You and Me

Ladies and gents... the time has come (almost;)) don't forget to read to the bottom of this post for PART 2 of courteney and my contest give away!!!!!

But, before we get to all of that excitement, lets check out a super fun tutorial I did for a layout using sprays and stencils and all sorts of delicious goodness!

As I start almost all of my layouts, I adhered my pattern paper to a heavy chipboard piece to give the layout support and structure.
I chose two complimentary colored (purple and yellow) sprays. Starting with my 'main' color (yellow) I sprayed a large section towards the top right areas of the page. I wanted a pretty solid area covered so I made sure to use even, firm pressure pushing the sprayer all the way in. I also wanted to allow some to pool so I could tilt the page to create drips. Allow this to dry completely, this will allow the colors to stay separate and not mix/blend together as that isn't the look I am going for today!
Taking my second color (purple) I wanted splatters so I used quick, short, pulse type stroked on the sprayer to create the splatters. Making sure to keep the spray bottle aprox 12" front the paper to allow the drops to splatter some when they hit the paper! Allow to dry completely.
Using the Bloom Girl ricket stencil I applied matte gel medium through stencil onto the layout on top of the sprays! its important that the sprays are dry before you apply this of the paste will pick up some of the spray color!
Apply super heavy gesso through the Bloom Girls 'wings' stencil and allow to dry!

I laid my picture onto the layout where it was going to be placed in the end and traced around it with a pencil, this will allow be to add stamping and know what will peek out from the photo.
then I went nuts with my borer stamps, I like to primarily keep my linear stamps all going in the same direction (in this layout they're all primarily vertical) as opposed to going horizontal, vertical and diagonal! I stamped all along the photo and a little bit in the bottom left corer, this made me feel like the layout was balanced to the eye.

I pulled out my 'Sharon' stamp and inked up just the butterflies around her head. Making sure to mask off the rest of her face and hair I stamped the butterflies around the edge of where the photo would be. Allow the ink to dry completely. Then I rubbed white gelato over the image of the butterflies and gave it a second to set. Using a small paintbrush I painted the butterflies using sprays(orange/yellow) and gelatos (blue). Allow these to dry.
Using a fun rub-on saying I added 'you + me' so it would sit along the bottom right edge of my photo!

BOOM!!!! add a photo with pop dots and we have a fun layout with some fun layers and visual texture!!!

And a few close up pics of this fab layout! THANK YOU for checking it out and playing along!! head over to my blog for more inspirations, tutorials and how-tos!! 

Supplies:
PRIMA
Bloom Girl
-'ricket' stencil (#980405)
-'wings' stencil (#980443)
-Sharon stamp (#980177)
Other Prima
-Bloom Sprays:
Sorbet(#573874)
Iris(#573744)
-Sunrise/Sunset collection 'Celcius' (#960018)
-Metal Paperclips, butterflies (#564643)
-Timeless Memories, metal trinkets (#579791)

OTHER
-Liquitex, Super Heavy Gesso
-IndigoBlu, Limor Webber, Rugged Edge Stamps
-Dylusions Spray: Pure Sunshine (DYC33929)
-Faber-Castel, Gelato: metallic blue
-My Minds Eye, Jubilee: Rub-ons (#JB1069)

Now its CONTEST TIME!!!!
Comment on this post and Courteneys post form the beginning of the month=2 ballots
Comment on Courtemey's blog, poshcreates.wordpress.com =1 ballot
Comment on my personal blog, beautifulmess5891.wordpress.com =1ballot
Share both this post and Court's post =1 ballot

All ballots go towards a fab gift package, good luck!!!!

XOXOXO
Sherry 

Having a Bloomin good time with Lacie

Ok, so you know how you go to sleep at night and it's peaceful and silent... Well for me this is when my mind goes CRAZY with ideas and project colors and schemes!!!! (No sleep for me) This is how this project idea came to me, I was sitting up at 2am writing all the details my brain would give me so I wouldn't forget!! So this baby has been made out of sleepless nights and embossing powder;)

I will admit that sometimes I get favorite supplies and stamps that I usually reach for. And with this admission I must say that I had never reached for Lacie before, but she seemed to fit this project too perfectly! It has also made me realize I need to ink her up more often:) So before I get started, I challenge you to go into you stash, find an item you bought, that is still in its package and give it some love:) You never know it could become a new favorite!

Alright ladies and gents, here is the full project for my tutorial today!

Now here is where you get to see inside my process! Please feel free to follow along and create beautiful things:) The full supply list will follow at the bottom of the post:) (HINT: Read all the way to the bottom to see hint for a chance to win a fab gift package!!)

I started by adhering my 12x12 paper to a piece of 12x12 chipboard. (TIP: I do this so that my project has more weight to hold the layers I apply and so it's easier to stand up to display later!!) I selected three different shades of pinks in varying tones, light/medium/dark. starting with my lighter tone I sprayed along the whole right edge of the layout then tilted it to create drips, allow this to dry. Using the medium pink spray a smaller surface area along the right and tilt to create drips and allow to dry. Then take the dark pink and in a smaller area splay, tilt to create drips and allow to dry. (TIP:If you spray while colors are still wet the colors will blend, if you wait till they're dry then they stay separate. both looks are beautiful all depending what you like:))
This is when you decide where the image will be located! The reason this is important now is so that you can ensure the right amount of background stamping will peek our from behind your image!
I pulled out three different tones of ink pads (white/medium pink/dark pink). Starting with the darkest color, I made impressions of the Floral stamp. While the ink was still wet I applied clear embossing powder and heat set. Repeat with medium pink, then white. (TIP: keep in ind you have three colors to do so don't overload on the first color, you may end up with to make impressions making the project look to cluttered!)

Now this has got to be my favorite part! Sometimes the most tedious, but its also the most fun because this is where I get to create elements for on my layout!
On a transparency sheet I used the 'Wings' stencil and applied whipped spackle. (TIP: allow this to air dry as using a heat gun will warp/melt the transparency.) Once dry, cut out the wings and set aside for later!
Stamp and emboss medium and small 'Floral' stamp onto white card stock using the same embossing technique as in the previous step, fussy cut them out!
Now we make 'Lacie'!! I stamped her on three different colors of Prima Buff paper, the main image was the color I wanted her skin to be, the other two are what I wanted her hair to be! Fussy cut your full, main image (the one you want her skin to be) then fussy cut her hair out as a whole from the paper that you want the main hair color to be, then fussy cut strands that you want to highlight. Now we assemble 'Lacie' and bring her to life!! Adhere the full cut out piece of her hair onto the full image, then piece together the highlighted stands and adhere them over the full image!  Using alcohol pens to color in her BEAUTIFUL tattoo!

Going back to the background, I pulled out my black ink pad and my FAV background texture stamp, keeping in mind where my image will be on the page, I stamped texture wherever I knew it would peek out from behind her. (TIP: keep your image on hand so you can place her down to check stamp positioning) Again using Lacie as a placement guide adhere one set of your wings down, making sure to use an adhesive that dries completely clear and not stringy! I only put adhesive on the base of the wings keeping the middle and tip to the wings adhesive-free so the would be free to move!

Now I get to adhere all the elements I made!!! I used pop-dots to elevate 'Lacie' and create dimension. Using both pop-dots and flat tape adhesive I arranged the fussy-cut floral images along thee bottom edge of Lacie making sure to have a varying dimensions. I stamped a quote on white card stock and cut it out, using pop-dots I adhered it in place. Using the same clear glue place and adhere the second set of wings on Lacie's shoulder to line up with the first set, also making sure to keep a lot of the wing free to 'flap'! 

And just to tie it all together (and one of my fave things to do on almost all of my projects) I add some splatters of watered down heavy white gesso! (TIP: I have made a some cutouts of all my Bloom Girl stamps to use as masks for splatter techniques so i can cover my image perfectly to prevent unwanted splatter from ruining my image!)

Thank you so much for following along, I hope you were inspired! To follow along my journey please feel free to head on over to my Blog or Facebook:)

Supplies:

PRIMA MARKETING:

BLOOM GIRL

'Lacie' stamp (#980320)

 'Floral' stamp (#980313)

'Wings' stencil (#980443)

'metal embellishments' (#980221)

'Mother' stamp(#980283)

PRIMA MARKETING:

Epiphany Collection words to live by' 12x12 paper (#846862)

Julie Nutting 'buff paper pad' (#910327)

LINDY'S STAMP GANG:

Sprays

Fuzzy Navel Peach

Limor Webber, Chateau Rose

Pink Ladies Pink

TIM HOLTZ

'clear embossing powder

'Distress Ink Pads' (tattered rose and victorian velvet)

FABER-CASTELL

whipped spackle

INDIGOBLU

Limor Webber Designs

rugged edge stamp

OTHER

White ink pad

12x12 chipboard

Alright Bloomies, keep your eyes peeled for upcoming contest detail! Court and I have teamed up to bring you a simple way to win a fab gift package! Hint: watch for details on Courteney's next blog post on April 7!!!