Sunday, May 1, 2011

Beau’s Baptism Card

 

My niece was  baptized today!  She wore the christening gown that my 86 year old Memaw handmade for me 42 years ago. I have a house full of boys. Maybe one day I’ll have granddaughters who will wear it. It was definately made with love.

Sweet girl…she smiled the whole time.

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Of course the gift I am in the process of making for her isn’t ready (I am famous for this!), so I made her a card for the occasion…

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I made my own iris folding template! I am so proud! I drew the christening gown outline and with the help of the instructions on the Simplicity of Iris Folding site,  I made my template. IMG_1142 IMG_1144

Big feat for me…cutting out the design with a craft knife!

I used the metallic opal vellum paper from the  Club Scrap Vogue kit and the blue cardstock is from the Lotus Pond kit. I made the quilled roses…it’s been a long time since I have done it! I used pearl metallic fabric paint for the faux pearls.

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I uh, forgot to ink the edges…I masked it with my cut out. It worked. It would have looked better if I had done it before I finished though!

I have designed a quillling piece that I am making for her gift. Maybe I’ll have it finished before HER children are baptized!

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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Digital Scrapping….begin at the beginning

“Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” ---Alice in Wonderland

I appreciated digital scrapping and have attempted some simple layouts, but my PSE software is Greek to me. I watched a few tutorials  and learned enough to make a few pages, but I am the person who likes to read the instructions from front to back. When I start in the middle I feel scattered and disorganized. I found the beginning when I found the video tutorials on the Scrapper's Guide website ! It is basically PSE digital scrapping for dummies. I NEEDED to know what all the tricks and techniques were, I am not a drag and drop digital  scrapper. I love scrapping with paper, but learning how to do all the digital tricks has opened a whole new creative window for me!   There is a charge for the classes, but you get a discount if you join as a Premier member. I just paid for the classes. I am a huge fan of Club Scrap and have enough digital kits to keep me busy for a long time, though the digital scrapbook kits offered on the Scrapper’s Guide site are fabu! The classes can be accessed repeatedly or downloaded and there is also a PDF file for each.  This is a huge plus for me, I gotta SEE it. It is so nice to have the instructions printed out to follow along while you’re working. Club Scrap has some fantastic digital tutorials on their site, but you really need a working knowledge of PSE to attempt the projects. I can’t wait to apply all my new knowledge so that I can tackle those advanced projects!

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Monday, February 14, 2011

I "ink" I love you Club Scrap!

Welcome to the "spread the love" blog hop!  We are spreading the love of Club Scrap!  The challenge was to post a project, tutorial, or layout focused around Club Scrap products. The materials I am going to be using are from the Love Inkcorporated Special Release Valentine Collection from Club Scrap.  

A few years ago, I was tooling around looking for new art techniques to try and found an elementary school art teacher's lesson plans. She had posted pictures of before and after and the results were dramatic! I had to try it...I sketched out this picture of parrots and followed her instructions and voila!



Since I wanted to use this technique for the challenge, Club Scrap carries Faber-Castell watercolor gelatos (kinda like watercolor crayons, but smoother and comes in a really cool lipstick like container!). That is what I'll be using instead of tempera paint from the lesson plans link above. 

Materials List:
3*4" piece of CS (Club Scrap) cardstock from the Memoirs kit
Watercolor gelatos
UM (Unmounted Stamps) Love Inkcorporated stamps
CS sandstone ink (very light)
Speedball waterproof India ink
Foam brush
Krylon gold leafing pen
4.25*11" piece of black cardstock scored in half horizontally to make a 4.25*5.5" card
3.25*4.25 " piece of red cardstock to matte
4*5.25" piece of red cardstock for the card liner
Tim Holtz grunge board die cuts
Tim Holtz Distress ink in Vintage Photo
Tim Holtz Crackle paint in tarnished brass
Adirondack paint dauber in gold


I stamped the UM heart with the keyhole onto the white cardstock.

Color in with the gelatos, but leave space between the colors.
This is what it should like. See all the white space?

Using a waterbrush or paintbrush with water, blend the gelatos...leave the white space! 
Dry with a heat tool, or let it air dry before this step.  Get a foam brush and the India ink...
Brush the entire piece, yes completely cover, with India ink!
Let this dry for about 30 minutes.  Rinse under cool water and gently rub with your fingers to remove the ink.  Don't "scrub" it, be gentle.  It's like magic, your picture appears with detail!
It is going to be sopping wet, so don't let it lie flat.  Shake off the excess and let it dry on an incline or dry it with a heat tool. 

I cut out the heart with a craft knife and painted my die cut grunge pieces. 


I distressed the edges of the cardstock with a Tonic distressing tool from CS. I inked the edges with the distress ink and layered all my pieces. I popped the heart up with black Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares from CS. I glitzed it up and rubbed the edges of the cardstock with the leafing pen. I stamped "True Love" UM greeting with the gold dauber...






Check out the other CS artists!

Blog Hop Order...

Cape Cod Scrapper
Creating with Connie
Crzymom's Tidbits
Juju's Folly
Lift Bridge Cards and Crafts
Making Impressions
My Artistic Escape
Orezonia
Pages of Pictures
Scrap Happy Sisters, Ink.
SquirrelyArt
Where the "ArT" is... --ME! You are here!

Also linked to
Click here for the link party!
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Monday, February 7, 2011

Sisters....

This is my favorite.  Club Scrap Generations digital kit.


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Experimenting...

I've been experimenting a little with digital scrapbooking.  I was afraid of it at first because Photoshop Elements was daunting!  Club Scrap has some fantastic digital kits and tutorials for beginners thru advanced, and I also found some more today from DCWV/dpi.com . I initially ordered my first digital kit so that I could duplicate scrapbook pages for my sisters and my best and oldest friend who treated me to a Las Vegas trip for my 40th birthday.  (I still haven't scrapped them and I will be 42 in March....shame on me!) For my first layout, I used one of the templates in a kit I ordered a few years ago called Generations from Club Scrap.  My sister just had her second baby January 14, 2011 and my parents and I were waiting patiently for her to arrive...



I added the tag, the text, and the brad....yah me!!!  All this after I watched all of the video tutorials.....thanks Jac!
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Sunday, February 6, 2011

Just playin'...art journal entry

I bought some Faber-Castell watercolor gelatos from Club Scrap to stamp with.  I really like them better that watercolor crayons.  They are smooth....I also bought some oil pastels after I saw a video using them to color in a stamped image.  I really like that look.  I made some samples that I added to my art journal....I feel some fun projects coming on.






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Saturday, February 5, 2011

Valentine's Day gift bags!

I had so much fun making up these Valentine's Day gift bags for my nieces and nephews.  They are all still little...I made the heart shaped bags and the popcorn box with my Cricut and the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge.  The papers are from K & Company.  I couldn't resist buying Lip Smackers for the girls! I used to love that stuff when I was a kid.  My sister and sister-in-law wanted some too when I called to ask about flavors! Aaaaaahhhhh memories....




Spider Man is hiding in the "grass"!


 I saw these really cool Martha Stewart fringing scissors today and of course I had to get them.  You can never have too many scrapbooking supplies...right???  My new fun gadget! I'll have to invent things to use them for!
 

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My Smash journal....

After I saw the EK Success video for the new Smash Journals I was inspired! I have a bunch of old notebooks that I needed to put to use, so I made my own....




I love this Graphic 45 paper...


Now, to make myself write in it regularly!  I am so bad about that! I like the idea of just jotting things down, maybe attaching a card that I received from an old friend, notes about things that my kids said or did,  maybe add a photo, newspaper clipping, instead of a full scrapbook page that I may not get to for years...I read somewhere that in my lifetime I will never have time to scrapbook the pictures that I already have, let alone ones that I haven't taken yet.  Journaling like this will make me feel like I am doing something and leaving little pieces of me...
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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Kiss Me!

Kiss ME!

I love how this turned out!  I am a fan of Valita at http://valitasfreshfolds.blogspot.com/ . This is an iris folding pattern project she showcased on her blog for Valentine’s day. I downloaded the pattern and used Club Scrap inks and papers (except for the gold glitter paper!).  This was my first attempt to cut an image out with a craft knife.  Not as hard as I was making it out to be. I also used my Cricut and Nestabilites.  I am gonna have to mass produce these for Valentine’s Day! 

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Friday, October 8, 2010

Trick or Treat!!!

I made these treats for the Fall Festival at my son’s elementary school.  Yum!  Graveyard cake (had to throw some Cricut in there!  Happy Hauntings font), and Mini Monsters cookies!  I used my Gypsy for the designs, love that thing.  I broke down and bought one and soooo glad I did.  It makes using the Cricut so much easier.  Now, to tackle the Happy Hauntings 3D Haunted House! 

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I think you are Super Girl!

I broke down and bought a Gypsy.  I have been obsessed with my Cricut and this was the icing on the cake! Love it!  I made this card for my cousin’s 15th birthday.  She is the coolest kid!  Bouncy, happy, and a little goofy….just like me!  I designed this card for her using the Gypsy and used CS cardstock, Expressions, Gratitude, Cyprus, and used Paper Doll Dress Up and Billionaire Cricut cartridges.  I used the Gypsy to weld the font together.  My first try at “ribbon ruffles”, so cute!  Happy 15th Birthday Morgan!

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Monday, August 23, 2010

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!

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(Just Because Cricut Cartridge, CS cardstock --Natural Resources, Memoirs)

August 22, 1968 Martha and Steve eloped at 18!

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Forty-two years, 5 children, and 7+ grandchildren later….

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad 2006

WE LOVE YOU!!!

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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Hooray for School!

  I made these cards for my nieces and nephew to celebrate the new school year.  Everyone loves to get mail, especially when you are a kid! I personalized each card so that they would feel special. I used the Stretch Your Imagination Cricut cartridge for the school bus, Wild Card for the phrase, and Everyday Paper Dolls for the figures.  So cute!  The school bus and paper dolls are cut at 3”, the phrase is cut at 5”, the road border is cut at 2 1/2.  I used Club Scrap cardstock and POPS.  Stickles for bling!

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I LOVE MY CRICUT!

I have been participating in an online challenge hosted by Club Scrap called the PSL or Pro Scrapbookers League™ Camp Yah- Hey-n-So.  This has been such an inspiration to me to complete some cards and to USE MY CRICUT EXPRESSION!  I have watched some fantastic tutorials by My Pink Stamper and Obsessed with Scrapbooking.  These ladies have done a terrific job with their instructional videos!  These are my cards from the last week of PSL Camp….

This card was made with multiple papers from Club Scrap cardstock. Their cardstock is fantastic! Most of the sheets are 80 lb cover weight and cut beautifully with the Cricut.  I used the Just Because Cricut cart and used the Fit to Page (12*12 CS)  feature on the card and applied that measurement to all the die cuts.  I ended up with a pretty large card and used The Enveloper by the Crafter’s Companion to make the envelope, also out of CS card stock.  Easy and the envelope (1/2 US letter paper size)  was perfect! Of course you can make the card smaller with your Cricut.

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I used the Sentimentals cart and Club Scrap cardstock for this one.  Club Scrap has small packages of coordinating paper called POPS (Pound of Paper) that you can add to your monthly kit.  The sizes range from 3*5 to 5*7, perfect for backing photos, journaling, and using with the Cricut;)!  I cut the telephone on a 5*7 piece of cardstock and used the FTP feature.  It cut at 4 1/2”. I “tangled” on it with a gold gel pen.  This fit perfectly on a 6*6 card.  I cut the phrase at 2”.  I used one of the Martha Stewart punches for the border.  

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I love this one! I made it for my sister’s birthday!  I used two cartridges for this one, Forever Young and Storybook.  I had a 5*7 card from one of Club Scrap’s Greetings to Go kits  and had to test my cuts  a few times before I got the size I wanted. Using the Storybook cart I cut the phrase at 4 1/2” and  the frame I used the FTP feature on a 5*7 POP.  I cut the model at 4 1/2” using the Forever Young cart. I embossed the hot pants using my Cuttlebug and rubbed with Club Scrap’s onyx ink pad.  I embellished with gems.  I hadn’t tried the pop dots and bought them on a whim while shopping.  They worked perfect for adhering these gem embellishments!  I’ve tried many different kinds of glue and decided to try Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive after watching Joy on Obsessed with Scrapbooking.  Love this for layering these Cricut die cuts.

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