Wednesday's Layout "Merry Christmas"

"Merry Christmas" is the title of this two page layout using "Twinkle Bright" papers and designs. This is just in time for those Christmas pictures. You can use this red, green and cream layout for the pictures from your celebration.

Supplies:

Two - Glitter and holly on cream paper, Anna Griffin, Twinkle Bright

One - green holly pattern, Anna Griffin, Twinkle Bright

One - red star pattern, Anna Griffin, Twinkle Bright

Anna Griffin, Twinkle Bright Embellishments: package of 25 die-cuts and a title sticker (cut apart)

Stickles: Golden Rod, red & green

Gold star trim

The Make and Take element is a pre-cut rosette that is double in color (cream & red) shown in second image. You get to pleat and glue the rosette.

1 Cute Chick

Start with some Cream of Mushroom, add equal parts Ground Corriander, a dash of Orange Sugar, and a pinch of Chopped Parsley and what do you get? A layout using papers from Jillibean Soup! I really am in love with this stuff! The little birdies on the Cream of Mushroom paper were actually the inspiration for this layout because they led me to the title, which led me to this picture of my daughter from this summer!

To emphasize the "chick" theme, I looked around Scrapbooks Plus and found those cute chicken stickers from Mrs. Grossman's. I could not believe how absolutely perfectly the colors worked! Then I pulled out my Modge Podge and decopauged this little wooden birdie element with a brown on brown patterned paper from Anna Griffin.(By the way - the orange grid paper in the background is the flip side of the Orange Sugar polka dot I used in the layout - sweet!) I gave this guy some fancy tail feathers with a wide, striped ribbon and added a small black button for an eye.

Back to the Cream of Mushroom paper - I pulled the dark brown color from the trees and used it to mat the photo and the different layers of paper. It's a color blocking trick I use when I am working with papers with strong graphic design.

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I think every layout needs journaling, but I often hide that journaling. Do you see a pull ribbon just to the right of my daughter's smiling face? It is attached to a "Journaling Sprout" from Jillibean Soup. They come in die cut packs of 24 in a variety of sizes and designs.

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For the title - One of my favorite products from Jillibean Soup is the corrugated alphabet!! You will see in my other layouts this month that I played around with some different techniques on this embellishment. For this particular layout, I just swiped the letters with an orange ink pad and sat back and enjoyed the results! I like mixing up different fonts and textures, so I added vinyl thickers from American Crafts for "chick". I used my Base Camp Cricut cartridge to cut the rather large numeral "1" from coordinating blue cardstock and ran it through a paper crimper to match the corrugated alpha. Voila!

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"So where is that "pinch" of Chopped Parsley?" I hear you wondering. Good question! You have to look carefully. At the top of the layout on the Cream of Mushroom paper there was a red swirly tree that really didn't work with the other colors in the rest of the layout. No worries - I just pulled out a circular punch and cut a new tree!

Yesterday I promised you a picture of the "free with purchase" bonus. Take a good look at the wooden birdie element from the layout, because that is the freebie! Yep! If you buy any (3) items from the Design Team kit this month, you can pick up one of those cuties at the register - but only one per customer because we like to spread the love!

Soup's On!

The Design Team has been busy this month with Chopped Parsley, Roasted Pumpkin and Minestrone. No, we have not moved our creative pursuits into the kitchen! These are the names of a few of the "ingredients" in this month's kit: The manufacturer is Jillibean Soup, a company featuring designs on kraft paper as well as brightly colored prints, some of which are double-sided (like the Olive Sugar). There are also a bunch of coordinating elements available with this line - ribbons, felt flowers, and *yummy* journaling spots. Just wait until you see the corrugated kraft paper alphabet!

I also "mixed in" some papers from Anna Griffin and the "Boo To You" line from My Mind's Eye, because how can you scrap for October and not include Halloween?

We are really looking forward to seeing what your pages look like! For the DT Challenge this month we are providing you with a page map to use for your layout. We are also offering another incentive - a "free with purchase" bonus! I will post a picture of it tomorrow, so make sure you check back. Once you see how the DT used it on their projects you will definitely be inspired.

.So come on into the store, check out The Wall, choose your papers, pick up a page map and get "cooking" - there is another Gift Certificate up for grabs!!!
(and yes, I will probably continue to "pepper" my blogs for the rest of the month with references to cooking - oops! I did it again!)

Slide Mounts & Ribbon

Some people collect page sketches - I collect techniques. This month I used a simple one I had never used before - tying a slide mount on with a ribbon. It is a great way to add depth to a layout without adding a lot of bulk. One of my first stops when I visit Scrapbooks Plus is always the ribbon rack at the front of the store. Ribbons these days come in such a wide variety of patterns that it is an easy and inexpensive way to add a bit of fun to a project. Using a slide mount is a great technique by itself. It allows you to focus attention on a small picture - or a small detail of a larger picture.

My altered item this month was a picture frame that I picked up at a craft store - one of those wooden frames with a nice flat wide edge and a small opening for a picture. My goal was to make it look like a scrapbook page, which to me meant I had to have more than one picture because I rarely do a layout with just one! I combed thru my stash and found that I had a slide mount in exactly the same rich golden tones as the Anna Griffin papers and I was ready to get started.

I traced the frame onto the back of the patterned paper and cut it out. I just used regular old Elmers glue to attach it and a brayer to get the bubbles out. I positioned the slide mount so it was overlaping the picture opening a little bit and used thumbtacks on the back of the frame to hold the ribbon in place and tied the knot. The bird in the upper left was hand cut and added so that it also overlapped the opening, and then I popped on the dimensional flower sticker. Last up was the lettering. Of course I did not have the letters I needed, but I found that it was really easy to alter the wooden letters with a pair of wire cutters. (The "l" used to be a capital "T" and the "y" started out its life as the letter "X".) I used a wood stain to get the right color, and then added them with some Memory Mount glue.

What technique have you been waiting to try?

Distressed Letters

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.Wooden letters in this month's kit! How cool! To match the layout I planned to use them on, they needed to have all the charm of an old barn. So the acrylic paints came out of the cabinet and I dry brushed some red paint onto the letters, being careful not to cover the wood completely. Once dried, I found it was not quite the right shade of red, and the original wood peaking from underneath the paint just looked too - new. Easy fix. I brushed on some Brown Antiquing Gel (from Delta Ceramcoat) and let it sit for a minute, then wiped it off with a paper towel. I got the "Instant Aged Antiqued Look" the bottle promised!

Mix - and Match!

I needed to create some journaling boxes for a layout this month. The background paper looked like the old worn wood of a barn, so I pulled some paper from my stash that was a different wood pattern.

I didn't want to use plain black ink because I felt that would be too crisp and clean for this particular layout so I decided to mix my inks.

I started with a Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye). It gave me a nice soft edged impression, but it wasn't really strong enough on its own. I then applied a layer of black Stazon ink right on top. It was easy to line it up because my journaling boxes were clear stamps from Autumn Leaves.

The results were better than I expected. I think the combination of these 2 inks make it look like the stamps were burned into, or "branded" onto the wood paper. It really does! Look!

I then added the 3D flowers and fern from Anna Griffin and voila!

NOTE: I have been told to immediately clean my clear stamps if I use Stazon ink so that they don't get "gummy". I do this every time and I have had no problem.

A Little "Gilt" Never Hurt Anyone!

When I opened my kit this month, after drooling over all of the gorgeous Anna Griffin papers, I found that Sharon had thrown in a bit of whimsey for us to play with - mine happened to be a little golden butterfly...and it really affected my choices for my one page layout.

I started by matting the picture...the first mat is only 1/8" bigger than the pic on each edge. The thin line of solid teal cardstock (from Chantilly Lace) is just enough to visually lift the picture from the next layer I had planned. The floral paper for the second mat had such wonderful colors and golden tones that I cut it so there was a generous 3/4" showing on each edge. I added the corrugated Anna Griffin photo corners and then, using pop dots, I set it all on top of one more mat layer of the teal cardstock. Knowing I was going to use the butterfly on the page, I pulled out a gold ink stamp pad and swiped a layer of gilt over the photo corners. It really highlighted the texture!
Next, I selected a blue-grey paper with a subtle plant pattern for the background . I trimmed it to an 11-1/2" square and adhered it to another sheet of the teal cardstock. I dragged the stamp pad around the outer edge of the entire page, and then mounted the photo on the left hand side. I added some clear overlays from Wild Asparagus (the spinner display is in the front of Scrapbooks Plus) above and below the picture. I hand cut a flower from the patterned paper and placed it in the lower right corner.

For the title, I mixed some letters which I cut with my Cricut, with the really cool

wooden letters Sharon had put in the kit. I brushed on some gold metallic

paint and lined them up on the right edge - who says a title has to be horizontal?!? I love the look these dimensional letters give the page.

Finally, the butterfly, which started the whole page. It is on a pop dot and I made the antennae out of some golden ric-rac from the kit. For my journaling, I used a word processor to print on vellum - I know I could have handwritten it, but I just don't like my handwriting! Anyway, I created an incomplete list of adjectives to describe my daughter, my Pride & Joy...and they became the meandering "path" of the butterfly.

When I look at the finished page, I smile. It is a completely different layout than I would have created if Sharon had not included that little golden butterfly from Anna Griffin. I encourage you all to challenge yourselves - there is certainly enough "Gilt" to go around!!! (sorry, I couldn't help myself!)