What I Love About You!

Over these last couple weeks I've left a small table with some supplies up in my kitchen and when I get a couple minutes I sit down and make a card or work on a scrapbook page.  I've actually gotten more done than trying to get into my craft room and setting aside an hour or two to work on things!

I put together this scrapbook page in less than an hour yesterday! and for me that is good, Lol! I'm entering it into the Canadian Scrapbooker May Sketch Challenge.

I rounded all my corners and inked the edges to highlight the individual pieces.

The word Fabulous and the journaling spot came in the paper pad.

 I cut out the pictures of the finished birdhouse front and side and put them onto the page.  The front view I popped up with some foam tape after stapling a piece of cord to the top.

 

http://canadianscrapbooker.ca/sketchy/showphoto.php?photo=503&title=may-2013-sketchy-chall&cat=521

 

Supplies/Tools:
Recollections Fabulous Girl Paper Pad
Making Memories Chipboard Stickers
Distress Ink and Sponge
Foam Tape
Corner Chomper
American Crafts Border Punch

U R Sweet

Here's a quick card this week for Scrapbookers Paradise sketch challenge. I used green and yellow Distress Ink around the edges of a card base after rounding the right side corners. I layered on a piece of cardstock from a Recollection paper pad, which incidentally is the same as the 'Fabulous' Simple Stories paper pad - huh!, that I stamped with  a vintage telephone stamp from American Crafts.  It really just doesn't seem right saying a dial telephone is vintage! Then I added a string of dresses I fussy cut from a 6x6 pad of Echo Paper Sweet Girl - so cute! and added a few cut out words and a flower from the same collection. Easy peasy!

 

PPC Card Sketch

Check out the Taylored Expressions blog for their coordinating stamp with the Sweet Girl paper line and a blog hop with lots of ideas on using this line.

And Simple Stories has a free download using the Fabulous collection!

Say cheese!

Amie has always loved mascots and anyone in a costume. We went to a Grand Opening celebration for a business when she was 3 and Sponge Bob was there getting pics done with the kids. She was actually happy to get her picture taken, but the sun was in her eyes so one might think she looked like she was being forced to stand there!

I really wanted to do a layout this month for the Canadian Scrapbooker website April sketch. This is such an amazing magazine full of brilliant Canadian submissions, and being Canadian myself I'm more than happy to follow their great talent!

I used a Jillibean Soup 6x6 paper pad for the two 4x6 background pieces behind the photo, the June calendar, and the buttons. I cut out the two banners, Say Cheese and the camera from a Little Yellow Bicycle 6x6 paper pad using my Cricut and the Mini Monster cartridge.

I added some brown letter stickers, some Ranger Enamel Accents on the buttons and some chipboard stickers along with some foam dots to pop up some elements.

 

http://canadianscrapbooker.ca/sketchy/showgallery.php?cat=520

 

 

Springtime

Well, I'm not sure if spring is ever coming to Calgary- we had snow all weekend! Bleh :-p

So, ironically I used a Penny Black Christmas stamp, which I changed up to look springlike by using spring colours. I first used blue and green Distress Stains on the background with a mist of blue Dylusions Ink spray over top. Then I heat embossed my stamped image and coloured in with Gellyroll Glaze and Soufflé pens. They flow so nicely in an embossed image! Then I added some raindrops with a Zig two-way pen and iridescent foil and some more Soufflé pen highlights. I cut out the flowers and butterflies from an envelope that came in the mail! And added some gel pens and Rock Candy Distress Stickles. I popped up some of the flowers and the butterflies with foam dots and then I mounted it on some patterned paper and a Kraft card.

Here's hoping for spring!

Challenge - Simon Says Stamp - spring showers/flowers
http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.ca/2013/04/simon-says-april-showers-andor-spring.html

Dylusions Ink and Stencils

Just got a bunch of new Dylusions spray inks and a couple stencils this week and couldn't wait to try them out!! I really only had a few other spray inks so this was my mist splurge.

For my card I layered stencils and started spritzing right onto my kraft card and my envelope. I really like how the white linen spray is opaque and shows through. I love the teal colour of the main mist and used both the inside and out of the girl stencil to highlight each area. I was going for a spring feeling with the greens and flowers since we seem to be having a really hard time getting any springtime weather to stay here in Calgary - as I'm writing this large snowflakes are falling!

I also heat embossed circular flowers on the front of the card with Crystal embossing powder and versamark so they look more like a sparkly watermark image. Inside I stamped the chandelier with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and then embossed with the Crystal powder. I also wanted to try out a technique tat Kate showed at the Scrapbookers Paradise store on Sunday - using foil with Zig Two-Way Glue. The trick is to let the glue air dry before applying the foil. I added to paper flowers and a brad to the top flower and stamped some images, including a crown on the girl on the envelope.

Challenges -
Scrapbookers Paradise - Add embossing
http://scrapbookersparadise.blogspot.ca/2013/04/playing-in-paradise-111-embossing.html

Simon Says Stamps - April showers/spring flowers
http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.ca/2013/04/simon-says-april-showers-andor-spring.html

Last Minute Easter projects

Well, even though Easter is past, I thought I'd share a couple last minute things I made.

I had some new Soufflé pens I wanted to try out and I am sooo happy with them! I actually had bought some Soufflé and Gelly Roll Glaze pens many years ago that had just never worked right. When I was recently doing some organizing I came across them and decided to email the company. They gave me some tips to try and said if that didn't work to package the defective pens up and return them, which I did. I then received two brand new sets in the mail! There had apparently been some issues with the pens at that time, but I can tell you the pens now are amazing!! They blend beautifully and I really like using them with a heat embossed image. It creates a beautiful raised filled in area that is so cool. I am extremely pleased with their customer service :)

For my tags I used the Soufflé pens, which create an opaque look, perfect for directly layering over a background. I smooched some Distress Inks on my craft mat, pink, yellow, green, and lavender, and then spritzed with water before dragging my tag through. I added some sponged Distress Ink around the edges till I was happy with the look and then heat set everything. You have to heat set or the embossing powder sticks to everything! I heat embossed a cute Easter image from a CTMH stamp set I love and then coloured in the image with my pens. On some parts I coloured in with two pens and while the ink is wet it blends very nicely. You just have to set them aside to dry for 5-10 minutes and they turn opaque!

I added some washi tape and a layer of two flowers and a bunny button tied with floss to my large tag.

For my card I did the tag background as above and then layered it on a card I embossed with my Cuttlebug. I found a cute Easter picture from one of Tim Holtz's paper packs and popped it up with foam tape. Easy-peasy!

Amie decorated some eggs for Easter and was very excited to set them out at dinner for family. I cut a strip of cardstock and glued it in a circle to set the egg upright in, and Amie flattened a mini cupcake liner to place them on - her idea! I also found a stash of random things in treat bags she gathered together for us; cute!

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

Challenges: Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Teacher Easter Cards

We couldn't forget about Amie's teachers on Easter! I used my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (again!) to cut out 3 different coloured egg cards and eggs with flower cut outs, which I mixed and matched. I embossed the egg die cut with the Cuttlebug and used Distress Ink to highlight the embossed areas. I chose some ribbons and rickrack to embellish the front of each egg and added a paper flower, flower brad and gem to the centre of each.

Inside and envelope

 

 

Challenges:

Die Cuttin' Divas - Embossing and ribbon

Simon Says - Anything goes

Fantabulous Cricut - Easter cuts

Scrapbooker's Paradise - Embellishments

 

Be sure to check out all the fun cards on these websites!!  Happy Easter!