Sports Page

I was so glad to get some of my sports (baseball) photos into layouts using this collection. Its perfect for those sports pages.

For this layout, I used my cricut to make my title and used the collection as accent pieces on the white background. I do not typically use predominantly white papers as background but I love it!

Stop by the store to get yours. Debbie always has a wide assortment of cardstock to choose from!

4th of July Barbeque Page with Recipes

My 2-page layout this month gave me the opportunity to preserve our traditional 4th of July barbeque. I used pictures from two different years and included the recipe for the barbequed ribs that are the featured item every year. Most of the paper was from My Mind’s Eye American Made line.

To make this page, I started with Petticoat Plaid Red Polka Dot paper for the background. I added a 2 ½” strip of My Mind’s Eye Celebration Banner across the top. To make it a little more interesting, I cut the bottom of the strip in large scallops rather than a straight line. I added a 3” strip of Pieced Pinwheels across both pages.

I used two techniques to make the rather boring title (4th of July Barbeque) more fun – a banner & a chipboard star frame. I painted a chipboard star frame white. After inking it with Weathered Wood Distress Ink, I added some solid blue cardstock to fill in the inner star. For the banner, I cut individual flags using the Celebration Cricut cartridge. After string these on Lime Twist Fly a Kite “ Soar” Twine, I tied a small bow on each end and affixed with Glossy Accents. The “4th of July” was cut from the Petticoat Plaid Red Polka Dot paper using the Cricut. The “4” was made much larger. The “Barbeque” part of the title was cut from solid blue cardstock using the From My Kitchen Cartridge. The smaller “Barbeque” and “Chef” and the background ovals for each were also cut using this cartridge.

I printed my journaling on The Day We Celebrate paper so that I could create a box that overlaps the two pages and would use the papers border on three sides. In addition to journaling this box serves as a photo mat for two pictures. I also inked this. After printing the two recipes on The Day We Celebrate paper, I hand cut the recipes into the shape of recipe cards. To draw more attention to the recipes, I cut an outline for each recipe from polka dot paper (one red and one blue). The remaining photo mats were cut from Pieced Pinwheels paper.

To finish the page, I embellished with flowers, buttons and stars. All buttons were tied with twine. The buttons and the stars came from the BoBunny Liberty Button set. To make the flowers, I stamped plain white flowers with Weathered Wood Distress Ink very lightly. I tied twine in the center of buttons for the center.

I love this page and even more love that our 4th of July barbeques will not be forgotten.

Not just for 4th of July!

I really love using red , white and blue papers. But I don't take a ton of 4th of July photos. So when I got the kit this month I was trying to think of photos that I wanted to use. As I've said before, my dogs are like my kids~ sometimes I think I take more photos of them then the boys! I found this Quick Quotes vellum quote at Scrapbooks Plus and thought it would be perfect for a layout featuring "my pack" of dogs!
This layout came together really quickly once I had found the photos I wanted to use. for the dogs names, instead of putting their whole name I just did an initial of it. I used the wooden letters from the Pink Paislee Daily Junque line~love these letters! They are so versatile!

Enjoy!
Lisa

Using Pics from Your Phone

I love taking photos with my phone. It's convenient and lightweight. And although you don't get the same quality with your photos as a DSLR, there's some cool things that your phone can do. My favorite is an app called Hipstamatic. You get to choose the type of camera and film to imitate. I used the "Helga Viking" in these pictures. I love the black distressed border and the slightly faded look to the photos.

For this layout I used three snapshots with a neutral background. I chose a piece of the My Mind's Eye paper behind my photos because of the red suitcase. I added a bit of ephemera from the House of Three "Daily Junque" ephemera pack, a large tag that says "travel." To stretch it across the page I ripped it into two pieces and stuck a piece on either side of my photos.

I also used a couple of really cool things I picked up at the store. Petaloo has these Color Me Crazy flowers. They're just gorgeous and come like a ribbon on a strip, but you can easily cut them apart. And, a Tim Holtz game piece. I thought the number "65" would be fun, since it was a road trip and all ... and we were going at least that fast....

Interactive Mac

I made this canvas using the very American paper from the design team kit this month. This project was done on water color paper & involves layers & layers. If you took my multi-media canvas class those are the techniques we learned. One of the challenges I have is making abstract art using magazine or stamped people, even using vintage photos. I feel like I have enough of my own photos why do I need to put strangers in my art? So I came up with the idea of using my son Mac in this whimsical page.

I added rub-ons & tons of stamps, sprays with stencils... but my favorite part is when I cut out his photos & added it back in to the page I put his arm on a brad so it swings back & forth. Hence interactive Mac. It cracks me up every time I see him & in fact I need to get him back home cause we miss him! The best part is I have a piece of whimsical art that is my boy, that makes me very happy!

Wednesday 7/27 Make and Take

This week's Wednesday Make and Take is featuring Imaginisce's Happy Camper line. It is a great layout for any outdoor activity! See you at Scrapbooks Plus!

Flying the Flag by Esther

This was a fun thing to do with the various cardstock patterns of this kit. This is a simple version of a quilt pattern. Shapes were cut with a knife and mat then placed side by side. After mounting them to a solid sheet they were trimmed to have curved ends and fit the page. Blue cardstock is the base.

Red glitter cardstock and white paper pleated trims are on the left. The white trim was decorated with a red Copic Marker to tone down the stark white. Pictures are mounted on tan cardstock and the journaling printed on white photo paper. White buttons were threaded with red ribbon. The flag is a diecut that was dyed red and decorated with silver.

Chipboard & Glitter

This month I tried something new. Never before have I used glitter on a layout. In fact, I’ve never even owned glitter before this month. There couldn’t have been a better opportunity to use glitter than this months DT kit. The red, white and blue theme was perfect for a bit (okay, maybe a bunch) of sparkle and bling!

If you’re like me, you likely have lots of chipboard shapes, letters, etc. Next time you’re at a loss for how to cover your chipboard, I’d suggest a bit of glitter. I used a double sided adhesive and a glue pen. I covered the chipboard with the adhesive and glue. I then sprinkled a bit of glitter over the chipboard shape and brushed off the excess glitter. Easy as 1, 2, 3! The glitter was a simple and fun way to decorate my chipboard stars.

I hope you enjoy!
Erica

Stars and Stripes

Like I said in my last post I really love to work with larger sized photos. This one of my twins from 2001 is one of my favorites! I thought the red, white and blue paper worked really well with the "military" feel of the photo of my boys dressed in their Dad's BDUs.
I used used the chipboard stars as my accents for the LO. I painted them with a white acrylic paint and then covered them in some melted UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing enamel), which I melted in my Ranger Melting Pot. Love the way it came out!
I loved the vellum quote sheet from Quick Quotes~ thought it worked well with the theme of my photo.
Stop by Scrapbooks Plus and check out the Design Team wall~ you will be so inspired by the great designs!
Enjoy!
Lisa

Making a Barbeque Recipe Book

This month’s papers strongly suggest celebrating the 4th of July and for us this means food, so I decided to use the From My Kitchen Cricut cartridge to make a recipe book. I used Moxie Hometown Celebration line (Star-splangled, Grand Ol’ Flag, and Patriotic Patchwork) so that everything in the book matches everything else. The recipe book has three parts – covers, dividers for different types of food and recipe cards. It was easy to put together. The description that follows seems complicated but it really is not. The only challenging part was figuring out what size to cut the pieces.

For the front and back cover, I cut two 5" X 6 ½" pieces of chipboard. I covered the edges with blue ribbon so the edges would be finished. After I finished the edges, I adhered paper to both sides of each cover using a glue stick and a brayer. Using the Cricut, I cut the title “Barbeque” and “Recipes” from dark blue Bazzill cardstock.

I cut six dividers using the same cardstock as the title using the Tabs Feature (2 each of mixer, blender and toaster; 4 ¼”). Each divider has a title on the divider and on the tab of the divider. For the title that goes on the divider itself, I cut the words using the Cricut from the same cardstock as the dividers. The cartridge offers several options. I used drinks, appetizers, vegetables, meats, breads and sweets. To make the titles stand out, I cut an oval shadow for each using the Cricut. The oval shadows and the tabs (3 3/4”) were cut from matching paper. I used a label maker to make the title to go on the tab. For some dividers, I added some stickers from the Moxie Hometown Celebration sticker set to decorate them a bit more.

I printed the recipes on My Mind’s Eye American Made “Patriotic Picnic” Paper. I printed five recipes on one piece of paper by using Microsoft Publisher so I could turn some sideways to fit more per page. They were cut to be 3 ¾” x 6” . I cut a recipe card overlay for each recipe (Tab Feature Key, Shift & Cookie) from one of the Moxie papers and glued to the recipe card. In printing the recipes you have to work around the shape of the recipe overlay.

There are a few ways that you could make this project a little simpler. Two involve the recipe card overlays. The simplest way would be to not use any recipe card overlays so that your recipe card would just be a rectangular piece Patriotic Picnic paper. Another alternative is to use recipe card overlay that is rectangular. The cartridge offers several options. I used an overlay that has a circular cutout on one side requiring formatting the recipe to avoid this spot. Another option is instead of printing the recipe on paper and then cutting to match overlays, you could simply cut a recipe car and stamp lines on it for handwriting recipes.

After punching three holes in all (cover, dividers, recipe cards), I put We R Memory Keepers blue eyelets (large) so that the holes would withstand use. After putting book in proper order, I strung all items tan twill ribbon from Scrapbooks Plue and tied in a knot and then a bow. You could also use rings but I liked the look of the ribbon.

It will be great in the future to have all the recipes I use for barbequing in one place so that I don’t need to look through a bunch of cookbooks. It would also make a nice gift for a housewarming or bridal shower.

Saige Barnett, who was visiting my house, for the 4th of July holiday helped me with this project. She did lots of assembling and holding.

The Day We Celebrate Freedom by Esther

Freedom is the topic of the two-page layout that focuses on Juneteenth. It is the 19th day of June that people in Texas and the South learned of Black persons being set free from slavery. This is a holiday that is still celebrated over the United States. The cardstock had the theme "The Day We Celebrate". A red chipboard letter is used to begin the word Freedom and the diecut negative is used to complete the spelling. The diecut is from My Mind's Eye's Celebration Banner and mounted on the blue side of Moxxie's Star-spangled for contrast. The red of Echo Park cardstock was used to cut the state shape for Texas.

The right page is made from striped blue and a striped red cut smaller. The stripes by Moxxie were used across both sheets to tie the pages together. Ribbon is used on the left with a mini tag hanging from it. On the right is a banner and a large journaling shape that are cut double and adhered to show both. Red stars and ribbon are used for accents and Jenni Bowlin sticker stars are on the right spelling Juneteenth. Journaling was printed and attached with sparkly star brads.

Art Journal Club

I am starting a fun new monthly club! Our first meeting will be Wednesday, August 24th at 6pm. My idea is to learn a few new techniques every class using multi-media tools. The first 2 hours will be learning & making a few pages, the 3rd hour is free play. This will be your club so the class will have input on which direction we go based on interest. We will meet once a month to build an art journal. After much consideration I thought it would be fun to make the journal as we go instead of buying a blank book. My idea is that frees us to throw in canvas,water color paper, & other mediums. When our project gets big we will make a cover using the techniques you have learned & bind it. Here is part of the flyer to give you more information. We have had a lot of interest so after the initial meeting we may need to split into 2 classes a month. Make sure you are there so we can figure out the best time to meet!

ART JOURNAL CLUB

ScrapbooksPlus is starting an art journal club-come be apart of it. Once a month we will get together & learn new techniques with both old & new products. From the cool new faber castell gelatos, water color pencils & pitt pens to alcohol ink, stamping, collage, & maybe even encaustic art. Join the art journal craze & start a book that expresses who you are & where you want to go. Maybe you want a book that tells your story or a travel book, pick what ever theme you want or no theme at all just random thoughts & musings!

Is there a product you want to learn more about? We will do that too! From Atc cards to tags, polymer clay to beeswax, we will get inky & create cool unique art journals.

Our first class is August 24th from 6-9pm. Cost is $25.

Hope to see you there!

Instructor: Karen Bearse

July PageMap

I chose a complete sports - particularly baseball - theme for my layouts this month. This collection was perfect for my little Cardinal. The papers chosen for the pagemap really made it look like I had a curtain opening to reveal my slugger!

Be sure to stop by Scrapbooks Plus to pick up this great collection!

Wednesday Make and Take - July 20, 2011

Stop by Scrapbooks Plus for this great heritage layout!

Quick Two-Page Layouts

Have a lot of photos you need to scrap? Here's a quick design you can use over and over.

I used 4x6 photos for this layout (and one 4x6 piece of paper) and laid them in two rows across the middle of the page. I lined the first row up with the right edge of my first page so that none of my photos jump the seam.

I took a piece of paper and cut three 4" strips. Two strips go above and below the photos on the right-hand page. The third strip is cut in half and used above and below the photos on the left-hand page.

For finishing touches, I added a few border strips, a couple of labels & tags, my title and journaling.

Copic Markers- oh so many uses!

If you have not used Copic Markers before, you really should give them a try!  I believe they are the most flexible markers on the market!  They are refillable, they are guaranteed not to dry out (if the cap is on) for 3 years and the nibs can be replaced so you never need to buy the same marker twice!  I just love them as they are so versatile and come in hundreds of colors!  They can write on practically anything. Let me show you a few items that i used my Copic markers for with this month's Design Team projects:

First, I used a Multiliner pen with the brushstroke tip to write on my photos.  There are lots of different sized nibs for Multiliners.  I like the brushstroke but it is easiest to start with a harder nib if you aren't used to working with a brush.  The brush is fun because you can vary the width of your stroke very easily with more or less pressure.  All Copic markers can be used to write on photos.  They dry almost instantly and do not smear.  They are great for adding text or for coloring.

I also used them to color the edges of my wood frame.  I didn't want to cover the frame with paint, but I didn't want to leave the 'raw' wood on the edges.  Copic markers color is transparent.  You can 'build' the depth of the color when you use it by layering more color in the same place for a darker color.  The reason I chose these for this project was so that I could take advantage of this transparent quality and be able to still see that it is a wood frame with the grain showing through.   I covered the front of my frame with paper and embellishments from the Design Team kit this month but the edges were quickly and easily finished with Copic Markers.  I used a shade of red for the outer edge and a shade of dark blue for the inner edge by the photo.

If you are interested in learning more about these markers, join us on August 17th at 6:30 for our upcoming Copic Club class at the store!  Here's the completed photo frame.

I’ll admit, I was a bit unsure as to how I was going to use the red, white and blue paper provided in the design team kit this month. I didn’t have any 4th of July, firework, or family barbeque pictures – events I associate with red, white and blue. However, when I saw the BoBunny Liberty chipboard and brads, I knew exactly what pictures I should use – pictures from the Statue of Liberty in NYC. I’m happy I got the opportunity to scrap a few of my pictures of NYC and am thrilled with how my layouts turned out.

Paper
o Moxie – Hometown Celebration
 Star Spangled
 Grand Ol’ Flag
o My Mind’s Eye – American Made
 Celebration Banner
 “The Day We Celebrate”
 Petticoat Plaid
o BoBunny – Liberty
 Liberty Dot
o Echo Park – Dots & Stripes and For the Record
 Navy Small Dot
 Red/Cream

Embellishments
o BoBunny – Liberty
 Noteworthy
 Brads
 Chipboard
o Tim Holts – Game Pieces
o Reminisce – Est. 1776 Stickers
o Jenni Bowlin Studio – Star Banner-Red Stickers
o Melissa Francis – lace trim
o Want 2 Scrap – bling flourishes
o Eyelet Outlet – brads
o May Arts – ribbon
o Prima, Petaloo and Recollections – flowers

I hope you enjoy, thanks for looking!
Erica

Fun with Glimmer Mist

I liked the red, white and blue paper in this month's kit. And the patterns were my kind of fun - polka dots, stripes and more.

When I was putting together my layouts I kept reaching for a sheet of white cardstock as the background. And while I thought white was the best choice, it seemed a little stark, a little drab to me.

So I grabbed my stash of glimmer mists. I have to admit, I have been more of a collector than a user of glimmer mist ... until now. Once I gave them a try I really liked the look - and ended up using them on most of my projects for the month.

Here's two of them:

In this layout I used the Dark Denim color. I decided to add the glimmer mist after I had adhered everything to my layout. How to protect the photos? I just placed a scrap piece of paper over them. After spraying a couple of pumps I pulled the sprayer out of the bottle and made a few larger drops on the page.


I liked the look of the glimmer mist so much on my first layout I wanted to use it again. Howevr, this time I started off by spraying my background first. I was a little more lighthanded with the Dark Denim color on my "b*day" layout, adding it in with a bit of red and light blue (I think it was Robin's Egg). I think it looks festive :)

A Vintage Patriotic Look

This month’s papers initiated a patriotic feeling so I decided to do my one-page layout using photos from the memorials on the National mall. With the vintage look of the Moxie American Made Hometown Celebration Star Spangled paper as a background, I made a collage of the photos. The only challenge was making the photos fit in the space available. I drew the collage’s intended shape on a plain piece of 12” x 12” cardstock (you can use an old piece you no longer have use for as none of it will show) positioning it on the page as I wanted it on my final page. I cut out the collage shape. I picked the photos I wanted to use and printed most of them wallet size. I did one 3 x 5. I then simply played with the photos and how I wanted to arrange them on the collage. Because I had cut the pattern out of 12 x 12 paper, I could lay the photos down and then put the remainder of the paper (top and bottom) in place and see what part of the pictures would show and what wouldn’t when I cut them to the size of the collage. Once I had an arrangement I liked, I glued the photos down and cut the collage to the shape of the pattern. I glued this to proper place on the background paper.

To set off the collage, I used one of my favorites -- Idea-Ology Film Strip Ribbon. I used paper from Echo Park’s For the Record line behind the ribbon.
I inked the cream side of the Red/Cream paper with Fired Brick Distress Ink a bit to give it more dimension and color. I cut a piece of the film strip a little longer than I would need for top of the collage. I glued this film strip to the cream side of the Red/Cream paper using Glossy Accents. Once dry, I trimmed the paper to the exact edge of the film strip on each side and affixed it to the top edge of the collage using Glossy Accents. (Where I wanted to add a picture above, I only applied Glossy Accents to bottom of film strip.) I repeated this for the bottom of the collage. Once glued in placed I trimmed the excess from both sides of the paper.


To create the stars and flag, I began with chipboard stars. I inked each one with Faded Jeans Distress Ink by placing directly on ink pad and pressing hard. Each was then embossed them with Fired Brick Distress Embossing Powder. I wiped off some of the embossing powder to give the stars a vintage look. I filled the center of the large star with Red/Cream Echo Park paper (after inking it slightly with Fired Brick Distress Ink.) Using a blue pen, I followed the inside of the star to create two stars made with dashed lines.

I created a journaling box out of Echo Park Red/Cream paper and made a designed edge with the Tim Holtz Sizzix Brackets die. I also cut a small star out of Echo Park Red/Cream paper. Both were inked with Fired Brick Distress ink. A blue pen was used for journaling.

Wednesday Make and Take - July 13, 2011

Bonus in packaging!

 I like to add a little bling to my layouts.  I picked up these red and blue BoBunny jewels to coordinate with the design team red, white and blue themed papers this month.  When I bought them I thought, great- some extra bling for my layouts!  What I didn't count on was that the packaging could become a layout element.  The theme of 'reduce, reuse and recycle' that's so 'in' now has always been a mantra of mine.  I'm the recycler of items at our house-- we never throw out jars or anything that could be washed, have the labels removed and reused to contain some yummy treat and great new custom label for a special friend.  I like the challenge of finding new, different or unique uses for items instead of throwing them away.  So when I removed these jewels from the packaging and saw this...

 I just couldn't resist!  It has to be used on a page!  The bottom edge has a nice scallop and the colors were perfect with the DT papers this month!  So, I cut off the top label and it became my journaling tag on my layout! 

I challenge you to look for fun ways to reuse your packaging instead of tossing it out! 

Blueberries

I started with white Bazzill paper & a photo of my daughter picking blueberries. I marked where the photo would go & drew with black permanent pen using stencils. Next I colored with gelatos & a waterpen-these are creamy & create wonderful bright colors when water is added. The result looks like water color. The photo was matted & a strip of paper cut with a
border punch than

adhered along the photo with a strip of tissue tape. The butterfly were cut out of acetate using THoltz alterations & embossed. I colored them with glimmer glam & ran Stazon over top to pick up the embossed image & of course added some bling. The butterflies were glued to the page using Helmar scrap dots- a fantastic dimensional wet glue that dries an opaque milky color & is perfect for acetate. I bought these at Scrapbooksplus.

I took a piece of bazzill pleated paper ribbon & sprayed a stencil with gmist. The title was added using Bo Bunny stickers. The metal 15 is THoltz , the words from the ephemera pack. I painted a wooden butterfly with gglam & cut out the swirl from a starbucks sleeve. I painted the swirl with crackle paint it was not the right color so I added gglam. Finally I cut some of the Moxxie paper using the tattered florals die cut, embossed it & swiped it with black soot. I assembled the flower using a brad.

Supplies Used:
Paper: Moxxie-starspangled, EchoPark-navy small dot
Stencils: Prima, Tattered Angels, Crafters Workshop
Brad & Letters: Bo Bunny
Die Cuts: Alterations by THoltz/Sizzix
Tissue Tape & metal: THoltz
Wood Butterfly: Kaiser Craft
GGlam by Tattered Angels-Blue Suede Shoes
GMist-Autumn Nights
Gelatos by Faber Castell.
White pleated paper & cardstock-Bazzill
CracklePaint by Ranger-Broken China
Ephemera-Pink Paislee