Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Etched Flowers Take 2


One of the cards that I teach in my Craftsy class (which also appears in the promotional photo) uses the Etched Flower background from My Favorite Things.


For that card I watercolored the flowers, but I wanted to show how the technique could be adapted, so I created this bonus card.  This is essentially the same card, but in a much simpler (and faster) and a bit more striking/elegant, the image was just embossed in gold on black cardstock and then cut out.  Super easy.


I added a gold cardstock mat and a die cut sentiment.  There's also a bit of embossing on the edges of the strip that the sentiment is attached to as a finishing touch.

Happy Wednesday!

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Monday, June 20, 2016

Birthday Catch Up



We're in the birthday party negotiation/planning stage for this year.  The girls birthdays are in August and September, so we have some time, but I generally like to get the girls locked into a theme around now so I have time to plan at a more leisurely pace.

Ellie wants to do something at home that involves mini ice cream sundaes (who wants a mini sundae?  I'm all about maxi sundaes) and Carina stated that she wanted a pig party???!!!

Anyway, I've been trying to get my act together scrapbooking birthdays and finally finished up their Frozen party (from two years ago) over the weekend.

I actually made a lot of layouts for this event, partly because my older sister was in town for the party which meant I got a lot of photos, but it was a big party, the first one at our house and likely the last joint birthday party we'll have.

If you want to read about the party, that post is here, and I did one layout over a year ago here.

I saved one of the signs I made for the party and documented some of the decorations/set up in this one, really simple, just a sheet of patterned paper and some journaling:



A few layouts of the party activities:







 The cake:



And one layout just to kind of tie it together/wrap it up.  I created my own Thickers using my Journaling Alphas dies for Neat & Tangled.





As you can see I tried to keep the layouts pretty simple, nothing too crazy/complicated.  Since there are so many layouts for this even, I needed to balance getting it done with slaving over a layout.  This is also all stuff in the stash.  I mixed 12x12 papers with 6x6 pads (Antler Toss and Birthday Girls layouts) and even used Journaling cards as mats for the Cleaning Up Snow layout.

It feels great to cross off a big event from my list of things to scrapbook, and definitely feels like I'm getting into the groove!  Hoping to get lots more done this summer!

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Blessed Christmas



How about another Christmas card?  I've been making about one a month...at some point I'm going to have to pick up the pace, but it's nice to slip a few in before crunch time.

This one is pretty simple. I stamped the image from my Winter Trees set on some MFT Smooth White cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored the image with Copics.

I wanted to cut out a tag with my Classic Tag die, but not surprisingly (because I have trouble putting things away) I couldn't find it, so, I ended up just rounding the top corners and punching a hole in the top.  I added a bit of twine and then popped the tag up over some patterned paper.   The sentiment is  from the Bright Baubles set.



OK, so my goal for the rest of the year is to make at least one more Christmas card than I did the month before.  That way I should (hopefully) have the majority of my cards done before December.  Let's see how I do....

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Knowing You is a Treat



I haven't played along with one of the MFT challenges since my term expired last year, and I'm WAAAAY overdue.

I pulled out one of my favorite sets, Adorable Elephants, for my focal image.  He is colored with Copics, and popped up on the main panel which was cut with the Double Stitch Square STAX.  The sentiment is from the Top Dog set.

I pulled papers from two of the MFT 6x6 pads and used Lush Lagoon and Persimmon cardstock.



To soften that main panel, I used a sponge dauber and some white pigment ink on the area just behind the elephant.

Hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday!

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Monday, June 13, 2016

Waffle Flower Challenge Guest Designer



Hey everyone!  I'm happy to be guest designing for the Waffle Flower Challenge today.  Here's the inspiration photo/color story we're working with:



I recently received the Lacy Flower Stamp Set and knew I wanted to ink it up.

I was inspired by the delicacy and laciness of the flowers, so I embossed the main image several times on a piece of cardstock and then used a cutting knife to cut out portions of the design.  I trimmed around the edge of the flowers as well to create a unique border.  This piece was adhered to the green cardstock which I embossed the sentiment on.



I included a mat with the yellow and used the blue for the base, but was having a hard time incorporating the pink.  I ended up using one of my Inktense pencils to color in some of the remaining spaces in the flower image, softening the color with water.

That's all for me today.  I hope that you'll play along with the challenge!

Friday, June 10, 2016

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Guest Designer



Hey everyone!  I'm guesting over at the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge this week.  

I was actually quite challenged by the board.  It seemed like in every row there were two spaces where I had a good idea, but then the third item threw me for a loop.

I finally decided to go with the bottom row:  inlaid design, monochromatic, and scalloped border.

I used some scalloped border dies from MFT to create an inlaid piece that was then trimmed it down to create the panel you see.  I then used that gorgeous Branching Out die from PTI as a focal point over the panel.  

To soften the transition between the scalloped panel and the card base, I added a vellum fishtail banner which was turned into a tag.  Some Lawn Trimming twine added extra texture and interest.  



The Branching Out die was attached to the scalloped panel using my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.  I like the movement you get in delicate die cuts when you don't adhere the whole thing.  A little extra stability/adhesion was provided by the foam tape I used to attach the sentiment strip.  The sentiment is from my Dala Horse set for Neat & Tangled.

Please stop by the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge blog to see the whole board as well as inspiration from the Design Team.  Hope you will play along too, there are prizes!  

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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Neat & Tangled meets We R Memory Keepers


All this week we're featuring projects using We R Memory Keepers DIY Party supplies on the Neat & Tangled blog.

I received one of the new Alphabet Boards as well as some of the paper packs that are specifically sized for the Alphabet Boards.  I have a couple of the WRMK boards, and I have to say this is my favorite one.  It's going to get a ton of work at our house, perfect for party banners and school projects.



For the collaboration I wanted to create a layout.  I made the title the star of the show spelling out rainbow with the Alphabet Board.  I used a black marker to define the edges of the letters.  It's hard to tell, but I think it does give it a crisper look.

The photos are placed so that you can see Ellie in the spaces in and between the letters.

For the top row of letters, I didn't adhere them fully.  I added some flaps of white paper so that they flip up, the journaling was then written underneath, and this allows you to see the top two pictures in total.
The first part of the sentiment was created using adhesive foam and my Journaling Alpha dies.

I also created a card, here's a little sneak peek.  Stop by the Neat & Tangled blog to get all the details!



Thanks for visiting!

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