365 in 2012

First of all, Merry Christmas everyone! Hope everybody had a nice holiday! I was a good girl this year, so Santa brought me this :)

She's hooked up and ready to cut, just gotta find some time to play...I put my SD away for now. Thinking about selling it, but I want to find a nice home :)
Anyway, I ordered the Project Life kit in Clementine. Got the core kit, the 60 pack of page protectors, and the pocket envelopes. I didn't get the binder because I have a ton of them, plus I have all AC ones, so I wanted them to match. This binder is an AC modern...it has the black fabric edge and then the rest is chipboard. I covered it with some Life is Good papers from EP. The muted colors are perfect for this kit.

For the title, I used a raw chipboard frame from Fancy Pants and numbers from JoAnns. I used some Ranger paint and coated with modge podge so it didn't look so flat. To cover the paper seams down the center and to the left, I added some fabric tape by 7 gypsies and MM.

Used the leftover paper for the back.

They were out of the monthly inserts...they are like a monthly bookmark for your album. I decided to make them myself using a Kerri Bradford kit for Project Life. I used some old DCWV cardstock and used a Hero Arts zig zag background stamp in yellow to tone it down a bit.

I cut out the months using MM vellum, and some Recollections number stamps with Real Red craft ink from SU. Used my tab punch with some SU PP to make the tabs.

Thanks for stopping by...

Silhouette Advent Calendar

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I finished my Silhouette Advent Calendar a couple of weeks ago and just finally got around to posting it! Can't find daylight hours around here during the winter to get a great shot. If you know me, you know that I LOVE my silhouette! Best purchase I ever made for this hobby. And maybe if I'm good, Santa will bring me a Cameo...wink, wink!

I love making paper crafts for holidays around the house. I love to scrapbook but I really have more fun making things like this! I have a lot of turquoise and pink holiday accents so I decided to go with the Eskimo Kisses line from BG. I only had about 6 full sheets left and an almos full 6x6 pad...I looked everywhere for some more of that paper line but I was out of luck. So I decided to cut the drawers with white cardstock...used the Recollections line from Michaels because it cuts so well. I then created a custom cut to cover the front by deleting some of the shape.

My first step was to decide which spots would have boxes and which one would have drawers. I started by picking my favorite shape, day 13. That star is just too stinkin adorable! After I chose the box, I put a large button in that square to show that I picked that spot. I then worked my way around, picking the other boxes. And wrote down all of the numbers and if the spot was a drawer or box.

I made all the boxes first, then the drawers. I used liquid glue, double sided tape, and glue dots, depending on the cut. I think that you could get away with the liquid glue...this too a TON of adhesive. Almost everything here was used with supplies I already had on hand! the only extra purchases was the silver bungee cords and the tiny bells.

I'm an ecclectic person so I couldn't just pick one technique like stamping, glittering, embossing, and misting...I had to play with them all. I'll try to share as much information as I can on which supplies I used and how I created some of the embellishments.

For the boxes that have a single number on red paper, such as 13 and six, I cut out the shape and used Goosebumps by Tsukineko. Its a clear texture spray that puts a bumpy embossed like finish on your paper. Kind of like clear heat embossing without the mess. I gotta say that I LOVE this product and it was so easy to use. Anyhoo, I used my misting box to spray the number, then immediately sprayed some Mr Huey in white right over the wet finished...gave it a slight snowy look.
The glitter is Stampendous silver crushed glass glitter. This product is gorgeous and if you are afraid to use glitter, do what I do and use double sided tape or score tape! Just push it on after you sprinkle it and it doesn't come off!
I also used various cuts from my Silhouette to create the numbers, phrases, and some of the shapes.
The chipboard snowflakes and the glitter brads are from Little Yellow Bicycle. I used those at the end of the project when I wanted to finish this up quickly! I put a Hero Arts sequin between the brad and snowflake for an extra kick.
The little numbers are "Numero" 7 Gypsy stamps. Got these from Hobby Lobby and its a stamps set with all kinds of numbers...love this set! I used gray ink and covered them with diamond stickles.
Also used some various stamps here and there...I think they are American Crafts, Making Memories, Studio Calico, and Hero Arts.
Still with me? lol :)

...just noticed that some of the boxes are sitting perfectly straight on the shelf...that cause my kids are having a blast with this so its a used product :)

Silhouette Tutorial

Ever since I got my Silhouette last Christmas, I haven't been able to stop tinkering with it :) And anytime I get a chance to read tutorials, I'll try to absorb everything I can. Here is a tutorial for you so you can cut out shapes for your stamps. Ever stamp on paper and then spend forever trying to cut it out of the paper? Well, with this tutorial, you can skip that step. Here is how you can create your own shapes. Sorry if the pictures are small, you can click on each to see larger:
1. Either stamp your images in a dark (black) ink on white paper and scan it. Or if they are clear stamps, you can scan the transparency. Open your Silhouette program and go to File>Open>(open your scan). You should see something like this below:
2. Select the trace button (blue and yellow near the upper right side). Select the first box in the palette "Select trace area". Draw a box around the shapes you want to create. Sometimes you can select a group and sometimes you may have to do one at a time. Just play around to see what works for you. After you trace the box, it will highlight in yellow like this below:

3. With the box still highlighted, select the "trace outer edge" button. The yellow will turn red. See below:

4. Now drag your scanned image off the tray. I would also suggest you select the scan and delete it. If you have any stray red lines, you can highlight and delete or use the eraser tool on the left side of the board.

5. What you will have left is the outline of the actual stamp. But we want to make the cut just slightly larger so we have a small edge. right?

6. So to do that we select the cuts:

7. Now select the "offset" button (to the left of the trace button). Follow the steps in the arrows below from top to bottom. when you get to the third arrow, you are going to adjust the size of the "white edge". I like to use .1 but use whatever you choose. Select "apply" when done. 8. Now we have to delete the inner cuts. Just select each and delete. 9. Save your cuts to your library and you are ready to go. I title mine by the manufactuer and then the name of the stamp. I have done this to a large number of my stamps already and I'm just loving it. If you look at the previous post, there is a card where I used this method to create shapes for my letter stamps.

Remember, the more you tinker with it, the better you get. Hope this tutorial helps :)

Creative Scrappers Sketch 157

Hi Everyone! Its time for another Creative Scrappers Sketch! And what a cute one we have this week:)

Its not very often that I have layout without a title. After I complete the page, I felt like it was already wordy with the phrases and definitions so I left it as it. Had fun playing with some new products on had on my desk...and also used some previously cut-out products that I had laying around. And I'm having fun with yellow these days! Such a fun color to play with!
I used AC mustard Zing to create the butterfly with a Jenni Bowlin stamp. The pink postage stamp and the "beautiful" definition were print and cuts from my silhouette that I had laying around.

The numbers cut out was also from my silhouette that I had already cut out previously, intended for another project. The pink paper that is under the MM rim tag was a from a circle that was cut out years ago from one of my favorite SEI papers. It fit perfectly! When I added the postage stamp border above, I was stuck on which color to use, so I flipped over the AC cherry paper...voila.

So please visit Creative Scrappers and check out all the other sketches that the other designers have created :)

I have a lot of other projects going on as well, hopefully I can blog again this week and share.

Supplies: Cardstock: Hobby Lobby & Recollections; Patterned Papers: Bo Bunny, American Crafts, Doodlebug, SEI; Die Cut Machine: Silhouette; Journaling Tag, Trim, Embossing Powder, Chipboard Cherry: American Crafts; Stamp: Jenni Bowlin; Ink: Versamark; Twine: Martha Stewart; Brad: MME; Yellow (punched) tag: Pink Paislee; Chipboard Index Tab: Bella Blvd; Banner Pin: Girls Paperie; Circle Cutter & Border Punch: Fiskars; Clear Doilee: Maya Road; Button: Creative Imaginations: Staples: Ranger; Rim Tag, Ticket, and Clear Button: Making Memories.

Creative Scrappers~Sketch 155

Hey again, I can't believe its time again for another Creative Scrappers sketch!!! Look how much fun it is!! I love sketches like this because there are so many ways to interpret it!

you could have paper or photos in those little squares..I chose to go with some circles since I cut the 4x6 photo at the bottom into 3 sections.

I used the silhouette to make the circles and circles with the arrows. Then I took some twine to sew up the holes that were on the outside. The journaling is pretty simple since the pics speak for themselves.

I put some super old EK Success tiny letter stickers on all the photos. They all say "boing", lol!! The "good times" stamps at the bottom is from Ali Edwards...so in love with those stamps...perfect for scrapbookers!

Use my silhouette to back a honeycomb background, tore up the edges a bit, and used it for a mask for my mist. I have a ton a "lace" type paper for my silhouette and I plan and using this technique more. The honeycomb shape came to me because it looks like the netting that surronds the trampoline. Its funny because I messed up the first time I used it. I misted the entire background shape, which is in a square, and it looked so silly. I just redid it and tore off some of the ends of the paper in a random fashion.

Used the silhouette again to make the orange banner for the title. And I'm SO into yellow these days...just really makes a lot of brightness to a layout. Now I need some yellow mist!

Well thanks for stopping by and make sure that you check the Creative Scrappers blog for the other takes on this sketch by our DT. and Happy Mother's Day!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Hobby Lobby, American Crafts; Patterned Paper: Echo Park, Cosmo Cricket; Transperancy: Hambly Studio; Journaling Card: Echo Park; Twine: Martha Stewart; Mist: Tattered Angels; Die Cut Machine: Silhouette; Stamps: Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday; Ink: Versamar; Embossing Powder: Ranger; Border CS: Bazzill;Stickers: American Crafts, Jenni Bowlin, and EK Success; Brads: Making Memories;

Creative Scrappers Sketch 151

Hello again...yesterday, sketch 151 was revealed at Creative Scrappers. And here is my take on it:

I used the Silhouette to make the frames. To ensure that they would be the correct size, I imported my pics into the silhouette and just measured the frames from there...

In the above picture you can see where I layered the frame over the picture. I grabbed the corner and dragged it until it fit where I wanted it.

You could then ungroup the frame, remove the picture, and the inside part cut of the frame to cut your picture out. I tried it and for some reason it didn't quite work. I'll have to try that again in the future.

And just a close up of the layers. So check out everyone else's take on the sketch and even try it yourself :)

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill and Recollections

Patterned Paper: KI Memories (pink and brown) and Stampin Up (green)

Border Punch: Stampin Up

Felt Embellishments: AC

Doily Embellishments Bird, and Envelope: Maya Road

Ink: Papertry Ink

Pins: Fiskars

Ribbon: Michaels

Stamps: Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday

Letter Stickers: Cosmo Cricket

Clear Letters: Bo bunny

Staples: Making Memories

String

My First Assignment with Creative Scrappers

Today's the big day, my first assignment with Creative Scrappers :)

Had such a great time putting this page together. My daughter Kendall and my nephew Nathan are only 6 weeks apart and this super close bond, even though they don't see each other a lot. I loved the colors of these JBS papers, they just seemed to fit the theme. The circle diecut under the left picture was made with my Silhouette and the flowers were made with my Tim Holtz rossette diecut. I have a million of those badges that I've been hoarding, so I thought they'd look cute in the flower centers. This was the awesome sketch that I was given to work with :) I just love sketches, they are my favorite tool! They save me a lot of time from trying to figure out how the layout of my page will be. I'm really looking forward to the other designer's take on this sketch, so please visit Creative Scrappers HERE and check it out! They also have drawings for prizes when you submit your take on the sketch. Would love to see your take on it too! Have a great weekend!

More Calendar Layouts

Whew, it seems like my crafting to-do list is getting huge! Been spending a lot of time in my scraproom but it seems like I'm doing other things...but good things.

I purchased Erin Cobb's Clean Color photoshop tutorial for improving the look of your pics. I am taking my time watching it so I can absorb it all in :). I also had a coupon for 100 free prints from Shutterfly...that was a coupon that Archivers gave me for spending so much money...ha! I took that offer and ordered 245 prints from Shutterfly and with shipping and the coupon it was $37, not so bad. With the digital age, we forget about the standard things that kids should have, like a baby photo album. I started that project for both kids last year when I had some free photos. So now that project is done. Each kid has hundreds of photos printed for their first year. I want to keep that going but will now have family albums and I'm not going to order as many pics.

Anyway, I made these adorable little faux chipboard houses with my Silhouette. I got the idea from Nichol Magourik to create faux chipboard by layering several pieces of die cutted kraft paper.

It took 2 full 8x10 sheets to make these...the measurements are 1"x2". All you have to do is layer several houses on top of each other with a dry adhesive, put through your corrugator, then top that on top of another house. They are so cute, I can't to use them :)

Been continuing with my calendar layouts from last year using my silhouette. Can you tell I'm hooked? lol!

The butterflies and bugs are a cut and print...doesn't it look like stamping?For May I used some of my new photoshop techniques that I learned from Erin, even added a vignette to the pics, what a difference! I love the pinwheels here, they are pretty dimensional.

Oh yeah, one more thing...I started a new position in my department and I LOVE it! I feel so blessed.

Anyone else following the winter CHA???? Lots of cute stuff!

Calendar Layouts!

Hi everyone!! I've been working on some monthly layouts the last couple of weeks. I saw these KI calendar papers and thought it would be perfect to have a year in review. So far, I have January through March done and April is on my desk in progress.

I really had a whole lotta fun using my Silhouette on each of these...so much fun! The photos and the PP squares are 2.5" in size...just punched a hole in the middle and added some fun diecuts. For the January layout above I used a circle punch. I couldn't reach the middle so they are a bit off. After that I had an idea to create that cut in my silhouette, which I did for the rest! Love that its a perfect cut!

January Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin Up

PP: Echo Park and KI Memories

Specialty Paper: Archivers

Stickers: KI Memories

Diecuts: Silhouette

Other: Silhouette SD and I-top

For the February page, I cut these cute circle frames and sized them to 2.5" each...fit exactly inside the circle :) Had a lotta fun pulling out my SEI Twitterpated papers...one of my favorite lines ever!

And I'm in love with the Silhouette cuts for the months :) Cute!

February Supplies:

Cardstock: Hobby Lobby and Bazzill

PP: KI Memories, SEI, and Echo Park

Stickers: KI Memories

Diecuts: Silhouette and PTI (clouds)

Other: Silhouette SD

I think my favorite one was the March layout. I love bright colors and these are right up my alley!

The butterflies were cut and embossed with the cuttlebug.

These layouts actually took me a while to make but I just had a blast making all these diecuts! i {heart} my Silhouette :)

March Supplies:

Cardstock: Bo Bunny and Bazzill

PP: KI Memories and Making Memories

Vellum: unknown

Diecuts: Silhouette and Cuttlebug (butterflies)

Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug

Embellishments: My Minds Eye

Stamp: Scenic Route

Ink: Stampin Up

Paper Lace Border: Little Yellow Bicycle

Large Gem: Prima

Other: Gems