layout leftovers

Following my own advice, I made a card from my "Making Cookies With Mom" layout leftovers. I had pulled the flowers out while working on the layout, but didn't end up using them.

As I learn more about interior design and fashion, I begin to see its influence on my scrapbooking and cardmaking. I love how Candice Olson on Divine Design creates sophisticated spaces by using texture and pattern in various shades of the room's colors. I've also noticed that I'm drawn to rooms, outfits, and layouts that add a contrasting, possibly unexpected, "pop" of color. (The pop is in quotes because it's become such an HGTV/TLC buzzword that Keith has started joking about it.) Black and white dress with kelly green shoes? Done! (Stacy London would be proud.) Chocolate, taupe and cream living room with steel blue accents? Thinking about it. So when it was time to add centers to the flowers on this card, I quickly decided on fun aqua pearls rather than matching pink or brown centers. The card is more interesting that way, don't you think?

Bazzill cardstock; Scenic Route patterned paper; Prima paper flowers; Basic Grey adhesive pearls; vintage seam binding tape; Fontwerks alpha stamps; Versamark ink; Stampendous! embossing powder; Fiskars corner rounder

making cookies with Mom

I remember how I coveted these letter stamps for some time before I finally asked to get them for Christmas a few years ago. Since they came as unmounted rubber stamps on a single sheet I also asked for the EZ Mount starter kit. When the stamps came I mounted them on stamping foam and very carefully cut around each letter with my new special Kai scissors. It was a lot of work, but I finally had my Steelfish Outline letter stamps! A couple of months later I was in a scrapbook store and came across a set of clear Steelfish Outline letter stamps, meaning they didn't have to be mounted on foam, they didn't have to be cut out, and they would be easier to line up. Well, crap.

I couldn't find letter stickers in the right color/size for this layout, so letter stamps with Versamark ink and clear embossing powder were the perfect solution. I didn't have any letter stamps small enough for the "making" and "with," so I wrote out the words with my Quickie Glue Pen (after 4 attempts each of writing them in pencil, of course) and embossed with clear embossing powder. Worked out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Bazzill Basics cardstock; Scenic Route patterned paper (stripe and dot); Autumn Leaves patterned paper (pink); Making Memories tag stickers; Paper Studio brad ("C"); Recollections tiny brad; Fontwerks alpha stamps; Versamark ink; Sakura Quickie Glue pen; Stampendous! embossing powder; Fiskars apron lace border punch

I have a problem

I think I have OCCCD. Never heard of it? It's Obsessive Candy Corn Consumption Disorder. Sure signs you have OCCCD:

• You go through the motions of hiding the candy corn in the back of the pantry...and then go get some 45 seconds later.
• When you come across an opened bag of candy corn in a cabinet at work in August (and realize it's 10 months old), you still eat some.
• For portion control, you pour about 4-5 pieces of candy corn out into your hand and then put the bag back up before you eat them. You then repeat this process 6 times in immediate succession.
  
• You consider packing a little container of candy corn to take with you to work. 9 hours is too long to go without it.
• You sneak into the kitchen to eat candy corn when your husband isn't looking. It keeps him from judging you...and eating the candy corn.
• You plan to make a special trip to Wal Mart (where you hate shopping) because their Sunday flyer shows that they have a sale on candy corn.

going simple with die cut paper

Did you notice that the last layout had nothing but cardstock, photos, die cut paper, letter stickers and journaling?  I find I often reach for my die cut paper when I'm wanting to create a quick and simple layout. Here's another one using the same formula.

Hasn't Keith gotten quite good at the dual self-portrait? Pretty handy when no one's around and you're too lazy (or cold) to bust out the tripod. It's important for me to have lots of photos of us together.

Bazzill Basics cardstock; KI Memories die cut paper; American Crafts velvet letter stickers; Fiskars corner rounder

making the most of bad photos

Sometimes I take photos at an event and when I get home there's not a single shot that I would be proud to show someone. It happens. Therefore, I deal with it (but I don't have to like it!)

When the Dallas Mavericks had their training camp at UNT, staff and students were able to attend and bring a guest. Keith and I took lots of photos, but a combination of a dim coliseum, fast action, and people who kept sticking their stupid camera phones in the way (but I'm not bitter) resulted in a stack of disappointing photos. The overall experience was neat, though, so I decided to make a layout with a collage of photos. I feel like this focuses on the photos as a whole and not on any one particular (stinky) photo. And as much as the photos are busy and cluttered, the clean and streamlined layout design makes me totally happy with the final result. That, my friends, is considered a victory.

Bazzill Basics cardstock; KI Memories die cut paper; American Crafts foam letter stickers; Delicious font

No Waste Wednesday: reusing the rejects

If you're like me, then sometimes when you're working on a project you have an element cut out and ready to go, but then it just doesn't work. Wrong color. Wrong size. Sometimes you don't even know why, but you know you're not happy with it. Instead of recycling the rejected piece, challenge yourself to put it to good use on a card!

The blue frame on this card was originally created for a journaling block on a layout. I ended up doing something else on the layout, but instead of tossing the frame, I used it as the perfect starting point for a card. All the other supplies are also ones I had sitting out after finishing my layout, so the card came together very quickly.

Bazzill Basics cardstock; American Crafts patterned paper (brown) and felt flower; Rhonna Farrer for Autumn Leaves patterned paper (pink); Prima paper flower; Making Memories brad; Glue Dots International vellum adhesive; vellum; MigraineSerif font

Interested in seeing the layout the blue frame was originally supposed to go on?

I had planned for the cardstock frame to go around the journaling (see how it was going to complete the visual triangle with the blue title and blue felt flower?). However, once I actually cut it out and laid it on the layout, I felt that it was too visually weighty and threw off the design of the layout. I still wanted to repeat some blue there for design purposes, and I already had my journaling printed on vellum, so I used a blue Prismacolor pencil and drew a border around the journaling. Perfect!

I'm gonna be in CK!

I'm super excited because I received an email from Creating Keepsakes Magazine letting me know that they want to publish one of my layouts in their February 2010 issue. It's been a little while since I've had something picked up for publication, so I the encouragement comes at a great time. Now I NEED to scrapbook more so that I have more work to submit!

loopy

A quick simple card. By now you would think I'd be used to the fact that I'll over analyze even simple things. It's who I am, so I'm just going to embrace it!

Bazzill Basics cardstock; K&Co. patterned paper; Recollections tiny brads; Papertrey Ink Mega Mixed Messages stamp; Ranger stamping ink; Martha Stewart loop border punch

fairy godmother

I started this page during last week's Super Secret Crafting Club and finished it on Saturday, but I had to excavate my scanner before I could post it. In fact, I had to take a few days off of crafting just to get some important things done around here. You know...laundry, cleaning the house, cooking dinner. Things I forget about when I'm in a creative groove.

We call our Cinderella Project volunteers fairy godmothers, so when scrapbooking photos of my boss and I in CP dresses, it felt a little like I was scrapping a Disney page. I mean, Belle yellow and Sleeping Beauty pink just begged to be paired with Cinderella blue, don't you think? Add in some sparkle and it's even more fitting. The white strips on the page have glitter polka dots on them, and the scrolly patterned paper is a subtle metallic silver. The fairy "sprinkles" are pink and yellow gemstone brads and some clear smooth adhesive gemstones. I love the letter stickers and how they connect to form a seamless script word.

KI Memories patterned paper (blue dot); American Crafts patterned paper (silver and white scroll) and puffy letter stickers; K&Co. glitter paper; Making Memories rhinestone brads; Hero Arts smooth gemstones; Fontin font; vellum; Glue Dots vellum adhesive

custom background

First, I wanted to let everyone know that my CT scan came back normal, which is great. However, since I'm still feeling pressure and pain I'm going back to the doctor for another appointment this week. I have no idea what she has in mind, but we'll see!

To make the background design for this card I repeated a foam stamp on a diagonal across the card, flipping it 180 degrees in some places. I used Versamark ink and then embossed it with gold embossing powder. The sentiment is embossed in black on gold cardstock. I like the somewhat ethnic feel of the background pattern with the mix of gold and bright pink. The foam stamp is a cool image, but it reminded me of how much I love clear stamps and how easy they are to perfectly arrange!

Bazzill Basics cardstock; Making Memories foam stamp; Papertrey Ink stamp--Damask Designs; Stampendous! embossing powder; QuicKutz label die

Australian inspired card

Nichole's last challenge was based on Australian-style art and was to incorporate dotted outlines or masking into a project.

I created a card using masking. I cut circles out of a piece of thin paper and then used the negative image as a mask while I stamped a damask pattern on the card. Since this is a simple single-layer card, I added some interest by cutting out a large circle and then stamping the full damask image on the inside of the card. When the card is closed it looks like the image inside the large circle has been masked off, too.

Papertrey Ink cardstock and stamps--Damask Designs; Ranger stamping ink; vintage seam binding tape

Indian inspiration card

Challenge three was all about India. While technically the challenge was to use rhinestones, sequins and jewels, I was so inspired by the photo Nichole provided that I made a card that also echoed the mix of bright colors.

The inspiration:

My card:

 

Bazzill Basics cardstock; Hambly Screenprints transparency; The Beadery gemstones; Papertrey Ink stamps--Polka Dot Basics II, Mega Mixed Messages; QuicKutz dies and stamping foam; Stampendous! embossing powder

Here's a detail shot so you can see how shiny and glittery the gold tinsel embossing powder is.

 

I went a little out of control, and the layers of patterns and bright colors are definitely out of my comfort zone, but that was the fun of it! The pink design was stamped using 6 foam stamps created from a single QuicKutz die. I arranged them on my acrylic block (seemed like a very Indian pattern to me) and then stamped them in rows to create the pattern. I cut out some negative space with a craft knife and then adhered a patterned transparency behind it. I adhered gemstones to the blue cardstock in the center of each window. I like how the gemstones are slightly obscured by the bright green pattern.

Mexican inspiration card

For the second inspiration challenge we were to create something inspired by Mexico. While browsing Mexican art forms, I came across something called papel picado, or "perforated paper." Sounds quite papercrafty to me! They take stacks of tissue paper and cut shapes out using awls and chisels. These designs are then strung up side-by-side, banner style, during celebrations.

Being me, I started out by searching for a pattern that I could use for my card. I couldn't find anything that would work, so I played around and came up with a design that looks pretty cool! Can I just tell you how proud I am that I "freehanded" this one? I cut a rectangle of tissue paper and folded it in half, bringing the two short ends together. Then I folded it in half the other direction, so I had it folded in quarters. Keeping the center of the original rectangle as my point, I folded the piece on a diagonal to form a triangle, and then folded that triangle in half again. Once I had the piece folded I used my paper punches to cut pieces out of the folded edges. I also used my Cropadile to punch a few holes in the center of the piece. When I unfolded it, I was left with a radially symmetrical design. I accordian folded the piece longways and then used my corner rounder on the corners, creating a scalloped bottom to the piece.

I used Glue Dots vellum adhesive (my favorite vellum adhesive ever!) to adhere the tissue paper to a rectangle of cardstock; it gave a nice, even bond for all of the delicate sections without leaving any trace of adhesive. The sentiment tag was created by putting each end of a small strip of paper into my large corner punch. I like the softly rounded edge that resulted.

Papertrey Ink cardstock and stamp--Mega Mixed Messages; Versafine by Tsukineko stamping ink; EK Success punches; Martha Stewart loop border punch; Cropadile; Glue Dots vellum adhesive; jute; tissue paper

Japanese inspiration card

Papertrey Ink issued some challenges for World Card Making Day. The first was to create a card inspired by Japan. In searching Japanese images, I came across several examples of Seigaiha patterns such as this one.

These patterns represent the ocean waves. I was drawn to the simple, graphic style and knew just the paper I would use for the concentric circles. 

Just don't ask Keith how long it took me to cut out and adhere all of the circles (with the aid of my t-square, of course)! Once I had the circles adhered the top looked too bare, so I brought out my trusty 120 Prismacolor box and found the perfect matching colors to draw a fine outline around the top.

Papertrey Ink cardstock and stamp-Mega Mixed Messages; Scrapworks patterned paper; Prismacolor colored pencils; Pioneer foam dot; Creative Memories circle cutter

happy World Card Making Day!

Yes, today is World Card Making Day and I'm set to celebrate all day! To start it off, this is a card that I finished last night at the Super Secret Crafting Club last night. (It might also be the only thing I finished last night, but we won't talk about that.)

Bazzill Basics cardstock; KI Memories patterned paper; Queen & Co. felt ribbon; Jillibean Soup journaling sprout; Papertrey Ink stamp--Mega Mixed Messages; Colorbox stamping ink; ribbon

SC squared

I'm at another Super Secret Crafting Club meeting! With Saturday being World Card Making Day, I should have some fun stuff to share this weekend. Have a great weekend!

brown sugar bear

Do you have a brown sugar bear? Please tell me that I'm not the only one who feels guilty every time I close him back up in the brown sugar. I feel even worse when I have to drown him (soak him in water).You would think that the manufacturer would make him with a smile, rather than his permanent look of shock and horror. I'm sorry, brown sugar bear!