the details

this year we got creative with our pumpkins.

i grabbed three of them when i first saw them in the stores. then i used them in the display on my front porch. they looked great! this weekend i started to think about them and wondered if they could even be carved...maybe they had frozen a few times?!! instead of going to the trouble to find out the truth...i grabbed some paint, mod podge, loose glitter and some glitter glue with sequins.

we can all take a guess at what Martha would think! but the kids were totally thrilled. and i was relieved.

we glittered and painted right on the front porch. the house had just been thoroughly cleaned and i knew we would be seeing glitter for months if we didn't take it outdoors. i swept the remaining specks into the flower beds. or so i thought. some neighbours and a few kids commented on the twinkly sidewalk. apparently it looked like we had done it on purpose! too funny. well, it all definitely worked out fine in the end.

my favourite was the one with the leaves and glitter. (second photo) the rainbow glittered one was definitely "glittery", but a bit on the wild side for my taste! (the 5 year old chose the colours). it is difficult to tell by the photos...but these were HUGE pumpkins.

who knows what we will create next year!


as promised, here are the details on the design team layout.




i think i mentioned that we were challenged to use a mask creatively. the truth is that i tried a number of techniques and played until i got what i wanted. my first attempt was to put the Farmers' Jeans blue ink directly on my paper using the mask. however, it was too loud for my preference. i gave it a wash with Picket Fence Distress Stain. that is a miracle product! it kept my brick patter, but toned it down a great deal. then i added brown inks. then some crackle paint in Rock Candy. then i dabbed and rubbed in some wet inks and dry inks. because i moved the mask so often, my bricks were not so perfectly spaced. and layered in some places!

i found the design more boxy than my usual style. so i added the doilies to soften things up a bit. the roses and bricks needed a meeting ground. i cut them, then added a bit of ink to the edges. then i added crackle paint. after it dried i added more ink.



we were given plain chipboard shapes. i inked these with the farmer jeans ink first. i crackle painted the cage and covered the bird in glossy accents.

i cut a few flowers with my Tattered Florals die and created a few flowers of my own design.



my students from my Year in Review class may recognize these flowers. see the blue flowers? those are a similar version to the ones we created for our October layout. the only difference is that i did not wrinkle the petals on these. i kept the rolling technique, but left out the pinching. the yellow flower is a different one. here is the link to the flower making blog that was shared on the Urban Scrapbook blog a few months ago. Natasha has a few other flowers using different dies. she is very inspiring!

i also used the same ink to colour the ribbon. i also added some wild honey to bring out the yellows and oranges.

a few weeks ago, this product found its' way to the shelves:

it comes in several shades. they are mica flakes. LOVE this product. i'm still trying to figure out how to use it to its' best. i used it on this layout. i glued it on to the backs of the windows in that little resin window shape. 

you can see them glittering here.


this was a fun kit to work with. i was checking out the other layouts today. it is neat to see the variety of photos that were used with these products.


i am also sooo proud of Rhonda! she is one of the talented scrapbookers who has faithfully taken my classes since i started. her layouts are phenomenal. i finally convinced her to send in a jpeg of a recent layout to Urban and it was featured on the blog this week! yay!!


i will share the November year in review layout later this week. in the meantime, it is up for viewing at the store...

take care!