Discover

My computer crashed. Yes, we saw the dreaded blue screen that signifies the death of all things Dell. And, although Sal has been able to perform CPR in the past, this time our hard drive could not be saved. For me, being without the Internet is almost as bad as being without chocolate or reality tv. But, I'm finally back, typing on a new keyboard and seeing the world on a wide-screen monitor.

Since you've had to wait for nearly a month for a post, I thought I would start with one of my favorite new layouts. Did you ever have a day where everything just went right? Well that's how I felt about creating this layout. It didn't hurt to have adorable pictures of my grandnephew for the subject. And, a recently organized scrap space (which was necessitated by excessive shopping at CKC) meant that so many embellishments found their way to the page instead of staying hidden in a bag for months until the glue on this layout had dried and I could declare, "This would have been perfect, if I just had remembered that I bought it!" LOL! Anyway, here is my layout.

I am so proud of myself for using five (you can count them!) different patterned papers and on this layout. (for those of you who are counting, the green dot is actually part a stripe on the ruler paper.) Talk about using up my stash!

Okay. Let me walk you through the layout. I featured papers and embellishments from the Chloe's Closet line from Making Memories which I had scored on clearance at Michael's this summer. I inked the edges of the papers on my main photo block. I made my own custom die-cut piece by tracing the scalloped edge of another piece of patterned paper which didn't match my layout onto the blue grid paper. I then added a subhead using tiny alphas.

Next, I cut out my title using my Cricut. For extra texture, I "pleated" my ribbon using staples to hold down the first fold and glue dots to hold down the top one.

I wanted to to emphasize Thomas' age (5 months) with the ruler paper. After a few trials and a little help from a friend, I punched the number five out of the paper, glued it on a button and affixed that to the center of my flower. My adoration of the Martha Stewart butterfly punch continues, but I wanted to change it up a bit. I had some floss left on my craft table from another project so I wrapped that around the butterfly to form the body and antennae. Oh, and one more thing for you to notice: I used my Janome Sew Mini on a layout for the first time. I love the extra texture the stitches give to the layout!

To finish up my visual triangle, I added a cluster of flowers and and chipboard buttons, the date, a stick pin with beads and, for a touch of whimsy, the acetate frog.

Supplies: Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned Paper, buttons, flowers, stickers: Making Memories (Chloe's Closet); Punches: Stampin Up! Circle and Scallop; Chipboard: K&Company (Wild Saffron); Acetate frog: Colorbok (Friendly Forest); Paper Pin: Around the Block; Ink: Colorbox chalk ink; misc beads from stash.

On the Boardwalk

One of my favorite classes at CKC this year was the Shape Up Your Layouts class sponsored by Memory Lane. The premise of the class was to learn how to use die-cut papers on a layout. We worked with beautiful papers from Making Memories and My Mind's Eye to create four unique 12x12 layouts. We also walked away with color pictures of another ten layouts. If you ask me, this class was well worth the price of admission.

This layout uses the die-cut paper in its entirety as the background paper. We cut down strips of solids and patterned paper to layer on top, The scallop edge on the solid pink was made using a Fiskars border punch. (On a side note, I like the Fiskars border punch so much more than the Stampin' Up! Scallop border punch that I own.) So here's my layout:

I used letters from my stash to create the title. I also recycled the stick from the free Skinny Cow I got at the Vendor Fair. (The stick reads: All's well that ends with dessert. Talk about finding a unique embellishment!)

Journaling reads: Bethany Beach 2002 -- There's nothing like an ice cream smile!

Patterned Paper and Tag: My Mind's Eye; Stickers: American Crafts Remarks (Sarah Script), Making Memories Tiny Alphas (Sabrina); Flowers and Buttons: Making Memories (Noteworthy); Border Punch: Fiskars; Ice Cream Stick: Skinny Cow.

WCMD

Happy belated World Card Making Day. A couple of personal things kept my creative juices from flowing over the weekend but this morning, I was inspired to make a Halloween card based on Carla Peicheff's sketch which you can find here http://moralia.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/its-here-world-card-making-day/. Here it is:

This is one time when it paid off to have all of my Halloween goodies stored together because, other than the sketch, I had no plan. I just kept digging through my stash as I went, looking for the next layer.

So, It's October 5th and I've actually made a Halloween card! If only I can mail it on time then it will be a real treat for the special person who is going to receive it!

Ingredients: American Crafts card stock; Making Memories patterned paper (Halloween); Little Yellow Bicycle laser paper (Halloween Words); Queen & Company felt fusion; Creative Imaginations epoxy sticker; Bazzill paper flower; Technique Tuesday stamp (Swiss Dots); Tim Holtz distressed ink (Spice Marmelade), Ranger ink (Jet Black); Stampin' Up! punch (Scallop); ribbon from my stash.

Cloudy With A Chance of Balloons

Just a quick post tonight to share a card I did for a Melyssa's challenge over at ShortCuts. The challenge was to showcase clouds on a card. You can see all the entries here: http://sheetloadshortcuts.blogspot.com/2009/09/melyssas-cloud-challenge.html. Here's my take on the challenge.

To create my clouds I cut out a scallop circle using my Stampin' Up! punch. I then inked around the scallops (moving it as I went along to create various cloud shapes as I went along) with distress ink. Easy peazy!

After stamping my balloons, I cut them out and applied Glossy accents for a little shine. I used a foam pop dot on the center balloon to add extra dimension. This card is going to my friend's son for his 10th birthday but the design could easily work for a get well wish.

Ingredients: Stampin' Up! card stock (Whisper White and Dusty Durango); Stampin' Up! ink (Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi and Chocolate Chip); Tim Holtz Distress ink (Broken China for clouds); Stampin' Up! stamps (Birthday Whimsy); punches(Stampin' Up! Scallop Circle and EK Success corner rounder); Inkssentials Glossy Accents; twine from my stash.

Photos First

At the Creating Keepsakes Convention, I had the opportunity to take the Photos First class with Marnie Flores. If you ever have a chance to take one of Marnie's classes, do so. Not only is she a fantastic teacher, she is very funny and upbeat. The thing I loved about this class was that I completed three layouts using a total of 27 pictures!!! Those are my kind of layouts. None of those single photo layouts with lots of flowers. After all, I've got years and years of pictures to get on my pages. The other thing I liked about this class is that the projects depicted in the registration information were the projects we completed in class. There were no surprises here! And Marnie posted very detailed directions on how to crop the pictures. While I waited to cut my pictures down to size at the crop, this information was very helpful in picking my photos. So on to the layouts...

When I first saw the Side By Side layout on line, my initial reaction was "Ack!" Where was I going to find nine pictures that would go with bright green and pink papers. Making my pictures black and white was the perfect solution. What I like most about this layout is that it includes pictures from all different events

All materials are from the class kit except the green and white sticker that I ran along the bottom of the pictures to cover up a cropping mistake. This turned out to be a happy accident because I love how that strip grounds the photos.

The journaling reads: Separated by age and by miles, the Iandoli cousins are always close in each other's hearts. Side by side are Thomas, Jennifer, Mike, Jenn, Paul, Jim, Joe, Lisa, Mark, Sarah (with Athena), and Melissa.

Layout Two used one 5x7 (landscape) and eight smaller portrait photos. This time, the challenge was finding eight portrait images that would still have impact in this smaller format. I pulled my pictures from a Tiffany lamp exhibit that I attended last year. Voila! I had the perfect match. (Please note that the kraft card stock did not photograph well.)

All materials are from the class kit except the brads and letters. I swapped out the letters from the class kit for these Making Memories letters and the Tim Holtz ink I used to distress them.

Finally, the last layout showcases another nine photos -- this time on just one page! Seeing the bright rainbows, I was drawn to my pictures from our float trip down the Colorado River. I like how Marnie designed this layout using the scalloped edge from the Sasssafras Lass paper. I also liked how there was a lot of journaling space so that I could add a lot of details about this trip.

This layout may look relatively simple but let me tell you that these photos were difficult to line up. Thank heavens for repositionable tape! In the end, it was worth the effort. I love the result.

Journaling reads: Starting at Glen Canyon Dam early in the morning, we set off amidst the shadows of the canyon for a 15-mile float trip down the Colorado River. The 55 degree river temp chilled our feet as they hovered above the cold water. After enjoying spectacular views of the sandstone cliffs, petroglyphs and Horseshoe Bend, we arrived at Lee's Ferry, the gateway to the Grand Canyon.

All in all, I would give this class two thumbs up. I REALLY liked the designs of each and every layout. We got a full set of chipboard alphas (both positives and negatives) and their was plenty of glimmer mist (green for the second layout and blue for the third) to go around to alter the letters.

Can't wait to see what Marnie will be teaching next year!

If you've read this far, you deserve a little reward. Here's a link to some blog candy over at Tami Mayberry's blog: http://tamimayberry.blogspot.com/2009/09/little-update-via-blog-candy.html

A Dahlia For Your Birthday

Ever since I got home from CKC, I've been dieing to use my new Dahlia Nestabilities and make a card based on the inspiration piece that Scrap-mart had on display in their booth. I even dug into my new Basic Grey pack of LilllyKate that I bought at the Friday night crop. I have to keep using my scrappy goodies if I want to justify buying more! LOL! Anyway, here's the card I made for my niece, Lisa, on her 18th birthday:

I chose an entirely pink pallet so that I can enter it into the Monochromatic Card Challenge on shortcuts.com.

I hope everyone enjoys the long holiday weekend. If you have time to browse the blog, check out the fantastic giveaway over at CraftCritique.com (http://www.craftcritique.com/2009/09/best-of-craft-critique-and-giveaway.html)

Ingredients: Stampin' Up! card stock; Basic Grey patterned paper (LillyKate); Spellbinder's Nestabilities (Dahlia); Making Memories stickers (Sabrina Tiny Alphas); American Crafts ribbon; pearls from Michael's.

Bliss

Oops! Between my trip to CKC Valley Forge and my vacation to California, I have fallen a little behind in sending out anniversary cards this month. So, here is card I made for a July anniversary. I'm posting it along with my best wishes for those who did not receive their cards in August. Anyway, here's the card:

It was inspired by the beautiful Brenda Walton chipboard piece that I had found on sale at Michael's. To make the butterfly, I first stamped with Versa Mark ink. I sprinkled gold embossing powder on top of the stamped image. Before heat setting it, I brushed a little of the embossing powder off for a distressed look. I colored in the image using distress inks (my new favorites!) I did not use dimensionals for the butterfly since this card had to go through the mail.

Hopefully I'll catch up on my card making in time for those September birthdays and anniversaries but there's no guarantee since I'm off to the Scrapbook Expo in Somerset, NJ this weekend!

Ingredients: Stampin' Up! (Whisper White) and DCWV (Brights) card stock; K & Company
(Brenda Walton) patterned paper and chipboard; Hero Arts (Heart Winged Butterfly) stamp; Versa Mark and Tim Holtz Distress (Shabby Shutters and Broken China) inks; Stamp-n-Stuff embossing powder (Gold Tinsel); Martha Stewart border punch (Doily Lace).