Wednesday, August 29, 2012

pearl 8 Break time

It doesn't seem possible that it's time for another Scrapbooksteals.com sketch, let alone that we've almost completed a "gemstone." The title of this page is appropriate because it's been crazy here with getting Squirrel onto a new schedule for our pre-preschool work. And that has left me with less time for craftiness. He loves it, I miss it. *sigh*

This week, Kristy's sketch featured a large doily in the background and layers of paper with tons of buttons. Not so bad. But I wasn't feeling it so I turned to another challenge to tell me what to do. 


I took my paper choices and some of my elements from the CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration challenge this week. Not a palette I typically work with but I was able to assemble pieces from a variety of collections that work nicely together. 

Background paper: Cosmo Cricket Cosgmo Cogs
Doily: BasicGrey 12x12 cut to size
Fancy Pants Kraft Kuts and Lilac House
American Crafts Thickers
Stash buttons, bias tape, and floss
WRMK Sew Stamper fuchsia head
October Afternoon and Studio Calico Mists to create that green plaid paper
Ranger Distress Ink, walnut stain and broken china
Sewing machine

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Messy

Whew, what a week it's been! Glad things were back to normal enough for me to squeeze in this crafty project as a gift for a friend.

The frame was a white frame with a white mat that I picked up on clearance from Target. Boring, right?   I knew it had potential though so I bought it to stash away until the right moment. 


I covered the mat with pieces of MME Lost and Found scraps. Then I added some stash ribbon and a whole bunch of heat set gemstones (I really should play with my iRock more, so fun!). Next, I stamped a Tim Holtz flourish in the very center and then ghost stamped on each side twice. The finishing touch under the glass is a die cut from Authentique Uncommon that quotes Dr. Suess. All the papers are inked with Distress Ink Walnut Stain.

On the glass itself are four Bella Blooms (flowers with button centers) that I spray misted from a bubblegum pink to black. The flowers took the ink really well and are nearly black, the buttons didn't dry as quickly so I smeared them around a bit that way the pink really shows through. I adhered them with quick setting glue. 

I'm glad I got a little messy with this one because now I can enter it into the Paper Girls Challenge to do something messy creative. 

Feels funny to leave the sample photo in the frame but I still need to print the 5x7 that'll take its place. ;)

Monday, August 20, 2012

There's a new mister in my life

It's not every day a new mister entered my life. Given the fact that this one is mistable and bottled I'm going to go with the Scientist will only mind if I feel a need to show him every project I make with Mister Huey's.

I love the colors I got from this first test run, so much so that I made a fun card to add to my slowly growing stash for Operation Write Home.


The blue card is stash, and the paisley strip and sentiment are Amy Tangerine Sketchbook.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Bargello card

I love to learn new techniques and was excited about this one  - the Bargello technique. I gathered from some of the comments on the tutorial that the process isn't new to the scrap (or sewing) world but since I am I loved learning about it! 

I read about it over on the Spellbinders Blog and used the directions they provided. Time consuming, but super easy. 


After making the Bargello portion I wrapped some Girl's Paperie ribbon around that piece of card, tucked in a MME journaling card, heat embossed a Jillibean Soup sentiment, stamped a Tim Holtz stamp onto the background card and then glued it all together.

I went back to the idea later in the day, changing some of the paper dimensions so that the technique filled all a standard card. I also succeeded in doing it from memory! YAY!


Papers are MME Lost and Found and Paper Studios Affinity, ribbon is Pebbles, sentiment is Authentique, butterfly is Jenni Bowlin, inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink


Guess-o it's gesso time

Before, during, and after completing my first "case" over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration (a scrapbooking recipe challenge site) I was in awe of some of the techniques the ladies used. I randomly clicked on a tutorial that had Prima paper in the title, and learned that some of what I was liking had been created with gesso. For any who don't know, gesso is traditionally used with canvas as a primer, but these ladies were using it to create awesome textures and mixing it for soft colors. Which took me on a Google Search.
My first completed "case."
I took the plunge. I bought gesso. Here's the first project I made on the day I bought it:



And here's how I cracked the case for Case 33:

You'll notice that this time the gesso is on thick, and has more texture. Much of the texture I created by swirling spray inks into it, one layer at a time, and then squishing it outward from the center. I really like the effect!

I'm still deciding if this is going to be a regular part of my style, or just a random artistic element I use sometimes. 

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Scrapbooksteals MCM 97

For the Scrapbooksteals MCM 97 the primary goal of her sketch was to show off a border punch. Now I don't own any border punches. *GASP* I know. But I do own a Cameo so I opened up the software and found this card shape that I purchased a while back. Perfect. 

MME Lime Twist
MME Indie Chic 6x6
MME Lost and Found
BasicGrey Bloomers
Color Box Ocean
Pebbles rub-on sentiment
Adding a couple of scraps of paper and some flowers finished off the sketch. It took me longer to punch all the bits out of the flowers than to ink and glue the card together!


Friday, August 17, 2012

card frenzy

Now that birthday party is over and I'm caught up on some of my challenges, I'm ready to get started on some more cards for Operation Write Home. 

The first card you'll see more or less again when I post for the Scrapbooksteals MCM 97. I cut the card shape on the Cameo (love that flower border!) and since I had it out for that card I cut a two at the same time. 

For this one I just put a piece of colored paper behind the flowers, added gems to half of the flower centers, applied glitter glue to the other half, and then layered on two strips of the same ribbon.  Easy cheesy, cute, and a good use of scraps.

MME Lime Twist card base
MME Andrea Victoria
Paper Studios ribbon
Studio G Glitter Glue
$1 bin gems

This next card features a couple of Glitz stickers that have been hanging out in my stash for a couple of months.

I applied Crackle Accents to the rose and then scribbled a little glitter glue under the sentiment.

Paper Studios Affinity pre-cut card
Echo Park This and That cardstock
Glitz stickers
American Crafts Amy Tangerine Thickers
Studio G Glitter Glue
Ranger Crackle Accents
 I still had some of the Hip Hooray elements on my desktop from making the Pearl 6 layout for Scrapbooksteals so I decided to make a birthday card. Another cute, low supply, fast little card and it could be used for just about any recipient. Bonus!
Stash Cardstock card base
MME Hip Hooray paper and die cuts
Imaginesce Dino Roar ribbon
Ranger Distress Walnut Stain

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Holiday papers used in the "off season"

I haven't often done it, but I do shop for holiday themed papers based on how useful they could be in a regular scrapbook page. Mostly because things that can't be used that way tend to be overly busy for my style. But at the end of the season I tuck them away and don't think about looking at those Christmas or birthday papers again for a long time. 

The second August challenge at My Mind's Eye was to bust those papers out and apply them to a project that is not what the paper was "designed" for. The DT used Christmas and Halloween papers which for some bizarre reason got me to thinking about my birthday papers and how awesome Hip Hooray would look with this Instagram picture of my guys playing together. 


Banners and tags are fairly common all year so it was mostly easy, I only had two real modifications. The back red paper has "Happy Birthday" strung with some of the blue banners so I had to sort of hide that. And then the "Make a" end with "Wish" so I covered it with a tag from the kit, added "train" and for safe measure tucked the word "Choo" under the edge. 

All the papers are from Hip Hooray, the thread is Lost and Found Union Square, and the blue ric rac was in my bin of MME ribbons but I don't remember which collection it's from. The eyelets are WRMK, tiny alphas are Jenni Bowlin, Thickers from American Crafts, Ranger Distress fired brick all over pretty much everything. A little machine stitching, foam dots, and paper rolling finished off the look of this page.

I'm also entering it in the Scrapbooksteals MWM - Pearl 6. Kristy Lee's sketch was a perfect fit for this collection! 

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Birthday Card

There's a lot of birthday in my life this time of year, so I was very grateful that the Paper Girls Challenge blog Challenge #13 was to make something "birthday" related. BONUS for me! 

I tried to keep the card itself simple, just using a little distress ink (walnut stain and broken china) to darken it from a pastel. In this picture it looks very dark, in person it has a lot of green tones. 


The paper is 3 Bugs in a Rug Blast Off!, as are the happy birthday sticker and the die cut with stars. The eyelets are WRMK and the twine is MME Miss Caroline Dilly Dally.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Pearl 4

These Scrapbooksteals MWM Pearl pages are a little behind, but since I made them over a weekend at my mom's I thought I'd share them here.

The first is of Squishy running below the Space Needle. He's such a cutie! And I love how the page just flew together, such a simple, pretty sketch.
3Bugs in a Rug Blast Off! Paper and Die cuts
Target Printed Tape
MME Decorative Tape
Michael's $1 bin gems
Pebbles Chalks
Ranger Distress Ink, walnut stain
 Creating this page took a bit longer - there's a lot of Cameo cutting here. The Starfish border is the same cut as I used on the other Aquarium page, I just changed it from being a corner border to being straight. I also cut an Echo Park journaling box and the starfish with flourish on the Cameo.

My favorite thing about this one is that I managed to hide the "nemo" part of the title in a Bo Bunny Wrap that sort of gives an algae feel.

MME Good Day Sunshine papers
MME ric rac ribbon (Lush?)
American Crafts Thickers
Pink Paislee wood veneer letters
Bo Bunny Wrap
Ranger Distress Ink, broken china

Monday, August 13, 2012

Action Heroes

Some layouts come together nicely, following a predesigned path. Sometimes that path takes it's own twists and turns. In the case of my Authentique August Challenge page that's exactly what happened. I am so happy that I followed the "new" path though.

A new thing for me on this page was how I used the mists. I was inspired this weekend by the Scrapbooksteals Blog Hop to pull those messy little bottles back out.  I "misted" one piece and then proceeded to dry brush the leftover ink onto the other pieces instead of inking with my stamp pads.


I seriously am in love with this page. It is decidedly a new favorite of mine!

Authentique products:
Uncommon Original
Blissful Pleasant
Journey Noteables
Journey Headlines
Journey Icons
Miracle Boy Tabloids
Bi-Fold Foundations

Other products:
October Afternoon Mini Market Pink and Black alphas
October Afternoon Sprinklers Set Sail
Jenni Bowlin Embellished Butterflies
American Crafts Thickers Shoe Box and Amy Tangerine Lovely
Studio G Glitter glue
Silhouette Studio/Cameo
Stash gems

Mojo - the midweek kind

After spending the last two weeks working almost exclusively on a project for the Scrapbooksteals retreat in October I have to say that it's nice to get back to my normal creative grind. Variety is nice.

This is Pearl 5 from a sketch by Kristy Lee. I love when her sketches just sort of click with my resources/me.

Such a fast page to do! The washi in the top corner really helped with that, but even without it I spent more time cutting out the maze circles and the space port sign with my Cameo than I did actually assembling the page! 


Papers and diecuts are 3 Bugs in a Rug Blast Off, Target Washi Tape, American Crafts Accordion Flowers and Thickers, Bo Bunny Wraps, MME Lush 2 Orange gems, Pebbles Chalks, stash brads and black and shiny paper used for Silhouette Cameo shapes, Studio G Glitter Glue, Crackle Accents.

MME - August Challenge - 10+ photos

At first when I read that MME wanted me to use 10 or more photos on a page I balked, forgetting that I still have hundreds of pictures from our Seattle vacay to scrap. Once I got over the shock and started planning the page I settled on these 10 from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. 

I pulled out Good Day Sunshine and set to work finding little details that would complement such a heavy photo spread nicely. A couple of die cut pieces from Abbey Road, Miss Caroline Dilly Dally twine, and some Lush ric rac ribbon made it to the page too.


Also used were:
WRMK sew stamper 
Distress Stickles
Crackle Accents

For those who have a Sew Stamper or have thought about them, they are self inking stamps and when you run out of ink mid project you *CAN* run the stamper through an ink pad and then stamp on the page. I quickly found that I had to be careful because the ink got on the stamp head, and then on the page. Ooops, we live and learn I guess.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Heat transfer

When you're getting ready for a party do you feel like you need new clothes? Well, I  do! But I decided to be a bit more economical for Squishy's birthday party and "decorate" a shirt that I haven't worn in ages because it was boring. 

This is not the first project I've attempted with the Silhouette heat transfer material (bought it several moons ago on Scrapbooksteals and it's just been in my closet), but it is the first one I've done that all the pieces have stayed stuck.  I don't know why I've had so many problems using that stuff - thinking my iron doesn't get hot enough. Maybe.

The flourish came from the Silhouette store, I cut it in two sizes and two colors. First ironing on the sparkly black and then the flocked white. Then, because the flourishes felt like they were just hanging on my shoulder I added this store bought flower pin to finish it off. 


I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, but wish I could get the transfer material to work all the time. Another project I made the same day isn't staying stuck. Has anyone else used this stuff with success?


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Happy birthday to my Squishy-bug!

Can I just start out by saying that I adore my Cameo? Nay. I LOVE it. That little machine has made my life in the last several days leading up to the Bug Birthday Party so.much.easier. And since much of the party was "hand-crafted" I'm going to share with you (sorry, you may see elements again in the form of scrapbook pages).

I'm also going to say that I don't know why my heart was set on a bug party, but since it was, I sort of had to do it all myself because bugs are sooooo not "in" this year. I did get some ideas from other bloggers though, oh, and pinterest. Couldn't have found those blogs without it. :)

Craftaholics Anonymous was my launching point for the bug themed foods. Peanut BUTTERfly sandwiches. Cracks me up every time. You'll see more from their party below, they teamed up with another blog to create the backdrop they used.


A bug party wouldn't have been complete without some delicious chocolate covered strawberries! The idea for these came from Homemaking Fun. She did a whole bug themed evening for her family one night. Awesome idea! I might have to start doing themed family nights for my clan.


These Caterpillar kabobs were from Julie Kundhi's blog. She made them for a preschool snack, but let me tell you that they were as much a hit with the toddler as with the Papa! And I don't know how she got her icing (whites of eyes) so perfect, I eventually gave up and just made all the caterpillars have uni-whites.


I decided to cut out these bugs in my backdrop several months ago, and then when I saw this backdrop at Creative Juice I knew that I needed to take my buggy idea to another level! Their backdrop was created on foam board, but I already had this rod for hanging our artwork and I adapted it to my party needs! I loved the idea of using a cheapy tablecloth as a background and then adding elements. They hand cut and glued tissue paper "grass"to it, sans bugs. I decided to cut my grass from solid cardstock on the Cameo and then stapled them right to the tablecloth. Some of the grass didn't stay totally upright, but neither does grass in real life.


There were lots of those little vinyl bugs hung all over my dining area, but that would require that I show you all the furniture scuffs on the walls. I had also planned some games and crafts for the younger party guests, but they just wanted to play with toys. Maybe next year.

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