Almost Autumn

I am just popping by to say hello and share a quick & easy scrapbook page.  
 

Supplies: stamp & ink from Hero Arts, cardstock from Neenah Paper; stickers & enamel dots from October Afternoon; pen from Foray; journaling line template & corner punch from Creative Memories; twine, charm, & sequins from my stash, fabric tag upcycled from old clothing; household mini stapler.

I made this page to showcase a few late-summer photos from the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  I love this time of year, when the rich, warm colors of autumn are beginning to appear, but the weather is still nice and warm.  It's the best of both worlds.

Back to the Future

Hi, everyone!  I hope that those of you who are celebrating holidays right now are having a good time.  I'm enjoying the Christmas season and spending lots of time with family, but I cannot let the month of December come to an end without sharing my last de-stashing tip of the year!

This month the tip is to use sticker negatives to make your own stencils.  I bet you have some half-used sticker sheets sitting around in your stash right now, don't you?  Well, why not put the used bits to work as stencils?  If you fill in these stencil shapes with Stickles (glitter glue), you will end up with shimmery shapes that add a little bit of wow-factor to any project.  I used the negatives from star-shaped stickers to create the glittery stars that you see in the detail shots above and below.

Those detail shots come a scrapbook page called "Back to the Future Day."

Supplies: typewriter phrase paper from American Crafts; all other paper from October Afternoon; alphanumeric stickers, puffy sticker, enamel shapes, & spray ink also from October Afternoon; star sticker negatives from Basic Grey; Stickles & pearlescent paint from Ranger; acrylic paint from DecoArt; washi tape from MT; metallic tape from 3M/Scotch; stamp from My Mind's Eye; stamping ink from Tsukineko; ribbon from Scrapbook Fantasies; chipboard phrases from Scrapmatts; pens from Zig; mini frames from Hirschberg Schutz & Co.

You may ask, what is Back to the Future Day?  Well, it took place on October 21, 2015.  That's the date when the film Back to the Future Part II is supposed to have taken place.  Back in the 1980's, when the Back to the Future movies came out, the year 2015 seemed unimaginable far in the future.  But now...it's here!  This is what I had to say in my journalling on this scrapbook page: "In proud Gen-Xer style, Scott & I celebrated 'Back to the Future Day' by watching the original movie.  Maybe the second movie in the series would have been more appropriate to watch, since it's set in 2015.  But we were in the mood for the original, and we sure enjoyed watching it."  Back to the Future Day ended up being a fun movie night/date night for my husband and me.

I think you'll believe me when I say that creating this title block out of all sorts of little bits and pieces was lots of fun.  The TV sticker with a heart on the screen is my favorite part.  :)

I printed out a couple of Internet memes to use as page embellishments.   This is a good way to add interest to a scrapbook page on the cheap.  Oh, and by the way, if you click to enlarge the photo above, you can learn how to write the phrase "Thirty years ago, lightning struck that clock tower," in Russian.  :)

Anyway, back to the whole point of this blog post--stencilling with sticker negatives and Stickles.  To do this, start by trimming around the sticker negative to separate it from the rest of the sticker sheet.  Next, stick the negative shape to your clothes a few times to make it less sticky.  Then gently press the shape onto your project and squirt Stickles into the shape.  You may need to use a paintbrush or a small paper scrap to spread the Stickles around and fill the shape completely.  Once the shapes is filled in, quickly and carefully remove the sticker negative.  Then, all you have to do is wait for the Stickles to dry, which is probably the hardest part of the whole process.  :)  

Before I sign off, I also want to mention that this layout was inspired by the Berry71Bleu November mood board.  Although I did not manage to finish my layout in time to participate in B71B's November challenge, I still wanted to share the gorgeous mood board (pictured above).  Maybe it will inspire you as much as it inspired me.  In any case, take care and enjoy the last few days of 2015!  Happy crafting.  :)

"Fanta"-stic Fun

No one in my family is much of a pop drinker, but we do love pineapple.  Therefore, we got excited when we came across pineapple-flavored Fanta for the first time.  We split one bottle among the three of us, just to try it out, and we liked it.  It was so syrupy-sweet that just 1/3 of a bottle was the right amount. 

Of course I had to save that Fanta bottle cap and do something creative with it.  I decided to make it into a sunflower.  I used decorative tape and twist ties (from bread wrappers) to fashion a stem and leaves for the flower.  It was a fun and symbolic embellishment to use on this scrapbook page about my son's growth in his martial arts class.

Supplies: cardstock from Neenah Paper; alphabet stickers, die cuts, patterned paper, & enamel shapes from October Afternoon; tape from Scotch/3M; decorative scissors from Fiskars; pens from Zig; household mini stapler, paper clip, twist ties, pencil, & bottle cap; sequin from my stash.

There is nothing wrong with your screen.  Do not attempt to adjust the picture... :)  My journaling on this scrapbook page explains: "A. told me I could only photograph his red belt test if I used Photo Booth.  It was fun, and he passed with flying colors!"

Photo booth is a fun app, and I love the silly pictures that it gave me.  My favorite is the one above, where it looks like my son is sparring with himself.  (He told me that's his evil twin.)  I hope that this scrapbook page brought a smile to your face.  :)

Summer of Color Week 3: Mini Album Page

Yikes, the color palette this week for the Summer of Color is tough: two shades of purple plus one shade of yellow.  Well, last weekend a friend gave me a pack of yellow Prima flowers, so I thought I could do something with those.  And then I remembered that I have an unfinished mini album with some floral stamping and yellow paint in the background of one page.  So I decided to finish that page, and this is how it turned out:
 

Supplies: upcycled cardboard, napkin, bubble wrap, & Easter card; lavender paper from Graphic 45; number paper from My Mind's Eye; alphabet stickers from Basic Grey; flower from Prima; enamel dot from October Afternoon; stamping ink from Hero Arts; assorted acrylic paints.

This mini album documents a trip that my family and I took to Silverwood Park in 2013.  Silverwood Park is dedicated to celebrating the arts, so there is poetry posted on signs along the walking trails there.  There are also signs with phone numbers to call (and QR codes to snap) in order to hear poetry read aloud.  I just checked, and you can still hear a poem if you call the number on the sign in my photo.  Or, for a shorter poem, you can read the posted piece in the photo below.

This arts-centered park was fun to visit, and I took a lot of photos there.  I really had too many photos for a scrapbook page, so I decided to make a mini album.  I started this mini album last year.  I had gotten as far as doing the mixed media backgrounds for the pages, but then I ran out of steam.  It turns out that this Summer of Color palette was just the push that I needed to get back to the album.  In addition to completing this page, I went ahead and finshed the rest of the album, too.  This blog entry focuses on the one page that is my Summer of Color project, but I'll show the completed album in another post at another time.  Bye for now!  

T is for Tags (+ Life Update)

Hi, tea fans!  It has been a long time since my last post.  I can assure you, though, that I have been drinking lots of tea since last we visited.  In fact, I even attended a tea appreciation event hosted by Minnesota-based retailer Tea Source.  I found out that Tea Source offers flights on Tuesdays, and I couldn't resist trying one (pictured below).  All the tea was yummy, but my goodness, that is a lot of tea for one person to drink.  Next time I plan to bring a friend to help me drink all that tea.

I had all sorts of goals and plans for how I would use my free time once my university course ended.  Life interfered, in the form of illness (a sore throat for me, ear infections for the rest of the family).  So, I have not been up to much lately.  However, I did accomplish one of my goals: I completed my 2014 family scrapbook!  It's always exciting to finish a big project.  I looked through the album to see if there were any pages I could share for tea day, and I came upon this Valentine's Day page.
 

Supplies: cardstock from Neenah Paper; flair badge & bokeh paper from Lawn Fawn; title sticker from Bo Bunny: hippo paper from Imaginisce; border sticker, labels, tabs, & enamel shapes from October Afternoon; pen from Zig; ribbon & calendar sheet from my stash; household stapler.

I have been obsessed with tags lately, and I used a tea tag as an embellishment on this page.  I also cut the side panel from the Valentine chocolate box that my husband gave me and upcycled that into a tag as well.

So that's what I have been up to lately.  Now I am off to see what is new with everyone else.  See you soon!

Destashing with Mixed Media

What is the correct plural of the word "yeti?"  I have seen both "yeti" and "yetis" used as the plural form.  For now, let's just say that "yeti" is both the singular and the plural.  I have a very good reason for this.  The reason is...I ran out of "S" stickers in the font that I wanted to use on this scrapbook layout.  :)

Supplies: paper from Lily Bee; stickers from Bo Bunny; paint from Deco Art; colored pencil from Faber-Castell; pen from Zig; upcycled postage stamps & bubble wrap.  Loosely based on the sketch from page 33 of the January 2015 issue of Create magazine.

The topic of this scrapbook page may be yetis...oops, I mean yeti, but what I really want to talk about today is destashing with mixed media.  Now, I have a love/hate relationship with mixed media.  I love all the "playthings" (paints, mediums, tools, etc.) associated with the style.  But I hate waiting for wet media, such as gesso, texture paste, etc., to dry.  Still, I know that using mixed media can be quite green, so I decided to give it a go on this page, and I'm happy with the result.  I think I've found some mixed media techniques that require little to no drying time--hooray!

First off, I modified my patterned paper background by stamping with acrylic paint on bubble wrap.  Can you see it in the photo above?  Acrylic paint dries quickly, especially if you only use a thin layer.

Before putting the paint away, I also used it to make these snowflake embellishments.  Treating the negative pieces of some Bo Bunny snowflake stickers as stencils, I applied acrylic paint to patterned paper.  Again, I kept the layer of paint quite sheer, since I wanted the herringbone pattern to peek through from behind the paint.  After the paint dried, I outlined the snowflakes with colored pencil--a medium that requires zero drying time--and cut out the finished embellishments.

I also added swipes of acrylic paint and red pencil to the borders of a couple photos.

Finally, I used the mixed media trick of embellishing with found objects--postage stamps, in this case.  Even though I used mixed media techniques (stamping, stenciling, colored pencil, found objects), I was able to create this layout in a single sitting.  It was great to get some use out of my mixed media supply stash, so I'll definitely be making more pages like this one in the future.  Who knows, maybe my love/hate relationship with mixed media will someday become just a "love" relationship. 

Toward a Simpler 2015

Christmas is over, but here is a scrapbook page that gives you a peek at how I decorated for Christmas 2014.

Supplies: border stickers, alphabet stickers, journaling card, die cuts, & flair badge from October Afternoon; doily from Royal; photo mat paper from Provo Craft; striped background paper from Little Yellow Bicycle; check list sticker from Bella Blvd; pens from Zig; upcycled tabletop confetti snowflakes.

Have you put your holiday decorations away?  Some people like to put them away quickly, while others like to leave them out for quite awhile.  I fall somewhere in the middle, usually putting my Christmas decorations away the first weekend after New Year's.  This year, I didn't have much to put away...

As the journaling on this layout indicates, our family didn't put up our big tree for Christmas 2014.  We all had bad colds at the beginning of December, and decorating just seemed like too much of a hassle.  So we put out Santa Bear and a tiny tabletop tree instead.

I kind of feel like this sticker was made for this page.  :)

You know what?  I actually liked the simplicity of not decorating much for Christmas.  I'm not saying that I'll do it this way every Christmas, but it is nice to go easy on yourself every now and then.

Blog-wise, I am also simplifying.  My life is about to get a lot busier, as I'll be taking a graduate course during spring semester.  Some of my normal blogging time is going to turn into study time.  Basically, there will be three changes to my blog: 

1. I'll still be blogging, just not as often.  
2.  I won't be seeking any design team positions at this time.
3. I'll still write monthly destashing posts, but they will no longer be scheduled for the tenth of each month.

Simple can be good, and I'm looking forward to this new year.  I hope you'll stick with me as my blog changes and evolves.  No matter what happens, my love for papercrafts will never change.  :) 

For Cat Lovers Everywhere

In honor of Bleubeard, one half of the duo behind the T is for Tuesday link party, my post for today is all about cats!

 
 Bleubeard, what do you think of this idea?  Do you think you could learn to make Elizabeth's coffee for her?

   
 Actress Gates McFadden posted this series of six ultra-short videos (each less than a minute long) to her YouTube channel.  I think the T-Day crowd will enjoy it.

 

 I agree with Gates and Rudy here.  The smell of coffee is excellent.

Gates has performed in many TV shows and movies over the years, but you may remember her best as Doctor Beverly Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  I don't know why these T Tuesday posts seem to be bringing out my inner geek lately...

 
 This seems like a very complicated way to make coffee.  Perhaps she should have taught Rudy to make tea, instead.

Hope you liked that video series.  Now, moving on to the scrapbooking part of this post...

Though I no longer have pet cats of my own, I am a big cat lover.  Over the years I have owned three cats (all female and known collectively as "the girls"), and I've gradually been making a tribute album about them.  Just recently, I completed the last page in the album.  I'd love to share it with you.  Here it is.

Supplies: pink/peach dotted paper from Carta Bella; title paper from Paper House; stickers & all other paper from October Afternoon; upcycled greeting card clippings and jewelry charm; gifted clock face & resin swirl; corner punch from Creative Memories; tulle from Wyla; paint from Ranger; doily handmade by Irina Rakovets.  Спасибо, Ирина!

There is a kind of pressure that comes with making the last page in an album.  I find myself wondering, what kind of mood do I want the reader to feel when she finishes looking at the album?  What kind of impressions do I want to impart?  It's an important decision.  I considered many different "looks" for the last page of my kitty tribute album, and the look I finally chose is a "lovey-dovey" look, almost like a Valentine (out of season) to my kitties.

As usual, I upcycled some items on this page.  The glittery floral image is from a birthday card that I got this year.  It was too pretty to throw away.  The 3D paper medallion with three dancing figures (representing my three departed cats) is also from an old greeting card.

I also upcycled a kitty charm from an old charm bracelet.  The charm embellishes the simple journaling on the page, which reads: "All three girls are always in our hearts."

With the Valentine-like look of this page, I could not resist adding touches of pink--pink glitter, pink paint, pink tulle, etc.

Thanks for stopping by, dear readers, to view this very special scrapbook page.  For those of you celebrating T Tuesday, I wish you a happy T-Day!

10 on the 10th: Winter Colors

Hi, all!  Wow, time really flies.  It's already the last month of the year, and it's time for my final "Ten on the Tenth" post for 2014.  As always with these Ten on the Tenth posts, I put together a kit from my stash and challenged myself to use up the kit by making three projects.  Here are the supplies I chose for this month.  My kit has a "winter whites" theme for December.

10 supplies: items 1 & 2 (cardstock): kraft cardstock from Bazzill; items 3 & 4 (patterned papers): assorted woodgrain papers from KaiserCraft; items 5 & 6 (embellishments): rub-on alphabet from October Afternoon & foil butterflies from Dufex; items 7 & 8 (nonconsumables): penguin stamp from Savvy Stamps & nesting doll stamp from Stampendous; items 9 & 10 (throwaway items): striped twist tie from candy packaging & net bag from gift packaging.

Below is a peek at the flipsides of the patterned papers, as well as some of the smaller items from the kit.  Like last month, I decided to err on the side of caution and include in my kit more paper scraps, not less.  Again, that worked well, and I was really productive. 

The first thing I made with the kit was a light and airy card.

Additional supplies: airmail paper from Echo Park; corner punch from Creative Memories; ink from Autumn Leaves/Stampology; spray mist from October Afternoon; upcycled wrapping tissue & kraft price tag with jute tie; ribbon from my stash.

Next I made a scrapbook page, which you may have already seen, since I entered it in a couple different challenges.  (Knowing what a busy month December is, I made these projects well in advance.)

Previously blogged here.

Finally, I created one more page, entitled "Zoo-venirs," to use up the last bits of the kit.

Additional supplies: stickers from October Afternoon; stamping ink from Hero Arts; rhinestones from Dee's Place; pens from Zig.

As the title implies, this page houses photos and souvenirs from a winter trip to the Lake Superior Zoo.  I had fun creating "secret hiding places" for all the memorabilia on the page.

A couple of extra photos, along with a cute stamped penguin, hang out in a pocket at the top of the page.

Clear photo corners hold the snow leopard post card in place.  This makes it easy to remove the post card...

...in order to read the information on the back.  Beneath the snow leopard post card is--surprise!--a bear post card, which is also removable.

The alphabet rub-ons from my kit were getting brittle with age, so I thought it best to use them all.  I decorated a scrap of kraft paper with the rub-ons, then trimmed the scrap into a decorative tag.  The tag grounds the flattened penny souvenir that my son made for me at the zoo.

That's it for this post!  I hope you enjoyed seeing what I made with my kit of leftovers.  I plan to continue sharing my de-stashing efforts next year, but I'll have a fresh new format for 2015.  Watch for the first post in January!

Snow Bunnies

Happy December, scrapbookers!  Today I bring you new inspiration from Child's Play Challenges. 

Supplies: cardstock & scalloped paper from American Crafts; bokeh paper from Imaginisce; crackle paper from KaiserCraft; phrase stickers & dark blue paper from Bo Bunny; upcycled plastic packaging, alphabet stickers, & lined paper confetti from October Afternoon; flair badges & all other paper from Lawn Fawn; gingham ribbon from ReStyle; pom pom ribbon from Scrapbook Fantasies; rhinestones from Dee's Place; pen from Foray; sequins & snowflake confetti from my stash.  

This month we invite you to create a page inspired by the poster for the movie The Polar Express.  For my design team sample, I took my cues from the falling snow depicted on the poster.

In addition to scrapbooking photos from a snowy day on Lake Superior, I also created a shaker box page accent with falling "snow" inside.

The shaker box started life as a scrap from a sheet of cut-apart cards and the empty packaging from a used-up set of enamel shapes.  

To create the shaker box, I first removed the branding card from its plastic sleeve and used it as a template to cut the snow bunny card to size.  After placing the snow bunny card inside the plastic sleeve, I poured in a selection of sequins and confetti.  Like falling snow, these sequins and confetti can move about freely inside the plastic sleeve when the page is tilted and turned.  

I'd love to see your interpretation of this Polar Express challenge.  If you decide to play along, you can link up your layout in the sidebar of the Child's Play blog.

10 on the 10th: Autumn Colors

Hi everyone!  Today is November 10, so it's time for my "Ten on the Tenth" post for my monthly destashing series.  Even though meteorologists are predicting a massive snowfall for today, my theme for this post is autumn supplies.  Here is the kit that I put together for this month.

Supplies: items 1 & 2 (cardstock): teal & gold cardstock from Bazzill; items 3 & 4 (patterned paper): stripes from Doodlebug Design & polka dots from Simple Stories; items 5 & 6 (embellishments): journaling cards & border strips from Simple Stories; items 7 & 8 (nonconsumables): stamp set from My Mind's Eye & oak leaf stamp from Hero Arts; items 9 & 10 (throwaway items): empty masking tape roll & upcycled gift tissue.

That is the same My Mind's Eye stamp set that I used last month.  It has so many stamps that I just felt like I could get a lot more out of it by using it again for another month (and well into the future, I'm sure).  For the last couple months I came up a little short on paper in my Ten on the Tenth kits, so I made sure to include lots of paper this time.  Speaking of which, here is a photo that shows the flipsides of the papers.  It also shows a closer look at the tiny oak leaf stamp.

Making sure I included lots of paper in my supply kit this time certainly paid off, because the first project I ended up making was this double page layout called "Hello Fall."

Additional supplies: enamel shapes & puffy stickers from October Afternoon; stamping paper from Basic Grey; stamping ink from Hero Arts; pens from Zig; household twine.

It's always difficult to showcase a big, two-page layout on a blog, so feel free to click on the photo to enlarge it.  I've also included a closeup shot of the journaling.

Hip, hip, hooray for getting ten photos onto this layout!  I placed the photos in a basic grid design, and I used embellishment clusters to separate the photos (see below).

The Simple Stories products from my kit are basically made to go onto this sort of a grid layout.  I had fun using these supplies for their intended purpose, but for my second project I shook things up a bit.  My second project is a one-page layout, created on the back of the first page from the two-page layout.  Instead of creating another grid page, I made circular shapes the focus of this layout.  I used the empty tape roll as a template for cutting the circles from my photos and papers, and I also used the tape roll as a guide for adding chalk lines.

Additional supplies: ink from Hero Arts; pens from Zig; chalk from Stampin' Up; puffy stickers, enamel shapes, & flair badges from October Afternoon.

At this point you may be saying, "Wait, Denise, if your first project is a layout, your second one is supposed to be a card.  You made that rule yourself!"  Never fear, I made a card as well, and here it is (below).  As you see, I went back to a grid design for this one.  I thought about adding a sentiment or a small embellishment to break up the grid a bit, but in the end I decided to leave the card as-is.  I just love the patterned papers so much, I didn't want to do anything to take the focus off of them.  Plus, without a sentiment to "pin it down," this card can be for almost any occasion.

Additional supply: brown ink from Tsukineko.

Usually I make just three projects with each Ten on the Tenth kit, but this time I was able to make a fourth project.  Yay, bonus!  This one used up all the leftover bits from the kit.  I made it on the back of the second page of the two-page layout.  You may have already seen this one, since I used it as my October entry for the Berry 71 Bleu challenge.

~previously blogged here~  Additional supplies include 8.5 x 11" kraft cardstock from Neenah Paper, stickers from October Afternoon, die cut leaves from Doodlebug, and Candi dots from Craftwork.

All together, with this kit I was able to create one card, one double-page layout, and two single-page layouts.  I scrapped a total of two dozen photos, which felt very, very satisfying.  I'd say I definitely got the most from this kit.  And the best thing is that I made everything using supplies that I already had in my stash.  Thanks for coming to look at everything that I made.  I hope I inspired you!