Design Team Work - December - Project

I decided to do a project that stemmed from all the odd bugs I had outside my house a couple of months ago.  Here is the scrapbook / Crate Paper version of the classic junior high bug collection.

Behold, Cratecious Papericus!

I found a $1 - 3 dollar wood frame at my second favorite local craft store.  This would serve as the basis for my project / butterfly mount.

Using 'Faded Denim' Distress Stain from Ranger I stained the 'white' frame blue to match my paper.  I used just the one coat and heat set it. 

Using Crate Paper Random's 'Denim' page, I cut the background - later sanding the edges.

Next I used 'wallpaper' as a contrasting border between the blue denim outside and yellow inside under the butterfly.  Later I sanded the edges.

For the 'centerfold' I used the flip-side of the 'textile' page.  This page served as a background to set off the butterfly from the 'stand outs' page.

I added some gunmetal stickles to the stick pins in the butterfly's wings as well as the rhinestones in the center of the butterfly's thorax (I knew my college Zoology classes would pay off at some point) and abdomen.

I think if you click the pic, you can see the close up even closer....




I used the flip-side of 'curtains' to serve as the background for the 'phrase stickers' I used as the title.  The alphabet letters I used were from - glitz design - tiny (or teeny) alpha white type. 

Thanks for looking - please stay tuned for next month's entries.

Design Team Work - December - Layout

For this months layout I was given Echo Parks Seasons Greetings paper line.  The challenge was to come up with a winter based themed as opposed to last month's Christmas theme.  Once I got to thinking about it I decided to try to find out if there were things about winter that I didn't know.  Interesting facts so to speak.  Turns out I learned some amazing things about snow flakes, if the internet is 100% believable that is....  Who knew a snow flake could be that big - 15 inches by 8 inches!  I am only 64 inches tall.  That snowflake is giving me a run for my money.  I always thought snowflakes fell softly but at 5ish feet per second I may rethink this theory!

On with the details, for the basic page background I really tried to use more of the paper pages.  I used the flip-side of 'vintage santa' (sort of a taupe with small repeating white flakes) along with the blue strip of white snow flakes from the top of the 'borders' page - cut in half.  I added the strip of red on red snow flakes from the middle of the 'borders' page to the center.  This red on red piece was layered on top of the smaller blue with white flakes pieces (part on the top of the red strip and part on the bottom).  This layered bit was plaeed on top of the taupe with white snow flake piece and brown card stock.  Next I used the 'journaling cards' page to create some journal boxes to write on.  I cut out 'traditions', 'the nice list', and 'making a list' from the journal page itself, then cut the titles off each of the journal sections (I trimmed up the bottoms as well).  The green and blue edged journal pieces were layered on top of the flip-side of 'small poinsettias'.  The red edged journal pieces were layered on top of the flip-side of the 'borders' page. 

I used various snow flake punches from Martha Stewart to punch flakes from the following Echo Park pages, 'swirls' (the flip-side), 'Christmas Ads', and 'Christmas Ads' (the flip-side), 'ornaments', and 'ornaments' (the flip-side).

The black raised block snow flake letters were from American Crafts.  For the snow effect, I used 'snow cap' dabber from Ranger towards the bottom of the letters. 

For the middle snow flake, I hand cut a flake out of regular copy paper.  I used the thirds-fold process found on the internet when you google/yahoo/bing/etc cutting paper snowflakes.  Once I created a flake I was happy with, I used Rangers embossing ink and sprinkled some dark blue, light blue and white embossing powder.  I heat embossed that.  Once it was set, I used embossing ink again, and added some UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) with some of the embossing powders left over.  I heat set that mixture and added one final embossing layer.  Once it was all cool, I cut the snow flake in half with a paper cutter.  I cut a translucent small button in half to use for the center of the snow flake.  I was pretty geeked with how it turned out. 

Lastly I used some Christmas Red (or as the bottle says xmas [so sorry for typing that Mom...] red) Stickles from Ranger on the center of the strip of red snowflakes on the background.  I also used a wee bit of crystal Stickles on the center snowflakes tips. 

Thanks for looking!

Design Team Work - December - Card

For this month's cards I opted to use the Crate Paper Random line I was given. 

Along with some robin's egg card stock, I used 'curtains' (looks like pink wood grain) for the inside of the first card, along with 'wallpaper' (white with pink birds) and some lacy ribbon on front.  I also edged the cards and paper with some distress stains.  As a final touch, I added a 'pretty little things' sticker from Crate Paper Random's sticker page. 

For the second card I also used Crate Paper's Random line.  Along with brown card stock, I used 'textile' for the inside of the card.  On the outside I used 'curtains' but instead of using the pink side, I used the flower side.  I popped the 'stinkin cute' sticker from Crate Paper Random's sticker page with the flip side / pink side of 'curtains' and brown card stock on the front center of the card.  I added a bit of lacy ribbon at the bottom for a final touch. 

Some the same line of paper produced two very different cards!  Pretty handy for one line of paper if you ask me. 

Thank you for looking! 

Design Team Work - November - Project

My Shadow Box!  I am so geeked about how it turned out.  I hope you enjoy it just as much.

The box is an 8x8 shadowbox purchased from Michael's hobby store.  All the products used in this project are from BoBunny's Blitzen line except for the Tim Holtz' Distress Stains - Snow Cap, Aged Mahogany, and Weathered Wood, Ranger Stickles - Christmas red, Flowersoft - Polar White, Ivory, Grey, and Blue, and Martha Stewart snow flake craft punches - arctic snowflake, alpine snowflake, glacial snowflake, nordic snowflake, and icelandic snowflake (large).  The ribbon is dyed white raffia.

Punch as many flakes as you like from various pieces of cardstock or vellum to match the BoBunny 'Blitzen Dot' sheet.

I stuck some glue dots together and dyed the edges using the Weathered Wood Distress Stain from Tim Holtz.  I went around the dot column quite a few times to achieve the desired dye level.  I did this for all the dots - behind the deer and lamp post.  Behind the globe did not need dying as they cannot be seen as easily.

As you can see the 'ribbon' started out as white raffia.  Why buy colored raffia when you can by white and dye it whatever color you want?  I cut a small section of the white raffia and dyed it with the Aged Mahogany Distress Stain from Tim Holtz.  I dried it with a heat tool.  Once it is completely dry I sort of unwrapped the raffia so it appeared more puffy.  if you do this when the raffia is still damp it may tear.

I added my dot columns where I wanted them - after taking the sticky back protective covering off the chipboard lamp and deer.  After the glue dot columns were added I took blue embossing powder and stuck it to the back of the chipboard.  I didn't bother heating it at all.  No embossing in was needed since the backs were already sticky.  You may have to mash it down to the back to ensure it all sticks sufficiently.

Above is a photo of the chipboard 'snow-globe'.  I added Christmas red stickles to the lamp and Snow Cap Distress Stain to the bottom of the snow-globe to reflect snow.  There are also other diamond and icicle stickles throughout the snow globe as well.  I also added Christmas red stickles to the lamp post chip board piece.  The reindeer chipboard piece has snow cap distress stain on it as well.

This is what the back of the shadow box looked like before it was put in the box.  If you use the 8x8 box from Michael's you will have to 'shave' a bit off the lamp because of the extra borders that come factory installed with the shadow box.

This picture is my best attempt at showing you how I did the 'hanging' flakes.  At your local discount store or sporting goods store find the smallest pound test of fish line you can find.  I believe this is 4# but I have since found a 2# which would be more perfect.  After putting on my adhesive (here you see photo squares I was trying to get rid of) I cut a small slit and slide the fish line that I had tied to the flakes into the flakes and stuck it down to the adhesive.

You should stop by The Scrapbooking Studio in Bloomington IL in the Schnucks / Barnes and Noble plaza and see it in person as well as the other November projects my fellow design teammates have done.  They are amazing - cards, trees, mini tags, albums, wall hangings, layouts, etc!  We have a very talented and creative team of designers.

Design Team Work - November - Layout

I was given Basic Grey's Hopscotch line to work with as part of my November Design Team assignment for The Scrapbooking Studio in Bloomington IL.  Initially I was a bit overwhelmed with how I was going to use this paper, normally I would pick a line with more earthy tones and I tend to avoid flowers.  But once I started working with this paper I could not believe how well each sheet worked with the other.  It was absolutely amazing.  Before I knew it I had used ALL the paper I was given!  I knew there was a reason I love Basic Grey.  The lessons learned here were I need to jump outside my comfort zone and never be afraid to go vivid as they help 'pop' your page and are very quick and easy to use.  

The 12x12 background I used was a pink cardstock I obtained as a freebie for attending CHA in St. Louis years ago.  I believe it is by Wassau but could be wrong.  The Basic Grey background I used is the back side of the 'Penny Candy' sheet.  My loving husband was kind enough to allow me to use one of his 'funny face' pictures on this layout.  To set it off I used the back side of the 'Kissing Tag' sheet.  I believe the picture was cut to 4x4 and most mats I tend to keep to an eighth inch larger.  I fussy cut love you and ador u out of the 'Four Square' sheet.  The hearts and flowers by those words are stickers from the Hopscotch collection.  The butterfly, the butterfly swirl, the you and me banner under the photo, the pink swirls at the bottom, and the three word tags: you & me, in my heart, forever are all chipboard accents from the Hopscotch collection.  The three word tags are 'popped'.  The butterfly banner in the not-so-center is a sticker border from the Hopscotch collection. 

The 12x12 background I used was a pink cardstock I obtained as a freebie for attending CHA in St. Louis years ago.  I believe it is by Wassau but could be wrong.  The Basic Grey backgrounds I used were part of the 'Four Square' sheet for the top and 'Kissing Tag' on the bottom.  The pink connected circle border in the middle is from the Hopscotch sticker sheet.  I added a journal section to the top from the Hopscotch sticker page.  To set it off I added additional flower stickers and chipboard pieces.  To the right of the top, I added the 'I think you're amazing' chipboard piece with an added flower bit.  On the bottom I have a picture from the night I became engaged matted on the back of Basic Grey's 'Kissing Tag' sheet.  I added lots of flower stickers and chipboard accents, some stacked, to the photo.  There are heart stickers and chipboard pieces on the background paper to the right of the photo as well.

Slainte!

Disturbing things you find...

So, spiders don't bother me since, by technicality, we are 'on the same side' with the fact that they eat the bugs that normally give me the heebies.  This one decided to make itself the 'gate keeper' to our house.  IT WAS RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR KNOB!  Needless to say our visitors don't share my same sentiment in spiders so we had to evict her to another spot. It is a marbled orb spider and it does appear that big in person.  Normally they are a dull brown color and create these massive webs which if you can get to stick to black card stock make awesome backgrounds. 

This next 'thing' I found VERY disturbing - "Where is that darn 'gate keeper'?"  This thing was beyond huge.  It appears to have wings which makes it even worse.  Let me tell you that I am no longer a big fan of 'yard-ening'.  I would have passed out cold had this thing landed on me.  I am not really sure what it is but I hope it is a singleton. 

Believe it or not I greatly enjoy camping and hiking and such but draw the line at bugs.  Especially when they appear to be created by Frankenstein himself. 

For those of you that do not like spiders, the gatekeeper succumbed to the season.  As far as the bug monster, I have no idea what happened to it; I am hoping it met with the same fate as the spider. 

Design Team work - November - Card

This card was made using BoBunny's Blitzen collection paper and chipboard accoutrements.  It is your standard 4.25 (8.5) x 5.5 card. 

The front (red paper) background was made using the backside of the 'Blitzen' paper.  The quad (darker word) segments were made using the 'Blitzen Sentiment' paper.  The (green) highlights you see behind the quads are from the backside of the 'Blitzen Sentiment' paper.  The ornaments are from the chipboard extras in the Blitzen collection secured with a red glittered brad I found in my brad stash. 

The inside of the card is using snowflake chipboard pieces from the Blitzen collection along with a felt 'Joy' I found in a miscellaneous jar at my local scrapbooking store. 

Slainte!

Card for a friend

A coworker's son made it to the collegiate level playoffs with his soccer team.  In honor of the occasion, she asked if I could make him an inspirational card.  So here it is...

The front of the card was a harlequin background stamped with embossing ink and clear embossing powder.   Various diamonds were hand cut with a scalpel.

 The top half of the inside consists of a handmade banner using Tim Holtz' glassine paper.  I used a distress ink on them to darken the original color of the glassine paper.  I also stamped the individual letters on each pennant and used distress embossing powder as a finish.  I felt it made the pennant appear very vintage.  You can see a close-up in the next picture. 

The bottom half of the inside consists of some stamped messages (main message constructed from alphabet stamps, message at bottom is from a set via The Greeting Farm).  I incorporated his number using a 'bingo chip' I found at my local scrap booking store - The Scrapbooking Studio.  I did add a bit of color to the inside so the blonde wood didn't stand out as much.  You can see a close-up in the last picture. 

 

In case you are curious they were bumped in the first round of the playoffs.  It was a tough loss for the team as they had played very hard all year.  If you view the loss by the humility you gain you realize you came out the winner in the long run!  

Slainte!

One of my favorite holidays....

Do I send out Christmas cards, not normally.  Do I send out St. Patrick's Day cards - almost every year to everyone I know.  Those who aren't lucky enough to be Irish can get a card from someone who is I figure.  In case you are wondering my other favorite holiday is Halloween.  This card utilized multiple stamps - even a wheel type and some copics. 

Christmas tag project

The bottom photo was just to illustrate good old fashioned 3D effects.  Christmas tags are nice to do.  I also did my own wrapping paper this year - customized for each recipient of course.  I colored these tags with copics.  There was plenty of glimmer mists used as well.  The snowflake punch can serve as a mask (use the negative from the punch).  Which can be just as nice a touch as the snowflake punch out itself. 

Take time to enjoy the journey of life.

Outside...

Inside...
I did this card and another for a friend and lucky for me they liked the other one better.  I was way geeked about how this card turned out.  The black 'paper' on front is not paper.  It is sizing!  I had to use some pretty serious pigment ink to get the ink to pop but I like I said I like the result.  I stamped the same image in black on the white card stock for an added contrast.  The inside left was embossed with a folder.  I used some of Tim Holtz's accoutrements on the front and inside left. 

So a project....

You get a shot of its backside first b/c I think that is its best side!  Maybe it just isn't a photogenic project? This is using some batting (think snow please) and Echo Park Paper's Holly Jolly Christmas line. 

Do you tattoo?

My favorite tattoo - one you can change. 

'roo album title page

Bonnaroo is a 4 day music and art festival.  Somewhere around 80K people attend or as I like to say me and 79999 of my very closest, new friends.  As they say, let the good times roll! 

First entry must be...

The cutest faces in the world (even if they are fuzzy)!