3 Gypsies on Portobello Road

A few years ago...now that I think about it MORE than a few years ago, mom and I flew over to London...met up with mom's sister Mary for a grand adventure. When we returned, I had all kinds of plans for a fantastic scrapbook of the trip. Of course life got in the way...the trip... photos, journal and all the trip ephemera are still sitting in a box, waiting for me to find the time to create the fantastic scrapbook.
You can imagine my excitement when the new 7 Gypsies Lillie paper came out and I was asked if I wanted to create a design using "Adventure and Elen" paper, the paper tape and a 7 Gypsies Shadow Box tray.

Finally I would have a chance to get a bit of the London trip archived. I sanded the edges of the tray to give it a well traveled look...the outside of the tray and the sides of the little ledges inside of the tray were covered with all three of the paper tapes. The Shadow Box tray has a brass handle with "7 Gypsies" stamped on it...I covered the 7 over with a large 3...because after all there were three of us on this adventure.

While we were in London we took the Eurostar through the Chunnel for a day trip to Paris. Of course we visited the Eiffell Tower.

Back in London we did all the touristy things...the British Museum, Harrods, Westminster Abby and the Tower of London with it's huge black ravens.

I had never heard of London's Portobello Road... Aunt Mary had found us this adventure.

It is the home of the Portobello Market. On Saturday the street is full of people exploring the antique stores, sidewalk flower shops, pubs and wonderful bakeries.

The ideas for the scrapbook are still sitting in the box with the photos and travel journal...but I'm glad a little bit of it is seeing the light of day after all this time.

Queen Bee

A bee hive fit for a Queen Bee!

The front page of the Maya Road Bee Hive book was covered with the Sassafras Lass patterned paper...and I distressed the edges with "Wild Honey" Distress Ink.I cut out the arched opening to show the inside of the hive. The hexagon shaped honey comb shapes were part of the book...these were covered with some of the patterned paper, distressed and blinged with Kaiser craft rhinestones.

The Prima flower looks like a piece of jewelry, with the pearl center and glittered edges. This album was held together with ball and chain that came in the package. I wasn't sure how that was going to work...most of the albums I have designed come with book rings. The ball and chain worked surprisingly well. I embellished with some ribbon...

and in a kind of juxtaposition, I used one of 7 Gypsies charms...with a BEE!

OOPS!

I don't know what happened to last week...some how it just zipped by me. Blog posting didn't even enter in to my "things to do" list.

We have come to the back page of the Kaisercraft "Tab" album...yes it got all jazzed up too.
The tab circle and the image come for the 7 Gypsies ephemera packet.

The name of the patterned paper from the Kaisercraft "LUSH" line is called "Cherry Blossom". All the pieces have been inked with Wild Honey distress ink.

Scrapbook Barn had me design a really cool album last week...it's themed around Bees and embroidery...anybody interested in seeing it?

Just Because

The Kaisercraft "Lush" patterned paper for the forth pages is called "Maple"...I 'm not sure why...it has flowers and birds on it. But it's a cool design no matter what they call it. The reverse side of the paper has borders/stripes...which I used a strip of to run vertically on one of the pages.
I'm just guessing...but I think the 7 Gypsies ephemera might be a "tarot" card. I bling-ed it up and layered it over another piece of ephemera from the same package.

The Tim Holtz clock hands were added to the tab of the book..."just because".

Gypsy Girl

The Kaisercraft "Lush" patterned paper on the third pages is not as WILD as the other ones I have used in the book...which of course called for a lot more embellishments! The decorative photo corners are transparent overlays from Tattered Angels...called "Glimmer Glass". These photo corners are from their "Regal" line.The Gypsy Girl (notice the suitcase she is carrying...you think she is running away from home, off on a big adventure?) is layered on top of some patterned paper and another piece of ephemera from 7 Gypsies.

Prima flowers are adhered near the page tab...and the clock was found in a corner of the Scrapbook Barn embellishment drawer.

Then again...maybe the Gypsy Girl is just going to the Laundromat.

Map, Key and Rhinestones

The second pages I kept a bit simpler...
The pages are covered with patterned paper from the Kaisercraft "Lush" line with a border and a line of black rhinestones layered vertically along the edge of one side.

I used a map, from the 7 Gypsies Ephemera pack...trimmed with a bit of musical note rub-ons and a key.

My DH asked me if there was a meaning behind the map, key and musical notes on the pages..."No, it's just cool stuff." I guess you have to love playing with paper to "get it".

Ribbon, bows and corrugated chipboard

Are you still there?

Sorry for the long "station break"...DH and I went up to Las Vegas for a few days. Definitely NOT a vacation...it was for business. Came back to work, class and more work.

The first pages of the WILD book are covered with the Kaisercraft LUSH patterned paper. I left one side of the book for photos or journaling...the other side I embellished the heck out of it.

7 Gypsies ephemera, corrugated chipboard, ribbon with a crystal headed pin, a bit of bling and a turquoise flower from Webster's Pages "Bloomers" collection

The circle tabs were both punched out from some of the 7 Gypsies ephemera...and of course everything got inked with the Tim Holtz "Wild Honey" distress ink.

Thanks for waiting for me!

Going a bit WILD

This album was so fun to design...with the stunning patterned paper, the great ephemera,colorful ribbon and a drawer full of embellishments, it came together very quickly.
Every corner and edge was inked with Tim Holtz "Wild Honey" distress ink

I used a circle punch on the 7 Gypsies Ephemera to cut out the "tab" part of the album...

The book rings were embellished with pink, aqua, gold and black ribbon, with a tag and key added in...

In the center I layered some corrugated cardboard, "gypsy" ephemera hot pink velvet flowers with a pearl head pin and a token.

It is a bit on the WILD side!

OH NO...NOT ANOTHER ALBUM!!!!

YES... another album...and this one is REALLY cool. I used a Kaisercraft Beyond the Page is a "tab"album...
The Kaiser patterned paper I selected is from their "LUSH" line...very yummy paper...and it's double sided. You are digging the colors already aren't you?

It gets even better...7 Gypsies Ephemera!

With all those amazing goodies...NOW are you interested in seeing "another"album?

January Birthdays

I have a few family birthdays in the month of January. The card I sent out started with this image Suzee Que shared on Flickr.
The background patterned paper in this card is so old I have no idea which company it comes from...the edges were rubbed with an aqua color ink pad...
a flourish stamp in black was used on 2 corners.
7 Gypsies made the aqua patterned paper behind the image. The edges were highlighted with "Black Soot" distress ink. I cut around the image of the princess...and embellished her with the magic pen...princess's need a lot of bling!

The card is embellished with 3 flowers...two Prima flowers layered...highlighted with magic pen and a 7 Gypsies brad in the center. I gathered butterscotch color lace with a thread and needle to create a flower...the center is a "Pearl" from Kaiser Scrapbook. The bottom flower is cut from lace. So Happy Birthday to all those January birthdays out there.

Let's see...Valentines Day is 2 weeks away...so you know what kind of cards I will be making next!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This Fall a friend of mine, that knows how much I enjoy old photos gave me this one of his aunt as a child. The detail of her coat, hat and shoes are amazing. I knew I wanted to use this picture in a Christmas card. While it doesn't scream Christmas...it does look very winter-y. After a few attempts of trying to make the photo work...and not liking what I was coming up with, I went looking for some inspiration...and found it in a 2008 Somerset. Frieda Oxenham had a wonderful design that I semi-scrap swiped.
The background of the card is 7Gypsies "Venice-Canal" patterned paper . "Black Soot" Distress ink for the stamp and the edges of the card. I highlighted the stamp design with the "magic pen" (gotta love the the magic pen). A glittery shear aqua ribbon runs down the side...and aqua lace across the bottom, along with the word "Merry". A large white lace snowflake (which started out life as a daisy) is covered in "Star Dust" Stickels and embellished with a rhinestone star. All topped off with a sprig of Holly on the hat.

The message inside the card reads...

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas".

I hope you do just that!

It's all about the Glitz!

It was all about the glitz at the Friday night Heritage Scrapbook Workshop. I designed a few "demos" using Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and talked about how to incorporate the mist onto heritage pages. In my effort to show that you aren't stuck with colors like tan, ivory and brown when creating heritage layouts, I went way out of the "box" and used PURPLE!
This is such a fun "vampy" photo, it was just the image to use with glimmer mist.
The back ground patterned paper was sprayed with "Coffee Shop" and "Creame de Rouge". The lace got a spritz on the "Coffee Shop" too.

A couple of white, Dollar Store silk flowers, were disassembled and misted with "Creme de Rouge". When dry, the color was stunning. The flower was reassembled, with a 7 Gypsies brad in the center. Smaller paper flowers from Prima were sprayed too. The bottom flower is the "Coffee Shop" and the top was the "Creme de Rouge"... Same glimmer mist color but a totally different effect on the paper Prima flowers. The flowers were layered using Ultimate Glue. I added a healthy dab of the same glue to the center of the flower and loaded it up with purple beads. The glue dries clear so all you see is the shimmering beads.

Dancing as fast as I can

The weekend was spent racing around getting everything caught up, finished and done for dreaded Valentines Week at the flower shop.

Mom came it to town Friday afternoon

(she had been in Tucson). She only stayed overnight on her way back up the hill to Flagstaff in order to beat the big winter storm that was approaching Arizona which predicted snow for the high country and rain for the valley. Saturday morning we attended a lovely brunch hosted (hostessed?) by the wonderful ladies at Mystic Paper. Kim, Jennifer and Ellen treated some of their bloggers and teachers to delicious quiche, muffins, fruit and yogurt. Sheri was there and I got a chance to meet Lisa of

House of Hullabaloo, she is so fun! Mom got a chance to put faces with the names of people I talk about.

I finished and turned in my design team project ( it was one of my "to do" before Valentines). The team was asked to make 2 layouts with the items selected. I picked up a few other items at MP to embellish the layouts. Some Prima flowers and 7 Gypsies fabric covered brads (they were too cool!) and some ivory lace.

On the "Tea Party" layout I made flowers out of the ivory lace, with the covered brads as the centers.

The heritage page is of my great grandparents and how they met. This time I used the covered brads by themselves, layered the flowers and added some 7 Gypsies gaffer tape.

While I'm here (posting) I might as well (as promised) add a valentine card from holidays past.

This was the Valentine for 2006. See they are getting better.

Valentines Day prep

I got called in to working extra days this week at the flower shop. The preparation to get ready for Valentines Day is nuts. If you every want to see organized chaos, visit the workroom of a flower shop the week of Valentines, just stay against the wall or you will get run over.

I have been making Valentines Cards...yup, lots of pink! I am about finished with those and in the meantime I'll post some of my past Valentine cards until the "big unveiling" of this years. But remember just like the Christmas cards...they do improve over the years. This is one of the first Valentines Day cards that I made. I used a vintage Valentine post card, scanned and printed. The darker red background had the look of a handmade paper that had been covered with lacquer.

The 7 Gypsies are still in the sack waiting for me to come and play.

On the road with 7 Gypsies

Good grief how the heck have I gone almost a week without blogging?!?
I must have had a very busy week.

I did go and visit Mystic Paper this week. Our fearless Design Team leader Sheri was there making up our kits for the month of February. She has me taking a trip with the 7 Gypsies. Four pieces of their luxurious paper, a yard of MP lavender ribbon and the instructions to make a 12x12 layout.


With Valentines Day (week for me) rapidly approaching at the flower shop, I better get my self in gear to have it turned in on time. As always Sheri probably has hers finished and on to other fabulous creations. She just finished a Vintage Valentines Book. Click on over to her blog and take a look...it's too cool.