Sweet Summer Project Life

Hello to all you chipboard lovers. Today I wanted to share something new I tried.

I am not in any way, shape, or form, a project lifer. I have no clue how to do it or what to do but I thought I would give it a try.

So some struggles I faced... the software for my computer to print photos was no longer available or working with my new updated system. Also my phone is messed up so no printing photos from there either. So I made dash so start going through my camera and bam I found this sweet photo of my daughter trying to catch bugs in our back garden.

So I went ahead and used some cute papers from Crate Paper and picked out a few chipboard pieces that would work perfectly.

I colored the bug with some China Black Primary Elements from ColourArte mixed with their Primary Elements Glaze.

The sun also got a coat of yellow paint. Then I added Gold Stickles.

Then I assembled everything together and put them in my pockets. I still need to print out a little saying and cut it up to put in one of the pockets but I think I may be doing these a little more often. It was fun.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Items Used:

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Sweet Summer Cards by Barb

I know I shouldn't complain, but when you live just north of Seattle, 85° plus temperatures feel like an insult. And that's what we've been dealing with for a while, with seeming no end in sight. So, while I'm busy wishing for cooler days, I'm also craving those wonderful tasty treats of Summer.

Those treats are my inspiration for this week's project, a set of note cards.

For the cherries, I began with a thin layer of gesso just to make the colors pop a little more. I painted the leaves with green irRESISTibles spray - I simply unscrewed the cap and used my finger to "paint" it on. I dabbed on StazOn Black Cherry and Claret, then I slathered on some Rock Candy crackle paint. Once that dried, I dabbed on a little more of the StazOn Claret. 

The ice cream cone was so easy and so much fun! I really love how it turned out. I began by sponging Distress Ink on the cone part, then used a stencil and darker ink to create the waffle cone look. For the ice cream part, I glooped (if you're a crafter, you know that's a real word!) on some white Neon Amplify. I let it dry for a few minutes then hit it with the heat wand to make it puff up. To give it even more of a frozen treat look, I smeared some Picket Fence Stickles onto the bumps.

To make the popsicles, I began with a coat of gesso (leaving the holders just as they were, since they already kind of look like popsicle sticks). I used StazOn Studio Glaze and once it was dry, smeared on a little Creative Medium in iridescent green and purple. I also outlined them with Stickles just to give them a little more depth.

The lemonade pieces also started out with a coat of gesso. For the pitcher, I slathered on silver Creative Medium. When it dried, I painted on some Rock Candy crackle paint. When that layer dried, I smeared a lighter shade of acrylic silver into the cracks. I liberally dabbed yellow Radiant Neon ink on the lemon. Without waiting for it to dry, I spritzed it with yellow irRESISTibles spray. Once it was completely dry, I dotted it with yellow Stickles to give it a more pocked look.

Now if you'll pardon me, I'm off in search of ice cream!

Gina's Designs Product Used

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Other Products Used

Print Pattern rubber stamp by Stampin' Up!

Ranger Distress Ink

Tsukineko StazOn Ink

Tsukineko StazOn Studio Glaze

Imagine Crafts irRESISTibles

Imagine Crafts Creative Medium

Imagine Crafts Neon Amplify

Imagine Crafts Radiant Neon Ink

Ranger Distress Stickles

Ranger Rock Candy Crackle Paint

Liquid Pearls

Gesso

Ribbon

Baker's Twine

Teardrop Rhinestones

I've Got Sunshine - Shadow Box

Hi! Ever get a line from a song stuck in your head and you can't get rid of no matter what? Lynne here with a shadowbox project inspired by one of those lines (some people call it an "earworm" when that happens, but that expression kind of creeps me out. I'm not a huge fan of slithery things!)

I love the sun pieces from the Sweet Summer Shape set and used one of those here. I covered it with coordinating paper and inked the edges. The bird piece was from the Lovebirds Set. I dry-embossed it, then painted and inked it to add dimensional colour.

I loved the sunny colours in the papers I chose, and the fussy-cut butterflies and bright florals added to the theme. The adorable glass squirrels are just a personal touch by "Scrappy Squirrel"!! The cheesecloth made me think of floating clouds and the song lyrics just plain make me happy! Have yourself a happy, sunshiny day, and thanks heaps for stopping by!

Gina's Designs Products Used

Memory Tray Shadowbox

Build a Layout Lovebirds

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Mini Flourishes Bella

Other Products Used

Blue Fern and Craft and You Design papers

Prima flowers

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Doodlebug Designs alphas

"BeachTime" Shadow Box Hanging by Kim C.

Hey everyone!

This week I have created a little hanging shadowbox.  I created this box out of chipboard and used the Sweet Summer Shape Set.

The picture inside the box is of my niece and nephew, and they are ready for the beach!

The crackle technique was used on the bucket and shovel.  I painted each with gesso, then added my crackle medium.  When the medium was dry, I added the grey paint, a mixture of black and white gesso together since I didn't have grey!!  Once that dried I inked it with black distress ink around the edges.  I added some twine to the handle of the shovel, which I used the crackle technique on as well but only using brown paint.

The sun was painted with gesso and then I used some some watercolor paints from Colorarte to give it a golden color.  I inked the edges of the sun with vintage photo distress ink.

I also did the crackle technique to the piece on the front of the box which is like a covered sand box with a shovel and bucket.  I painted it with brown paint, added the crackle medium, and once that was dry, I added some ivory acrylic paint.  I added some pattern paper and a few flowers to the the box.  This was a very quick and simple project, but it's so cute!!  I then added twine and some letter beads that hang from the bottom.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!!

Gina's Designs item used:

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Other items used:

Gesso

Acrylic paint: Brown, Black, Ivory

Water Color Paint: ColorArte H20's

Mandarin Citrine, Orange Peel and Ginger Peach

Twine

WOC Flowers

Letter Beads

Kim C. :)

Sweet Summer Layout

Hi there and happy summer to you from Lynne! This weekend marked the official beginning of summer in this part of the world. I hope you're enjoying sunny skies and warm temperatures, beaches, barbecues...well, you get the picture!

When my kids were younger, we often had pool parties. They'd invite friends from school, church, or groups they belonged to, and this photo of my daughter and some girlfriends is from one of those. I used the Sweet Summer Shape set to enhance the theme, dry-embossing the pieces, then painting them with acrylic paints. I then heat-embossed them with UTEE, adding random amounts of the powder to create a water-splashed effect.

I added a few droplets on other parts of the layout created with Faber-Castell Texture Gems to continue the theme:

Thanks a bunch for stopping by, and whether you spend your summer days in a pool, on a beach, or wherever, I wish you a terrific one!

Gina's Items Used

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Other Items Used

UTEE

Faber-Castell Texture Gems Ice Liners

Kaisercraft embossing folder

acrylic paints

Altered Picture Frame

Hello everyone. Shanna here with an altered creation to share. Have you seen those cheap awesome wood frames in the crafty stores? They are just sitting there waiting to be picked up and altered.

I thought the Sweet Summer Shape Set would be perfect for altering this frame. Great for summer memories.

Everything first got a coat of gesso. Then everything got some color using gelatos. The word SWEET was covered with Glossy Accents and glitter. 

While that was drying, I used a stencil and some modeling paste to cover parts of the frame. 

Then I adhered my chipboard pieces on to the frame. 

Gina's Designs Items Used:

  Sweet Summer Shape Set

Stencil

Modeling Paste

Gelatos

Gesso

Glitter

Glossy Accents

Sweet Summer Layout

Hi, Kathi here to share with you a layout I have created for Gina’s Designs today.
I am sharing some summer warmth by using the sweet summer shape
set on this 12 X 12 layout.
The layout came together easily once I decided the color scheme I wanted to use - blues and greens! All the chipboard was painted with white gesso. Once the gesso was dry I painted the chipboard pieces using distress paint by Tim Holtz.

On the sun I used mustard seed distress paint going light in the center and darker on the ends of the sun rays to give it a contrast look. 

 The sandbox frame was painted with green distress paint and the pail & shovel blue to match the large pail & shovel.  On the large pail and shovel I applied stickers from the paper 

line after the blue distress paint was dry.

 Some of the flowers I used were sprayed with a Color Wash spray. and then the arrangement was then glued down with hot glue. I added another title to the bottom center from the paper line.

On the sweet summer title, I use both white, blue & green distress paint.

 On the umbrella I used white, blue and green to create the separate colors of the umbrella. I defined the panels by using a dark brown fine line pen.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Gina's Designs Supplies Used:

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Thanks for stopping by - please stop at:

www.ginasdesigns.net/store

The Girls! A Mini Layout with Mary B

Hello!  It's Mary here with a mini layout.  Since I prefer to work in miniature, I always find it's easier for me to fill up a layout when I downsize.  This layout is 8 by 8 inches and features the vintage camper from the Sweet Summer Shape Set.

I LOVE the vintage camper and I knew from the moment I laid eyes on it, that it would make its way onto one of the layouts from one of my yearly NSD Scrapbooking retreats with My Girls!

 I began by paper piecing the camper with cardstock.  A bit of Copic marker shading gives some dimension to the piece.  I then added my metallic stripes and a bit of embossing powder to really highlight the antenna and hitch.

Here, you can see a bit of the metallic shine!

 It's not quite as girly as my real life camper would be (PINK with silver racing stripes!), but it totally gets the point across.  I don't really camp, and my idea of camping is a resort with a fully working bathroom!

Thanks for joining me today and I'll see you next time!!

Gina's Designs supplies used:

Camper from the Sweet Summer Shape Set

Other supplies used:

watercolor paper

black cardstock

watercolor paint in yellow and grey

Simple Stories Summer Fresh 6 inch paper pad

WOW! Platinum Metallic Sparkle embossing powder

Viva Las VegaStamps! Postal Background stamp

sewing machine

miniature alphabet stickers

Let It Rain by Barb Black

I live in the Pacific NW, a place where it doesn't rain nearly as much as most people think it does. But when it does rain, it's often a day-long drizzle. I don't mind. The relative gloom is good for my creative... um... genius. Plus, it keeps all the flora here a glorious vibrant green. In short, rain kind of makes me happy, so I didn't have to reach far to find inspiration for this week's post.

I selected the umbrella from the Sweet Summer Shape Set. That's one of the cool things about the sets from Gina's Designs. You get all kinds of bits and pieces and lots of possibilities for lots of different projects. I used one piece from the set for this project, and I've still got two dozen more from that set that I can play with!

I began by tracing a light outline around the umbrella. I also traced it on a piece of scrap cardstock to use as a mask so I wouldn't end up with raindrop splatter all over the bright part. I "made it rain" by liberally spraying my sheet of watercolor paper with water, and then with a very wet brush, blobbed blues and purples all over. To make the little rain dots, I used an old toothbrush soaked in water and then scrubbed across blue watercolor paint. I simply flicked the bristles with my finger and let the drops fly and land wherever they wanted to.

I drew and outline of the girl and painted her in with watercolors. Then, dipping my brush in yellows, oranges, and pinks, I blobbed pretty colors everywhere I wanted "liquid sunshine".

For the umbrella, I began by giving it a coat of white gesso.

Then, using a stencil, I sponged ink all over it.

To finish the umbrella and give it some bling, I added gold acrylic paint to the handle and top. I also sponged some yellow ink onto the main part and then gave it a coat of gloss gel to make it look shiny and wet.

Once the umbrella and my painting had fully dried, I simply glued on the umbrella and my project was complete. Not bad for some rainy afternoon fun, huh?

Gina's Designs Products Used

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Other Products Used

Watercolor paint

Radiant Neon ink pad

Acrylic Paint

Stencil Girl Stencil

Paint brushes and sponges

Acrylic Gel Medium

Gesso

Happy Birthday, Gina's Designs!

In my life, April and May are huge birthday months. It seems like most of my friends and family were born in the spring, so it wasn't a big shock to me that Gina's Designs celebrates a birthday this month too.

I knew I wanted bright primary colors for this project, so I began by putting a layer of gesso on all my pieces to really make the colors pop. I then sponged light blue for the sky and white for clouds onto the big tag.

I painted the airplane bright red. 

Once it was dry, I embellished it with Liquid Pearls and Pico Embellishers.

I painted the sun bright yellow and gave it a few spritzes of irRESISTible spray in neon yellow.

For the Happy Birthday piece, I began by painting it a medium blue. Once the paint had dried, I went over it again with StazOn Studio Glaze in a matching blue to give it some shine.

All that was left to do was assemble my project, and I was done!

'Til next week, I wish you all happy crafting!

Gina's Designs Products Used

Chipboard Decorative Tags X Large

Sweet Summer Shape Set

High Flyers Shape Set

Birthday Shape Set

Other Products Used

Acrylic paint

Gesso

StazOn Studio Glaze

irRESISTibles Pico Embellisher and Spray

Ranger Liquid Pearls

Silver cording

Sweet Summer

Hi everyone! Melissa here with a 12 x 12 mixed media layout for Gina's Designs.

 I love how the chipboard fits the summer season so well. There are some for the beach, backyard, a picnic, or camping. I also used one of my favorite items of Gina's, a beautifully cut daisy. I have used them on several projects. 

I prepped the all the chipboard with gesso. I used oil paint on all of them except the daisy, which is watercolor over modeling paste. I put some paste on and made lines in it with a straight pin.

I used pictures from the internet as references to paint the rest of the chipboard.

I added crackle paint on the lemon. I put some blue chalk on with a brush to show the cracks.

On the pitcher I added some glitter glass. To show lemonade pouring, I used texture from the stencil, yellow flowers, glitter, and rhinestones in a stream of glossy accents.

Thank you so much for looking, and I hope you can find a little time to create something today!

Gina's Products Used:

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Daisies

Other Products:

Papers by Graphic 45, Prima, Bo Bunny, UHK Gallery,and Tim Holtz

Flowers by Prima and Petaloo

Sizzix Tattered Flower Garland

Twinkling H20s

Winsor and Newton Oil Paints and Watercolors

Crafter's Workshop 6 x 6 Doodling Template, Cherry Blossoms

Liquitex Modeling Paste

Ranger Crackle Accent

Crayola Glitter

Stickles

Perfect Pearls

Composition Box by Kathi and Layout by Melissa

Hi Crafters!  Today we have two projects to share.  First up is Kathi with her version of the Composition Boxes we've been sharing with you this month.


Hi everyone, it's Kathi here to share my composition box & a video on how I altered it. It's hard to believe it's been 40 years since I graduated from High School in 1974.  I thought it would be fun to create a memory box representing Lewiston Senior High, Lewiston Idaho, home of The Bengals.  I decorated the box with my school colors.

Bengal Tigers 

Full view of box, 

High school colors purple & gold.

close up of top

Video :

Supplies Used:

Gina;s Designs:

Composition Box

Boarder Sticks

Other supplies:

Quick Quotes paper "Julie Je T'aime"

Distress paint

WOC flowers

Recollection flowers

Flat back beads. 

Miniature photo frame

Stuffed Bengal tiger

Chipboard letters & numbers from my stash


Next up is Melissa with an amazing mixed media layout.

Hi everyone! Melissa here with a 12 x 12 layout for Gina's Designs Lasercut Chipboard.

This is a photo of a beach in Greenport, on the north shore of Long Island, New York.   It was taken in September, almost October, so I put a little Halloween in here too, just for fun.

All of the chipboard was first prepped with some gesso, followed by some texture paste painted on with a brush. I only put a tiny bit on the sea horse.  The chandelier got painted with blue metallic acrylic paint, then glossy accents, then a little gold ink. For the chains I applied gold ink over silver glitter.  The flames have gold leaf on them.  The crows were painted with black acrylic, then glossy accents, then gold mica powder and water.  I went around the edges with a black sharpie to make the colors stand out more.

The blue mermaid was painted with watercolors. I drew fish scales over blue paint on the dress, then put a little green gel pen on. To make the hair look like strands,  I scratched wet texture paste with a straight pin.  I painted it with gold mica powder and water, and followed that with a little purplish- blue mica powder.

On the green mermaid I put scales on by using a piece of netting and texture paste. I painted it with blue watercolor, then watered down green acrylic silk.   I rubbed in some gold mica powder.

The sand dollar I first painted with wet gold mica powder, then a little brown watercolor around the star part, to give a little definition.  I rubbed in pewter mica.  

The seahorse is brown watercolor. I added detail with a pencil, using a print of a seahorse as a guide.

Thanks for looking!

Chipboard used:

Gothic Chandeliers

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Mermaids Shape Set

Sea Horse Shapes

Other products used:

Jaquard mica powders

Glossy Accents

Butterfly by Reneabouquet

Winton and Lewis Watercolors

Stencil by Finnabair for Prima

DCWV paper

Swarovski flatback crystals

Tiny pieces of Vintaj

Jolees bling

Altered Canvas in a garden theme by Nancy and Sketch Challenge Layout by Marfa

Hi everyone, we have two posts on the blog today.  First up is Nancy with an altered inverted canvas.  

Hi everybody, Nancy here!  Today I'm sharing one of my favorite themes again.  Nature!  Somehow for me, it's the theme that comes most easily, and gives me the most pleasure in creating.  I began with a simple application of gesso to the frame, then streaked it with some various colors of Folk Art acrylic paints.  When the paint was dry I added some Kroma Crackle.  This crackle product can take a couple of days to "cure" and finish crackling, so I just leave it and move on to other projects.  When it fully "cured", I rubbed on some Prima chalk inks in various colors to bring out the crackled finish.  I found a nature collage style of design paper in my stash that I'd picked up at Michael's, and I secured it to the back of the canvas with mod podge.  Now comes the fun part.  I began to gather my chippies and to ink, emboss and crackle them.  I looked through my "nature" stash and found nests, birds, eggs and mosses.  After that it only took an hour or so to decide on my final arrangement and to adhere the pieces to the canvas.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Chipboard pieces have been colored with Prima Chalk Inks.  These are a great tool for coloring.  If you buy the big set you will have plenty of colors in the same family to use for shading.

Feather Shape Set

Tree 3 ( a portion of the tree can be seen on the inside)

Topiary Trees (basic instructions are below the post on how I colored it)

Grass and Foliage

Postage Frames

Build-a-Layout Country Living (the wagon wheel) crackled with TH distress rock candy crackle paint

Ornate Corners (inner corner top right)

Fall Shape Set (the rake) colored with chalk ink then TH distrees embossing powder to look like rust

Coloring the Topiary:

I began with a light dry brushing of gesso followed by Prima Chalk Ink.  I "shaded" the pot by leaving the thinly coated white gesso uncolored in the center to give it a rounded look.  For the topiary, after I colored with shades of green chalk ink, I added some clear glass bead gel and left it to dry.  It will dry clear.  At that point you will have lots of texture from the beads that will be stuck to the chipboard.  I then rubbed on some Gilders Paste in Vertigris over the beads and along the edges.  Done!

Next up is Marfa,  who has followed our  March sketch challenge with a 12 x 12 layout titled "You'll Always Have My Heart".  Enter in our gallery for a chance at winning a $10 gift certificate for Gina's Designs online store.

Happy Saturday!!!  This is Crafting Marfa today.  I want to share a layout that I made recently.  I'm using a sketch by Gina's Designs.  The sketch is for this month's challenge,  So I invite you to check it out and participate!  These are vintage photos of my mom, my aunt and my uncle.  I matched the paper to my mom's shirt and my aunt's trousers.  I colored the chipboard with Gelly Roll pens and then with a glitter pen.  I followed the sketch and simply added a couple of tags, some die cuts and a few flowers.   This layout was very easy to put together.  The sketch is easy to follow.  I love the simplicity of this layout.  It is eye catching, but I didn't have to spend a whole day putting it together.  Scroll down for a list of supplies.

Gina's Designs Chipboard Supplies:

Sweet Summer Shape Set

Say Cheese Shape Set

Other Supplies:

Roses by Craftsupplies1

Paper by Lilybee Designs and Webster's Pages

Tags by Elle's Studio

Die Cuts by Lilybee Designs

Sweet Summer Scrapbook Layout

Good morning, everybody!  I know that most of you are very cold brrrr...so I want to bring you a reminder of summer, hot days, the beach, ice cream...yum!  These are photos that I took last year.  There's Larry and me in the Florida Keys, and one of the biggest soft served ice cream cones that I've ever eaten!  Nothing like a delicious ice cream cone to cool you down on a hot summer day.  

For this layout I used the sketch for the challenge that we're running monthly over in the Gina's Designs Gallery.  It was simple as pie to make.  I used Copic markers to color the chipboard pieces, then I covered most of them with Triple Thick glaze.  I especially love how the chippie ice cream cone turned out. A few red rhinestones were the perfect little accent to frame the page.

Supplies List:

Gina's Designs Chipboard Set:  Sweet Summer Shape Set

Other Supplies:

Triple Thick Glaze

The Denim Stack Paper by DCWV

Copic Markers

Rhinestones