Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A Layout & Card to share...

I have a couple projects to share today using the My Mind's Eye "Miss Caroline" Collection!  After National Scrapbook Day at Craft Warehouse, they had several kits left from their make-n-take that day in which the customers made mini albums.  It looked time consuming and I don't usually gravitate towards actually using my mini albums that I've made in the past so I had passed it up on NSD.  However, when they offered for us to make the album or take the kit to use at Scrapbook club last month, I was intrigued by the idea of taking those supplies to make a layout that I could actually enjoy in my full-sized albums!  As it turns out I had enough to make a layout and a card and it was SO MUCH fun!  :)

To start with I had the following supplies to work with:
(2) 6x6 double sided papers from My Mind's Eye's Miss Caroline collection
(3) 3x6 double sided papers from My Mind's Eye's Miss Caroline collection
(1) Sizzix Tim Holtz Rosette Diecut
(1) unfinished title "adore" from American Crafts new DIY Thickers
(1) piece of My Mind's Eye baker's twine
(4) Misc. Buttons

And here is the layout I came up with...

(I ended up altering my DIY Thickers with a yellow Copic Marker)

And this is a birthday card I made my Great Grandma with the leftover scraps...


Additional Supplies Used:
Kraft cardstock- Bazzill
Aqua Cardstock- DCWAV
Border Dies- Sizzix

Flourish Diecut- Silhouette
Oval Dies- Spellbinders
Butterfly Punches- Martha Stewart
Stamps- Technique Tuesday (you), Papertrey Ink Beautiful Butterflies (Birthday Sentiment)
Rhinestones- Heidi Swapp

Pearls- Queen and Company
Flower- Prima
Font- Scriptina (We)
Versafine Onyx Black ink
Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink
Copic Sketch Markers (to alter alphas)


Thanks so much for stopping by!  :)

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Echo Park "Take Note" Projects

Hi there!

I thought I would pop in today to share some projects I did using one of Echo Park's newest lines "Take Note" designed by Lori Whitlock that we did for the Craft Warehouse design team this month.

For my first project we had the choice of decorating a journal or a little box so I chose the journal. 


















I created my chevron pattern by cutting each of the patterned papers into 5/8" strips and then adhering them to a piece of 8-1/2" x 8-1/2" printer paper on the diagonal. I did two pieces--one with the stripes facing one way and a second with the stripes facing the opposite way. After they were all adhered, I cut my finished sheets into 1-1/2" strips and set to work finding the strips that best related to each other. I think in a couple of the instances I had to cheat towards the end and cut a couple of my chevron stripe sections out of the remaining leftover pieces, looking for pieces that didn't have snips out of the peaks of the V's.

We were also challenged to create a layout using the viewmaster patterned paper as a focal point, as well as using the number stencil and vinyl rub-on in some way.











For my stencil I had the idea that I wanted to try some old fashioned dry embossing with it, but as I pulled out my lightbox, I quickly realized the clear stencil could not be seen through the dark patterned paper.  At this point I tried using my die cutting machine to see if I could emboss it quickly this way, but I discovered as I originally suspected that the stencil (which is designed mostly for spritzing and masking) was too thin for this application.  Finally, I remembered something I had done in the early days before home die cutting machines even existed--I colored in my stencil with a black sharpie and it worked like a charm.  This made it dark enough to see through when using the lightbox and I was able to set to work with my stylist.  Afterwards I swiped it with an ink pad to make the embossing pop.  :)
I lucked out and my vinyl clock just happened to fit into my title right where there was a red polka-dot in the patterned paper below. Tried to tie in the number 5 in the patterned paper to my journaling. Love when it all works out. ;)
For my second layout, I used the spellbinder Pennants die to create the banner.  It was a little too big to fit the number of banners I wanted going across so I made them smaller by cutting off the tops.
















I was able to cut out the tickets and postage stamp from two different patterned papers in the set. I then took small 1/8" and 1/4" hole punches to give them a more realistic look...








Well that wraps up my assignments for this month.  Make sure to head over to the Craft Warehouse gallery here to see all the other gorgeous creations my fellow designers created this month (you can see their individual galleries by clicking on their names) or hop over at the Craft Warehouse blog here for a peek at other inspiring projects going on.

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Supplies Used:
Echo Park's "Take Note" Papers and Cardstock Stickers
Studio Calico Wood Veneer Embellishments
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
American Crafts Thickers
American Crafts Ribbon
American Crafts Ivory Twine
American Crafts Silver Glitter Brads
Queen & Co. Red Dot Washi Tape
Queen & Co. Red Rhinestone
Spellbinders Pennant Dies
EK Success 3/4" Circle Punch
Colorbox Chalk Inks
Black Pen

Monday, May 7, 2012

Got Sketch? 5-year Anniversary Sketch Challenge

I am a sketch girl to the core.  I love them and Valerie Salmon's sketches are always so inspiring so I decided to play along with her 5-year annivesary sketch contest.  This one has a bit of a twist which is fun.  In honor of the 5th anniversary, the challenge was to use 5 photos, 5 different patterned papers and 5 embellishments using this sketch...


Please excuse my poor photos.  I don't know if it was the kraft paper or what, but my camera was having the hardest time capturing a clear image that wasn't too grainy for these. 


I had so much fun with this sketch and cutting and layering those circles out of the different sweet patterned papers from this beautiful Girls Paperie line. 

For my five accent/embellishment requirement I used a Papertrey Ink Label from their Happy Day Stamp and die set, 2 buttons, pearls, ribbon, bitty flowers, a Spellbinders Pennants and a butterfly die (Papertrey Ink) and a butterfly punch (by Martha Stewart).


Once in a blue moon (for me) a layout just falls together so quickly and this sketch deserves all the credit!  Thanks Valerie for letting me play along and for inspiring the layout!  :)

Make sure to hop over and see more GORGEOUS takes on this sketch over at Valerie's Got Sketch? blog here.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  :)