Friday Faves 8/26/11

As I am sitting at home on medical leave, I have had lots of web surfing time on my hands! 

Here are some of my faves from this week...

200 Pounds of Pride in a Bikini- Just how it sounds This girl has spunk!

Cute scrapbook title idea using transparencies and hand stitching.

It's almost Fall...my favorite time of year to use my Crockpot! Check out "Crock Pot Girls" on Facebook for some great recipes!

Great tips for meal planning and prep. I meal plan every week! I really like her idea about saving weekly menus for future use.

My crafty friend Janet made this cute little summer mini album.

One more food link... here is the recipe I used this week for homemade croutons. Super easy and yummy.

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Fall Scrapbook Pages

I LOVE fall! I love taking photos and scrapbooking fall events. Here are a couple of recent pages that I completed at a scrapbook retreat last month.

 Using a "reverse matting" technique as taught by Becky Teichmiller of Scrap-Tastic. Products: Scrap-Tastic kit, Glimmer Mist, CM circle punch, Prima butterflies.

 

Also using a Scrap-Tastic kit. I won the orange bling during one of Becky's weekly classes. Love those Prima flowers with the feathers. Other products include stamps by Unity, Martha Stewart border punch, Chocolate Chip ink from SU, Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Chips.

 Thanks for stopping by today and seeing some of the fun I've had this fall!

A Hidden Pocket Scrapbook Page

This post is being featured during "Pocket Week" at  Expect Moore! I have loved all the projects this week, and today I am going to show you how to create a hidden pocket for pull-out journaling on a scrapbook page.

There are many good reasons to include a pocket on your layout. They are great for holding keepsakes that you either can't or don't want to adhere. They are convenient for  holding larger items, such as a brochure or menu. You can also use them to hide your journaling when you want to keep it a bit private, or it interferes with your design.

Once you have decided that you want to use a pocket, then you need to decide what kind! The options are vast. A slash pocket is quick and easy and can be attached to your page with brads, stitching, or regular adhesive.  There are also tons of cute pockets that you can purchase ready-made, such as coin envelopes, library card holders, and clear pockets.

So let's get to the good stuff! Here is how I created the pocket for the above page...

1. First, decide how big you need your journaling block to be. It may help to write everything out on a scrap piece of paper first. Cut cardstock to this size, leaving tabs at one end. This end will stay secured in your pocket. (see photo below)

2. The cardstock you cut for your pocket will be as wide as your journaling block and twice as long. In the example below, my journaling block is 3x4", so I cut cardstock 3x8" for the pocket. Fold this in half.

Be sure to leave tabs on one end of your journaling block. On the opposite end of the block, you may wish you attach a brad, ribbon, etc. as a "pull" for your block.

3. Place your journaling block into the folded pocket, with the tabs toward the closed end of the pocket. Fold the tabs over.

4. Tape the pocket on the open end, just enough to provide a "stop" for the tabs on your journaling block. This will prevent the journaling block from coming out completely and getting lost or damaged.

5. Now you can adhere your journaling pocket behind a photo or the layout itself.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tutorial. If you have any questions, visit me at Reflections...of a life well lived or email at rdoak03@yahoo.com

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Sarah- a layout

Just a simple layout of my niece using Jeni Bowling Soda Pop Label paper. I actually didn't care for it, but then I cut it into strips and wove a few of them to make a random kind of photo mat. I love the way it turned out!

Take Flight

I remembered to take my camera last week when I registered Vivian for kindergarten. I wanted to document this big event- my baby is growing up, and boy is she ready! This is a very bittersweet time for me, I am having a harder time dealing with this than with my first daughter.

I used various papers from the Kenner Road and Scrap-Tastic March kits, and I fussy cut the butterflies from paper from OTC. I added a little glimmer mist to them for shine. Alphas are AC Thickers.

Baby Claire

My coworker and friend had her first baby at the end of December. I went to visit them a few weeks ago and took these pictures. What a sweet family!

Supply list:
sketch: 52 sketches, 52 weeks #36
paper: bg (unk); white cs; coordinating pink cs (CM)
ribbon: Darice
snaps: American Crafts
glitter: Martha Stewart
technique: twisted flower, as demonstrated by Samantha at More Paper Please.

I didn't really do it justice, but I think it will go better if I use lighter-weight paper.


Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff: Bloom!

I am so excited to say that I have been offerred (and accepted) a full-time position on Lindsay's design team! You will be seeing projects from me every Thursday using her digital stamps.

Today's card features my favorite image from Doodle Flowers.

I was playing with my Perfect Pearls by Ranger Industries again. This time I just mixed a little of each color with water and used it like paint. If you use this technique, I highly recommend embossing the image first, like I did here. It keeps the paint "in the lines".  I am really pleased with how this turned out. The colors just shimmer and pop against the black cardstock!

TIP:

To emboss a digi image, you can pour embossing powder on the image as soon as it prints if your ink is wet enough.

 In this case I had printed the image several days ago,

so I went over the lines with my VersaMark pen and then embossed.

Here are some additional views:

Complete supply list:

Stamps- Doodle Flowers (Lindsay's Stamp Stuff)

Sentiment- Floral Symphony (Verve)

CS- black and lavendar

Coloring medium- Perfect Pearls (Ranger)

Embossing powder- Midnight Black and Detail White (Stampendous)

other- ribbon (Offray); button; thread

Visit Lindsay's blog for a peek at the other designers and a freebie!

"Cute Easter" from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff

This is my last week as a guest designer for Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. Her latest release is called "Cute Easter", and it is full of sweet images! Visit her blog for a freebie that coordinates with this set!

I wish you could see the shine on this card! The background is covered in Adirondack Metallic Pearl paint.

The chick was shaded with Tim Holtz distress inks.

Eggs were "painted" by smooshing distress inks on a craft mat and spritzing with water. After flicking Ranger Perfect Pearls on top, I just pressed the image into the inks. In real life it is quite pearlized.

Supply List:

Stamps- Cute Easter

Ink- Faded Jeans, Broken China, Antique Linen, Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick,

 Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade (Tim Holtz Distress Inks)

Other: pearl acrylic paint, Perfect Pearls, Swiss Dots embossing folder, foam adhesive

I have had such a great time showing Lindsay's stamps to you!

Visit her store to see all her great designs!

Flying by to Say Hi!

Here is a quick card I made using the digital stamp set "Winged Things" from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff.

I printed out the butterfly twice and colored it with Bic markers. After cutting them out, I covered one in several layers of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel and used the Shattered Glass technique. I mounted this on top with foam adhesive. After a few rhinestones from Studio G, I was done!

Check out Lindsay's blog for a list of the Design Team (and their projects) as well as a freebie for you!

Not-My-Style Scrapping

This layout is SO not my usual scrapping style! Kinda scenery-paper piecing. But, I saw a page in July 09 Creating Keepsakes magazine that I liked and decided to give it a try. The glitter glue was my addition, I just love it! Studio G makes some that is much cheaper than Stickles, although the product comes out a little thicker.

Supplies:

paper: blue (unk), green dot (CM), pink dot (Target $1 bin), yellow (CM)

ink: black (Inkadinkado)

other: CM 12" pattern for cutting system (it's new, love it!), foam adhesive, glitter glue (Studio G), letter stickers (unk)

Best Wishes card

As promised, here is a card I made using Tim Holtz Distress Inks and the embossed resist technique. First, I stamped the heart image on the tag using VersaMark, and embossed with white embossing powder. I then blended Peeled Paint, Broken China, and Faded Jeans over top. The background panel also got a bit of Faded Jeans. The sentiment was stamped using Peeled Paint, with just a touch of green glitter glue from Studio G. Hemp twine finished it off!

This card is for my friend and co-worker Molly, whose last day of work is today! She is moving on to a great new position, and I'm sure she'll be awesome!

Distress Inks

I am LOVING my new Tim Holtz Distress Inks! I spent a little time playing with them using the awesome tutorials from Two Peas In a Bucket. I am telling you, the 9 week "Thinking Inking" class is one of the best I have ever seen! I have a little trouble viewing the videos from their website, so try going straight to You Tube and search "Thinking Inking".

Here are some tags I made, just playing around. Tomorrow I will show a card using embossed resist with the distress inks.

The bottom tag was inked with Peeled Paint, Broken China, and Aged Walnut. The images are from the SU Garden Whimsy set.

FYI, I tried many applicators (regular sponges, baby wipes, make-up sponges) with these inks, but in the end wasn't happy with the results. I broke down and bought the Ranger ink applicator and pads, and they really do work the best!

VSN

Here are a couple of cards I made during this past weekend's Virtual Stamp Night at SCS. The first card uses the spotlighting technique. Just some scraps, a stamp by Whispers, chalking, and watercolor pencils. The second card was to use only red, black and white. The stamps are from Unity's This is the Time set. I also used the Distressed Stripes embossing folder and some $1 bin ribbon.

Embossing with Pearl-Ex

I have been wanting to try embossing with Pearl-Ex, so this weekend I printed out the tutorial from SCS (Love those!) as well as the one for a 2-5-7-10 box, and got to work! First I scored the cardstock according to directions and stamped Baroque Motifs in VersaMark. The square panel and focal medallion use the embossing technique- stamp in VersaMark and emboss with clear EP. While it is still warm, rub Pearl-Ex over it and heat again. Wipe off the excess, and you're done! What do you think?

Hip Hop Thursday!

It's time for another Hip Hop Thursday challenge! This week's challenge was...to do a challenge! I chose to use SC227 and Unity's April KOM for this card. It was an experiment, that's for sure! I used VersaMark and Pearl-Ex on the background (SU French Script), and also used Pearl-Ex on top of Prisma pencils on the dress form. It all smuged a bit, but I think I will try this again!

Namesake...the layout

As promised, here is the page I did about my mom and niece. I really love this sketch (SBSC174 on SplitCoastStampers) and didn't want to detract from it with journaling. So I created a swing-out journaling box that is attached to the back of the page with one of the brads.

The background paper is by Cosmo Cricket, and the textured tan cardstock and shimmery brown is from Prima. I cut the title letters using my Aphrodite Sizzlet alpha dies. The trim was rescued from a friend's trash pile, and soaked in tea for an hour or so to give it an aged look. Overall I am really happy with how it came together!