Stamp School April Release

It's time again for Stamp School to release 2 new stamp sets and new paper, felt, and ink colors. Up first I have 3 cards made from this month's release:

 The watercolor effect of this card was achieved using Faber Castell Gelatos instead of ink. Gelatos are a sort of paint/crayon hybrid, and show up beautifully on dark cardstock...but I like to try all sorts of things out, and as you can see they work pretty well on light card stock too!

This card uses Flowers for Mom and my recent favorite color combo. I added a little bit of glitter (via Stickles) to the petals of the rose, just to give the flower some extra pop. The background was created using a new punch from Martha Stewart. It's a really easy way to create a stunning background.

Finally, this card is waaaaaaaaaaay out of my normal wheelhouse. It's a bit more feminine, and uses more pastels than I'm used to, but like I always say: it's good to step outside your comfort zone. The yellow (banana split) and pink (cotton candy) background was created directly on the card stock base. I used a reverse masking technique to create it. I'm planning on doing a video tutorial on it later this month for Stamp School.

Finally, here are the details of the release

The stamps:

Flowers For Mom and Women In My Life(the gray area on Flowers for Mom is the area where there is a void in the stamp, you use a separate, included stamp to fill in the gray area.):

 The papers , ink, and felt:

                                                                       Spearamint

Bubble Gum

Banana Split

Grapesicle

Remember you'll be able to buy all of the new releases April 1. You can get to the store by clicking here.  

Thanks for stopping by!

March Glue Dots

With Easter fast approching, it's time to do a few Easter projects for Glue Dots. Up first is a bag of magic jellybeans. Give a bag of these to your kiddos the day before Easter. Have them plant them outside in the dirt. The next morning before they get up, stick a really fun, over the top sucker in the dirt where the jellybeans were planted and watch how excited they are to find out what grew overnight!

Please note, this is not my original idea, however, I'm not sure who was the first person to come up with this awesome plan! You can find directions to make your own magic jellybean bag here in the Glue Dots® Project Gallery.

My second project is a SPRING banner. Easter always feels like the unofficial start of spring for us. You could really easily switch out "SPRING" for "EASTER" though, if you want something a little more geared towards Easter.

I don't have a fireplace (so, alas, no mantle to hang pretty banners from), but I do have these great wood shelves that my husband built for me, so I like to hang things from there.

Again, you can find step-by-step directions for this in the Glue Dots® project gallery. Let me tell you, the trick to making this banner quickly and easily is the new XXL Glue Dots®! Oh, and if you're loving that patterned paper, it's Echo Park's This & That Graceful.

I'll be back tomorrow with a sneak peak of Stamp School's April stamp release!

Awesome

 I have 2 more layouts today with Simple Stories Awesome line. It's perfect for boy stuff, but, as you'll see in my second layout, it works for other things too.

I figured, with the range of colors in this photo, that I'd have to convert it to black & white to scrap it, but what do you know? Awesome worked really well with the photo colors.

I added a little bit of zig-zag stitching and some layering of embellishments. The stickers are from the Amazing collection. The brown, round brad looking things are my new favorite embellishment. They're called Candi Dots and they're from a company called Craftworkcards. They have the look of brads, but are made from paper (or chipboard maybe?), and you don't have to deal with the metal legs like you do with brads. Candi Dots attach easily with foam adhesive. They come in a whole bunch of color and patterns too!

I used them on this second layout, too.

I haven't spent much time scrapping my pets, so I thought it would be fun to do a layout of our dog, Uther. The printed text was especially perfect for this layout.

Thanks for stopping by!

One of a Kind

I was really excited for Echo Park's This & That Charming line to come out. I'm always thrilled when a really great "boy" line comes out, and Echo Park has yet to disappoint me in that category.  I seem to always pick up the collection pack when it comes to Echo Park (even though you can buy the individual papers, too). So far I've been able to get one mini album and 2 layouts out of the collection pack (with leftovers). Here's one of my layouts.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that This & That not only has papers and stickers, but also matching brads and chipboard accents (that I just "had" to pick up, too). You know I love to mix and match patterned papers, and with This & That, I had no problem using many of them in one layout. 

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Genuine Mini Album

I wanted to share a mini album I created using Genuine from Authentique.

This is the outside of the album (yes, I do know sonowmobile is spelled with an “e”. At some point before I photographed it, the “e” fell off!). Closed, the album measures 4" x 6" with a 1/4" spine on each side. 

These are a few shots of the inside. This is basically an accordion style album that gets adhered inside a card stock cover.  I promise to do a video tutorial on how I put this together soon. Basic Grey has magnetic snaps which I used (cleverly hidden under stickers) to keep the album closed.  This album went together really quickly. I just pulled a few pieces of Genuine paper, and added accents with the Genuine sticker sheets. 

I hope you have a genuinely (pun totally intended) fun weekend!

Papa's Work

Almost every time we go to visit my parents (who live about 7 hrs away), my boys  just have to visit their Grandpa at work. I have so many great photos of them in the bucket trucks and other equipment that's often housed at his work. Recently I've been working on a series of mini tag albums from each of their visits to give my dad as a Father's Day gift (I'll share those photos later). What I realized, is that I have all these great photos scrapped....and ready to give away. That's right, I hadn't scrapped a single one of them for my own album. Enter Simple Stories Awesome Collection. It's a great boy line, and you know I just can't resist a great boy line. I decided to do a quick 2 page layout of photos from by boys' most recent visit to Papa's work.

I know the 2-page layouts show up a bit small on my blog, but if you click on the photo, a much larger version will pop up. I really like this line (which means you'll be seeing a few more layouts from me using it in the near future). It's a bit grungy without feeling dark or dingy. It's also a boy line that doesn't feel so juvenile. While it works for little boys, it translates nicely into older kids as well. I picked up Awesome at A Walk Down Memory Lane. It doesn't appear to be in the on-line store yet, but it should be up any day, and you can pick it up now in the Brick & Mortar store.

Thanks for stopping by!

How to Make a Chevron Pattern from Washi Tape

  Scrapbooking is like anything else, there are trends in products and styles. I really enjoy watching the current scrapbooking trends and finding ways to incorporate the ones I like into my style. Sometimes a trend feels "totally me", but other times I look at it and thing, hmmm....it could be me if I tweaked it.... That's what happened with me and the layout I'm showing today. I took 2 current trends: Chevrons (I love clean lines and lots of mixing of colors, so this trend is "totally me"), and washi tape (okay, this one can be me, but only when tweaked) and use them as a base. Which, resulted in a layout that is totally my style.

Both the Chevron border and the little flower in the corner are  made from washi tape. I'll give you the step-by-step on making the washi tape chevron border today, but the flower I'll have to save for another day.

I started with a 12" x 12" piece of card stock and 5 rolls of washi tape. The number of rolls that you use really doesn't matter, just choose some that you like. You will be completely covering the card stock, but washi tape can be a bit translucent, so remember that when you chose the color.  I chose one tape to start with and placed it diagonally from corner to corner.

Once I had the center strip placed, I continued to layer tape diagonally flush up against the previously laid strip. Work all the way from the center to the bottom corner, then work from the center to the top corner, alternating tapes as you go. Wrap the ends of your tape that hang off the paper around the back side of the card stock. 

Once you have finished, your paper should look like the paper in the photo below. Covering the entire piece of cardstock only took me about 5 minutes to do. Washi tape is really easy to work with. I cut 2 - 1 1/2" x 12" strips of paper (that I then cut into 1 1/2" x 6" strips of paper). Rotate what's left of your washi tape coverd paper 90 degrees, and cut 4 - 1 1/2" strips of paper. Cut these down so you have 4 - 1 1/2" x 6" strips of paper. 

You should now have 8 - 1 1/2" x 6" strips of paper. 4 will have the tape slanting from top left to bottom right, and 4 will have the tape slanting from bottom left to top right. Adhere the strips along the bottom of a 12" x 12" piece of card stock (I used Jillibean Soup Kraft card stock) alternating between the slanting down strips and the slanting up strips  to create the chevron pattern. Then all you have to do is decorate and add a photo or 2 to your layout.
 

Please feel free to post any questions you have in the comments and I'll be sure to answer them as best I can.

Thanks for stopping by!

Teal & Red Graduation Card

Hello! I'm posting over at Stamp School today. I thought I'd share a photo of the fun teal & red (or as we at Stamp School call them, Blue Raspberry and Wild Cherry) graduation card I made using this month's brand new Graduates stamp set.

If you want a full product list and step-by-step instructions, just head on over to Stamp School for all the information.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lots of Fun

So, I've never been to CHA, but I get the next best thing. Many of you know I do in store design work for my local scrap store, A Walk Down Memory Lane. When Lisa, the owner of AWDML, gets back from CHA she gets together with me and a few other ladies, and we divvy up the loot. We take it home and paper craft furiously for about 2 weeks at which time AWDML hosts a CHA open house where or projects are on display along with all the new lines, tools, embellishments, and other goodies that Lisa ordered for the store at CHA. Needless to say, this is one of my favorite times of the year. I love it just a little bit less than Christmas, and a little more than my birthday...seriously, it's just so much fun.

This year, I managed to make 14 layouts, 2 mini albums, a home decor piece, and a handful of cards. When asked what was my favorite, I didn't even have to think about it. This layout, hands down wins:

First of all, Saturdays by Little Yellow Bicycle is one of my favorite releases from CHA. There’s just something about the mix of denim blues, soft reds, off whites, and the caramely browns that made us fall in love! I think it also helps that this line is so versatile. It’s good for young and old, girls and boys. I also am just really happy with how all the layers came together to create an interesting, clean layout. You see the photos first and the papers and embellishments second. The only down side: there are so many more papers in this line that I want to use. I just couldn't fit them all on one page, so you'll be seeing more of Saturdays here on my blog soon.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamp School March Release

Wow! I have never stepped away from my blog for so long. Life got busy, like life can get, and unfortunately I neglected things here. But have no fear, I'm back in full force! You'll be hearing from me at least a few times a week again. Today I have 2 cards I made with Stamp School's March release stamps.

For the card above, I used the little medallion stamp from The Graduates to create the background. The graduation cap is also from The Graduates, and the sentiment is from To The Future. I stamped in Stamp School's Hot Fudge and Sour Apple ink. I added blue rhinestones to the brown medallions to add a little extra pop of color.

I wanted to keep this card clean and simple, so I stamped everything in Hot Fudge and added touches of pink with a Copic marker. The sentiment is from To The Future and the diploma and fancy stamp under the sentiment are from The Graduates. 

You can shop all of Stamp School's products and check out the new March releases (pictured below) by clicking on this link. Below are the brand new stamps and ink, felt, and card stock colors that were released today!

Stamp School The Graduates

Stamp School To The Future

Here are the new colors being released this month in: Paper, Ink, Felt!

Jelly Bean Green

 





Gumdrop Green


 




Limeade

 




Sour Apple







Thanks for stopping by!