Flying Unicorn "Magic" Reveal - Part 1

Hello bloggers! How do you blog - are you super organized and have all your blog posts scheduled a week or more in advance, or do you tend to take it down to the wire and blog at the last minute and hit publish right away?

I generally prepare a couple of my beginning of the month posts a day or so in advance, then paste the others in a mad scramble as I go, and the first couple of days of the month are fraught with anxiety as I tend to get everything posted everywhere. This month I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and - gasp! - I am writing this post on November 26th even though it won't go live until December 1st. With Christmas fast approaching I'm hoping that getting little things done ahead of time will help to stave off the last minute panic.

Here is my first project with the December Flying Unicorn Kit of the Month - Magic. I was really excited to see the Marion Smith Designs Nirvana papers in this kit as it is one of my favorite lines of the year, but I was a little stumped by the Pink Paislee Color Wash papers as I don't do negative space well. My solution? Throw a bunch of media at it and keep it up until I was happy with it! Lots of stencilling, painting and inking here for a truly dramatic result. I took my color scheme from the shirts Brennan and Colby are wearing (I wish Elliot was in the picture, too, but trying to get a picture of all three of them seems to be an elusive dream).

I began by stencilling with gesso through a chevron stencil in the top right, then misted through the same stencil. To get a more subdued chevron pattern at the bottom of the page, I pressed the wet side of the stencil onto the paper.  I then colored the rest of the background with Distress Ink and an ink blending tool.

For pops of color I painted and dribbled Twinkling H2Os onto the page - I love how vibrant they are. The blue checker pattern was achieved with Silks through a Prima mask.  You can also see a hint of cheesecloth applied with Gel Medium below the flowers in the photo above.

I love the purple stars! This is one of the new Tim Holtz layering stencils with Shaded Lilac Distress Ink.

The sweet sentiment is fussy cut from one of the Kaisercraft papers in the main kit.

The Magic Kit of the Month is available in the Flying Unicorn Store now - get yours before they're all gone!

Thank you for stopping in today!

Supplies:

From the Kit of the Month and Add-Ons:

- Pink Paislee Color Wash: "Shine" & "Bright"

- Pink Paislee Color Wash: Embellishments (frames)

- Kaisercraft Enchanted Garden: "Rapture"

- Pink Paislee Color Wash banners

- Petaloo Textured Mini Blossoms

- Prima Lucido flowers

- Shimmerz Dimensionz Blue Lagoon

From my stash:

- Prima 12x12 Chevron mask

- Gesso

- Shimmerz mists: Tuscan Sun, Caribbean Sunset & Pop Art Pink

- Splash of Color Silks: Blue Flame

- Splash of Color Twinkling H2Os: Periwinkle, Orange Peel, Mandarine Citrine

- Distress Inks: Rusty Hinge, Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry, Shaded Lilac, Weathered Wood, Black Soot

- Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Stars

- Prima Checker Stamp

- Memento Tuxedo Black ink

- Stabilo Aquarellable Black & White pencils
- Doodlebug Twine

Flying Unicorn December "Magic" Kit Release

It's time to release our December Kit of the Month and without further adieu we present December's Kit - Magic

Magic is in the air as we see the fairies dance along the edge! Escape to the world of enchantment with our December kit that boasts creative imagination from the paper collections of Kaiser Craft, Pink Paislee and Marion Smith. An array of coordinating embellishments have been chosen to make this time of year pure magic!

Our kits always come with an off the page project for your creative enjoyment. This month we are pleased to offer you a box frame which slides open to a secret compartment, so you can stash a memory or two.

Stretch the creativeness and enjoy the add on collections that compliment the Main Kit!

Awesome inspirational layouts and cards from our Creative Team !

To see more inspiration using our December kit - head on over to the forums

Grab your coffee or tea and head on over to our you tube channel as Jax teaches us this month to make your own shadow box using our kit and the off the page

You can make this layout too! Head on over to our forums as Denise takes us step by step in the creative journey from start to finish to create this magical piece of art !

As you know - we are not a kit club - there are no sign ups - our kits are offered on a first come first serve basis- Scrapbooking should be a passion and not an obligation! So head on over to the store to get yours- once they are gone... they are gone!

Blue Fern Studios DT Announcement

I can't believe I have kept this under wraps for a whole week. I am thrilled to announce I have been selected to be on the Blue Fern Studios DT for 2014! Blue Fern Studios has incredibly versatile chippies, and I couldn't be more excited to design for them. And look at this line up of talented designers I have the privilege of working with:

New Design Team Members
Evgenia Pelzer - South Africa
Jackie Clark - Canada
Jelissa Mei - Singapore
Joyce Lawrence - United States
Keren Tamir - Canada
Leila Cardoso - Brasil
Lisa Griffith - United States
Marie Josee Hamel - Canada
Maja Stokk - Sweden
Olga Heldwein - Poland
Rae Moses - United States
Yuko Tanaka - Japan

Returning Design Team Members:
Camilla Ekman - Sweden
Erin Blegen - Director of Marketing - United States
Kelly Foster - United States
Lisa Gregory - United States
Patter Cross -Assistant Design Team Coordinator -United States
Valerie Serfozo - Design Team Coordinator - United States

My first DT projects for Blue Fern Studios will be posted in January, but in the meantime here are some past layouts I have created with their chippies.

Congratulations to all the other ladies joining the team!

Thank you for stopping in today - I hope you are having a fantastic weekend. Evan and I are off zip trekking this morning.

Prima November BAP

Just stopping in for a quick share tonight. I had a chance to play along with the Prima BAP this month just for fun, and wanted to try my hand at some techniques I'd seen recently in one of Georgia Heald's videos, with my own spin on them. I'm not a coffee drinker, so I'd never thought of using it on my layouts, but I love the way it turned out (though I'm not so keen on the way my scraproom smelled).

I've had these baby pictures of Brennan waiting to be scrapped forever, and the neutral of his sweater played so nicely against the deep, rich tones of the Sunrise Sunset papers.

I did a lot of background work - stencilling with gel medium through the Prima Orbs stencil and then adding in partial outlines with a Sharpie Poster Pen, whitewashing the background with gesso, stamping circles with Ginger Peach Silks and Bricks with black ink and some Shimmerz Dazzlerz as a finishing touch.

I fussy cut bits from both the Craftsman and Lifetime lines to use as embellishments, and stained both the papers and flowers with coffee to age them.

I love Prima's bark butterflies - this time I used the back side and stained it with Silks and some splatters from the poster pen before dressing it up with a couple of the Tiny Junk Yard Findings.

And here's the gorgeous sketch:

Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate you taking the time to visit.


Supplies:

- Prima Sunrise, Sunset papers: Celsius & White Hot
- Prima Craftsman: Gear Up
- Prima Brick stamp
- Prima Bark Butterflies
- Prima Orbs Stencil (12x12)
- Prima Stitches Stamp: lines
- Prima Static Stencil (12x12)
- Prima Chalk Ink: Brick Wall, Rose Bud, Coltsfoot Stemens
- Prima Script stamp
- Prima Resist Canvas Borders
- Prima Ingvild Bolme Tiny Junk Yard Findings
- Prima Chantelle Medallion flowers: white
- Prima Engraver Wood Buttons
- Prima Encore: Ivory

- Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad
- Gesso
- Coffee
- Shimmerz Sprays: Tuscan Sun, Treasured Hymn, Caribbean Sunset
- Shimmerz Dimensionz: Blue Lagoon
- 13 Arts Pearl Mist: Orange
- Silks: Ginger Peach
- Claudine Hellmuth stamp
- Sharpie Paint Pen: white
- Dylusions: White Linen

Nutcracker Sweet Tag and Candle Holder

It's my turn to share some Christmas projects today on the Flying Unicorn Today post, and I'm playing with some old Christmas favourites from Graphic 45. One of the lovely things about G45 papers is that it is so easy to combine scraps from different lines to gorgeous effect.

My first project is an oversized gift tag featuring the adorable Nutcracker from Nutcracker Sweet himself, along with three miniatures.

The bold patterns of G45 papers are ideal for tags - they pack plenty of punch into small spaces.

I fitted the hole of the tag with a key hole chippy from Leaky Shed Studio heat embossed with Stampendous Embossing Enamel in Aged Gold and trimmed it with some of the sumptuous gold crinkle ribbon from the store. I used a Viva Pearl Pen in Sunshine Yellow to add some dimension to the tag.

Another quick project using some of the scraps - a two layer glass candle holder. I love all the fussy-cuttable pieces of G45 papers.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Supplies:

- Graphic 45 Nutcracker Sweet, Christmas Emporium and Christmas Past
- Leaky Shed Studio Keyhole Plain
- Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel Gold
- Viva Pearl Pen Sunshine Yellow
- 1.5" Silky Crush Ribbon
- Prima Tag

Round Robin at Flying Unicorn

This month we're doing a Round Robin on the Flying Unicorn Forums - with a twist! Some teams are doing layouts, some teams are doing cards, some are doing arches, some are doing off-the-page projects - everyone got to pick a team that was right in their wheelhouse. How much fun is that?

I am up third for Team #1, following layouts by Marilia Lopes and Sarah Lynch, which can be seen here. I rotated their layouts to put my focal point on the right side of the page so that I could keep the whimsical hot air balloon image on the Nirvana paper visible.

I kept Marilia's circle chippy element, but shifted it off to the side to make use of this large clock face chippy I have had in my stash for ages.

Even when starting with a heavily patterned background paper, you can still customize it to make it your own, and to bring out those colors in the background you'd like to highlight. I started by blending Gelatos in Metallic Mint and Butterscotch around the edges of the paper to deepen the colour, then added some molding paste butterflies which I tinted with coffee and outlined with a watercolor pencil for dimension. I stamped randomly with a number stamp and some dark ink to create depth, and  stencilling with gesso to add a nice pop of white. To finish it off I scribbled randomly with a gold leafing pen around the border of the page.

The chipboard clock was painted with gesso, stamped with a script stamp and brown ink, scribbled on with gesso and then randomly heat embossed with gold embossing powder for a rustic feel.

I loved Marilia and Sarah's flower clusters, and piled mine full of Prima and Petaloo flowers and some hand cut cardboard hearts I dressed up with Gelatos and the gold leafing pen.

I kept Sarah's idea of a journaling tag, but hid mine amongst my paper layers.

Thank you Marilia and Sarah for the gorgeous inspiration, and I can't wait to see what Leila, who's up next, comes up with!

I hope you all had a great weekend, and I really appreciate you stopping by!

Supplies

- Marion Smith Designs Nirvana papers: Cloud 9, Documented and Family Record
- Distress Ink: Walnut Stain & Vintage Photo
- Dusty Attic: Skeleton Clock Face
- Vintage White acrylic paint
- Prima Script stamp
- Prima Lifetime Fabric flowers
- Gelatos: Gold, Metallic Mint, Butterscotch
- Prima Butterflies 12x12 mask
- Light Molding Paste
- Gesso
- Shimmerz Shimmeringz: Goldie Lox
- Crafter's Workshop Mini Art Is mask
- Kaisercraft Number stamp
- Krylon Gold Leafing pen
- Studio Calico Circle mask
- Petaloo Darjeeling: Wild Mini Blossoms Teastained Cream
- Prima Divine & Delight Roses
- Prima Encore Turquoise
- Stampendous Aged Embossing Enamel: Gold

Let's Ride

Yay, it's the weekend! And a long weekend in my neck of the woods, to boot. We're making our first trip up to the mountain this weekend to do and inventory of all the kids' ski stuff and see who needs new what. Once ski season starts this is a weekly trek for us up to my in-laws' cabin for the kids to take skiing lessons; I'm excited because this will be the first year I ski for more than a day in the season since I started having kids. I've committed to skiing at least 5 times this year, wish me luck!

Tonight I'm stopping in with a colorfall layout from the early days of the fall of Colby and Brennan on their bikes.

I used the Blue Fern Studios sketch for inspiration. They always have such gorgeous sketches; I play along there whenever I can.

I went back to the October Flying Unicorn Kit of the Month, Farmer's Market and Hayrides, for this one. I built a lot of layers on this background: a thin coat of gesso, masking through 2 different masks, spraying with several colors of Shimmerz Spritz, stamping and dribbling with some Shimmerz Shimmerz paints - love the chunky sparkle in these! I also adhered the little paper punch-out circles from the Fancy Pants paper stencils I tore up to mat my project.

I used the Blue Fern Studios Widgetworks chippies as part of the cluster around my photo, but instead of making them look industrial, I wanted them to be bright to match the page. I piled on gesso, then Shimmerz paints, then dabbed on a little more gesso using a sea sponge, sprayed with some Shimmerz and finally heat embossed them with different colors of Lindy's Stamp Gang Embossing Powders for that fantastic glazed look.

On the arrow below you can see a hint of the amazing shimmer on the chipboard pieces.

I gave all the flowers a spritz with the Shimmerz mists to help them coordinate.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you have an amazing weekend!

Products Used

Blue Fern Studios Widgetworks

From the Flying Unicorn October KOM:
- Crate Paper DIY Shoppe: Crafty & Artistry
- Prima Soubrette: Orange & Yellow
- Studio Calico Circles stencil
- Crate Paper DIY Shoppe: Stickers

- Gesso
- Shimmerz Spritz: Tuscan Sun, Caribbean Sunset & Seafoam
- Shimmerz Shimmerz: Pumpkin, Jilted Jade, Sky Blue & Tickle Me Turquoise
- Tim Holtz Layering Stencils: Stars
- Faber-Castell Pitt Pen - Black XS
- Lindy's Stamp Gang Embossing Powders: Cosmic Pink Blue, Scotch Broom Yellow, Hyancinth Blue Green & Angels Wings Peacock
- Smash Tape
- Fancy Pants artist stencils
- Prima Sherwood Roses - Truffle
- Prima Velvet Pastel flowers

Flying Unicorn Charity Silent Auction

Flying Unicorn has some amazing (and I mean ah-mazing!) lots up for auction to support Best Friends Animal Society.  Check it out by clicking on the image above.

Here's just a sampling of the different lots up for grabs to the highest bidder:

Incredible paper-outfitted doll donated by Forum member Donna Dee:

This amazing pack (including the gorgeous purse) courtesy of Bo Bunny:

A mega-lot of Shimmerz, courtesy of Shimmerz, Blingz & Spritz:

This incredible mini album, paper and embellishment pack from FabScraps:

From Authentique, 6 Paper Packs!

Over $300 worth of Flying Unicorn Metal Adornments and this amazing hand-crafted box to hold them, courtesy of Flying Unicorn:

And many lovely lots put together by the fabulous Flying Unicorn CT - chippies, metal embellishments, stencils - oh my!

Stop by Flying Unicorn Gives Back to check out all the lots, how to bid and remember that you are helping an amazing cause.