Local Color

I am OFFICIALLY tired of Christmas! There, I said it! It's true that I LOVE Christmas. It's my favorite holiday of the year. But, working on my December Daily all Spring and then posting those pages here on my blog has really started to affect my Christmas spirit...I mean scrapping mojo. That's why this weekend, I took out the brightest papers I could find and scrapped a NON-Christmas layout. Here it is:

To create this layout, I used a sketch from Valerie Salmon's "Got Sketch?" blog. The layout also fits Kelly Goree's Old, New Borrowed & Cool challenge.

• Old: American Crafts Margarita patterned papers, flairs and rub-ons; SEI and Me & My Big Ideas letters; Little Yellow Bicycle buttons and Stampin' Up! scallop circle punch. (Yes, I really shopped my stash for this layout!)
• New: Elle's Studio Tags.
• Borrowed: Valerie Salmon's sketch.
• Cool: Colorful banner made from twine and scallop circle punch.

Journaling reads: Upon returning from our shore excursion, we came upon a group of street performers dancing the flamenco.

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper, Rub-ons, Flair Buttons: American Crafts (Margarita);

Letters: SEI (Grapefruit); Me & My Big Ideas ();

Journaling Tags: Elle's Studio;

Embelishments: buttons (Little Yellow Bicycle -- Zinnia); twine (The Twinery -- Pink Sorbet );

Tools: Stampin' Up Scallop Circle punch; Spellbinders Nestabilities (Lotus Pendants);

December Daily -- Days 7, 8, 9 & 10

I am back with more pages from my December Daily. Day 7 was all about shopping in my pj's online! I took a picture of my screen when I was on amazon.com. I used a kraft tag that I dressed up with some stamping (chevron pattern) ribbon and brad as the mat for my journaling card. I added other brads to the center of the flower and the postcard to form a visual triangle. Here it is:

On the Simple Stories postcard, I also stamped the tree and added the word stickers.

Day 8 tells the story of our Christmas lights and how the lights kept going out. I used a big picture of the house fully decorated and a smaller picture with most of the lights out. (Poor Sal!)

For this page, I typed the journaling on my computer. Here's the layout:

Day 9 completes the two0page spread in my album. For this page, I used smaller pictures of some of my favorite house decorations in our neighborhood. I added some glitter stars to the patterned paper for more texture and created a journaling strip on my computer like the one I did for Day 8. Here's the layout:

Finally, Day 10 tells the story of our Christmas wreath and how Sal and Melissa always go together to pick it out. The journaling is layered on a kraft tag much like the one I created for Day 7. I love the metal "numbers" for this page. The one from Tim Holtz metal numbers was the same size as the wreath from his metal charms set. Talk about scrapping karma! And, I didn't even fudge this. We really got the wreath on December 10th this year! Here's the page:

Ten down, fifteen to go! I will be back later this week to, hopefully, finish posting my December Daily!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

So, remember how I said I had very little time to make Easter cards this year? Well my clean and simple design from last week's post was perfect for the adults on my list but I have two grandnephews who are 2.5 and 3. For their cards, I pulled an 8x8 pad of Cosmo Cricket out from my stash. The nice thing about this pad is that it includes several elements sheets with springtime themes. Once I cut out the tags I wanted to use, the cards practically made themselves!

Here's the first card:

I started by cutting out the Peter Cottontail piece. I stamped the two butterflies, doodled their trails and added Glossy Accents to the bunny to make him look as chocolaty as possible! While the bunny was drying, I layered the various patterned papers. I used my Martha Stewart Fringe Scissors on two strips of green paper to make it look like grass. I rounded a few corners to soften the edges, adhered the papers, and added some faux stitching. I used my paper piercer to poke a tiny hole in the fold of my card, threaded the twine through and tied a bow. Here's a closer look at the details:

For the next card, I used a tag that had a cute little chick on it. Here's the card:

To make the chick pop, I smeared a thin layer of Glossy Accents and then sprinkled on the glitter. I cut the words for the sentiment from another tag, distressed the edges with ink and added them to the tag with foam adhesive. The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory. Here's a close-up of the details.

Now that I am done sharing my Easter cards, it will be back to Christmas here on the blog. I finally finished my December Daily (Woo hoo!) and I am ready to finish sharing it.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! (kraft);

Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket (Honey Pie);

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Barn Door; Vintage Photo); White Signo Gel Pen; Stampin' Up!Marker (Chocolate Brown);

Stamp: Technique Tuesday (Growing Wild);

Tools: Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment); Stampin' Up! (Spiral); EK Success Corner Rounder;

Misc.: Twine (My Mind's Eye -- Lime Twist); Ribbon (Cosmo Cricket -- Honey Pie); Glossy Accents.

Playing Favorites!

When it comes to Hero Arts stamps, it's hard for me to pick a favorite! So, when the new blog called A Blog Named Hero challenged crafters to make a project using their favorite Hero Arts products, picking the stamps was, for me, the hardest part of this challenge. Since I needed a birthday card for a Sweet 16, this is what I came up with:

To make this card, I created my own patterned paper using my favorite cupcake stamp a little black ink. I layered that on top of some teal cardstock to make it pop. I used score tape to affix two rows of that perfectly matched ribbon to a one-inch strip of cardstock and trimmed with the teal scalloped cardstock. Next, I used Nestabilities to cut the two circles. I used my newest and most favorite Hero Arts background stamp plus Versamark ink and clear embossing powder to give the black circle a little more detail. (Did I tell you how much I LOVE the new Zig Zag stamp?) I adhered the circles to the card with foam adhesive and finished it off with Thickers. Here's a closer look:

I am really happy with the fresh, graphic feel of this card for a teenager.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White); Stampin' UP! (Bermuda Bay);

Inks: Tsukinedo Memento (Tuxedo Black); Versa Mark;

Stamps: Hero Arts (Zig Zag; Cupcakes);

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Circle Large; Classic Scallop); Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment);

Embellishment: American Crafts (ribbon; Thickers).

Let Us Rejoice and Be Glad!

Can you believe that Easter is here and I am still working on my December Daily. Yep! I have two days to go plus a layout with all of the Christmas cards we received. But, since it is Easter, I am going to take a little break from posting my December Daily. So today I have an Easter card to share with you.

My Pinterest board is filled with inspiration for Clean and Simple card designs yet, when I sit down to make a card, I do anything but. Well, it's amazing how Clean and Simple one can get when it is two days before Easter and the mailman will be by in 20 minutes! Here's my card:

I told you it was clean and simple! To create it, I stamped the fabulous sentiment in black ink. Then, I used markers to color my flower stamp, starting with the lightest color and working my way to the darkest. Once I was done coloring, I huffed on the stamp and Voila! Clean and simple! I did add a few gems to the center of one of my flowers. I just couldn't help myself!

I wish you all a wonderful Easter or Passover!

There's a fun new blog you may want to check out called Kristin Wilson Handmade. Kristin is offering great blog candy for her followers!

Supplies

Paper: Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream);

Ink: Tsukineko Memento (Tuxedo Black); Stampin' Up! Markers (So Saffron; Regal Rose; Bordering Blue; Always Artichoke );

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (This Is the Day by Ali Edwards; Growing Wild);

Embellishments: Recollections Rhinestones

Guest Designer at City Crafter

A while back, I asked to be the guest designer at the City Crafter Challenge Blog. My initial excitement turned into fear when I saw that the challenge was called "Seeing Double." The challenge was to use both the positive and negative of a die or punch. Now I most often use the positives of a die and I sometimes use the negative of the punch but I usually don't use them together. So I thought and I thought and I thought some more. Then, I saw this new patterned paper from My Mind's Eye 2012 CHA release:

I was drawn to the rows of butterflies and the paper quickly became my inspiration for my card. Here is my card:

Please note that Purple Cardstock + Glossy Accents + Cloudy Day =Major Photography Challenge!! I'm just saying!

To create the card, I stamped the background onto a piece of Rich Razzleberry cardstock using the same color ink. I added the sentiment in black ink. Next, I punched five butterflies from a scrap piece of paper and affixed them with removable adhesive to the cardstock. These served as positioning guides for me to punch the butterflies in a straight row. I backed the negative I created with a piece of patterned paper and added some coordinating paper strips to frame it. I used a 6x6 pad so that the scale was not too big. I adhered the punch butterflies to the card using Glossy Accents as my adhesive. I put rolled up glue dots under each wing to maintain the dimension. To make the butterfly wings stand out even more from the background, I coated each with Glossy Accents.

You can visit the City Crafter Challenge Blog to see what the other designers did and join in the fun. This week's prize is a Guest Design spot of your very own. If you do play a long, please link up to the comment section of my blog. I would love to see your project!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White); Stampin' UP! (Rich Razzleberry)'

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Sweet Threads);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Envelope Pattern, Luscious Frames);

Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Stampin' UP! (Rich Razzleberry)

Tools: Martha Stewart punch (Classic Butterfly); Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment);

Misc.: Recollections rhinestones

December Daily -- Days 4, 5 & 6

I am back today with three more pages from my December Daily. I have to admit that I was very excited to make these pages since they are a little out-of-the box for me. (Warning this is a long post with a lot of pictures!)

December 4th was an ordinary Sunday. Sal and I both woke up feeling a little under the weather. We stayed in and I made a stew for dinner. Nothing earth shattering to scrap about, right? Except, every season, when I make my stew for the first time, I have to call my mother and double check her recipe which I have improvised a bit over the years. I decided that a layout was in order. Since this was a small story, I wanted a small foundation so I grabbed a transparency and matching page from the Basic Grey Basics Take Note set. On the front is a picture of my stew simmering on the stove:

And on the back is the recipe. You can click on the picture to enlarge it if you are interested.

Yes, my secret ingredient in stew is ketchup!

On to Day 5. The first Monday in December. Again, no holiday pictures since I still wasn't feeling well. Luckily, my niece Jennifer had sent me a copy of Thomas' letter to Santa. I used it as the inspiration for my layout about Mark and Melissa's Santa lists. I used a Hambly transparency as the foundation so that it is easy to remove Thomas' letter to read it. Here's the page:

Journaling reads: The older Mark & Melissa get, the harder it is to get them to write their Santa list. This year, Mark texted me his list and Melissa never finished hers! For the record, Thomas' letter says:

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good boy this year. Would you please bring me Cars Duplo? I want everything with Cars. Boost is my favorite.

Thank you Santa!

Love, Thomas

To create the envelope, I stamped a background and the word "Believe"on a Maya Road kraft envelope, sealed it and then slit an opening along the top. Here's a closer look:

Since I used a transparency on Day 5, I needed to match my Day 6 layout on the back. I used a free printable which was intended to be used for a spool calendar as the inspiration for my page. I added the names of the songs that Melissa had downloaded from i-tunes for us to listen to in the car. Yes, I know there is a lot of Justin Bieber on that playlist! I added some rub-ons along the top of the page and some patterned paper and letter stickers along the bottom. Here's the page:

Note that after I took the picture, I realized I got carried away with the "o's" in the word to. That's what happens when you scrap when you have a glass of wine while you scrap. I'm just saying. Anyway, the spelling was corrected after the picture was taken. Oh, and for the record, the Simple Stories letter stickers did not include punctuation so I turned an "i" upside down for my exclamation point!

Finally, here's a peak at how these pages look in the album.

I love seeing all of the bits and pieces peaking out from behind the transparency.

It's so different from my traditional albums.

For a full list of supplies used on my December Daily, check this post.