A Moxie Fab/Color Challenge

I have been crafting up a storm this week but, unfortunately, not a scrapbook page was made. You see, I am in the midst of birthday season. Instead of scrapping, I have been making cards. So, I am interrupting LOAD, again, to share some cards for the next few days.

The colors for today's card was inspired by this color challenge:

And here is my card:

To create this card, I cut my white cardstock down to a standard size card. I cut the brown mat

to measure 5.25"x4", and the kraft piece measures 5"x 3.75". Next, I used white ink to stamp the Dots and Flowers. I cut a piece of coordinating cardstock to measure 1.75" x 3.75". I stamped the Happy Definition in brown so that the print would run vertically. When the ink had dried, I stamped the Stripes Pattern horizontally in VersaMark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I used a stamp border punch on the green piece before adhering the layers, and adding a sentiment and ribbon.

So that's that for the color challenge. But remember how I said I needed a lot of cards this month. Well, it just so happens that the Moxie Fab World has a challenge to make a card set so, using this design, I did just that. And here it is:

And here's a close-up of each one. First up is Pink Pirouette:

Next is Spring Moss:

And finally, the Baja Breeze card with a peak at how I decorated the envelopes:

Come back tomorrow for a look at how I used the Happy Definition Stamp two other ways for another challenge!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink: (Stamper's Select White; Spring Moss; Dark Chocolate); Stampin' UP! (Kraft; Pink Pirouette; Baja Breeze);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Dots and Flowers; Happy Definition Cling Stamp; Stripes Pattern Cling Stamp; Thinking of You; Happiness Messages);

Inks: Stampin' Up! (Whisper White; Pink Pirouette; Baja Breeze); Ranger (Coffee); VersaMagic (Tea Leaves); VersaMark;

Tools: EK Success Edger Punch (Postage Stamp); EK Success Corner Rounder;

Misc.: Making Memories Ribbon (Passport); Stamp 'n Stuff Embossing Powder (Detail Clear)

Layered Background Challenge

The Hero Arts challenge this month was to create a card with a layered background. I thought I would give it a try. Here's what I came up with:

.

To create this layered background, I first stamped the Happy Definition stamp using Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next, I inked up an acrylic block with Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distressed Inks, spritzed with water and "stamped" my cardstock. I repeated this step several times until the block was the color I wanted. (Be sure to start inking the block with the lighter colors first so as not to ruin your ink pads.) Once the color block had dried, I stamped the wildflowers with VersaMark ink, purposely letting the image go outside the inked mat for added impact. Finally I embossed the flowers with white Zing and distressed the edges. Here's a closer look:

The sentiment was also embossed. I used two different scallop edges to set it off.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Fine Linen);

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Romani);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happy Definition; Wild Flowers; Everyday Greeting);

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo; Antique Linen; Scattered Straw; Spiced Marmalade); VersaMark;

Tools: Martha Stewart Edge Punch (Doily Lace); Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment): Tim Holtz Paper Distresser;

Misc.: Recollection Adhesive Rhinestones; American Crafts Zing (white); twine from my stash

LOAD -- Day 9

Back in October 2009, Sal surprised me with tickets to see Brandi Carlile. Unfortunately, Sal's father was admitted to the ICU a few days before the concert. Needless to say, neither one of use was in the mindset to go to a concert. We tried giving the tickets away but to no avail so, as the saying goes, we ate them. Gulp! Well a year later, we tried it again and because date nights are so rare and this one was such a long time coming, I thought I should document it. Here's my layout:

:

The journaling reads: We originally had plans to see Brandi Carlile at the Beacon Theater in October 2009 but life got in the way and we didn't go. When you found out that she was opening for Sheryl Crow, you surprised me with tickets and we finally had our date night!

The inspiration for this layout came from the scrap of American Crafts music paper that I had in my stash. I thought it's peach tones matched the hues in the pictures, but I don't know what I was thinking when I bought some of the other papers in the collection because I didn't have enough complementary patterns and the ones that I did have totally clashed with the color of the ticket stub. Oh, what's a scrapper to do? The answer to that question is simple: create your own pattern paper. So that's exactly what I did. I used the Hero Arts Flourish Background stamp to create the yellow paper on the bottom of the layout. Not only was the pattern a good mix with the others, I thought that the yellow took some attention away from the color of the ticket. (If anyone from Ticketmaster is reading this, could you PLEASE find a more scrapper-friendly color for tickets? I'm just saying!

Anyway, the rest of the layout is pretty self-explanatory. I used a TRIPLE mat as the foundation for the layout. Then, after rounding the one corner, I added the pattern paper blocks. The strip across the middle is actually four papers. The line of hearts was fussy cut from a bigger pattern. For the title, I used my Cricut to cut the word "date" and stamped the letters for "night" on tickets that I created with a Papertrey Ink stamp and die. I added some more tickets and embellishments to the journaling area and sprinkled some hearts and rhinestones to create a visual triangle. Here's a closer look:

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper: American Crafts (Dear Lizzy); October Afternoon (Fly a Kite);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Flourish Background; Curly Alphabet); Papertrey Ink (Just the Ticket); Technique Tuesday (Today You By Ali Edwards):

Inks: Stampin' Up! (Crushed Curry); Ranger (Coffee);

Embellishments: American Crafts Flairs (Dear Lizzy); Basic Grey Bloomers (Oliver); Recollections (Adhesive Rhinestones);

Tools: Cricut by Provo Craft (Sweethearts cartridge); Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment)

LOAD -- Day 8

Tonight I have another LOAD (Layout a Day) page to share. Finding time to scrap and blog everyday is really difficult. Add to this mix laundry, cooking and grocery shopping plus making cards for a busy month and, well, you can see why I took a little hiatus. I can also see why people plan for LOAD. Anyway, my LOAD hiatus is over and I am here to share another layout. This one was based on the sketch Jen Gallacher used for her February Stretch Your Sketch class over at Two Peas in A Bucket. I love Jen's sketches. They feel very authentic to me. While I may stretch them to fit my photos or page size, her sketches feel comfortable to me. Anyway, here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

I felt it was so important to document the historic winter we had on Long Island both in words and photos. I knew the journaling would be long for this layout and Jen's sketch readily accommodated it. I typed the journaling out on the computer and then stamped a border. I think this is a layout we will keep coming back to for years on end whenever we say, "Remember that winter..." You can click on the photo below to read the journaling.

For the title, I used a mixture of Thickers and letters cut from my Cricut. Whenever I use my Cricut for a title, I stack multiple cuts to give my letters the look of chipboard. In this case, I cut the word "snow" three times from patterned paper and then I used the shadow cut on the black cardstock. Here's a closer look:

Basic Grey's Jovial collection had two identical snowflake patterns -- one black and one turquoise. To give the black paper a little pop of color, I cut out a few of the turquoise hexagons and placed them over the black. I really love the effect. One final detail to point out is the glitter snowflake embellishment. It's actually a gift wrap ornament that I picked up for $0.30 at Bath & Body Work's post-Christmas sale. It's amazing where you can find ideas for scrapbooking!

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts (black); Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream);

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Jovial; Basics); My Mind's Eye (Holly Jolly);

Stamp: Hero Arts (Dot Snowflake Border);

Ink: Technique Tuesday (Caribbean Sea);

Stickers: American Crafts Thickers (Sprinkles -- Chestnut);

Tools: Provo Craft Cricut (Winter Woodlands cartridge); Fiskars Border punch (Scallop Sentiment); Stampin' Up punch (Photo Corners);

Misc.: Little Yellow Bicycle Favorite Felt Stickers (Christmas Delight); Ribbon (Target); Glitter ornament (Bath & Body Works)

Project 12 -- February 2011

So far, so good. It's the second month of Project 12 and I'm hanging in there. I decided that three elements -- the calendar, the font for the months and the shape of the journaling block -- will stay the same for all 12 layouts. With that said, I have to admit that I struggled a little with this layout. I just couldn't get the sketch to work for my pictures and then, I let go of the sketch -- or at least some of it's elements -- and my mojo came back. The other thing that pulled this layout together was stitching the brown border around the page. Yes, I took out my Janome Sew Mini and learned how to change the bobbin just like I promised myself I would when I started the Finding My Way class at Big Picture Classes. (It helps to have ahusband who used to watch his grandmother sew. Thanks, Sal!) Once that stitched border was there, the rest of the pieces fell into place. I think stitching (especially brown!) may be my new favorite addition to my scrapbook pages! Anyway, here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

The journaling is long so rather than retyping it, you can click on the photo below to read it.

I did some stamping on this page. To create this cluster by the calendar, I used what may possibly be my new favorite stamp set from Papertrey Ink. Label Basics has the look and feel of the October Afternoon sticker label stickers that I love so much but gives me the ability to customize them to match all of my papers. I may never put this set away! The "Take Note" sentiment is from a PTI's Fillable Frames #1. Since I hate cutting my stamps, I masked it so that the sentiment would cover two lines. I also stamped the heart using one of the patterned hearts from Hero Arts that matched my paper.

Okay, so remember how much I liked stitching the border. Well, I couldn't put my sewing machine away without stitching a border on the heart too!

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup (Pasta Fagioli); My Minds Eye (Dreamy 2); Reminisce (Unwritten);

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Label Basics; Fillable Frames #1); Hero Arts (Design Accents: Pattern Hearts);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Riding Hood Red; Crushed Curry ); Ranger (Coffee);

Tools: Cricut cartridge (Designer Calendar); Spellbinders Nestabilities (Labels Four; Classic Circles); Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment); EK Success Edge Punch (Double Embossed Dotted Lace);Janome Sew Mini;

Misc.: Ormolu Package Tags (Hooray Calendar); Making Memories buttons (Chloe's Closet).

Delightful Dahlia

Just a quick post tonight to share a birthday card I made for my best stamping friend. I've had the idea for this card in my head ever since she gave me this stamp set for my birthday. Here's the card:

To create it, I cut a standard size card and, using my Martha Stewart Scoring Board, created a frame for my mat and stamped image. Before I began stamping, I used scrap paper to create a mask for the large flower and leaf, plus two masks for the smaller flowers. For the stamped image, I started stamping in the lower left-hand corner. After stamping the first large flower, I covered it with the mask and stamped the other large flower above it. Keeping the first mask in place, I added the small flower and then covered it with a mask before stamping the leaves. Finally, I masked the leaf and stamped the remaining flower. I stamped the sentiment and used a Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut it out. I adhered the stamped image to the mat, tied a ribbon and adhered it to the card front. Finally, I added some bling and the butterfly pin.

Because creating masks can be time consuming, I plan to keep these masks with the stamp set for future use!!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (White); Stampin' UP!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Delightful Dahlia; Vintage Labels);

Ink: Stampin' Up (Rich Razzleberry; Wild Wasabi); Ranger (Jet Black);

Tools: Martha Stewart Scoring Board; Spellbinders Nestabilities (Labes One);

Misc.: Recollections Rhinestone Stickers; Webster's Pages Butterfly Push Pins; Ribbon from my stash.

Labor of Love

That's what this card was. Melissa's 13th birthday was on Monday and since she is my biggest fan, I knew I had to make her an extra special card. Besides that, she kept asking for a really special card. The pressure was on! I knew I wanted to ink up a new stamp for maximum impact on the birthday girl, so I chose the Hero Arts Circle Design stamp. I kept playing with different designs and different colors and finally after close to 3 hours (which is about half of the time I was in labor with Melissa!) I came up with this:

To create this card, I cut the circle base and patterned paper mat with my Cricut. I made the lacy die cut with my Cuttlebug and the Spellbinders Lotus Pendants Nestabilities. Next, I stamped the Hero Arts Circle Design three times -- once on the kraft and two times on the patterned paper. After fussy cutting the leaves of one of the patterned paper images and adhering them to the kraft layer, I centered the medallion from the Nestabilities to the other image and ran it through my Cuttlebug. I adhered the top two layers with foam dimensional adhesive and finished off the card with some bling, faux stitching and a ribbon. Here's a closer look:

I am back to doing a Layout A Day (LOAD) and will start posting my layouts again next week.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Dark Chocolate); Stampin' Up! (Kraft);

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Perhaps);

Stamp: Hero Arts (Circle Design);

Ink: Ranger (Coffee); Signo Gel Pen (White)

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Lotus Pendants); Cricut (Wild Card cartridge);

Misc.: Recollections rhinestones; ribbon from my stash