An amazing masculine layout by Renea...

Good morning!  Today I'm sharing some fabulous inspiration by Renea.... she created all this grungy goodness with our Michelle's Mechanical Madness kit:

Renea says the kit "soooo put me in the mood to get my masculine side on and to get out all my color and get messy! I grabbed a selfie that my son, Draven had taken and got busy."

Layers of distressed and inked kit papers make up this layout.  Renea did some tearing and deep edge staining, brick work, gesso painting and wire work.

She used texture paste with a brick stencil to create the brick walls, and  layers of the Lindy's Cajun Carnelian Red from the kit, Lindy's Afternoon Delight Denim from the Color Add On, and Tim Holtz Peacock Spray Stain to get the colors. The top metal piece is a Prima Office Metals piece. 

Here you can see a close up of the brick work and layers of color. She added a Tim Holtz faucet from her stash then wired up a TH word charm from a past kit and wrapped it around the faucet.

The strips are layers of the kit paper that she painted with Dina Wakley Gesso, and she hit the edges and brushed over the top with the Staz-On Rusty Brown Ink from this month's Color Add On. She then misted some canvas strips with the same mists in the brick work, frayed the edges and added them on. She used sheet rock tape to create the cross hatched wire look pieces, and added another stash TH Faucet piece with another wire wrapped charm from a past kit.  

She cut out a chipboard clock and then inked it with the Staz-On Rusty Brown Ink and hit it with some Vintage Photo Spray Stain, added some Tim Holtz Clock pieces, then fussy cut the title "Live A Full Life" from the kit papers, grunged them up and added it on with a Prima Office Metals Piece, set some eyelets and wrapped some more wire through them. 

We think Renea's created an amazing masculine layout full of texture and grunge, and we hope she has inspired you to try something new with your Michelle's Mechanical Madness kit (or, *gasp*, if you didn't get the kit, we hope she's inspired you to try something new with the goodies in your stash - lol!)

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you all have a beautiful, creative day today!

~Melinda

Anna's Daydream - Our March SOE kit is here!

Yes, it is FINALLY here, and it truly is a daydream...

This month's kit is named after after our wonderfully talented designer, Anna Rogalska.  I think this kit captures Anna's beautifully romantic style perfectly, and hope she loves it...  We are thrilled to present our March Anna's Daydream Kit:

We've paired up Prima's Timeless Memories collection with 7 Dots Studio's Thoughts Keeper collection, added a Finnabair stamp, some Blue Fern Studios chipboard, Reneabouquets butterflies (created specially for this kit), and a few other goodies in this kit.  We think it's one of the most versatile kits you can find, with vintage browns, beautiful blues and soft pinks. 

We didn't stop with just the Main Kit, though, we (of course) have some beautiful add on kits this month:

Our Patterned Paper Add On (these are the same papers that are in the Main Kit):

Our Coordinating Paper Add On (these papers are not included in our Main Kit):

Our Elements Add On:

Our Creativity Add On:

Our Color Add On:

And last, but certainly not least, our Floral Add On:

Thank you for stopping by, and as always, I hope you find the time to Create Something Beautiful Today...

~Melinda

Renea's Simply Stunning Creations with Lisa's Love Letters

Good morning everyone!

Welcome to another Monday!

We are on March Break here so I actually got to sleep in a bit!

I love Renea's Shabby Chic style....

'altered book'

She used the Scraps Of Elegance  Lisa's Love Letters Kit and add ons to create this box.  She layered in lots of the kit paper that I distressed and inked with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Ink.

Here you can see how she tore the image and then inked it and stamped it to give it her own look.

The Doily piece was a piece from the Elements Add On  that she topped with a cut out piece from the kit papers that she inked up.

The Large flower was from the Floral Add On. She fussy cut out little birds from the papers and added them and then tucked in some of the black tulle from the kit.

The "binding" side of the book is covered in some music note washi tape that she over inked with the Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Ink.

She created "pages" using Ranger Texture Paste , and layering, and then inked over it with the same ink.

She misted the backside of the book with Prima Tea Stain Color Bloom, then oversprayed that with Prima Cotton Candy Color Bloom. She then added torn strips of the music note tape, inking it heavily with the Vintage Photo Ink, and she randomly painted with Tim Holtz Distress Rock Candy Crackle, let that dry to a deep crackle and then inked over it with the Vintage Photo Ink. 

The inside is finished out in stains for a finished look. 

 next up is another beautiful shabby chic project

 

  She did a lot of fussy cutting, stamping, punching and layering on this layout to get lots of dimension and texture. 

She started with a base layer of kit paper and then cut down another piece of the kit paper and punched the top and bottom edges.  She stamped some paper doilies, layered those in and then fussy cut some pieces from the papers and added those on the sides.

She then added a distressed and inked photo matte, distressed and inked the photo and added it on.

She did some stamping with a Prima brick stamp from a past kit. 

At the top of the photo she added a Prima Fifth Avenue Flower, a past kit flower and little wooden bird cage from the kit, a Prima Clock Face  with some chipboard hands that she distress painted 

At the bottom she layered in the large flower from this month's floral add on , some more Prima Flowers, past kit flowers and stash mulberry paper flowers, leaves and some die cut pieces. 

Thanks for stopping by!

More inspiration from Tracey.....

Good morning everyone!

Today I want to inspire you with more gorgeous work from the very talented Tracey Gregory.

First up

'Smile'

Tracey says that she is lucky to have a photogenic daughter who is a good sport about doing photo shoots- she always has a pic for (most) any color scheme. She is an avid book worm and music lover so these papers were perfect!

All the papers shown are from the kit and paper add-ons. She covered an old frame by mod-podging one of the BoBunny cut outs. She fussy cut multiple layers of papers and distressed then inked them.

She colored the 'smile'  with gold sharpie and affixed it to a beaded ribbon from her stash with glossy enamel. The lovely gold lace trim is from the kit-it feels like luxury and she also used it again as trim on the right side of the page.

 The flowers are from the floral add-on of the February Scraps of Elegance Kit. The metal feathers from the kit were attached to the large flower to add a bit of edge and variety of textures.

These sweet bird chippies are by Blue Fern and included in the kit. First she colored them with peach gelatos and stamped them in brown with a stamp. She added white highlights before covering them with glossy accents. 

next up

'Steampunk cards'

She can never resist crackling something so she highlighted the balloon heart and chippie basket. The little hearts pop out of the balloon chippie so she colored them with gelatos, reinserted the large one to mimic the pattern and scattered the tiny hearts around the card.  She highlighted details with a copper pen, including the butterflies.

The watch part chippies are also Blue Fern which received treatments with metallic rub n buff in gold and pantina. She brought her stickles out to play to created more texture and crackled her chess pieces.

Thanks for stopping by

 

Meet our 2015-16 Educators!

Good morning! Before I introduce you to our new Educators, I would just like to thank everybody that applied.  You are all amazing, and we very much enjoyed seeing your work and the wonderful tutorials you have done.  We only had a few positions available, but we wish we could have added each and every one that applied.

And now... drum roll... we are thrilled to introduce you to our new Educators!

We have 3 wonderfully talented ladies that will be working with our Scraps of Darkness kits:

Amy Prior

My name is Amy Prior and I am a wife and a mum in my late twenties living in Kincumber, Australia. I've always been a creative soul and find it hard to live without my paintbrush in hand or covered in some kind of medium. My 2 daughters Mia & Chloe are usually the focus of my creations because I just love to scrapbook and preserve precious moments for them.
I love to focus on sharing my passion for creativity with others. I can't begin to describe the joy it brings me when I've helped someone create a work of art after they have doubted themselves.
I hope to share my love for this beautiful Mixed Media world that I live in with all of you. If I ever post something that has not been explained properly, PLEASE comment and ask me questions. I am always happy to answer and add more steps to make your creative journey easier.  I am so very excited to be joining the amazing Scraps of Darkness Educator Team and I cannot wait to help inspire you on your own creative journey.

Tanya SonataJoy

Hi, my name is Tatiana.
I’m Ukrainian and live in a beautiful city of Lviv (Western Ukraine), which is over 750 years old, has a special atmosphere created by vintage buildings and many cozy coffeehouses.
I am married with children. With my dear husband Roman I have two lovely daughters, Sofia and Natalia. We love spending time together, go for a walk, take pictures or prepare good food.
I cannot imagine my life without scrapbooking. I discovered it two years ago and this hobby is my favourite now. I love creating in different styles, but mostly work in mixed media, freestyle and vintage. Clean&Simple is the most difficult style for me at the moment. I like mixed media the best as it is a very bright and colourful style which also gives me a lot of freedom.  Always glad to make new friends!

Wilma Voermans

Hello, my name is Wilma Voermans, born in Amsterdam, but I live in the Swiss alps for many years now. I love scrapbooking, but I dont make very bulky layouts anymore, because of the storage problem. Mixed media is a must on my pages. My new addiction is Project Life, I can be creative with a goal this way. Mixed media cards, scrapbook layouts and art journal pages, it all disappears in my Project life albums.









And we have 2 wonderfully talented ladies that will be working with our Scraps of Elegance kits:

Tiffany Solorio

Hello. My name is Tiffany. (mammatiffy) I currently live in NV with my wonderful husband and my 2 kids. I am a stay at home mom and I have a son age 8 and a daughter who is 3. I started crafting when my son was about 2. I first started making cards and as the years went by I love to try new things and expand my creativity. I am always looking for inspiration and trying to learn new things. I also love photography and I always have my camera in hand, which my kids hate (hopefully they will thank me later lol). I am always taking photos but for some reason scrapbook the same ones at times.  I am so excited to be joining this wonderful team. Thanks for taking the time to read a little bit about me.

Tracey Sabella

I reside in rural northeast Ohio with my amazing husband, Gary. Our family and faith have always been an important part of our lives. We are blessed with four wonderful children, and with two weddings in recent years, our family is growing.
I'm a mixed media artist and enjoy the creative outlet of paper crafting. I adore learning and creating new techniques along the way and enjoy sharing my process. I am so thrilled to be a part of the fabulous Scraps of Elegance team and look forward to sharing my creations with you each month!
I also design for Donna Salazar Designs, Leaky Shed Studio, and Helmar and am blessed to be a regular contributor to Scrapbooking.com Magazine. I would be honored for you to stop by my blog, Garden of Grace.

You won't want to miss a single project from these talented artists, so be sure to stop by their blogs (just click on their names above), and sign up to be a follower!

And I'd just like to add a quick note:  WELCOME TO THE SCRAPS OF DARKNESS/SCRAPS OF ELEGANCE FAMILY, LADIES!

~Melinda

Michelle's Mechanical Madness - Our Darkness March kit is here!

Good morning, we are halfway through the week!

As you may (or may not) know, our February 25th Scraps of Darkness kit was delayed due to the labor problems on the West Coast ports, but it's here now!

This kit is named after Michelle Phillips (in case you couldn't tell from the photo, lol), and not only is it named for her, Michelle named it, herself!

We've got brand new gorgeousness from Prima's The Archivist collection and Kaisercraft's Betsy's Couture, as well as some super fun chipboard from Blue Fern Studios, a beautiful Starburst mist from Lindy's Stamp Gang, and metal, galore!

Here's a pic of the papers that are included in this kit:

And the Coordinating Papers (these are not in the kit, but they sure do go nicely with it!):

Our Cardstock Add On:

And our Elements Add On (check out that new Prima stencil!):

It's always fun to play with color, so here is our Color add on for this kit:

And for those who just can't get enough flowers, our Floral Add On:

And last, but no way least, our Creativity Add On for this month - we're so excited to bring you a NEW Finnabair Stamp, a NEW Gelatos set, a NEW Crafter's Workshop Remnants template, and more:

As always, if you'd like to see a detailed list of what's in the kit, and each add on, please just stop by our website - all the details are listed there.

Thank you so much for stopping by to see our new kit today, and be sure to follow us, so you don't miss any of the gorgeous projects our designers do with it (oh, and you might want to stop back tomorrow for some big news, too!).

~Melinda

Patricia shows the beauty of a Dream!

Good morning!

I think spring may finally be here!

Its going to be 41 degrees today!

The snow is going to melt!

Today I am going to share a beautiful layout by Patricia using the

Scraps Of Elegance 'Lisa's Love Letters' kit

'Dream'

She tore and layered two sheets of the paper and curled the edges. She wet the background paper with some water and flicked some of the 'Love Struck' glaze from the Color Add-on onto it resulting in a bleeding effect.  She made a paste using the DecoArt texture paste mixed with some Champagne Gelatos from the Creativity Add-on and spread through the Crafter's Workshop stencil. She also did some stenciling with the Versa Color ink, also from the Color Add-on...

A beautiful cascade of elements!

She painted the chipboard with the glaze and added a little of the Stampendous Mica Fragments.

The vellum Hearts are from Jillibean Soup...in the Elements Add-on.

To achieve the curled and distressed look of the black Tulle from the Main Kit...She used her Heat-gun to melt the edges...very carefully, otherwise you will burn it! She also did some stamping with the Blue Fern stamps from the Elements Add-on.

The next project I want to share is Patricia's  gorgeous canvas!

'Believe'

One of the items in our Creativity Add-on in our February kit, 'Lisa's Love Letters' is this unique round canvas. 

She started by adhering several laces, some from last months kit and some from her stash. Then added both clear and white Gesso to it.  She also added random thick layers of DecoArt Dimensional Texture Paste from the Main kit mixed with some glass beads. Then she used the The Crafter's Workshop Stencil, also from the Creativity Add-on to stencil the hearts... then left it to dry completely overnight.

Some of the items from the kit can be seen here. From the Flower and Elements Add-on's She used the flowers and the fan. The small black frame from the Main kit that she broke in half and used it on two places.

The heart turned out this yummy grungy because she tried to give it some texture by pressing a piece of paper onto the wet paste, when lifting the paper a piece of paste came of as well...This is a good example of a mishap being much loved. She used Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray 'Glory of the Seas Gold' from the Color Add-on as well as several others from her own stash. To give depth she used some of the Chocolate Double Scoop Gelato mixed with a drop of water and painted on. 

The Alpha Beads from Darice and Stampendous Mica Fragments from the Elements kit.

 

 

To highlight the textures she brushed some Gesso onto the beads and elements.

Thanks so much for stopping by!