Glimmer Misted Paper Flowers

After seeing them on many layouts for a long long long (!) time, I finally gave in and got me some Glimmer Mist.  And all I can say is that I'm am so happy with what it can add to my pages/projects.  Just tried them out here on some white/off-white paper flowers to see what the colors would look like (from the left: Meadow Green, Tattered Rose, Purple Pansy, Starfish, Coffee Shop, Yellow Daisy, Olive Vine, and Walnut Gold).  Aren't they all pretty?

Materials:  Prima Got Flowers? (Winter) and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist kits (Adventure and Garden Bouquet)

The Flowers of May

One of the things that I remember doing as a little kid during summer is offering flowers to the Blessed Virgin Mary in church during the Flores de Mayo season.  And it's really unbelievable how summer just flew by and now we have just a few weeks before school starts.  I had planned on sorting out all my stuff and cleaning out my room this summer which, up until now, is a work in progress (more on that later).  And try as I might, I wanted to discipline myself by not doing anything crafty until all the cleaning is done, but I just couldn't help myself!  So I give in every once in a while and work on small things... and one major project (for my niece's birthday).  Lately, I've been enamored by pretty flower embellishments and so I tried my hand at making lace ones and used a bit of bling for the flower centers.  I think they turned out pretty cute.

Catching up again!

Yikes... that last post was five weeks ago. It's not that I haven't been doing anything, far from it. The Internet's been down a lot (having problems with our ISP for quite some time now) and I just never got into the habit of updating blogs and even social networking sites and the like. And on top of that, all the work associated with the end of the first quarter in school (grading papers, finishing grades, meetings, etc.) had me swamped. But since I was also doing crafts to unstress, I have lots to post.
Here's one - a ribbon organizer I made from an shoebox that I was looking to recycle. I love that it's just plain white except for the brand on the lid and the label (with the color, type and other shoe info) on the side of the box, which I thought was interesting so I left it on. I covered the lid with some pretty paisley black and white gift wrap. It's very simple, and I think just a tiny touch of pretty that still allows the ribbon to stand out. Got the idea from a lot of youtube videos of clear cosmetic/makeup bags punched out to make ribbon bags. Made my very own ribbon box.

Tribute to The Girlfriend's Club

Bruised and battered paper flower

Close up of what hopefully can be seen as a bit of glimmer

I have been quite enamored by this series of weekly video blogs on scrapbooking by Leah Fung, Johanna Peterson and Donna Salazar for the past couple of weeks now. How sad was I to discover that they have decided to end "Leah's Scrapbook Room" just very recently. :'( It was very informative and packed with a lot of useful tips. Most of all, it inspired me to try a lot of things that I've never even dreamed of trying. So this is my little homage to the three girlfriends - my very first attempt at Donna's paper flowers. I used the extra pages from my teacher's record book. And a vintage looking button from my mom's jar of old buttons. I also tried to make my own glimmer mist from pearlized puff paint and hairspray.

An attempt at glitter art

I must confess that I'm not a big fan of working with glitter. I find it messy and hard to make go/stay where you really want, plus it takes a while for the glue to dry, and the design to set. So I was quite surprised one day when an idea came to me: why not use double-sided tape? It can be cut or punched to the desired size or shape, and adhered exactly where you want it. Then you can just pour the glitter over it and even it all out. I was just so pleased with the results. Now, this is fairly easy and I'm sure other people have thought of it before I did. But it was just a moment of serendipity for me that I scanned my work for posterity.


Mind you, this dabbling in random techniques happens when I am lacking in inspiration or do not have the time to fully work on a scrapbook page... which is quite often, I'm afraid. But still, there is a sense of accomplishment in knowing what I can do after all.