just relax...

So much easier said than done, don't you agree? This layout was inspired by a photo and a message board conversation about how I find it hard to relax. There is always something that needs to be done and I have to force myself to sit down and be in the moment. I'm not talking about relaxing while scrapping, I mean to really sit down and truly relax. I happened to be doing just that when I snapped this photo. I added some text and sparkles from the photo app called A Beautiful Mess.

This month's Pleased to Meet You Challenge is to take inspiration from Lisa. She has such a fun and fabulous style, it was easy to be inspired. She loves circles and the color aqua so I took those elements and got busy. I started with a sheet of watercolor paper and drew freehand circles with a Zig Emboss Writer. I then used white Zing embossing powder to make a resist for the paints I would be adding later. I repeated this with the Confetti stamp from Cocoa Daisy. I then used gelatos to draw circles around and over the embossed circles. I used a wet brush to blend the colors in and then used watercolors over that to create a soft look. I also painted circles with Heidi Swapp Color Shine (Teal) and I truly love the effect.

This is now my new favorite layout. I think I should hang this where I can be reminded often to just relax.

Embossing Euphoria!

If you know anything about my scrap style, you know I LOVE heat embossing. For this month's Cocoa Daisy sketch challenge, I actually embossed on four different media: paper, vellum, wood veneer, and raw chipboard.

For the title, I embossed the word sweet onto the wood veneer and also embossed the little wooden star. The large white star is raw chipboard that took two coats of embossing to get good coverage. I used the Cocoa Daisy Confetti stamp for the whimsical, pink dots on the Crate Paper doilies.

The little arrow was embossed onto vellum and I simply cut around the design. To adhere it I used spray adhesive. Now you can see why I love embossing powder so much. It's so versatile and watching it set with the heat gun is just plain fun!

There's plenty of time to participate in the challenge, so come on over and join in on the fun!

Watercolors, Gelatos, and Mists!

Doesn't that sound like a fun time? This month's Pleased to Meet You Challenge was to take inspiration from Anna's lovely style. This was a really fun challenge because Anna's style is so diverse. She does simple, clean scrapping but also is known for her artistic pages. I started with watercolor paper and some Technique Tuesday stamps (circa 2006/2007), oldies but still fabulous! I stamped the letters with Cocoa Daisy's new hybrid ink pads. The beauty of this ink is that you can paint/mist over it and the design will not run. I used watercolors to fill-in the letters and to create the splatters, then lightly misted over it. I also used watercolors to color in the Cocoa Daisy sun stamp. To create the subtle sun rays, I colored a Jenni Bowlin stamp with a Gelato stick and misted it with water. I love the soft, subtle look of the Gelatos. Washi strips were used to create the background of my layout - such a fun way to use up some washi tape.

I loved using elements of Anna's style, but still ending up with a layout that looks like my own! There is still time to participate in the challenge, hop on over to Cocoa Daisy to check it out here!