Scrap Your Story - sketch

You know how I love a good sketch, so let me tell you how excited I was when the rotation at Scrap Your Story brought us back to "sketch." Sweet. 

Remember our challenge schedule is: 

Week 1: Use it

Week 2: Theme

Week 3: Sketch (yay!)

Week 4: Technique

Here's our sketch this week:

And my interpretation:

The boys call rolling up in blankets "being a burrito" hence the title. 

The background was created with a few techniques. First I painted on watered-down gesso, when it was almost dry I flicked on some October Afternoon Sprinklers which bled nicely with just a little help. Once it was dry I adhered the scalloped trim that I'd had left in my scraps (from a 12x12 WRMK die cut paper). I'd glued it at 12x12, so I crumbled up the edge of the painted cardstock to show the scallops in the back. 

The circles and banners were also made from WRMK Hall Pass. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the circles in a variety of sizes. Behind the smaller photo is a piece of Amy Tangerine paper. The brads are 7Gypsies. Alphas are October Afternoon and Jenni Bowlin. All stitching was done on my sewing machine. The dream bubble was done with Ranger Enamel Accents in white and black. 

So now that you're nice and inspired, I hope you take the weekend and play along with us! And don't forget to link up. I can't wait to see what you all make. 

Scrap Your Story - Spring

At Scrap Your Story this week we're challenging you to embrace spring. We want to see your flowers, spring color, spring pics, Easter, whatever makes you think "spring."

I pulled out some photos from March 2012 - we went on a road trip with friends the weekend before Spring Break and their college-aged daughter took these photos while we were enjoying unseasonably warm weather.

When I started playing around with the page it sort of morphed from my original idea and I realized I'd scraplifted myself. But as much as I liked that layout, I LOVE the way this one turned out.  

I created a mask using a shape from the Silhouette Studio software.

I used October Afternoon Sprinklers and American Crafts Mister Huey's. 

Patterned papers are Pink Paislee's Prairie Hill, plus a few Glitz Designs and Echo ParkScraps.

Grey Cardstock is American Crafts.

Embossing folder from Lifestyle Crafts.

Embellishments include: Prima flowers, Girl's Paperie brads, Glitz Designs dimensional stickers, My Mind's Eye stickers and twine, WRMK eyelets and twine.

Machine stitching and lots of inking with Distress Ink in Walnut Stain.

Scrap Your Story - sketch challenge

I love a good sketch challenge and boy did Christy cook up a good one for us this week at Scrap Your Story. 

Here's our sketch:

And my interpretation:

I used My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday - I like how the muted colors really make Rylan's shirt pop! There's also some Kiwi Lane Design templates, a bunch of WRMK wide sparkle eyelets, hand stitching with embroidery floss and some machine stitching, Ranger Distress paint, and Target and Love My Tapes Washi. 

I'm still working out the journaling for this, but I left the top of the chevron paper open so that I can tuck in a tabbed journaling card when I'm ready.

Thanks for stopping by, now don't forget to link up those challenges!

Operation Write Home Sketch Interpretation

I'm really getting into the weekly Operation Write Home card sketches. A great way to use my scraps!  So far, all the cards are just card faces and need to be adhered to the folded part and readied for the mail. But here's my interpretation of Sketch 162.

This one was the first I did in the batch, and is my favorite! The background I stamped with a Market Street Stamp. The pigment ink I used got a little splotchy and smeary so I heat dried it and then used the WRMK Sweetheart Distressing Tool to disguise it a bit. All the layers got inked and sanded to "blend" in my mistake on the base. 

The papers are an assortment of MME scraps. The sentiment is a Studio G $1 bin stamp. I'm linking it up to the Scrapbooksteals.com MCM - Stamp it! Challenge.

For the other cards, I again focused on my huge pile of MME scraps. The hello sentiment was a wooden block $1 bin stamp, can't remember where I picked that one up and it doesn't say.

Rockin' with my Dad

Ever start a project only to realize that now that you've picked papers that you have to abandon it to help the kiddos, make dinner, etc.? That's what happened with this layout. I'd set out to do it and realized that it was time to start dinner for company. When hubby's alarm woke me the next day I woke with a start! I had a crazy idea about what I wanted to do for this page. 

I have LOTS of pictures of my guys throwing these pebbles at our local park's lake and I wanted to take this two photo Paper Secrets sketch and give it a few more while maintaining the sketch. 

In addition to the sketch, Paper Secrets challenge included using a chevron. I accomplished this with some paper piecing that I then sewed together.

So I laid out what would go behind the multi-colored doily page and stitched the doily paper down on just one side to make a flap. I even decorated the back of the doily paper with another photo. 

The inside of my three page single page layout!

All the papers are My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart, as are the dimensional stickers and clips. There's WRMK and MME washi. The alphas are a variety of American Crafts Thickers and October Afternoon alphas. In addition to machine stitching I used two WRMK Sew Stamper heads. And lastly, Kiwi Lane templates provided some of the shapes, and I used a Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder.

Love your face - Paper Secrets Challenge

Here's another for the ol'December album. Day 7 - a trip downtown to Living Windows (shops have mini scenes in their windows that you walk past and watch)  and hot chocolate after.

This page was inspired by Paper Secrets SketchSavvy #79 with a twist (use twine). 

For the twine, I used one of my Sew Easy heads to add a banner across the page. I then distressed inside each banner's center and roughed up the twine. After inking the layers, I adhered them, and inked and heat embossed the base layer. A strip of washi, a washi flower, some epoxy words, and rhinestones and we're good to go. 

Dec 18 Cookie Baking

I avoid glitter like the plague. It gets everywhere, but when Use It Tuesday decided it was time to "make it sparkle" I knew that I really needed to bust out some Martha Stewart glitter that I'd had since I started scrapbooking! I used the glitter to make a little flourish in the background of the page (and still have way to much of just that one bottle). Also hoarded/seldom used, I don't think I've used that Sew Easy head since right after I bought it, about a year ago. The Jenni Bowlin mini alphas are about a year old as well.

For sketch inspiration I used Let's Get Sketchy's week 2 challenge.

Dec Daily - December 18 Cookie Baking

The papers are from the Authentique Festive and Peaceful collections. I inked them up with Ranger Distress Ink Peeled Paint.

One more page done in my December "daily" album. Only 23 more to go. ;)

You are my sunshine card

I made this little card based on the Authentique January Sketch challenge. I'm also linking it up to the Scrapbooksteals.com Use Bling challenge.

Authentique products: Glowing paper 8, Uncommon Original, Festive Merry, Festive Yuletide, and Carefree Details

Other products: MME Lush Orange gems, WRMK twine, Momento Potter's Clay ink

Scrapbooksteals.com Jade 2

Kerys did a fabulous job with the sketch this week! I was very excited to play along with the Scrapbooksteals.com MWM - Jade 2.  Once again, I used a weekly sketch to knock out one more page of my December Daily album. 

December Daily 9

I'm also entering this page into the If It's Groovy challenge - create your own paper/background. I made the background by laying tree die cuts (from a mis-cut, yay for still finding a purpose!) onto a piece of American Crafts Kraft Cardstock. Then I used three shades of mist, from October Afternoon and Mister Huey, and sprayed and splattered away.

The other layers are an assortment of scraps from LilyBee Designs, Echo Park and My Mind's Eye. The twine is WRMK. Embossing powder is American Crafts Zing!. Green glitter glue is Studio G.

Camera at the ready

With our close-ish proximity to the zoo we have taken the boys several times. It has been awesome to see them take in everything new and afresh each time, always discovering new aspects. My favorite trip is nearly always our most recent one, and this holds true yet again. 

New this time was the perspective we gave Vance. Armed with an old point and shoot (with an already scratched lens) he walked around the zoo grounds looking at the display and pausing frequently to take pics. None of them are really in focus or zoomed correctly on the animals, but he loved it!

I used the November week 1 Let's Get Sketchy sketch for this one and was so proud of myself for using a bunch of my washi.

MCM 108

These cards are nearly identical, but I like their differences. Such different statements. 

I made them based on the Scrapbooksteals.com MCM #108. 

The paper is Fancy Pants Designs. I used my WRMKSew Easy to help line up the banners for stitching. The stamp is from Teresa Collins. The brads were from a goodie bag at a crop I went to recently. 

MWM - Coral 7

This week's Scrapbooksteals.com MWM, Coral 7, was provided by a Steals team member, Karina. And what a fun sketch it was! She used Authentique Enchanted and Glowing and I just have to say I was a little crushed to get home from work and find it sold out!  BUT at least I got to play around with the sketch right away because the little guy pictured below went down for a nap right away. Silver lining. 

The background paper is WRMK, but I forgot which line (it's a school themed one!) I  used a bit more of my Glitz Happy Travels for this page about Rylan's first zoo train ride. The flowers are Imaginesce, brads are Girls Paperie, and some American Crafts Thickers. And how about my faux Kiwi Lane borders?! 

Coral 1 - in two takes

It's not often that I find the time to do a repeat of a sketch. But I'd really liked the sketch that Kristy Lee provided for this week's MWM Coral 1. And I really didn't like my first interpretation of it. 

While working on it Wednesday, it sort of came together on it's own and I was loving it! But when I stopped to take a picture I felt like it was way busy. So many patterns! EEk! 

Looking at it while editing it I realized that it wasn't as bad as I'd felt it looked like so it was sort of a bonus that had already scrapped a second instead because now I have two more pages done. 

My favorite feature of this one is the library card pocket - 10 pictures of average scenery shot from a moving car are tucked into that little wonder. 10 on a page? Nice. 

Okay, and then I was just plain entertained by the title "Not Just a Hobbit Tale There & Back Again"

The pictures are of our drive to Lewiston, ID for a family reunion and then back to Seattle during vacation. There and Back. I die. 

This one still has a lot going on, lots of paper scraps used, but cutting the circle to a semi-circle opened it up a lot. You can tell on one slice, but three of the slices have foam dots with their corresponding piece from the other half, providing dimension. I really liked the effect it gave.

All those little pennants and banner pieces are stash scraps. I know that some are from Fancy Pants Designs and Imaginesce but couldn't tell you which collections to save my life!

Everything got a good old school inking and then I ran a WRMK heart distresser over everything!

To The Skies

For Authentique's Inspiration Color Challenge featured the Curiousity collection and I, once again, had to scrounge papers from other collections together. Oh to have enough money to own every collection I adore. It's probably a good thing though, can you imagine the hoarding?! Eek!

I had initially tried misting that airplane onto the 6x6 papers that form the background. Didn't work so well, so I ended up using the negative as a stencil and then colored it in with a marker. Not so bad considering.

Authentique products:

Petite Type Square, SPS008

To the skies

Diction, SJ0004

Free Bird, FBS120 x 1, FBS124 x 4, FBS132 x 1, FBS125 x 2

Classic Type, SCR001

Tabloids, DJ0002

Icons, DJ0001

Other products used:

Zing Teal embossing powder

WRMK eyelets

Sewing machine

Distress Ink, walnut stain

American Crafts Metallic Marker, Teal

Cameo, airplanes shape

And in other news, I made this page the day after it posted to their blog, but forgot to upload the picture of it until today, two days after the deadline. DOH! Thought I'd still share it with you because it was kind of fun to create. :)

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

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.

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.

Buggy Business

Squishy's birthday party is about two weeks away which means lots of crafting flurry for it! On the agenda:

1. Mailing invitations (see below, with coordinating thank you card!)
2. Create a buggy chandelier to hang over the food table
3. Buggy vinyl for the walls - needs to be cut and weeded until it's time to hang
4. Stick "fly" stickers to the red and white checked tablecloth. 
5. Buy party favors 
6. Plan menu (ants on a log and bug juice anyone?)
7. Creative food labels

Cardstock - stash
Stickers - Target $1 bin
Pebbles - Thank you rub-on
Silhouette and Sketch pens
Font Amy Lou
WRMK Sew Stamper

Does anyone else get teased for doing "big" parties for little kids? Ummm, I make the stuff because it's more fun for me that way and at least if I go overboard it really just means I was busy having fun!!!

Project Goal 100

To date: 15

Renewed Challenge

Things have been crazy at work and the Scientist is really needing to finish up his PhD which led me to make a tough family choice - continuing being a huge stress ball and rarely see my hubby -or- make a change. Considering we couldn't afford for me to quit, I chose to demote myself within the company and work fewer hours so he can work more. While not common, this does happen at times (IMO, more people just quit but benefits are good). For the first time in over 6 years I am no longer a manager of any kind. I worked three shifts as just an employee last week and it was so weird, novel, refreshing. I'm sure at some point the joys of it will unnerve me, but for now I'll revel in it's glory.

I'm not already reveling in is the $$$ part. Demotion = pay cut = less money for scrappy fun.

The bonus of "less money for scrappy fun" = a new challenge. There just isn't money to buy a lot of gifts and things so I'm going to be making as many Christmas presents, home decor items, birthday party decorations (you get the idea), the big challenge being that I need to figure out how to customize it to the individual/event from my current stash.

I've known for a month that this was coming and sort of loaded up while I could! LOL. The only thing I didn't buy that I know I need is some black vinyl for redecorating the boys' room. Their Christmas and birthday from us (unless grandparents chip in!) is a bunk bed, bedding, and theme change. Right now it is mostly decorated with leftover decorations from Squirrel's Cars party last year, some of those will stay as I'm switching it to a Toy Themed room (sort of Toy Story-esque, but less focus on just those guys and more just on toys). Hence the vinyl, I want to do large silhouettes of some recognizable toys to hang on the wall. Hoping to see some on SS before November so I can whip them up in time for a birthday party with the same theme (and just relocate as I did last year).

For this challenge the rules are:

• Goal Completion Date of Dec. 31, 2012
• Spend no more than $15 per boy birthday party on decorations/flair (August and December birthdays), excluding vinyl
• Spend no more than $20 per month on other crafty fun, not including adhesive
• Spend no more than $40 while at Scrapbooksteals warehouse while there in October
• Create 100 projects: Pages = 1, Cards = 1, duplicated cards of 3 or more = 2 per set
• Continue creating cards for OWH

Notice I'm not trying to spend "no money until ## done." That didn't work so well, and this is really about correcting a spending habit as much as about using up hoarded materials. :)

To get the crafting party started off right, here's my first set of projects. These are the last of the cards I could make before needing to ship off a box for the We Are Memory Keepers card drive for Operation Write Home. All of these cards feature American Crafts Campy Trail papers and Ranger Ink Distress Inks - Walnut Stain and/or Broken China, additional products used are in captions.

Studio G Green Glitter Glue
Brilliance Black Ink
Stamp - stash

Paper Studios Square Eyelets
Jewelry Cord

Jewelry cord
Jenni Bowlin mini alphas

Crackle Accents (on "Christmas" shaped tree)
Machine stitching

Jewelry Cord
Glossy Accents on "Christmas" tree
Paper Studios White Eyelets

WRMK Sew Stamper
Machine stitching
Glossy Accents on patch

BasicGrey Blue Brads
WRMK Sew Stamper
Stamp - unknown

Project Goal 100
To date: 7

You fill my world with color

Paper Girls Challenge Blog issued a new challenge this week and this one was tough for me. I looked at the photo below several times before I finally came up with an idea that seemed to fit my style - I'm not really a rainbow person nor did I feel up to making a mosaic of scraps (which would have been epic had I been up to that level of challenge this week, alas with getting ready for vacation next week there's no time).

So here's the photo inspiration they provided. 

The mosaic was created and made by British artist, Natalie Warne. You can check out her online gallery here.

And here's my interpretation:

I really liked the movement and the colors in the inspiration piece so I started by wrapping washi tapes across a 4x6 card stock scrap. The colors by themselves lacked interest so I finished by putting the black washi in the space/overlapping the colors. That gave a lot of dimension and made it more interesting. Then I cut the corners off and made it an uneven hexagon. 

Scrapbooksteals Turquoise 8 was a launch point for this page but something I really wanted to adhere to on this one was limited color so that my "wheel of washi" would really pop. Lots of neutrals and muted colors with only the ribbon and the photo bringing other bright colors onto the page. 

Materials used: 

Paper Studios Affinity paper and ribbon

MME 6x6 Miss Caroline Fiddlesticks

MME Good Day Sunshine and Abbey Road die cut pieces

MME Lush 2 Orange brad

MME Holly Jolly ribbon

Piggy Tales Twinkle Twinkle 

Fancy Pants Kraft Kuts sticker

BasicGrey Oliver Alphas

Amy Lou font sketched with Silhouette Cameo

WRMK washi

Target washi

ColorBox Chestnut Roan