The Ring *** Flying Unicorn KOM*** and a challenge

I'm happy to be hosting a challenge this month on the Flying Unicorn Forums.  My challenge is simple - in honor of Halloween, I want to see layouts whose title is the name of a horror film. The twist?  The layout cannot be Halloween themed.  So put your thinking cap on, choose a horror film title, and dazzle us with your creation.

For inspiration I prepared a layout using the Flying Unicorn Kit of the Month, Farmer's Market and Hayrides.  I titled it The Ring.

I had a lot of fun with the background of this one.  I started with gesso through the new Prima Bubbles mask, to which I added some Yellow 13 Arts Water Ink, several colors of embossing powder, clear glitter and microbeads.  I heat set it for lots of chunky texture and outlined the bubbles in watercolor pencil to help them pop.  I then added stenciling through the Art Is stencil and sprinkled on some red glitter and finished everything off with a brand new Prima Harlequin stamp.

I am in love with this month's Flower Add-On.  I used the Prima Soubrette flower as is, and colored the others using 13 Arts Water Inks.

There are lots of fussy cutables for layering in this kit, including a sheet of Polaroid frames I can't get enough of.  The Maggie Holmes transparencies included in the kit are soooooo cool!!! I offset mine over my photo for added impact.

Another little closeup.

I hope you'll play along with us this month.  Standard Flying Unicorn Rules apply.

1. Your challenge project must be new as of September 30th, 2013.

2. Challenge must be posted in the challenge thread by 7:30 pm EST on October 31st, 2013.
3. You may enter a maximum of three (3) entries.

4. Give love, get love, check back often

5. You must have creative fun!

6. You may enter your project in only one Flying Unicorn challenge.
7. You can only win one challenge per month so as to spread the wealth around!
8. Challenge winners must PM Alda their mailing information within 7 days of the challenge ending date or forfeit their RAK.
9. Challenge winners are selected by random draw

Here's the fantastic RAK up for grabs!

Supplies Used:

- Webster's Pages alphas
- Shimmerz Dazzlerz Lemon Drop
- Prima Triangles Stamp
- Gesso
- Prima Bubbles 12x12 mask
- 13 Arts Water Inks: Yellow, Brown and Scarlet
- Ranger Antiquities Embossing Powder - Ochre
- Lindy's Embossing Powder: Scotch Broom Yellow
- Pop! Microbeads: Gold
- Watercolor Pencils
- Crafter's Workshop Mini Art Is mask
- Glitter Ritz Merlot glitter
- Shimmerz - Coffee (Embellishment Add-On)
- Ribbon (Main Kit)
- FUL Metal Adornments
- Prima Encore - Ivory
- Prima Soubrette (Flower Add-On)
- Prima Sherwood Rose Truffle (Flower Add-On)
- DIY Shop Decor paper (Paper Add-On)
- DIY Shop Measurements paper (Main Kit)
- Kaisercraft Take Note die cuts (Main Kit)
- Prima Lightbulb
- Prima Chalk Edger Dark Rust
- Doodlebug twine - Yellow
- Distress Stain - Festive Berries
- Cheesecloth
- Hope Chest Sentiment Stickers

Haunted House *** Flying Unicorn KOM ***

The Flying Unicorn Kit of the Month, Farmer's Market and Hayrides is now available!

One of the things that makes the Flying Unicorn kits unique is the inclusion of an Off-The-Page project to really stretch your creativity.  This month the kit contains an adorable little wooden house.  Naturally because of the season my mind ran to haunted houses, the slightly creepy, dilapidated Victorian house up on the cliff in old stories.

I mixed Graphic 45 papers from two different collections, French Country and Olde Curiosity Shoppe and chipboard and number stickers from Steampunk Spells.

The walkway is made of Ceramic Stucco through a new Prima stencil.

Thank you for stopping by!  I will be back tomorrow with more October kit shares tomorrow.

Flying Unicorn Kit of the Month Reveal - Farmer's Market & Hayrides

Summer has bid her farewell and the morning air is crisp as the leaves turn from greens to golds.

These are the days where weekend mornings are driving down the country lane and stopping at the Farmer's market for some apple cider as the children frolic in the pumpkin patches and tug asking if they to can have a hayride. With the Solace of Fall Flying Unicorn is proud to present to you our October Kit of the month Farmer's Market and Hayrides.

The summer-flower has run to seed,
And yellow is the woodland bough;
And every leaf of bush and weed
Is tipt with autumn’s pencil now.

And I do love the varied hue,
And I do love the browning plain;
And I do love each scene to view,
That’s mark’d with beauties of her reign.

John Clare

Our You Tube channel is filled with great techniques and tutorials to help you grow and learn . Every month as the kit is released we add to our you tube library and this month is no exception. Join Jen this month as she takes you step by step in creating this amazing layout.

CSI #91 - Guest Detective

TGIF!  It's been a busy week around here with extra hours at work getting dogs bred, getting all the data together to load into a new database next week and preparing for the annual graduation ceremony of our assistance dog teams at PADS this weekend, an upcoming conference, two sick kids at home, and lots of late month scrapping going on for beginning of the month reveals. I wish I could say things will slow down soon, but it doesn't seem like it LOL.  As I write this post, though, all the kids are quiet and content, the sun is shining and I can't complain.

I am happy to be back this week as a guest detective at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration, along with my fellow Flying Unicorn CT members.

The way I solved the case this week is totally outside my normal wheelhouse, but the layout just evolved the way it wanted to and I have to say at the end of the day I'm really happy with it.  The colors seemed absolutely perfect for a nature layout, and I had this adorable photo of Elliot and Brennan from several years ago just begging to be scrapped.

Color challenges can be quite a challenge for me, but sometimes things just fall into place, like when I discovered this piece of Prima Lifetime paper was perfect for this challenge.

I fussy cut my boys out of the picture to remove the distracting background, and needed something to anchor them in my scene.  This chipboard circle is an off-cut from an old Dusty Attic clock face pack. I traced it on my page and filled the area in with a light coat of gesso to create the illusion of a bubble; I created some subtle shading along the inside edges of the circle with chalk inks.  The chippy itself is coated with some Shimmerz Dazzlerz in Spun Sugar.

The adorable little toadstools have been in my stash for awhile, and I couldn't resist using them here.

The chippies are Blue Fern Studios.  I colored the stalks with chalk ink.  The pink blooms are Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powder with acrylic paint on top and the yellow blooms are Lindy's embossing powder with Lemon Drop Dazzlerz on top.

I created my pond using the oil pastel sticks from the August Mid-Month Muse kit from Flying Unicorn.  I wanted to create the illusion of ripples on the water and grass, and did so by applying a thin layer of the Spun Sugar Dazzlerz to a script stamp and stamping it on top of the pastels. A little gauze in the background adds a mossy feel.

The raindrops were made with molding paste through a Prima mask, but they were getting lost in the background.  I solved this by coloring them with a paintbrush dipped in mist and then outlined them in pencil for added definition (a black pen was too bold, but pencil was just perfect, here and for my journaling).  

I also added some "bubbles" of Spun Sugar Dazzlerz throughout, similarly outlined in pencil.

Here is this week's Case File:

Evidence (at least 2) from the list: Leaves, Wet medium, Something Iridescent, Bubbles

Testimony (at least 1 from the list): Write a love note to someone or something

I hope you will play along with CSI this week!

Supplies:

- Prima Lifetime Grazia paper

- Oil Pastels from August Flying Unicorn Mid-Month Muse kit

- Pencil

- Lindy's Stamp Gang Embossing Powder: Cosmic Pink Blue and Scotch Broom Yellow

- Adirondack Paint Dabber: Mountain Rose

- Shimmerz Dazzlerz: Lemon Drop, Spun Sugar
- Colorbox Chalk Ink: Warm Green, Rose Coral
- Colorbox Pigment Ink: Banana Custard
- Blue Fern Studios: Garden Daisies Small, Spring Iris Large
- Prima Resins #890766
- Prima Chalk Ink: Summer Field
- Vibez: Jeni B Bleu
- Prima: Raindrops 6x6 stencil
- Molding Paste
- Gesso
- Crafter's Workshop: Microbial 12x12 stencil

Authentique Showcase - Day 2

Authentique and Flying Unicorn are teaming up to showcase some of Authentique's stunning CHA Summer releases.

For today's project, I have prepared a Halloween card using the Thrilling collection.  I love the richness and warmth of the colors in these papers.

The Forewarn paper has all sorts of great images to fussy cut, and I chose this one as the front of my card because I love the shape and the skull and crossbones (though you can't see them on this card because I've covered them up, the Superstition paper has an amazing orange damask print with skulls and crossbones.  That and the Antidote paper with the bats are my favorite papers in the collection.

For added visual interest and dimension, I cut apart a ScrapFX chipboard piece and covered it with Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel in Black (don't you just love the gold flecks in the enamel?), then anchored some baker's twine to the pieces.

Don't forget to check out the Authentique blog and the Flying Unicorn Forums for lots more inspiration and your chance to win some Authentique prizes.  And take this opportunity to snap up these lovely papers - they are on sale at the Flying Unicorn at 20% off September 26th and 27th, coupon code "Authentique".

Thank you for stopping by!

Supplies:

- Authentique Thrilling: Forewarn, Mystic, Antidote, Superstition, Moonlit

- ScrapFx chippy: Flourish S Ornate

- Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel: Black

- Twine

- Prima Chalk Edger: Coal Black

Authentique Showcase

One of our favorite booths at summer CHA was Authentique.  Not only do they have heavy, sumptuous papers, but the people there are some of the friendliest in the industry.  So imagine how thrilled the Flying Unicorn CT were to get to play with the new Authentique lines!  Join us over the next two days as we feature our projects, and don't forget to check out the Authentique blog and Flying Unicorn Forums for your chance to win great prizes and see the work of the rest of the Creative Team (or you can always browse their creations by following the links to their blogs on my sidebar).

For my project today, I have a layout featuring the spooktacular new Halloween line, Thrilling.  I have already gone through 2 sets of these papers!  Absolute love.

I love this photo of Brennan.  He was about 20 months old and didn't quite understand what was happening at the pumpkin patch (he was tagging along on Elliot's preschool trip); I love his deep, soulful eyes, pudgy cheeks and sweet little rosebud lips.  Hard to believe how much he's changed in 3 years.

I love all the fussy-cutable (bet you didn't know that was a verb LOL) little hexagons.  These happen to be the backside of my background paper - fortunately I had two sheets, though I could have cut the images from the center of the page and covered the hole with my layering.  Do you ever salvage the "hidden" parts of your papers?  I do, especially when I am just using the sheet for a thin border.

To give the hexagons a little added dimension, I inked the edges before adhering them.

What's a Halloween page without spiders and spiderwebs?  I wanted the webs to have a bit of sparkle and shine, so I started by priming them with gesso, then added Lindy's Stamp Gang Embossing Powder in Magic Moon Pearls, which silver-izes the base colour.  While the embossing powder was still warm I added some glitter here and there and reheated it to melt the glitter into the embossing powder.

The spiders were embossed with Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel in Black to give them a two-toned gold on black effect. I love how these two embossing powders give such different effects.  The Lindy's EPs melt smooth, like butter, and are more translucent, whereas the Enamels are chunky and give a more textured, opaque effect.

For my splashes, I used Ayeeda Pearl Mist in Orange through a Crafter's Workshop Splats mask to give me control as to where the ink went.  The splats weren't big enough for what I wanted so I repositioned the mask and misted a couple of times.  I love the translucency of the Ayeeda mists - they don't obscure the background paper at all, and the Authentique paper is so sturdy it doesn't warp when misted.

To add some dimension I popped the spiders up on foam; I also trimmed around the stem of the pumpkin in my picture and laced twine around it to attach my tag, which is also mounted with glue dots.

During this showcase, all Authentique papers are 20% off in the Flying Unicorn Store, code "Authentique".

Thank you for stopping by!  Come back tomorrow, when I will have a Thrilling card to share.  In the meantime, remember to check out Authentique and the Flying Unicorn Forums for more inspiring projects and chances to win.

Supplies:

- Authentique Thrilling: Frenzy, Superstition, Forewarn, Moonlit, Detail Sticker Sheet
- Distress Ink: Weathered Wood
- Prima Chalk Edger: Black Coal
- Twine
- Dusty Attic Spiderwebs/Spiders
- Lindy's Stamp Gang Magic Moon Pearls Embossing Powder
- Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel: Black
- 13 Arts Ayeeda Pearl Mist: Orange
- Glitter
- Crafter's Workshop 12x12 Splats mask

Lucky - OUAS September Challenge

This is usually a very slow time of month for me for blogging while I frantically prepare projects for the beginning of the month, but this month has been a bit of an anomaly.  Thanks to Canada Post being painfully slow this month, I found myself with a little extra playtime and made full use of it.  It was a great excuse to pull out the new 7 Dots 9th Wave papers sitting in a box by my desk - I've been salivating over these papers ever since 7 Dots posted the first sneaks.

One of the challenges I couldn't resist playing along with was Once Upon a Sketch.  Nadia always prepares such beautiful sketches, and I love the added challenge of having to stick to a theme.  This month's theme is "Lucky", which was an easy one for me - I have been so blessed in my life that the inspiration bubbled over and it was hard to narrow it down to just one photo.  But I did, picking this photo of Evan and I on our trip to New York City for our 10 year wedding anniversary this summer; I can't believe he's been in my life since I was 13 and a permanent fixture since I was 16.  Like I said, I have truly been lucky.

Lots going on here - lots of colour, lots of pattern, lots of background work, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I started by layering strips of washi and tissue tape horizontally across the layout, then covered that in gesso and started building up my paper layers, including a white cardboard coffee cup sleeve (can you see it tucked under the Lucky title below?) that I coloured with chalk edgers and mist to bring out the checkered surface.

Layers of gorgeous 7 Dots papers.

To build the background I used gesso through the Prima Woodgrain stencil, then added Shimmerz Dazzlerz through the Prima Checker stencil.  I used Prima Chalk Edgers to build up the colour, as well as Distress Ink and Stain on Canvas Tape.

The chipboard pieces are remnants from a Scrap FX chippy I dissected for a previous project.

Supplies:

7 Dots 9th Wave: Coral Reef 12x12, 6x6 paper pack

Gesso

Prima Stencils: Woodgrain and Checker

Shimmerz Dazzlerz: Lemon Drop and Sour Apple

Prima Canvas Tape

Distress Ink: Shaded Lilac

Distress Stain: Bundled Sage

Tim Holtz Tissue Tape: Symphony and Nostalgic

Washi Tape

Colorbox Cat's Eye Dye Ink: Lemon Drop

Pitt Artist Pen - Black XS

Prima Brick Stamp

Prima Chalk Edgers: Black Coal, Blossom Tree, Summer Field, Turquoise Stone

Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray: French Lilac Violet

EK Punch

Martha Stewart Punch

Prima Divine Vine & Divine Flowers

Prima Divine alphas

Prima Zipper

Scrap FX chippy

Polaroid Frame

Sharpie Poster Paint Pen: White

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Mom and Me - 13 Arts September Challenge

I hope you're having a great weekend.  It's raining buckets here - definitely an inside day, and we are working on getting things done around the house, like getting Colby's big boy race car bed set up.  And I've been sneaking in a little scrapping :)

I couldn't resist playing along with the 13 Arts Challenge this month, which happened to be a sketch challenge - my favourite!  Luckily for me, the Flying Unicorn Store stocks the beautiful 13 Arts papers and some of their mediums.

Here is my take on the sketch:

In addition to this sketch, you had to use at least 2 media and 2 stamps, easy peasy, right?

For my media I used gesso, mists, water ink, watercolor paint, water color pencils, chalk ink and Gelatos.  For the stamps I used 3 new Prima Stitch Stamp sets (squares, circles and lines). Couldn't wait to get my hands on these stamps after seeing them at CHA and they arrived this week!

I so rarely get to use pink on my layouts, and couldn't resist using it as an accent on this page featuring a picture of my mom and I a month before my wedding. My mom was taken from us too early at 61, but pictures like this remind me of the good times.

Additional Supplies:

13 Arts Faces of Spring Collection: Spring Morning, In Your Eyes, Strong Feelings, Hair in the Wind

13 Arts Pearl Mist Skye Blue and Water Ink Yellow (in addition to using the Yellow on its own as a mist I blended the two together for a custom green mist)

Prima flowers: Audrey Golden, Le Mia Lagoon, Layla Mix

Prima Divine Alphas

Prima Chalk Edgers: Pastel Violet, Summer Field

Prima Scales Stencil 12x12

Prima Stitch Stamps: Circles, Squares, Lines

Twinkling H2Os Deep Coral

Watercolor Pencils

Ashland Butterfly

Shimmerz Coloringz No Yoking

Canvas Corp 12x12 Canvas Sheet

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Gelatos

Gesso

Thanks for stopping by!