Love Wins Instagram Hop - Guest Designer for Sassy and Crafty

Hello friends,

Today, Sassy and Crafty is participating in the Love Wins Instagram Hop. I am honored to be guest designing for Sassy and Crafty for this hop.

We want to invite you to head over to Instagram to hop along with us to celebrate Pride month and our LGBTQIA+ crafty friends and allies. Today is Purple, this color represents Spirit.

Pride originated from the early morning of June 28th, 1969, when LGBT community members rioted following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. The first parade was on the first anniversary of this riot. It's important to celebrate Pride today because there are still many rights and privileges not afforded to the LGBTQIA community. I celebrate Pride in honor of the friends, family, and adopted family that I have in the LGBTQIA community. My story is not my own, but one of the amazing people in this community who have shown me the true meaning of loving yourself, of finding the magic within, and of showing kindness to others when you have nothing else to give.

My first card is in honor of my nibbling (the child of my sibling), Aries, who is an amazing non-binary adult. They were the first interaction that I had with the LGBTQIA community that impacted my life personally. Watching them become the wonderful person that they are is one of the true joys in my life. There have been highs and lows in their young life, but they have grown to be an advocate for other LGBTQIA community members, children, and people with disabilities. Their strength inspires me and their spirit is beautiful beyond measure.

For this card, I used the Sassy Girls - Kiss Stamp, I love this image and the blue eyed beauty reminded me of Aries (although they wouldn't ever wear anything that low cut.) I colored the couple using Copic markers, I made sure that I did the shorter hair as blue since that tends to be a color Aries gravitates towards.

For the background, I used a holographic purple cardstock from a past Hero Arts monthly kit (I may need to hunt down more of it because it's super pretty!). Behind the purple, I used a sheet from DCWV's Zodiac paper stack, it's black with tiny silver foiled dots all over it.

The amazing sentiment is from the new Find Yourself Stamp and is foiled with Deco Foil Transfer Sheets, Rainbow. I fussy cut around the sentiment, then added some tiny floral embellishments from my stash. My second card was inspired by the LGBTQIA community as a whole! I saw this image from the Never Let Go Stamp and thought it would be beautiful lit up with EZ-Lights!

First, I colored the hands using Copics, then used my Scan 'n' Cut to cut the center of the heart out and fussy cut the outside of the hands. To create the Pride Flag Heart, I stamped the hands onto vellum, and divided the heart into mostly even sections using a straight edge, and a pencil. Once I had my straight lines, I used Copics to color in the colors of the flag. I found that the chisel tip worked best to avoid a bunch of streaks and uneven color.

For the background, I used a white cardstock that had a little shimmer to it, then used a stencil from Layered Comic Book Stencil and Purple Paper Glaze to create a focal point for the hands and sentiment.

I added the "love you forever" die from Erin Lee Creative in purple and added holographic silver behind it, then I fussy cut a base layer behind it. I cut out half a heart from the holographic silver and used a black Copic to write "Press Here" for the EZ-Lights button. To finish the card off, I used a few embellishments from Unicorn Galore Shimmerz by Buttons Galore.

Now, if you haven't already, join the hop over on Instagram to show the LGBTQIA community, and be entered to win amazing prizes from these fantastic sponsors!

Thank you for stopping by,

Rachel

Grandma Dot's Mini Album

Hello again friends!

I am excited to share my take on the new i-crafter Mini Divider #2 die set! This set pairs perfectly with the Mini Album, Accordion die set. My project was inspired by photos I found of my Grandma Dot, Dorothy Jean Gabel. I turned my pages sideways to make it feel like opening a file, or at least that's what it seems like to me.

I started by picking out some scrapbook paper that felt vintage to me and die cutting out the divider page from Mini Divider #2, and distressed the corners using some Distress Ink in Vintage Photo using my i-Brush Blender Brushes. On the tab, I hand wrote "Memories of...", then used the Alphabet, Heather Upper and Lower dies to spell out Grandma's name.

The final touch for this page was a flower from the Mini Divider #2 set. I used solid cardstocks to die cut it, then used the i-Press Burnisher & Pad to add a soft curve to the petals.

The first four interior pages were cut using the Mini Album, Accordion die set and scrapbook paper. Next, I used the frame from the Mini Divider #2 and cut the picture of grandma down to fit in the frame. I had scanned the original images and printed them out using my Sprocket Plus printer. Then I used a deep pink cardstock for the actual frame in Mini Divider #2 and the small banner in the Mini Album, Accordion die set. I kept it simple and just wrote her age on the banner. This page was finished off by a few flower embellishments that have been in my stash forever!

My next page is of my grandparents on their wedding day. The image is a bit blurry but for 1940, I think that may be common! I love how sweet my grandma's dress was and my Grandpa Don's suit is SO dapper!

I added the layering page from the Mini Album, Accordion die set that I cut out using a piece of lace scrapbook paper for under this page. To write on, I used the hexagon in the Mini Divider #2, I added my grandparent's names and the date. I learned making this project, that my grandparents were married on my birthday! I used a light Distress Oxide ink and my i-Brush Blender Brushes to distress the heart in the Mini Album, Accordion die set to fill the blank space below my hexagon.

The page above their wedding day image shows my grandparents on celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. For this page, I used the deep pink cardstock leftover center from the frame in Mini Divider #2 to write on. I added a small heart cut from the lace scrapbook paper, and brushed the edges with the Antique Photo Distressed Ink. I die cut a space for the heart in the deep pink paper, this made the lace heart inlaid. I added the "Adorable" word die from the Mini Divider #2 set here as well.

The next two pages were the back of the "book" created by Mini Album, Accordion die set and then another divider page from the Mini Divider #2 set. On the top page, I added a picture of Grandma and her 12 children, they were celebrating Dorothy's 80th birthday. The divider page I distressed the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. 

For the bottom page, I added a tiny banner cut from scraps that coordinated with the color palette I used throughout the book and the banner dies from the Mini Divider #2 set. I handwrote the names of Grandma's kids on a kraft scrapbooking sticker from my stash and added tiny flower embellishments to the corners.

Close up of my banner, I was struggling to thread the twine and didn't have a needle to help me, instead I glued the twin down and then layered the banner pieces on top of it.

My grandma had a special connection to her daughters, so my next page is the Gabel Gals. I used the frame die from the Mini Divider #2 set to cut down the picture, and added the frame to the outside. I used the center piece from the frame to write out their names in white gel pen. For the flower, I took one of the flower dies and cut it out 7 times, and glued them together. Then used the page die to cut the flower down so the corner was rounded to add to the top left of the page.

The last page that I completed (because I left it open to be able to add on to in the future) is of Dorothy and her sister Delores, my Auntie. For this page, I used the layering page from the Mini Album, Accordion die set to cut out a cream dotted piece of scrapbook paper. To add some texture to the page, I used the die strip of three lines of holes from the Mini Divider #2 set, this allows the light blue paper to peek through. I added the "this is" piece from Mini Album, Accordion die set and wrote below that. To complete this page, I used the negatives from the "this is" to add "sis" to the bottom left.

Here is a flip through of the book! I apologize in advance for it being shaky! 

Head over to i-crafter to get the Mini Divider #2 set and check out the other wonderful new release items too! Be sure to join the i-crafter Facebook Fan Club, then follow us on Instagram, and Pinterest too! We love seeing all of your creations using the i-crafter products.

Until next time,

R. Winn