Recycled Packaging

Ever since I started making cards I've had a lot of "aha" moments on things that would work on a card.  There is so much freedom when you don't have to think about things being acid-free.  I have been saving the packaging from light bulbs because it is a great white corrugated paper.  I used that for the layers on the bottom of this card - making it a perfect fit for the Practical Scrappers feature on corrugated elements.  It wasn't intentional but it kinda looks like a card you should give a family coming home with a new baby boy.

Supplies Used:

Buttons from Studio G

Pins from ???

Paper & Die Cuts from Momenta

Pearls from Creative Charms

Twine from The Twinery

Big News and a Thank You Card

Let's kick things off with talking about how unbelievably excited I am to have been chosen to join the Quick Quotes Design Team.  I love my design team positions and the way they keep me constantly growing and challenged in this fabulous art.  Can't wait to get started with another one!  Here's the official announcement!

Today I've got a Clean and Simple card to share with my favorite color combination and some gorgeous Momenta and Authentique goodies!  I love that I was able to use the gray Momenta paper and let it shine, but not overwhelm my card.  And how about that pretty sentiment - beautiful script from Momenta!  

Color Combo Card

I made this card for a color combo challenge offered up by CARDS magazine using the colors Navy, Yellow, and Light Blue.  It didn't get picked up (it's okay two others did :)) so now I can share it!  It also had to have clouds on it.  I enjoy these challenges, it's fun to see what you can come up with in your stash!  I fussy cut my clouds and used the little bling dots to add some pizazz to them.  I like how it brought out the yellow too!  My sentiment comes from AC and my yellow paper comes from Authentique but everything else is Momenta!

Speaking of Momenta....Have you tried our Design Your Own Stickers yet? You can request a FREE set just by sending your name and postal address to social@mymomenta.com! 

(open to US and Canada residents).

Help!

I'm trying to gauge what of my stuff is most eye catching...if you have a few minutes I have a survey up on my "Favorite layouts" tab and my "Favorite cards" tab.  I'd love for you to just vote for any that really catch your eye.  Sometimes a neutral eye is helpful in removing that sentimental attachment to a project :)  Thanks in advance to any who are able to help out!

Authentique and our Christmas card picture

Okay so this is one of few layouts ever that my colors do not match the picture.  I'm getting crazy in my mid 30's :).  I wanted to use some of the Authentique Gathering line, the colors in it are just gorgeous.  I combined it with several items from the Amy Tan line and some Momenta die cuts and paper and it all came together.  I created my patterned paper circles by using my triangle punch and putting them all together.  Definitely loving the orange, turquoise (is this the right name...maybe teal?), and brown combination!  

CARDS Magazines Rolled Paper Challenge

The challenge this week was to use rolled paper.  I thought about going the flower route but wanted to try something new.  I rolled up my chevron papers and glued them down (trying to match the chevrons as much as I could) and then trimmed it down to fit the heart.  I always enjoy getting to include gray and love how this all came together from my stash!

Supplies Used: Authentique patterned paper, The Twinery Bakers Twine, Momenta sentiment, all the rest is old stash :)

Clustering Layout

My grandma recently told me she saw a picture of a card I made and she didn't understand it.  I realized it was one that had a big giant cluster in one corner.  I explained to her that it was kind of an art form - clustering things together to make them eye pleasing.  Her response: "Oh okay, well then I get it."  That's when I decided to make this a topic for a feature at Practical Scrappers.  I do a lot of clustering, just look at my recent work...I especially do it a lot on cards.  Today I have a new layout to share that features it in a couple of spots:

My little guy is almost 18months old and I just am getting around to this picture of him as a brand spankin' new baby (I have done a lot from his first year - no guilt here - just one of those that didn't get done).  I followed the colors in the picture and it made for a strange combination but I think it still works :) I enjoyed going thru my stash and putting together items from all kinds of companies!

Supplies Used: Cosmo Cricket Stickers, October Afternoon Flags, The Twinery bakers twine, My Minds Eye patterned paper, Momenta patterned paper, Glitz design stickers and patterned paper, Simple Stories patterned paper 

He likes the Packers and the Vikings?

I wanted to put together a quick, simple layout about my sons love of two rival teams.  Only in the mind of a 7 year old can you love the Packers and the Vikings.  Because there were sooo many big elements I knew I needed to keep it clean.  I'll be honest, this is not my favorite layout ever, not sure if it's the yellow, the twine not looking as much like a football as I'd like, or that  it's just too simple :)...but I am happy to have ventured out of my comfort zone a big and to have his love of these teams documented!  We can't love every single layout we make right? And my son loved it!

Winter Twig Layout

Back with another Little Yellow Bicycle project - I'm gonna have to make a run for more of their stuff here before too long :)

I picked up some of the little clothespins to play with, they add a fun dimension to the layout don't they?  For my chevrons I cut down the paper that was plaid to begin with and created my own chevrons.  It was a fun puzzle to try to put together :)  I also splatter painted - this was actually a first for me!  I wanted it white like snow so I had to go with paint.  A lot ended up on me but I was happy with the end result!

Supplies Used:  All paper & snowflakes: Little Yellow Bicycle

Letters: Momenta

Bakers Twine: The Twinery

Winter Twig Card

I love the Winter Twig line from Little Yellow Bicycle!  I decided to play with it and make a layout (I'll show ya that later) and a card.  I first punched out silver glittered circles and made a grid with them.  Then I added some snowflakes and circles from the Make a Snowflake kit they have.  I used a couple extra circle snowflake stickers (don't) know where those are from.  Lastly I added a sentiment and outlined it with a turquoise gel pen.  I love how it just feels sparkly and bright like a fresh snow!

Supplies used:

Sentiment - SRM stickers

Gems - Creative Charms

Everything else is Little Yellow Bicycle or just my stash :)

CARDS Magazine Recipe Challenge

Paige offered up the challenge this week to use 3 flowers, 2 butterflies, and 1 bird.  This might be the fastest card I have made in a long time...all from the same sticker set (except the sentiment), a little pattern paper, and some bling :)  This was a very fun challenge!

And I got two cards picked up for the June issue of CARDS magazine!  Wahoo! :)

Supplies Used: Sentiment SRM stickers, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Creative Charms bling, The Twinery Bakers Twine, MME stickers & Patterned Paper

Using up some Christmas Stash

We just had a feature at Practical Scrappers using up leftover Christmas stuff.  I decided to pull out some tinsel and see what I could do with it.  I had absolutely no idea if it work.  I used the Glue Arts Perma Tac cartridge and covered the heart with it.  The tinsel stuck real easy!  I then trimmed around it and trimmed more where it was just unruly.  Topped it off with a banner and voila!  I think that experiment turned out pretty great!

I decided I would layer it at the bottom of a card and see what happened with that.  Not loving that nearly as much...but here's the result anyway :)

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Supplies Used: 

Jillibean Soup: letters & Patterned Paper

Little Yellow Bicycle: Flower, Tag, Patterned Paper

Today I got to participate in my second cross promotion for Momenta.  This round is with Glue Arts and all I can say is WOW!  It's amazing how nice it is to work with a quality adhesive...I've worked with some pretty bad ones in the past and it's a complete bummer when your project keeps falling apart.  Glue Arts has a great variety and holds your stuff down marvelously!  Soooooo here's what I created!

For my first project I created a layout using the Momenta Earth Tones Die Cut Pad and a variety of Glue Arts Adhesive.  

I used the High Tac cartridge with the Glue Glider Pro to attach all the frames.

The U Cut it 3D adhesive comes in a big rectangle shape allowing you to cut it into a size you want to use.  I used that to pop up my matted pictures.

I was especially impressed with how easy it was to use the Glue Glider Pro with the high tac cartridge on little pieces it worked perfect for getting adhesive onto little die cut letters as well as the entire border (we all know what a daunting task this can be!).  I could just place the different pieces right onto the gun and pick up adhesive that way.  It was fantastic to not have gooped up fingers after putting down a whole bunch of small stuff!  My border on this layout was created by cutting shapes from the die cut pad and gluing them all down with the Glue Glider Pro.  I then machine stitched over the top.

Glue Arts Supplies Used:

Glue Glider Pro High Tac Cartridge

U Cut it 3 D Adhesive

Momenta Supplies Used:

12 X 12 Diecut Pad PA 2394

Premium Paper Pad PA 2331

My second project is a card with a medallion flower.  This is a such a clean and simple card for me!  I think medallion flowers are one of the biggest tests for adhesives.  This one is made out of patterned paper.  Once it was folded and scored I used the Micro Squares to connect my two ends.  I then punched a circle and Raisen's Squares  for the base.  I also used Raisen's Squares under my button.  The rest of the card is put together using the Perma Tac cartridge for the Glue Glider Pro.

Glue Arts Supplies Used:

Glue Glider Pro Perma Tac Cartridge

Raisen's Squares

Micro Squares

Momenta Supplies Used:

Family Ties Super Paper Pad PA 1839

Tomorrow at Momenta and Glue Arts

I am sooo excited for this Cross Promotion that begins tomorrow!  Glue Arts and Momenta are teaming up for the week!  I can't wait to see what both teams come up with...hint, hint, I'm up tomorrow :)

Winter Layout for Practical Scrappers

I created this one for fun to add to the Practical Scrappers winter feature last week.  I have had these BoBunny winter papers since last year but hadn't used them.  I'm finding I am more of a seasonal scrapper - like if it's cold then I want to do cold not a beach layout :).  Anyway it was the perfect time to pull them back out!  I also added some Momenta letter stickers and Momenta die cuts (borders and journaling spot) and of course some bakers twine :)

Super Star and Medallion Flowers

At long last I've conquered the medallion flower! I got a scoring board for Christmas making medallion flowers a much more doable creation!  I've tried other ways but always mismeasured something and ended up with a goofy looking flower.  As I was playing with it I opened up one of our Die Cut Pads from Momenta and looked at the border strips in there and realized they would make beautiful medallion flowers.  The best part is that they punch right out and have multiple colors/designs to them so you don't have to find just that right paper to make a neat looking flower!

After I punched each one out I scored them every 1/4 inch.  I then folded them and used some tacky and quick drying glue on a circle on both the back and front to hold them together.  You can see that circle on the front of each of mine - I added a flower sticker to each to give them some extra color.  I even used a scalloped border to create one of my flowers and it worked great too!

This set of die cuts coordinates beautifully with the Free to Be Me line!  For the rest of my layout I cut out 3 inch squares from three different papers in that line and made a grid.  I used two frames from the Die Cut pad to mat my picture.  I outlined everything in black mimicking the doodling you find in the Free to Be Me Line.

Supplies Used:

Free to Be Me Super Paper Pad PA 2263

Bright 12x12 Die Cut Pad PA 2393

Puffy Title Sticker ST 2442

Vellum Card

I haven't been able to participate in the CARDS magazine challenge for awhile and knew I wanted to give it a whirl this week.  The challenge was to use vellum.  I have plenty of vellum stickers and vellum sayings...but I decided I wanted to see what a vellum base would look like.  It actually makes for a pretty cool winter look don't ya think?  

Supplies used: Authentique Journey Die Cuts, Creative Charms Pearls, The Twinery Bakers Twine

My first publication!

I had my very first paper publication come out in December and I am officially allowed to share the project with you now!  But first a picture of me and my magazine :)  Thrilled would be an understatement!  Looking forward to more issues to come!

If you've been following me for awhile you've probably seen this card before.  I made it for Practical Scrappers for a frugal finds feature using coffee filters.  I was shocked when it got picked up by CARDS.  What to do with it when it gets back to me?

Butterfly Garden Card

This totally would have made my top 10 from 2011...but I needed to hold it back for Momenta!  I think it actually may be one of my all time favorites!  I don't use a lot of pastels in my scrapping but I wanted to check out the Butterfly Garden Pyramid Pad from Momenta and I'm so glad I gave it a chance.  This Pad has the most gorgeous paper and is amazing when fussy cut!  Check out all the dimension on this card and it wasn't even difficult to do!  I based this card on a sketch for CARDS magazine submission calls for May.  It didn't get picked up (three others did though!) and I have no way to link you to the sketch.

I created my base from a nice yellow cardstock.  Then added the striped patterned paper at the bottom.  One of my favorite features of our pyramid pads is that they have one "busy and detailed" side of paper and one "calmer and neutral one."  I used one of the neutral sides for my pink background to help ground things before I went dimension crazy!  The pyramid pads are set up with two sided cardstock in descending sizes and the designs get smaller to make them more user friendly for cards.  I love them!

I punched 5 1 1/2 inch circles (in all different patterns), and 5 1 inch circles (again in all different patterns).  I glued them together and then popped them each up.  I fussy cut the flowers and popped those up also (just in the center) and then pulled the petals upward so they really popped up.  You don't see a lot of this but I did it in this card too and I think it adds a really nice touch!  I topped those off with gems.  Finally I fussy cut two butterflies and glued the first one down tight but only glued the body of the second one down.  I pulled the wings forward, again to give it some pretty pop.  I am officially hooked on this pyramid pad!

Supplies Used:

Butterfly Garden Pyramid Pad PA-2382

Textured Cardstock Pad PA-0656