For the Love of Cropping

I love a good crop. Whether it's on-line or in person, I just can't help but be motivated to get things done. This weekend there's was an impromptu crop over at the Fiskateers site. If you're a Fiskateer,  you should definitely head over and check it out. Challenges don't close until Wednesday night, so there's still time to play along. If you're saying "Fiska-what?" you should also head over and check out the Fiskateers. It's a free community of people who love all things Fiskars (and if you're a paper crafter, sewer, or gardener you definitely own at least one Fiskars scissors, paper trimmer, punch, or gardening tool!).  It's a really fun, creative and supportive group, and you won't be disappointed that you checked them out. I've been having fun working on a few of the crop challenges. Here's a spring layout I made using my favorite Fiskars Border Punch (which just happens to be Fiskars Upper Crest border punch. I used it as an accent on the left hand side of my photos):

 

I created this layout from some leftover paper I had from another project and some Washi Tape. I used black, blue, and yellow Washi Tape to create the pattern on the top part of the page. There's a lot you can do with Washi Tape, but one of my absolute favorite things is creating my own patterned paper with it. You can check out the chevron paper I made with it here if you didn't see that project when I posted it.

This background was created by placing 3 strips of the same tape next to each other on a diagonal, and then repeating with a new tape until the entire background was covered.

 

The  patterned paper and journaling tag are from My Mind's Eye's new On The Bright Side Collection. On the bright side is much like it sounds; a bright and bold collection, however it has surprising vintage touches to it as well. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Pink and Orange Go Together

Two bits of info you need to know:
1. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
2. I'm a proud Fiskateer.

Now let me put those 2 things together. A number of Fiskateers (23 to be exact) volunteered to take part in a challenge. After volunteering we were told that the challenge was to create a project using just 2 colors as our focus: Pink and Orange. The pink is in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the orange is because we are Fiskateers (you know Fiskars, those great orange handled scissors). This is how I'm celebrating the fact that pink and orange go together: As I said there are 23 projects that will be featured on the Fiskateer blog this week. Fiskalead Tami put together a really beautiful video giving a sneak peak of all 23 projects. You can see it by clicking here. These projects are amazing!
A few notes about the project:
First - If you love Fiskars and you're not already a Fiskateer head here to pick a Fiskalead to e-mail. Tell them that you love Fiskars and want to join the amazing Fiskateer community (and that Samantha T. #6363 sent you). They'll give you all the details and set you up with your very own Fiskateer number too! It's free, it's fun, and its full of Fiska-goodness.
Second - I lucked out to have the beautiful pink and orange paper that I used for my project just lying around in my stash at home. It's from 2 different My Mind's Eye collections; Ooh La La and Pretty Please.
Third - To make the cone you need 1/4 of a circle shape cut from patterned paper(a pie shaped wedge). Use a strong adhesive (I used Glue Dots® Continuous Line) along 1 edge and roll into a cone shape. The larger your 1/4 circle, the larger the cone will be. I embellished the top of the cone with strips of paper that had been punched with my Fiskars Upper Crest Punch and my Fiskars Apron Lace Punch. The pink metallic jewels on the cone were added with my I-rock.
Fourth - The flowers were cut with my Silhouette. I used my paper piercer to punch 2 holes through the center of the flowers. I ran thin copper wire up through the first hole in the flowers and then through a button. I looped the wire at the top and ran it back down through the second hole and twisted it off just underneath the flower. The copper wire makes it so the flowers can stand on their own (i.e. you could stand them up in a vase).
Fifth - I set 2 large eyelets along the top edge of the cone and looped ribbon through the cone. Now you can hang the cone over something (like a doorknob, chair, hook, etc.).

Thanks for stopping by!

Happily Ever After

On St. Patty's Day, I won a giveaway from the Fiskateers and Little Yellow Bicycle. It was a great sampling of LYB's new Lucky Me line. The shamrocks in this line make it fun for St. Patty's day, but the deep blues and greens and amazing word stickers make this line beautiful for year round photos, too. Now, there's a lot to love about this line, but I really fell in love with the sheet of card stock stickers.
The sayings are wonderful, and it's hard to see here, but there are lovely foil words and accents on the stickers.
I knew immediately that I wanted to use the sticker that says "living my Happily Ever After," so I built this page around that sentiment:
A few more notes about the page. The paper is LYB Lucky Me Green Tiny Dot, Stripe, and Denim Tiny Stripe. The clear overlay accents are also LYB Lucky Me. The stitching was done by hand. The brown and green pearl accents are from My Mind's Eye Lush line.

I'm sure feeling blessed to be living my Happily Ever After!

A Sketch With Flair

Are you a Fiskateer yet? You are? Yeah!!! You're not? What are you waiting for?!? If your asking yourself what the Fiskateers are, let me tell you a little about them. The Fiskateers are a community that shares a love of all things Fiskars. We share ideas, chat, post picture, etc. of our life and crafty endeavors. Love paper crafting? The Fiskateers are for you. Love sewing? The Fiskateers are for you. Can't live without your Fiskars scissors and border punches? The Fiskateers are definitely for you. Have I convinced you yet? Want to be a Fiskateer? Click here and this link will take you to the 5 Fisk-a-leads. E-mail any one of them, let them know that Samantha T. #6363 told you the Fiskateers community was the best place to talk crafting. They'll let you know more about the Fiskateer and even get you hooked up with your very own Fiskateer number.
Why all the Fisk-a-love today? Well, last week Sunday Fiskateer Rebecca set up an on-line chat with Allison Davis (chats like this are just 1 of the reasons I love being a Fiskateer). Allison's written a bunch of really fantastic sketch books. During the chat Allison issued a sketch challenge, and here's what I came up with:
Now to talk about the products used. The only non-American Craft item here is was the Fiskars Upper Crest border punch that I used on the Bodacious Banana paper. Everything else is from American Craft's Heat Wave line. The bright, sunny colors went perfectly with my summer back yard pool pictures. Here's a run down of what I used:
Paper: Pretty Papaya, Maverick Mango, Bodacious Banana, and Creamy Coconut
Flair (you know, those great button shaped accents): Surfs Up and Day in the Sun
Details: Sandy (don't you just love that camera? I think it's my favorite accent on the whole page!)
Remarks: Surfboard (self-adhering chip board)
Beach House: Heat Wave (chip board accent)