Stop Crop and Roll

 

We're going to go way back to 2009.  Yep, that's when I originally made this project.  It was a workshop at the Club Scrap 2009 October Retreat in Wisconsin.  It took 2 separate workshops to get this together.  I believe there were many 4-letter words whispered during those 2 workshops. I think Terri really enjoyed torturing us!

 

It's been sitting in my unfinished project bin since then.  I think I had a mental block about finishing it. One of my BFF's birthday is tomorrow.  We just returned from an amazing vacation to SE Asia.  The colors of the papers will work perfect for the photos.  The challenge was trying to narrow down the photos to 20. Yeah right...

 

I made a few adjustments to the original project pictured above.  I removed the small note cards in the second section from the left.  I wanted to add another photo.  As I was putting everything together my keepsake box fell apart.  I really didn't want to make another one or fix it.  I found this tin from ALCM. Bookbinding glue worked perfect to adhere this to the panel and be strong enough for use.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy birthday, Gia!

Supplies: Club Scrap papers, tin, project and instructions, Bold Blooms stamp. American Craft Thickers. Elephant keychain purchased on vacation.

 

 

50s Kitchen Blog Hop

Thank you for stopping by for the Club Scrap 50s Kitchen Blog Hop!  If you've reached this blog from Anne Marie's blog at Artfully Balanced then you're in the right spot!  If you'd like to hop to the start, please click here.
 

This kit is so beautiful and bold with wonderful images and quotes.  I have quite the collection of recipes on post-its, index cards and torn from magazines. I've been wanting to make a recipe binder for some times now and this kit gave me the motivation. 
 

I still have tons of chipboard from previous projects and found two pieces the same size. I wanted a smaller binder and used 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 for my dimensions. All I needed to do was cut a spine.  We made a similar style 4x4 album at Club Scrap retreat last year that was perfect for our twinchies or Instagram photos.  All I needed to do was find some binder hardware in my stash.  I ended up using hardware from Tim Holtz.

Start by marking and punching your holes for the binder piece, then cover the spine (black cardstock) I used the lined paper for my front and back covers. Make sure to punch your holes again through the black cardstock before covering the insides of the binder.

I then covered the inside spine with black cardstock and used the gray print for the inside covers.  Attach the binder rings with the large brads.

As always, I have such a hard time deciding what to put on the front of my projects, boxes or books. I try to tell myself to adorn like you would a card, but I still struggle. I didn't get the stamp option with this kit so I decided to use embellishments from past kits.  Here I used the stamp from Bon Appetit on the mini chalkboards from Graffiti, I stamped and cut the spoon from Bon Appetit and stenciled and cut the salt and pepper shakers from Salsa. To add a little extra pizzazz to the shakers, I used glossy accents by Ranger.

I also wanted to create my own recipe cards for the binder.  I created a document in Photoshop Elements. I used the stamps from the digital 50s Kitchen for the wording and the lines came from Just Dandy. I just added some color for interest and easy peasy...done!  Not to waste any paper, I placed two recipe cards on one regular size paper, just trim at 5 1/2. Please feel free to download the template. 

Hope you enjoyed my project!  Thanks for hopping with us!

Fiddle-dee-dee Designs Template Challenge

Well...looks like I forgot to post this the other day.  Oops.  My love for templates is well known. A free template gets me even more excited! I adore Fiddle-Dee-Dee's Designs. Once a month she shares a free template for download.

 

 

This template has many photo spaces which is something I like on paper but generally try to keep my digital layouts focusing on one or two photos. The nice thing about a template is you don't have to use everything provided. I however had many photos from a recent vacation to share. I also didn't use all the png files associated with this template.  The wonders of using a template.  Even though the canvas is provided for you, you can still create as you wish.

 

 

Supplies:  Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs template, Club Scrap 50s Kitchen, Club Scrap Autumn Garden fiber.

 

50s Kitchen Greetings to Go

Happy Monday!  I was able to get quite a bit of crafting done this weekend.  I was wandering around Hobby Lobby (dangerous) and found small wooden spoons and forks by Paper Studio.  Even better, they were on sale.  This are going to go great with this month's Club Scrap 50s Kitchen.

 

We'll start with the Greetings to Go (G2Go).  I love making cards as you know.  So it's usually the first thing I dig into when my kit arrives.  I adore the colors of this kit.  Over on the Club Scrap blog they show you some ideas for the cards.  I generally copy a few of the ideas to get myself going and then take off in my own direction.  This time...I really, really like the Z fold cards so I copied them almost exactly.  Too cute!  I wont repeat those for you.  Here are a few of my favorites.

 

 

This card I wanted to use the bonus Cupcake Stencil. It has been awhile since I've used my stencils with ink.  I usually use them with gelli plates or spackle. So It took me a few tries to get the hang of it down again.  That's what scratch paper is for, right?!  After finding the right combination of colors, I cut out the cupcake and added Flower Soft to the frosting to give it some dimension and pizzazz. Looks Yummy!

 

 

As I was browsing Pinterest I saw some apron cards which I thought would be a perfect idea for this kit.  Here I cut out the "arms" of apron and embossed the card with the Darice embossing plate from the Tin Tiles kit.  That made it a little bit more feminine. I used dimension adhesive squares that I found at the Dollar Tree to give the pocket a little lift for the utensils.

 

 

 

I found the perfect quote for the apron.  I'm always saying "oops" when I cook, usually works out ok.  However, I never so it when at work...that is usually "Ah, interesting." I kept looking at the card at this point and it was missing something.  It looked like an apron but it didn't "feel" like an apron.  It needed just that little extra neck piece. Now, it's one of my favorite cards!

 

 



 



Birthday Swap

I love birthdays and birthday cards rock!  Over on the forum at Club Scrap we have a Birthday Card Swap. Basically, you sign up once a month to send the next month's birthday cards. Mail them to Club Scrap and they add them to the birthday girl's pizza box.  So I was even more excited to receive this month's kit since it's my birthday next week!   I just wanted to share some of the birthday joy I received.

I wanted to showcase a few so you can see the creativity and artwork put into each and everyone of these cards.  All of them have a very nice birthday greeting inside to make me feel even more special. 
 

 

 

 

 

Thank you ladies for all of your gorgeous birthday wishes!

 

Drop Spine Box

I love boxes. Plastic, wood, cardboard, paper...I love boxes.  I think it goes right along with my organizing freakishness.  So needless to say, when I learned how to make boxes I was in heaven.

 

The artist team over at Club Scrap had a design challenge using Stacked Boxes.  The set comes with the makings for 3 boxes.  I however have so much chipboard from previous projects that I just made my own.  Chipboard can be cut with your tonic trimmer. Just hold it firmly to get an straight cut.

 

I first learned how to make this box at a Club Scrap Retreat.  I used my directions from the Paisley Drop Spine Project. These make great gifts.  I sometimes fill them with cards or a mini album.  This time I was inspired by the design team to make divisions inside.

 

 

I used Take Wing papers which is a little stiff for the inside wrap but it loosened up with the bookbinding glue. I then painted the dividers with black acrylic paint and glued those in as well.

 

I wanted to make my embellishments with the aluminum tape I purchased for another project. I just covered cardstock in aluminum tape (Home Depot), punched flowers (EK Success), embossed with my Darice embossing folder (Tin Tiles kit) and painted with black acrylic paint. Wipe the black paint off shortly after applying to give that aged metal look. I then added Queen & Co. jewels to the flowers.

 

In March we have 75% of our family and friend's birthdays! So, I'm not sure who will be receiving this one, if anyone.  I really love the way this turned out!

 



Quick Drop Digital Layouts

I absolutely love my Quick Drop Digital Layouts that I receive in my monthly Club Scrap Digital Kit.  50's Kitchen QDDL are no exception.  I had to start playing with these right away. It's quick, you just drop in a photo or two and you've created your own digital layout.  The kitchen quotes and stamps immediately made me think of the cooking class we took in Vietnam while on vacation.  I thought I'd show you how its done.

 

I use Photoshop Elements to edit my photos and create my digital layouts. There are some free software applications out there that will allow you to do basic drag and drop your photos into layouts.

 

I first open the layout I want to work on.

 

I then chose 5 to 6 photos to place in the layout.  I usually chose one more than needed in case I don't like the fit of a photo.

 

Drag a photo behind the layout layer. Using your move tool you can resize you photo, angle it to fit the box.  Sometimes I move the photo around to see if it fits better in a different box. This is where I sometimes erase the part of the photo that is overlapping into the other boxes. Many times it can just hide under the next photo layer.

 

 

Just keep dragging, dropping and resizing your photos in the layers beneath the template and the photos already added. 

 

When all your photos are in place, zoom in to check that photo edges are only in their assigned boxes. Erase any parts of a photo that are sharing a spot.

At this point, you can add more embellishments, edging or titles.  I only added a little bit of text to this one since most of the work was already done for me.  Flatten your image and save as a jpg.

 

This layout took less than 15 minutes to complete. I can now resize to 600 x 600 pixels to place in the Club Scrap Gallery.  If I decide to print out a layout, I use Persnickety Prints. Many times I wait for their sale to print.  $1.49 for a 12x12. I actually use them for all my photo printing.  The quality is amazing and I'm picky about my prints!

 

Hope this simplified the QDDL.  Feel free to e-mail me with any questions.