New Product Focus: Wood Veneer & Sequins

I am loving all the new wood veneer designs and sparkly sequins in the newest JBS release! I knew they'd be the perfect embellishments for a page about our recent trip to Mexico, so I gathered up my favorites and got to work!

To create a beachy feel on the background, I lightly brushed it with Speckled Egg ink that I watered down.  Once it was dry, I used the Plus One Stencil with aqua acrylic paint and added some of the cross-hatch texture over the top.  I then cleaned out the stencil and used it again with a teal fine-tip marker to trace additional plus-signs around the painted areas.

I layered a few paper scraps down the center of the page and then arranged my wood frames vertically as well. I sized my four photos to fit inside the Insta-Frames, which will perfectly hold 2x2-inch prints. Adhering them with foam dots helps to pop them up off the wood a bit.

I used the Speech Bubbles stencil to trace shapes onto white cardstock. Then I cut them out with small scissors and used them to hold my journaling strips (also brushed with water down Speckled Egg ink.)

Finally, I sprinkled several of the wood veneer clouds, clear sequins, and flower sequins around the page. They add the ideal finishing touch to this vacation page!

The wood veneers, stencils, and sequins are now available online and in scrapbook stores. We'd love to see what your create with them!

Happy Scrapping!

Scrap Vintage | Ledger Papers

 

One of my very favorite items often included in the JBS Mercantile Antiquarian add-ons are vintage ledger and lined papers. These lovely aged sheets often have detailed graphics and logos, classic fonts and even actual handwriting upon them. And because of the lines and grids, they are perfect for journaling!

Most of these papers are yellowed with age, and while I love that patina on certain layouts, on this page I wanted to add a bit more color.  I started with several old papers from past kits and JBS stamp pads in Chewing Gum and Lavender Sachet, a Chewing Gum Reinker (not pictured), and a Ranger Mini Mister.

After punching the papers with a circle punch, I sprayed half of them with watered-down Chewing Gum Ink (add about 10 drops of ink to Mini Mister and then fill halfway with water). While still wet, I dabbed some of the circles directly on the pink ink pad to add even more color. For the lavender circles, I first misted them lightly with plain water and then rubbed them onto the Lavender Sachet ink pad. This creates a more mottled, watercolor effect.

Once my colored circles were dry, I layered them (along with circles punched from an old index card) across the bottom of my page.  A few lines of stitching helps hold them in the place:
   Topped with a few JBS Pearl Flowers, the colored paper circles create a lovely textured effect on the bottom half of my page:

I also used an aged graph paper to create a journaling circle and a tag, where I stamped my title using the JBS Alpha Stamps. I filled in the letters with pink and lavender ink markers to match my color scheme and added chipboard hearts rubbed with the Chewing Gum and Lavender Sachet inks.

 

I love the colorful results a bit of ink adds to these papers.  So don't be afraid to mix up your antique stash with brighter hued supplies.  It's a great way to customize your page and add fresh twist to vintage!

JBS Summer Games - Swimming

When summer hits in South Florida, the heat makes any activity outside that doesn't involve water - well, impossible. That means we spend lots of days hanging in our pool! This year in particular, our youngest has really taken his swimming to another level. He's becoming a little fish! And I must add, when the swimming events were being held for the Olympics, he was pretty rapt. This photo documents the first day he was able to work up the courage to start jumping into the pool on his own. Of course, once he did it, that's how he spent the rest of the day!

This was my first attempt at using the re-inkers and mini misters to create my own inks! To create the inks, just fill the mister 3/4 full, and add enough drops to make the color you'd like. I wanted mine a bit darker, so I added about 12 drops per mister. Perfect for a few spritzes, and I loved the look with a stencil as well...

I hope you're enjoying the games, both watching, and playing along here and in the JBS Mercantile forums!

~ Leah

Briana Johnson Inspired by Jenni Bowlin

Kudos to Doris for coming up with the best blog assignment EVER . . . to make something inspired by Jenni Bowlin! I was so excited to do this! I really took my time and enjoyed looking through Jenni's blog and all of her project kits and posts here on the inspiration blog. She's amazing! I know, we all know, right? : ) Jenni has been one of my absolute most favorite designers for as long as I can remember! When I think of "Jenni Style" I think of a strong design but never heavy looking, confidence in white space, little vintage details, and a bit of shine or sparkle whether it be German foil trim or glitter.

The above layout was inspired by her in many ways. The main way is the patchwork area on the right. It was inspired by this project of Jenni's:

From this post, from August 2010, on her blog. I used a 1" square punch and did the exact same thing but in different proportions. I've always loved the way she cuts up vintage labels and uses them as support in her design, not using the entire piece. Amazing attention to detail, perfect example.

 

So the yellow banner paper on my layout was actually an accident. I intended to do more of a cream on cream look and use the other side but I dropped the paper and it landed on the yellow side and a light went on in my mind. I really thought that brought the attention on and grounded the page well. I try to remind myself that it's okay to use a color not found in the photos at all because it allows the colors that are found in the photo to contrast and stand out against the paper. And since yellow and purple are complementary it worked out well.

Another way this page was inspired by Jenni was the color combo of red and lavender. You can see her page here. So I added just a few hints of red for my third color. The Cabbage Flower (damask) stamp is one of my all time fave stamps so I used it here to create my own patterned paper with Jenni's new Lavender Sachet Ink (thank you, Jenni, for Lavender Sachet, I am IN LOVE). I tried to embrace some white space like Jenni does, and like the picture frame above, with the thick cream border all the way around the page.

The last way I used a Jenni touch on my page was the placement of the star. I got that idea from her page posted here. See all that lovely white space? My chipboard star is covered in vintage cigar box trim.

 

I painted one of the cream doilies with a Lavender Sachet paint dabber. I've really enjoyed having the matching paint and ink (mist too if you want to make it from the re-inker). I layered the doily with a vintage rhinestone button, one of Jenni's chipboard milk cap buttons, a punched and glittered flower shape, then the star.

I had a great time with this! Can you tell? I love this page and I plan to hang it up in my house in a 12 x 12 shadow box frame.  Thanks for stopping in today!

Products used:
Chipboard Stars, Large, 4", and Mini
Mini Papers: Be Our Guest, Trendy (not available but the red pattern in Be Our Guest would work as well)
Cabbage Flower (Damask) Stamp
Ruler Border Stamp
Speckled Egg and Lavender Sachet Ink

Lavender Sachet Paint Dabber

Cream Doilies
Mercantile Exclusive Black Damask Paper
Core'dinations Cardstock: Grandma's Rocker Crosshatch (back side) and Row of Cherries 
Printed Tickets: Punctuation, Name, Baby Girl
Blue Label Stickers
German Foil Medallions Borders in Silver

Banner/Alphabet Stickers Playdate

Chipboard Buttons - Milk Caps

Mini Bingo Cards 

Other vintage items used: cigar box trim, advertising label, dictionary paper, sheet music, heart charm, and vintage buttons 

  

Journaling Your Staycation (in Technicolor)

Hello, Campers!  Hopefully you've been enjoying the first two weeks of Summer Camp here on the JBS Inspiration blog.  This week's focus is on vacation journaling.  A vacation can mean many things to many people, but above all, a vacation is an escape, a reprieve from our usual routines and preoccupations.  One can vacation with a view of the Eiffel Tower, at the edge of a lake, in a cramped RV, or on a comfy couch.  Yes, even a staycation counts as a vacation.   

One of the pleasures of vacationing at home is that you can still travel -- via the pages of a book, that is, transcending time and place without the need of a passport or a wormhole.  Any chance my family had of traveling this year went out the window when puppy love interfered: we spent our would-be travel funds on our dog's knee surgery.  I have no regrets, though.  I'd like to think that we went on vacation anyway -- a book-cation, if you will.  

This layout documents my family's page-turning reading journeys (feel free to click on the pics if you'd like a closer view of the journaling).

The journaling above offers a kind of synopsis of our book-cation, but the rest of the journaling on the layout took a wee bit of planning.  I compiled a few basic questions, and my husband, daughter, and I had a fun conversation about the highlights of our summer reading lists.  I jotted down some notes as we talked about favorite books (or series), characters that endeared themselves to us, memorable scenes, favorite places to read, and whether we preferred e-books or paper. This way I could incorporate each person's voice on the layout, sneakily getting my husband and daughter to  contribute to the journaling for this page.  Although my husband, ever the joker, gave me a hard time with playful "decoy" answers at first, I think I was able to tease out a few sincere answers from him.

At times I find that figuring out what to journal can be as challenging as figuring out where and how to journal.  I knew I wanted to use the Die-Cut Circle Label Mini Papers and the Mini Classic Die-Cut Label Papers, but I decided to add a summery colorpop feel to them with the help of my trusty JBS for Ranger Re-Inkers.

I filled four mini-misters 1/4 of the way with Lemon Drops, Soap Powder, Seed Packet, and a combination of Chewing Gum and Chili Powder, and then filled them nearly to the brim with water.  I misted over the papers, mixing blue with green and red with yellow, and printed my journaling over each one.

In keeping with the whole bibliophile vibe, I tried to make the layout itself a tribute to the printed page, mixing in text papers from the JBS Haven line, adding elements from a Hodge Podge book, and creating a torn page border on the left side of the layout.

After lightly sanding the Core'dinations Country Store cardstock to reveal the numbers (which I love alongside the tower o' books that we compiled from our summer reading lists), I stamped the edge of the cardstock with a Torn Paper Border acrylic stamp, using Chili Powder dye ink. I then cut around the non-inked edges to create the "torn" effect.

Ultimately, Campers, the point is this:  regardless of where and how you are spending your vacation this summer, you most definitely have a story to share.  So share it!  

Your Camp Counselor,