Quick Change

I dunno. The original layout just didn't seem to mesh with my artistic verve, so I pulled up the photo mats and started fresh. This one still seems a bit plain, but I'm chewing on it (Sheesh, not literally!).

Play It, Sistah!

Didn't I say that my brain is more in scrapbook mode than card mode lately? And isn't this page fun?! This is the first single-page layout I've done in a very long time. Uses scraps of Bali Breeze paper, SAB rubons, assorted punches, cuttlebug dies, chipboard, bling, and a prima flower. Title was printed from Photoshop at the same time that I printed the photos (font is Badonk-a-donk). I had some creative fun assembling the various flowers.

Particularly Challenging

This month's challenge was quite a challenge for me, too. I'll explain. I'm part of a group of ladies who do a monthly scrapbook class. My friend Carole (who is my downline) generally puts together two 2-page layouts using one package of designer paper per person. My job is to make the cutting guides for those pages, and I have also been teaching card-making with various stamping techniques. Lately my brain has been more in scrapbook mode than card mode, so this month we're trying something different. Instead of cards, I plan to do two additional layouts. Now the challenge is that the only DSP I can use is whatever's leftover from Carole's layouts, and the cost of the non-DSP supplies for both additional layouts can't be more $5.00 or take too much time to assemble.

Add in a boatload of end-of-year school activities, PTA meetings, and a class to teach at UTA, and play-time to come up with wonderful cheap ideas has been non-existent.

DSP: Bali Breeze
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Vellum, Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive
Ink: Creamy Caramel (for distressing), Old Olive
Stamp: Sanded
Punches: Horizontal Slot, Boho Blossoms, Five-Petal Flower
Misc: On Board Blossoms & Basics, Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon (from the winter mini), pewter brads

This is a close-up of the chipboard flower (in honor of the chipboard sale!). I cut a square of Old Olive, and stamped it with the Sanded BG in Olive. Traced the chipboard piece on the back of the square.

Quick tips for covering chipboard with paper: Put your paper face down on your workspace, then your chipboard piece face down on the paper. Trace around with a pencil, and say if it's a flower, put a dot on the back of one petal of your chipboard flower, and a matching dot on that traced petal on your paper--to help you line it up correctly later. Cut out your shape, glue to chipboard, trim, sand edges.

I've been eyeing my vellum for a while, so I thought this might be a good use for it. Elegant and subdued, but still fun.


This is a close-up of one of the ribbons at the top of the Sahara Sand pieces. I used the Horizontal Slot punch, then threaded 5" pieces of Pomegranate satin ribbon through each. Stapled in place (I used a long-arm stapler to come up from the bottom and staple). Then I put a strip of DSP over the staple.


And here's the sketch I did (and largely ignored!) in the making of this layout:

THANKS FOR VISITING MY BLOG!

It's a Tea Party!

Click on any of these pics to see a bigger version!

I'm about to post the April 15 DSBC, but wanted to post pics and details here, first. This is a 'cutesy' page, and I guess I was sorta channeling the creative juice of Mary Engelbreit. You can't see it very well, but the squares at the bottom of the left-hand page are watermarked with the cherry stamp. I used faux chipboard for the center of the big loopy flower (I was going for the jumbo-brad look?) and the black paper buttons--except I used all colored cardstock instead of kraft. Title added in photoshop because I don't have pics in mind yet for this layout.

Materials used: Certainly Celery base; Summer Picnic DSP; Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock; Celery and Red markers; Versamark ink pad, Signo white gel pen; Photo Corners, Large Oval, Small Oval, 1" circle, 3/4" circle, and 1/16" handheld punches; Crop-A-Dile; Hemp twine; pretties kit brad


Scroll down to the next post to see the sketch.

DETAIL PICS:

Below, a detail of the big loopy flower. I stacked three 1" red circles and glued them together. Then I punched a hole in the center of the stack using the larger punch of the CAD. I then glued one more red circle on top. The hole is for the head of the brad that's holding the loops of the flower together. Plaid stripes and faux stitching added by hand with gel pen. Red circle is attached to the black loops with glue dots.


Below, a detail of the other flower. These are the small ovals left over from making the loopy flower above. I initially punched the 1/16" holes thinking I'd actually put the petals on the post of the brad. But I didn't like how that looked, so I glued them to a 3/4" red circle. Swirlies added by hand with gel pen.


Below are the paper buttons. Love how these turned out. Punched eight 3/4" black circles, glued two stacks of four, marked my holes with a pencil, then punched them with the small punch on the CAD. Sanded the edges just a bit, added hemp twine and frayed it.


Thanks for looking!

New Demo Scrapbook Challenge --sketch

It's my turn to do the April 15 Demo Scrapbook Challenge! It's gonna be a day late, though. This has been a crazy week, with a science fair AND a PTA meeting already (not to mention last-minute tax filing). So my sample layout is only about half finished. But here's the sketch anyway! (Stay tuned for pics of finished layout!)


Off to work on this.........

Scallop Punch Mum tutorial

One more flower tutorial today. Click on the pic above to see a bigger version.

1. Assemble your materials and punch one scallop punch and one five-petal flower. (Also whatever flower center you want to use, if any).

2. Ink your punched shapes as desired.

3. On the back side of your scallop punch, use a straight edge (a scrap of cardstock works great) and a pencil to lightly draw lines from from each 'v' between scallops to the 'v' directly opposite. Snip each line about one centimeter (about half way to the center).

4. Locate and pierce a hole in the center of each of your pieces. You can see my five-petal flower template in the pic.

5. On your scallop-punch piece, gently curl every other petal down, or toward the back, with your fingers. Curl the remaining petals up, or toward the front. Gently curl all the petals of the five-petal piece up.

6. Stack and hold it together with a brad.

Hope you enjoyed this!

Loopy Punch Flowers tutorial

Here's a quick tutorial on how I did the loopy flowers on my scrapbook layout 'She's Got Talent'. You can click on the pics below to see a slightly larger version of it.

We'll go ahead and punch all our oval loops for both flowers. To start with, punch ten small ovals in your cardstock, leaving enough room between to punch the large oval around each. You can use the punched-out ovals for another project (I keep all my extra pieces like that in a soon-to-be-altered Altoids tin).

Now, before we punch the large ovals around our small ovals, we're going to need two different punch styles. For our loops-only flower, we'll need seven oval loops punched off center, so that there's more cardstock on one side than the other. For the remaining three, we need the oval loops punched centered over the smaller oval. I hope the image above makes it a little more clear than my explanation.

Using the Large Oval punch, make SEVEN off-center loops, and THREE centered loops. Set the three centered ones aside for now.

Pierce a hole in the center of the thicker end of each of the off-center loops. If you're using a larger brad (which may be necessary, depending on the thickness of your cardstock), you may want to use the 1/16" circle handheld punch to make these holes.

Punch various pieces for your flower center, locate the center of each, and pierce/punch a hole. I have templates for each, so that I can consistently find the center of a whole batch of little flowers.

Now start to assemble your flower, first stacking your flower centers and inserting brad.

Arrange your loops as you put them on the brad. SU cardstock is really thick, and you'll end up with nine layers right at the center, so you won't have a whole lot of brad left to bend over. If it happens that you have NO brad left to bend over, take your loops off and dab a tiny spot of glue over the pierced hole of every third piece or so as you put them back on, and then a dab of glue on the end. Let dry. The glue will hold the pieces on your brad. You might also want to put a tiny dot of glue in various places where the loops overlap, to keep them in place (so they don't spin out of place on the brad's post).

Here's the finished version of this loopy flower. Lets make the other one.


Retrieve the three 'centered' oval loops you punched earlier. We'll also need a five-petal flower punch and some flower centers.

Cut your loops in half and add some color with sponge daubers, if desired.

Find and pierce the center of your five-petal flower, then turn it over. Adhere five of the half-loops, as illustrated in the picture above. Assemble on your brad with your flower centers.

Here's the finished version of that one.

You can also add five more 'loops'.