Encre, papier, ciseaux

Aloha From Paradise

Inspiration: Stamping Bella June (Summer Vibes) + October 2019 Card Maps Sketch + Hand Stamped Sentiments #340 

I've received a Stamping Bella order this week, in which I made sure to grab dies for the stamps I have before those are retired (as the company announced they will not be carrying dies anymore). I was inspired to pull out Edna Loves the Ocean and Mintay's Paradise collection for today's card. This Edna images is so cute and sassy, I always love how projects turn out when using her. I stuck with my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils for this one. I'm finally starting to get the hang of them and to like the results I'm achieving more and more. I used Stampin' Up!'s Fluid 100 watercolor paper for this one. It is pretty textured, so I get a different result with it than when I am using my smoother cold-press Fabriano watercolour paper, but in this case, because of the shabby collage look of the patterned papers, the textured watercolor paper seemed like a good fit.

The sketch has a circle underneath the main image, but I decided I use one of the frames from the cut-apart sheets. The ocean background was just perfect, and I found the sentiment "aloha" in a current Stampin' Up! set, which I embossed in Verdigris embossing powder. There's a tab for the sentiment on the sketch, which I transformed into a Beach sign fussy cut from the cut-apart sheets of the collection. I added a small flower from the same sheet and a metal leaf from the Tropical Oasis trinkets sold in Stampin' Up!'s minicatalogue. I added metallic washi tape and thick baker's twine. I used another cut-apart image on a Lagoon Metallic envelope to finish the set.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Tropiques éternelles (Stampin' Up!); Edna Loves the Ocean (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Paradise (Mintay)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, VersaMark
Accessories: Edna Loves the Ocean Die (Stamping Bella); Washi Tape (Unknown);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Thick Baker's Twine, Tropical Oasis Trinkets, Aqua Painter Brush (Stampin' Up!);
Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils (Faber-Castell); A2 Lagoon Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Verdigris Embossing Powder, Waterfall Stickles (Ranger);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Rides

Inspiration: March 2020 Page Maps Sketch + Festive Friday #60 (Bright Colours + Buttons + Vacation Theme)

When my 12 x 12" paper collections are down to scraps, I clip them together and slide them in a plastic pocket labeled scraps and once in a while, I'll get inspired to go digging in there and make something with it. I tend to use scraps for card-making but with all that YouTube watching I've been doing lately, I've found some really interesting scrapbooking videos that sparked new ideas and gave me a new perspective, including on how to work scraps into layouts.

This is the Summer Days collection from Echo Park, purchased many many years ago and used extensively over the years. I've really loved this collection - it feels like everything created with it is cheery and uplifting. I was looking at my printed pictures to see what I had that could possibly fit and I stumbled unto leftover printed pictures from my sister's trip to Disney with her spouse and daughter four years ago. When they came back from vacation, I made a mini-album as a gift for my niece and ended up with a few pictures that I ran out of space for. Two of them are of my sister riding coasters, having a blast. I picked a Page Maps sketch with pieces sized like what I had to work with, and I went to my cardstock inventory to find background pieces. I used purple for the main page and layered textured white over it.I got the idea to add stenciling somewhere on the page so I went digging through my options and once I spotted the Fireworks one, the choice was easy to make. I remembered I had picked up Silver texture paste in Stampin' Up!'s clearance rack, so I used this for the firework. I love the white texture paste I purchased from Stampin' Up! This silver one? Not so much. It is not consistent enough and since it's very runny, it seeped underneath the stencil and the image is not as crisp as could be. Not a huge deal for my page, but I'll have to come up with a game plan before I use it again. Either try mixing it with something else, or use it more as a paint instead of with stencils. 

I then started playing around with the paper scraps until I found a placement that I loved. One of the reason I was more inclined to make a page than a card was because I had a sheet of alphabet, words and 12" borders stickers from the same collection and I knew they'd be put to better use on a page. They're also highly colorful, so the chances of using them paired with other papers were pretty slim. I used the purple border at the bottom, I cut the cloud border apart to use on the side of my title block and over the layered banners and I used the alphabet stickers for the title, the speech bubble and the date. 

I remembered the Coaster Critter stamp set from Lawn Fawn and I pulled it out to stamp and color the little coaster added in the bottom left corner of the page. (So cute!) Even after I had started putting everything together and embellishing, the aqua tag seemed really bare so I went back to my scraps and I decided to fussy cut the bunting images. Because the pattern is a bunch of bunting overlapping, most of them are hard to cut out, but there were a couple of colors that were separated enough from the rest to fussy cut. It made a huge difference once I added them to the tag, breaking off that block of aqua.

Just before I finished, I remembered that I wanted to add a hidden Mickey to my page. I purchased a punch with six sizes of Mickey shapes in one punch last year when my local store got it in stock. We were discussing going to Disney on a family trip at the time and I knew it was one of those purchases that you recoup over time, because you might not use it a ton the month you purchase it, but it's a classic shape that you use again and again over the years for children's cards or scrapbook pages. So I punched a scrap and added my little Mickey head... Well, why don't I let you find it instead of saying where it is! *wink*

I'm surprised at how the finished page looks considering that the paper scraps felt very small when I started out and now it feels like the striped paper and pink papers were pretty big! But like the other projects I had made with this collection before, this just makes me smile.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps and Dies: Coaster Critters (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Purple Plum , Daffodil Delight(Stampin' Up!); Blizzard (Bazzill)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Summer Days (Echo Park)
Accessories: Markers (Copic); Stampin' Dimensionals, Silver Texture Paste (Stampin' Up!);
March and August Crystals (Studio Katia); Disney Mickey Icons Punch (EK Success);
Lemon Sherbet Sequins Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Buttons (Foof-A-La); Fold-Up Tags Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Speech Bubbles Dies (Lawn Fawn); Fireworks Stencil (Echo Park)

 

Sand Everywhere in the Bathing Suit

Inspiration: March 2020 Page Maps Sketch

When the Summer Splash collection from Carta Bella came out a couple of years ago, I thought it would work well to scrapbook my pictures from our trip to Wasaga Beach. Wasaga has beautiful beaches, but the lodging tends to be pretty retro, as renting is seasonal, which is why I associated the style of the collection to this particular trip. I hadn't printed my pictures from the trip yet when I received the line, so I put it aside. Now that I have the pictures in hand, I kept wanting to circle back to that collection and this weekend, when I finally did, I was surprised to find out I didn't have as many items from this collection as I thouht I had purchased: a few sheets, the cardstock stickers and the Ephemera pack, which contains 32 pieces. It came back to me that while I love the idea behind this line, the papers were quite busy (as is often the case with their retro-inspired lines) and so I concentrated on the ones I thought I could more easily use.

I started working on the layout and at first, I was at a loss on which title to use. Inspiration struck when I used leftover chipboard pieces from the Poolside collection from Crate Paper. I spotted the bathing suit and I decided to title my page "Sand everywhere in the Bathing Suit," using the image as my last word. My niece wanted to be buried in the sand, so her father complied, and I think she found it harder to get out of there than she first thought, even though her dad had not compacted the sand that tightly. It's written all over her face in the second picture that she's growing frustrated. The smile is back in the last picture, though.

I used stickers and ephemera pieces to fill the space on the left page. I wanted to add something behind to make the pieces stand out more and as I was going through my drawer of blue scraps. I found some navy mulberry paper. I decided it would add cool texture, so I tore it and added it to the page, then I layered a piece of yellow striped ribbon over the top before adding the embellishments. The "Girls just wanna have sun" piece was a little too bare, so I spruced it up with pompom trim, ribbon, twine, a button and flowers.

On the right page, I used a couple of cut-aparts from the patterned paper to fill in the space. I don't have a ton of beach pictures, so I capitalized on the fact that I was using some and used my favorite beach quotes. As I was assembling my layout, I spotted a sequin shaker pouch I made a few weeks ago. I've recently made and shared a card using this concept and I realized I could work the pouch I had on my desk into the layout. The blues are perfect and the sequins kind of look like bubbles, so they go with my theme. I taped the pouch in place with washi tape to hide the adhesive, and I added a little banner from the cardstock stickers at the top to embellish. I also added a stitching rub-on over the washi to spruce it up a bit.

I finished the layout with more chipboard pieces and enamel dots. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Navy, Yellow (Bazzill)
Specialty Paper: Navy Mulberry Paper (Unknown Source)
Patterned Papers, Cardstock Stickers, Ephemera: Summer Splash (Carta Bella)
Thickers: Bright Lights (American Crafts)
Chipboard: Poolside (Crate Paper)
Accessories: Mini Flowers (Prima); Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals, 
Daffodil Delight Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Tango Tangerine/White Cord Trim,
Melon Mambo Pompom Trim, 1/8" Pineapple Punch Grosgrain Ribbon, Cello Bags, Green Washi Tape,
Button, Felt Flowers (Stampin' Up!); Bright Glitter Sprinkles, Blue Baker's Twine (Doodlebug Design);
Domestic Bliss Enamel Dots (Simple Stories); Yellow Petite Posies (Queen & Co);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Blue Ombre Sequins (Hero Arts)

 

A Steampunk Look

Inspiration: September 2018 Workshop Brochure from KaiserCraft

So last weekend I was cleaning my stamp room and I found an old brochure from KaiserCraft. One of the layouts grabbed my attention and I decided to CASE it. I was looking at portrait pictures and I found two pictures that could work. I ended up initially working on the other one, but I kept thinking about the picture I had set aside and I finally realized that the layout would work wonderfully if paired with some Graphic 45 papers.

Here is the thing about Graphic45 papers: I think their designs are absolutely stunning but I've come to realize with time that I have the hardest time using them because they don't fit with my personal style. Over the years, I have learned to shop smarter as I've gotten to know my style better. I've had this Olde Curiosity Shoppe 8" x 8" paper pad from Graphic45 in my stash for many years (dates back to 2012, as shown on the cover page) and I know I've used it at least once since there are a couple of scraps in there, but that's it. Still, every time I've reorganized my supplies, I've always questioned whether to get rid of it or not, but it always went back to the keep pile because I do love the patterns on it.

I was so happy to pull them out for this page and to discover that they fit with the picture gorgeously. I had also found some scraps from the Bo Bunny A Gift of Love collection, which gave me the chance to add a bit of purple in there to tie in with the hat. I also have a few 12" x 12" sheets from other Graphic45 collection, so I was able to pick one for my background. I was hesitating between the black sheet with hats and umbrellas and the black and vanilla stripes. I almost picked the stripes - until I realized that the picture is me trying on a funky hat, so duh! Black page with hat it was. 

I've been struggling with containing my ever growing stash for the past year and couldn't find a system that worked for me. I finally had a breakthrough at the beginning of the month and I've been putting stuff together according to my new system. It's always great when you do that because it refreshes your memory on what you have! For this reason, I was able to think of the Noteworthy die-cuts from Bo Bunny to do a side panel with journaling and the Graphic45 papers for the layers. I used the Bubble stencil (a favorite) from Tim Holtz to add grungy dots with Red Bronze metallic gilding polish from Cosmic Shimmer, which I applied with my Tonic media spatula (LOVE those!). 

I decided to make my own title letters and two combine two fonts in one word to go with the unconventional theme of the page. I picked Typo Lower for "punk" and Deco for "steam." Both are Bigz XL so I was able to die-cut chipboard. I sponged Seedless Preserves Oxide ink on the first part and Forest Moss on the last part. To add to the shabby feel, I went back to the Red Bronze gilding polish and used a sponge dauber to apply some unevenly to the edges. I love how that turned out. The Bigz dies are not affordable by any means, but they are a great way to create chipboard letters. I really love Thickers, but alphabets made by American companies offer letters based on the English language and the letter distribution is not the same in French, which means that I run out of the letters I need to spell out titles pretty quickly (especially those pesky E's, wihch are everywhere in French.) For the rest of the title, I used green Tiny Type stickers from Cosmo Cricket and Inspirables leather stickers from EK Success. Those are ancient. There was only one of each letter of the alphabet, so as you can imagine, I was not able to spell stuff with it for long. And yet, because I love the look of those letters, I've kept the package and worked a letter in my layouts here and there. I'm now down to three letters, an ampersand and quote marks after this layout. I was surprised to see I had two letters I was needing for the word "look" and I had two exclamation points. I initially thought I'd cover them with O's made out of something else. Then I decided I liked the look of the exclamation points and that because the stickers are round, we could still figure out what the word was. But then when I embellished the page, I found the crazy eyes stickers from Doodlebug Design and decided they made sense on this layout, especially since the glasses on the hat I'm wearing contain holographic eyes. (Mad hatter hat, I'm telling ya!)

Speaking of those eye stickers, it was a good opportunity to use them since the patterned papers have an antique look with the vanilla background. The epoxy on the Doodlebug stickers have yellowed, which is made painfully obvious when I'm working with white. As much as I love Doodlebug's products, the yellowing of their stickers is really annoying, especially considering how pricey they are in the first place. This has happened to pretty much all of the epoxy stickers I have from them, so I know it's not just a bad batch. This also means that whatever I've already used is turning yellow on my finished pages. This is quite sad, as epoxy ornaments in general are really pretty.

For the embellishing, I also die-cut gears out of copper foil paper using the Garage Gears set from Stampin' Up! I used a raven wax sceal puffy sticker from a Recollections Halloween pack, and I made my own decorated clip using a copper paper clip topped with an old K&Company brad. (Lots of old stuff on this page, though the result does not feel not current.)

I cut the background page to 11½" x 11½" and matted it with Cajun Craze cardstock. Because it was Core'dinations (from when Stampin' Up!) launched their own color line in Core'dinations cardstock), I was able to easily sand the edges to add distressing and it made a huge difference. So much so that I was tempted for a minute to only use the Cajun Craze cardstock as my background, but I really did look my hat pattern so I went back to it. The long strip at the bottom of the backside of the hat paper after I cut that half-inch off to mat the page. Adding it helped ground my title and also make the page a little different from the one I had done previously.

Considering that both layouts were copied from the same sample, the result is quite different. (And they're going in two different albums, so nobody will ever know.) I am really happy with both and very glad I decided to reuse the design on a second layout. I've been on a roll lately with my creativity - let's hope I can keep it going!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Cajun Craze Core'dinations, Copper Foil Sheets,
On Board Chipboard Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: A Gift of Love (Bo Bonny); Olde Curiosity Shoppe, 
A Proper Gentleman (Graphic45)
Ink: Seedless Preserves, Forest Moss Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Garage Gears (Stampin' Up!); Deco and Typo Lower Bigz XL (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Stickers: Halloween Black Sceals (Recollections); Green Tiny Type (Cosmo Cricket);
Inspirables Leather (EK Success); All Eyes on You (Simon Says Stamp and Doodlebug Design)
Accessories: Brads (Making Memories, K&Company); 
Noteworthy Die-Cuts (Bo Bunny); Distressing Tool, Sanding Block, Sponge Dauber (Stampin' Up!);
Bubble Stencil (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); Copper Paper Clips (Office Supplies);
Red Bronze Metallic Gilding Polish (Cosmic Shimmer); Purple InkJoy Pen 0.7 (PaperMate)

 

DIY

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout challenge #496 (polka dots + flowers + stickers) + Page Maps March 2020

I had been looking forward to using the Hey Crafty Girl collection from Simple Stories. I recently found pictures of my sister and my niece crafting together when we visited my parents in our hometown. My niece had spent the first half of the week alone with her grandparents, and then my sister, my other niece and I drove up to spend the rest of the week with them. My mom had stocked up on craft supplies before her granddaughter's visit to ensure she would have something to keep her busy with. It worked, as apparently, at 7 a.m. the day following her arrival, Megan grabbed the bags, headed to the kitchen and proceeded to start crafting! I know she's a kid and pretty much all kids love to cut and glue stuff together, but I have an inkling she'll remain a lifelong crafter just like me as the desire to create is really strong and I'm always surprised at how much interest she takes in what I do. (As an example, we were looking at scrapbook albums during a visit and since we were not sitting together when she was looking at it, she told me, "There's something I wanted to go back and show you. I really like how you made this embellishment here," pointing to a mini wooden embroidery hoop in which I had added a cross-stitched image found in a piece of patterned paper. I was incredibly surprised that she was paying attention to such small details.) 

So the day I found those pictures, I got the papers out, including the polka dot papers from the Simple Basics kit and ephemera pieces I bought to match, but when I sat down and started trying to put something together, I just couldn't find my angle and so I put it aside. It's been a few weeks, but tonight, I decided I was giving it another go. Once I found a good sketch for it, I was back on track. The Page Maps sketch has three pictures plus the journaling block. My pictures are quite large and I didn't want to trim them down as I wanted to keep the art supplies, which are telling the story, especially the big kit Megan is using, which used to belong to my sister and I as kids and that my parents dusted off for my niece ot play with, which I mention in the journaling. So I used the same page construction, but with the two pictures instead of three. I also decided to glue them at an angle because it's a crafty-themed page and the collection is whimsical, so to have everything placed following a grid felt too constrained. 

The sketch has ric rac at the top and bottom and I went looking in my shoebox of leftover ribbons. I spotted the white wool trim and thought it would add a nice texture. The best way to keep it in place is by stapling it, but I quickly realized my mini stapler was not long enough to reach, so I pulled out my old stapler from deep within a drawer. (When I say old, I mean old - this thing is full metal and weighs a ton. It was something my mom got to keep when her office closed down back in 1988. What it lacks in style it makes up for in sturdiness. Take it from someone who's had to unclog many staplers over the years at the office, this one works much better and always staple through on the first try! And it had a big-enough bite to reach where I wanted.)

I used the cute paint colors at the top and alternated the orientation to fit more in a tighter space. I added Glossy Accents to the top and also on the top of the brush bristles, to make it appear wet. The DYI I used for the title is also a die-cut from the Ephemera pack. I used stickers to decorate it - a pin, a clip and a button, and I sprinkled additional stickers throughout the page. I love when I'm making a first project with a new collection, when I have every sticker, die-cut and paper available. It's always easier than when you're near the end and have to work around leftovers. On this one, there was no limitation! I like how the layout turned out. The colours are so yummy, I love the sorbet kind of look.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Stickers and Die-Cuts: Hey Crafty Girl (Simple Stories)
Dies: File Folder Edges Die-namics (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Stapler; White Wool Trim, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Artisan Pearls,
Spiral Border Punch, Black Rhinestone Basic Jewels, 2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots (Stampin' Up!);
Glossy Accents (Ranger)

 

2019 Christmas Party

This is a second layout that was inspired by the Workshop brochure from KaiserCraft (September 2018) I made. I saw this gorgeous page with very soft stenciling and a myriad of layered patterned papers with distressed edges, and I knew it would be easy to reproduce and perfect to use paper scraps.

I went looking through my pictures for a portrait-style one and I didn't have to look for long. I saw the picture of our group taken at last year's office party and I knew it would work well. I picked a sheet of Midnight Muse and applied white Craft ink through the Falling Snowflakes stencil using a blender brush. Then I layered various pieces of papers from the Season of Cheer Designer Series paper pack. What's funny is that when I started reading the instructions for the layout in the brochure, I saw measurements, so I thought, this is going to be so fast... Turns out there's measurements for the first two layers and then you're on your own! Haha! Makes sense, since it's really just using paper scraps, but I got my hopes up in vain.

To finish the page, I fussy cut some of the poinsettias from the patterned paper to tuck underneath the upper left corner and I also used leftover cardstock snowflakes I had from using the snowflake background plate die Stampin' Up! was selling about two years ago. I had some in aqua and blue in colors that were a close-enough match so I went with that. I then found the Make it Merry Doo-Dads pack from October Afternoon with only three pieces left in there, so I used the green bracket piece in the lower corner of the page and the "Meet me under the mistletoe" bubble near the flowers. I added the year on the first die-cut using the Alphanumeric Script dies from Tim Holtz and I covered the Hello Honey numbers with Glitter Crystal Effects. I would have loved to use the third die-cut from the kit as well, but its background was off-white and clashed with the papers I was already using. I sprinkled rhinestones and sequins around the page and I finished by handwriting my journaling in white gel pen, including the names of everyone directly on the picture. I've seen that on some of my older layouts recently and it's made me want to start doing it again. (Creative cycles, right?)

Speaking of older stuff, I had a tin with an assortment of older leftover embellishments that I don't know where to store and don't want to get rid of, so because I've been rearranging my craft room, the tin was out on my desk and after I was done with the page, I thought, I should have a look inside the tin and see if there's anything in there I could work into the page. That's where I found the Merry Christmas charm, which is very old, but the color works and I had this empty spot on the right side of the layers where I had previously considered adding something, so there it went. 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Midnight Muse (Stampin' Up!)
Craft Ink: Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: Season of Cheer (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Make It Merry Doo-Dads (October Afternoon); Falling Snowflakes Stencil (Carta Bella);
Alphanumeric Script Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Clear Faceted Gems, Distressing Tool, Jumbo Rhinestones,
Shimmery Crystal Effects, Glitter Enamel Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); White Gel Pen (Gelly Roll);
Blender Brush (Picket Fence Studios); Assorted Moonshine Sequins (Simon Says Stamp);
Merry Christmas Charm (Making Memories)

 

Sparkly Peacock

The other night, I was inspired to pull out my long-retired Pearl Ex pigments and pair them with the Royal Peacock stamp set. I stamped the peacock in VersaMark on Night of Navy cardstock and started applying various colors of pigment to the image with a little paintbrush. I sprayed the cardstock with hairspray to sceal the pigment in place and then I overstamped the second image (the detailing on the peacock). I used copper pigment over this part of the image. I then pulled out the Noble Peacock rhinestones and added varoius colors to the eyes on the tail.

The rest of the card is pretty simple, assembling various die-cuts, including a sentiment, and using the gorgeous foiled Noble Peacock papers. I can't believe another annual catalogue has come and gone. It feels like I barely had time to touch all of my supplies before they retired. I am keeping that in mind while looking at the new catalogue that just launched.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Paon royal (Royal Peacock)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Gorgeous Grape, Old Olive
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Noble Peacock; navy mulberry paper
Ink: VersaMark
Dies: Les bons mots, Detailed Peacock, Stitched Rectangles,
Stitched Nested Labels
Accessories: Noble Peacock Rhinestones, Stampin' Dimensionals, 
3/8" Old Olive/Pretty Peacock Reversible Ribbon, Pearl Ex Pigments,
White Medium Envelope

 

Adorable

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout Challenge #498 (Plaid + Hearts + Tag)

My local store recently received a ton of Mintay collections in 6 x 6, 12 x 12 and by the sheets for certain collections. The style is more vintage than layered than what I usually use, but I kept getting drawn to the lovely colours and design, so I ended up picking a few of my favorite collections. I had been keeping them close to my desk, waiting to dive in. I have been moving a few things around my craft room, as I'm still trying to optimize my storage based on how I use supplies. I've tried various configurations in the last year, but I finally feel like I'm finally finding something that might stick with the changes I've made in the last couple of weeks. Anyway, as I'm slowly moving through the organization process, I stumbled unto an old Workshop publication from KaiserCraft (September 2018). The front page caught my eye as it shows a layout with watercolored die-cuts clustered around a picture and the style was very reminiscent of the Mintay papers, so it instantly sparked inspiration and off I went working on a new page.

I usually always pick pictures before I start to work on a layout, but in this case, I started putting papers together, fussy cutting the cut-apart page and placing elements on the layout before I even had an idea of which picture I would put on it. I went to my short pile of pictures (the ones that I have put aside to scrap in the near future) and the one of baby Arielle caught my eye. I was hesitant because it's a portrait and the example I was working off of was using a landscape picture. It did look really good placed amongst the papers and images, though, so I kept it. This might be one of the easiest pages I've ever done and yet, I'm really impressed with the result. I am slowly learning the art of layering. I've been watching a lot of scrapbooking videos lately and I'm picking up very useful trick on how to create clusters, use embellishments from various collections and so on and so forth. One of the trick I picked up is to place stickers on wax paper so you can move them around the layout before committing to where you will be sticking them down. This is especially useful for titles. I used to place my alphabet stickers on the edge of my ruler so that I could space them properly and then move them to the layout by sticking the top in place and removing the ruler. The wax paper trick is better and in this case it turned out to be useful, as I was planning on adding the title to the bottom of the picture to create a visual triangle and I discovered it was not working out as nicely as I would have hoped. When I moved it to the top, it looked way better. So I decided to fussy cut the tag and add a chipboard sticker and a heart at the bottom to fill in the space instead. I added Glossy Accents to the wax sceal on the letter image so that it would look shiny and raised.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers and Chipboard Stickers: Love Letters (Mintay)
Thickers: Good Vibes (Dear Lizzy for American Crafts)
Accessories: Medium Copper Brads (American Crafts); Grey LePen (Marvy);
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Glossy Accents (Ranger);
Capella Gummies (Basic Grey); Et Cetera Rub-Ons (Bo Bunny)

 

Use Your Scraps: Hello Easter

I knew I wanted to craft today, but I had no idea when I sat down that I would end up making a full set of handmade embellishments. It all started out with me watching organization videos on YouTube during the week and in one talking about 6" x 6" paper pads, there was a suggestion to go through the paper pads and do the following: put aside the ones you don't like anymore and put aside the ones that you might prefer to take apart instead of keep as a collection. I've already discarded what I didn't want anymore earlier, but I thought taking apart some of them to use sheets individually was an interesting concept, so I went back to my paper pad box and sorted through them. That's how I found the pad that inspired my Look on the Bright Side card shared recently and also how I found the Hello Easter pad, which was down to a single 6" x 6" page of cut-aparts and a cello bag filled with scraps. I wasn't especially fond of the page I had left - the cut-aparts all have English wording and the floral on the back is not my cup of tea. I was about to toss the whole thing in the recycle bin, but as I was leafing through the Spring edition of the Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine (I finally got my hands on a printed copy), I saw the add from Echo Park in the front of the magazine with all of the tags displayed on a table and I wondered if I had scraps big enough to make something similar out of them.

I took the magazine to my stamp table and started playing with leftover papers and punches. I handcut one of the cut-apart to put in the middle and I fussy cut eggs from the patterned paper to tuck behind. I've recently made a full set of embellishments from leftover papers (which I have yet to photograph and share) so I went through those and picked the smallest ones for inspiration, which led to the little banners with the ribbon and folded top and the "You are such a cool peep!" piece. At this point, the creative juices had started flowing and I just kept going: the accordeon piece, then the circle, then the folded strip...

At this point, I thought, "hmm, what about a polaroid frame?" so I went looking through my Lawn Fawn dies and as I was looking for the Selfie Frames, I spotted other dies that might be interesting so I grabbed them all and came back to my table with more ideas to try out.

This is the result of part of the afternoon and part of the evening and I can't believe I ended up using every - single - last - piece of paper. I mean it literrally: once I was down to next to nothing, I used the Ornate Frame dies from Stampin' Up! everywhere I could, then the tiny bow die from the Mini Wreath die set from Lawn Fawn and then the tiny tag punch from Stampin' Up! on every last inch of paper I could find. I tried to stick to the plain colours rather than the patterns if I could so that the embellishments can be used on generic projects more easily, but I also know that since my niece loves crafting with me, she will be absolutely delighted if I gift her a little baggie filled with shapes she can include in her projects. Can you believe this all came out of a single 6" x 6" sheet and a 24-sheet paper pad scraps? This blows my mind, and it definitely proves that I have more paper than I'll ever be able to use in my lifetime. (Patterned paper is my personal weakness when it comes to craft supplies.)

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Hello Easter (Echo Park)
Dies: Everyday Sentiment Banners, Say What? Gift Tags, Selfie Frames,
Mini Wreath, Mini Easter Eggs, Heart Shaker Gift Tag (Lawn Fawn);
Puzzle Pieces, Ornate Frames (Stampin' Up!)
3D Embossing Folder: Tufted (Stampin' Up!)
Drops: Calming Aqua, Bubblegum Blush, Ripened Pumkin, Dandelion Yellow Crystal Drops,
Indigo Eclipse, Cloud 9, Dragon Scales Dream Drops (Nuvo)
Accessories: White Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon,
White Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, Stampin' Score Tool, Ticket Corner Punch,
Corner Rounder Punch, Petal PInk Rhinestone Gems, Circle Punch, Butterfly Punch,
Scalloped Circle Punch, Mini Tag Punch, Mini Label Punch, Mini Banner Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Decorative Scissors (Fiskar); Glitter Enamel Dots (Doodlebug Design)

 

Love You to the Moon

Inspiration: Page Maps May 2020

This was a simple page inspired by leftover papers I found in my stash. I looked for a baby picture and found one of my niece taken many years ago, with her parents. The only full 12" x 12" paper I had left happened to have a title built onto it, so I took advantage of that and simply used the paper scraps to build the rest of the layout. Everything is fairly simple, just an assortment of die-cut and punched pieces. I stamped the word #loveyousomuch from one of my Stampin' Up! stamp set on the punched ticket to fill it up. I used pink rhinestones, enamel dots, pearls and twinkle adhesive sequins (stars) to embellish the page. I also used the Colorful Alphabet stamp set to add the date on the Mint Macaron tab as well. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: #coucou (Stampin' Up!); Colorful Alphabet (Dear Lizzy for American Crafts)
Cardstock: So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride, Lucky Limeade, Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Hello Baby (Simple Stories)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Tasteful Trims Bigz XL Die, Petal Pink Rhinestone Gems, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Baker's Twine, Lace Trim Border Punch, Deco Label Punch, Twinkly Adhesive-Backed Sequins,
Heart Punch, Pearl Basic Jewels, Pearlized Doilies, Ticket Punch, Butterfly Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Birthday Girl Enamel Dots (Doodlebug Design); Outside In Stitched Heart Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Stitched Ric Rac Die-namics (My Favorite Things)

 

Cello Bag Shaker Card

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #421

To organize the paper scraps from my 6" x 6" paper pads, I use the cello bags sold by Stampin' Up! They measure 6" x 8", so I cut off the extra 2 inches and place the bag inside the paper pad, which I then store upside down so that the bag rest inside the cover. I have been using that method for a few years and every time I look at the strip I cut off the bag, I wonder what I could make with it. So far, I hadn't been inspired so I had discarded those pieces, but this time, I wondered if I could seal the top and bottom to make a shaker pouch. 

I initially tried out my Fuse tool, but since this is cello and not plastic, I wasn't having much success. I simply used 1/8" double-sided tape and hid the seams between two pieces of cardstock. Be warned: the bags are flexible, which means that the card is too! (Unlike window sheet, which is studier.) This means that the card can only stand up because I added the Rococo Rose die-cut label both outside and inside of the card, which gave the card more stability, otherwise it wouldn't stand up.

I picked my card colours based on the Woven Threads sequin assortment. It took most of the pack to fill out the bag, but this ornement is retiring so I might as well put it to good use while it's still current. I'm also happy with how I added the top of the peacock image on my oval piece. I was so in love with the whole peacock suite when the catalogue came out and then I found out that the peacock is really tall, making it hard to fit it on a card. I believe this is only the second time I've used this stamp set, which is disappointing since it is already retiring. I used the Beads and Baubles embossing folder from the same suite to add texture to the cardstock, and the Subtle 3D embossing folder (a personal fave) on the Terracotta Tile cardstock.

The sentiment was pulled from another stamp set, Here for You, and reads something like "Life is not always rosey." I've organized a card exchange with my team members so that we can brighten each other's mailboxes during the confinement period, so this seemed like an appropriate sentiment for the current situation. 

To create a border to my shaker section, I cut a piece of Pretty Peacock scalloped linen ribbon apart, keeping only the colored scalloped section to glue on each side. I placed silver thread underneath the sentiment and added In Color faceted dots on the tag.

The stitching die from the Stitched Labels die set was used on my Sahara Sand cardstock inside the card, which is peeking through the clear shaker. I glued additional sequins around the card as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Paon royal (Pretty Peacock), Là pour toi (Here For You)
Cardstock: Purple Posy, Seaside Spray, Terracotta Tile, Sahara Sand, Rococo Rose
Ink: Seaside Spray, Pretty Peacock
Accessories: White Medium Envelope, 2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Cello Bag, Woven Threads Sequin Assortment, Pretty Peacock Scalloped Linen Ribbon,
Stitched Labels Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, Silver Metallic Thread,
Subtle 3D Embossing Folder, Beads and Baubles Embossing Folder, Triple Banner Punch

 

Serene Snowy Scenes

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #513 + Try Stampin' on Tuesday #459

It's a little random that I'm putting together Christmas cards when the weather outside is finally 40 Celcius with the humidex factor (on a side note, I went from wearing knit sweaters to shorts and t-shirts in a span of two weeks - crazy!). They were inspired by a decoupage kit I found while rearranging my papers. It was late and I figured I could quickly put the images together while watching crafting videos on YouTube. As I was assembling the kit's images, I realized that the scene colours might work with the Frosted papers from KaiserCraft. I pulled the 6" x 6" paper pad and indeed, they look gorgeous paired together. That's when inspiration started flowing and so I kept going, putting the first card together.

I used one of the vintage picture cut-apart images from the pad to stick behind my main image and the sentiment circle was also part of the die-cut inserts at the end of the pad. I glued Distress mica flakes around the central patterned paper to stay with the vintage look. The navy corners are part of the decoupage kit and the silver foiled snowflakes too. I really like how this one turned out, it's very elegant.

The following night, I decided to make a card with the second image while all of the supplies were still out. I looked at challenge sketches for inspiration and decided to use the one from Try Stampin' on Tuesday. I will admit that it is not that obvious now that the card has been heavily layered, but the sketch was my starting point. I initially planned on tucking the sentiment die-cut underneath my papers, but it just didn't look as pretty as when I was adding it over using Dimensionals, so I just went with what looked best. I love how this one turned out as well, and I'm looking forward to using those to sent out wishes at Christmas time this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Seaside Spray
Patterned Papers: Frosted (KaiserCraft)
Ink: Stormy Sky, Ground Espresso Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Outside In Stitched Rectangles Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Distress Mica Flakes, Glossy Accents, Blender Tool (Ranger);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Bashful Blue Satin Ribbon, Pearl Basic Jewels,
Crumb Cake Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!); A2 Nautical Blue Linen Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Look On The Bright Side of Life

Inspiration: As You See It #225

As I organizing my 6" X 6" paper pads and I found an old one called Happiness & Sunshine that I seemed to have forgotten about. I loved the bright colours and sunny patterns, so on a whim, I decided to make something with it. The die-cut with the cute girl caught my eye, and I feel like the "Look on the bright side of life" sentiment is appropriate at the moment. This was put together pretty quickly, with the addition of a white punched border to make the papeer strip stand out more and green glitter paper to mat the die-cut. Since the sentiment is on the main image, I was wondering what to add underneath to fill the space, and the tinted faceted buttons worked perfectly. I added a bit of Grapefruit Grove grosgrain ribbon as well, and Glossy Accents to the sunglasses.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Pool Party, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Green Glitter Paper (Unknown)
Patterned Papers: Sunshine & Happiness (Simple Stories)
Dies: Confetti Card Dies (Concord & 9th); Dotted Rectangles (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Dotted Lace Trim Border Punch, Stampin' DImensionals, 
Tinted Faceted Buttons, Grapefruit Grove 1/8" Grosgrain Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Glossy Accents (Ranger); A2 Aquamarine Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Dream As If You'll Live Forever

Inspiration: Tim Holtz's Facebook Live demo on Distress inks

I watched Tim Holtz's demo today on Facebook Live and I pulled out a few supplies as I was watching to try out some of the stuff he was showing. I was liking how my tag was turning out, so I kept going and embellishing it to make it a fully completed project.

I started by crumpling a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock and inking it with Antique Linen Distress ink. I then added stenciling with the Vintage Grid stencil from Carta Bella and the Numeric stencil from Tim Holtz, using a blending tool and Tattered Rose Distress ink (a long-time favorite). I then looked for paper dolls and as I was pulling them out, I also grabbed the Word Bands and the Mummy Cloth. I went through the dolls and decided on the sitting little boy. For the band, I picked "Dream as if you'll live forever" and I rubbed my Antiqued Bronze Distress crayon on it, to fill in the words. I layered the metal band over the mummy cloth, pierced holes on each ends and used linen thread to sew it in place. I used the same linen thread to tie each end of the mummy cloth.

For the top of the tag, I looked at options - I tried out a few wood veneer shapes, but when I found my mini vintage tags, I liked the look and colour much better and went with that. Those are already threaded with shiny vanilla thread, which was an added bonus as it added something to hang my tag with.

I don't have Distress markers, but I simply grabbed my Blushing Bride and So Saffron Stampin' Write markers and I tinted the little boy's outfit to match. Recently, I have used White Gold Icing Paste from Finnabair on a card and I was so happy with the result, I knew I would want to pull this paste again sometime soon, which I did here as I knew the soft gold would look great with the browns and pinks. I selected the rays stencil and added them at the bottom where the little boy would be sitting. From the same stencil set, I pulled out the stars stencil and added some here and there with a stencil brush and my Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink. I also used a blending tool and the same ink to darken the edges of the tag, as I was not getting a deep enough colour using the Antique Linen Distress ink. 

The mini tag looked a little empty at the top, so I looked through embellishments to see what I could add on it. I found a very old set of Gummies from Basic Grey. To be honest, I'm surprised I ever picked those up because the colours are so different from what I generally use (and I know I didn't have the paper collection and that they weren't on sale, so I'm unclear on how they wound up in my shopping basket). I thought maybe the neutral shades could work with my tag. I've only used one gummy from the set on a layout and I remember that the sticker part on the back had changed over time and sort of melted. The adhesive started seeping into the paper, leaving a nasty rim around the sticker and through the patterned paper (therefore showing on the back as well), so to avoid that here, I started pulling the old adhesive off all of the embellishments in the pack, keeping only the rubber. I was then able to use the flower embellishement on my tag without having to worry about it ruining anything.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!)
Stencils: Vintage Grid (Carta Bella); Numeric, Mini Stencils Set 38 (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Distress Crayon: Antiqued Bronze
Inks: Vintage Photo Distress Oxide, Tattered Rose and Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)
Accessories: White Gold Icing Paste (Finnabair); Blending Tool (Ranger);
So Saffron and Blushing Bride Stampin' Write Markers, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Mini Vintage Tags, Linen Thread (Stampin' Up!);
Capella Gummies (Basic Grey); Mummy Cloth, Word Bands (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)

 

Keep Calm and Do Yoga

Inspiration: TGIF #263 + ColourQ #181

I am sad to see the On to Adventure stamp set retire, it was one of my favorites from the current catalogue and I hate when catalogue sets don't last over a year. I realized I hadn't inked the image of the woman doing yoga yet, so it became the starting point of this card. I looked at ongoing challenges for inspiration and picked the TGIF sketch. I then looked at Designer Series Paper since it's all retiring and I picked the beautiful Noble Peacock foiled papers. I wanted to use the blue for the background but I wasn't sure which colours to pair with it so I went to past ColourQ challenges for inspiration and picked one with two shades of blues, black and yellow. That also gave me the chance to use Pineapple Punch, one of the retiring In Color shades.

I wanted a doily for the back piece. I don't think I have any current ones, but I pulled out the Doily Builder dies from last year. The Balmy Blue cardstock was embossed with the Subtle 3D embossing folder and the black cardstock with the Parisian Flourish 3D embossing folder. For the sentiment, I decided to use Les bons mots, since this die set is also retiring. As a final touch, I added two blue rhinestones from the Noble Peacock pack and a piece of Pineapple Punch ribbon peeking out.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: On to Adventure
Cardstock: Balmy Blue, Basic Black, Blueberry Bushel, Pineapple Punch,
Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Noble Peacock
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Balmy Blue, Pink Petal, Blueberry Bushel, 
Pineapple Punch, Soft Suede
Accessories: Aqua Painter Brush, Noble Peacock Rhinestones, 
Parisian Flourish 3D Embossing Folder, Subtle 3D Embossing Folder,
White Medium Envelope, Les bons mots Dies, Doily Builder Dies, 
Stitched Shapes Dies, Ticket Corner Punch

 

Handmade Flowers and Sequin Clutters

Inspiration: Card Maps April 2020 + Inspired By #123

YouTube has been keeping me company a lot during our time at home. Crafters are crafting up a storm and sharing a whole lot, so I keep seeing cool new things that I would generally have to add to my Tutorials playlist in the hopes to come back to it later, but these days, I get to test it out almost right away.

Tonight, I found a video of a crafter that was doing rolled flowers. Those are not new to me as I have a die to make some, but I liked how this version was using a punched circle and cutting it up into a spiral, so I started making some. Her next video was sharing how to do sequin clusters. This is the second time I'm seeing something about this technique, so I decided to give it a try, as I hadn't yet. I've mentioned that I've recently pulled older DSP packs for a challenge with my team and my Berry Blossom pack is almost empty, so I played with the scraps. 

I was basically just playing, but I got curious to see what I could make with the pieces I had put together. I remembered I had a big butterfly chipboard piece in the stack I had recently placed in a box, so I pulled it out and started arranging the rolled flowers on it. I covered the butterfly with Silver texture paste to color it. This is where I have a little bit of regret. I think I should have done a base colour and then used the silver paste with a stencil to add some pattern and texture to it. Or I could have done some stamping with StazOn ink to add a bit of pattern, but my glue gun was still hot and I got a little too excited to put the card together, so there we are. 

After putting together the butterfly, I started looking at sketches for ideas and when I saw the April Card Maps sketches, I found one that was perfect and in very little time, I had my finished card. I pulled out the Darling Doily die and vellum for the background, and the Sweet Essentials stamp set for the sentiment ("Thinking of You"). I also used my very last Love Note die cut for the envelope. Feels good to go through the stash and use up some stuff! 

Because the card was so thick (those rolled flowers are cute, but they add a lot of bulk), I made an oversized envelope with the Envelope Punch Board - which was also a good way to go through the remaining paper faster. I added a cluster on the envelope and another one inside the envelope. If I'm to mail this card, I'll probably slip the envelope in a clear envelope to protect the cluster. As long as you add the stamp on top of the clear envelope so that the post office can stamp it, it works just fine.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Tendres basiques (Sweet Essentials)
Cardstock: Wisteria Wonder, Vellum
Designer Series Paper: Berry Blossoms
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Darling Doily Die, Sending Love Notes Hugs,
Assorted Sequins, On Board Chipboard, Silver Texture Paste,
Envelope Punch Board, Circle Punches, Liquid Glue,
Silver Glimmer Paper, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Box with Unexpected Angles

Link to video tutorial

During my quarantine YouTube deep dive, I stumbled unto a video showing how to make a little boxes with unexpected angles. It immediately got me curious and instead of watching the whole thing, I kept the video aside until I could sit down and follow along while making my own sample. Here's the deal: the video is well-made, the instructions are clear to follow along. The part where you have to glue the box together and get the angle right? It's doable, but it's challenging. This is the kind of project that would totally get client excited for a class and potentially very frustrated during the class. Considering this was my very first one, though, I think it turned out very nicely and that it would probably improve from here. I did make an addition to what was shown, by adding patterned paper to the point on the box. The tutorial shows how to cut the patterned paper at an angle to follow the shape of the box and I realized I could fish those three pieces out of my recycling bin and cut them smaller and use them on the corner. I think it makes this detail stand out even more.

The patterned paper is old. Not sure from which year, but that was purchased in my early years of stamping. Because my downline members and I are doing this team challenge of using Designer Series Paper, especially older one, I found this pack. There is not a lot of paper in it, if I can push myself to make a couple of projects with it, I might be able to finish it once and for all. 

As I said in another post, I had rumaged through my stamps and put aside a pile of sets that include encouragement stamps. Here, I used an older SAB set that includes a sentiment that means "Time will do its work." I guess in English you would probably say something like "It'll all work itself out in good time." Pretty appropriate in our current context, I find.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: T-shirt Design (Designer Tee)
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Ink: Calypso Coral
Designer Series Paper: Berry Blossoms
Accessories: Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon, Circle Punch

 

Lily of the Valley

Inspiration: Card Maps April 2020 + Retro Rubber #134 (Spring Flowers - stamp purchased a good four years ago, I think) + Stamping Bella May (Hope Blooms)

When I saw that Stamping Bella's challenge was calling for blooms, I immediately thought of pulling out Tiny Townie Garden Girl Lily of the Valley, one of my favorites. I initially only had the stamp, but I had added the die to my last purchase, but had not used it yet. On a side note, Emily, the owner of Stamping Bella, recently announced that they will be discontinuing selling dies, as it appears it was harder for them to control production, so they are going back to stamps only. If there's any dies you think you might like, have a look at the store, as they're only available until stocks are depleted. 

Back to the card, I grabbed the very first pack of patterned paper I spotted in my stash, which happened to be the Summer Days collection from Simple Stories. I liked the soft colours and floral patterns, so they were the starting point for my coloring. I used Polychromos pencils. 

The background was created with the pink chevron paper from the collection, die-cut at the bottom with the Stitched Scallop Basic Edges dies from My Favorite Things. The background felt a little bare so I went looking through my stencils to see what I could use to embellish it. I found the Shifter Baubles stencil from Tim Holtz and paired it with the White Gold Icing Paste from Finnabair. The result is even prettier than I could have hoped. I'm not wondering how come I haven't used this icing paste more. The result is soft and gorgeous and shiny without being overpowering. 

The collection had a sticker sheet with sentiments, so I grabbed "Big Smiles!" and a little aqua heart as well. I added a few enamel dots and a green ribbon bow at the bottom. 

For the ennvelope, I grabbed a white coin envelope (finished card measures 3-1/4" x 6") and I decided to use the Uptown Girl Curly Clara Needs Your Address stamp on it. I used pencils again to color the image. The coloring was harder to control on this paper, as it is not as smooth as cardstock that is made for stamping and I was also getting unwanted lines where the envelope folds is underneath, but not a big deal. Ideally, it would be better to make my own envelope out of white cardstock and stamp and color on it before assembling it. There's always next time...

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Tiny Townie Garden Girl Lily of the Valley,
Curly Clara Needs Your Address (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Summer Days (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Dies: Tiny Townie Gardem Girl Lily of the Valley (Stamping Bella);
Stitched Scallop Basic Edges Die-namics (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell);
Bundle of Joy Enamel Dots (Echo Park); Shifter Baubles Stencil (Stampers Anonymous);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Old Olive 1/8" Ribbon, White Tall Envelope (Stampin' Up!);
Gold White Icing Paste (Finnabair)

 

Welcome Flowers

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #536

This card took an unexpected turn right from the start. I was looking at the Mojo Monday sketch and the retiring products from the annual catalogue, trying to find something to match. Initially, I wanted the small circle from the sketch to be the little fairy peeking through a window from the New Wonders hostess set. Then I started looking at the Tropical Oasis Memories and More card pack and I liked the big tropical flower bouquet and decided it would make a great central piece for the big circle, with a smaller sentiment for the little circles. so I switched gears.

As I pulled out a large circle die, I didn't like how it was cutting off some of the flowers, so I decided to fussy cut the image instead. Then I looked at snetiments to see what I could fit in the small circle and again, I got inspired to do something different when I saw the Time for Tags hostess set. There's one with a pineapple on it that was perfect, so I stamped it on watercolor paper and I used the Aqua Painter brush to watercolor it.

I used another card from the Memories and More pack for the background. It already had the woven pattern printed on it, but I ran it through the Coastal Weave embossing folder as well to add texture. In the center, I used a strip of Mango Melody cardstock, which I stamped with the Weathered background stamp. (It's a really old one that is long retired, but it is very similar to the current Crackle Paint background stamp, so I put it back to the front of the pile.) I tied a piece of Rococo Rose gathered ribbon. This ribbon is very versatile. It's technically pink, but the color very much changes depending on what you pair it with, and its brownish/coppery center goes with a lot of different designs, so it is very easy to introduce into various projects. 

Before adding the flower image to the card, I die-cut a few leaves from the Tropical dies from Soft Seafoam and Mint Macaron cardstock. I arranged everything on the card and added the flower image and the tag using Stampin' Dimensionals. I added In Color Faceted Dots and Basic Sequins around the card. I also die-cut the three flowers from the In the Tropics dies out of another card from the pack and added them with Dimensionals. As a last-minute addition, I picked a pineapple charm from the Tropical Oasis trinkets and added it to the tag.

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: L'heure des étiquettes (Time for Tags), Weathered
Cardstock: Soft Seafoam, Mint Macaron, So Saffron, Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper
Memories & More Card Pack: Tropical Oasis
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz, Always Artichoke, 
Pineapple Punch, Mango Melody, Soft Suede
Accessories: Rococo Rose Gathered Ribbon, Tropical Dies, 
In the Tropics Dies, Coastal Weave 3D Embossing Folder, 
Very Vanilla Medium Envelope, Tropical Oasis Trinkets, 
2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots, Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins

 

Family Fun Night

Inspiration: Page Maps April 2020 

I was looking through my pictures to decide what I could work on next and when I found this family picture of us playing board game (Docte Rat, it's a French quizz that we have purchased many versions of over the years), I knew it would give me the chance to use the super fun Family NIght collection from Carta Bella. I love Steve Duncan's collections - they always have this great retro vibe and the cutest images. Because the patterns are often busy, I find that they are not always easy to use on projects, but I do always find myself drawn to them. I knew this one would be a great addition to my supplies, though, as we're all homebodies and family night often involves all of the hanging out activities shown in this collection - games, watching TV, family dinners. I bought this one when it came out, but it was the first chance I got to use it.

I also got the coordinating solid paper packs. I like that companies are starting to add those to their lines. I do have a lot of 12 x 12 cardstock, but even then, I often find myself losing a lot of time trying to find a good match and often settling on something that is good enough, while not being exactly what I would have hoped for. I used to store my Stampin' Up! cardstock in their original packaging, by families, but a couple of weeks ago, I went through my craft room and merged all of my 12 x 12 cardstock into one big pile, by colours, stored in the clear 12 x 12" drawers I got at Michaels. (Initially planned on storing patterned papers in those, but most of the papers don't fit because of the collection name strip at the bottom. I had to cut a sliver off on every single sheet. My cardstock was stored in vertical plastic files but I found the corners were often getting dog-eared, which really irked me. I think the drawers will be better suited to the cardstock and will probably protect the integrity of the corners better.) Anyway, all of that to say that I've started to see the benefit of buying those solid paper packs to have the exact cardstock shade needed for backgrounds or matting. Here, I used the navy as my base, cut the board game paper to 3/4 of its size and added foil polka dot washi tape at the seam.

I used the Page Maps sketch for inspiration on paper layering and embellishment placement. The cute portraits were the back of my leftover piece after cutting the word paper down. I cut the portraits apart and added them to the left side. I layered various papers from the collection on the right side and added paper scraps from my stash as solids to make the patterns stand out better (as I said, busy papers!). I picked a few stickers from the collection sheet that matched the theme and added them to the page. The red circle is actually a piece of paper on which I had embossed my red and my green mixed media powders when I first received them. I punched a circle to add to the cover of the container for reference and I kept the rest of the sheet knowing I could use it for something else. Here, punching a circle allowed me to ground the games sticker and make it stand out better, while also adding texture.

The sketch had a tag, so I decided to raise my picture on dimensional adhesive and leave a gap to create a pocket in which I could slip the tag so that it would be pulled out. I layered another sticker with dimensional adhesive at the top and went old-school by adding an eyelet as well. 

This picture was taken in 2016, so as you can see, I don't scrapbook in chronological order, but rather with inspiration and often based on products I want to use. I'm catching up a little bit during the quarantine period on all of the products I neglected and want to use again. I've also been going back to scrapbooking more since the beginning of the year. I'm hoping to do at least 52 layouts throughout the year and as of now, I'm on schedule. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mois de l'année Script (Lime Citron)
Patterned Papers and Element Stickers: Family Night (Carta Bella)
Ink: Blueberry Bushel (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Scarlet Mixed Media Powder (Ranger); Stampin' Dimensionals,
Tag Punch, Angle Tag Topper Punch, Crop-a-Dile, Glitter Enamel Dots,
Navy Washi Tapes, 2" Circle Punch (Stampin' Up!); Red Foil Washi Tape (Recollections)

 

Birthday Bows

Inspiration: Queen & Co Sketch challenge for National Scrapbooking Day

Those shaker kits from Queen & Co are really fun to work with and a great starting point when I want to create and don't really know where to begin. I was in a Disney mood and wanted to use the Magical Characters kit, so I thought I could do three bows where the tags are on the sketch. Needless to say, if I had used the bow die three times, the resulting card would have been huge, but I do have a bow punch that I was able to use for the other two. I filled the bow shaker with some clear hearts and black bows from the kit and added white and ombre pink pearls from the toppings sets. I wanted to make a French card, so I looked through my stamps and found "We have to celebrate" in a flirty font that fit a Minnie card nicely. I used the patterned papers from the same kit (Magical Characters) and as I was punching the bow pieces, I realized that I really liked the orange on the back paired with the pink I was already using. I'm guessing the orange is for Goofy but there's something bright and summery about hot pink and orange paired together. I used the black and grey Mickey pattern for the background. I like that the resulting card hints at Disney without being an obvious Minnie card. With the sentiment being pretty general, I think this could be used for various occasions.

I made a matching envelope out of pink cardstock, making it slightly larger to accomodate the bulk of the shaker. I added another die-cut bow to it, and one to the inside of the card as well (cut in half so it wouldn't take too much room). 

On a side note, the orange bulleye embellishments I added to the center of the bows were a thank you gift from Queen & Co with my last order. Don't they look great? Perfect finishing touch to my card.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Moments de plénitude (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Peach Passion, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Hot Pink (Recollections)
Patterned Papers and Shaker Kit: Magical Characters (Queen & Co)
Ink: Lovely Lipstick (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Ombre Pearlies and Pearlies Bright Toppings, Orange Bulleye (Queen & Co);
Black and Grey Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Crystal Clear Hearts (Essentials by Ellen)