled Glass Distress Stickles.

I added a gorgeous Prima Wisteria vine, nest, wooden tickets and pearl swirl, as well as some Scrap FX Ornate Wings which I heat embossed with Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel in Aqua.

Thanks for stopping by!

CSI 47 & Flying Unicorn

I've been having a blast as a Guest Detective at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration this month! This week's case file is a real departure from the bright purples and greens of last week.

You know how sometimes you capture the greatest moment, but the picture doesn't turn out for whatever reason?  This photo of Colby was taken in the dark at my in-laws' summer cabin - the older kids and adults were dancing and Colby couldn't walk yet but wanted to get in on the action and played DJ for us with his cousin Tyanna's iPod.  Despite the graininess of the photo, this one begged to be scrapbooked.

The papers are Kaisercraft These Days, and along with the small flowers (also Kaisercraft), Prima zipper pull and Prima Poppies and Peonies mask are available from the Flying Unicorn store.

I loved the background paper so much I wanted the whole thing to be visible, which is an unusual look for me, and I didn't want it to look flat, so I started by distressing my edges, adding some stitching and applying some molding paste through my mask, then sprinkling glitter liberally on top.  The sparkle is gorgeous in real life. I also added touches of molding paste to my flowers, leaves and photo mats to add an extra bit of texture.

The gorgeous white bloom is from the November Flying Unicorn Kit of the Month.

I titled the layout "Hey Mr DJ" after the Madonna song, and hid my journaling on the flip side.  I used Crackle Medium on my alphas to get the crackled, worn look.

My evidence for the case is the floral pattern on the paper and the greenery in my flower cluster, and my testimony reads:  Colby's DJing Rules: 1) If you're too young to dance, you get to DJ; 2) Anyone's iPod is fair game; 3)The angle you hold the iPod at affects the quality of the sound - DJing is an active pursuit (he kept tilting and moving the iPod around to see what the image on the screen would do).

Here is Case File 47:

 

I hope you'll play along with us at CSI this week!

Jackie

CSI & Flying Unicorn

The Flying Unicorn is a permanent sponsor at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration and throughout the month of November the Flying Unicorn CT are serving as Guest Detectives.  Here is my attempt to crack the current case file.

The pink is actually much more purple IRL, but with the shimmer and the lighting I couldn't get a truer representation, even using photo editing software.  Such is life, I guess.

I had a lot of fun with this one - the color palette is definitely out of my comfort zone!

And here is this week's case file.

For my evidence I used animal accents (my bird on a branch) and something that shimmers or glows (the purple Luminarte Silks paint).  My testimony details the surprise we felt that Elliot felt no jealousy (at least initially) when little brother Brennan arrived.

I hope you'll stop by CSI and play along!

Silent Auction at Flying Unicorn

Throughout the month of November Flying Unicorn Gives Back, celebrating all of the blessings we are fortunate to have by paying it forward and helping others.  Starting today, the Creative Team have put together lovely packages of scrappy goodies that are up for grabs to the highest bidder.  All proceeds go to benefit the Anne Carlsen Center, whose mission is "Nurturing abilities. Changing lives." (and Flying Unicorn will pay all shipping expenses).

You can find the silent auction HERE.

Interested in other ways to support this worthwhile cause?  For every completed project loaded into the Flying Unicorn Gallery in November, Flying Unicorn will donate $1 to the Anne Carlsen Center to a maximum of $1000.  We are over 700 uploads already - help push us over the 1000 mark!

For every purchase made in the Flying Unicorn store in the month of December, a further donation of 5% will be made.

Mojo Monday at Flying Unicorn

This week it's my turn to provide the inspiration for the Mojo Monday sketch at the Flying Unicorn forums.

I've been hoarding 2 sheets of most of the 7 Dots Wonderland papers for a while now, waiting for just the right project.  And I'm past due to do a layout featuring my eldest niece, though this picture is about 8 years old.  Once I saw this sketch I knew instantly that I wanted to use some of my coveted Wonderland paper, and here is the result.

 

To match the color scheme of the sumptuous Wonderland papers, I started out editing my photo in PicMonkey, giving it a bit of an artsy feel.

Here is the lovely inspiration sketch,

I used loads of Ginger Peach Silks paint on the doilies and the gorgeous Dusty Attic chippies from the Flying Unicorn store, and added a Prima Junkyard Findings lamp which I glued over an acrylic button I've had in my stash forever.

These lovely black flowers are Petaloo from the Flying Unicorn store, the metal flowers and butterflies are from the October Flying Unicorn Kit of the Month.

 I hope you'll play along this week!

Frosty Card - Flying Unicorn Challenge

A quick card share from me today.  It's been awhile since I made a card, but I do love them, and with Christmas coming it's time to ramp it up.

We have a new mid-month challenge at Flying Unicorn starting this month.  Each month we will have a different stamping challenge.  This month the challenge is to stamp on a card, layout or other project and have two different fussy cut edges and at least 3 flowers.

Here is the card I whipped up, using Bo Bunny's Snowfall collection (love these papers, and I have to admit that after starting out hating the smell I now find I'm a little addicted to it.  Not good!), a Whipper Snapper stamp and my trusty Copic markers.

2 Birds In A Nest - Flying Unicorn KOM

This is a picture of my two youngest, Brennan and Colby, seated in a "boat" they made from a Pampers box sharing a bag of crackers.  I used papers and embellies from this month's Flying Unicorn kit "Solace for the Heart".

I started with some misting and a Prima mask, then layered on the embellies from the kit, including this darling Prima wooden bird.  I made a nest for it using a frame from the Vintage Finds layered stickers and some burlap strings from my OTP.

 

I clustered a Kaisercraft birdcage with another layered sticker, some Prima canvas banners and some banners I cut from scraps.

 

The kit contains a gorgeous assortment of border strips which are great for layering...

 

And some lovely My Mind's Eye trim...

 

And some gorgeous flowers, including this one from Maya Road.

Don't forget during the month of November Flying Unicorn Gives Back.  For every new project uploaded to the Gallery, Flying Unicorn will donate $1 to charity to a maximum of $1,000.  And that's not all.  5% of all purchases made from the Flying Unicorn store this month will also be donated to charity.  And, because we really want to help, we will be running a silent auction from the 16th to the 30th - the CT members are putting together lovely kits that will be up for auction. I hope you will check it out!

Solace From the Heart OTP - Flying Unicorn

This month's Off The Page project included in the Flying Unicorn Kit Of The Month is a 10" x 10" stretched burlap canvas from Canvas Corp.  Now, I love to scrap with burlap.  And the thought of covering up an 8" x 8" section with papers and embellies never to be seen again made me sad.  So instead I took an exacto knife - and a big, deep breath - and cut out the middle panel to use on other projects and made my canvas into a shadow box by adhering a piece of Tim Holtz Kraft Resist I'd colored with various Distress Inks and Dylusions sprays to the backside.

I used Tim Holtz's Quirky Turkeys tutorial from last Thanksgiving to create the turkeys.  The wreath is made of grapevines and I picked it up at a local craft store for $1.50.  The leaves are Prima from my stash colored with Dylusions from the Flying Unicorn Store. 

 

The Prima canvas banners are from the kit, as are the letters, which I colored brown using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and sealed with Glossy Accents.

 

Included in the Embellishment Add-On is a package of Creative Paperclay and some Smooch Paints.  I rolled the clay into the shapes of my fruits and vegetables, let them dry for a couple of days and then painted them with various colors of Smooch.

Thanks for stopping by!