Friday, August 29, 2014

Personalizing your Canvas Tote Bag

Hi everyone.  It is me Jeannie from The Polka Cabana with my first Bloom Girl post.
I am going to show you how to turn this awesome canvas tote into something that is uniquely yours.


What I did to start, was to use a 12 x 12 scrapbook sheet protector.  I cut off the edge with the holes and used masking tape to adhere it to the bag and my stitching lines.


Using a combo of straight and zig zag stitches, I made 3 pockets that have open tops to insert "things" from the top.  The card stock is there for reference only at this point.


Next, I took a scrap of fabric that I had gone around the edges with pinking shears and sewed it to the front of the tote. 
I will make a note here.  You do end up really manipulating the tote through the machine. If I had it to do over again, I would NOT use a page protector, I would use a heavy duty, crystal clear vinyl.  It would handle the rough treatment better, I think. 


For the handles, I took a really wide ribbon and cut it in half and each half on one handle.  The cut edge, I made sure and used a tight zig zag stitch on.


Now, to customize the back, I took a fat quarter and made a rectangle approximately  16" x 10".


I sewed the ribbon to the front of the fabric before sewing to the tote.


These are the pockets all dolled up with Bloom Girl fun stuff.


This is the Bloom Girl Karlie Stamp piece in the far right pocket.


Yep, I seem to sew on everything!


This is a small card with a saying that goes along with Karlie's theme. 
This is in the middle pocket.


This is a custom notepad in the far Left pocket dressed up with some Bloom Girl chipboard pieces, flowers and a paper clip.


Here are some pictures of the final product.


Front side..


Back....don't you love it?


Oh, I should mention, my 23, year old son got that fabric for me;)


Just so you have an idea of HOW BIG this tote is...
To take pictures, I put 2 full 12 can boxes of soda inside this and still had room!
That's a lot of room!


I hope you've enjoyed my post today.  





Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Some more Bloom Girl Summer with GDT Samara!

 
Today We have one of our Guest Designers, Samara, joining us and she has used
  Bloom Girl Stamp, ' Summer'. Let's here a little bit about Samara's beautiful project!
 
Hi everyone!
Samara here with my very first Bloom Girl post.

I’ve been in a bit of a white space graphic mood as of late and as
soon as I saw this stamp I knew exactly what I wanted to do.    I
started off by stamping the girl with Memento ink onto Copic X-Press
card stock and then begin the task of coloring her with Copic markers.
  I normally color very smoothly when using Copics, but I wanted more
of a painterly feel, so I didn’t do a lot of smooth blending.  I love
hand lettering and decided to give it a go.  I lightly sketched my
letters with pencil, went over it with a Copic Multiliner size .3 and
then filled in with coordinating Copic markers.  I love the overall
feel of the piece and I have plans on framing it and some others in
this series.
--
*****Samara******
 
 

Monday, August 25, 2014

Bloom Girl Inspiration with GDT Courteney!

Today we have GDT Courteney here to share this gorgeous project with us.
 Nothing like a great summers day to sit and play!!
 Everything about summer is beautiful here in Alberta!
Butterflies & Flowers being two of my favourite things so I just had to use the stunning

Luckily the shop that I work at had these amazing wooden butterflies. I seriously had been looking at them for weeks trying to figure out what I could make with them.
A coat of Gesso and some of Prima's beautiful Bloom Sprays. Lots of fun spraying and a whole bunch of drying!  I got the design I was looking for! Stand out amazing color with a beautiful shine!
Coloring is definitely my favourite part of all my Bloom Girl creations and this project was no exception. This time I chose my water color pencils. With so many butterfly's you can use so many colors!!!
Adding some of Prima's "Say it in crystals" and Flower vines was just the icing on the cake.
 So much fun!
Once everything was dry I layered the wooden butterflies on top of each other. Once layered I decided you couldn't have a butterfly without intenia so I curled some of Prima's wire around a paint brush and slowly pulled the wire off. Ending up with the perfect pair of intenias.
I hope you all enjoy!!!!














Have a great day!


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Mixed Media with DT Mindy.

 
Happy Wednesday, all!
 
It's Mindy here and I have a project to share. It's something I NEVER do. I completed a project and left it 'uncolored'! Wowzers! So, not like me, I know.
I used my Gelatos and I really love these nifty little things! The colors are gorgeous, I just love the way they blend. I used my favorite Bloom Girl 'Summer'. I love this stamp, she's so beautiful and you can do so much with her.
 
If you haven't gotten this stamp yet you can find out where to get this one and any of Jamie's other Bloom Girl Products HERE.
 






 

 
I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week.
 
Don't forget about our Bloom Girl Challenge. There's still have about 2 weeks left to join us!
 
♥ DT Coordinator Mindy Baxter
 


Monday, August 18, 2014

Mixed Media Canvas by DT Jennifer Priest.

Today we have a gorgeous canvas created by Design Team Member Jennifer Priest.
This is beyond gorgeous.. The colors the texture it's all just... perfect!
 
Here's a little bit from Jennifer about her canvas.
 
I wanted to create a canvas using the Bloom Girl "Jing" stamp on wood. As a scrapbooker at heart, I wanted to try to use mostly scrapbooking and card supplies to make this mixed media canvas come alive - I bet you have alot of these same supplies at home too! I "painted" Jing with Smooch Accent Ink by Clearsnap. While I was blending, I smudged the ink onto her face by accident. I added some decoupage book pages to the left side of the canvas and added patches of bok pages to Jing's face. She is damaged but still beautiful. I envisioned a woman who is going through some trials but still waking up and living each day as fully as she can. I finished the pieces with splatters of Izink Acrylic Pigment Ink, Pan Pastels, and Smooch Spritz by Clearsnap.
 



 
Supplies:
Bloom Girls JING Stamp
Prima Stamp Block with Handle
Smooch Accent Ink by Clearsnap
Smooch Spritz by Clearsnap
Izink Acrylic Pigment Ink by Aladine
Collage Pauge Decoupage Medium by ilovetocreate.com
Basswood Canvas by Walnut Hollow
Rollagraph Faux Postage Stamp Wheel by Clearsnap
Rollagraph Handle
PanPastel & Sponges
Acrylic Paint in White, Turquoise
ColorBox Pigment Ink in Black
Top Boss Embossing Inkpad
Letter Stamps by Michaels Stores, Stampin' Up!
Krylon Spray Sealer Clear Coat
Heat Gun
Paint Brushes
 
Have a great Day, all!
 
♥ DT Coordinator Mindy Baxter


Friday, August 15, 2014

Hope Canvas by DT Lisa

Hi, it’s Lisa here with you and I’m sharing with you a small 6” x 6” canvas on hardboard. I’ve used Jamie’s beautiful Bloom Girl Hope stamp as my focal image.



This canvas was very easy to create. I used Gelatos® in Iced Chai, Iced Coffee, and Gold Champagne to create the majority of my background and just blended it with my fingers. The area that I wanted left open for the image I wiped away with a baby wipe. Hope was stamped in Archival ink in Coffee and colored with Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

Once she was all colored in to my liking I added a light coating of Gel Medium with a dry brush to seal everything. Then I added all of those gorgeous flowers. I used the Bloom flowers in Fresh Cut, Sun Kissed, Freshly Picked, and Radiant Petals. Also used: Talia - Tempting, Cartographer – Adventurer.





To complete my canvas I added microfine glitter to the edge of the canvas. It seemed to be just the right finishing touch. Hope you all have an amazing and creative weekend!

PS - Don't forget to check out the August challenge! It's awesome and you have ALL month to play along. Woohoo!

♥ Lisa Adametz 

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Sophie card by DT Stephanie!

Hi everyone! Today We have Design Team Stephanie on the blog. She has made an absolutely beautiful card. Her attention to detail is beyond words.

Stephanie is going to share a little about her project...

I'm here to show you a card with the gorgeous Bloom Girl Sophie. She's truly a dream to work with, as she can fit any sized card, layout, or tag. I decided to stamp her with a no-line colouring technique, fussy cut and outlined with a black marker tip, and then to add some flowers and other embellies in her hair as if they're creative ideas blooming there. Well, you can't say there wasn't any concept behind this eheh!
 
If you look carefully, you can also find some antique white resin frame and metal vintage key from the Ingvid Bolme line at Prima, papers and flowers from the Seashore collection.

Now to find her a nice home! Thanks for watching :)





 
Thanks for visiting us today. We hope you are enjoying all of the  designers inspiration.
 
Don't forget about our challenge this month!
 
♥ DT Coordinator Mindy Baxter
 
 


Monday, August 11, 2014

Mixed Media Layout with DT- Louise!


Happy Monday Bloom Girl friends!
 
I hope you were all able to get crafty over the weekend. Don't forget we have our first challenge going on all month long and all you have to do is use our photo for inspiration! You can use and art/craft supplies as you wish. You can check out the Challenge Post and play along!
 
Today we have DT member Louise Nelson sharing a gorgeous layout she created!
Louise used Bloom Girl 'Jing'. I just love all of the white and pops of color. This is just stunning!
Louise has heat embossed the stamped image and has used the Prima Bloom Sprays for the gorgeous color pops.
 


 
 
Thank you for joining us today, we will be back on Wednesday with some more inspiration from our Bloom Girl Design Team.
 
Have a wonderful week!
 
♥ DT Coordinator Mindy Baxter

Friday, August 8, 2014

Art Journal Layout with DT Wendy.

It's Friday already and you all are in for a treat!
Design Team Member Wendy has a gorgeous art journal page to share.
 Get ready to pick yup your jaw from the floor.. I know I did!
Wendy has used the stamp, Bloom Girl 'Sharon'.
I just adore this image and what she has done with it.
 
 
Here's some product information Wendy would like to share.
 
You can alter up your Project Life albums by adding in touches of mixed media.  I used the 6x8 Project Life album.  You can easily slip in the pages into a page protector inside your album.
 



The Bloom - Cling Stamp - Sharon stamp works great as the base for your drawing.  I used shading techniques to add life and details to the stamped image. Try stamping and drawing on vintage book text paper.  I love adding this special touch of wording/book text to my portrait drawings.



 
 I connected the two 6x8 pages together with the butterfly theme and worked the trailing butterflies across both pages for the flow of the theme and mood of the pages.
 
Sometimes you don’t need to add photos to your Project Life albums and lend yourself to play and explore with paint and drawings to document your life.
 
Thanks for joining us today.
 Hopefully your weekend is full of inspiration and creativeness!
 
♥ DT Coordinator Mindy Baxter


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Mixed Media Wood Piece with DT Mindy!

Hello there Bloom Girl Friends!
 
Today I have a wall hanging to share. I actually found a 6x7 piece of wood and covered it will all sorts of goodies. I had this piece of Prima paper that had this beautiful border which I never could cover up. So I decided to stamp Bloom Girl 'Karlie' in my Desert Sand Memento ink and have at it with my Copics. I really distressed my paper edges and laid a piece of cheesecloth under my paper before gluing it on the piece of wood.
 

 
I added some Prima Wood Pieces for some different textures.
I also found this quote, it was a sticker and I cut it up and added some more dimension. I just love the quote, I think it fits the image perfectly! 



 I cut the clock out of the same paper and then added some flowers all around. I did add some Crackle Accents and molding paste all around the edges everything! It's a little hard to see in the photo though. 

 
 
We will be back Friday with some more inspiration from our fabulous designers!
 
♥ DT Coordinator Mindy Baxter

Monday, August 4, 2014

Canvas Art with GDT - Sherry

 
 
Happy Monday friends!
Today we have a gorgeous project by one of our Guest Designers, Sherry Bienert. I just love the richness of this project she has created. Here's a little about what Sherry has done with her beautiful art canvas!

I used  the 'Summer' Bloom Girl stamp as my beauty for this canvas. She was a perfect shape for the image I wanted to create! A strong front view was perfect for this multi texture, multi-layered canvas. 
 
How To:
-Using matte gel medium I collages wrinkly paper onto my canvas (old book pages, old sheet music and old sewing patters). 
-thinly layer fiber paste and apply it in an uneven manner! 
-mix acrylic paint with a paint thinner and cover the whole canvas! 
-let this dry for a minute then take baby wipes and wipe off as much paint as needed for the desired look. 
-stamp 'Summer' onto a transparency and cut out along her neck and face line. 
-apply black molding paste where her hair would be. 
-Using a variety of stencils apply a variety of mediums
-using word stencil, using black molding paste apply to a transparency. Once dried use colored sprays to time transparency
-arrange and adhere metal flowers and bottle caps and pop dot word transparency into place. 
 




 
Hope you all have a great week! We will be back Wednesday with some more inspiration!
 
♥DT Coordinator


Friday, August 1, 2014

Bloom Girl August Challenge 1


 
Hi there all of you Bloom Girl Fans!
 
Today is a very exciting day. We have our first brand new challenge! We will have a monthly challenge with a new Inspirational Challenge each month. You will be inspired by our amazing design team throughout the month with a variety of different projects.
 
This Challenge will be open to any type of crafters, whether you scrap book, make cards, paint, draw, mixed media the choice is yours! You don't even have to use a Bloom Girl Stamp in your project to play! How awesome is that!
 
For our August we have a gorgeous color palate that Jamie has put together.
You can use all colors, some colors or simply tell us how this color scheme has inspired you.
 
 
Now, let's have a look at what some of our designers have done.
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
You will have until August 31st to enter this challenge and for a chance to win a little something special from Jamie Dougherty! :)