Pastels for 2nd Reader's Choice Color Challenge

There are a lot of colors in this week's color challenge on Kristina Werner's blog (http://www.kwernerdesign.com/ ) but they flow together really well so I tried an experiement.  I'd been wanting to see how it would look to make my own background using the Pretty Petals stamp set.  Normally this set is stamped and colored with markers or crayons.  How would it look to emboss and then go over the entire thing with pastels?  I did two samples.  I think the one below is the prettiest version; however, the one above made the most balanced card.  Actually I still haven't quite figured out what to do with the one below. 

Project Notes:

• Using three of the stamps, I inked in Versamark and stamped on Whisper White cardstock.  Then embossed with white embossing powder.
• The color was added with Stampin' Pastels.  I find that I often have to use a darker shade of the pastels to get the color I really want.
• The greeting is stamped on vellum and stitched in place.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Pretty Petals; Sweet Little Sentiments for greeting both by Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Versamark; Wisteria fluid chalk ink for greeting
Ribbon:  Crushed curry by SU!
Button:  Paper Studio

Fun Fungi

One of the joys of scrapbooking is that it gets you in the habit of carrying your camera more.  We've hiked at Riverbend park many times now yet partially out of habit I grabbed my camera as we went out the door this morning.  And when we came across this colorful mushroom, Lenny said, "That would make a good picture; you don't see an orange toadstool everyday." 

Now he would have never suggested that a few years ago.  He's getting into the photography act, too.  When we came accross a fallen log covered with these shell shaped fungi, he suggested angles for my photo.

In the end, I preferred this close-up.  They look like seashells in the forest.

Happy holiday weekend!

Crafting Withdrawal

With so much work to do (yeah - really, I'm glad business has picked up), I haven't had much crafting time this week.  Did a little watercolor yesterday but I haven't assembled any of the cards. 

What I'm anxious to do are three challenges:

Splitcoaststampers weekly color challenge sounds yummy- Real Red, Bermuda Bay and Kraft.  I bet these are gorgeous together.

Also at Splitcoast is the Thursday Ways to Use It - using Paint.  That I have and I think it would be cool on some chipboard letters on a Father's Day card maybe in the challenge colors.

Finally, Kristina Werner put up the latest color challenge using some pretty brights and pastels at http://www.kwernerdesign.com/ 

So when I get my work done, I'll have lots of fun things to work on this weekend.  And we want to get in a hike.  The weather has been so gorgeous the last couple of days.  How about you?  Do you have plans for the holiday weekend?

Party!

Last summer we had a big birthday celebration at our house.  My husband always told me he wanted a party for the occasion.  His daughters flew in and we filled the backyard with friends, food, music and my Mother's pretty flower arrangements.  The highlight was probably Lenny demonstrating the Dance Dance Revolution to his friends though I certainly hadn't planned for everyone to troop to the basement to see that!  It was an area I'd made no attempt to clean.  Oh well, everyone who knows me knows that creativity is far more important than cleaning to me.

This two page layout is the main part of the party.  There will be a couple of other pages from that weekend coming along. 

Project Notes:

• I have so much trouble doing 'guy' pages.  And an even bigger challenge doing anything with Lenny's favorite hobby - Pinball.  I did add a bunch of silver brads - sort of like pinballs - for embellishments.
• Most of the journaling is in this pocket behind a photo collage of guests. 

• Typtically I print my journaling right on the larger paper with the large format printer but this layout had so many photos I would have never gotten the placement right.  So the journaling wouldn't stick out too much, I used cardstock that matched the Basic Grey designer paper and distressed it with some tone-on-tone inks after printing out the text.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ingredients:  DSP:  Marakesh by Basic Grey
Ink:  Baja Breeze by SU!; Vintage Photo by Ranger
Grommet:  Pewter by SU!
Cardstock:  Aqua Mist by PTI!; Dusty Durango and Pacific Point by SU!

TIPsy Tuesday - Stamps for hand sewing guide

And speaking of stitching...

A few months ago, I dug my boxes of embroidery thread out of the attic.  Embroidery and counted cross stitch bother my hands like most hand sewing does - one of the main reasons I really started doing more papercrafts.  Anyway, I knew I had quite a collection and could use the thread to tie off ribbons or for other embellishments on my cards and pages.

First I reorganized all the colors.  I'd had them stored by color number which was important when following a cross stitch pattern.  Now I just need to see all the greens together, reds together and so on.  Here is one of the two boxes:

While I don't want to do a lot of hand sewing, a little doesn't bother me too much and it is nice to add to a page or card.  For this card, I first stamped the image and then used it as a sewing guide:

1)  Stamp the image.

2) Using a paper piecer or dressmakers awl, punch holes for sewing.

3) Stitch through the holes.  You can do a single pass or double as I've done here, depending on the desired look.

I finished up the card by coloring in a couple of the flower petals with markers and adding buttons.

Do you have embroidery thread stuffed in a closet somewhere?  Put it to work on your cards!

And if you are really into sewing.  See my post over the weekend with a quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  There is a link there to take you to hundreds of interesting quilts --> Star Quilt for Festival

Thanks for stopping by today!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Flowers by Autumn Leaves
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Soft Subtles markers by SU!
DSP:  365 Degree paper pack from Pink Paislee
Embroidery floss:  DMC

Faux Applique

Just got in these cut fruit stamps from October Afternoon.  Every since I got the Farm Fresh paper from OA, last fall, I've wanted some fruit stamps to go with it.  Actually the stamps are from the Cherry Hill collection but all the October Afternoon stuff really coordinates well.

I wanted to stamp my images and make them part of a paper quilt.  Immediately I thought of appliqued images so I just drew in my applique look with a pen.  I circled each item with the pen and then made little tick marks like it looks when you hand sew applique.  This conjured up a fond memory of my grandmother showing me how to do applique when I was a young girl and we had to make a block for a school or church event.  Actually, I think it was actually an apple since we are the "apple county" of our state. 

The rest of the stitching is done on the machine.  There are a set of stitching stamps I want to buy but they are continually out of stock. For now, I guess I'll continue with the real thing.  So this was a pretty time consuming card but it was fun.

I've set one of these aside for my uncle.  Odd choice maybe for a man but he is the one who does all the fruit picking now on my aunt's farm and Lenny just bought some cherries from him.  I think he will like it.

(The first version of the cherry one, I did applique around the centers too.  They looked like eyes starring back at me!  Oh well, better just around the edges.)

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Cherry Hill from October Afternoon
DSP:  Farm Fresh
Cardstock:  So Saffron
Ink:  Riding Hood Red, Old Olive - stamped off, Close to Cocoa marker, Zig pen for "applique"

Blogger's Spring '10 Quilt Festival

Thanks for stopping by.  If you usually visit for papercrafts, today I'm participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival on-line.  There are hundreds of quilts to see.  Go to Amy's website ( Blogger's Spring Quilt Festival) to get started on the blog hop. 

If you are here as a stop on the festival. This is the quilt I chose...

I made this wall quilt, Twilight, in 2003 for my stepdaughter.  She had just decorated her first home with stars as a theme for accessories.  I had just discovered watercolor quilting and the Quiltsmart gridded fusible interfacing (http://www.quiltsmart.com/) that makes sewing all those little 2" squares together a fun rather than a hair pulling experience.  Of course, I couldn't just do another wall hanging with only 2" squares.  Oh, no, I had to make it complicated and work all these stars into the mix.  This spray was easy...

This larger one was a little more challenging to piece and fit into the grid....

Most of the quilting was done with metallic thread - another first for me.  All the work is done on the machine.  I long ago had to give up hand quilting as it is just too hard on my hands.  There is no particular pattern to the stars. When I look up at the night sky, I just see twinkling little lights; I've never been able to figure out constellations. 

Jaime loved the quilt.  She is in a different home now with her husband and the star theme has dissipated.  So the quilt hangs over her stepdaughter's bed.

Thanks for visiting!  Mostly I post my cards and scrapbook pages with the occasional quilt project.  Also, I make window treatments for a living so those sometimes make it to a blog post, too.  I dropped my business website last year and keep planning to add some pages to my blog to showcase window treatments.  Projects, projects!  So many thought up and so many left to do...

Break for State Parks

Wow!  Where has this week gone?  Unfortunately, I lost most of Monday because of a minor workplace accident.  Note to self:  Don't store an unused iron on a high shelf.  I have a purple finger nail and a heavy bruise on one arm.  At least my finger quit hurting by Tuesday so I could get some work done.  I couldn't even type anything with an "s", "w" or "x" on Monday.  So crafting time has been sparse until today.  I've got some time set aside while I await materials for future window treatment jobs. 

I did finish this layout late yesterday.  It is the other two-pager from Florida.

Project Notes:

• The strip of rose designer paper on both pages and a little stamping of fern leaves help unify the spread of two different state parks.
• I relied a lot on the die cuts that came with this paper pack to move this layout along.
• The red print showed through the vellum I'd used for journaling so I just added another layer of vellum rather than reprint the text.

When we are going to be traveling by car through a state, I usually look up the state's park system on-line before we leave and have an idea of places we might stop for a break.  This has proven to be a great way to see the scenery and unwind while traveling.  I've definitely become less and less of  a road trip kind of traveler.   One of the parks shown here was just south of St. Augustine and took up some of our time on the way to the space center.  The other was Ravine Gardens where the azaleas were in bloom.  I don't think we spent more than an hour at either but still the hour was very refreshing.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Summer Leaves by Stampendous
Ink:  Mellow Moss by Stampin' Up!; Vintage Photo by Ranger for distressing
DSP: Mia by Crate Paper; a little Pink Paislee for the journaling
Ribbon by Basic Grey
Font:  Papyrus

Reader's Choice Color Inspiration 1

Just sneaking this one in under the wire for the color inspiration challenge at Kristina Werner's blog.  The colors include two of my all time favorites:  Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss.  So wish they were bringing the latter back.  However, I did see that Papertrey Ink has released a new color that looks similar.

Project Notes:

• The flowers are masked and the color filled in with watercolor crayons and a blender pen.
• I folded and stapled the ribbon randomly starting from the inside and working toward the card's fold.  The Crop-a-dile helped punch the hole for the brad.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Sentiments by Cloud Nine; Flowers from Autumn Leaves

Ink:  Kiwi Kiss, Basic Gray by SU!; the pink is fluid chalk but I can't remember the color :-(

DSP:  Urban Garden from SU!

Ribbon:  Baja from SU!

Brad from SU!

Buttons from Paper Studio

St. Augustine Pages

There comes a point in scrapbooking each year when it suddenly dawns on me, I don't have that much left.  This is one of the marevlous moments of scrapbooking!  If I just did this section and another page in that section, a title page and something to end the book with, it will be done!  That's where I am with 2009.  I've been doing pages here and there along with 2010 Project 365; I'd just lost track.

This layout is part of our trip to Florida in the winter of 2009.  One more double page of this trip and I can move along to the other large event of the year - a big birthday for my hubby.  All of the smaller events and everyday stuff is complete.  I could conceivably have this ready for our anniversary next month.  Yippee!  I love the process of making albums yet there always comes a point, not only that I realize it can get done, but I want to get done.  There are always more albums to make...

Project Notes: 

• The photo collages were done in Photoshop Elements and printed on 2 8 1/2 x 11 sheets.
• This left only the titles, a little journaling and a couple of borders.  Since the subject matter for the photos was very busy I kept the embellishment to a minimum.  The "&" is cut from vellum.
• ART is cut out of Basic Grey DSP and then cut again with the Shadow option from Really Rust cardstock

The subject matters of most of these photos is the Victorian art and collectibles at the Lightener Museum in St. Augustine.  Housed in a former 19th century luxury hotel, the architecture is almost as interesting as extensive of collection Mr. Lightener acquired for pennies on the dollar during the depression.  It's definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

Ingredients:  DSP and stickers:  Background by My Mind's Eye; Maraccesh by Basic Grey; 365 Degrees from Pink Paislee for the journaling
Fonts:  Lucida Calligraphy, Bremen BD BT

TIPsy Tuesday - Postage Slot

Mailing our beautiful creations can sometimes be a challenge.  I'm certainly no expert on postage.  One thing I do know is that a card that won't fit through a 1/4" mail slot takes extra postage.  So why not make yourself a fake post slot to test out your thicker envelopes before mailing.

I cut this using the Cricut, but you could cut it with a craft knife.  Use a heavy weight paper so the slot doesn't give as you slide a card through it.  My sample is cut out of watercolor paper.  Also I remembered to label this one.  I'd cut one of these before but it got thrown away as a "scrap."  I may ink the edges in some bright color this time :-)

Remember, there are many other criteria for additional postage, such as square envelopes.  When in doubt, add extra postage or take to the post office to be sure your card shares your joy!

This is my version of one of Kristina Werner's cards from her on-line class Virtual Card Club -->  http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=3268  She is focusing this mont on using pattern paper.  The class includes instructions and a materials list.  I learned this technique for stamping on DSP and paper piecing an image.  A neat idea!  I don't have very many outline stamps this could be used for but I'll definitely keep it in mind when selecting stamps in the future. 

The only project note I'll add to what was in her class:  I used Fluid Chalk ink to stamp my image because it dries fast and makes a little thicker line.  The easier to cut by, my dear.

Also on Kristina's blog is a color challenge from the photos submitted last week.  Check it out.  The photo receiving the most votes resulted in some of my favorites - Baja, Kiwi and roses.   The challenge goes thru Wed night.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Cupcakes by Hampton Arts; Itty Bitty Backgrounds by SU
Ink:  Versamark; Chesnut Roan Fluid Chalk
DSP:  Thrift Shop and Fly a Kite by Oct. Afternoon

Bridal Card and tiny gift box

My Mother and I were invited to a shower where the bride lives in the mid-west but the shower and wedding are here.  Mother said she was planning to get a gift card because "they will have to haul all that stuff home."  She had a point. Personally, I prefer to get a specific gift for a wedding rather than a gift card.  The bride has created a registry and I want to get her something she will remember came from us.  So the compromise we reached was to order gifts from her registry and have them shipped to her house.  The groom was really pleased with this idea.

To not go in empty handed, I printed out a note with photos of what we ordered and put them in this little box:

The box is cut with the Cricut.  It is the heart box on the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cut from a 12x12 inch sheet.

More project notes:

• The medallion on the card is stamped once on Very Vanilla in Versamark and then sponged with pastels starting in the center and working out.
• The 2nd medallion image in the corner is stamped in Soft Sky.
• I attached the message to the metal frame with curled up glue dots.
• The card is spritzed with some Tattered Angels Irredescent Gold.  I'm discovering that if you hold the paper up and spritz straight on, it doesn't spot and you get a more even application. 

I did get tickled watching the groom.  He was in charge of opening the gifts and then handing them to the bride.  She was busy talking to her maid of honor about the previous gift while he was turning this little box over in his hands.  He examined it from every angle not sure how to open it.  He handed it off to her and she immediately opened it just right.  There is a lesson there...

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Medallion and Whimsical Words by SU!
Ink:  Versamark, Chesnut Roan Fluid Chalk ink by Colorbox, Stampin' Pasels by SU!
Hodgepodge hardware in Very Vanilla
Ribbon:  Enchanted Cottage in Winston-Salem, NC
DSP:  Marracesh by Basic Grey

Define Your Life Grad Card

My first thought for a graduation card for my cousin was to use her school colors.  But after 4 years of college, won't she be tired of the school colors?  It's time to move forward so I chose the Define Your Life set.  The card also opens a little differently.  It is a subtle stab at thinking out of the box - something all graduates are going to have to do to find jobs!  I'm sad for these young men and women who have worked hard, paid gobs of money (or their parents have) and now face such a tough job market.

Of course what I've always heard is that 'no one can take your eduation away from you' so hopefully soon she will find the teaching job she wants.  Then she can help educate the next generation.

Project Notes:

• The "folder" is cut with the Cricut but you could use a regular manilla folder for a card.  Here's the inside:

• I used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartidge to cut the gift card holder.  Sizing to 8" makes the perfect size. 
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher does the stapling.

Congratulations, Allie!


Ingredients by Stampin' Up!:  Stamps:  Define Your Life
Ink:  Close to Cocoa, Choc Chip, Dusty durango, Soft Suede
DSP:  Notebook
Ribbon:  Baja and Dusty Durango
Button by Paper Studio
Clip by Fancy Pants

CD Envelopes

These will be going in the mail tomorrow.  This is a CD of the photos I took of my stepdaughter's wedding and rehearsal.  I've been cropping and auto fixing photos a few at a time over the last week.  Finally they are ready to go out to her, her mother and her sister.  They certainly aren't professional quality but hopefully but I did catch a few special moments. I printed a photo of the bouquets on the CD label.

The envelopes were cut on the Cricut with a square cut out on one side.  I glued in transparancy film in the cutout.  The back flap is attached with Tombow mono glue that was allowed to dry before adhering the layers down. That makes the Tombow tacky so they can open and close it as often as they like. 

Suddenly I need a bunch of cards - graduation, birthday and weddings are piling up.  Guess it is that time of year!  Better get busy...

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Baroque Motifs by Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant
Font:  Lucida

Masculine Card for Sketch Challenge

Don't we always need guy cards?  This week's color challenge at Splitcoast had a desert option for woodgrain.  I decided not to do the color challenge but still liked the idea of using my Hero Arts Woodgrain block along with some other tree themed stamps.  The colors came from the striped designer paper and the sketch is this week's sketch challenge.

Project Notes: 

• After I cut the woodgrain stamped paper I really wished I had torn the edges.  So I added the torn strip of the inspiring stripe paper.
• I adjusted the layering from the sketch just a little to put the stamped strip on top of the turquoise layer.
• After stamping the Funky Forest wheel, I colored in behind some of the trees with a Barely Banana Marker (I don't have the So Saffron one.)
• A little paper piecing helped balance a slightly top heavy layout.

Thanks for visiting!

Ingredients almost all by Stampin' Up!:  Stamps:  Trendy Trees, Funky Forest Wheel; Woodgrain stamp by Hero Arts
DSP:  Sweet Pea
Cardstock:  Kraft, Close to Cocoa
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal, So Saffron

TIPsy Tuesday - 8" paper for 12" Layouts

Smaller paper pads – 8” x 8” or 6” x 6” are usually touted for card lovers or making mini albums. You can use them on 12 x 12” layouts, too!

I used to only by 12x12 paper but I’ve accumulated some 6x6’s from Stampin’ Up! as hostess options and also bought 8x8’s because 1) they are very economical and 2) often a smaller scale version of the pattern is actually more attractive and useful.

At first, I used mine for cards only, but soon they began to find their way into my preferred size scrapbooking album: 12” x 12”. Here are a few ideas for using these smaller page sizes:

• Create colored strips across your page as in the layout above. The pages in these types of paper pads are already color coordinated for you.

• Die cut your borders in multiple pieces and just glue them together. The “bracket” border above was cut on my Cricut using SCAL software in two pieces and matched up in the center.

• Die cut or punch other designs from the pattern paper. Because smaller paper pads are usually a smaller scale version of the 12x12 paper design, the small print is perfect for a punched flower or die cut letters. “Diet” is cut from some October Afternoon paper here:

• Use bits and pieces in a collage. Here is more of the Daily Grind…

• Color block. The red paper here is from a 6”x6” Stampin’ Up! paper pad.

You could also use some of the subtle patterns for photo mats.  Lots of ways to use a small inexpensive paper pad.

Thanks for stopping by!


Ingredients:  DSP and brads:  Daily Grind by Fancy Pants; Notebook by SU! for background
Ribbon:  Pacific Point, Certainly Celery by Stampin' Up!
Pewter grommet by SU!
Stickers:  Mini Market by October Afternoon
Fonts:  Lucida; Arial

Color Inspiration Submission

Kristina Werner is hosting another Color Inspiration challenge on her blog (http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/).   For this one, you can submit a photo that suggests a color combo.  Then readers will vote on the submissions.  Finally, one will be selected to use as a color challenge.  A neat way to get readers involved!

This is my submission.  The photo was made last summer of gladiolus from our garden.  My husband thoughtfully started planting these for me years ago because they are my favorite flower.  This year we have over 300 bulbs!  We've planted over half and will continue with a few each weekend until early June.  The first ones are already up about 6 inches.  We don't label them since there are so many so it is a surprise to see what colors we get each day from early summer on.  Glads are my favorite because of the gorgeous colors and they make such great cut flowers.

I think the colors that would match this photo are:  Ruby or Riding Hood Red, Apricot Appeal, and Pink Piroette. (I'm going from memory as I don't have an SU chart in front of me.) You could probably throw in one of the hotter pinks to go with the flower in the back or maybe a touch of Old Olive for the stem.

Thanks for stopping by!

Project 365 - Spring means...

Continuing on Project 365 with a few photos in early spring.  Amazing how warm weather changes our activities...

Project Notes:

• 
  
  The photos were collaged in Photoshop Elements.  I created my own brush and used it with the erase tool to round the corners on 4 of the photos so they would match the corner rounding I planned to do on the entire collage after printing. 
• 
  
  I also used PSE to create stems for my flowers by converting one of the built in images to a file for SCAL software.  The flowers and leaves are stamped, colored and hand cut.
• 
  
  The 'curly square' design is just part of the patten paper from Stampin' Up!

My next Project 365 will be a one page collage of the remainder of April.  There wasn't anything really noteworthy until the end of the month and I don't want to get behind on these.  It feels good to be on top of my year's scrapbooking for a change :-)

Ingredients:  Stamps: Petal by Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Black Stazon; various watercolor crayons by SU!
DSP:  Sweet Pea by SU!
Ribbon:  Stamper's Alley in Mooresville, NC
Chipboad:  Oriental Trading
Font:  Script MT Bold for die cut; Pea Jack and Jane
Stickers:  Basic Grey