Getting off the page - canvas purse (Helmar)

I am a scrapbooker by nature but once in a while I get a desire to create OTP projects. Here is a step-by-step on how I altered this canvas tote using my favorite Helmar adhesives and some fantastic preferred partner products. For Breast Cancer awareness month I went with PINK - my favorite color anyways :)

My mom gave me this 10x10 inch canvas purse she bought for $2 at a dollar store and said "Can you make something with this?".

So, I started to mist it (outside) and realized I was going through A LOT of mist without the result I wanted. It looked so "blah". Then, I remembered the awesome cross promotion products my Helmar DT received from Faber-Castell this summer. 

I started to play with a pink gelato and a green stamper's big brush pen. I made a pink paste in a plate with a gelato (scrape off a chunk of gelato and add a bit of water) and a green puddle with a big brush pen (scribble and mist some water) and painted them on with paintbrushes (pink paste and green puddle) for nice vibrant colors.

I then stamped with the green and used the brush pen directly on the stamped image to darken it. Next, I created a handmade flower (tutorial to follow soon) and glued it to the canvas using my all-time favorite Helmar product - the 450 quick dry. This stuff is better than any hot glue and won't yellow (or burn you). It's great for heavier items like this canvas flower or metal.

I also used thin gesso and a stencil for smeared writing and then added some water to my left-over gelato paste to create a mist. I misted the script stencil  for crisper pink letters. I next added some gorgeous lace from Green Tara using Helmar's Premium Craft glue. Works great on delicate fabrics - you can't see the glue and it won't yellow the lace.

Lastly, I gave this finished purse a spray of Helmar's Krystal Kote Matt to seal the colors in. It won't be washable so I wanted it a bit resistant to dirt. Because it is canvas I may even give it a water resistant spray too (like you would for canvas or suede shoes).

Merry and Bright (Meg's Garden/ 2Crafty/Helmar)

It feels a bit strange to be designing for Christmas before Halloween but I couldn't resist when I received the beautiful new "A Musical Christmas" collection from Meg's Garden. The glorious colors, the detailed graphics  - OH MY! I think I say it every time but these papers have such a beautiful hand stamped quality to them that you don't need to do much other than add fun embellishments.

This is a picture of my boys a few years ago posing in front the of the Christmas tree. The funny thing is that my own tree is decorated in a similar style as the graphics on this paper - dark red, white and gold (and a touch of pink). I instantly wanted to design with this particular paper. I actually used mini papers from the older "A Vintage Christmas" line for the photo mats since the collections blend so seamlessly.

I added some gorgeous 2Crafty chipboard (title and santa sleigh) and limited the flowers since it is a boy layout. Here is a close-up of the music notes on the paper behind the chipboard. On the chippies I dabbed texture paste to give it a snowy effect and then added some diamond dust (glitter glass would work wonders too). I actually clipped the third snowflake off the title and added to the top of the tree. For this one I simply used gold glitter glue on top of the clear diamond dust to give it extra sparkle.

Here is a close-up of the Santa sleigh that I primed with gesso, added texture paste and lightly inked the edges. Look at that beautiful hand stamped feel of the papers!!!

All of these projects were created with the special help of various Helmar Adhesives - especially my two favorites: the Premium Craft glue for paper and 450 Quick Dry for embellishments.

Before you go, don't forget to enter Meg's Blog Candy Giveaway at the end of the new DT announcement and good luck!

Meg's Garden DT announcement and PRIZE

I am happy to announce that I will be continuing on with Meg's Garden DT for another term. Please visit the official announcement here at;
http://megsgardenblog.blogspot.ca/2012/10/design-team-announcement_14.html#c to see all the lovely ladies who made the team as well as an EASY way to win a beautiful blog candy prize pack of gorgeous Meg's Garden papers and some fabulous embellies from her store!

Wedding Layout using Christmas papers (Pion/2Crafty/Helmar)

The Pion Design Silent Night collection is so versatile and can be used for so many kinds of projects. Here I am featuring a layout of my Mother and her Father on her wedding day. It was my parent's 40th year anniversary on September 30th and my Mother's 60th birthday is just around the corner on December 31st. Yup my dad has it very easy to remember... the last day of each month, LOL.

I have enhanced this layout with a lot of 2Crafty chipboard (elise dress form, parisian border and title).

I have simply used gesso and various brown inks to finish my chipboard - easy and economical!

Here is a close-up of the layered dress form chipboard - sooo love this piece!

I added a lot of pretty white flowers left over from various Swirlydoos kits.

The inspiration for this layout came from my friend Nadia Cannizzo - look at this gorgeous sketch of hers!

Please note: that all of these projects were created with the special help of various Helmar Adhesives - especially my two favorites: the Premium Craft glue for paper and chipboard, and 450 Quick Dry for embellishments/fabric. All Helmar products can be purchased directly at:

http://helmarusa.com or http://helmar.com.au (if you do not have a local shop that carries the products).

Swirlydoos October Kit Reveal Blog Hop

Welcome to Swirlydoos' October "Belle Chanson"

Kit Reveal and Blog Hop Block Party!

If you came here from Heidi's blog, then you are on the right track. If not, go back to Swirlydoos' blog and start from there. We have some amazing projects for you to see today and Teresa Collins is joining in the fun! Also, as an extra special twist, 2 of our designers are hiding secret prizes on their blogs! Make sure to leave a comment on ALL of the blogs for a chance to win. Check out Swirlydoos on Facebook and Like Us too!

Have I mentioned that Teresa Collins is featured in this kit? I really LOVE these vintage papers! This is a picture of my daughter as a newborn.

A close-up of the gorgeous Prima flowers in the flower add-on this month and some 2Crafty chipboard from my stash. I actually used a Christmas sketch as inspiration for this layout (that I've been holding onto for almost 2 years - created by a very talented artist - Charlotte Jenkins).

For this layout of my son, I pulled out my new Lucky 8 punch and created a bracket die cut by only punching 4 times on an 8x8 piece of paper and rounding off the un-punched edges.

Here is a close-up of more pretty Prima flowers in the add-on and some more 2Crafty chipboard from my stash. The chipboard was inked with the coordinating Prima chalk ink that is included in the main kit!

I used this month's Swirlydoos kit sketch created by our EXTREMELY talented sketch artist to create the layout above.

Lastly, a fun altered project for me to wear on Halloween this year. The mask was decorated with the trim and embellies from the MAIN KIT only. The Petaloo flowers were jewelled with the bling in the kit.

This is the Swirlydoos main kit, please see the website for all the great add-ons available.

***You have until midnight, eastern time, on Wednesday, 10/10 to complete the hop. Winners will be announced on the Swirlydoos Blog on Thursday 10/11.***

In order to qualify to win here is what you need to do:

1: Visit all of the blogs and leave a comment on each. This way we know you were there. Become a follower if you're not already. Take your time. There are REALLY beautiful things to see along the way.

2: Before you leave each blog, look for the “special” words and write it down. Once you have visited all the blogs and collected all the special words, they will create a sentence.

3: Finally, go back to the Swirlydoos blog and leave a comment letting us know how much fun you had, tell us the sentence that was created with all of the special words you collected. Can't wait to hear from you!

Interested in subscribing to Swirlydoos Kit Club? Click HERE. Don't for get to check out the Swirlydoos YouTube channel for great project techniques/tutorials and also our awesome forum with tons of great inspirational advice (no need to be a subscriber for this - it's free information for the taking and we'd love to chat with you!).

My special word is : ALONG

The party continues over at a new addition to the Swirlydoos Design Team -  Frank's blog. Have fun!

(Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to my fellow Canucks!)

Please note: that all of these projects were created with the special help of various Helmar Adhesives - especially my two favorites: the Premium Craft glue for paper and chipboard, and 450 Quick Dry for embellishments and fabric. BTW - check out this awesome article by Craft Test Dummies about ways to use Helmar's Remover cleaner to SAVE your crafting tools and money! All Helmar products can be purchased directly at:
http://helmarusa.com or http://helmar.com.au (if you do not have a local shop that carries the products).

Swirlydoos Oct. kit sneaks

Come back here on Monday, Oct. 8th for the full design reveal :)

Contest Extended! Win Helmar PRIZES

YOU HAVE UNTIL SUNDAY OCT. 7th TO PARTICIPATE...
Go to the Helmar FACEBOOK page and LIKE them, plus tell them what you like best about WINTER to be eligible for a prize!  But... you must tell them that I, Vicky Alberto sent you there to like them so that I qualify for a prize too :) If you already like them, then still leave a comment to be entered to win anyways. Easy peasy! Winner gets some gluey goodness.

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER HELMAR'S OCTOBER COLOR PALETTE CHALLENGE THIS MONTH TOO,  DETAILS ON THE HELMAR BLOG.

BTW - What do I like about Winter? I love Christmas, coffee and Baileys, scrapbooking by the fireplace, watching my kids have fun in the snow and escaping to the mountains for a weekend getaway. Other than those 5 things - I HATE WINTER!!!

October OUAS Reveal (using Pion Design)

Can you believe it is already October? I can't. Today I am revealing my Once Upon a Sketch DT layout, featuring Pion Design papers (mix of For Mother and For Father collections). The OUAS challenge theme this month and my project revolves around interpreting this quote...

"Life is like a camera, just focus on what's important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if things don't work out, just take another shot". This is a very fitting quote for very personal reasons and I have word for word journaled it on the back of my layout. Pictured is my mother holding my youngest baby at the age of 8 months. Please click on images for a larger view.

Here is a close-up of the pretty Pion papers, Dusty attic chipboard and an assortment of flowers. BTW - I re-stocked my Etsy shop yesterday with Dusty Attic and 2Crafty chipboard - see the previous blog post :)

This is the gorgeous sketch and challenge details. Please note that my layout was glued using a variety of awesome Helmar adhesives.

I hope you can play along with the October challenge!

2Crafty chipboard in my Etsy + DA update

Well, I have just finished loading my Etsy shop  (www.etsy.com/shop/vickyalberto) with 20 2Crafty chipboard styles and a mini re-stock of Dusty Attic chipboard too - over 60 chipboard styles in total to choose from right now. The brand new DA pieces are due to be released soon so I will be doing a large order the day they become available so I can get them into my shop ASAP this Fall.

How does 2Crafty compare to Dusty Attic? They are both cut from 1.8mm chipboard so the main difference is the style variety you get from me carrying both manufacturers in my shop :)

Take a look of some of the 2Crafty I just loaded today...

Christmas tags (Pion Design /2Crafty/Helmar)

It's still quite warm here so thinking about Christmas feels a bit strange BUT... in reality it is only 3 months away. I like to get almost everything done before December 1st so I an actually relax and enjoy the holiday season.

The newly released "Silent Night" collection from Pion Design is so sweet and dreamy - a real pleasure to work with. Here I have created a large and small gift tag set.  I have raised some cuts outs using Helmar's foam Zapdots and accented the tags with beautiful 2Crafty chipboard. 

I have used a set of Maggie's Swirls 2Crafty chipboard and just trimmed off some pieces to make them fit better onto the tags. Here is a closer look at the small tag.

Here is a closer peek at the larger tag. I just stippled some thick gesso onto the chipboard for a snowy effect and glued down with Helmar's 450 quick dry glue. I debated adding some stickles or glimmer mist for shine but decided to keep things matte for a more vintage effect. I added a little bit of lace and just let the paper shine. I really love the decorative letters in this collection! I also love the fact that this collection includes some French sentiments since I am fluent in French (I am half French and half Portuguese - I don't speak Portuguese though).

Unforgettable Layout (Swirlydoos/Helmar)

Here is my last project using my September "Inspiration" Swirlydoos kit. I will actually be teaching this layout on November 17th for Paper and Lace in Strathmore, Alberta. We will focus on distressing, antiquing, stamping and dabble into a bit of multi-media too.

This is a picture of the day my daughter was born and her brothers meeting her for the first time. There are so many of the newest gorgeous Prima goodies in this month's Swirlydoos main kit and fabulous add-ons. I think the Romance Novel is my favorite Prima collection to date - ever! (Printery comes in second, LOL).

Here is a close-up of the pretty flowers.

Look at the gorgeous resin and cute handmade butterflies. I used a lot of Helmar glue to hold all the paper layers, resin, flowers and chiboard. Good glue really does make a difference!

A little bit of masking and antiquing on here. I adore those Prima zipper ends, don't you?

Where did the first inspiration for this layout come from? The September Prima BAP and PPP challenges. Here is the sketch...

This is their gorgeous September palette I used too...

I haven't played along with Prima's challenges in while - so it was good to get back into it. There is still a week left for you to give it a go!

Box and card gift sets (Meg's Garden/Helmar)

I created these pretty little kirigami boxes and cards using the new 12x12 Spring Paisley collection from Meg's Garden and from some help using Helmar's Acid Free glue. There are so many uses for this glue but I decided to use it in a less traditional way and it really worked great! 

I have so much Green Tara product left over from my year DT term that I heavily embellished this project with their products. Meg's Garden also carries many Green Tara items so check out the store! Here is a close-up of of one of the gift sets that I played up the peach and cream in the pretty paper.

Here is a close-up of where I brought out the darker red and pink in the Spring Paisley paper for the second gift set. Loads of Helmar Acid-Free holding this project together!

  

The great thing about kirigami boxes is that they are just as pretty on the inside. Since they are folded, it means they are sturdy too due to several paper layers too. My tutorial on how to create these boxes can be found archived on this blog HERE. These boxes are about 4 inches square once you fold down 12x12 paper (but can be made smaller).

BTW - check out this awesome article by Craft Test Dummies about ways to use Helmar's Remover cleaner to SAVE your crafting tools and money! All Helmar products can be purchased directly from http://helmarusa.com or http://helmar.com.au if you do not have a local shop that carries the products.