Friday, February 19, 2010

Beautiful Butterflies

I don't know about where you live, but it doesn't seem like winter is going to let go of its hold here. I'm so ready for spring and GREEN! Can you tell it's my favorite season?
Since my last post I've added two new videos to YouTube and I also published them on The Scrapbeach http://thescrapbeach.ning.com/. The first one is my "Blue Mini" and the second is a tutorial on how I adapted used dryer sheets into Laura Dennison's (FollowThePaperTrail) beautiful Lutrador fabric stabilizer butterflies.

Aren't they pretty. I just love butterflies.

I plan to make another tutorial on my handmade flowers and vines when I can squeeze in the time.
Here's wishing lots of inspiration and good scrapping to you all!
Blessings,
Tracy

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Garden Mini Album

Hi Everyone!

This post includes pics of a mini album that I made for my best friends birthday back in December. I got the idea for the cover from a blog by Nathalia Castellon at http://funkyphreshpapierkreations.blogspot.com/2007/07/garden-gate-mini-album-tutorial.html. Sorry for the blackout spaces but I forgot to take pictures before I put photos in her album.

Let's get started!

The cover is made with chipboard "fence slats" that I painted with purple and white acrylic paint and crackle medium. I made the roses and hand cut and colored the bird. The ladybug is a sticker and the butterfly was stamped on card stock and colored with Prisma colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I printed the leaves out on my computer from a dingbat font that I downloaded and then hand cut them and added their details. There's a metal keyhole and silver brad "nails". The album is bound with two bookrings and they have fibers and ribbon tied to them as well as a couple of charms hung by garment pins that I alcohol inked silver.

The paper I used in this mini is from Basic Grey's Porcelain collection. The inside cover has a handmade vine and the flower and leaves are from a Nestabilites die.. The first page has some Prima flowers. The center flower is made with the Velma technique. The sentiment is printed out on a piece of acetate.

The house, pole, vine, leaves, and grass are all handcut and pieced. The little flowers are tiny Primas that I folded in fourths.

This page has another handmade vine. The leaves were punched with a Martha Stewart punch and colored with ink. The flowers are more folded Primas and their bottoms are small Prima flowers also. The bottom panel is a torn strip of paper colored with Tattered Rose Distress ink and some Old Lace Glimmer Mist. The "FAMILY" tag was cut with a Nestabilities die and inked with Vintage Photo Distress ink. The bird is an Inkadinkadoo stamp that is colored with Prismas and the OMS and adhered with pop dots.

This page has a scrunched ribbon with some glass chunk beads sewn to it. The birds are from the same Inkadinkadoo stamp and the sentiment is printed on acetate. The tree is made from a Tattered Angels Glimmer Screen that I ran through my Wizard and then cut out. It's painted with Olive Vine and Tattered Leather Glimmer Mist.

Another bird from the same stamp set. He was stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and he's covered with Glossy Accents. His branch was cut with my Cricut and inked with Memento New Sprout ink. The birdbath is handcut, colored with Prismas and OMS and the bowl is filled with Waterfall Stickles. Some more handcut grass too.

On this page I handcut the tree trunk and then ran it through my Wizard in the Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes Embossing folder. It's colored with Weathered Wood Distress ink. The "leaves" are made with a Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch and they are colored with Olive Vine Glimmer Mist.

Another birdhouse that is handcut and pieced. It's colored with Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress ink and Memento New Sprout.The hearts are strung on a piece of black embroidery thread and they are covered in Cotton Candy Stickles. The opening is covered in Scattered Straw Distress Stickles.

This is the puppy page. The Dogs Rule sign was printed from my computer. The dots on the letters are made with Scribbles White Mist 3D paint and inked with Tattered Rose Distress ink. The flag pole, fence, and leaves are handcut and the vine is handmade. It's decorated with small Primas with bling centers. The flag was cut with a Nestabilities die and the crown with my Cricut. It's "jeweled" with Stickles.

The last page includes a scripture that I printed from my computer and pieced. The irises are some stickers that I found at the Dollar Tree way back. The bird cage is painted onto acetate with the same Scribbles paint.

The back cover has a flourish that I cut from chipboard on my Cricut. It's covered in Shabby Shutters Crackle Paint and decorated with some Primas with bling centers and a chipboard butterfly cut from my Cricut. He's edged with Vintage Photo and stamped with Vintage Sepia. The black part of his body was done using Marion's(APieceofCraftdotcom) technique with puff paint and UTEE. His wing is covered in UTEE also.
Well, that's it. I had so much fun making this one because of all the handmade stuff. I'd rather make it than buy it if I can. I have one more mini that I made for a friend for Christmas before I decided to video, so it will be up next here and I am working on my next video mini now. I can't spit them out very fast because I'm such a perfectionist or detailist, whatever you want to call it. LOL.
Hope you liked my Garden Mini. Leave me a comment if you can. I'd love to know what you think.
Blessings,
Tracy









Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Start

I didn't video my first two minis but I did photograph them. Thought I'd share them here and try my best to give credit to all the people I got ideas from. I made this for my friend Jennifer. She went to Utah to attend a big scrapping convention there so I made this for her to fill with memories from her trip.



I used My Mind's Eye Laundry Line paper for this mini. The acetate butterfly was stamped, alcohol inked, and UTEE'd. I melted a big pile of UTEE and stamped Utah into it. I learned how to make the flowers from stampartic.blogspot.com. They're primarily a card making site but they have some really neat technique tutorials that go great with minis.





The letters on this page and the one below were designed by Teresa Manchas at scrapthis-catz.blogspot.com. They're time consuming but they look great.


I think I got the idea for this tulle lollipop flower from Hope Simpson who's MsScrappaperscissors on Youtube.




The pinky flower is made of acetate. I alcohol inked it and UTEE'd it too. The picture frame is made by wrapping ribbon around a piece of chipboard I cut out with my Cricut.


The heart is made of two pieces of DP woven together.


This lollipop flower was designed by weeziechk at weeziechksworld.blogspot.com. She's AWESOME!


These are some of the famous "Velma Technique" flowers. She's at creativelyouttacontrol.blogspot.com. The envelope idea comes from a tutorial that can be found on the swirlydoos.com website.


More Velma flowers and the stamped acetate idea came from Arlene who's mybutterflykisses12 on Youtube.


Another Velma flower.


This organza flower idea also comes from swirlydoos.com and the tag idea is from weeziechk.


The flowers may have come from a Splitcoast Stampers tutorial. I'm not sure. The pocket is a Marion pocket (APieceofCraft.com). Some more Stampartic flowers.




This butterfly is a design of Rosanne's at roxycar11 on Youtube.
Like I said, this was my first and I tried to put everything but the kitchen sink in it. LOL

Hope you liked it.

Blessings,Tracy










The Plunge

Well, I have finally decided to take the plunge into blogging and Youtube videos. About three months ago I discovered the craft of Mini Albums and I quickly became addicted. I love working with paper, have been scrapbooking for a couple of years and really enjoy that, but I have found that the Mini's give me more freedom to embellish, and I LOVE to embellish!

I want to thank those of you who post tutorials and share your albums and ideas. You're a huge inspiration to me. I have learned so many neat techniques, and unfortunately how to deplete my bank account with all those haul videos out there. LOL

I don't have a video camera, so I had to film with my digital camera, and although it looked pretty good on my computer, by the time it got to Youtube it looked really grainy. You can check it out on my channel, Tracylovestoscrap. Because it's so grainy, I'm going to post some photos here on my blog. Hopefully they will be a little clearer.



















Please leave a comment. I'd love to know what you think.


Blessings,
Tracy