Bright Vibrant Lovely Layout

As some of you may or may not know, my home state is Washington State - in specific the Puget Sound Area, and I am a true Pacific Northwest girl at heart.  With that comes a great love for the outdoors in all weather types and a love for Pike Place Market.  I have so many fond memories of the Pike Place Market, and it was definitely one of the places I visited frequently before my move.  There are many things that I love about the market, but mostly the lively atmosphere and street vendors - it's just my kind of place.  And here is my finished project.

As you may be able to figure out, this was also done using a sketch.  The sketch I used comes from Nuts About Sketches and can be found in this post.

A while back, I ran across someone in the blogger world who matted everything with black.  It looked so good, I decided that I should try it out, and I have been loving it.  The matting in black adds just a little something extra that makes everything pop.  In my experimentation, I have found that it is not always the case, but in general, you can't go wrong with matting in black.  Also, on this layout, I used my iTop brad maker (which I love by the way) to create perfectly matched brads.  Here are some closeups of the details.  My title was cut using my Cricut and SCAL and the font is Markus Cow - you can find this font and a ton of other awesome scrapbooking fonts here.  I cut the same title out 4 times and then layered them together to create my own dimensional like thickers.

 The little flower with the gem, that came from a flower swap that I did a while back at Mini Album Scraps. 

I love the way that this layout came out.  The bright vibrant colors and fun patterns really do highlight the bright and vibrant feel of Pike Place even on a cloudy day.  I hope you enjoyed and feel inspired to create.  Enjoy!

Supplies:  Stampin' Up! Everyday Enchantment DSP (Pattern Paper); Bazzill Basics, Stampin' Up! (Cardstock);  Flowers, Floral Border (Prima, Mini Album Scraps Swap); Brads (Imaginesence)

MAS Sketch Challenge

Real quick post today.  Recently, Mini Album Scraps posted a new sketch challenge.  The posted sketch can be found here.  If you wanna play along, please come and join me at Mini Album Scraps.  And this is my interpretation:

I have been working on doing some mix and matching of patterned papers to stretch my own skill really.  And this was my first attempt.  I must say that doing masculine layouts is hard - given the nature of scrapbooking being more female dominated..... and then adding mixing and matching......  I came to the conclusion that I needed more scrapbook paper!  in a masculine theme of course!  That's it for today!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:  Pattern Paper (Basic Grey; DCWV); Cardstock (Bazzill, Recollections); Dies (Spellbinders)

Easel Card Box

A while back, Mini Album Scraps had a uStream show taught by one of the members (Deann) on how to make an easel card box.  I LOVED the idea of a card and a box of candy all in the same package.  I am unsure of the size the original template was supposed to make, but I altered it to a 12x12 piece of cardstock.  I made this one for Mother's Day, I know it's May, but a share is a share!

The pocket holds the place for the sentiment, and I used the new Stampin Up!  Sizzix Famelits for the sentiment/image and the window in my box.

Supplies:  Cardstock (Unknown, Bazzil, Stampin' Up!); Pattern Paper (Chatter Box); Stamps (Stampin' Up! Blessed Mother - Retired, Paper Trey Ink); Ribbon (Unknown); Ink (Stampin' Up!); Die Cut (Stampin' Up! Sizzix Framelits)

Hello and a Share

I know.  I know.  It's been ages since I have posted anything for all you lovely ladies, I express my apologies!  Things have been very busy for me over the last few months and to be honest, I have had NO TIME to play, and I mean none.  It has resulted in serious paper play withdrawal - shakes, shivers, and jonsing and all, serious.  Anyway, this last weekend I had some down time and got a chance to do a little bit of playing.  I thought I would share with you all what I have been up to.  So, here it is:

Isn't she lovely?  I made this for a mini album swap over at Mini Album Scraps for my partner.  She had wanted a shabby chic vintage like mini album.  This was a tough one for me as I have never really done shabby chic or vintage, it is definitely not my strong point.  Despite that, I had a lot of fun making this little mini.  If you have made it this far, you're probably wondering about the juicy details on how I made this little bad girl.

1. This is an upcycle album - the corrugated board, is cardboard I used from a box I got in the mail.  I cut it down and then tore off the covers to get the fluting to show through.
2.  I made my own envelopes.  I cut them and creased them, and then I stamped them with two different background stamps.  I have a love obsession with the envelope dealies that have the strings, they remind me of the 1950s for whatever reason.
3.  I hand stamped my postcards.
4.  The stickpin are from a previous swap at Mini Album Scraps.
5.  I used the Stampin' Up! Spritzer Tool to add more distressing and ink spray to my project. As a side note, I LOVE that tool.  It's way cheaper than an airbrush system and adds a nice distress/vintage look to your projects.  I like the ink splatter look.  This is a definite must have in my tool box.
6.  The distressing was done with the Zutter Distrezz It All, another must have in my tool box.

Supplies:  Cardstock (Recollections, Bazzill, Stampin' Up!); Pattern Paper (Unknown); Trims (PinkPaperTree-Etsy, Unknown); Stamps (Stampin' Up!; Impression Obsession; Tim Holtz Postcard; Paper Trey Ink; Unity Stamp Co.); Ink (Stampin' Up!); Pain (Tim Holtz); Trims (Unknown); Eyelets (We R Memory Keepers, Unknown)

My First Card Swap

I recently joined a Card swap over at Mini Album Scraps (MAS) .  It is my first card swap I've ever done, and I was a little apprehensive to give it a go, but figured, why not?  The theme of the swap is spring.  The additional requirements of the swap was for it to be a fancy fold card, include a butterfly on the card, and to make 3 of 2 different types.  I found my inspiration in this card over at Ellen Hutson:

This is the first set that I created (I'll be posting the second set soon).

For whatever reason, when I thought of spring, I thought Pinks, Yellows, Browns, and Teals. I am super happy with how the whole thing turned out, just delighted!

Supplies:  (Cardstock) Bazzill, Stampin' Up!; (Pattern Paper) DCWV, My Mind's Eye, Chatterbox, Inc; (Ink) Stampin' Up! Soft Suede, Stampin' Up! Regal Rose; (Die cut) Spellbinders; (Stamps) Stampin' Up! Friends 24-7 Stamp Set 

Surprise Mail, Surprise Post

I love getting packages in the mail, particularly crafty packages.  Well, today, I got my swaps back from a recent swap I was in, and here is the finished product:

So beautiful, so gorgeous.  My letter is the "E" on the end!  If you like this, and might be interested in swaps, please come on over and join me at http://minialbumscraps.ning.com/.  I love that place and I'm sure you'll love it too!  If you are an international person (i.e. outside the US) don't worry, there are LOTS of people from all around the world that come to Mini Album Scraps!  Hope to see you there!

MAS Recipe Swap and My Cards

I recently joined a Recipe Swap on my swapping site Mini Album Scraps.  This is a huge first for me, I normally don't do these or have any interest in them, but I figured, why not?  I'm a huge cooking fan, I love to cook, and use recipes, so it is important that the cards be functional.  Also, I am a very very messy cook, I do not have a single recipe that is still untouched by food things in my recipe box.  Because of this, I had to think very hard about how I was going to make a pretty card, but have a recipe that was:
1.  Large Enough to Read Easily
2.  Pretty and Functional

While trolling YouTube looking for ideas, I remembered seeing a tutorial over at Split Coast Stampers for a pocket type card - The Criss Cross Card.  And this is what I came up with:

I made my own pattern paper using one of my all time favorite stamp sets by Unity Stamp Co  in four different complimenting colors.  All the color of the papers that I choose to use were matched with those colors.  The one thing that I did do differently was that because I did not want to glue the edges together to make the pocket, I made gussets out of paper and put those on either side of the pocket so that the card could slide in and out nicely.  I did not have to go out and purchase anything special - score for me AND all 5 of these guys were put together in about 3 hours or so.  

I hope you enjoyed!

Supplies:  Bazzill (Cardstock); Stampin' Up! (Cardstock); Prima (Flowers); Bling (Stuiod 18); Stampin' Up! Basic Black, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, and Old Olive (Ink); Stampin' Up! Four Frames (Stamp); Unity Stamp Co (Stamps); Spellbinders Tab (Diecut); Stampin' Up! (Punch)

Stick Pin Goodness

I went to my mailbox the other day and when I opened it, my box with over flowing with packages. NO JOKE.  I had purchased some none consumable items (new stamp blocks and some Journal Art Templates) and they all arrived with my stick pin swap package!  Seriously, if my box were full like that every day I think I would be in heaven, no need to pass.  Because the pins brought me such great joy, and really they did brighten my day a lot, I thought I would share them with you all.  So, where they are in no particular order:

A Photo of all the beautiful packaging I received (and of course have saved)

From Becca

From Val

From Judy

Aren't they just beautiful?!  I got 9 pins in all, and sent 9 in.  If you want to see what everyone sent in, check out this video Lisa, the MAS owner, did with all the beautiful stick pin goodness!

Stylish Pin Storage

Today, I am going to start off talking about Mini Album Swaps (of course, what else would I talk about?)  One of the swaps that I have been participating in fairly regularly is the Stick Pin Swaps.  A stick pin swap is basically getting some pretty floral pins, adding beautiful beads to them and then swapping them.  It is a lot of fun, and gorgeous pins are everywhere in scrapbooking right now.  And to be honest, you can make tons of different stick pins with very minimal supplies - so it's a fun, cheap embellishment as well.  With that said, although I have only done a few of the stick pin swaps (2 at this point) I have TONS of pins already.  And the pins are just beautiful, so I wanted them to be visible.  Thus arouse a need for a stick pin pin cushion. But it could not be any pin cushion, it had to be a beautiful one, that fit my style and decor.  I wasn't quite sure how to make them, so I did some research, and came across this YouTube video.  Watch it, it's totally worth it.

And this is what I came up with:

 And a close up of all the beautiful embellishments

Rather than using fiber fill, I used some decorative sand that consistency of emery sand from michaels.  They sell it in the floral department.  It is heavy and thick so it holds my pins nicely.  I got everything I used on coupon, and still have enough sand fill to make another pin cushion!

I have to be honest, this little guy took me a while.  After placing the silhouette piece on I wasn't quite sure what else to do, but it definitely looked very unfinished and ugly.  But it sat on my shelf waiting for the right inspiration.  Well a few days ago while digging through some of my stuff, I found that little Carpe Diem tag and thought it would go perfectly.  I had had the beautiful feather pin already in mind, but it didn't go well with what I had so it too sat.  However, once I put the tag on, everything fell in to place and I had a finished pin cushion.  I am so happy with the way it turned out.

Supplies: Mini Brown Bucket (Michaels); Brown fabric (Joann's); Green and Brown Trims (from my mother); Flower (Prima); Silhouette (from Korean Market); Feather (Feather Accents); Metal Tag (Creative Imaginations); Bling (Michaels)

TP Mini Album Swap Partner's Album

Some of you may remember my post back in November/December with a little TP mini album for Mini Album Scraps.  Well I know I am very late in posting, but I got my album back from my partner Lisa (and the owner of MAS).  And I thought I would share the beautiful work of art she sent me:

The Front Cover:  Check out that lovely fiber/ribbon. yummo!

 The inside pages:

A Close up of the above page.  This page was my ultimate favorite!

 And the last page:  Check out that beautiful clock!  I LOVE it.

I LOVED this mini, it is so gorgeous and filled with such yummy details and tags. Thankyou Lisa for the beautiful and lovely mini.  If you are interested in joining swaps, please come on over to Mini Album Swaps.

Swaps, Swaps, and More Swaps

I love swapping, it really is a lot of fun, and a cool way to see new and different ways of doing the same thing.  Just love it.  As you all know, I've been spending a lot of time swapping over at Mini Album Scraps.  The last round, I participated in the Stick Pin, Flower, and "CREATE" word banner swap. And so, today, I thought I would share with you all what I have created! Grab some coffee, tea, hot chocolate, whatever your poison of choice and continue on..... It's a long post with lots of pictures today!

1.  Stink Pin Swap
I love stick pins, really.  And this particular go around, I was excited that it had the theme of Love/Valentines Day. I haven't always been so excited about Love/Valentines Day month, but to be honest, it is a holiday that tastefully surrenders eloquently to crafting girly style.  With that in mind, I went with the colors of love, well mainly Red, Brown and Cream, with some black thrown in.  Here is the finished product:

 A little bit of a confession:  I've been collecting Valentine's Day themed stamps and such for age with all these glorious plans for them that are never really executed. Either way, this is the first time that I have ever used the stamps for the tag!  Even better is the fact that the base that the stick pins are adhered to is corregated cardboard I pulled from the trash. Yes.  The Trash.  I just took of the surface from one side and added some Glimmer Glam and acrylic paint.  It gave it a shabby chic grungy look.  I love it.

And the close up of the stick pins:

 Check out those pins!  I love them!  For this particular round, I got some really pretty specialty beads.  My favorite were the heart charms.  I just loved them!

Supplies: Tag (Cardboard from trash); Cardstock (Bazzill Raven, Bazzill Pomegrante, Recollections Kraft); Stamps (My Sentiments Exactly, Studio G); Inks (Stmapin' Up! Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip and basic Black; Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam; Pearlesent Pearl Paint); Stick Pins (Corsage Pins from Michaels)

2.  Flower Swap
Ever since I got the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die, I have been on a "create my own flowers" kick.  And let me tell you, it is soooo much fun!  I know that I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if you do not get any other die you NEED this one.  I made all of these flowers from the same die:

 And some close ups of each flower:
These are a paper flowers.  I made these modifying a tutorial a bit to fit my needs.  The flower tutorial can be found here.  Before assembling my flowers, I inked all their edges, after they were assembled I took a toothbrush dipped in acrylic paint and added some color.  I think they turned out fabulous.

 These are a paper and aluminum foil.  This is just the standard rose that there are a bazzillon tutorials on, each is the same.  Just google it and find one that you get.

 And these (by far my favorite) are made with coffee filters.  You can find the tutorial here.

And the tag:

I kept the tag pretty simple so that it can be reused in another project.  The front has been covered in pattern paper, and the back is just plan for journaling and a cute little key stamp.  I sprayed it with some neutral colored Glimmer Mist and inked the edges.  The tag itself was cut from the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cricut Cartridge.

Supplies: Ink (Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip, Stampin' Up! Early Espresso, Stampin' Up! Basic Black); Paint(Americana True Red); Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Walnut Gold, Red Nose Reindeer; Paper (Michaels Recollections Kraft); Patterned Paper (Recollections Stitch in Time); Cricut Tags Bags Boxes and More Cartridge; Stamps (Studio G)


3.  "CREATE" Banner
I seriously have a deep love for banners.  I never know what I am going to do with them, but I figure I might as well have a stash of them!  However, I am in the process of creating decorated spaces in my home where all the banners I am accumulating will go.  With that in mind, this month's banner swap was specifically for our craft space, and had the color scheme of Pink, Black, and White/Cream. Here is what I came up with:

Aren't they fabulous?!  I had such a fun time making these.  I got some awesome stuff for Christmas, and this was the first thing that I made following Christmas.  So I even got to play with some of my new supplies. And because we are always about the details, some close up pictures:

The hardest part about making these guys was trying to figure out how to use the Martha Stewart combination punches the edger and the corner rounder.   After some trial and error I totally got it, and if you want something else to add to your stash, her punches.  I am in love with them.  They are fabulous to have on hand!  The beauty of this project is that I used 4 sheets of 12x12 plus scraps from my scrapbox to make these all.  So not very supply heavy at all!  One of the benefits to making banners - you can use up all your random bits and pieces.

Supplies:   Bazzill Glazed, Bazzill White, DCWV Glitter Pack, GCD Patterned Paper, Recollections Pink Card Stock (Paper and Cardstock); Stampin' Up! Classic Ink (Ink); Gypsy Wanderings (Font); Cricut, Martha Stewart, Stampin' Up! (Punches and Tools); Prima (flower); Michaels Dollar Spot (Bling); Stick Pins were handmade.

Hopefully you have enjoyed my shares, and feel inspired to do some creative crafting yourself!