So many styles...........

One thing I love about the teams here at 

Scraps of Darkness/Elegance

is that they have so many wonderful styles and I enjoy each one of them!

These teams are diverse and uber talented!

Lisa Novogrodski is really versatile and loves the 'art' of scrapbooking.

She really is an accomplished artist - Three of her portrait paintings were on display in a "Celebration of the Arts Exhibit" last week!!!!

I am so proud that she is my teammate and friend!

I am sharing one of my favorites she created with the Scraps Of Elegance

'Anna's Daydream' kit

I love her collage/mixed media style

On this page she mixed the Blue Fern Paper along with the Prima and 7 Dots included in the kit.

She used a ton of stamps on the background. She has a very large collection that she has acquired over the years and now has found mixed media to be the perfect way to make use of them. The layers of different stamps and inks makes for interesting textures and design.

This is a close up of the frame. Such a fun one to use! Lots of beautiful florals included in the kit. She used some splats of Lindy's mist on there. The chipboard is Blue Fern- another item in our kits and once again she cut it up!  She used chalk paint for that beautiful yellow tone then embossed it with Lindy's.

so many wonderful elements tucked in!

Lots of splatters in the background, layered with stamping and modeling paste. We received a beautiful stencil in the kit and she used it with paste and ink. She threw in a few sequins for shine and sparkle.




Next up I am going to show you Sindi Jeffers' layout.
Another fabulously talented lady with a wonderful style.

She is more graphic and bold with a clean edgy style

This photo totally sums up her feelings about her son learning to drive. In other words: she completely terrified!

She painted the black circle on using her watercolor pen. She wrote the words with a pencil and went back to trace over them with the watercolor pen.

She created the chevron with pieces of the patterned paper and topped them off with a couple of the sparkly brads from the kit. Some of the chevron pieces are popped up on foam tape to add dimension. She also added a strip of paper down the center to cover up the lines where the pieces connect.


Next up I want to share the stunning Shabby Chic style of
Renea Harrison!

Lots of kit paper layering, distressing, inking, misting, and punching makes up the base layers of this layout. The photo matte was created from some used up sand paper,
 she had laying on her desk.

All the flowers were from this months floral add on, and kit as well as some from past kits. The twine, say it in crystals, and metal pieces were all from the kit.

A beautiful cluster of elements and flowers!

lots of layers

And a close up of the twine and metal eyelet lacing she did at the top and all the inking and spray stain work.  

So which style are you or do you like....
Me? I LOVE THEM ALL! 

Tag-erific Tuesday

Good morning!

It's another Tuesday and that means I have a few tags to show you!

First ones is from one of our awesome newest designers Fena

She created these using the Scraps Of Darkness Kit 'Michelle's Mechanical Madness!'

Beautiful mixed media work with lots of gorgeous layers!

More fabulous layers and mixed media!

Next up is Renea using the Scraps Of Elegance kit 'Anna's Daydream'

She started with layers of the kit papers that she grunge punched, and heavily distressed then inked. Added a layer of the crochet trim from the kit that she also ran the ink pad over, then took some burlap pieces and canvas pieces that she two tone misted.

For the card she cut down one of the tags from the Elements Add On with the quote "A House is made of bricks and beams, A Home is made of love and dreams" and grunge punched, distressed and inked it up, added it to the canvas then formed a hemp rope circular frame and adhered that over the quote piece. 

 I added one of the metal pieces and the Chasing Butterflies from the kit, a resin flower from the Floral add on, resin feathers from the Elements Add On, a stash feather, and a Prima Cradle Robin Bird Nest.

The chipboard bricks were from a past kit, and she inked the "mortar" and coated the bricks with Prima White Sand Texture Paste.  

 For the Tag, She repeated the design of the card and used the quote piece "having someone to love is Family, having a place to go is Home, having them both is a Blessing".

Thanks for stopping by!

Stunning layouts from two amazing designers!

Good morning everyone!

I hope you all that celebrate it had a wonderful Easter!

Today I am excited to share a few layouts that are guaranteed to inspire you

if you love mixed media or if you love layers of lusciousness!

First up are two from Lisa Griffith

'Moments'

There is so much to look at!

She loved the metal flowers and medallions that came with the kit. She altered the beautiful Blue Fern Studios chipboard frame with a coat of gesso and then stamped it lightly with black ink.

She used the 7Dots Studio 'Thoughts Keeper' stamp set which matched perfectly with the patterned paper then added some Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays.

'Take Flight'

 She started with the Prima paper in March's Scraps of Elegance kit called 'Forever' from the 'Timeless Memories' collection which already has a dark ancient stone looking pattern to it and decided she was going to go with the feel of the paper and try something with a lot of texture, like an old peeling plaster wall, and a really masculine theme. She decided to use a Blue Fern Studios chipboard piece that looks like a round medallion so  used that first as a stencil with some heavy gesso to create some patterns around the page , and then embossed it in copper and used it to add interest underneath my flowers.

She used some of her favorite Lindy's Stamp Gang mists in blue, bronze, brown, and black with a paintbrush, and the Prima 'Two' and 'Dot Grunge' stamp that came with the kit. 

She used Gold Mica Powder 

and she loves how it shimmers in the sunlight.

This is a photograph of her Grandfather George (second from left) with his fellow RAF servicemen during World War II, and the inspiration behind this grungy mixed media gorgeousness...

Now lets look at the luscious layers from Tracey's gorgeous layouts

First up is a layout inspired by the March Inspiration board. One of the pictures featured a cluster of hearts that ended up becoming this trio of stars:

 The kit included some fun copper steampunk shapes and she added the lovely Renea's butterflies from the Scraps of Elegance kit.

Next up is this beautiful layout

'Time is not measured....'

The kit included mica tiles, which  she had not worked with before. She peeled apart the layers until they were pliable, then colored them with a mix of warm toned alcohol inks. She ran them through her die cutter with a fall leaf die and used them to back her flowers.  Aren't they amazing?!

She likes how they flowed with a favorite fall pic of her daughter. There are lots of journaling slips and such in the kit so she cut one down for her title.

Thanks for stopping by! 

TWO new kits and our April Inspiration Board Challenge!

Today we have lots of fun things to post, but before I start, I'd just like to wish everyone that celebrates Easter a beautiful and happy one!  I hope the day finds you enjoying time with your family, and possibly watching the little ones hunt for some beautifully colored eggs...

The first thing I'm going to share is our new Scraps of Darkness kit - 'Laura's Wish'.  It is, of course, named after our wonderfully talented designer and Media Director, Laura Gilhuly. 

As I plan each kit, I am thinking of the designer it will be named after, and I try to create a kit that will fit that designer's style, or include products I know she loves, and Laura was hoping for a masculine themed kit.  I think I pulled that off for her, but this kit can easily go in many directions, masculine, steampunk, vintage, and some of these papers will even go in a feminine direction!  

The two main collections featured in this kit are Kaisercraft's brand new Antique Bazaar and Authentique's new Durable collections, but we've also got some new Tim Holtz goodies in there, beautiful Prima Timeless Memories flowers and bling, Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals in Tainted Love Teal (if you've been wanting to try them, but not wanting to buy a full set to do it - here's your chance to see just how amazing they are!), and lots more - stop by our store to see everything that's included and our available kit add ons.

I thought I'd share the Creativity Add On for this kit, as well.  It's still available in the store, and I think it's a fun one!

We've included a brand new 8x8 wood bracket surface from Adorn-It, one of Prima's new Finnabair stencils (Ripped Fishnet), a new stamp set from Blue Fern Studios (Widgets), as well as their chipboard "Enjoy the Journey", Jacquard Lumiere Light Body Acrylic Paint (Pearl Turquoise), Prima Timeless Memories metal trinkets, and Prills!  Prills are my new obsession, I just love them for mixed media projects!

Next up is our new April Scraps of Elegance kit - Lynne's Garden Terrace.  This kit is named after another of our wonderfully talented designers, the lovely Lynne Joncas.

Lynne was hoping for a kit that could be used for vintage projects, and this one fits the bill!  She also was hoping for clock hands (those are in the Elements Add On), and a stencil (which we've got in the Creativity Add On).  The two main collections in this kit are Prima's Butterfly collection and BoBunny's Garden Journal collection.  I saw these two collections, and just knew they were made to go together!  This kit is as dreamy as it gets, and I can't wait to see the beautiful projects created with it!

And last, but not least, I just wanted to let you know about our April Inspiration Board Challenge.  This challenge takes place in our Facebook Community, and we hope you will stop by and participate!

This month's board was designed by Fena, and what a beautiful board it is!

Entries need to be posted in the challenge album on Facebook, but I thought I'd share the rules, so you can see how easy it is!

1. The challenge starts today and ends April 30th at midnight.
2. Create a layout, canvas, art journal page, or altered item, taking inspiration from this month's Inspiration Board: You can choose inspiration from just one of the images, or several of them. This inspiration can be the quote, the colors, the overall feel of the board, something in one of the pictures on the board - your imagination is the only restriction you have on this!
3. Upload your project into this album, and tell us in the description what you used from the board as your inspiration.
4. For a double entry - post your project on your blog along with the photo of the board and a link to this challenge, and then put a link to your blog post in the description of your photo when you upload here.
5. That's it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and hope to see you join in our Inspiration Board challenge this month!

~Melinda

Masculine and Feminine Layouts

Good morning everyone!

Today I get share a few masculine layouts from me using the 'Michelle's Mechanical Madness' kit and a beautiful feminine layout from Lynne using the Scraps Of Elegance 'Anna's Daydream' Kit

Today I am sharing a layout about our 1970 Pontiac Catalina that I created

using the Scraps Of Darkness 'Michelle's Mechanical Madness' kit

We love this car and the kit was perfect for a masculine layout!
I used the Melissa Francis Glamour & Grunge papers from the kit.

I used some chipboard gears from Blue Fern from previous months kits, and the mica (from the Elements Add On) I split into thinner pieces, then die cut into the gear shape, and inked!

The chain frame is from my stash

Here you can see the layers of torn paper, and the bits of mist from the Color add on!

More gears and mica!

'Buddies'

This is our oldest Cody and his best friend Nate at their graduation from grade 8 in 2014!

The colors of this kit are amazing!  I love the hints of blue!

For this layout I used the Melissa Francis Glamour & Grunge paper.

I used the flowers from Floral add on and some from a previous kit!

I also used the Fabscraps metal filigree embellishments from the main kit - added some gesso and a few of the Prima crystals from the main kit.

I did a lot of tearing to add to the texture of the background!

I took a piece of lace from a previous kit and misted it with the Lindy's Stamp Gang - Starburst Mist - Afternoon Delight Denim from the Color add on

Now for a fabulously feminine layout from Lynne

I love the contrast of the black and the pastels!

She painted the resin feathers black and dry-brushed them with the same pink that she used to tint the texture paste, and painted the chipboard lattice pieces black as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Laura

Agnieszka's back!

She's back to guest design, but for SOD (we loved her work when she was designing for SOE, and we wanted to see her work her magic with a Darkness kit this time!).

Agnieszka Bellaidea

My name is Agnieszka but in the scrapbooking world I go by Bellaidea.

I love traveling, taking photos, African bush aroma, Pavlova dessert, old books, doilies, trips with friends to Italy, evenings by the fireplace, and reading books. I enjoy audiobooks during long distance drives, visiting the blogs of my friends, and praising people for their talent and creativity.

I scrapbook for many reasons! These are to preserve memories, to make my kids remember I always care about them, to have MY time when I need it, and to keep in touch with all my scrap-friends all over the world. My style is eclectic, romantic, with a shabby influence and I am addicted to Mixed Media.

You will find the following on many of my projects: lace, chipboard, doilies, gesso, turned corners, fussy cutting, in addition to the results of using stencils, misting, etc. I never forget the most important element of the page which is the photo and a story. Sometimes I hide my journaling when it`s very personal.

Over the last couple of years I have had the pleasure to design for various blog challenges and companies. I publish my work on-line and have been published in magazines in Canada, USA, Germany, Australia, South Africa and UK. My favourite things to create are 12x12 layouts and canvas!

I teach classes at my LSS and every now and again I get invited to teach in various locations like ScrapFest Canada or South Africa.

If you will join me for the very first time, I can promise you fun, new experiments and...dirty fingers!

I cordially invite you to my blog, Bellaideascrapology where you can find out what I do late at night when the rest of my family is sleeping! Or you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/agnieszka.bellaidea

Agnieszka Bellaidea

Agnieszka is guest designing with our "Michelle's Mechanical Madness" kit, and she's done two fabulous layouts:

Thank you so much for stopping by today, and I'd like to give a huge thank you to Agnieszka for guest designing and doing such beautiful projects for us!

~Melinda

New Challenges for April - no Foolin'

Hi Everyone!

I am excited to share with you April's

Express Yourself Workshop hosted by Lisa

and the 

Music Inspires Creativity Challenge hosted by me
Both challenges are taking place in our Facebook Community Group.

April Express Yourself – Art Journaling Prompts

This is a self -paced workshop designed to motivate you to start exploring mixed media and art journaling

You can use a mixed media book, art journal book or watercolor paper. Those types of books and papers hold media well.

1. This month we are all about the prompt. Your prompt is to write a letter to your younger self. You should go back at least 10 years in time and address yourself. You do not have to write it in letter format. You can use short sentences that don’t flow, a few words in short bursts or one long run on sentence. If you were face to face with your former self what would you tell her?
2. You must use two pages – left and right in your book or two watercolor sheets side by side.
3. Use clear gesso on both sheets and use the left side for your art and the right side for your writing.
4. Your left side should consist of a head or full body. You can do a headless body (lol) but what ever you do it has to be a human figure or face and it has to contain something symbolic of your message. For example no eyes, taped mouth, angel wings etc to convey whatever emotion addressing yourself earlier in life brings up for you.
5. Your face or figure can either be drawn, cut out from magazines or use art doll from a digital site. Mix it up – be creative- you can mix eyes, heads, etc from different images you cut out or draw. I want to see QUIRKY!!!
6. Clear gesso your background then select one color. You will need to stick with a lighter color to keep things from getting lost. Use an acrylic color and brayer it on. Go over it with white gesso also brayer it on. Keep doing this on both sides until you are happy with it.
7. Doodle around your page edges in small geometric shapes.
8. On the right side where you do your writing choose a shape to write in. You can just draw a square, triangle, circle or write in small shapes or draw diagonal lines and write on them.
9. Be sure to share it with us and talk about your inspiration. HAVE FUN!

Now for the Music Challenge

I LOVE album covers - they are their own works of art that can inspire! One of the coolest is by one of the greatest bands ever - The Beatles

This is their Abbey Road cover

according to Shortlist.com
Quite simply, an utterly iconic image, with the Fab Four themselves at their coolest: John resplendent in a white suit, Paul barefoot. Perfectly in harmony, and utterly British. The crossing itself was given Grade II listed status in 2010 - there aren't many traffic artefacts that can boast that.

I want you to use this album cover as inspiration to create a paper layout using any products and materials.

the rules:
*you have until April 30st to upload your layout into the appropriate folder. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1569606123314039&type=1
*can not be used with Lisa's mixed media challenge
*when you upload your project please let us know what part of the image inspired you
*I will do a random draw for the winner of a wonderful prize - Lindy's Stamp Gang Tres Chic Flat Magicals set:

~Laura