Squeeze the Day

When I was looking at the options for this month's Idea Deck Challenge I was really hesitant about all those squares and stripes from the Card Idea Deck Vol. I. When other members started posting their versions, I knew I had to give it a try.  Now to be honest, it did take me a few minutes to figure out the sketches for the smaller cards. I ended up with extra pieces so I might not have gotten it right ;-)

 

To add some variety and interest to the plain cardstock pieces I  stamped the script stamp and speckle stamps from Orchard's Art Nouveau collection. I used Greetings to Go cut-apart squares in place of stamping for others.

I stamped different fruits, colored with Copics and fussy cut. These make great embellishments. If you look close you'll see the wood grain stenciling on the white panel.

 

Orchard Blog Hop

Welcome to the Orchard Blog Hop brought to you by Club Scrap.  Each month the talented Club Scrap owner, employees and members present a project, card or layout using the monthly featured collection. The  purpose of the blog hop is to demonstrate the beauty of paper and digital crafts.

 

If you just happened on the blog hop today because you're a regular reader of my blog, and you'd like to view the entire hop, you can  start back at Club Scrap. If you're already hopping and linked to me from the talented Kelly, you're in the right spot. 

 

The Orchard collection uses my favorite color combinations. It has vivid, fall colors and incorporates gorgeous images designed by watercolor artist Swarup Murthy.  The beauty of this collection is that you don't need outdoorsy, garden type photos to use it.  I'm in the middle of scrapbooking my July trip to the East Coast and came across these photo from Amish Country that work perfectly with the browns and yellows of this collection.

 

These photos AND embellishments bring constant reminders of this day trip. The four of us were so fascinated by the Amish way of life that we have hundreds of photos of buggies and laundry.  Yep...laundry. The little clothes pins included in the Orchard collection couldn't have been a more perfect embellishment.

Club Scrap layout sketch, papers, tags, labels and stamps and ribbons. Cricut title. Souvenirs added.  

As you can see from the photos, we ate our way through Amish County.  We tried everything from Whoopie pies to Shoofly pie. We even sampled some scrapple and pork roll. FYI...do NOT read the ingredients of those last two. :)

Added these cute little clothing tags from Dungarees.



Use the splatter stamp to the tag and title to add distressing.

 

Thanks for hopping with us today. Please continue on to see what fabulous project Tina has created for you.

 

Bumper Lane

Since I had the Picnic collection out on my desk for the Past & Present challenge I thought I'd use the last of the papers for my bowling layout.  To complete the Idea Deck challenge I used the 8 of spades from Idea Deck II for the design.

 

I'm not sure that serving wine at a bowling alley is a good idea. I can barely score a 100 on a good day. With wine...gutter bumpers are a must! :) We sure did have a great time celebrating Gia's 40 something birthday.

Club Scrap papers and stamps. Creative Memories circle punch. Unknown wooden arrows. Sizzix alphabet dies.

 

Stop by tomorrow for the Orchard Blog Hop.

 

 

 



September's Past and Present

I'm jumping around here a bit.  I've been creating mostly fallish cards lately but had to pull out the summer-like papers of Picnic.  Plus this gave me an excuse to use up the last of my wooden butterflies. September's Past & Present challenge is to use papers from Fruit & Vine (2001 and all used up), Farmer's Market (2006 with only stickers and stamps left) and Picnic (2004 tons of papers left). You've seen the last of the Farmer's Market the other day. So here's a few bright cards to complete this challenge.

Club Scrap papers, tag and twist tie. Recollections banner. Martha Stewart punch. Paper Smooches stamp. Unknown wooden butterfly.  

Club Scrap papers. Martha Stewart punches. Unknown wooden butterfly.  

Club Scrap papers and enamel dots. Paper Smooches stamp. Unknown wooden butterfly. American Craft twine.  

Freakin' Great

Paper Smooches is challenging paper crafters to include animals in their projects.  My latest favorite stamps are these adorable cat stamps from their Feline Friends collection. With the addition of these adorable googly eyes these little kitties make me giggle every time!

 Paper Smooches stamps and dies. Tim Holtz label die. Club Scrap paper and ribbon. Cuttlebug embossing folder.

This card includes black doilies that I purchased on clearance but found their way to the bottom of my tag drawer. They're a perfect embellishment the Snarky Stampers Lost & Found challenge.  

Paper Smooches stamps and die. Impression Obsession background stamp. Elizabeth Craft Designs square die. Recollections doily. Nuvo drops. Club Scrap paper. 

September Paper Smooches Challenge

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

Lost & Found Challenge

Word Finders and Stickers

Have you ever played Words with Friends? Did you cheat? Did you use an on-line resource to help you find words with your letter combinations?  I do use these sites to help me create words with my left over alphabet sticker sheets.  Look at all these words I got from one incomplete sheet.  Most of these would eventually be for cards but a few I can save for fall layouts.

 Club Scrap Farmer's Market alphabet stickers.

 

Club Scrap paper, felt leaves and stickers. Darice embossing folder. 

Club Scrap papers, stickers, stamp and acrylic dots. Sizzix embossing folder. Fiskars leaf punch. Impression Obsession stamp.

Club Scrap papers and stickers. Tim Holtz Oxide inks. Fiskars leaf punch. Elizabeth Craft Design circle die. Queen & Co. pearls.

 

Here's a few word finder sites:

Word Find

Word with Friends Word Finder

Word Plays

 



Orchard Watercolor

Welcome to September's Artist Team Blog Hop brought to you by Club Scrap. This month we've been challenged to incorporate watercolor techniques with our projects. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to dust off those Faber-Castell Gelatos. 

If you just happened on the blog hop today because you're a regular reader of my blog, and you'd like to view the entire hop, you can start back at Club Scrap. If you're already hopping and linked to me from Tina's Blog, you're in the right spot.

Gelatos are acid-free pigment ink sticks that can be used with or without water.  I love the bright colors and creamy texture of the Gelatos.  The fact they look like lipstick tubes is kinda cute too.

1. Directly color the stamp with your gelatos. I usually start with the lightest color first and work to the darkest.

2. Mist water directly on to the stamp.

3. Stamp image onto paper.  I used all sorts of papers: cardstock, watercolor and mixed media papers. I didn't find one worked better than another.

You don't need a Misti, I was making a ton of panels.

4. Repeat the process.  I usually got two good clear images without misting more water onto the stamp.  After two imprints, I would re-mist without recoloring.  It just changes the boldness of the image.  I like all the different varieties you can get.

I could have easily created other images with the gelatos but I wanted to challenge myself and use the same image in different ways. Let's start with the simple designs first. Simply mat the collage image and add a greeting.

Club Scrap papers and stamp. Gelatos. Darice embossing folder. Spellbinders die. Pretty Pink Posh sequins. 

Club Scrap papers, stamp, ribbon and tag. Nuvo drops. Gelatos.

Trim panels and triple mat images. Stack images.

 Club Scrap papers, stamp, ribbon, bottle cap and tag. Sizzix embossing folder. Gelatos.

Trim collage image into quadrants and mat. Stamp sentiment. Color images with Copic markers and fussy cut. Slice a opening into the basket to tuck in peaches. Stamp background multiple times and apply splatters.

Club Scrap papers, ribbon and stamps. Copic markers. Gelatos. Martha Stewart punch.

Here's my favorite of the group! Stamp words on dark background with oxide ink. Ink edges and spray with water. Let dry.  Take gelato panel and distress edges. Stamp images and color with copic markers. Fussy cut images. Die cut a sign out of wood paper and stamp sentiment. Attach sentiment to a wood stake. Slice a opening in the basket and tuck in sign and fruit.

 Club Scrap papers, stamps. Gelatos. Tim Holtz label die and oxide inks. Copic markers.

Thanks for hoping with us today.  Hope you gained inspiration to create watercolor images. Please continue on to see what fabulous creations Wendy has for you.

Other Gelato ideas:

Just Dandy Stencil

Acrylic Block Stamping

Gelatos on Dark Backgrounds

Faith Love Hope

Bowman Orchards

The wait is over! My Orchard kit has arrived and is as beautiful as everyone has raved. The watercolor images by Swarup Murthy are just stunning. I knew that the photos from my recent trip back east would be perfect.  My dear friend Melanie and I went blueberry picking one morning and ended up picking much more than blueberries.  Of course we ate quite a few also...you know...quality control ;-)

 

I chose the ALSB directions for Layout 5&6 to complete these pages. 

 

Why struggle over page design when Club Scrap does that for you? Every kit comes with it's own separate cutting and design instructions. I changed some small aspects of the design to better fit my photos.

 

 

How cute are those bottle cap embellishments?

 

 

The Card Concept Wooden Grain

Last year I did a post on creating your own faux wood grain.  Well I came across this panel in my basket of backgrounds and thought it would be perfect for the latest Card Concept challenge.

The design for my card is a mix of shabby chic and mixed media, using hot glue lines for my wood texture. I'm really over flowers at this point in the year and just want fall to arrive.  Bring on the pumpkin spice!

 Club Scrap papers, stamp and alphabet stickers. Fiskars leaf punch.

 

 

Diamond Hello

I'm bound and determined to use up my embellishment stash! I embarrassingly came across these clear metal ringed tags from Making Memories I bought probably a decade ago.  They were tucked away in a tag drawer just screaming from neglect. 

 

This very simple card was created using September's card sketch at Club Scrap. I really didn't have a punch that shape so I used a diamond shaped stamp. I even stamped this free hand...no Misti. Not bad if you ask me.

Club Scrap paper, stamps and ribbon. Making memories tag. Prima flowers. Queen & Co. pearls.

 

Just Add Ink Challenge #376

Shaving Cream Stencils

I'm blogging today over at Club Scrap and challenging you to create art panels using the shaving cream marbling technique with a twist. Let's get messy and combine the marbling technique with your stencils.

Club Scrap papers, stencil, ribbon and leaf charm. Hampton Arts stamp. Pretty Pink Posh sequins.

 



1. Start with a paper plate full of FOAM shaving cream. Smooth out shaving cream. It doesn't have to be like a frosted cake but someone flat.

2. Add drops of re-inkers onto the shaving cream.  I'm feeling like some fall colors so I used Tangerine, Peridot and Topaz.  Now you could slightly swirl the colors together with a toothpick but I left them just as is.

3. Cover a paper panel with a stencil.

4. Take an old store rewards card and scoop up a section of cream and color.

5. Run the shaving cream over the stencil in one direction. Start from the top and work down until paper is covered.

6. Clean off card with a paper towel and scrape any gobs of shaving cream off your work surface.

7. Remove stencil and set aside to dry.

 

Let's make some fabulous cards with these panels.

Club Scrap papers, stencil and ribbon. Fiskars leaf punch. Cuttlebug embossing folder. Unknown charm.

 

Club Scrap papers, stencil and red jewel. Hampton Arts stamp. Close to My Heart fiber.

Club Scrap papers, stencil, ribbon and stamp. Martha Stewart punch. 

Club Scrap papers, stencil, ribbon and tag. Fiskars leaf punch. Pretty Pink Posh sequins.

 

 

I hope you have fun trying this combination.  If you create a project link it to the linky party at Club Scrap for a chance to win a gift certificate.

 

 



Ready for Fall

With the last week being nearly 110 degrees every day, I am sooo ready for fall!  This month's NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff) challenge is to use a fruit or vegetable stamp.  Since fall is on my mind, I couldn't think of a better vegetable than a pumpkin. This adorable pumpkin is from the retired 2012 Autumn Garden collection by Club Scrap.

 

I inked the stamp in orange attempting to not cover the stem.  I then sponged on green ink to the stem and stamped.  I blended the colors of the stem with a copic marker.   The background is a Halloween stamp by Impression Obsession stamped in a green that nearly matches the paper for a subtle background.  You can never go wrong with a splatter of black gelato ink to finish off the background.

Club Scrap papers, ribbon and pumpkin stamp. Obsession Impression background stamp. Unknown Happy Halloween stamp. Faber-Castell gelatos. Copic markers.

Cool Old Ladies

While on my recent trip back east for my 30th high school reunion, someone actually said "We're going to be really cool old ladies." Imagine my laughter when I was flipping through my premade ALSB pages and came across that same quote.  Lucky for me the colors matched my photos. This was one easy peasy layout to put together!

Club Scrap papers, tags and ribbon. Cork embellishments cut with Sizzix die.

Have a Little Bubbly

There are numerous monthly challenges over in the Club Scrap Forum that I like to participate in.  Sometimes I like to combine challenges and couldn't resist using up those Color Burst panels and scraps for some of August's challenges. The first challenge here is using the 3 of Hearts from the Card Making Idea Deck Vol. I.  If you missed out on the idea decks, there is only one still available in the Club Scrap store. I love using these decks for design ideas and cutting instructions. The rest is up for creative interpretation.

 Club Scrap papers and tag. Avery Elle stamp. Ken Oliver Color Bursts. Nuvo drops.

Club Scrap papers, ribbon and tag. Paper Smooches Stamps. Ken Oliver Color Bursts. Nuvo drops.

 Club Scrap papers, ribbon and stamp. Darice embossing folder.

This card does double challenge duty and meets the requirements for the Tools & Stash challenge. This month we're to use punches. I created wine glasses with a circle punch. I found the tutorial on the wine glass on Pinterest. It's very simple.

 Punch out a circle. Cut off a small section, trim a 1/4"  section below that. Now arrange in a glass shape.  You can make them as big or small as you want.

 

I can't wait to see what challenges we're presented with for September.