Cards- Using Up Scraps

Hi all! Earlier this week I sat down to create some birthday cards for the month ahead. I decided to pull out my folder of scraps and work with those. For my first card, I started with this sketch from Sketch Saturday:

As I was going through my scraps, I found I had a lot of strips, so I decided to use some of those for the background. Then I used a couple rectangular scraps over the top. I punched the flower from a cardstock scrap and inked the edges for some dimension. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on a scrap of vellum and adhered that to my card. I finished things off with some black dimensional paint.

 

For my next card, I had the three pieces of floral paper. I needed something the fill in the center of the card, so I found a scrap of coordinating cardstock to trim down. I edged my background pieces with black ink and adhered them down. I cut the word "birthday" with my Cricut. I stamped "happy" on a scrap of white cardstock and added the cut word below it. "Happy" wasn's fully centered, so I added a small flower stamp to balance it. I edged this piece as well with black ink. I finished this card off with some sequins.

Next, I made a card for one of my nieces. I found this fun cut so I started there. Since that took up most of the card front, I just needed to come up with a background. I pulled out this dot circle stamp (this is definitely a favorite) and stamped and heat embossed it in white on white cardstock. I then inked the whole background with Salty Ocean Distress ink. I glued down the cut pieces. The cut just had holes for the eyes, so I pulled out some googly eyes to add to it. It still needed a little something, so I fussy cut the ladybugs from a border strip in my scrap folder.

For my last card, I started with a strip with the birds on the line. I searched up a cut that said "A little birdie told me...". I cut  the background panel from dot cardstock and layered the bird strips and a slim strip of red plaid over it. I then glued down my sentiment. I finished this card off in the inside with cut words that said "You're 3."

April Calendar Page- Stick It Down

Hi all! I have my April calendar page to share today! I used the March Double page sketch from Stick It Down:

I had lots more photos, so I made them all 3x3 squares and rounded the corners instead of cutting them as circles. I then fussy cut some flowers and used a circle cutter to cut some circles from coordinating patterned paper to layer under the photos. I cut a sheet of the butterfly patterned paper in half diagonally and arranged my photos along the edge. I used my Cricut to cut the title. I used a chunk of lined patterned paper for my journaling block. I wanted a little texture on my cardstock background, so I splattered some teal, pink, and purple inks on it before adhering my title and journaling. I embellished the page with some puffy stickers. I also added a fussy cut butterfly to the title to bring the butterflies to that part of the layout.

 

March Cards

I had a few cards to make this month. First up was two confirmation cards for my daughter and my nephew. I started with some scraps of watercolor paper. I painted waves on them in red, orange and yellow with shimmer watercolors. I then added some splatters of red before it was dry. Once it was dry, I stamped some texture onto the background in a yellow shade of Distress Oxide ink. I finished it off with some splatters of gold ink. for the card base, I stamped a script background stamp with gold ink. Once that was dry, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with embossing powder. I cut the dove and cross combo using my Cricut from cream shimmer cardstock. 

Next up is a birthday card. I started with a watercolor patterned paper in blue and green. I layered blue distress ink through a mask over the top. I cut the wheat branches using my Cricut and added some inking for depth. I stamped, heat embossed and fussy cut the banner. I added some gold splatters to the background for some interest and a double bow of embroidery floss to the wheat bundle.

 

Vive Le Swing- Dance Layout

Hi all! I have my last dance page (for a bit) to share! For this page, I started with this sketch from Sketches in Thyme:

I changed the layout of the photos a bit and placed them over the top of the papers. I also moved the title to an area that had more space. The larger pieces of paper on either side are watercolor papers with resist on them. I started by using some Distress Inks on them. The color wasn't vibrant enough, so I then sprayed them with red spray ink. I let that dry and then went to wipe the excess off the resist areas. That resulted in very vibrant red all over everything. I was bummed at first, but the vibrant red goes much better with with photos, so it worked out. For the title, I cut it with the Cricut from gold foil cardstock once and kraft cardstock two more times and stacked them up for dimension. I used a couple of premade embellishments and some gold gems to finish off the page.

 Now we just wait until she gets her dance photos from this year- then it will be crunch time before graduation!

Cross the Line- Dance Layout

Hello! I have another layout to share today! I only have one left to make before I am caught up on these, at least until she take photos for this year!

One of the challenges this month at Lasting Memories is to make a wreath on your layout using punched or die cut circles. This dance made me think of pom style dance, even though they didn't use poms, so I punched a bunch of scalloped circles to create the wreath of "poms" around my page. I then stamped the starbursts around that. I cut the title with my Cricut and wrote the journaling on a small journaling spot. I finished off the page with some clear iridescent sequins.

 

A New Layout and Cards

Hello, I have a few new project sto share today. First up is another dance layout for my daughter's album. I had been thinking about how to create this layout for a while. I wanted to try something with inkpads to make a modern, geometric background. I started by pressing a black inkpad onto the background paper. Then I took a pink inkpad and drug it across in different directions (This would be even more effective with an inkpad that has a little more ink in it, mine was a little dry.) I then matted the photos with black and pink cardstock. I then cut the title with my Cricut. I wanted to add some more silver to my layout (the shadow around the title it silver). I have some silver foil sheets and I tried running a strip of adhesive on some scrap paper and rubbing the foil over it and I loved the effect. So I added some strips of silver around the page. I love how the adhesive runner gives a ragged end to the strip. I then finished off the layout with a journaling tag and a die cut.

Next up, I made some thank you cards for some choreographers that helped with an outreach program our studio does. First up is a card for the director of the program who had a baby last month, so this card is a thank you/welcome baby card. This was a quick and easy card to make. I cut some patterned papers and an embellishment card. The card was the same color as the background I wanted to place it on, so I matted it in a coordinating color of cardstock. I added some gold Liquid Pearl to the crown and bowtie on the lions, the crown on the alligator and some dots around the animal patterned paper. I finished off this card with a fiber ribbon across the seam between the patterned papers.
 

For my next card, I used the "Marbled" Turnabout stamp on cream shimmer paper. This card is 5x7 and the stamp is 6x6, so I trimmed down the stamped panel to 4 3/4" wide and then cut it about 2/3 of the way down to create a gap which I filled with a plain strip of cardstock. I then stamped the dancer with Versamark cardstock and heat embossed it with navy embossing powder. I cut the sentiment and shaddow with my Cricut.  I adhered those together and to my card. I decided I wanted to add some of the turquoise glitter paper to the card, so I cut a couple of thin strips and added them to the card front.

I used a set of masks and blended directly on my card front for the next card. I had taped off the edges to creat the border. There was a gap between the mask and the tape on the bottom so I had ended up with a thin dark blue line across the bottom of the inking, so I used a pen and drew the blue border all the way around the design. I finished off this card with a cut dancer and sentiment.

For my final card, I used the Triangles Turnabout stamp. This is another stamp that creates a 6x6 panel, so I again trimmed down the sides. I then trimmed down the pieces I had trimmed off and added them on either end of the large panel. I then cut the dancer and sentiment using my Cricut.

Hey There, Pumpkin- Stick It Down

Hello! I have a new layout to share! I started with the single page sketch from Stick It Down:

I had four photos instead of three, so I just added it to the inside column. Instead of the triangle bursts, I used my Cricut to cut some large leaves from patterned paper. I used the same patterned papes to add photo mats. I used my Cricut again for the title. I used a journaling stamp to make the lines for my journaling. To embellish the page, I used some old chipboard buttons and some new puffy stickers. I finished the whole thing off with some gold ink splatter.