Month of Cards: Part 2: Happy Father's Day!

I made three Father's Day cards last week: one for my dad, one for my father-in-law and one for Rick's grandpa. I also made a birthday card for our niece for her 15th birthday.

For our niece's card I used a sketch from the blog "Card Patterns". I am really liking their sketches, I have already used their next one! My biggest challenge for this card was finding embellishments that were sophisticated enough for a 15-year-old. My girls are little, so I don't have much for older girls... yet. I eventually found this cute dress in a pack of Thickers chipboard from Scrapfest last year. I tried using a rub on that said "One of a Kind", but it didn't show up very well, so I covered that with the "Wow" die cut. (By the way, the side circles say "Smile".)



For the Father's Day cards I used the tutorial Colette posted last month on Challenge Masters (which, sadly, is now closed). The tutorial was to make these cute shirts. It is actually really easy! You can add a tie, buttons, pockets, whatever fits. I really like how the tie looks, but since my dad only wears a tie to funerals and weddings, I thought buttons (well, actually eyelets) would be more appropriate.



For Rick's grandpa, I used used my texture boutique to add some texture and then rubbed my gold metallic ink pad across the texture to make it stand out.

June Blade Masters Challenge!

Hi all! Happy Sunday to you! I posted my June Blade Masters challenge at Challenge Masters this morning!

There are so many great die cut/shaped papers out there to use on your pages, but they are kind of expensive, so my challenge for you this month is to use your cutting tools to make your own die cut paper! I used my Cricut Expression to cut mine, but you can use a decorative scissors, regular scissors or even punches to do this.

Here is my example. I used the scalloped circle from "Live Simply".


Try it out, and then post your page in the Challenge Masters gallery!

Month of Cards: Part 1

From June 9th through July 9th, we celebrate 12 birthdays or anniversaries in our family and extended family (that doesn't count Father's Day). So... this is the time of year I make LOTS of cards. Here are three cards that I have made in the last week for various occasions.

The first is a sympathy card I made for a friend whose mom passed away last week. I used the card sketch last week at Sketch Support. Here is the sketch and my take on it:



Next is the current sketch at Cardabilities. This card was a shower card for a friend who is getting married in a few weeks. I moved the smaller circle accents to the left side to cover a small "flaw" my stitching around the big circle.



Finally, an anniversary card. This card was for the Impromptu Challenge at Challenge Masters. The challenge was to make a card that included: 2 patterned papers, 2 buttons (at least), 2 different colors ink, ribbon/thread/jute. I also tried a new technique on this one. I bought some resist ink a couple of weeks ago at an estate sale which I broke out today for the first time. I used the resist ink to stamp the butterfly on glossy cardstock. I used my heat tool to dry the ink and then I took my brayer and rolled some blue and green ink over the butterfly. I think it turned out pretty cool!

May Challenge Masters Challenges

I was able to complete a few of the challenges at Challenge Masters for May. I have reached the point where we got our new camera so the number of photos has gone up A LOT. I think I will be doing a lot more double page layouts...

The first challenge was the Day In the Life challenge, which was to scrap outdoor photos. I used these gorgeous shots from our trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum last spring.


The next challenge I did was the Stamping challenge. The challenge was to "pop dot" part of your stamped image. I made this anniversary card for my father- and mother-in-law who celebrated their 35th anniversary this past weekend. I pop dotted the hearts.


Finally, I did the Scrapping the Girls challenge. This month the challenge was to scrap celebration photos. I pulled out these photos of Addy from last Easter.

May Blade Masters Challenge!

Happy May! It looks like spring has finally arrived! I don't know about where you live, but I know here we got lots of April showers! And we all know April showers bring May flowers! So my Blade Masters challenge at Challenge Masters this month is to use your cutting tools to make a dimensional flower. There are lots of options for this one, the flowers I made for my layout are just one example.



For my each of my flowers I cut 3 scalloped circles in 1/4" diameter increments using the Storybook cartridge and my Cricut. I then crumpled up the scalloped circles, uncrumpled them, inked the creases and edges and then sprayed them with turquoise Perfect Pearls Mist. I used glue dots to stick them together and to the page. Here is a closer look at the flowers:



You can use punches to make your flowers, or even scissors! You can curl your flowers, crumple them, or just leave them flat and use foam adhesive to lift a layer of the page. Get creative and have fun!

By the way, I used two page sketch #5 from Sketch Support for this layout!

National Scrapbooking Day Projects

I have already completed a couple of challenge for the NSD crop at Challenge Masters! The first was a Card Challenge. The challenge was to make a card with a button and a butterfly on it. I made these four Mother's Day cards for my mom, mother-in-law and two grandmas yesterday morning so I could get them in the mail in hopes that they would receive them today.


The second challenge was the Ice Cream Sundae Challenge. The challenge was to choose vanilla or chocolate ice cream and three toppings from this list: peanuts, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, cherry, sprinkles. I chose vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, with a cherry on top. (I know, my mouth is just watering thinking about it too!) Those ingredients then translated into scrapbooking "ingredients." Mine ended up being sewing, ribbon, flowers, and buttons. I made this layout with our pictures from last Easter. I scraplifted a layout by Suzy Plantamura in the October 2009 issue of Creating Keepsakes.


The sewing is around the edge of the circle patterned paper, there is a ribbon border using two different ribbons, flowers all over the place and buttons as the center of the flowers and to add some dimension to some of the circles.

I hope to get a few more done before the Thursday deadline!

National Scrapbooking Day!

Actually, National Scrapbooking Day is tomorrow, but there are lots of festivities that have already started! Challenge Masters is hosting a crop in our forum. There are 10 different challenges posted and tomorrow night we will be playing some games.

I have posted a "Progressive" Challenge. For this challenge, I created a layout and then wrote step by step instructions. However, you are to only look at the instructions one at a time as you complete them. So you have no idea what is coming next! Someone else had done this last year and I thought it was so fun and it actually makes for a pretty quick page because you don't have the opportunity to sit around and debate what to use and where to use it. Here is my first direction:

Gather your supplies: 2 4”x6” ish photos (I have one vertical and one horizontal), 1 sheet of cardstock, 3 different patterned papers (one should be decorative edge)- these may be scraps, tag or quote, 1 ribbon, one round ~1 ½” embellishment, 3 similarly sized embellishments, 3 small metal embellishments, letter stickers in various fonts or paper to cut title.

If you would like to complete the challenge, go here. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Also, Frosted Designs will be holding an online crop on our blog and Facebook page starting tonight at 5. I am hosting a 1 hour scraplift challenge on Sunday at 1.

I hope you have a chance to be creative this weekend!

April Blade Masters Challenge!

I am the new Blade Masters "Diva" at Challenge Masters for the next 6 months! The Blade Master category is all about using your cutting tools: electronic die cutters, manual die cutters, punches, scissors, etc. Since I have a Cricut and I have seen many comments in the Challenge Masters forum about women who do not use their die cutters, I am going to try to come up with some unique ways to use them other than basic die cut page accents and titles in hopes that people will find some new ways to use their machines and they don't go to waste!

For this month's challenge I decided to go with something pretty easy that you don't see very often. My challenge is to use die cuts to make a faux dry embossing look. The way you do this is to make the die cuts from the same color of paper as the background that you are placing them on.

For my example, I decided to do the layout of all of my belly shots from my pregnancy with William. I chose to cut out the foot shape from "New Arrival" in various sizes. I placed them along the top and bottom of my layout. Unfortunately you can't see them at all in the full shot of the layout, so I have included a couple of close up shots so you can get a better idea of what it looks like in person.




I made this card a couple of months ago, but it fits the criteria. I used a scroll frame from the "Storybook" cartridges behind the butterfly.

So, there you go, that's my challenge for this month. You don't need a Cricut for this either- you can use a punch to cut out your shapes or even a scissors! Get those blades moving! :)

Chopped Week #4

This is the final week of the Chopped Contest at Challenge Masters. Our challenge this week was to use one "ingredient" from each week. Here is a review of the past weeks:

Week 1:
lime green
circles
paint

Week 2:
yellow
dimensional flowers
scallops

Week 3:
white
cardboard
stitching

I decided to use paint from the first week, scallops from the second, and, I know this is going to be a shock, WHITE from last week. But, in my defense, I was working with wedding photos so it worked well. I used the paint with some foam stamps that I have never used before (I've used stamps from the set, just not these particular ones). For the scallops, I punched scalloped circles (yes, there are scallops ON my scallops!), cut them in half and lined them up. For the title I used my Cricut to cut the letters from chipboard and then patterned paper. After I glued them together I went around the edges with a black pen and then covered the letters with Star Dust Stickles. I have been struggling a bit lately with two pagers and then add wanting to put the program and invite on the page, this was a tough layout for me. But, it is done, and that is what matters!

Chopped Week #3

I didn't get cut this week in the Chopped contest at Challenge Masters!! This weeks' challenge was a doozy though.

We were to use the color white, cardboard and stitching. Ugh. Look through my blog, there aren't any mostly white layouts out there. I like COLOR!! So that was a major challenge for me. Then add in cardboard... I've seen challenges to use it before and I've even meant to try it once, but I haven't been able to work it into a layout. I decided to work with strips of cardboard, thinking that smaller amounts might be easier to work with. I peeled one side off, painted it white and then Glimmer Misted the heck out of it. My solution to not being able to use color? Lots of glitter and sparkle! I Glimmer Misted the cardboard, added glitter glue accents to the butterflies and gems to the middle of my flowers. The stitching part was the easiest. I was able to incorporate both hand and machine stitching. I machine stitched around the patterned paper blocks that house the photos and I hand stitched the trails behind the butterflies. (The glitter glue was still wet in my photos, but you get the idea.)

Layouts with Sketches

Here are a couple of layouts I did in the last week using challenges and sketches.

The first was for the Recipe Challenge at Challenge Masters. The recipe called for 1 photo, 2 different shapes, embellishments in multiples of 3, 4 different papers, no green (except in the photo) and we must use purple or orange. I also used the current sketch at the Sketchabilities blog. I don't scrap single photo layouts often, but I had a lot of fun with this one and found it quite easy to incorporate the ribbon on this one.



Next is my page for week 2 of the Chopped Challenge at Challenge Masters. This week's challenge was to use yellow, dimensional flowers, and scallops. I thought it would be fun to make scallops out of my flowers, so I cut them in half. I also used my Cricut to cut the scalloped paper. I did lots of inking to make the papers work together. I also used the sketch for the PageMaps Webster's Pages contest. I had to move the journaling and title to make them work with my larger photo and extra photo.

Cards and Challenges

I've been busy making cards and have some catching up to do! Here are some of my cards from the last week.

I did this one for the current Card Challenge at Challenge Masters. There were several options to choose from this month and one of them was this sketch created by Jamilie, the card diva.



Next is a card I did for the color challenge at Challenge Masters. The challenge was to use cream, dark blue and tan.


Then I did the stamping challenge. That challenge was to stamp an image on vellum and heat emboss it. I stamped and embossed both the flower and the sentiment.



Here are a few others that I made and I wanted to share.

Chopped Week #1

There is a contest going on at Challenge Masters right now based on the TV show "Chopped." I have never seen the show, but from what I gather, contestants are giving the same ingredients and they have to make something with them. Then the dishes are judged and someone is eliminated or "Chopped."

This week's "ingredients" for our contest were: the color lime green, paint, and circles. I had a lot of fun with this challenge as these are all things I use on a fairly regular basis. I used lots of lime green on this layout. I used white paint on foam stamps for "Haylee" and I also found 3 different sized objects to stamp the circles with paint.


Here is the sketch and my entry for the Back Porch Memories Guest Designer contest for April. I don't make many 1 photo layouts, so I decided to make a photo collage in the place of the single photo. I also played around with different fonts and media for the long title. The process of making the title was fun, but also a little frustrating. The most frustrating part was figuring out how to make the stamped letters stand out against the background paper. I ultimately decided to use embossing powder.

We Are Family

I completed another layout!! This one I did for the Hybrid Challenge at Challenge Masters. The challenge was to use items that are a part of this month's Collect-A-Kit from Digital Scrapbooking Experts. We had to use some of the letters and one of the papers. I used the letters for the word "Family". I also went over them with Glossy Accents to give them a little dimension. I used one of the papers and cut it into strips and I used the ribbon on the title block. The shaped paper that I used was another free download I had.



I had quite a bit of the patterned paper left over and I had some coordinating scraps out, so I decided to make a couple of cards (I made 2 that were pretty much identical):


Finally, here is the layout I did for the Guest Design Team Contest at Back Porch Memories and the sketch that it was to be based off of. (I didn't get chosen this month, but I got a great layout out of the deal!) These pictures are from when my oldest got 3 stitches about a year ago.

Christmas Joy

I got another layout from Christmas of '09 completed! This one is for the family album. I used the February Blade Masters challenge at Challenge Masters on this one. The challenge was to use at least one kind of punch. I pulled out my much neglected star punch and punched stars out of the scraps from trimming the tree border across the bottom of the layout. I also used a mask and some Glimmer Mist to make the gold stars (you can't tell from the photo, but they are on both ends. Finally I did some freehand stitching with my sewing machine. I used more Echo Park on this one. I even used some of the packaging! In the front of the collection pack there is a sheet that shows the different patterns that are included and some of the stickers. The "Christmas" in my title was part of the title (Everybody Loves Christmas) on the collection pack!

Christmas in February

I have been working on my Christmas photos from 2009 and using Echo Park "Everybody Loves Christmsa"! For this layout I used the current sketch from Sketchy Thursdays and the color challenge at Challenge Masters. The color challenge at Challenge Masters was to use at least 3 of the following colors: medium blue, pink, red, green, and light blue. I used all of the colors besides medium blue. As you can see, I switched the title and journaling placement from the sketch because I thought they worked better this way with the pictures I had chosen and how they ended up on the page.



I also made this get well card for my grandma who just had hip surgery using leftovers from my "Summer '09" layout.

Summer and Princesses

I got a couple of layouts done this week! The first I did for the Manufacturer Challenge at Challenge Masters. The challenge was to use 2 of these 3 manufacturers: My Mind's Eye, Graphic 45 and Core'dinations. I own no Graphic 45 (it's just not my style), so the choice was easy! I used a layout from the July/August CK as inspiration for this one.


I've had the chipboard pieces sitting around for a couple of months. Usually I go from the colors in the photos to select my papers, but for this one I went from the chipboard. I was very happy to find this Bo Bunny Alissa paper, the colors were perfect! Ellie had so much fun when we went to see Disney on Ice, I'm pretty sure it is what caused her current obsession with all things princess. She still talks about it and always calls it "Disney Princesses on Ice Skating."