Inspiration from Geoge Clooney

I don't know about you, but I am inspired by George Clooney. I love his passion for the people of the Sudan; his activism for things that many Americans take little notice of. I like that he uses his celebrity for good. Yes, there is a lot to like about George Clooney.  He seems like he'd be someone that you'd smile to be around. And, well, he's pretty easy on the eyes. There's that too.

But this is a papercrafting blog, so where exactly does George Clooney fit in?  I was over on Pinterest  the other day and I saw this movie poster for George Clooney's movie, Up In the Air.  It's hard to believe that a movie promoting Mr. Clooney wouldn't have his twinkling eyes prominently featured.  But this was a sparse little poster and I loved the design.  I especially loved those cute little clouds made from hearts. Aren't they adorable?

I immediately knew I would use the heart clouds somewhere on a paper crafting project and I thought they worked perfectly for this little valentine of a card.  I've had this sentiment in my head for awhile and when I saw this orange bicycle sticker from Echo Park, I knew that was just the thing I needed. I love blue and orange paired together.

For the backdrop, I use a fun pattern from Echo Park's Happy Days line. I wanted the bicyle and the heart clouds to pop a bit against the background, so I white washed the patterned paper a bit with some thin acrylic paint. I used heart punches to make the clouds then sewed them on the card to make them look a bit puffy. The sun sticker had a sentiment that didn’t fit the card, so I covered the wording by adding a plain yellow circle on top and inking the edges orange.

To finish the card, I wrote a sentiment with letter stickers. So, now I'm thinking I should send this card off to George....afterall, I really do bike him.

Teacher Gift: Candy Jar Pun Poem

Do you ever get news that has you grinning from ear to ear?  That's how I felt when I got word that Echo Park Paper had chosen me as its Fresh Face for September. I was giddy.  Yes, I was!  So, as I begin my role as EP's guest designer. I'd like to share the first project I made for the Echo Park blog: a teacher gift and card.

With the start of a new school year, I thought it would be a nice gesture to offer a little something to my son’s dayschool teacher. She is wonderful with the kids and provides such a warm and loving place for my little one to learn and grow. I wanted to remind her just how much she’s needed and appreciated.

This idea can be adapted to different teacher situations and can be used at the start of school, end of school or for teacher appreciation week. This is not my original poem. I adapted it from a version I saw online. It says:

You are such a SWEET TART for everything you do. You deserve 100 GRAND every PAYDAY. We know sometimes the kids act like AIRHEADS and NERDS. It must be hard to contain your SNICKERS when those little SUGAR BABIES tell you MOUNDS of NUTRAGEOUS stories. They can really come up with some WHOPPERS. I want you to know that I am grateful your work. You bring such (ALMOND) JOY to the classroom. You are the REISEN our kids are SMARTIES instead of DUM DUMS. Thank you for RAISIN (ETTES) our children to a higher level. You are a LIFESAVER and are worth a MINT. HUGS and KISSES.

To make this project, I started with a 32 oz plastic jar ($2.99 at Hobby Lobby). This size jar worked well because 12 inch strips circle around it perfectly. I used Echo Park's "Happy Days" collection. I cut a strip of striped paper and wrapped it around the middle of the jar. Then, I topped that with a piece of red cardstock which I border punched at the top and bottom and added the bottle cap icon strip.

To finish the jar, I added a black and white border sticker from Happy Days around the lid and punched a large red dot circle for the lid top. To make the hanging card, I printed the poem, backed it with black polka dot paper, punched a hole in the corner and used twine to hang the poem. Then I went to the store to look for all the candy in the poem and put that in the jar. To complete the gift, I made a card to coordinate with the jar using the Happy Days line.

Echo Park supply list:

Happy Days: Stripes, Bottle Caps, Border, Journaling Card, Element stickers, Alphas

Metro Stripes and Dots 6x6 pad: red polka dot and black polka dot

Playground: green alphas

Other supplies:

Border Punch: Fiskars

Ink: Ranger

Twine: The Twinery

Sewing Machine: Bernina

Thread: craft supply

You can find Echo Park's original blog post announcing me as its September Fresh Face here:
http://echoparkpaper.blogspot.com/2011/08/announcing-our-newest-fresh-face.html

I'm linking this here:

http://www.tipjunkie.com/homemade-projects-417/

Cosmo Cricket Card Challenge

On the Cosmo Cricket blog this week, DT member Debbie Olson posted this card sketch:

I loved it and used it to make this card that says: What's canoe with you?

I used patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket's new Clementine line, mixing in a bit of Salt Air, an image from Snorkel's element cards and a die cut circle and butterfly from Social Club. The alphas are CC's Tiny Type.

The card has a lift-the flap element.  The top flap is the striped paper down to the red and teal scallops.  If you lift the flap at the scallops, the card reveals a journaling spot where you can write your own note to the recipient.

Would you like to play along with the card challenge?  Visit the Cosmo Cricket blog for details.  Entries are due on Aug. 27.  Cards magazine will choose one entry to feature in an upcoming issue.

August Freehand Scraps Kit

I just love the August kit from Freehand Scraps and had a wonderful time this month as guest designer. The kit is chock full of papers and embellishments from Bo Bunny, Webster’s Pages, Basic Grey and Crate and they all worked perfectly together. Here is a photo of the August Kit:

Here is one of the layouts I made from the kit::

 

This is my friend’s little girl last Halloween. Isn’t she the sweetest? I used Bo Bunny's Gabrielle papers here with embellishments from Basic Grey's Out of Print collection.  I misted the lace sticker above the photo to match her outfit and used ink and stamps to re-color the large die-cut butterfly, which is shell colored in the kit.  The letter stickers are from Webster's Pages. Here’s a closeup of the titlework.

I don't normally put the title at the bottom of the page, but it fit the design here and allowed room at the top for the butterflies to roam free.

While I had this Bo Bunny line out, I though I’d make a card. I fussy cut the big butterfly from one of the patterned papers, inked the edges, then “painted” it with Claudine Hellmuth’s multi-medium matte. I love that stuff. It is similar to modge podge but isn’t as wet or shiny. The multi-medium helped to stiffen the butterfly a little to give it more body and also allowed me to mold the wings up a bit. I added some pearls from the kit to the butterfly’s body. 

To make the card base, I used a premade 5x7 notecard from American Crafts and cut a piece of pp for the front.  I sewed it on, tucking in a border of lace from the Crate trim card in the kit. To finish the card, I added a Webster's button tied with twine (also in the kit) and stamped a short sentiment.

I'll be back later this month with more projects from the August kit. For more information about Freehand Scraps, follow this link: http://www.freehandscraps.com/

Gathered Ribbon Flower Tutorial and Sneak Peek

I'm really honored to be a guest designer for the August kit of Freehand Scraps. The new kit is chock full of yummy goodies, which I can't reveal quite yet. But I can show you a few sneak peeks.  Today, I am going to show you how I used a few products in the August kit to make a gathered ribbon flower.

One of the items in the Freehand Scraps kit is this Crate trim from the "Neighborhood" collection. Love Crate trims! I used the shell-colored ruffle ribbon to make my flower. This trim is perfectly suited for flower making because it has the nice elastic at the bottom, which is easy to run a needle through.

I used orange embroidery thread here so you can see my stitches. The stitches won’t show so you can use any color thread you have on hand. Make sure you tie a good knot at the end of your thread because you will have to pull on the ribbon to gather it.

Use your needle to make long running stitches on the elastic part of the trim. After you’ve stitched the length you need for your flower, use your fingers to gently gather the trim. The ribbon will naturally curl into a circle. You can make your gathers tight or loose, depending on the look you prefer. Once you have your circle, either backstitch or tie a knot in the other end of the thread to secure it. Then stitch the two ends of the ribbon together to hold the circle. Don’t worry about stitching neatly because none of the stitching will show once you add a decorative center.

The ribbon was a little too pink for my project, so after I had gathered the flower, I misted it with Tattered Angels’ “Peach Delight.” I love the way you can use mists to color ribbon and trim.  I always mist lightly first, then again if I want more color. The photo above shows the flower after a first spray with mist.  To give the flower a deeper hue, I misted it again.

The last step is to embellish the center. I used a small circle sticker from Basic Grey’s “Out of Print” collection topped with an adhesive pearl. Both the sticker sheet and adhesive pearls were in the August kit.  After my flower was completed, I used it as a decorative center on a die cut butterfly to mimic the butterfly wings in my photo.

Now you have a sneak peak at one of my Freehand Scrap projects. I'll post the full layout next week. 

Echo Park Projects

I spend a lot of paper-crafting time on projects for my little boy, so it’s a treat for me whenever I have a reason to make something pink and girly. A friend asked for ideas for an elephant-themed card to welcome a baby girl and I knew right away that I wanted to do a shaped card. I don’t have a die cut machine, but since an elephant shape is pretty basic, I figured I could draw one. I practiced on scrap paper, then drew an elephant shape on a 5x7 note card.

Once I had my shape, I selected pink and floral papers from Echo Park’s Country Drive collection. I covered the shape with patterned paper, then added a floral blanket with pink trim, a felt cheek, a rhinestone eye and a little butterfly cut from patterned paper. To finish the card, I attached a pink ribbon tail, border punched toes and a floppy ear. A little machine stitching all the way around was the final touch.

She’s pretty cute, I think:

Echo Park supplies

Country Drive collection: Flutter By and Clover Meadow pp

While I had the Country Drive papers out, I noticed that the B side of Daisy Fields looked a bit like tiles in a swimming pool. So, I grabbed that paper and paired it with a few sheets of Echo Park’s Splash line to make a summer page.

This layout, called “So Hot Even The Cars Go Swimming,” is about my toddler’s deep and abiding love for his cars. As you can see, he and his cars are rarely parted, even at the swimming pool. And to be perfectly honest, it’s been so hot here that the cars probably appreciated it!

Echo Park supplies

Country Drive collection: Daisy Field pp; element sheet; alpha sheet

Splash collection: Mini Stripes, Fish and Diecut pp; element sheet; alpha sheet

Little Boy collection: element sheet

Here’s a closeup of the title work.

It’s not unusual for my son’s cars to show up in my paper crafting projects. Sometimes quite literally. As in this case, where his white convertible became an integral part of the project.

Echo Park supplies

Summer Days: Element sheet and journaling cards

Playground: Element sheet and journaling cards

Springtime: Journaling cards

Little Boy: Element sheet

For details on how I made the shadowbox, please see the blog post here:   http://writesnapscrap.blogspot.com/2011/06/i-am-primarily-layout-maker-but-i.html

　

Guest Designer for Birds of a Feather Kit Club

I am so excited to be a guest designer this month for Birds of a Feather Kit Co. The July kit gave me joy! It was filled to the brim with summer fun from Cosmo Cricket's "Salt Air" line and vintage goodness from October Afternoon's "Five & Dime." Plus added embellishements from Webster's Pages, K & Co. and Kaisercraft.  I had a really wonderful time playing and creating with all the goodies.



Here is a picture of the kit and the patterned paper add-ons:

 These are the projects I created:

12x12 layouts

                                

Cards

Altered Frame and Mini Album

For more information on BOAF kits, follow the link below and be sure to check out the projects by fellow guest designer, Janet. The site also has a great message board. The posters there are warm and inviting and oh, so smart. It’s a great place to hang out, meet new friends and get some crafty inspiration:  http://www.birdsofafeatherkitco.com/  I just saw a peek of the August kit and it looks fab!