Mixed Media Scrapbook Layout: Happy New Dog

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Hello all my scrappy friends.  Thank you so much for stopping on my the Clique kit blog hop.  The October Clique Kits feature the Pink Fresh Studio "Happy Things" collection.  These kits are just fantastic and give you a great variety of collection.  Today I am scraping pictures of me and my new doxie I just rescued last week.  I took him out to the local farmers market where he did great and I took these pics while resting on a bench together. I have a ton of pictures now to scrap with my two doxies together.  They are just the cutest.  My first doxie, Zoe, who you've seen me scrap before, is getting along great with this little guy who we have named Kobe.  
I started out with a triangle patterned stencil from Heidi Swapp that I wash taped out to make into a triangle.  I used my Lindy Stamp gang mists in Tiffany Lou Blue and Iridescent medium for my stencil work.  Of course no layout is complete without some splatters.  I cut out the triangle to use like ephemera from the Rustic Triangles patterned paper.  If you watch my video linked at the end, you will witness a accidental mistake that I left and made it work, instead of starting over.  I could have edited it out, but I want to include it to show that no one is perfect while scraping.  Even I make mistakes.  
I used a speciality vellum paper with gold triangle to add behind my photos.  I matted the photos on gold glitter paper from Heidi Swapp.  The alphas,  the 'happy' phrase and puffy  stickers are from the Pink Fresh Collection as well.  I used the exclusive cut apart paper from the Clique Kits for the phrase labels on the photos.  
I've been feeling a lack of creativity lately.  I feel like my layouts have not been up to my usual par.  Has  anyone ever felt like that?  I need some suggestions to get my creative juices flowing again.  I was thinking about following sketches, because I usually do not.  Or maybe scrap lift layouts to get my mind working again.  If you have ever been low on creative mojo, please suggest how you improved your state of mind.  Thank you as always for stopping by.  Here is process video:
October 2015 Line-Up
Clique Kits https://cliquekits.wordpress.com/
Gia http://www.giaaloha.wordpress.com/
Erica http://ericarosecreates.blogspot.com/
Leeann Pearce http://thepaintbrushgoesspottie.blogspot.com/
Maryam* http://maryamperez.blogspot.com/
Aliza* http://peopleofthescrapbook.blogspot.com/
Megan Blethen http://www.craftymeggy.com/
Emma Pescott http://emslifedocumented.blogspot.co.nz/
Melissa* http://yesterday2day4ever.blogspot.co.nz/
Kim http://krodesigns.blogspot.com/
Leigh http://www.artfulleighcreative.com/
Renee Aslette http://www.reneeaslette.blogspot.com/
Kat* http://kraftykat9.blogspot.com/
Sandy Gonzalez craftythought.com/
Tyra Babington http://justtyra.com/
Marcia* http://www.onescrapatatime-bymumsie.blogspot.com/
Kim Allen http://kimsscrappyblog.blogspot.com/
Candace* http://findingeverydayperfection.com/
Rhonda Van Ginkel http://snapwhiz.blogspot.com
Hannah http://scrapbookpagesandcupcakes.com
Evi  http://lifewithevi.blogspot.com
Janet Zeppa http://janetsjoy.blogspot.com/
Thank you,
Evi
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Life just got sweeter: Adopting a Doxie

Wednesday, October 14, 2015
My dachshund, Zoe, is 9 years old.  I received her as a birthday present years ago while in graduate school.  Zoe has been with me through school, 4 jobs, 2 terrible relationships and about 7 different addresses.  She has been with me for the good times and the not so good times.  Its incredible to love her, as much as I do.  I am not ashamed of the countless amounts of selfies we have taken over these years.  We were taking selfies before they were ever called that in 2005.  
I have been living with my fiance for over a year now and we wanted to add a member to our family.  We waited and waited to get an English Bulldog for months.  He was a puppy and we bought everything to care for a puppy.  Unfortunately, our little family tragically lost our puppy 2 weeks later and we have been heart broken.  I do not think you ever truly get over tragedy but your heart can heal enough in order to be able to talk about it without breaking out into tears.  We have taken 6 months to ourselves and evaluated if we are ready to try again with another dog.  We were on the same page and said yes we are ready but this time we will rescue a dog instead.  
We visited a few shelters in the very beginning.  I would have taken all the dogs home.  We decided to rescue a dachshund instead.  We went through the adoption application process with Dachshund Rescue of South Florida.  It was a rather intense process.  Besides the $20 application, I needed three references that were not family, clearance for them to call and talk to my current vet for Zoe to verify she is taken care of and an at home visit for an evaluation.  I was so throughly impressed with this process.  They are looking out for the well being of these dachshunds they care for, and truly want them to be a new forever family.  All the doxies are fostered.  There is not a facility to just go see them all and pick.  We had to make appointments to visit any of the doxies available to adopt.  
We knew that we did not want a puppy doxie. We wanted a young, potty trained, social dachshund to be with Zoe.  I felt Zoe needed that companionship during our work hours.  She sleeps and lounges too much.  Fives years or younger was our wanting.  
There were two male one year olds available.  The head organizer suggested we meet one over the other since my current dog is not very playful.  The other was already know to be mischievous and destructive.  lol.  So arrangements were made to meet Ferrari.  

 Long story short, he came home with me an hour and half later after playing with him and Zoe together.  He is perfect for us.  He was nice and healthy, shiny black coat, good teeth, healthy white in his eyes, no bad breath, non barker, smart, playful and energetic.  He was found walking on the streets and was brought over to the rescue center.  The rescue organization had him neutered, updated on his vaccines and microchipped.  All of this was included in his adoption agreement.  
He is so wonderful.  I re-named the little guy, Kobe, after the basketball player on account of him being able to jump a good three feet in the air.  It is impressive.  He has transitioned into our home beautifully and with little to no problems.  He plays with Zoe's old toys and little Zoe got possessive with them, so I had to buy new toys for Kobe.  He also like bones but then Zoe started taking away his bones, so now buy two sets of bones.  I always remember to give Zoe her needed love time in addition to the love Kobe needs to feel from me too.  They play great together and its a delight to see Zoe scurry around with him.  She does stand her ground when she has had enough and Kobe plays the submissive one and just sits beside her at that point.  My new favorite moment of my days is watching an hour of TV at night with both dogs lounging all over me together.  Its doxie-palooza on the sofa and I love it.  Walking them together shows some challenges as Zoe does her business 1-2-3 and wants to go straight back home where young Kobe as been enjoying longer walks where he marks every other bush in the entire neighborhood.  He brings extra life to our days and frankly as given me a reason to walk more in the mornings and at night.  These two doxies together act like real children.  Even feeding them is hilarious.  Needless to say life has just become a little bit sweeter with the addition of Kobe to our family.      
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Mixed Media Scrapbook Layout: Smile Together

Wednesday, October 14, 2015
My trip to NYC with my mom to see my sister was an amazing time.  For the first time, we did not end up bickering or fighting as we usually would.  I guess my sister and I are finally growing up and accepting of each other.  This was a picture taken with the help of the selfie stick at dinner our first night together.  I have used the Dear Lizzy Documentary Collection to scrap my NY trip.  This collection has been so wonderful to work with.  I started out with white card stock and cut Ever Ever on a diagonal for the corners of this layout.  
I proceeded to add strips of paper from the collection's 6x6 paper pad.  I added three layers to the edge of the corners to add more texture and interest to the layout.  I wanted to soften the edges by doing this.  I added inexpensive white acrylic paint on top of the layers to tone down some of the bright colors.  
White gesso was applied to the center so that I could do the "packaging technique" and add some mixed media with some Faber Castell gelatos from the Tropical four pack.  I used Snow Cone and Margarita gelato are added directly to the plastic packaging and mist water over top, it liquifies the waxy gelatos so that they can give a watercolor effect on the layout.   I also added a pink and red tone gelato for added color to the space.
The birdhouse sticker and the die are all from the same collection  I added some puffy stickers from the Craft Market Collection by Crate paper that I had in my stash.  The gold alpha are called Bliss and the "together" are phrase thicker from the collection as well.  
The photos were matted on mixed media paper from my Canson art book that I previously played with watercolors.  The colors worked perfectly of this layout and I loved the notebook edged paper it added.  I loved the look of that notebook frayed edge so much I purchased a punch to re-create it for future layouts.  I have provided the process video for your viewing please.  Thank you for stopping by. 

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