Valentine's Greeting Card

Happy Valentine's from Practical Scrappers. Today we're sharing the love with a lovely bunch of Valentine's Day inspired projects. Are you feeling the love yet?! I crack myself up sometimes. 

I doubled up and also created this card for a make and take at my LSS, Soul Sentiments. As a family we don't do much for the "Hallmark" holidays so it was really a struggle for me to embrace the pinks and reds but I'm really happy with how cute it turned out in the end. 

This card will be a featured Make and Take on Feb. 1. Contact the store for questions.

Cardstock: Coordinations/Tim Holtz Distressed

Washi: WRMK, Bo Bunny, and I forgot the other

Journal Card: Echo Park

Twine: WRMK

Stamp: Hero Arts

Inks: Ranger Distress Worn Lipstick and Black Soot

Flowers: Imaginesce and American Crafts

Lace: stash

Authentique Seasons Calendar

My friends, I am so beyond excited about today's post! Scrapbooksteals sent me some of the most delicious Authentique papers for my design team post today - it was mostly from the Seasons Petite Collections, and oh was it fun to come up with a use for all that goodness. There's so much paper in today's steal that even after my project (which used a lot) I have plenty of leftover paper and stickers to hoard for some cards and layouts.

The biggest quandary I faced was how to use the paper to feature all four seasons at the same time. Teaching my five year old about months and seasons must have gotten to me because I decided on a calendar. You'll see that I used this as an excuse to play with a friend's WRMK Cinch (still on my wishlist because Santa apparently didn't like me that much this year) and used the calendar pages from Graphic 45 Place in Time to complement my layouts.

It's photo heavy today, go grab a coffee and plan to sit a spell because I really want you to see how much fun there is to be had with this kit!

January - in addition to the Winter Petite Collection I used some buttons from KI Memories, flowers from Prima, and twine from MME.

As a Midwesterner, I don't perceive seasons as a fixed point. There's an ebb and flow with hints of the previous and future season and I wanted to bring that into my calendar, very few months have only one season represented.

February - uses both Winter and bits of Sweetness (for that touch of Valentine's pink). I also added some MME twine, Prima flowers, and used a WRMK Lucky 8 punch.

March - features Sweetness with a touch of Winter. There's also ribbon from Paper Studio and American Crafts, KI Memories buttons, Stazon Ink, and a MME transparency.

April - more of Sweetness with a touch of Winter. There's a custom rosette from fussy cutting the ice cream parlor banner from one of the pages with a random button on top, an American Crafts rosette and some stashed ribbon paired with modeling paste, a TCW stencil, and Mister Huey's pulled in some of the blues from other pages but kept it springy.

May - Sweetness paired with Summer papers and embellishments. I also used some stickers from Authentique's Original. In addition, I pulled in a Pink Paislee Artisan Element, Lawn Fawn flower bobby pin, and stash ribbon. The shiny word bracket was cut out of packaging from those Prima flowers I used on winter pages, I used a Tim Holtz die and then covered it with Glossy Accents. The background was customized with a TCW stencil, modeling paste and then Peacock Feathers and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks.

June - my first Summer layout, you'll notice I pulled in a bit of Sweetness. There's also another Lawn Fawn bobby pin, and more MME twine. The wooden sun is a MME veneer that was misted with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.

July - Summer and Autumn with a few pieces of Glory and Original because I couldn't stay away from the 4th of July idea. 

August - Summer and Autumn again, but to evoke the haziness of a Missouri August I used my hand to apply modeling paste in one corner and as it dried misted October Afternoon Sprinklers across the page. 

September - Autumn, Summer, and Winter. There's also more of those KI Memories button and a Graphic 45 Staples flower.

October - Autumn with some fussy cutting out of a sheet of Enchanting to make the page "spookier." I also worked some MME twine into a spider's web and accented the page with Girl's Paperie Toil and Trouble charms. 

November - Autumn papers. I added in some torn papers, leaf die cuts, KI Memories buttons, and MME twine. 

December - Winter with a few touches of Autumn reds and Festive stickers. To make the banners I used a Glitz Design stamp and fussy cut and sewed them together. The other embellishments on the page are Pink Paislee Luxe stars, Prima flower, and stash buttons. 

As you can see I used a lot of paper on each page, this kit is loaded! I'm so glad that Steals sent this particular kit to me, now I get to hang this little beauty in my kitchen. *happy dance* Now to decide which photos to put into the layouts. 

Paper Girls Challenge Blog - September Hop

Thanks so much for stopping by, if you are here for the Paper Girls Challenge Blog you should have come from Charissa's blog. If you didn't come from there when you're done looking around you should definitely head back to the beginning and see all the fantastic fall home decor projects we have for you today. Serious inspiration over load here!

I made this fall banner. Obviously something 7 feet long is hard to get into a single image so I also have some close-ups for you!

There's lots of goodies in here, twine, upcycled corrugated cardboard, thrifted doilies, ribbons, Prima and David Tutera flowers, and Authentique Thankful papers to name a few. Check it out:

I cut the letters out on my Silhouette and made a slightly larger one to act as the "shadow" since the machine doesn't have that function.

The spots were created by inking through joint tape (like you'd find at the hardware store). 

Had to hot glue on the flowers to the doilies. It nearly broke my heart since it means I may have ruined them, but it just looks so pretty that I had to commit.

Now, the Paper Girls Challenge Blog has a Scrapbook Pal gift card up for grabs, which means you're asking what do you have to do to participate? 

Would you like a chance to win? Get an entry for commenting on each of the blog posts, "Like" the Paper Girls Challenge on Facebook, and being a follower on our blog (all are required for an entry). You will see some fabulous projects and find some inspiration.

You have until October 6, 2013 at 11:59pm MST to comment. We will announce the winner on Wednesday, October 9, 2013 at 9:00 am MST. International readers are welcome to play along but currently we are only shipping prize packs to the US and Canada due to shipping costs.

Here's that blog hop order again, just in case you lost it:

Kristy

Amber

Erica

Charity 

Heather 

Charissa

Jessica -- you are here

Michele -- go here

Cathryn 

Becci

Misty

Deborah 

Puddle jump

What a short weekend, just dropping by to post this layout for the Scrapbooksteals MWM Aquamarine 3, and then it's back to chasing kiddos. 

I used Fancy Pants' Park Bench for this, I just love how the colors really let these photos shine. Some of those brads are from American Crafts Chap. And I used lots of pop dots.

I'm also linking it to the following Scrapbooksteals MCM challenges:

# 32 journaling
# 36 life

Practical Scrappers - 10 Things Tuesday - Scallops

It's Ten Things Tuesday so that means Practical Scrappers is bringing you 10 fun things to do with Scallops today! When you're done checking this out, head on over and see what else the design team has in store for you.

There's a lot out there in the way of scallops. I sort of went a little technique crazy with mine and you'll see there's a lot of scallop action on this page.

Let's start with the fact that I used this Studio Calico Mask to create the background. Scalloped pendants on a banner (which could also be considered a curved scallop).

I misted it in three colors (OA Sprinklers Screen Door and Sidewalk and Mister Huey's Clover), moving the mask and attempting to line it up in rows across the page. I got my idea from something Emily Pitts had posted on Scrapbook and Cards Today's blog.

Once the background was mostly dry I used that mask again and wiped some modeling paste over the top, applying with my finger. After that dried, a little Ranger Distress Faded Denim inking helped bring some depth to the banner.

There's another scallop though - scroll back up and check out that border at the bottom of the page. It's just a die-cut from Authentique's Journey but the die cuts from the kit were a perfect complement to the photo of David pulling Vance on a family bicycle outing.

The idea of using all those little Authentique pieces came from my friend Michele, who posted a similarly styled page on the Scrapbooksteals Facebook page recently.

And if anyone can tell me how to use mists and such without major page warping I'd love them forever!

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 - stamping

We all have them, stamps. I don't even use my stamps often and somehow they keep multiplying in my stash! Probably because when I do use them I really just how much fun they can be. 

So this week for Scrap Your Story you're going to have to give it a whirl. Stamp somehow on your layout - the title, a background, your journaling, an embellie. Just let us know how you used the technique! 

I actually stamped several times to make my background. On the top half of the page are the circles, those were created by inking up the lid of an embellishment container and then stamping on the paper. The other stamp is the Misplaced Chevron from Unity. I adore this stamp! It's pretty awesome as a background on a layout, in the past I've just used it for cards with some heat embossing(yummy!).

And just because I also loved my pennants, here's a close up of the other side of the paper. 

I used: Cosmo Cricket Joy Ride, an assortment of MME and AC scraps for the pennants and photo mats. Stickles, Color Box Ocean, Bo Bunny ribbon and flowers, a MME Miss Caroline wood veneer and MME Lime Twist pennant letter stickers.

Spring altered projects

With the snow outside, days after the official first day of spring, I felt a need to make a very spring colored craft. 

I started with this little birdhouse that I'd picked up at Joann's for $1. I covered it with a bunch of washi, I can't tell you individual lines but I know that most of my stash is My Mind's Eye and that the black dot and blue houndstooth are We R Memory Keepers.

Then, feeling in a more festive mood I took up the Use It Tuesday challenge to make something springy with hoarded products.

I had these canvas covered chipboard pieces dying to be used, but there were only four so that presented a word play challenge. I chose "grow" because in spring that obviously happens, but it's sort of been an unofficial "one word" for me this year. Grow my craft, as a parent/spouse/employee, as a runner, just grow. 

Realizing that it held a little more meaning than just "spring" I decided to use bright papers that would match the color scheme around my craft area. That meant pulling out some oldie but goodies - American Crafts Classics Collection. 

The doilies and letters were cut from Silhouette store files on my Cameo. Each letter has some form of accordion folded paper to give it extra depth. 

The brown behind the letters got a quick swipe with watered down gesso. The letters were stamped with a swirly background stamp from Stampabilities using clear ink and heat embossed with Zing! Aqua embossing powder.

Some of the edges were inked with Ranger Distress Walnut Stain.

Two letters have flower clusters.

All letters have some pink grosgrain ribbon (American Crafts, I think) and ribbon edging with various interesting ribbons that have all been in my stash for at least a year. There's ribbon from MME Lush, Crate Paper Random, Girl's Paperie Toil and Trouble, and MME Laundry Line (misted with two colors to get it to almost match the Crate Paper).

Now to hang the first banner I've ever made. YAY!