Bombshell Tutorial - Scrappy Journal

Happy Friday Bombshells!!  I'm here today to show you a super fast and easy way to make a fun journal.  I've seen these recently in my LSS and decided that I could SO easily make one on my own.  All you need is scrap paper - which we ALL have - and a sturdy manila folder, thin cardboard, or really heavy cardstock for your cover.  My cover is an old manila style folder trimmed down to 12" x 9.75" when fully open. 

I didn't do much thinking for my interior papers - I quite literally grabbed what has been left out during my creative processes all week long.  

I then trimmed all of my papers to be the same width - 11"-  so that none of them hung outside of my cover.  The papers, however, do not all have to be the same height, that's actually part of the charm when you see the interior. 

Now to start the binding process.  I scored each of my papers directly at 5.5" so that they would all line up perfectly together.  I then used my tape runner to lightly adhere each layer before sewing.  

I then made sure all of my papers were where I liked them before hitting the sewing machine.

I then folded them and holding them tightly, moved them all back and forth to make the paper a bit more malleable.  But I also wanted to make sure that everything was held tight before stitching it.  I didn't want anything shifting during the sewing process.  

I opened the pages of my Scrappy Journal, laid them inside of the manila cover and faced them inside up on my sewing machine.  I ran a standard straight stitch right down the middle twice to create the binding.

And it comes out looking like this!  So fun!!  It's fabulous to put memorabilia in, doodles, photos, ticket stubs, etc. 

I strongly recommend using solid cardstock and double sided designer paper.  That way there is something fabulous to look at, doodle on or stick to no matter what side you are working on.

I finished it off VERY simply with some purple baker's twine and my "Homeward Bound" sentiment stamp from the Homeward Bound stamp set. 

Have a great and crafty weekend all!!

Big Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

January's Sketch Challenge!!!

Here's January's Sketch!

We'd love to have you play along. Take the sketch and feel free to flip it, flop it, and make it your own. Then share your take on the sketch in the Inlinkz below for a chance to win a fabulous prize!

Here's what the Bombshell Girls and Pin-Ups came up with using January's sketch!!!

Stempelientje used Butterfly Queen and Bombshell Angel stamps.

Alaine used Ahoy Sailor stamps to make this Nautical Card.

Sparky Mary used Harley Bikes for her Motorcycle card

Meredith using King Of The Road

Laura using Harley Bikes, Bombshell Angel, and Biker Bombshell

Darkness Stirs and Wakes Imagination

Night-time sharpens, heightens each sensation ...
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination ...
Silently the senses abandon their defences ...

Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendour ...
Grasp it, sense it - tremulous and tender ...
Turn your face away from the garish light of day,
turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light -
and listen to the music of the night ...

What do you think of when you think of stamping and colouring? Well, you probably think black ink, white paper... maybe off white... or you might get absolutely insane and go for a dark blue or brown ink. ooooooooo. You are a vixen!

Well - - what about colouring on black paper? with images stamped in white? GASP - - - WHAT?????????!!!!!!!

It is fairly easy with a few coloured pencils, some white ink, and white embossing powder and black paper. Take the black paper - either smooth or linen... not much texture, but a little is fine.  Stamp the image you have chosen in white ink and then emboss over it with white detail embossing powder.  I chose Sacred Heart Art to work with today.

Once your image is embossed, use a white coloured pencil and colour it in... you can shade with it just as you would a marker or when you colour with a darker coloured pencil on white paper. If your paper is textured it will have a little texture in the colouring (I have a black linen paper I used below). Once you have coloured with the white you can colour over it with any colour you choose.

Similar to Copics, if you make a mistake you can correct it... Take a black pencil and colour over the white area... and it takes it away - - well it covers it up - kinda like makeup concealer and the big dark smudges under your eyes. Well under my eyes at least. :-)

You can have very vibrant colours on the dark paper, or you can leave it with Black and White.

Whichever way you choose to go, it adds a bit of the unexpected to the project you are working on.

Here is the card I made with the bottom heart from above.

I hope you have had fun with this technique and maybe it will inspire you to Abandon your Defences and Embrace the Dark Side. (I know mixing Phantom of the Opera and Star Wars is a bit preposterous... sue me).

See you soon!!!!!

p.s. Apparently the spell check for Blogger uses the Queen's English (it does not like the spelling color)

Anything Goes Challenge Winner!

Hey, hey, hey Bombshells!  Did you ring in the New Year in true Bombshell fashion?  We sure hope you did!  Here's a little something to add to your Resolution List for 2012...ENTER MORE BOMBSHELL CHALLENGES!  We give away two major prizes each month and what it all boils down to is...free stamps!  Yep, I said it!  FREE STAMPS!!!  Get in on these challenges while we are still growing this blog and your odds are pretty good that you will win some stamps at some point.  What are you waiting for?  Get out those Bombshells and start creating!  Don't own any Bombshell Stamps?  Not a problem, there are digis for sale at incredible prices and there are also free images available to our Newsletter subscribers.  Click here to sign up.

Speaking of challenges...we just concluded our big Anything Goes challenge that ran for the month of December and we have a winner!  Let's hear a big round of applause for...

Susanscraps

Congratulations!

Susan, please contact me at cvaladez@comcast.net to claim your prize ;D  Thank you to everyone who entered this challenge.  We hope to see you back again this month, where we will feature new contests and we will be back to focusing on Bombshell Stamps designs on your cards and creations to be eligible for the Random Drawing and the Prize Patrol.  

Hit The Casino in the forum and you will find all of the details regarding our contests.

Cheers!

January 2012 Hump Day Hop Theme: Ring in the New!

Greetings and Happy 2012! It's time to find out what the January Hump Day Hop will be! And, since it's a new year, I figured, what better challenge than to actually "Try Something New?" Make anything you want, as long as there is something "new" for you in it. Never made jewelry before? Give it a go! Never attempted a tri-fold card? Now is the perfect time! Perhaps you've never used pink with your Bombshells....why not experiment? Wow us with your experimentation!

This hop will be on January 25th (always the last Wednesday of the month). You will need to sign up for the hop in this thread by Monday, January 23rd. All of the other minor details are found in the thread. This is going to be fun! Trying something new is always exciting. I hope you will join in on this "New" themed hop. I am really looking forward to seeing all of your projects!

Recycle / Altering tutorial

This is ideal if you want to give money as a present and don't want to put it in a boring envelope....

Needed:

-A can with a pull lid

-Special can opener that doesn't leave sharp edges

-Bombshell stamps

-Stamping ink

-Colouring materials ( I used Copics)

-Glue

-Superglue

-Paper

1.Get a can with a pull ring lid.Do NOT open the can by pulling the lid,but open it with a special can opener.

2.Empty content ( I did eat it ...) and clean the can,and get the label off.

3.Measure the height and width of the can and cut out paper in a rectangle to stamp on.Make sure it overlaps when it goes around the can.

4. Stamp your paper and colour you images.

5.Glue the paper all around the can and make sure it overlaps.

6.Put a small present or money in the can.

7.Shut the lid with superglue and ready is your own made can!

Anything Goes...There's still time to enter!

Hello, my lovelies!  I thought I would just pop in for a brief moment to share a card and remind everyone that there is still time to enter the Anything Goes Challenge.  The deadline is December 31st.  Share your Anything Goes projects with us on the challenge post and you might randomly be selected to receive a gift certificate to spend in the shop.  How fab is that!

I'll poke your creativity bone and let you know that I already have Valentine's Day on the brain, so I created this card featuring Rose's Portrait.  She is crazy fun to color with all of that glorious skin and hair!  I also made a video on how I colored Rose's hair and you can find it on my blog.

So that's my Anything Goes creation, let's see yours!

Steampunk Box

The Bombshell Design Team was challenged this month to create a "Hot and Steamy" project, Steampunk that is, using Bombshell images by our guest designer, Ms. December,  Torrey.

     I chose to use the Mi Amor image to work with for my project and added loads of cogs and gears to create a box for all my steampunk embellishments. The rings around the images eyes reminded me of the goggles that seem to be very popular with the steampunkers right now.  I think my favorite part is the little watch stopper I used as a handle to open the box.

      I didn't get a side view of this box, but I used a spiffy gear embossed paper to cover them and it came out super fantastic.   The wooden box came from the dollar store and was first covered with distress inks before I began adding layers and embellishments.  A number of the gears came from Michael's, where I used a coupon to get a small bag which contained quite a few gears in different shapes and metals.   The clock face actually came from an old alarm clock my son disassembled and I just went through my boxes of metal bits to find other parts and pieces.

Rebel without a cause

Stamps used  for this card:

Bombshell "Live to Ride"

Coloured with copics and Adirondack ink,silver pen and glaze.

December Hump Day Hop: Give it to Me, Baby!

Welcome, welcome! It is the last Bombshell Stamps Hump Day Hop of 2011! This month, the theme was "Give it to Me, Baby!" What's that mean? You had to make a gift for someone using your Bombshell Stamps. Even if that someone is you! This also means no cards! Unless of course, you are making a super snazzy gift card holder, but I wanted us to give it the old college try and try to make something else. I'm talking jewlery, altered art, mini canvases...anything that you could give to someone as a gift. The possibilites are endless! Also, Torrey had the great idea to turn this into a swap, so a few of us will actually be receiving some of the fabulous items you will be seeing today as an extra pressie! So without any further adieu, here is the full hop list. Please stop by everyone and leave them some love! I wish you all a wonderful New Years and hope you will be hoppiong along with us in January!

Bombshell Blog: http://bombshellstamps.blogspot.com/ (you are here!)
Alison: http://alisonsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/
Sparkly Engineer Mary: http://sparkly-train.blogspot.com/
Torrey: http://left-field-studio.blogspot.com/
Alex: http://paperandstring.blogspot.com/
Alaine: http://missalaineousmosaics.blogspot.com/
Milo: http://milolilja.net/
Meredith: http://www.papercanteen.com/
Kathi: http://kathstales.blogspot.com/