scrappassion

Long time no hear

Oh wow, it's been more than a month since I wrote on my blog the last time! 

In the meantime we took a two-week vacation in the States (pics later), attended a wonderful wedding there (pics later), came back home and spent some family time together with the girls. Valentina is staying at home for the summer, but Kristina's and Matteo's summer vacation in Italy is over alredy. They flew back to New Zealand a couple of days ago. 

Scrap and craft wise I've been in lethargy for the past month but I have something to show you. First the 12 x 12 canvas I made for my nephew and his wife for their wedding and then some wall hangings I made for my American sisters and mom.

Sara, the bride had chosen watermelon and a kind of clover green for her colors and I used them as my base. I arranged all the various cardstock pieces in a grid (took some time to figure out the right placement) and then I distressed the borders with Distress Inks. I stamped quotes and pictures and hung some charms here and there. Before attaching the pieces to the canvas I used Claudine Hellmuth's Glossy multi medium to better preserve the project. I also painted the sides of the canvas with Making Memory's Asphalt paint. (which you can't see because the photo is taken directly from the front)

 

I also wrapped the canvas in nice brown packaging paper that I had personalized stamping Sara's and Wyatt's names on it, but didn't take any pictures of it, duh! (Sara, if you still have the paper, could you take a picture of it for me?)

Here are the wall hangings inspired by Wendy Vecchi.

    

   
 
 
 
 

Mother's Day

is always the second Sunday of May in Italy and in Finland. I finished yesterday my gift for my mom and sent it today. It won't arrive for Sunday but I'm sure my mom will appreciate it when it arrives.

 

The roses are grunge paper roses made with Tim's and Wendy's instructions. I colored them with glimmer mists and brushed some Perfect pearls with a dry brush on them. The leaves are colored with Distress Ink Peeled Paint and stamped with Tim's background stamp. The quote is from an older sheet of Tim's stamps whereas the birds are from a new stamp sheet I received from ATT group. It's all mounted on chipboard that I trimmed on the bottom. The patterned paper is an old Foofala paper.

I participate with this at Gingersnap Creations' Botanical challenge.

BTW I won the Good Earth challenge at GS Creations with the wall hanging I made for Kristina. She has now received it.

The Good Earth

I'm participating with this wall hanging to Gingersnap Creations Challenge The Good Earth and to The Pink Elephant Nature challenge.

I used a flower and a butterfly and an earth quote : The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who seek them. Very appropriate to the recipients of the hanging. 

The support is chipboard cut to size using Teresa Collins' book cover as a template. I prepared the background with misted Distress Inks, then added modeling paste, stamped the background with Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 stamp using Coffee Archival Ink and added some Distress Inks with the blending tool.

I used the same procedure as in My Sweet Prince.

The flower is very much inspired by Wendy and made of various layers of grungepaper, inked and stamped with Wendy's background stamps. For the flower center I used Tim Holtz's  Ideology gears and a game spinner. The leaves are Basic Grey chipboard inked with Shabby Shutters. I stamped them with Wendy's badkground stamp using Coffee Archival Ink. The butterfly is again made from grungepaper, stamped and embossed and it has a couple of clear rhinestones on its body. I added lace on top and then attached a very old Tim Holtz word photo turn (from Junkitz) to the book ring.

a couple of detailed shots:

  

A wall hanging, a card and a minialbum

Some projects I've done lately but haven't yet posted.

This is a wall hanging for our dear friends Francesca and Davide for their new home together. Francesca is actually Kristina's best friend and like a third daughter to us.

I was inspired by Wendy Vecchi and used her Studio 490 stamps for the background and for the roof of the house, Tim Holtz's background stamp, October Afternoon and Chatterbox stamps (I created the tree with two different stamps and inked the leaves with different colors of Distress inks) and the heart is a Stamperia stamp. I had fun creating this and I'm happy how it turned out. The recipients of the hanging seemed to be very happy too :)

and some details:

  
 

Here is the card I made for Valentina's boyfriend Daniele for his graduation. The technique is misting the Distress Inks with Perfect Pearls and then stamping.

I finally finished this skull mini album for Andrea. The skull and the papers are from Kaiser Craft. The papers are already quite bright and bold so I just added photos of Andrea and dymo strips with the date.

  

 
 
 
 
  
 
  

Wendy forever!

I'm participating in a challenge at EWV where we have to create a piece inspired by something in Wendy's new book (mine hasn't arrived yet) or something she's created this year on her blog.

I made two wall hangings inspired by this post of hers. Now I do not have any of Wendy's new stamps nor any of the pigment ink colors she uses but I used the older stamps of hers I bought during the wonderful Mexican cruise where BTW I fell in love with Wendy and her creations, and some of my own pigment inks and probably some Distress Inks too. And for my flowers I used also other flower stamps.

I used the Pigments & Pearls technique (described here) for the background, then I stamped the flower stem with Versafine Olive and created the flower using different flower stamps, Distress Ink Broken China and Wendy's background stamps to create dimension. The flower center is a snap. Wendy's quote was stamped with Black Archival Ink. I added the ribbon on the hanging and used a cord to hang it.

The second hanging is created using the same technique and steps, only with different colors, flower and quote. And the flower center is an old MM decorative brad.

 

For the backgrounds I use a smooth white A4 (roughly an 8,5x11) cardstock. I cut it to size and get usually 2-3 cards or wall hangings out of it. These hangings are mounted on sturdy chipboard.

My Sweet Prince

I made this Valentine's heart for my son. When I gave it to him he was genuinely thrilled and then he asked somewhat incredulously: "Am I your prince?" What a sweetie! 

I'm participating with this to GC41: Chestnut Challenge - Romance over at the Gingersnap Creations.

 

I swiped on the craft sheet Distress Inks Broken China and Walnut Stain close to each other, misted the inks with water and perfect pearl mixture (mixed previously in a mini mister) and put my heart on top of it and swiped and tapped my hand on the heart. I heated it to fix the colors and then I repeated the procedure.

I completed the coloring with the same Distress Ink colors and the blending tool. I wanted some more movement and added some modeling paste here and there and around the edges. I dried it with the heating tool and then re-inked with the blending tool. This was my first time with the modeling paste and I had no idea how much I should use, just went with my instincs, hah, and it turned out quite nice if I say so myself.

 
 

I stamped on the right side with a Prima brick stamp using black Archival Ink. The bird and the leaves are Basic Grey chipboard pieces. i used Distress Ink Peeled Paint for the leaves and stamped on them with Wendy's Studio 490 background stamp using Coffee Archival Ink. I put some modeling paste also on the bird's belly and tail. It's inked with DI Black Soot and Starlite Silver Brilliance. On top I brushed silver perfect pearls. (which you can't see on these pics).

 
I heat set a turquoise rhinestone for the birdie's eye and put some more here and there on the heart. I also added a silver crown to the birdie's head. For my title I used Heidi Swapp's rub-on letters, put some white Dabber on the round metal token and glued the xoxo to an adage ticket that I had cut in two. The XOXO is the backing sheet of a stamp. I attached the adage ticket with a clip, hung the metal charm with a jump ring and a tiny safety pin to the wire that I had looped around a pencil to make the "coils". I backed the word Sweet (already carved in the Making Memory's heart) with a chocolate Bazzill cardstock and voilà!

 

Hooked

I'm hooked on wall hangings (no pun intended, lol)

This is another one inspired by Wendy.

 

The background is patterned paper, distressed with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint, stamped with Wendy's background stamp from Dimensional Rose Art (Studio 490), on top the flower stamp is from Fancy Pants - used Versafine Olympia Green (stamped once on a scrap paper to get rid of too much ink).

The roses are grungepaper with Distress Ink Broken China and the dots are from Wendy's All About Art set. I put some turqoise Stickle with my fingers on the rose petals after I had glued it together. I just wanted a little bit of glimmer on the roses. The leaves are stamped with a stamp once again from the Dimensional Rose Art on grungepaper. I then put Peeled Paint and used Tim's background stamp from his Slight Alterations set. The leaves are attached with foam squares to give dimension

The quote is from Wendy also stamped on plain white cardstock distressed with Shabby Shutters and then I used the distress tool on the edges.It is also attached with foam squares. I added some lace and a velvet ribbon from my stash, set the eyelets with Big Bite and "looped" the wire. This is a birthday present for my dear friend. She doesn't know it yet:)

Here's a detailed shot of the roses: