Posted on July 29, 2019 at 05:00 AM in daycare kids, digital layouts, kerri bradford designs, Layouts, scrapbooking, stamping | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted on July 15, 2019 at 05:00 AM in cards, Digital Scrapbooking, kerri bradford designs, stamping | Permalink | Comments (1)
Hey everyone! I had some new cards go up at Kerri Bradford Studio the other day and am excited to share them with you all today. One of the to-do's that has been on my crafty list for a while now, has been to create more cards. Specifically, I've had this idea to dig thru my stash of older supplies, and make it a point to use up a lot of the embellishments and papers that I never seem to use - but also, can't seem to get rid of.
When I saw Kerri's new Happy Mail #1 and Happy Mail #2 stamps, I knew they would be perfect for this very project. Between the two Happy Mail sets, there are so many awesome sentiments to make a wide variety of cards for any occasion. And how can you not love the Outnumbered (Two) XL stamp set! My first thought when I saw them was that they would be perfect for making birthday cards, and that's exactly what I used them for first.
Product tidbits: Square chipboard frames from my stash (I think they're Simple Stories, but don't quote me on that). Making Memories metal flowers, which had already been painted and distressed and already had coordinating brads in the centers - and they just happen to match my frames and papers.
I started by picking out a few embellishments that I thought would work well on cards - a variety of chipboard frames in varying sizes, a few colored tags, and some metal rimmed printed tags. I then picked out a sentiment to use along with each embellishment.
Product tidbits: Small square chipboard frames (again, I think they're from Simple Stories, but again, don't quote me on that). 3D flower embellishments from American Crafts, which included the buttons.
And the last step was to pick out two patterned papers to go with each card. I limited my paper choices to my 6x6" paper pads, looking for patterns that would match/coordinate with whatever embellishments I had chosen for each card.
Product tidbits: Printed metal rimmed tags from American Crafts (I added a simple silver accent to each tag to cover the hole where you would add string). Colored tags (not sure where they're from, but they matched perfectly).
I created my card bases, using the same basic design for each, adding a little misting and a little machine stitching to each card. I added my stamped sentiments, either directly onto the card itself or onto a scrap piece of paper to add behind the chipboard frames.
Product tidbits: Chipboard frame from Basic Grey. Gold glittered accent dots (not sure where they're from).
For the birthday cards, I fussy cut around the stamped numbers before adhering them to the cards. Once the embellishments were added on, and the sentiments complete, I added any little finishing touches, like the little silver accents, the metal flowers, and the enamel stars.
Product tidbits - Enamel stars from Bella Blvd.
I can't wait to create even more cards with these fabulous stamp sets! I think I need to make it a goal to use each and every sentiment on at least one card ;)
Posted on April 10, 2019 at 08:48 PM in cards, kerri bradford designs, stamping | Permalink | Comments (1)
Hey all! I have a new Jillibean Soup card to quickly share with you today. And I say "quickly", because I feel like I'm drowning in scrapbooking projects/assignments these last few weeks and I'm having a hard time keeping up with things. Luckily, my cards are pretty straight forwards, so they don't need much explanation ;)
There's a patterned paper in the Farmhouse Stew collection that has all these fun quotes and saying on "letterboards". I knew right away that I would be cutting into that patterned paper to use these individually. They'll work great on layouts, but my first plan was to use one on a card.
I picked out two coordinating patterned papers to create the base of my card, and matted the cut out quote on a piece of brown cardstock. I stamped some flowers, using the Bowl Of Dreams clear stamp set, and arranged those behind the cut out quote. Easy peasy.
Now back to juggling all of the stuff that landed on my plate this week ;)
Posted on July 25, 2018 at 01:14 PM in cards, Jillibean Soup, stamping | Permalink | Comments (1)
Hey all! I have two new Jillibean Soup cards to share with you today. And yes, I do realize that I've made quite a few cards lately ;)
So, I started these cards with a totally different idea of what they would look like. See that paper along the top of the card, with the three colors? That's half of a 3x4" card that I cut out of the Bite Size Bits patterned paper in the Shades of Color collection. The other half of the card has the three colors on my second card.
My thinking was to have that 3x4" card in the center of my card, and all around the card I would have these stamped and fussy cut flowers from patterned papers that matched the colors on the card. I picked out all of the patterned papers that I wanted to create my flowers with, pulling papers from several different collections, and used the Flower-Bloom stamp set to stamp a flower on each paper.
But after fussing cutting out all of my flowers, and playing around with my original idea, I realized it wasn't going to work the way that I wanted. Which turned out to be totally fine, since I like the new idea I came up with much better.
I decided to cut the 3x4" card in half, and use three colors for one card and create a second card with the other three colors. I always like when I can create two cards at once, so that was a happy bonus.
I adhered the halved card to the top of each of my cards, after spritzing on a little bit of black ink to the white card base. I then adhered my flowers along the bottom of the halved card.
I decided to add a little easy texture to my flowers before I adhered them. I simply crumbled them up and then flattened them back out. Not all the way out, but enough that I could adhere them with a few glue dots on the back of each flower. I also added a small wood veneer flower to the center of each.
For my sentiments, I combined a script word sticker ("thanks" and "hugs") with a stamped "from me to you" (using the Souper Celebration stamp set).
Posted on July 16, 2018 at 05:00 AM in cards, Jillibean Soup, stamping | Permalink | Comments (1)
Hey everyone! I had a new layout up on the Jillibean Soup blog last week and wanted to share it with you all today. When I sit down to create my layouts each month, I try and look for any photos that are an easy match - whether to the theme of the collections/papers, or to the colors. These photos of Sarah, visiting the college she would later decide to attend, were a match in both ways.
I pulled a few of my patterned paper from other collections, but most of what's on this layout is from the 2 Cool For School collection. At first glance, this collection is boy themed, but it can most definitely work for girl layouts as well.
I was originally going to fussy cut a few of the banner flags out of a sheet of patterned paper, until I realized there were a few in the Pea Pod Parts die cut package. I had some small scraps of the brown woodgrain patterned paper, so I used a few thin strips to go along with the banner flags.
Anyone that knows me knows that I love to use die cut backgrounds, and I love to create that white-on-white effect when using them. I have a few of Jillibean's backgrounds cut from white cardstock already, so that I can cut off pieces as needed for layouts and/or cards.
I cut out the "best ever" circle off of one of the 3x4" journaling card on the Bite Size Bits patterned paper and adhered it in the upper corner, trimming off the excess that hung over the edges of the page.
I used one of Jillibean's alphabet cut files, found in the Silhouette store, to die cut the word "college" from both patterned paper and navy blue cardstock. I used some corrugated alphas for the other half of my title, using a smiling emoji in place of the "o" in "hello".
I used the computer monitor stamp, from the Computer stamp & die set (intended for use with their shaker cards), and stamped it with black ink onto a scrap of aqua dotted patterned paper before die cutting it. I backed it with a scrap of ruled patterned paper and added the "class of 2021" with tiny alpha and number stickers.
This page design is one that I've used often, and is perfect for those times when you have several 4-5 photos that you want to include. I love to add three 3x4's or 4x4's down the left side of the page, and then add another photo or two across the page. Then I just add strips of patterned paper and journaling above and/or below those photos in the center, adding my title along the top of the page. Easy peasy.
Posted on June 28, 2018 at 05:00 AM in Jillibean Soup, Layouts, scrapbooking, silhouette, stamping | Permalink | Comments (3)
Hey everyone! I've got a new card up on the Jillibean Soup blog today. I'm sure you've seen all of the super fun shaker cards that Jillibean has to offer. A wide variety of card bases, shaker inserts, stamps, dies, and fillers. I had every intention of trying my hand at one of these shaker cards when I started creating my projects for this month, but time got away from me with SOOOOO much going on in May.
So I decided to keep things a little simpler for this card. I used one of the shaker card bases, but not in the way it was meant for. I realized that the card with the large circle cut-out was perfect for using along with their felt flowers from the Mix The Media collection.
These felt flowers are just gorgeous. While this may be too bulky for mailing out to someone special, it works just fine if you're seeing that loved one in person. Which I was, as I created this for one Amanda - who was one of my very first daycare kiddos forever and ever ago, and who graduated from high school a few weeks ago.
I added a piece of patterned paper from the 2 Cool For School collection to the front of the card, after cutting a circle out to match up with the cut out circle on the front of the card. I then used the Flower Bloom stamp and die set to create my sentiment and stapled it under the cut out circle.
The card base is more of a cream color, and I had stamped my sentiment on white cardstock. To make the inside of the card match with that, I simply adhered a piece of white cardstock to the inside of the card. I then picked out one of the yellow felt flowers and adhered it to the inside, positioning it so that it peeks out from the circle cut out on the front of the card.
Posted on June 25, 2018 at 05:00 AM in cards, Jillibean Soup, stamping | Permalink | Comments (2)
Happy Monday! I had two new cards up on the Jillibean Soup blog last week. One thing that I have been doing when I set out to make a card, is to look thru the Pea Pod Parts package and see if I can find a die cut or two that would be a good starting point for a card. These two corgi's, from the 2 Cool For School collection, were too cute to pass by. Personally, I can't see myself using these adorable corgi's on a layout, but they work perfectly for cards.
I picked out a few patterned papers to coordinate with the cute corgi's. I created 2 layouts and 3 cards for Jillibean Soup for this month, and somehow I used the same main colors/papers on most of them. It wasn't planned, but just sort of happened. Two of the patterned papers here are from from the 2 Cool For School collection, and the woodgrain patterned paper is from the Farmhouse Stew collection.
For this first card, I wanted to incorporate a stamp, and the "Hello" stamp from the 2 Cool For School stamp set seemed like a good choice. I stamped it with navy blue ink next to the corgi die cut, and then added tiny little alpha stickers below to complete my sentiment. A few puffy star stickers finished off the card.
Since there were two die cut corgi's in the Pea Pod Parts package, I figured I might as well create two cards at once. If you've got all of the coordinating supplies out, why not knock out two cards (or more) in one sitting.
There were several little phrase/word die cuts in the Pea Pod Parts package as well, and this aqua "good times" one was the one that matched so well with the corgi's bow tie. I played with this card, over and over, trying to decide if I should add a different sentiment, or maybe stamp another sentiment below the "good times" die cut. But I kept coming back to what I have here - it's simple and I like it. I added a few adhesive sequins to finish off the card.
Posted on June 18, 2018 at 05:00 AM in cards, Jillibean Soup, stamping | Permalink | Comments (1)
I've got my first project of the new year up at Kerri Bradford Studio today! I recently shared about my weight loss over the last year. This also meant that I lost a substantial amount of my wardrobe. That's not necessarily a bad thing (unless you ask my wallet), as I got the chance to basically build an entire new wardrobe for myself.
I realized that I had taken quite a few photos of clothes I've bought, or while out shopping, and thought it would be fun to put together a little page to tell this story. I decided to create a 6x8" pocket spread, with one page being a full 6x8" layout and one page being a 6x8" pocket page.
Whenever I'm wanting to die cut a word for my titles that Kerri doesn't happen to have, I turn to her Weathered Door Alpha kit. Which is exactly what I used to die cut the word "clothes" for part of my title. I used the word "hello" from Kerri's Bloom kit, die cut from patterned paper, for the first half of my title.
My patterned papers are from Dear Lizzy and Amy Tangerine collections. I've had the ruffled paper for years - the ones with 3-4 colors of layered ruffles on one full sheet. I thought it seemed like a fun fit for a layout about clothes.
I printed all of my photos as little 2x2's, and slipped them into the pocket page. I actually had enough photos to fill all twelve pockets, but ended up taking a few out so that I could work in some patterned paper.
There's an older patterned paper from Dear Lizzy that has rows of little polaroid pictures. If you cut out the pattern/picture from the polaroid frame, it's just slightly smaller than 2x2, so they worked perfectly in these pockets. I just matted each one on a piece of white cardstock. The "a whole lotta happy" came from Kerri's One Fine Day stamp set.
I also ended up adding in a 3x8" insert, which held my journaling and some clothing tags I've been saving from my favorite brands.
I used the "this is just fantastic" design from Kerri's About Town kit digitally to create my 3x8" journaling card, backing it with some black chalkboard digital patterned paper.
I used a 3x8" digital journaling card from an Ali Edwards Stories Of Life kit. There's a spot to insert a photo, or a digital element like I did, and then type up your journaling.
I've been holding onto some clothing tags for quite a while, with the idea of working them into a project at some point. I ended up deciding to only use three of my tags, as they're the main brands that I seem to buy/wear. I have a few other brands that I wear a lot (like Old Navy), but they don't have cute tags at all. Lol.
Once I adhered the tags to the 3x8 piece of cardstock, I had some room at the top. I stamped the "grateful for" box using Kerri's Gather Together stamp set. I should have tested it before stamping it directly on my paper, and I'm sure the textured cardstock didn't help, as my stamping didn't turn out all that great. Lol.
It's a pretty simple layout spread, but that seems to be my style now. I would normally add some machine stitching, but it didn't even cross my mind for some reason while working on this. And I didn't even consider adding any little embellishments. There's something to be said for keeping things simple sometimes :)
Posted on January 16, 2018 at 05:00 AM in kerri bradford designs, Layouts, Pocket Page Scrapbooking, silhouette, stamping | Permalink | Comments (2)
This coming Saturday is [inter] National Scrapbook Day, and over at Kerri Bradford Studio, the design team has been sharing projects leading up to this fun day. I've got a project up today, which I'm excited to share with you all.
I was brainstorming what to create for my [inter] National Scrapbook Day project, knowing that I wanted to use Kerri's A Big Day stamp set. At some point, I was reminded of what I had created for iNSD two years ago - a 6x8" pocket page spread documenting my favorite TV shows (seen HERE). The days of the week stamps gave me the idea to create an updated look at my favorite shows.
This time, I decided to try out the travelers notebooks that are all the rage lately, and that I have yet to try. The smaller size appeals to me, as I haven't been creating as many layouts these days. Also, these little notebooks seem to be a good fit for my "less is more" approach when it comes to keeping my projects simple - putting the focus more on the photos and/or stories, and making it less about the embellishments and "stuff".
Since I had the days of the week stamps that I wanted to use, I decided to break down my favorite shows by what I watch each day. I love a good photo collage, so I created a photo collage to go along with each day's spread, using templates from both the Travelers Templates and Travelers Templates #2 kits.
I started out by making a list of my shows, and which day they usually air. I even went into my DVR at one point, to check out my massive list of shows I record, to make sure I didn't miss any. I actually left quite a few of my regular shows off these lists in the end, as there just wasn't room for a few of them.
Next up, I went looking for my images. Just as I did two years ago, I found all of my images on Google photos. For the most part, I just searched the name of the show, along with "cast" or "logo". I downloaded several for each show, knowing that some images might be too small to use.
When I did my 6x8" album two years ago, I used all square photos, since I was using the little 2x2" pocket pages. This time around, I knew I needed lots of square photos, but I also knew I'd have spaces for a few different size photos as well. This came in handy for those shows I could only find a longer image for, that wouldn't have cropped well into a square.
I wanted to have the show name on the image, but there were a few shows that I just couldn't find the right image for. So for a few, I ended up saving an image that I liked, and just typing the show name on in Photoshop, picking a font that was similar to what I saw on other images.
Once I knew how many shows I had for each day, I settled on which template I would use, and added the photos in. I printed out my collages and adhered them to the right side of each day's spread.
I then picked a patterned paper to coordinate with each day's photo collage, and adhered them on the left side of each day's spread. I pulled some papers from Crate Paper, Amy Tangerine, and Shimelle.
I have a bunch of ruled Project Life 3x4" journaling card, so I decided to use those to label each day. I used Kerri's A Big Day and Brooklyn stamps, to stamp the day and "shows" onto the cards. I drew some rough lines around the outside of each card with a black pen, and adhered the card to the left side of the spread.
I originally thought I would need to add more to each of these pages, even wondering what I would do about journaling. I quickly realized that keeping it simple, and fairly flat, in these notebooks was the way to go.
A simple piece of washi tape at the top of the journaling card was all I needed. No need to complicate things, right?
Looks like Friday is a slow night, with only two real shows. But that's ok, because I do love my Lifetime movies on the weekend. You may notice that I don't have a Saturday list. That's because I don't have any shows on Saturday's. That's my night to catch up on all the shows I didn't fit in during the week.
Once I had all of my days completed, I knew I wanted to do some sort of "title page". My thought is that this travelers notebook would be dedicated to documenting my favorite shows, and something I can add to each year. After all, it was fun to look back at my list from two years ago, seeing how many shows I'm still keeping up with, and how many aren't even around anymore.
I added some patterned paper to my title page, along with a 5x7" Project Life ruled card that I stamped the year on using Kerri's Brooklyn Etc stamps. After wracking my brain to see if I had any patterned paper with televisions on it, I remembered a cut file Kerri created as a part of The History Project class.
I opened up the TV png file in Photoshop, and used it to create my own "patterned paper". I just lined up a bunch of TV's across the 4.25" x 8.25" canvas, and then copied that entire row over and over, down the page. I printed two of these on a sheet of cardstock, so I have one ready to go for next year.
I also printed out the weekdays cover from the Travelers Pack: Splendid kit, and cut it down to add to the very first page in my notebook. I thought about adding it to the cover of the notebook, but I wasn't quite ready to tackle the cover. I'll worry about that later.
And yes, I fully admit I have a slight TV addiction ;) I love my shows, and I somehow manage to keep up with them, even though I only watch TV in the evenings. If I'm being totally honest, there's always at least 1-2 shows a season that we let pile up. Right now, it's Quantico, and I have 12 of them on the DVR. That's an easier show to keep up with when you binge watch it, so we'll catch up on that once all our other shows come to an end.
Make sure and stop by Kerri Bradford Studio this week to check out what the rest of the design team has created, as well as get in on the awesome sale Kerri is having all week!
Posted on May 03, 2017 at 07:59 AM in kerri bradford designs, Photo collages, scrapbooking, stamping, Travelers Notebooks, TV Album | Permalink | Comments (2)
I'm back. I totally disappeared there, didn't I? There's always SO much happening in the last few weeks of the school year, and having a senior this year makes it even crazier. Blogging has just been the last thing on my mind. Not that I had much of anything to blog about, even if I did want to post. I have been working on two seperate, yet related, album projects that I will share later on. I did take a few minutes to whip up a few simple cards though.
Graduation has been on my mind. Big time. Alyssa graduates from high school tomorrow evening, and I still can't believe it's happening. I got a message from my talented friend, Laina Lamb, a while back, asking if I would want to work with a few of the dies and stamps that she designs thru My Favorite Things (her dies can be seen HERE, her stamps can be seen HERE). She knew that I had a senior in high school, which meant that I would definitely be needing some graduation themed products to put to good use.
Because I've had so much going on, and the album projects were taking up most of my creativity, I ended up keeping these two cards pretty simple. It wasn't my intention starting out, but just sort of how they worked out. Not that creating these two little cards didn't involve me making a huge mess of my scraproom. Lol.
I loved the Graduation Accents die, and knew right away that I would use the "congratulations" die for a few cards. It fits perfectly across the front of a standard card. I got the wild idea to die cut these out of white textured cardstock, and then heat emboss them. I can't remember the last time I heat embossed anything. And once I started, I quickly remembered how messy it can get. I shouldn't say "messy". It just required me taking out a lot more "stuff" than I normally use when making cards. But I love the look of it, once it's done.
I rarely ever buy cards anymore, since I have everything I need to create my own, which saves a ton of money. But the one thing I miss about store-bought cards is having the words written for you. When I create my own cards, I have the short and sweet sentiment on the front, but then I'm left with that empty white space inside the card. And while I consider myself a pretty good writer, I am always at a loss for what to say inside cards. I decided I would use the Happy Graduation stamps to add a little extra sentiment inside the cards.
I stuck to a black, green, grey, and white color scheme for these cards, since those are our school colors. I have a hard time finding the right shade of green patterned papers, when it comes to matching our school colors. I found this paper which was a perfect match, and it was actually a soccer field patterned paper. I ran it thru my Cuttlebug in a dotted embossing folder.
I used silver embossing powder on the first card, and black embossing powder on the second card. I had another card in the works, using green, but quickly realized that none of my green embossing powders were anywhere close to the right shade. I also spritzed on a little white and black misting spray to my patterned papers, so they weren't so flat looking.
Please ignore my messy embossing on the stamped sentiments inside the cards. I did them at the kitchen island, while the daycare kids ate lunch. I knew I had little flecks of black embossing powder when I didn't want it. But I also knew that things were happening in front of me (dropped forks, sippy cup thrown on the floor resulting in a huge puddle of spilled milk, and kids begging for more of this and that food), and I just had to get it done. Sometimes multi-tasking doesn't work out as well as it should.
I had already die cut some numbers using Laina's Bright Lights Numbers & Symbols dies, so I thought I would use them on the backside of a few envelopes. And of course, a #SENIOR stamp, as hashtags are all the rage with the teens.
Posted on May 29, 2014 at 02:36 PM in cards, stamping | Permalink | Comments (3)
I figured I woud sneak in one more post this week before the Thanksgiving holiday and long weekend. I have two more cards that I created for the Cardmaps Today Vol 3 issue, by Scrapbook & Cards Today, which was released earlier this year.
Both of these cards were based off of the same sketch, so they have sort of the same look to them design-wise. For this first card, I choose patterned papers from Simply Stories and BoBunny, along with the cute little woodgrain house sticker. The sticker had a cut out heart in the center, which I ended up covering with a fun crochet heart from Bella Blvd.
I was asked to incorporate a masking technique using stamps for this card. I don't have a huge stamp collection, so I lucked out when I came across a set of small leaf stamps. I picked out some ink colors that coordinated with the rest of my card, and praticed my stamp placement several times before getting it right.
I stamped the leaf a few times on a post it note, and then fussy cut those out. After stamping the two red leaves on either end of the grid patterned paper, I stuck my fussy cut leaves (on the post it note) directly over the red leaves before stamping the next leaf. I just repeated this process until my little row of leaves was complete.
For my second card, I choose patterned papers from Bella Blvd's Thankful collection. Fall colors, and all of the colors seen on this card, are my favorite colors of all. Brown, red, green, yellow, and aqua. Love those colors together and you'll find them all throughout my house.
For the layered flower, I choose a corrugated chipboard flower, a paper flower, a fabric flower, a few buttons, an a paper leaf to tuck in as well. Love how a good, layered flower looks on a card!
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I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving, spent with family and friends! We're sticking close to home this year, which is different than most years. While we will miss seeing Joe's family, which is where we normally head for the holiday, it will be nice to spend Thanksgiving with my family for a change. Alyssa won't be there, as she's headed out with her dad to spend the day with her grandparents. But since she's super allergic to my parent's dog, that might be better for her anyways. Joe's been working like crazy, since this time of year in the grocery business is so hectic, and he has to work Thanksgiving night as well. But his Steeler's are playing the late football game on Thanksgiving, so if they win (fingers crossed for his sake), maybe he won't be too grumpy going into work.
Oh. It's also our 15th wedding anniversary ON Thanksgiving day. Which means we'll do our traditional dinner out on Friday night. This will mean that we have to skip Friday night football, as our high school varsity team is playing in their last playoff game at home. I feel bad that I have to skip helping out in the snack bar, as NO ONE ever signs up to help. But Friday is our one free night, as Sarah is in a Quinceanera for one of her friends on Saturday, which means we're tied up all day and evening with that.
My mind wandered all over the place there. That was a very random mix of info, all to say "Have a happy Thanksgiving"!!
Posted on November 27, 2013 at 05:00 AM in cards, Scrapbook & Cards Today, stamping | Permalink | Comments (3)
i have a few cards up on the bella blvd blog today. it's our bella blvd & unity stamps inspiration and giveaway feature. i was working with the calendar month stamp for my two cards.
i started both of my cards on a white cardstock base. i cut an additional piece of white cardstock that was a tad bit smaller than my card, and ran it through the cuttlebug to emboss it. i used a circle embossing folder on this boy card. then i distressed the edges a bit, and adhered it to the front of the card. adds a bit of interest, and another layer of texture. i added a few border strips from the baby boy collection. i like the simple colors against the white. clean and crisp.
i stamped the calendar month image onto white cardstock, using an orange ink, and then cut around it and distressed the edges. i adhered it to the card, using pop dots, and then added a onesie chipboard piece, along with a few word stickers. i even found a fun "congrats" flag to tuck behind the onesie.
i started the girl card just like the boy card. white cardstock card base. and then i used a flower embossing folder on my additional piece of white cardstock. i used a few border strips again, from the baby girl collection, and a scrap of ruler paper from the we're expecting collection.
this time, i heat embossed the calendar stamp image, on white cardstock, using yellow embossing powder. i used it the same way as the first card, which is just using the calendar image as a background for the rest of the elements on my card. i knew the chipboard cupcake would make for a great birthday card. the flower on the cupcake was green, so i added an aqua flower gem to match the rest of my card.
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 05:00 AM in bella blvd, cards, stamping | Permalink | Comments (7)
i have a brand spankin' new layout to share today. i created this last week for something, and it didn't work out. which is kind of a bummer for me. but the nice thing, is that i don't have to wait six months to share it with you. lol! silver lining, right ;)
"life is good in a house of girls". i'm sure joe has lots of complaints about living with three girls. in fact, i know he does. lol! but at the same time, i think he secretly loves it.
for whatever reason, i havn't used stamps on my layouts in ages. so i was determined to stamp on this layout. after digging through my stash, i found this restroom dude stamp. i'm sure that's not the actual name of it, but it's a good description, right? lol! i thought it would be a good representation of joe. and the row of house stamp is one that i have been wanting to use for ages. so, i figured i would work it in some way.
i decided to make just one of the houses green, and the others all pink. sort of like one dude house, in a row of girl houses. i don't have a huge selection of ink colors. so i thought i would try using markers on my stamps, which i have never tried before. i did use a small ink pad on for the green house, and then colored all the other houses with a pink marker.
i used my silhouette to cut out my title. once from brown pattern paper. and then once from green cardstock. i wanted just the "good" to be in green, and then offset it just a tad over the brown. i also used some tiny pink letter stickers, from cosmo cricket, for the sub-title.
i think you all know me by now. and that i always add my journaling last. it was a last minute decision to add some yellow onto the layout. once i had printed my journaling onto some yellow cardstock, i used some yellow buttons to add more yellow to the page.
and speaking of the silhouette. that's something that i'm going to be using a lot in the next few days. can't wait to share :)
Posted on August 02, 2011 at 12:37 AM in family, Layouts, scrapbooking, stamping | Permalink | Comments (15)
i was thrilled and honored, when nichol magouirk asked me to contribute to her scrapbook stamping class for may, over at two peas in a bucket. i've been a huge fan of nichol's for years now, and always look forward to seeing what she creates for her classes each month. this months theme is incorporating border stamps into our layouts.
i have to admit, i have gotten away from stamping lately. i have tons of great stamps. even tons of brand new stamps, that i really do want to use. i have a big collection of inks and embossing powders. but for some reason, i just don't think to pull them out all that often. so working on this layout was really fun for me, because it reminded me how fun and easy stamping can be. and i'm proud to say, i have stamped on a few other projects since then.
i soon realized that i don't own that many border stamps. lol! but i found two in my stash that i thought would work on my layout. the first one is a scalloped edged stamp from stampin up. it's an older stamp, and i can't seem to find a link to it. i thought it would be fun to create a frame for my photo of alyssa.
i decided to heat emboss the border, to add some extra texture. i stamped the border 4 times onto white cardstock, using versamark ink. then i poured american crafts zing embossing powder, in mustard, over my stamped images and heat set them. you end up with a nice shiny image, with a light texture to it.
i printed my photo as a 5x7, and my borders were each 6 inches long. i adhered my photo to a piece of red pattern paper, using pop dots. then i adhered two of the 6 inch borders along the two sides of the photo, centering them. on the other two 6 inch borders, i cut a little bit off of all the ends, and then adhered those to the top and bottom of the photo. i took all four of the end scallop pieces that i had cut off, and used one in each corner. just a creative way to make a full frame, by piecing it all together.
i also used this fun circle border stamp from hero arts. i heat embossed it with black zing, on a scrap piece of the word search paper, and then hand cut around the circles. btw, ALL the papers are from crate paper. i cut that "jane goes to school" paper from THIS sheet of pattern paper. the paper had this "book spines" all across the page. if you cut them up, they make fun borders. i wanted a red one, and this went with the school theme. i adhered my stamped border directly below that piece, using mini pop dots.
i love this set of friendly flag stamps from hero arts. the flags are not a border stamp. but by lining up all the individual pieces, side by side, it gives the illusion of them being a border. just because a stamp isn't meant to be a border stamp, doesn't mean you can't get creative and make it into a border "stamp". i picked out a few of my favorite flags, and stamped them using a mix of ink and embossing powders. i cut each flag out, leaving a very small border, and then adhered them all side by side across the page.
for my title, i used some american crafts glitter foam thickers in turquoise, and some jenni bowlin alphabet stickers that i added to a studio calico sticker. the two blocks of paper there are from THIS sheet of pattern paper, that has lots of journaling blocks and title pieces. i thought the fill-in-the-blanks piece would be fun to use, and went with what my layout was about. without that, i probably would have journaled more about this photo and what it meant to me. but this was a fun way to journal as well. i used my tiny alphas from making memories, to add the words. and yes, it took me forever. lol! some of those words, i had to cut each sticker shorter, so that it wouldn't cover up anything above it. but it was worth it. a few veneer stars from studio calico finished off the layout.
i want to thank nichol for inviting me to play along with her class this month. you can check out her classroom HERE, and find all the previous months as well. you can see her project, PDF handout, and video HERE.
Posted on May 01, 2011 at 11:04 AM in Layouts, scrapbooking, stamping | Permalink | Comments (11)
it's card day over on the jillibean soup blog, and one of them is mine :)
this card is 4.5" x 4.5" in size. the flower is just like the one on the layout i shared on friday. so if you're curious about it, check out friday's post for the details. i did stamp the white card base with a text background stamp, in a light green ink. the brown torn strip is a handmade paper, which adds a great texture to the card.
keeping this short and sweet today. i have a ton of work to get done today, and i'm determined to get it done sooner in the day, rather then later. lol! i'll be back tomorrow, with a baby boy layout share ;)
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 05:49 AM in cards, slice diecutting, stamping | Permalink | Comments (9)
i have a new tutorial that went up at little light studio today. i created a fun fabric halloween treat bag, using some fabric i've had laying around for years, my slice, and even my super old foam stamps. here's a small peek for you. head over HERE, to see step-by-step photos and full instructions :)
Posted on October 18, 2010 at 08:57 AM in altered projects, making memories, slice diecutting, stamping | Permalink | Comments (6)
i have another layout from the tools & techniques issue of scrapbooking tips & tricks magazine to share with you. this is a favorite of mine :)
as seen in the Tools & Techniques issue of Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.
i got to work with some fun new things from stampin up on this layout. the color coach is a new tool to help in the color selection process. "let this coach help you put together custom color schemes to express your unique creativity. whether you want a quick reference of all colors in a collection, a card for every color, or blank cards to record your own color combinations, this swatch book is for you!"
the color combo that i choose to work with was tempting turquoise, old olive, and pumpkin pie.
i wanted to use these photos of the girls that i took at the beginning of the year. they had pulled these outfits together on their own. the same exact thing, just in opposite colors. the dug out sunglasses, bracelets, a necklace, and even fun colored hair pieces. the biggest reaon that i love these photos so much, is because it shows how much fun they can have together when they want too. how well they can get along. and how happy they can be.
my lovely ink pads in the coordinating colors for the papers. and the 2 stamps that i choose to use. the woodgrain background stamp is from hero arts, and the polkadot flower petal is from stampin up. there are more flower petals in the set, but i just wanted to use the polkadot one.
i stamped the flower petal in all three colors, numerous times, onto white cardstock. then cut each one out, leaving a little white border around each. i adhered the first petal, and then just kept layering them around, overlapping the center points just a tad bit. you can barely see it, but i have a turquoise metal rim tag in the flower center. then adhered the polkadot flower, and the button with mini brads in the holes. i created the stem from a doodlebug paper frill, tieing some string around it for a little added interest.
i layered a printed transparency sheet on top of the green cardstock. the transparency has small green leaves going all across it, and added a nice suble touch to the cardstock.
i used the woodgrain background stamp on the orange and turquoise cardstock strips. using the same color ink, gives a nice tone-on-tone look to it. very subtle. then i added some fun ribbons. the orange gingham ribbon is one of my absolute favorites from making memories. the black velvet rick rack, and the turquoise lace trim are both from rusty pickle (no longer in business. sorry).
my generous friends at stampin up, have given me these 2 sets of stamps to give away to two of my lucky blog readers (one for each winner). i have the "vintage voque" set, and the "tiny tags" set. both are clear mount, rubber stamps. if you'd like to have a chance for these, just leave me a comment and i'll randomly draw a winner on friday morning :)
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 11:27 PM in creating keepsakes, Layouts, scrapbooking, stamping | Permalink | Comments (71)
i sort of forgot about this layout. is that bad of me? lol! this was created for an assignment for an article in creating keepsakes. then it got moved to the online content part of the article. and then the article got moved out a month. so maybe that is part of the reason i sort of forgot about it.
as seen in the online content for the July/August 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.
this was for an article called "cool scrapbook layouts for boys and men", written by mandy douglass. you can see the online part of the article HERE. my assignment was to create a layout about a man and his hobbies or job. so i figured a layout about joe and his hobby/job of umpiring was a perfect fit. the other half of the assignment was to use masculine products and textures on the layout. here's a closer look at each of the pages. can you pick out my masculine product picks?
i chose not to use any pattern paper for this layout. instead, i went with cardstock and cork paper. the self-adhesive cork paper (by karen foster) is a great way to add a fun texture to the page. and i also choose it, because it picked up the leather of his face mask in the photos. i added in some green, by stamping a background stamp (by hero arts) with green ink onto white cardstock, and then inking the edges with black ink. i used my finger to brush a little bit of black paint around the edges of the clear acrylic stars (by heidi swapp), and then added fabric covered brads (by making memories) to the centers. the metal word charms (by making memories) were tied around the stamped cardstock piece with some jute, and then the entire piece was adhered with pop dots to lift it off the page.
for my title, i chose some large raw chipboard letters (by basic grey). i stamped versamark ink on each letter, and heat embossed with a distressed denim blue embossing powder (by tim holtz). the distressed embossing powder gives a very gritty, rough feel after heat embossed. which went really well on this layout. you can also see here, that i added a rough edged digital frame to each photo, before printing. gives the photos a grungey feel, and a matted look at the same time.
along the bottom of the two page spread, i had a strip of black textured cardstock. i pulled out some older products to embellish these strips. first, i cut some strips from a metal mesh sheet (by making memories), that mimics the chain link fence in one of the photos. i adhered it to the black cardstock with some mini glue dots, and then added some screw eyelets (by making memories) to secure it. yes, i said "eyelets". there's a reason i keep super, duper old products sometimes. because there WILL be a perfect reason to use them again.
and here's a closer look at my journaling. i printed it onto blue textured cardstock, and inked the edges. then i adhered it to the layout with pop dots. so, all in all, i would say that i did a pretty good job at using lots of masculine products and lots of textures. and i got a great layout to add to the albums, and documented joe's favorite hobby/job :)
Posted on August 30, 2010 at 10:04 PM in creating keepsakes, Layouts, scrapbooking, stamping | Permalink | Comments (7)
it's my turn again for a designer challenge on the making memories blog. this time it's all about altering your slice die cuts. go read all about it over HERE on the blog. and you can see my process of taking this:
and turning it into this:
Posted on April 12, 2010 at 08:50 AM in making memories, scrapbooking, slice diecutting, stamping | Permalink | Comments (13)
wanted to quickly share a layout i did a while ago, that went up on the jillibean soup blog today.
i wanted to use the new pattern papers from the old world cabbage stew collection, and dug around looking for photos to go with it. i came across these ones of sarah, from almost 8 years ago. i always loved these photos. she saw them, and asked why her hair was so big. lol! she had the thickest, waviest, touch of curly hair. it's still thick, but now just long and straight. i also used the home tweet home clear stamp set to make the tree and the little birdie. and the stitching? that's just drawn on with a pen ;)
keeping this short and sweet today. girls are on half days at school all week, so it's been a little crazier than usual around here.
Posted on March 11, 2010 at 10:40 AM in scrapbooking, stamping | Permalink | Comments (15)
i'm switching from christmas mode for this post. i havn't even looked through the handful of photos i took this weekend. but i was going through my blog tonight and all the layouts i've created this past year, putting together a blog post that i'll share tomorrow. in the process, i realized i've never shared these layouts. just so happens, that i've had two of my cousins get married in the last few years. which comes in handy, when i needed to create wedding layouts with the making memories wedding collection ;)
this layout was featured in the june issue of scrapbook trends magazine. the white cardstock is the background of this layout (i just took the photo of it on a black bookshelf). i took this photo of my cousin brad, and his wife, raiza, on their wedding day. i took a small amount of photos that day, as they were posing for the professional photographers. i didn't want to get in anyone's way, so i took this from way off on the side, using my zoom lens. it just so happened that they loved this shot, and have it enlarged in their house. love that. after this layout was published, i gave it to them and they have it framed. and i'm sending out a huge "congrats" to them both. they just delivered their first baby on christmas eve, an adorable boy named zachery john. finally, someone else has a kid in this family. lol!
these next two layouts are of my cousin rachael, and her husband, ryan on their wedding day. we weren't able to make it to the wedding, but she had these photos to share with me. gorgeous photos of them, and they're such a cute couple.
these two layouts were created using the wedding page kit. and they just happen to be on the back of the packaging, that is hanging on the shelves right now at target. so cool! although i just now, at this very second, realized i spelled rachael's name wrong. lol! she was telling me yesterday, at our family get-together, that they go check it out every time they're in target. i'm glad i'm not the only one. i go down that aisle and look at it every time. which for me is about 2-3 times a week, because i can't remember to get what we need in just one trip. lol!
Posted on December 28, 2009 at 11:23 PM in family, making memories, scrapbooking, stamping | Permalink | Comments (8)
today is my great friend mary macaskill's birthday. if you don't know her, you need to know her. she is the sweetest person ever, and uberly talented to boot. i'm lucky to call her one of my "BFF's". another one of her BFF's (thanks heather!) thought it would be really fun to put together a little birthday card blog hop for mary to enjoy on her special day. if you're just joining, make sure to go stop at heather moll's blog first, so that you can start at the beginning of the hop.
this is actually a duplicate of a card i recently had published. so mary might have already seen this, just with a different sentiment. but mary knows me very well. and we know how crazed we both get somtimes. so i know she'll forgive me for not having something super new and creative. lol! plus, i know she'll like it. especially that purple flower, right mary ;)
supplies:
pattern paper - bo bunny (yellow dot), american crafts (brown dot)
flowers - making memories (purple), american crafts (green and turquoise)
brads - making memories
stamps - hero arts
other - sting
the next stop on the birthday card blog hop for mary is rhonda steed's blog.
and for mary. hope you have an awesome birthday today, my friend!!!
Posted on August 15, 2009 at 06:00 AM in cards, stamping | Permalink | Comments (9)
CHA started yesterday and it's been fun seeing the photos and products pop up all over. one of these years, i would love to actually attend. have to by happy with looking online for now. anyways, wanted to share some jillibean soup stuff today. they posted some more photos of the booth on the jillibean soup blog.
first off, how cute is their booth (pictures borrowed from the JB blog)! and here is jill (the owner of JB) and kimber (our design team coordinator), the main girls behind jillibean soup. love all they do for us. and for letting me play with their super fun products!
they have some more photos of the booth on their blog. but i had to share this one, since that's my girl up there ;)
i was assigned the new soup staples collection. which is right up my alley. just love the colors of these papers. and found this favorite photo of alyssa that went so well with it. for the record, this was my first ever 8.5x11 layout. i have been scrapping for 14 years now, and have never tried that size. kind of liked it. lol!
and a few cards, both of which have one of the new stamped sentiments on them. so make sure to check out the new products. and i'm sure they'll be adding more photos and samples over on the blog soon :)
btw, if you want to see more jillibean soup peeks, i found THESE.
Posted on July 29, 2009 at 10:21 PM in cards, scrapbooking, stamping | Permalink | Comments (13)