DIY Resist Paper - Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the March Stamp of the Month blog hop!  If you've arrived here from Adeline Brill's blog, or if you've just managed to stumble across me, you are in the right place.  When we're done here, you can hop along to Elizabeth Mindemann's blog for more great artwork using the March Stamp of the Month.

I have a special treat for you today!  Along with my SOTM artwork, I have a fun & easy tutorial for you on making your own resist paper.  You've probably seen the kraft resist papers from Tim Holtz, or resist papers from another company, but what if you want a different style?  Stamps to the rescue!    This easy technique, called emboss resist, has been around in the stamping world for as long as I have and that's a long time...  and when I say easy, I mean it's easy enough to do entire 12x12 sheets for scrapbooking as well.

Now, on to the artwork!  I chose to make a card this month, using my current favorite color combo for guys: green, blue, and orange (specifically Topiary, Pacifica, and Sunset). 

 

Not to fear if you don't like the random color on my paper - you can do this with a single color as well.  Want to use lighter colors?  Use White Daisy or Colonial White for your base instead of kraft.

You need just a few supplies to do this technique:

• stamps - I used Potential, the March stamp of the month set
• Versamark ink
• clear embossing powder
• craft tray
• craft heater tool
• ink pad(s) of your choice
• sponge tool or other applicator

Here's a video showing how to do it:

Thanks for stopping by!  Now head on over to Elizabeth's blog and see what she has for us today.

Birthday Layout with Echo Park Paper and Cricut Imagine

It's my turn to post today over at the Cutters Creek blog, so here's what I shared:

I am just loving the new A Boy's Life collection from Echo Park Paper!  It's really helping me get some pictures in my scrapbooks, and this time I decided to work on some older pictures I've been neglecting.  The best part is that the colors in this collection work so well with a lot of things you probably have in your stash.

I even pulled out my Cricut Imagine (which I've also been neglecting!), since I was documenting a birthday party, and there wasn't much in the stickers that would work for that.

I printed & cut my title image from the Imagine More Cards cartridge.  I sanded & distressed all of the layers.  Then I inked the bottom layer using an ink pad in my stash that darkened the blue enough so that it would better match the papers.  I popped up all of the layers using the ASI Kool Tak clear foam squares.

These journaling circles were printed & cut from the Imagine More cartridge - they are the notebook paper centers of a flower.  The distressed feel of both the Imagine More and Imagine More Cards cartridges are a perfect match for this collection.  I popped the circles up also, because of the ribbon bulk, and added the "a perfect day" sticker from the collection.

Lastly, I added a banner using stickers from the collection and a white gel pen.  One additional item to note:in order to match the distressed feel of the papers, I used a white core cardstock and sanded it all over with fine sand paper (220) to lighten it in spots.

Items available at Cutters Creek:

• A Boy's Life collection, Echo Park Paper (NEW)
• Brown distress ink of your choice, try Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger
• White pen, try Inkssentials White Pen
• ASI Kool Tak clear foam squares
• ATG Adhesive
• Cricut cartridges (by special request - just ask!)

Other:

•  cardstock with a white core (I used Close To My Heart)
• hole punch (I used the Crop-a-dile) and eyelets
• coordinating ribbon (I used American Crafts)

Thanks for coming by today.  Be sure to check out the Cutters Creek blog too - there's a great design team with lots of ideas using your favorite products!

Crafty Clutter Cleanup!

Say that 5 times fast!  I've been spending the week getting things priced for a craft consignment sale and cleaning up an area of the craft room.  This is just the first of many projects where The Husband & I hope to regain "Our Clean House" from the clutter of life & 3 kids!  I've started an entirely new blog where I'll be detailing our efforts, and I would love it if you'd like to follow along (I figure the more people reading, the more likely I am to stay on track, lol).

So, here's one picture from my recent efforts:

To see the rest of the project, and details on what I bought & how much it cost, head on over to Our Clean House!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hopefully I will have some more crafty projects ready to share next time.

Love is in the Air - Part 2

Hello and welcome to Day 2 of the Love is in the Air blog hop!  If you've arrived here from Nicolette's Beyond Scrappin' blog, you are in the right place! If you are just joining the hop and wish to start from the beginning, please visit Lisa's blog.  In case you get lost along the way, the complete blog hop lineup is at the bottom of this post.

Each blogger participating in this hop is featuring a project having to do with Valentine's Day or Love. This super-fun hop will be showcasing cards, layouts and projects that feature anything and everything to do with LOVE since that is what Valentine's Day is all about right!! You'll find an array of ideas throughout this hop. From decorations to gift ideas and more, we hope you'll enjoy each and every project along the way!! Be sure to leave a comment at each hop stop to show all the participants a little love. 

 For today's project, I'm showcasing an unusual color combination for my Sugar Shock Valentine's Day layout (and I apologize in advance for the slightly gross photos, lol).  I think it's great fun to add a bit of the unexpected to our layouts, especially when it makes our photos pop.  In this case, I latched onto what was a small bit of color in the photos, but the main topic of my layout, and made it stand out.

 

Yes, my odd children all have blue/green tongues - thanks to Valentines with Fun Dips in them. (You can click on the photo to make it larger and see the details and patterns on the paper more clearly.)  As usual when it's too quiet in the house, I found this disturbing scene: the "sharing" of the Fun Dips by pouring them in a pile on the kitchen table and taking turns licking.  I'm so glad they seem to have outgrown this phase; it's been a few years since this incident and I can just now bring myself to scrap it!

I started with the more traditional (and a little "wild") Valentine colors in the Roxie collection from Close To My Heart, and added some Lagoon cardstock for the base.  The title is cut using my Cricut - "sugar" is from the Nursery Rhymes cartridge and "shock" is from the Cuttin' Up cartridge.  I added a shadow to the "shock" also in Lagoon.

I cut hearts and the bracket shape in my title from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge collection.  I stamped on a few small ones with a coordinating heart stamp, and two pink ones with the "You're Sweet" sentiment.  I colored in the open parts of the sentiment with a Tulip marker to coordinate with the papers.  I attached bling buttons to the small stamped hearts, then adhered all of the hearts to the edge, popping some up with foam adhesive tape.  Finally, I stamped the "You color my world" sentiment on the heart in the center, and again colored in the open letters with the Tulip marker.  (Note: the stamps I used are no longer available, but the technique works for any sentiment with open letters.)

All of the products used in this project are from Close To My Heart.  If you don't have a consultant, I would love to add you to my newsletter list (above left), and invite you to shop on my website 24/7.

Thanks for stopping by again today!  I invite you to become a follower or follow by email (above right).  Make sure you hop on over to Jamie's My Amusing Life blog next to see what she has to share with you! 

The complete blog hop lineup is as follows: 

Lisa Pontious - http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com/
Kristy Asche - http://scraptasticalkreations.blogspot.com/
Doris Parker - http://mybugandmecreate.blogspot.com/
Nicolette Simpson- http://beyondscrapin.blogspot.com/
Lori Brown - http://savingmine.blogspot.com/ - YOU ARE HERE!
Jamie- http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com/
Scraps To Treasures - http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
Ashley Townsend - http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com/
Beckie - http://justbcreativecrazy.blogspot.com/
Janet Royer- http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/
Jessi Buehrle- http://mylifeinartscrafts.blogspot.com/
Angela Urell- http://creativecraftin.blogspot.com/
Kimi and Pamela - http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/
Christina - http://cema1cema.blogspot.com/
Mindy - http://papercreationsbymindyblog.blogspot.com/
Janet Smith - http://www.ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/
Erica - http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/

Love is in the Air - Part 1

Welcome to Day 1 of the Love is in the Air Blog Hop! If you've arrived here from Nicolette's Beyond Scrappin' blog, you are in the right place! If you are just joining the hop and wish to start from the beginning, please visit Lisa's blog.  In case you get lost along the way, the complete blog hop lineup is at the bottom of this post.

Each blogger participating in this hop is featuring a project having to do with Valentine's Day or Love. This super-fun hop will be showcasing cards, layouts and projects that feature anything and everything to do with LOVE since that is what Valentine's Day is all about right!! You'll find an array of ideas throughout this hop. From decorations to gift ideas and more, we hope you'll enjoy each and every project along the way!! Be sure to leave a comment at each hop stop to show all the participants a little love. 

There will be another round of great projects tomorrow, so  be sure to come back!

We have three kids, and I always get them a little something for Valentine's Day.  So, my project for today is a gift pocket for each of them where I can tuck their gift.  My kids are all very different, so of course I chose to make each pocket different.  And what better way to do that than to make each one with one of my three favorite paper brands?  So, I have one pocket each made with Graphic 45, Echo Park Paper, and Close To My Heart.

Here are the details on each one. (You can click on the pictures to see them larger.)  All of the heart pockets were cut with my Cricut, using the Art Philosophy cartridge exclusive to Close To My Heart.  They were cut at 11.5", and adhered after decorating using Scor Tape.  First up, for my 7yo son.  He hates anything that might be even remotely "girly", so I immediately thought of this cool "tin man" paper from Graphic 45's "The Magic of Oz" line.

I decorated the front of the pocket using popped up layered hearts of Grey Wool CS (CTMH), and the opposite side of the tin man paper, each edged with a black alcohol marker.  I added some chipboard tags from the same line, tied with baker's twine (CTMH), and a keyplate (G45 Staples).  For final touches I added a cardstock key cut using the Cricut and the Art Philosophy cartridge (due to size, I used the hid countours feature on the Gypsy to hide some of the smaller details), and the "hugs" and "kisses" labels made using an old school Dymo label maker.  (He probably won't like that part, lol.)  I used a simple cardstock strip for a hanger and attached it using oversized brads.

Next up, a sweet girly pocket for my almost 9yo girly-girl.  This one uses the Yours Truly collection from Echo Park Paper.  The grown-up and "fancy" feel of this collection just had her name written all over it!  I used the "Sweetheart" paper to create the pocket.

I again decorated the front of the heart using popped up layered hearts, cut from Cranberry CS (CTMH) and the back side of the "Rose Blossom" paper in the collection.  I again edged them using a black alcohol marker.  I added details using various stickers from the collection, including the alphabet, hearts, sentiment, and top hat.  Finally, I added a hanger of American Crafts ribbon, with the backing trimmed down close to the flowers in the ribbon.

Finally, the pocket I made for our 10 1/2 yo daughter.  She's our fun & funky tweenager who thinks she's too cool for any kid stuff, and definitely not the girly type.  So of course I had to go with the wild "Roxie" collection from Close To My Heart.  

I kept it simple and "mature" with popped up layered hearts using black CS and leopard print paper wrapped in bakers twine (CTMH).  I added a couple of smaller hearts cut from the zebra print and the tone on tone flower print.  I then stamped the sentiment using the Thoughtful Tidings stamp set - February's stamp of the month set from CTMH, and added a photo turn to the zebra heart.  Finally, I added a hanger of gold ribbon from my stash, and oversized Shimmer Designer Brads in gold (CTMH).

Thank you for stopping by my blog today!  I'd love it if you decide to become a follower, or follow by email (above right).  And if you don't currently have a Close To My Heart consultant, I'd love if you signed up for my email newsletter (above left).  Please hop on over to Jamie's My Amusing Life blog next to see what she has to share with you!  And don't forget to come back tomorrow for more - I have a fun & unusual scrapbook layout to share with you...

The complete blog hop lineup is as follows: 

Lisa Pontious - http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com/
Kristy Asche - http://scraptasticalkreations.blogspot.com/
Doris Parker - http://mybugandmecreate.blogspot.com/
Nicolette Simpson- http://beyondscrapin.blogspot.com/
Lori Brown - http://savingmine.blogspot.com/ - YOU ARE HERE!
Jamie- http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com/
Scraps To Treasures - http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
Ashley Townsend - http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com/
Beckie - http://justbcreativecrazy.blogspot.com/
Janet Royer- http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/
Jessi Buehrle- http://mylifeinartscrafts.blogspot.com/
Angela Urell- http://creativecraftin.blogspot.com/
Kimi and Pamela - http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/
Christina - http://cema1cema.blogspot.com/
Mindy - http://papercreationsbymindyblog.blogspot.com/
Janet Smith - http://www.ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/
Erica - http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/

Die Cut Challenge

This month's challenge over at Scrappy Frog's is to use die cuts - how easy is that?!  Uou can make any project you want, so I chose to catch up on my scrapping a little and made a 2 page layout.

 

I used my Cricut Expression along with the Art Philosophy cartridge to create my cuts.  Using the Gypsy (or you could use CCR or Design Studio), I welded two borders to the right length, then I used the same border and welded two, top & bottom, to a rectangle to create my journaling box.

 The title is also cut from the same cartridge, but I hand cut the floral images.  They were stamped, cut out, and rolled, popped up, etc. for dimension.  (You can see how to make the rose in my previous post here.)  Then I added embellishments to the centers for more dimension & interest.

All of my supplies for this one are from Close To My Heart:

• Pemberly Workshop on the Go (includes the embellishments)
• Card Word Puzzle stamp set
• Outdoor Denim stamp pad
• Kraft cardstock
• Pacifica cardstock
• micro-tip scissors
• 3-D Foam Adhesive Tape

Thanks for checking me out today! Be sure to stop over at Scrappy Frog's Challenge Blog and take a few minutes to join the challenge.

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