You Make Me Happy - MWM Rose 5

I was so excited when Melodee asked the ScrapbookSteals design team to use our Silhouette die cutters to create the layout inspiration for this week's Mid Week Mojo - Rose 5.

Here's the sketch that we all used:

And my layout:

I used the Silhouette stencil material to create a textured background for my page. Using embossing paste instead of modeling paste gave me a slightly translucent finish. After the paste was dry I spritzed and splattered two shades of Mister Huey's on the page. 

This was only my second time using the stencil material and I have to say it was pretty cool to make custom backgrounds - and using something that's reusable. I super love that since it has a sticky back that I got cleaner images than I often do.

While those layers were drying I worked on using the off cuts from the stencil to make this banner - I stuck the stencil material directly to some MME Chalk Studio paper and then cut a bunch of triangles. I then sewed all of the tiny triangles into one long strand. I also sewed some large triangles from one of the Chalk Studio embellishment packs into a second strand and then crisscrossed them across the page. 

I used more of the Chalk Studio embellishments to decorate the large cluster on the left side of the page. Mmmm, and shaped enamel dots are yummy.

I didn't like the way my journaling worked out visually so I did a bit of doodling around the edge and then added the banner for depth. Decorating it made all the difference!

Today, tomorrow, forever

I was quite inspired by Melodee's sketch challenge for this week's ScrapbookSteals MWM - Rose 1. The sketch was simple and open ended, but I loved that she'd made a layout for her niece's wedding photos and decided to pull out some of my own.

I'm also linking this to the My Mind's Eye February Challenge - to use their products for a love themed project. 

I used a variety of MME papers - Lost and Found 2, All is Bright, and Follow Your Heart. There's also embellishments from Find Your Wings and Fly, Follow Your Heart, Chalk Studio, and All is Bright. 

The wood veneers are Studio Calico, and the lace is Graphic 45 Staples.

The rub-on hearts are from the Pink Paislee Luxe collection.

Iolite 2

Mom and I do a lot of stash sharing, when I was at her house recently she sent products home with me to sell at an upcoming stash sale and I'll bring something new and fun the next time I visit. It works well for us. Well, I was working on MWM Iolite 2 and had decided on these pink and purple toned scraps but very much needed some depth to the page, I looked down and saw these frames and epoxy dots. Love happened. 

I think my favorite thing about the epoxy dots is that while a teeny bit larger than most enamel dots they have that same sort of "look" and I used quite a few. Guess I'll have to find her something really cool now...

The background paper is Webster's Pages Trendsetter, other papers include Cosmo Cricket, My Mind's Eye, and Crate Paper. The epoxy dots were from Prima Azure and I have no idea who made those frames. 

Reimagine

It's time for a new challenge at Paper Girls Challenge Blog, this time Charity has asked us to do something with pine cones - a little "pine cone pizzazz" if you will. I wasn't having much luck finding pine cones on my papers so I went a different route and cut a apart a pine cone to use on this little wall hanging. 

While I'm not technically participating in Ali Edward's one word program, I do find the idea of having a focus word for the year to be inspirational and chose "reimagine" to guide me through the year. To reinforce the concept I wanted something that I'd get to see everyday to remind me to find new ways to look at things/situations and decided to have a little mixed media fun. Everything here has been "reimagined" in some way - some examples: the canvas itself held David's advent calendar, dried up paint was thinned and given new life, the last bits of various glitter glues put to use, ribbon that has sat unused for ages, last pieces of gems, rubber bands, paper clips, and of course the pine cones that I dismantled and reassembled into flowers. 

There was a point very early in this process where I nearly through it away. I'd primed it and painted the entire thing yellow (the paint is old and I had more of it than any other color). Awful, even with the bits of gesso and book pages showing through. I plopped some pinks in the corners and added these numeral Thickers (again, last of their packs) and it started to hold promise. So many layers later, I'm glad I stuck with it. 

That red thing is the sack from clementines and the dotted tape is drywall joint tape that an instructor at my LSS didn't want to take home.

A few rubber bands, some disjointed gems (they were those designed kind and I'd removed some for various projects), with lots of glitter glue melding it all together.

Just a fun and funky title, it is actually the only newish stuff - an unused clipboard from a class, new wood veneer alphas, modeling paste, glitter, and a new to me stencil from Dylusions.

Here's those pine cones I promised. Now what are you gonna make with yours?

Jan Card Sketch

It's time for the Practical Scrappers card sketch. I just loved the large triangle in the center and had to play along!

I did modify it a bit and made the card portrait style and eliminated a couple of elements, but you can definitely see the inspiration here. 

The papers came out of my scrap bin and I don't remember where they're from. 

The black triangles and the coloring on the edges was done with gelattos. 

The stamp is from Tim Holtz and it and the corners were inked with black pigment ink. 

Wishing you many adventures

Today's Paper Girls Challenge Blog challenge is brought to you by the theme, "Wishful Thinking." Given that my wish for the new year is to put a big dent into my ever-growing scrap pile I decided to work on a colorful card. Pretty much any idea connected to wishes (one little word, new years goals, wish you were here, to suggest a couple) will work, so go give it a try!

The base of the card is Authentique Enchanting. From the top of the card down: Authentique and Glitz alphas, MME title card, Studio G glitter glue, WRMK chevron washi, EP, Authentique, and MME papers, Mister Huey's mist, and black pen.

Red Cups - Practical Scrappers Sketch

It's sketch time at Practical Scrappers and I'm using more of that fantastic paper that my LSS provided me to make samples for the store. 

Here's the sketch: 

And my interpretation:

There are somethings that just scream Christmas tradition and red cups are decidedly one of those things that customers look forward to using. Vance just likes hot chocolate, he doesn't really care so much about the cup, but I was surprised when I went looking for red cup photos that I only have the two. Really?! As often as we go there there really should be more!

Those speech bubbles were from a coordinating ephemera pack that I bought to help with my assignment. The reverse sides say "nice" and "coal" but I thought it would be a fun way to highlight the title so I flipped them over.

This layout is super thick, with lots of layering and foam dots it is not really a surprise.

The green ribbon and red Thickers are American Crafts and the buttons are from MME Winter Wonderland and were from my stash. 

Winter Platter

On Use It Tuesday we're featuring Winter/Holiday themed projects. Some of you might remember this Fall project that I did for Practical Scrappers a few months back, well for today's project I updated it for the new season!

Check out all those chipboard pieces - the letters have been in my stash an average of 3 years and the snowflake and clock for just over 1 year. 

I used modeling paste to white out the space around the letters, using the letters as a mask. After it'd dried a bit, I removed the letters and misted them and the burlap/modeling paste separately. While the letters were drying I rinsed some of the blue off of the burlap so the color would have some variation then I put the letters back into their spots. 

Those of you who saw the Fall version might remember these pinecones I'd made using my Silhouette Cameo, well I've brought them back with "snow" for the winter theme. Snow was created with good ol' Elmers and some white flocking that's at least three years old and hardly touched. 

What are you going to make to celebrate the new season?!

Now go link up those wintery projects on the Use It Tuesday page! It's been a good run, but the team is closing up shop after this challenge and I'd love to see us go out with a crafty bang. More details are on the blog, but let me just say that UIT really got me digging into my stash and using instead of hoarding and I'm sad to see it go. It's been an honor to play along with the challenges both as a participant and design team member.

Joy Christmas card using Practical Scrappers sketch

It's time for another Practical Scrappers card sketch! I busted into one of my favorite paper lines for this one - My Mind's Eye All is Bright. 

And here is my interpretation: 

You'll notice that the sketch has three distinct boxes, instead I used that chipboard sticker to create two of them and then put the layered sticker in the center as the third. The whole thing is much more fluid than the sketch, but it was definitely inspired by it!

Sadly with all that paper tearing and chipboard and layered sticker action, this card will not be able to go in the mail! Way to thick and yummy for that.

Monsters that haunt my dreams

I felt so witty for coming up with that title. I'd really struggled with what to do for the Use It Tuesday theme this week: Creatures. And then I remembered photos from going to watch Monsters University, we'd let the the boys stay up for the "midnight" showing and played it up big with dinner beforehand, popcorn, soda, etc. 

And monsters are definitely creatures. And children are often monsters and they often keep you up at night just like the monsters that keep you awake at night... you get the idea. 

And here's some close-ups of this one for you. The background was created by Vance using a variety of paper and sticker scraps, the oldest of which is the 3Bugs Blast Off! sticker pack (he even used the packaging). There's so many layers mish-mashed together that I had to keep the unstructured feel and used the Citrine 2 MWM sketch from Scrapbooksteals. 

The embellishments are all newish, less than 6 months old, but they are the last of their packs. I love using the last of something, makes room for something new. Am I right or am I right!?!

I did a little package repurposing too, I stamped on some of the package from those buttons, it made for a nice layer but gave me a fit to photograph because it was so reflective. The newest embellishment is the colored staples. ;) Thanks for stopping by, now go link up your "Creatures" project and don't forget to tell us what you used that's hoarded. 

Going Together

Yay! It's Friday people! That means many fabulous things, including a new challenge at Scrap Your Story. This week we're talking arrows - the cupid kind, the trendy circle ones, whatever it just needs to have an arrow somewhere.

This is my first try at what I consider to be the "SC look." I don't know that Studio Calico invented the look but it sure is as trendy as their kits are!

For my first attempt I used MME Follow Your Heart as the base and as most of the rectangles. The other paper is MME Quite Contrary. Brads are MME Indie Chic. Alphas are from Authentique and American Crafts.

Ten Things Tags

Tags are one of those paper crafts areas that I really haven't delved into. Sure I use them on a pages or layouts on occasion, but they aren't the elaborate ones that people make and trade around. I wanted to make my Practical Scrappers 10 Things Tags post something more along that line than I've typically done.

I recently went through and labeled all the toy boxes/baskets in the house using the name tag badges and a couple of luggage tags like this one: 

In the boys' room I didn't care that the tag looked nice so I'd just scribbled the label on the insert on the reverse side, but the basket that I decided to decorate sits in the living room and is the toy time out basket. It needed to be nicer, slightly masculine, but still have texture.

The base paper that I used to cover the tag is MME Kraft Funday. Both large stickers are from EP This and That Charming. The alphas are Glitz Designs. The bottom gem is a WRMK eyelet. Both the jute and top gem are from packaging around some Bo Bunny trims. The brown ribbon is MME Lost and Found.

And here it is, hanging on the basket:

What's your favorite way to use tags?

Practical Scrappers - 10 Things Tuesday - Stars

In my household the topic of stars comes up a lot. And by a lot I mean a few dozen times a day, part of it is that Vance is totally into outerspace stuffs thanks to Buzz Lightyear. But even more than that, David is getting his phD in...wait for it... astrophysics. Yep, we talk about stars a lot so when Practical Scrappers decided to highlight 10 things to do with stars I was super excited! I need some ideas too!

For my project I went origami. Most of the stars that I played around with were very 3D so I finally settled on this background star that reminded me of stars that quilters use. The grey pointed thing coming from behind the photo is also an origami star. I squashed it sideways a bit so that it would lay more or less flat on the page - it was supposed to be a five-pointed star and folding it over the way I did it needs another point. ;)

"Twinkle Twinkle" is seriously the most sung nursery rhyme in our household - Vance sings it pretty much all the time, well, anytime he's not playing his imaginary trumpet (thanks for that Little Einsteins!). 

For this layout I used:

Papers: Authentique Glory, Blissful. American Crafts Chap. MME Ooh La La.

Washi: MME 

Alphas: Authentique, American Crafts Thickers

Other: sewing machine. black thread. Studio G glitter glue

Practical Scrappers - two page layouts

Today at Practical Scrappers we're taking on a beast - the two page layout. This beast can be intimidating, but as you can see if you head on over to the PS blog tackling it can yield some phenomenal results! 

Inspiration for this spread came from the Scrapbooksteals.com MWM Peridot 4. I took the sketch and sort of doubled it over, but because I wanted a long title and that sunburst I reduced the number of photos on the left-side. 

Close-up of one of the clusters. You'll see that I had a lot of fun using up some leftover stickers and scraps of paper. 

 The title was no less fun - a total of 7 fonts from two brands went into that bad boy!

Papers: MME Ooh La La, Andrea Victoria

Die Cuts: Authentique Blissful, MME Ooh La La

Alphas: AC Thickers, October Afternoon Mini Market and Sticky Keys

Embellishments: AC Amy Tangerine Sketchbook stickers, MME Lush 2 brad and ribbon, stash blue flowers, Echo Park This and That "brothers," MME Miss Caroline doily sticker

Other: WRMK straight stitch Sew Easy head, yellow floss

Ten Things Tuesday - Tiny Things

Welcome back to another Ten Things Tuesday with Practical Scrappers. Today we wanted to highlight

tiny things. 

Now as tiny things go, bottle caps aren't teeny but sometimes fitting them into a layout can be a bit tricky.  I've had these sitting on my desk for months just screaming to go on a page. 

These caps aren't from the scrapbook aisle - I just used my Imaginesce D-stress to remove the branding and rough them up. I also used my Crop-o-dile to punch holes in the sides so I could run the twine through.

Then I went old school and used a hammer and screwdriver to punch a hole in the top to run some tiny brads through so the bottle caps would look "nailed" onto the page. 

Inspiration for this layout came from a group of my FB friends, Erin asked us to use something from the adage "old, new, borrowed, blue."

Old: Fancy Pants Rough & Tough and Kraft Kuts papers

New: the hospital wrist band is only a couple of months old

Borrowed: I reused all those bottle caps!

Blue: yep, there's a few things on here. ;)

Some "me" me-time

Given, it's totally my own fault, but I haven't been doing any just for fun scrapping. I was just plain feeling down most of last week and spent what little time I did scrap trying to get ahead on my design team work. 

Monday I changed that! I scrapped just for me and managed to tie it into my two favorite challenges - The Paper Girls Challenge Blog and Scrapbooksteals MWM - Peridot 3 sketch.

The Paper Girls challenge was based on a color scheme - coral, navy, cream with yellows and greens. 

The green and floral papers are from Graphic 45's Fashionista.

The cream cardstock is American Crafts Classics.

Eyelets are WRMK.

Twine is from MME All is Bright and WRMK.

Black sewing machine thread.

The background was one big messy experiment on a piece of loose paper I'd been given at a local crop. I used one of my Studio Calico banner masks and finger applied modeling paste over the mask. Once dry I rubbed my Ranger Distress Faded Denim pad right over the top of it. The banners are most visible near the bottom though you can get some good hints of the original paper's print along the sides.

Scrap Your Story - sketch

Sketch week is probably my favorite week at Scrap Your Story! Actually, I really like them all, but if I had to pick one it'd be sketch. Anywho, Christy drew up this fab sketch:

 

And here's what I did with it:

The base of the card is AC cardstock. The larger banners are made from WRMK washi sheets/paper. There's two colors of thread with the machine stitching, lots of Ranger Distress Stickles, and papers, blackboard and die cuts from Cosmo Cricket Joy Ride, plus buttons from stash, a piece of Bo Bunny "leather" ribbon, alphas from AC Thickers, and brads from Girl's Paperie. Red and yellow thread for machine stitching.

Now don't forget to go link up those pages, can't wait to see what you do with the sketch!

I'm linking this up to S.W.A.T. Basic Training #7 - Tic-Tac-Toe challenge. I chose the vertical row on the left - 3 buttons, stitching, and 3 different manufacturers. One of my buttons is one of those tinted clear ones but you can see the floss holding it in place as the third but the others are obvious from my products list.  

Scrap Your Story - favorites

We all have them. Favorites. And at Scrap Your Story this week we want to hear a little about YOUR favorites.

In case you've forgotten, our challenge schedule is:

Week 1: Use it (you will be given an item you must incporporate).

Week 2: Theme (your layout and/or photos needs to show this theme).

Week 3: Sketch (flip it, rotate it, tweak it...as long as we can see the basics there).

Week 4: Technique (we will describe/show a technique you must include somewhere).

And you'll have until Thursday, 11:59 p.m. CDT to get it linked up!

I know that I just emphasized the "your" in "your favorites" but I couldn't help doing another page about my older kiddo and his favorites. I'd compiled some of the questions from those "ask your kids this list of favorites every year on their birthday" from Pinterest and I *really* wanted to scrap them!

There's two tags in the pocket, one lists just favorite toys and the one with the twine has the complete list.

For those who like product listings I'm not gonna be much help here! This page is a page of scraps, but here's what I know:

American Crafts Chap

Amy Tangerine

3Bugs Blast Off!

Echo Park For the Record

Fancy Pants Rough and Tough

BasicGrey Origins

Kiwi Lane Templates Adventure and Tags

WRMK eyelet

MME All is Bright twine

Color Box Yellow Citrus chalk ink, Black pigment ink

Teresa Collins On the Edge griffin stamp

machine stitching, black thread

Stickles Turquoise

Studio G red glitter glue