Make Life Big

Happy Saturday!  Just a few days left before Christmas.  I had the fortune of attending several work Christmas parties and am truly blessed this holiday season.  I couldn't wait to digitally scrap and share some of the fun captured in photos. 

Club Scrap papers, overlays, border strips, ribbon and stamps. T Monette digital frames. 

Club Scrap recently released a Coffeehouse collection but you don't have to limit its use to just coffee. I used several of the digital stamps, papers and border strips for this layout.

Rome

I was having fun playing with papers and masks and blending in Photoshop. The yellow brick is more realistic of the bricks in the Colosseum but my photo doesn't really show that. I haven't just created with a blank layout in awhile and I was feeling a bit creative, so no template here.

 

Club Scrap digital elements. Karen Funk frame.

Birthday Color Bursts

If you've noticed a color theme going on here...I'm working my way through the Cinema Greetings to Go kit by Club Scrap.  It was the August 2014 collection and I'm just now getting to it.  I was working on finishing up card kits for the Winter PSL Week Two challenge which uses ribbon. 

This card uses up the last of the Color Burst backgrounds from last week's Blog Hop. I also incorporated the sketch from Fusion's challenge.

Club Scrap papers, ribbon and tags. Ken Oliver Color Bursts. Martha Stewart punch.



Spring Time

The recent color challenge at Cupcake Inspirations makes me dream of spring. I love the bright greens and blues!  Here's my take on that challenge using the sketch from Can You Case It?

 

The background panel was created with color bursts and a water resist technique used in yesterday's blog hop. I then stamped on the ribbon which is why it's a little fuzzy.

Club Scrap papers, stamps and button. Ken Oliver's Color Bursts. American Craft ribbon. Recollections crochet embellishment. Cuttlebug embossing folder. Queen & Co pearls.

 



Crewel & Unusual Color Bursts

Welcome to the Crewel & Unusual Blog Hop!  If  you've arrived here from the talented Anne Marie you're in the right spot.  If you are starting here and are looking to join us from the beginning head to Club Scrap and see what Karen has created for you.

Today we're creating with this month's Crewel & Unusual collection. My intention was to get all crafty, sew and stitch on layouts and cards.  That didn't happen.  My craft room is getting new flooring which put ALL my supplies and work surfaces in the dining room. So, I could really only work in the kitchen.  The kitchen is usually where I work with all the messy art supplies, so here we are: Color Bursts.

I started out by adding Color Burst powders to a dry watercolor paper panel then added water and watched the magic begin. I then stamped a clean stamp on to the wet panel picking up inks and stamping on to a dry panel.  The wet panel acts as a stamp pad. 

Continue to stamp repeatedly until a desired effect. 

I then dried the color burst panel with my heat gun. Spray a stamp with water and stamp on the dry colored panel. 

Watch as more magic happens! These Color Bursts are just amazing!

Here are some examples of cards made with these panels and the Greetings to Go kit. 

My favorite part of this kit is the kraft bobbin and the "This is sew crazy" quote!  I've used it many times already on cards, it's just too cute! 

While I was shopping doing research at Micheal's I came across these wooden bobbins and crochet embellishments on clearance and just had to buy them! 

Thanks for hoping by.  Please continue on to see what Donna has created next.

Fly Above the Waves

I was playing with Photoshop the other night, blending different photos with papers. I absolutely love how the cream digital paper from Crewel & Unusual  blended with a photo to make the background look like canvas.  Since I really love the background, I kept the photos and embellishments to a minimum. The frame and border actually comes as one layer so I didn't have to do much but add a photo and find the perfect sentiment. Easy peasy! This is definitely a print worthy digital page!

Club Scrap digital papers, stamps and embellishments.

I've had several questions regarding printing digital pages. I don't print out many of them, just my favorites. I've only used Persnickety Prints for my 12x12 pages. I really like the quality of the printing and papers. I usually add a few of them to an order of 4x6s to save on shipping. A few times a year they have a sale costing $1.49 per 12x12 print. I have a photo stand I bought at Michael's that I keep in our entryway. I change the displayed pages regularly. Some of the pages I use for the title and/or end page of an album. Many of the digital pages end up as my computer background or screen saver slide show.

Have a fabulous week!

Position it! Stamping

Several years back at Club Scrap retreat, Tricia introduced us to a stamping tool that until recently I forgot I had.  It's called the Position it! What I remember most about this tool was Tricia saying "Don't google Position it!  All kinds of websites pop up." So I was actually scared to google that when I rediscovered this tool.  I did find the directions and YouTube video instruction so I was relieved.  I forgot what an amazing tool this was and have been using it religiously to get my stamping straight. It does take some practice to get the hang of it and make it worth your while. I hate when I screw up the last bit of my card by stamping the sentiment crooked. Although this one has been discontinued, there are many similar ones out there. 

What I really loved about this tool was the ability to add straight borders with one small stamps or created circles, ovals and a patterns. The little sprig stamp from Crewel & Unusual got my attention and thought that would make a great wreath with a quote in the center.  



 Start by securing your panel to the Position It! base.

 

 Stamp your image on the clear plastic panel snug against the "L" shaped tool. 

 This will allow you to line up your image anywhere. 

 Place the clear plastic on your paper where you want your image.

Line up your black "L" shaped snug to the corner.

Remove plastic and stamp.

 

 Here I have one last image to stamp to complete my wreath. You can see the image on the plastic

Here is how the stamping block fits snugly in the "L". Of course you would remove the plastic before stamping final image.

 Completed wreath. 

 I added some flowers and colored with Copics.

I even stamped the quote on the clear plastic and lined it up so that I would get it centered.

Club Scrap papers, stamps, ribbon and wooden word. Queen & Co. pearls.

I wanted to let my wreath take center stage and speak for itself. I kept the background and embellishments simple.

The design was inspired by this weeks Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge.

 



Tape Stamping

Every month Club Scrap challenges us with a different crafting technique. For February's technique Roni shares with us how to stamp with tape. Who knew there were so many ways!?

I'm always up for a new, fun challenge.  Here I'm using the new Crewel & Unusual Greetings to Go kit.  This kit has three sets of cards with two of them having some fun folds.  They are difficult to photograph, so they do look a little bit "off".  

I started off by stacking my two purple panels on top of each other, as they would on the card. Inked up my painters tape with white ink and then stamped the tape on the panels. Re-ink the tape and stamp three rows. 

   

Decorated with included ribbon and tags, 

This next card I taped off one section that I was going to use for my sentiment and stamped around it. 

I even went a little further and stamped many heart images in watermark ink, using post-it notes to mask the stamped images and created different stamped layers. 

I then colored the images using my Pan Pastels 

Adhered red ribbon to one side of the gate fold and three red heart brads randomly. Stamp sentiment. 

I did a similar technique for the last card. I taped the outside edges of the panel and stamped the inside section. I first splattered some Color Bursts and stamped a background dotted image. Removed the tape and stamped my three flowers. Stamped right gate fold with border. Adhered tag and ribbon. 

You should give tape a try in your next stamping project!

 Don't forget to share your creation and link up with us over at Club Scrap for a gift certificate!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

Club Scrap digital papers, stitching, embellishments. Dream Big Designs brush.

 



Creating Digital Layouts to Share

Over at Club Scrap on the forum we have a digital page swap. These are better known as QDDLs (Quick Drop Digital Layouts). Everyone in the swap creates a digital scrapbooking page using components from that month's digital kit, leaving an open area for the participants to put their own photos. 

So, here's an example of a page I created for the Crewel & Unusual page swap. 

I hope I can explain this simply. I'm gonna assume you have some Photoshop knowledge. I use Photoshop Elements 8.  I know that Photoshop is up to like 14 or something but I don't need the latest and greatest.  This is the way I do my pages, I know there are other ways to create as well. 

1.  Create a new 12x12 blank file with transparent background.

2. Add papers, overlays, frames, borders or whatever is moving you at the time. 

     a. I used red paper for background.

     b. Added 2 outside squares from overlay.

     c. Used the "love" stitching.

     d. Added more flowers to balance.

     e. Decided where my photo would go and used a stitched frame.

   

3.To create the open space for the photo:

     a. Use the rectangular marquee tool.  Hold the shift button down while creating your shape to get a square. Hold the shift and space bar down simultaneously to position your square where you want it and release. You should have a marching ants square where your photo will go. 

4. Select the background paper layer and hit CTRL X to cut out the selection.

5. Merge visible layers.  At this point you should have one layer with your entire layout on it. There should still be the lightly checkered (transparent) background where a photo will go.

6. Save as a .png file. This will keep the photo section transparent and allow you to drop in a photo behind the layout. If you save as a jpg the open space will become solid and you'll have to place your photo on top. In this case, the stitching and part of the title would be covered by your photo. 

Congratulations! You've created a QDDL!  All you have to do is drop a photo in behind the layout. You can adjust the photo layer to anyway you'd like. Club Scrap has some excellent digital tutorials to include: QDDLs, beginning Photoshop Elements, template tutorials, extractions and more.

Here are some of my other blog postings using QDDLs. The Botanicals blog post actually uses the layouts I received in the swap.

Navigation

National Park

Botanicals 

Consider joining our swap!  You don't have to be an expert. We'll answer any questions we can over in the digital forum.

Can You Case it? Gelli Plates

Happy Friday! 



I have this pile of backgrounds and panels sitting on my craft table...they're just begging me to be used. This week's Can You Case It? challenge would be perfect to use up some panels.  Here I used two tags that were created with gelli plates at Club Scrap Retreat in 2014...yes...2014.  I'm ashamed. The colors work well with the new Crewel & Unusual kit and I just love this quote! The background is splattered with Color Bursts.

 

Club Scrap papers, stamps, stencils and ribbon. Unknown wooden arrow. 

Retro Sketches Crewel

My Crewel & Unusual kit finally arrived! I'm loving the color combinations. I have to admit, I actually had to google crewel. I've got lots in store for this kit..so stay tuned. The Greetings to Go kit has fun folding cards. 

Retro Sketches #201 was a perfect match for this kit. The different papers and printed wooden buttons were a great match!  I did emboss one strip with the honeycomb pattern and inked for some dimension.

Club Scrap papers, button, stamp and fibers.  Sizzix embossing folder.