Introducing our newest Guest Designer for April!! Gabrielle Pollacco of the blog Such a Pretty Mess. Gabi is a fantastic stamp artist and uses her talents to create amazing scrapbook pages!

A little about her:

My name is Gabrielle Pollacco, I’ve been scrapbooking for about 6 or 7 years now and never seem to tire of this fun and ever changing hobby!  I majored in Commercial Art when I was in school and worked as a project manager for a trade show design company before I had my two daughters a number of years back.  I’ve always loved photography and beginning with my first baby I started taking tons of photos, so scrapbooking became the next logical step in sharing my families stories.  I guess I would describe my scrapping style as ‘vintage/shabby-chic’ although I find my style is ever changing.  Aside from the fact that it makes me feel good to be able to save my families stories in such a fun and creative way, I also love that I’ve made so many great friends along the way.  One of my favorite things about scrapbooking is the way products often ’speak’ to me and inspire me to come up with some new and interesting ways to use them.  Stamping was one of my favorite techniques to use right from the time I started scrapping and I continue to find a renewed interest in it as I see new products coming out!  I feel honored to have been chosen to do a Guest spot for Firecracker Designs!

Be sure and check out her tutorial on flower making! They are SO kool!! I hope to have some time to try her tutorial out soon!!

This week, Gabi showcases the Golden Daffodils in a way I’ve never seen them used! She accented with the butterfly from Butter/Dragon Fly set.

A feast for the eyes! (Click the image for larger view)

by Gabi Pollacco

couple of close ups:

love the coloring in these, they have such an old world feel to them!

Check back every Monday in April as we feature more artwork by Gabriella!

A while back, Jen Greco (DT 07-08) wrote up this tutorial for me, and I’ve been saving it for a day such as this…..here in SC we have rain, fog and altogether a dreary day. I know in many other parts of the world today you woke up to  SNOW and ICE, and freezing temps….so lets go to the tropics and enjoy some warm sunshine  as we learn how to make a bag book using the stamps from Happy Hour!

Paper Bag Book Tutorial

by Jennifer Greco for FireCracker Designs by Pamela

How can you not LOVE these fun paper bag books?  They are so easy to make, and can be as shabby chic or classically elegant as you want depending on how you choose to decorate them.  They make great gifts!

Edited: I guess it would be nice to show you what this looks like from the front too huh?? Sorry..I went off and completely forgot to upload the finished pic! HERE YA GO!

You will need:

• Two or more paper bags (depending on the number of pages you want) - either white or kraft colored
• Patterned paper - several different sheets in coordinating colors
• Binding method*
• Paper trimmer
• Adhesive of your choice
• Stamps for decorating pages ( Happy Hour)
• Ribbon and other embellishments for decorating the bag

*There are MANY options available for binding paper bag books, depending on your project’s “look” and the level of effort you want to go to.  You can use any of the following (but not limited to of course): binder clips, rings, staples, sewing (hand or machine), ribbon, ribbon sewing, brads, eyelets, snaps, etc.

Instructions for creating your paper bag book:

Stack your paper bags (use a minimum of 2 bags) directly on top of each other, alternating the direction of the bags each time.

Fold the stack in half and crease it well.

Determine the area you will be leaving unadorned for binding.  If you are using a non-permanent method of binding such as binder clips, make temporary marks so you’ll know where to measure from for decorating your pages.  If you are using a permanent method of binding such as eyelets, you can punch the holes now so you are clear where your binding is on all the inside pages.
You are ready to decorate your book!  Some ideas for decorating include stamping directly on the paper bag, covering the pages with patterned paper or cardstock, using stickers or rub-ons, and adding embellishments such as ribbon, brads, rhinestones, layers, hardware, buttons, punch shapes or other papercrafting products.

To make the inside pages (they tuck into the open ended bag pages with tabs or ribbon to pull out) cut a piece of cardstock or patterned paper to fit easily inside the bag opening, keeping in mind your binding area when you measure.
You are done!  You can make them as simple or complex as you’d like, including adding photos or mementos like a scrapbook.

Here’s a few more pix of some of the inside pages, and how the back looks.

Inside book

Back of the bag book

Wasnt’ that fun? I feel warmer already!

Enjoy your day, where ever you are and what ever the weather. It’s always warmer when we’re together. :0)

Pamela

All paper is Club Scrap. (More of my own version of the Assembly Line Scrapbooking)….Stamp sets listed with each layout; these are all 2 pg spreads…tfl! Click on the thumbnails for larger image if you want to see the details better….or just browse thru these, altho they look a bit off due to the way I uploaded the thumbnails…lol

Used the stencil included in this paper kit for the bg flowers…

Used stamps from Inspire Me, and month stamp  from the Calendar Journal Frame set. In fact I used all the  months included in that set for the dates on my pages…I LOVE that…only thing I wish I had included the years from 2000-2008 instead of only 2008…lol (I have a lot of catching up to do!)

Used up some old stickers too…..they match much better irl tho!! lol

LOVED  the paper in this set, so perfect for those walks in the parks….this one is done with my digital cutter (Scrapsavvy) to make the title, (Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite books!, and this Anne is one of my favorite people!!)

Stamps used: Foo Alpha, Calander Journal Frame, Solid (sm. butterfly, sm. flowers)

Foo Alpha, for titles on both of these.

Create A Scene, Sally’s Garden (corners, dragonflies), Joy of Nature (willow branches)

Foo Alpha, Md. Dragonfly, Turtle set, Sitting Pretty and die-cut, Golden Daffodils (spring quote), German Bauernmalerei (floral swirl), Bliss and die-cuts (butterfly)

Decorate my Tree (I used the ornaments in this set to decorate the tree that was part of the bg paper…he he…I love the way it turned out…)  Santa Paws (word)

Just in case there are any folks out there who areCS members, and don’t have their March kits yet….and don’t want to ruin the surprise, STOP reading…..and DON”T LOOK EITHER!!

OK< here we go..my kit came yesterday, and I immediately opened it, and was WOWED by the bright, happy colors….usually, I just sorta go “Yeah, uhuh, give me my Greetings To Go stuff…” but this time, I didn’t even make it to the GTG!! I was SO excited by these scrap papers, I immediately sat down and put together ALL 14 PAGES!!! I just combined the papers and pops in ways that were pleasing to me, leaving room for adding embellishments, journaling etc….YUP< In about oh, 3 hours maybe?? I had them all ready for pictures…lol

Enter today, I start going thru my pix on my laptop. I found pix from 2007 that fit 8 pages!! ( 4- 2 page layouts!) I have NEVER used up a kit like that…and normally I shy away from such bright vibrant colors, but these just spoke to me….they are HAPPY HAPPY PAPERS!! grin

ok, so here are the pages I did today. Not great photos…but I’ll do better when I do the next set…..

Stamps used:  Mahalo (leaves), Foo Alpha, Happy Hour (Hibiscus) Used penciled twinks on the Hibiscus  (Technique Junkies Newsletter), Calendar Journal Frame (month)

 I’m actually missing a photo for this layout..it’s around somewhere…lol

Stamps used: Bubbles bg, Calendar Journal Frame, Foo Alpha, Just Breathe (trees)

This is the 2 white pieces that came in the kit, I stenciled the flowers (included) all over it….LOVE the effect!! Stamps used: WOW (firework/flower and squares on bg photo mat), Calendar Journal Frame (month and embellishments)

This fun page was created using the leftover sheet with the negative spaces from the punch outs that came with the kit. I adhered it to a plain orange piece, and used the stencil to add some blue (altho it doesn’t look very blue). Stamps used: Just Breathe (trees), Foo Alpha, Journal Jammers (lg. swirl), Inspire Me (frame), Journal Blocks  (dotted journaling lines-great match to this kit!!)

I was organizing my scrapbooks, and realized I have several years where I have NO albums…and altho I have done lots of digital scrapping, I only have those pages in ONE album…so I made a deal with my self to scrap every Friday….I decided to finally finish my girls’ baby books, and work on current pix as well..so some old,and some new…yesterday I dug out a bunch of photos, organized them, and played….Oldest dd decided to ‘rescue’ an old page in her baby book, and here are the results: (her book is magic,fairies, and dragon themed, younger dd is Fairytale themed)

The page she rescued….the before page was a truly ugly page…lol….this one used paper from DCWV Once Upon a Time Stack. The stamped princess, dragon, and quote are from “She Dreams” set. Doesn’t the dragon look FANTASTIC coming thru the window like that? This paper is just perfect for their books!

Another rescue page….fairy on lower left is one I drew for her book a long time ago, and was on the original page. This book started out 8.5 x 11, and I changed it to 12 x12 some time ago…this was a pge I had missed from the original book….Re-matted all the photos, using Club Scrap papers, and the DCWV stack again.

NEW page…I KNOW I have more pix of her first year, but since we moved, they are not where they used to be..I spent part of yesterday searching, and finally located them, neatly stored in a tin photo box…lol….the scan of this one is just a touch blurry, but the journaling is about how she loved Green Beans when she was little….when she was a bit older, she’d eat them practically out of the can…lol

Stamps are “She Dreams” and “FOO Alpha”