Inspiration Station - Masking to mask!

Happy Monday to you all! Did you have a great weekend? How 'bout National Scrapbooking Day on May 3rd? Did you celebrate? I sure did - with twenty or so scrappers at Let's Capture Our Memories' Spring Crop in Moncton, NB. We scrapped ALL day!!! The store was on-site, lots of challenges were played, the snacks kept our energy up and the company was wonderful - who could ask for anything more? I've been on a scrappy high ever since!!!

I took advantage of the time away in scrappy heaven to prepare a layout for today's Inspiration Station feature and participate in a crop sketch at the same time. Why not hit two birds with one stone, eh? Now, I'll admit it, I am not a masking expert. Far from it! However, I have admired some expert maskers' designs over the years and have even purchased quite a few in the event that I would suddenly catch masking fever! ;) But this feature is all about being inspired so why not pull those babies out of the cute purple carrying case I store them in and get scrappin' and maskin'? Yes, I agree! Want to see what I came up with? Let's start with a tease...

And another...

And another...

And... just kidding! Ta-da!!

It was so much fun to use the Studio Calico's Triangle Huey's Mask as a background accent - it gives such depth to the layout, I find. So, I laid the mask down on my background patterned paper (from Crate Paper's The Pier collection) and inked some Timber Brown StäzOn with a brand new Ranger Ink Mini Ink Blending Tool (LOVE these, by the way!). Oh! But what about the StäzOn on the mask? At one point of my scrappy life, I would've very much had a panic attack at the sight of a dirty mask, but with some StäzOn remover and a very handy baby wipe so generously given to me by one of my crop scrapmates, my mask came out as good as new. YAY! I also used tons of Basic Grey's Carte Postale collection on this layout (patterned paper, chipboard buttons, snippets, metal embellishments and acetate alphas). Also stapled some We R Memory Keepers staples, splashed some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze, applied some yummy Studio Calico gold rubons, sticked some Basic Grey regular alphas, Stampin' Up washi tape and My Mind's Eye wooden dots and stickers, and finally, my personal favourite, stitched the word "hello" with my brand new We R Memory Keepers Script Sew Easy stitching template using DMC floss (to be added to the store really soon!). SO MUCH FUN!!

Want to see some of my favourite masking sources of inspiration? Without further adieu...

Christin Gronnslett

Monique Bourgeois

Amazing work, eh? Had the privilege to watch Monique in scrappy action yesterday at the LCOM crop and was completely floored by how simple she made using masks seem. Thanks for inspiring me, Monique! It was great to scrap with you!!

So, on that note, we would love to see how you use masks on your scrappy projects. Please feel free to link a blog post with some of your examples in the comments section below and/or post them on LCOM's Facebook page right here.

Oh! I almost forgot! The sketch was none other than by the fabulous Laura Whitaker. It's actually LCOM's Sketch #70 for which you have until May 31st to submit your designs.

Join us again later on today when Isabelle will announce the winners of the April sketch challenges and the NSD celebrations! Woo!Hoo! Oh! And come visit us again on Thursday, when Jocelyne will give another shuffle to a scrappy product and show us how to use it in a brand-new scrappy way!

Happy scrapping!