Sketchy Saturday: Week One

Welcome to a brand new weekly feature here on my blog!  Sketchy Saturday!  Each week I will be sharing a new sketch with you and hopefully a new sample too!  I have really been enjoying creating sketches and hope you are enjoying using them just as much!  If you make something using one of these sketches I would LOVE to see it!  Share a link with me in the comments here or on my site facebook page which you can find here.

My talented friend Cathy is actually the one who encouraged me to start creating sketches and so I am giving her sneak previews of the sketches.  This week she has created a sample on this sketch as well!!!  You can find her sample here.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: American Crafts

Stickers: Echo Park, American Crafts

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories

The Wood Veneer Challenge

The current challenge for the CARDS Magazine blog is wood veneer.  Seeing as that is one of my absolute favorite embellishments, I of course had to join in!

I was playing around on the Silhouette store and came across the cut and had to give it a whirl.  The white part is all from the cut file.  I added the background colors and then created rows using the stars.  I followed the natural curve when I added "lucky" to stick with the sunburst feel.  Bright colors just make me smile and making this card was a blast because of that!  I created this card entirely using my Helmar Adhesive Runner, which made it go by really fast....I'll be featuring how I did that next Wednesday on the Helmar blog!

I am also linking this up for the current issue at Paper Issues: Count Your Lucky Stars

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce, Bella Blvd, Pebbles 

Stickers: Simple Stories

Wood: Studio Calico

What Works For Me: Thicker Storage

I finally have a Wednesday off and I wanted to share another installment of "What Works for Me Wednesday."  This week I am going to focus on something that was a huge headache for storing...until I started this method.  Today I am talking about Thickers and how I store my thickers (with a few other dimensional and non-dimensional letter sets thrown in...but mostly Thickers :)

I am not a person who saves my packaging from my embellishments.  It would be great if I was and I have started to try to be more deliberate about that...but I definitely haven't before the last 6 months.

I just simply use a plain white plastic drawer like one that comes in a storage compartment.  Now, with letters in it, it does not fit in as a drawer.  But that's okay because my drawer part got broken by one of my kiddos!  And honestly...I kinda like it being open and just sitting on a shelf!  My container measures about 10 inches wide by 14 inches long.  I only have one drawer because I am a purger and don't have any more Thickers than that!  I know that if you got a little bigger drawer (taller) you could make it work in a shelf system and have several drawers full of Thickers if you have lots!

Here you can see a side view of how they fit in.  If I have kept the packaging, I trim off the top label part but keep the celophane around it (slicing open one long side and one short side for easy access but avoiding the stickyness at the bottom)

If I don't have the packaging anymore then I put them together facing it's partner...preventing it from rubbing on other and getting lost.

It's a very simple system and has worked great...I just wish I had thought of it sooner ;)

Flower Pen Tutorial

I am up at the Samantha Walker blog today! I had so much fun playing with Samantha's new flowers this week and found a fun way to incorporate them into a project.  Today I am going to show you how I turned these flowers into pens.  I have them displayed here in a flower pot.  I am also linking this up to the Paper Issues current Issue - Tip-toe thru Tu-lips

Your first step is to cut out the flowers that you want to use.  I used two shades of each colors to add a little contrast.  I set them up on my screen like this and then used 6" X 12" papers on my cutting mat.  I used the following flowers:

#55487

#55845

#55842

#55840

#55830

You will then want to fold and bend your flowers to your taste....I just use my fingers for this but a pencil would work great too.  I also embellished mine with some gemstones.

I then created my "stem" by using a six inch square.  First off, I have to give credit to the team coordinator, Jamie, here because she helped me figure out how to do this step.  I set it like a diamond on my grid and trimmed off one end so that it lined up with where I wanted the paper to end on my pen (a grid mat was super helpful with this).  

I used strong craft glue that dries fast and rolled up the pen, securing it with a clothespin while I worked on the others.

I then wrapped it with washi tape because I thought that would help it hold up better and looked pretty!

I cut slits in the end of it so that it folds down in thirds, making it easy to attach to the flower.

Once again using my strong craft glue I attached it to the flower

And then you are done..you've got a lovely little pen to display.

Our school secretary is an awesome friend and because I always talk her head off about paper crafting (which she doesn't do any of), I decided to make this into a gift for her.  I used a small flower pot and added some beans.

I then added the whole variety of them!  I hope this will give her a little bit of spring joy for the week!

Have a great week crafters!

Little Monster Layout - Paper House Productions

I'm so excited to be back designing for another term with Paper House Productions.  I truly love their products and have already created a bunch with my new goodies.  Today I have the first to share with you!

I loved this line from the moment I saw it!  You just can't go wrong with darling monsters can ya????

I cut my pictures down to 3 X 3 squares and then backed them with white cardstock.  I then added a square of green patterned paper from the Little Man Stack and put the set of pictures on top of that.  I fussy cut some monsters from the patterned paper and tucked those behind creating a peek a boo style scene.  I used stickers and a die cut to create the title and then added a few more sticker words.  To draw the eye in to the pictures I cut out a few extra circles in coordinating colors and sizes and added those to the corners.  The bottom corner already had circles but I added a few more to that.  Popping some of  those up added some dimension.  A few enamel dots, heart stickers, and wood stars were the finishing touches.  

Can't wait to play more with this line!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Paper House Productions

Stickers: Paper House Productions

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Wood: Studio Calico

Bella Blvd Thank You Note

I have a lot to be thankful for this week, every week really, but especially this week.  So today I have another thank you card to share with you!

I created this one using all supplies from Bella Blvd and love the color combo that comes out in it!  The two blues combined with the yellow and red adds and unexpected twist.  I fussy cut all fo the flowers and added those to the speech bubble - popping up a few of them!  A couple little flags add another element of fun to it.  Doesn't this card just scream "spring?" Too bad the weather doesn't...

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd

Flags: Bella Blvd

Stickers: Bella Blvd

A Grid Style Thank You Card

I still had some scraps left over from playing with Daily Grind and decided to play a little more with cards.  For this one I made use of my one inch circle punch a whole bunch!

I used the punch to punch out icons from patterned paper and created a grid pattern.  I then outlined those with my black pen to make them pop a little more.  Some enamel dots and spelling out "thanks" were the final added touches!  Can't wait to get my hands on the new Simple Stories lines!!!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories

Cardstock: American Crafts

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Stickers: Simple Stories

These are a few of my favorite things...a layout incorporating some of my favorites

Of all the new lines from Imaginisce, I do believe that Welcome Spring is my favorite.  I love the bright colors, I love the graphics, and I really love that it has my two favorite colors to scrap with: navy and yellow!  I made use of this line for this birthday layout about my Lucy!  You are also going to see that this layout incorporates several other elements that are favorites of mine!

I had several posed shots of her like this from her 5th birthday party, so I picked my three favorites and lined them up.  Her dress was navy blue and bright pink making it a perfect match for this line.  I used my favorite Kiwi Lane Border Template to create a wavy border above the photos.  I also used my cameo to cut out the "smile" for my title and added a sticker from one of my favorite companies SRM Stickers.  Doilies are hands down my favorite embellishment right now and I am incorporating them on almost every project that I create.  I added texture by using a feather, burlap, twine, and chipboard.  So what are some of your favorite things to use right now?  I bet we have some in common!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce, Teresa Collins

Stickers: SRM Stickers, Simple Stories

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Chipboard; Bella Blvd

Feather: Bella Blvd

Die Cut: American Crafts

My third Imaginisce Scraplift!

I shared earlier in the week that I created two cards as "scraplifts" for Imaginisce.  What I didn't share is that I had actually created three!  One of my first cards was based on a card by one of my favorite scrappers Suzanna Lee.  But being the star that she is the card I was lifting from actually got picked up for publication by CARDS Magazine.  So today I am here to share my lift with you, but the inspiration for it you will have to wait to see until the July issue of CARDS magazine comes out!

 I did some serious fussy cutting on this one...cutting out the pieces of the butterflies and piecing them together!  

All the pieces from this come from the Welcome Spring and Child Memories lines from Imaginisce.  I did also add in some tape from Bella Blvd and a few Studio Calico Wood hearts too.  I'm enjoying playing with mists these days and using them for creating splatters...there is definitely some technique to getting that down without making a giant mess!

My final post for CutCardStock

 It's hard to believe that six months has passed and my term with CutCardStock is over!  I can't wait to see what fabulous creations the next team comes up with!  For my last project I decided to do a layout with a whole lot of paper piecing!

My base is a piece of Solar White Neenah Cardstock.  I then used papers from the Pop Tones line to create my chevron pattern. I also used some CTI Glama Marbled White Translucent Paper to create the heart behind my picture.  Here's the scoop on how I created my chevrons:

I cut out one of each color

And then cut them apart at each parallelogram.  Then I pieced them back together on the layout.

It requires patience but is worth it because of the results!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: CutCardStock

Irocks: Imaginisce

Stickers: Bella Blvd

Imaginisce Scraplifts

This week Imaginisce offered us up the challenge of Scraplifting a project.  Scraplifting is taking an element or elements of another person's project and doing the same with your own creative spin!  I decided to do cards and therefore created two scraplifts!

First up is this card which was created by the talented Aimee Kidd.  I loved the whimsical feel to it and the way she did three sections.  Here is how I recreated it:

 For my second project I decided to go a different route and lift from a layout!  Here's the layout from Cari Locken:

If you know me, you know I love repeated shapes and patterns, so this layout totally caught my eye!  Here's my lift of it:

I did the diamonds, I did the left side of the card, I just loved her whole approach!  If you want to see close up details...you can check them out on the Imaginisce Blog today!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Irocks: Imaginisce

Twine: The Twinery

Die Cuts: Imaginsce

Doily: SRM Stickers

Buttons: Imaginisce

Shaped Card Challenge

I am so excited that the Paige card challenge is back on the Northridge Publishing Blog!  I used to participate in those very regularly and decided to try to get back into the swing of things!  This week's challenge was to do a shape card.  Definitely a challenge - as I don't do a lot of shape cards.  But I hopped on my computer and found several that I had been um, hoarding, in my silhouette software.  This was the one that jumped out at me!  I also am linking this up to the Paper Issues current issue: Tip-toe thru Tu-lips

Triangles are so fun and I haven't seen many people play with this card, so I figured why not!  It came with the intricate flower overlay and that's where the real challenge came in!  I wasn't sure what to do - go matchy, go all different.  But something about the flowers was screaming Doodlebug to me.  So I punched out circles from a sheet of Doodlebug paper from the "Take Note" line.  I couldn't do it on my machine because the paper was pretty detailed...it would've taken forever to figure out how to cut it.  So I went old school with the punch :).  After I glued all those down, I popped the petals up, simply by folding them upwards.  I then used a pixie stick and created a little flag for my sentiment, adding a coordinating washi tape flag and heart.  Lastly I went in and added some IRocks from Imaginisce in between my flowers.  Oh so much fun to create - a great challenge!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Doodlebug Design

Irocks: Imaginisce

Pixie Stick: Doodlebug Design

Stickers: Doodlebug Design

Washi Tape: Doodlebug Design

Cardstock: American Crafts

Celebrate - A Patriotic Layout

I have had this layout for awhile and haven't gotten around to blogging it, perfect for a middle of the week slump!

I love to play off of angles and change things up a lot.  Gives a fresh view on things instead of just straight on.  As you can see I did that multiple times on this throwing things in all different directions!  Imagine how different this layout would look had I kept the red background straight on and centered or the pictures straight on and centered.  It would still be pleasing to the eye but not have quite the surprise value that it does this way!  I also played with a lot of texture and dimension in this by using everything from crocheted hearts to chipboard to washi tape.  Possibly my favorite thing about this one is that I managed to include four photos - love it when you can get a bunch of pictures onto one layout! 

Supplies Used:

All the supplies are from Bella Blvd

3 Months - Baby Boy Layout

I am having so much fun playing with the newest releases from the recent CHA show!  Today I have a layout that features pieces from the "Special Delivery" line from Pebbles.  

For each of Bo's monthly photos, I have tried to really match the paper and embellishments to the stickers on his onesie.  This line with all the grays and blues was perfect for that! I decided to use the big "BABY" letters in the die cut pack as part of my focal point and surround the picture with them.  This got me going on a very horizontal feel and I just built from there.  This line is full of fabulous die cuts and stickers but I needed to find a way to add in some more texture.  That is where the wood pieces and my hand stitching came in!  I just did a simple straight line of hand stitching but it helps to break up the flatness of it all.  Looking forward to playing more with this line!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles Inc

Stickers: Pebbles Inc, Jillibean Soup

Die Cuts: Pebbles Inc

Wood: Studio Calico

Love You More Layout

First off I want to announce the winner from the blog hop this past weekend! Iris!!!

 Iris said...

Super cute layout and pretty blog candy. I follow you with Google friend connect and Like you on FB.

isoscia at aol dot comGo ahead and shoot me an email at practicalscrappers@gmail.com and I will get your prize off to you!

Now on to my project that was featured today on the Chicagoland Scrapbookers Magazine site!  The layout is based on this sketch created by me :)

I didn't follow the sketch exactly because, well, I almost never do :)  I cut the hearts out of my base and then added patterned paper behind them.  Outlining them with black made them pop a little more.  I added in the pictures of my little guy who likes to call himself "diddy kong" who is a character in the Donkey Kong family.  

The bright colors from Pebbles line "From Me to You" were perfect.  Let's face it, bright colors and three year olds just belong together!  I did lots of outlining and doodling giving it a whole lot of personal touch.  The final piece was to do splatters.  I don't know why I wait until last to do that!  At first I didn't like them, but once they dried, it was better.  I'm trying to embrace the splatters and messy fun :)

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Stickers: Bella Blvd & Pebbles Inc

Wood Arrows: Studio Calico

Mist: Studio Calico

Imaginisce Valentine Layout

With all the blog hopping I have been doing, I haven't had the chance yet to share my Imaginisce project that went up on Valentine's Day.  I did a lot of Valentine's projects over the last month but this was the only one that actually was about me and my hubby!

I made a sort of nutty decision when creating this and decided to focus in on red, black, and white for colors.  That was crazy because those aren't the dominant colors in the current lines from Imaginisce.  But I mixed and matched and threw in some pink to make it all come together!  I die cut and punched hearts as well as adding some IRock hearts and some wood hearts.  Tip: I sometimes forget that a title can be huge and take center stage.  It was fun to go to the computer and cut a title that would take up almost the whole length of the layout!  Other than my picture I wanted the eye to be drawn into the title and the hearts and I think I managed that with the big bold lettering in the title.   

 Hope you had a great Valentine's day with your loved ones!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Stickers: Imaginisce, SRM Stickers

Doilies: SRM STickers

Cardstock: American Crafts

IRocks: Imaginisce

Buttons: Imaginisce

Wood: Studio Calico

Practical Scrappers - Scrapping our Valentine's Stash Blog Hop

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop 

where we are Scrapping our Stash.

If you are looking for the Samantha Walker Blog Hop - scroll down a couple posts!

This month we are focusing on scrapping our Valentine's stash, or at least stash that has to do with love.  I never realized how much Valentine's stash I had until I started working on this project!  We are thrilled to have Kiwi Lane Designs sponsoring this month!  

Kiwi Lane Designs creates templates that help take the frustration out of scrapbooking!  And one lucky winner today will get a border set and an accessory set from Kiwi Lane.  We are big fans of Kiwi Lane Designs and in fact have several members of our design team who either currently or in the past have been a part of their design team!  Details on how you can win this prize are available at Practical Scrappers - and details on how you can win a prize from me are at the bottom of this post!

Practical Scrappers Blog Hop List

Practical Scrappers 

Krissy Clark

Christine Meyer ****You Are Here***
Kim Ryden ****Head Here Next***
Patty Selah
Charity Hotrum

Lissa Mitchell
Jennifer Haggerty
Alison Day

Bobbi Smith

Michelle Johns
Kerri Yarus

Cathy Harper

Nicole Laha
Lanette Erickson

Majken Pullin

Erin Morehouse

Lisa Peeples
Claude Campeau
Wendy Coffman
Lee-Anne Thornton

Now on to my Project!

I used an old Valentine's line from American Crafts along with some goodies from SRM Stickers and Bella Blvd.  I bought this American Crafts line after Valentine's last year with the intention of using it for magazine submissions for this year, but time fell short - so I got to use it for just plain old fun instead!  One of my favorite things to do with layouts is to use a grouping of photos that aren't necessarily from the exact same moment in time but show the kids personalities coming thru.  For this one I did one of each of my kiddos!  Can you guess which one is the family clown????  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: American Crafts

Die Cuts: American Crafts

Stickers: Bella Blvd, SRM Stickers

As a thanks for stopping by today I have a giveaway!

I am giving away some pieces from this same line as well as some other coordinating goodies!

To enter you can do any of the following for up to 2 entries:

1) Become a follower here thru the follower button

2) Become a fan on my facebook page

Make sure to leave me a comment here or on facebook so I know what you did! 

I will announce a winner on Monday! 

Now hop on over to Kim's blog and see what she has to share!

"Special Delivery" Baby Boy Card

If you are looking for the Samantha Walker Blog Hop Post you can find it right below this!

I have been enjoying playing with the newest baby line from Pebbles "Special Delivery."  I picked up pieces from the boy part of the line...cause there's just a few boys around this house....

The little duck is a die cut as is the polaroid I put him into!  I mounted that onto other paper and added some sweet stickers from the line.  I love the combination of the sky blue and navy blue topped off with my fave color to scrap with yellow!  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Die Cuts: Pebbles

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Washi Tape: Bella Blvd

Twine: The Twinery

Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop - Love

Welcome to the Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole's blog.

We have a fabulous giveaway this month sponsored by Spellbinders!

It is the Spellbinders' Butterfly Garden Grand Impressabilities 

All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates. This giveaway is open to US customers only and closes on this Sunday at 11:59 PM MDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This month our blog hop is focused on love and there are tons of great files available from Samantha on this topic!  I oped to do a layout about my youngest son's first day of life with Daddy.  

I really wanted the Daddy heart to be the focal point of the layout.

First I sized it to an appropriate size for a 12 X 12 layout.

Then I added a circle around it and cut it out in the colors I wanted to use.

One of the things I wanted to try was tucking everything into one level layer - like puzzle pieces. Instead of piling it on top of each other.  So first I assembled the heart. Then the circle (with the heart part already cut out) went right above it.  And then I had one more piece that is the background of my layout (with the circle cut out) that I added on top of that. It created a really different look than Use a whole 12 X 12 topped with a circle, topped with a heart, topped with a word. For starters, it's doesn't weight a ton :)

Supplies Used:

Samantha Walker Studio Files: Daddy heart #44013

Heart Pennant Flags #54446

Rough & Tumble Collection

Keepin' Cozy Collection

Don't forget to sign up for Samantha's Newsletter 

through the Rafflecopter widget to receive your

FREE SVG and Silhouette Studio file! 

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