Sunday, February 27, 2011

A "Cool" New Product + {H2H Challenge}

I've been experimenting this weekend with a fun new product in the Spring Idea Book. The Color Ready Kraft Borders are wonderful. Some great features of this product are that the cutting is done for you already as is the adhesive as you simply peel and stick. Love that! They come in a 12" length so they are perfect for scrapbook pages or you can simply cut them down to fit any project you are working on. They are extremely versatile in the ways you can add color also. Here are a few samples I've discovered so far.


This first card was done for the H2H challenge this week. Create something that reminds you of the word "cold". Brrrr! The surrounding mountains look beautiful with a dusting of snow, but quite frankly I'm looking forward to spring and summer. I took inspiration from H2H designer Lisa Stenz this week and opted for a chilly ice cream treat. That's deliciously cold!


For the color ready border on this card I used white acrylic paint mixed with 4-5 drops of Crystal Blue re-inker. I cut the border to the length I needed then painted it and allowed it to dry.

On this next project I directly inked the border on a Cranberry ink pad. I also left it at the 12" length to fit my scrapbook page. This is my end of year pocket page that I have been completing my albums with for a couple years now. I love filling the pocket with special homemade cards and photo's that friends and family have sent for the Holidays.



How cute is this cup cake card? The image is from the same stamp I used on the ice cream cone card. My daughter loved this card when I completed it. My guess is that the border is her favorite color, bright green! Any guesses on how I colored them green? Can you find the other border piece I used?


Here is the other border piece! It's perfect as a little Birthday candle. I left it plain with no added color.

The green border piece was colored with....did you guess it.....CHALK!

Because of the texture of the border, after applying the chalk, the finished piece looks a bit like felt. I experimented with a few chalk colors and really liked the result of the brighter colors. The hot pink really popped, the blue was calming and it even took on a subtle change of color with a really bright yellow. My favorite was the bright green though and I knew my daughter would approve!

Finally, a gorgeous card done with the mellow Miracle papers. I simply left the kraft border in it's natural state. It really adds to the beauty of this card and it was only a matter of trimming, peeling and placing. How easy is that?!


Did I mention there are 50 borders in a package for under $6? Wow, you have to try this product!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Calendar Club {February & March}

When my Calendar Club meets next time they will be creating the February and March pages. For February we made the focus on Valentine's Day and LOVE! Sweetheart floral papers are perfect! Club members received the new spritz pen at the first meeting, so we will use it again for this month. This time we fill it with Hollyhock re-inker and the shimmer paint to add a bit of sparkle. Did you know that you can spritz directly on our paper flowers to add some color? You bet we can, it really makes them come to life!




The March page incorporates that fabulous Trees & Things stamp that I featured here on my blog last week. I stamped the leaves in Juniper and Olive to match the Wings Basics papers. The little swing was hung on some hemp that has been tucked behind the page. This page is also unique because instead of one photo you can feature 4 of your favorite snap shots.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Wings Level 1 Workshop

This Friday I am hosting a Level 1 Workshop using the gorgeous papers in the Wings level 1 kit. This workshop is perfect for those scrappers that are fairly new to the craft or simply do not have much time.

The kit contains everything you need to create 2 ~ two page layouts. There are four base pages that you will build on with some of the B&T papers included and the Stickease.


As you can see in these pages how much more they pop once your photo's are added. What you are not able to see in this photo is that I used dimensional foam pieces behind the Stickease title and flowers giving the embellishments more life.


Monday, February 21, 2011

Quilted {a "R" t} with Sophia

My daughter picked out this great big "R" some time ago to decorate her room. It sat in a closet for awhile until we decided on the perfect papers that we wanted to finish it with. When the new Spring Idea Book arrived we knew right away that the Sophia papers were perfect. My daughter's favorite color is lime green and the polka dot papers in this kit were "spot" on! The pinks, yellows and patterns were also exactly what she wanted.

Before~




As you can see here on the finished project I decided on a quilted pattern. Having the 3x3 squares placed on a diagonal presented quite the challenge, especially on the curved portion of the "R". After adhering all the paper pieces on the front and sides I used Mod Podge to seal them in place. Once the Mod Podge sealed it really made the paper appear to look like fabric.


You can really see how large it is here as she poses with it!


Here it is on her headboard. Eventually we want to get more "R"s of various sizes and styles and decorate an entire wall in her room!


Friday, February 18, 2011

Trees & Things

Many new stamps caught my eye in the Spring Idea Book, but this one I knew would be one of the most fun. It's called Trees & Things and that's just what it is. You can create the tree for spring, summer, fall and winter. It has oodles of little fun items to add like this bird and a tire swing. Some other fun images include a hammock, lanterns, string of lights and even a squirrel!

For this card I wanted a full summery green tree with blue skies in the background. It's a split fold card with a pocket inside. Perfect for holding a Justice gift card for the lucky Birthday girl! The clouds were created by sponging some White Daisy ink on the sky blue card stock. The tire swing has a piece of hemp tied to it to give it more movement.



Check back next week to see how I used this same stamp on my March calendar page.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Springy Chipboard Flowers

A perfect card to post today. So bright and cheery on a gloomy, cloudy day! This was made for a good friend who was surprised by close friends yesterday to celebrate her. It combines some pinks, oranges, yellows and greens. Most of which are some of the newer summer colors. Can I just say that I love the irresistibles chipboard. They are so pretty and easy to use. Hope it brightens your day too!



Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope your spending your day with those you love. I've been "mailing" out my love to those that can't be with me today. Here are some of those cards.

This first one has some resist background stamping. I free handed these hearts, sewed them together, then wrapped them together with a piece of chocolate twine and a button.



This one uses the new Sweetheart papers. I heat embossed the center label then sponged it in Cotton Candy pink.
Finally, for fun I created this valentine garland. I punched several scalloped circles with the new 2" scallop punch by Close To My Heart. Then I ran all the circles through my little sewing machine. I punched lots of hearts in Cotton Candy, Baby Pink and Tulip and placed them between the circles. A quick and sweet project!


Sunday, February 13, 2011

Card Boxes and Cupcakes

Yesterday was my first Card Club class. To kick off this club all the ladies created their sweet little card boxes to store all the cards they will be making this year. Speaking of "sweet" I just had to make some Valentine cupcakes for the event.




The table is set: Ladies were given boxes, papers, pearls and the new Pink ribbon collection to complete their first project. As we meet each month for club they will bring the ribbons to use on various cards.



Chocolate cupcakes with pink butter cream frosting. Each one was finished with a laced chocolate heart.


Here are the ladies hard at work:


Some of the ladies chose to create their boxes with the reverse side of the B&T papers. I think the light pink boxes are darling and really shows the versatility of Close To My Heart papers.


Saturday, February 12, 2011

Sharing Some Love

It's almost Valentine's Day. A great time to get out all those hearts and "lovey dovey" stamps!

The background paper on this card is from the new Miracle level 2 papers. It's such an elegant paper. For the background behind the the stamped image I used the script stamp from the new Universal Backgrounds. The couple was stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed in black. Very simple and clean card. Check back all weekend for some more love.



Thursday, February 10, 2011

Stamp Kissing on H2H

This week's challenge on the Heart 2 Heart blog is one of my favorites. It's stamp kissing. Perfectly in time for Valentines day too, wouldn't you say? This technique works best by starting with a solid image. Here I've used this darling little couple. Next, you'll want to "kiss" your inked image with a background or textured stamp. For this I used one of the newest love note background stamps called Universal Backgrounds. Finally you stamp the image on your choice of card stock. "You make my heart sing" was the finishing sentiment that this card needed.



Now go check out the other amazing artwork on the H2H blog and try kissing your stamps today!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

H2H Scrapbook Layout 2

The second sketch on the H2H scrapbook challenge blog was presented a week or so ago. It is very interesting, so I had to give it a try. This time I kept the sketch just as it was, no flipping it at all. Some of the photo's and elements may have been shifted slightly.


I used some new products like the Miracle papers, Bohemian Alphabet and some big buttons.



I'm really enjoying these challenges and it's great to finally get caught up on my own scrapbook! Please be sure to see the other artwork entries here and play along with the challenges too.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Crazy Cool Flowers

Leopard print (kind of) and cotton candy pink just scream wild and fun. I love these flowers too! This flower technique was shared in a past Idea Book, but I never thought to alternate the prints. How cool are they?



Tuesday, February 1, 2011

H2H Sketch Challenge

It's a sketch challenge on H2H this week. I have a "guy" version and a "girl" version so be sure to scroll to the end of the post!