My first play at BFS' sketch challenge!

Hello folks!

As promised, I'm back today with a layout I created for the Blue Fern Studio's September challenge. They also happened to have a swap with one of my favourite paper makers 7 Dots Studio, and that makes the perfect challenge for me 'cos I just received a stash of their new collections - Messy Head and 9th Wave.

Here's the sketch:

And this is my take on it:

I layered various papers from both collections as a photo mat and inserted a doily and a distressed tag into the cluster

I cut up the "Blooming Foliage" chippy from BFS and used one half for the title. I dry-brushed a coat of gesso and used my Pan Pastels to color the leaves and the stems. For the flowers, I used Faber-Castell gelatos. I then blended the different tones with a wet brush. Lastly was a layer of clear crackle paint.

I gave the "Spring Iris Small" the same treatment as well - but used the metallic gelatos in my box instead. It made the chippy really shimmer!

The other half of the bloom foliage with the same treatment.

As usual being the klutz, I did a step-by-step tutorial for this layout but realised that I had used a different camera and the USB cable was nowhere to be found. So I couldn't post any of the techniques in detail in this post. I'll try to put the whole thing together soon as there are other scrap-worthy photos in that memory card.

And that's all I have to share for now. TFL!!

love,

celebrating 5 years of one-ness and an entry for SATW

Hello lovely readers!

How time really flies. The husband and me have been married for 5 years and what an eventful 5 years it has been. There were so many ups and downs and I'm thankful that we are still together!

As it is, I create a layout for every anniversary we celebrate. And as with any layout I make, there's always a story behind it. This year is special, because we didn't have a special candlelight dinner to mark the event. There were no flowers, no chocolates, no expensive gifts because we were - and still are - going through some major adjustments at home with the husband leaving his pen-and-paper routine to start his own business and us have to live significantly off my salary. Budgets had to be strictly followed and both of us felt wrong to splurge on a dinner. Instead, we renewed our vows and truly appreciated the meaning of "for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse".

And how can I resist a challenge while I'm at it? SATW has a really eclectic mood board this month:

Now they have a sketch to follow but I used my own. And this is my take on it:

Black and white always remind me of weddings and I had a couple of shots done in b/w. But another inspiration that arose out of the mood board was interestingly the photo that says "All in your head". In our years together, there were times when we wanted to throw in the towel. But every time, God brings a new revelation to me as I prayed for help. "It's all in my head" - how I wanted to treat my partner, how I dealt with hurt and anger issues, and ultimately how much I want my marriage to work. Someone said that everything begins with a thought. If I'm convicted that marriage is for life, I should choose to consume myself with that thought every single moment and that will eventually translate into real and meaningful action. On the other hand, so does failure. Tell yourself that you will fail often enough, and one day you really will. So despite the difficulties, we are determined to work things through and celebrate each other. How apt is that for an anniversary celebration!

 And back to the layout! Some close-ups:

The traditional and modern gifts for 5-year anniversaries are wood and silverware respectively. So I added a wooden ticket and a metal zipper on the butterfly.

Layering textured paste, doilies, resist canvas tags.

Flower power!! I took a chipboard bird cage from Maya Road and embossed it with Ranger's liquid platinum before dry-brushing gesso on it for a distressed look. The firebird bloom from Prima was cream (on the yellow side) to begin with, but I gesso-ed and misted and distressed it until it looked nothing like how it was out of the package. And it was fun!

And that's all I have for now! It's been a productive week, so I'll be back with another scrap challenge entry shortly. Stay tuned!

love,

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

HAPPY MAIL!!!!

Hello and good morning to everyone!

I'm so beside myself right now because I've just found myself a place on Green Tara's DT!!

These nice people bring in the loveliest flowers and ribbons, as well as other fine paper craft products. What's so special about them is that their flowers are made from mulberry paper, which is environmentally friendly and pretty all at the same time. For someone like me, who must have flowers in my creations, it's a dream come true!

And yes, they also carry those lovely little roses that I absolutely adore!

Meanwhile, do drop by their blog and see their products in action, and have a great day ahead!!

Love,
Jelissa

and the lucky winner is....

Thank you all ladies for participating in the blog hop, and thanks for all your lovely comments and support by being a follower!

As mentioned, I'll be announcing the winner of the blog hop and she is...

Pattyo!! And this was what she said...

Pattyo, please email your mailing address to sunnyjeli@gmail.com and I'll put the little prize into the mail right away!

Thanks again lovely people for playing along!

love,
Jelissa

A dream in the woods - Maja Design September Mood Board

Hello sweet people!

Very rarely do I post two days back to back and I must say I'm rather excited about this one! Maybe because it was an effort of consecutive days of soaking in Pinterest and youtube tutorials and blog hoppings that birthed this canvas that I created for Maja Design's September Mood Board challenge.

Here's the inspiration:

Such lovely cool colors aren't they? And my take on it:

For lack of a suitable title, I used the "Dream" sentiment found on the little resist canvas butterfly which I added as an accent. The story behind this creation is that a few Sundays ago after church, the husband was quietly telling me that I had a huge tear in my very old pair of Levi's jeans which accompanied me for 10 years. That pair of jeans was rather special as I had bought it while holidaying in San Francisco celebrating my birthday. Rather reluctant to throw it away, I decided to immortalize it by using it in a canvas since well, the color scheme fitted and it was something different. It was also a reminder of how the me 10 years ago was so full of dreams and aspirations, and the world was my oyster. 

Some close-ups:

I cut up a vine into a few pieces and tucked them into the pocket with some leaves and blooms, doilies, a metal keyhole thingy and some distressed tags from 7 Gypsies. I love their philosophy - life is really all about the journeys we make and our experiences that make us who we are.

A chippy flourish from Kaisercraft. I used Tim Holtz distress embossing powder. The canvas was also from Tim Holtz District market. I hoarded it for about a year before I decided to put it to good use. See that piece of drywall tape on the left? They are my new favourites now! Depending on which part of the world you live in, they are called either drywall tape or fabric tape, and are available at most DIY home improvement stores. 

Lovely distressed and misted blooms under a layer of crackle paint and textured paste

LOL, and the title which I conveniently used. The little knot was done with threads which I frayed out from torn edges of the pair of jeans. Bottle cap was from a drink I had while doing this canvas. 

More fabric tape and textures of denim, lace and gauze. Testing out my new EK success punch and using the punch-out leftovers. Denim comes to me as a crime scene exhibit most times at work, so it's really quite refreshing to look at them differently here!

Layers of punches, lace and trims and more texture!

Well I hope you had fun viewing this creation. Don't forget that I'm also having a RAK for the PaperHaus Fall splendour blog hop. The PaperHaus event is over, but you have until 18th Sept to leave a comment here for a chance to win a little sweet prize from me. 

love,

the Paperhaus' Fall Splendour Blog Hop!

Hey there beautiful people!

Today is the last round of blog hoppin' with PaperHaus magazine to celebrate the launch of the new Fall issue as well as the magazine's first birthday! Double the joy, double the fun and inspiration!

Click on this link for the latest issue:

Since it's one of the most brilliantly coloured season of the year, I created a 8x8 canvas to echo the sentiments of the season...

Some close-ups:

I distressed the alphas with some Glimmer Glaze

Going all ballistics with the gesso and glaze and mists....

Loving those tiny roses!

And I promised a RAK so this is what you stand to win if you complete the blog hop and leave a comment here. I'll pick a winner at random on 18th September :)

And here's the blog hop list again:

1. PaperHaus - www.thepaperhaus.com
2. Stacey Young - www.staceyeyoung.blogspot.com
3. Me! - www.jelibeanz.blogspot.com
4. Scrapbook Diaries - www.thescrapbookdiaries.com/blog who are our lovely sponsors for today's giveaway.

Make sure you leave a comment on each of the blog posts to stand a chance to win an awesome prize from the Scrapbook Diaries!

love,

just a little reminder..

Heyo folks!

Sorry I've been away for awhile, the eldest has just recovered from what turned out to be very mild case of hand-foot-mouth disease and I myself was out of action with a very bad case of stomach flu. Yes, it was so bad that it actually took some weight off me, considering I didn't have much to begin with!

Anyway, this is a sneak peak to remind everyone that the PaperHaus magazine is currently having a fantastic blog hop event to celebrate fall and the launch of their new Fall issue!

I will be on the hop list on the 15th of Sept, so do remember to check in on that day for your chance to win some great prizes from the sponsors. I'll be putting together a little RAK as well so don't miss out on that too!

love,
Jelissa