Here's another quick card utilizing several of the die cut shapes from the Silhouette June 18th release.
I wanted to show that certain "themed" shapes can be used for more than just one thing. (i.e. this rocket might be thought more of for the 4th of July holiday or for fireworks, etc. but it looks super cute used for this birthday card. Perfect for a boy (and I am always looking for more boy-ish themed items for cards and scrapbooking!).
The circle background was a leftover from THIS layout. I had used the inside yellow circles and had this left over so what better to do than make a quick card with it! I resized the design to a 5" square so I just cut my cardstock down to size (10" x 5"), rounded the corners using THIS wonderful tool (I don't know how I lived without it!) and then I adhered the die cut background to the card.
I printed a greeting on a strip of white cardstock using a couple of TwoPeas fonts that I love (included in the supply list below) and then I die cut the rocket out of black, blue and red cardstocks. I ungrouped the image and only cut certain pieces from each of the colors before assembling the design on my card.
Finally I added scallop borders and machine stitched down both sides. A star gem completed the rocket.
This would make a great 4th of July invite or card as well!
I am a little late posting this but last week the fabulous Shari Carroll hosted an entire week of Complimentary Colors on the Hero Arts Blog and I was asked to play along with Friday's complimentary combination of red + green.
Now, usually when you think of these two colors together you immediately think of Christmas. Check out Friday's Blog Post for great ideas that don't have anything to do with the December holiday.
Here's my layout, featuring some fun shots I took of Payton last fall one afternoon after school. She was so proud to show me her A+ from her spelling test.
Lots and lots of stamping on this one. The red background with the white flowers was stamped and embossed. The large butterflies were all stamped and embossed as well as the word "happy" in the title. I stamped the smaller butterflies + some phrases for the title and the circles at the top of the page to finish it up.
Two Peas now has in stock some of my very favorite things offered from Ranger:
Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paint: I played with these a couple of months ago at a scrapbook retreat.Jennifer & Jana were sweet enough to let me try out these paints. They are amazing. A must-have. Totally unlike any other paint I've ever used. I used them for THIS project and I just placed an order for all the colors from 2Peas. Now, you may be thinking that you don't see all the colors you may want. Here's what you do: you can mix the colors to create a whole arsenal of additional colors to paint with.Amazing. Click HERE for a great pdf on how to mix the colors. I really can't say enough great things about them. :)
15x18 Non Stick Craft Sheet by Ranger: Another must-have. I just got mine but it's another one of those things I tried out at the scrapbook retreat. It provides an amazing work surface to play with your distress inks and foam applicator tool, embossing powders, a palette to mix the paints linked above, you name it. And the best part? When you're done, you simply wipe it clean. So easy. If you want to see it in action, check out Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking Video HERE or HERE. Now that I finally have one of my own you will be seeing a lot of it in future videos. :)
Mini Misters by Ranger: Jennifer used this for THESE projects and they are fabulous. You can use them to water down the Studio paints too (Miss Jana schooled me in the ways of watering down white paint. I was a slooooow learner! ha!)
And just one more enabler alert:
My good friend, Jana, has a couple of giveaways on her blog today in association with a card she created for Eclectic Paperie. Check it out HERE.
Our family loves DisneyWorld and we've been quite a few times. It's always a great vacation and such a great way to entertain the kids (both the little kids and us bigger kids at heart). :)
The problem is finding an effective way of scrapbooking and recording those memories. I literally have hundreds and hundreds of photos from our various trips to Orlando. I have scrapbooked some traditionally. Several years ago I put together an entire album of our first trip there. I was still using a film SLR camera, no digital yet so I scrapped with prints I'd had developed.
Then I quickly fell behind on subsequent travels. Once I got my Digital SLR camera I discovered Photobooks by Photoworks and I did several years worth of vacations digitally. Here are a few of those...
I still think these books are a great and easy way to record vacation memories (especially if you want to include every photo) but I have undergone a complete rethinking of my scrapbooking/memory keeping process and where I still enjoy minibooks from time to time, overall I want to be able to keep all my memories in our family albums chronologically. Now, I certainly don't scrapbook chronologically but as I finish layouts, I put them in the appropriate album in our family room. I use THESE 3-ring albums for all my layouts. So quick and easy to add pages and layouts to these and they are great quality.) And vacations and travels are a part of our family life. I want to be able to look at those memories in the my albums, not go searching for a special album for every vacation we've ever taken. So I am paper and glueing my vacation layouts again. :) I may not get every shot into my family albums (that's what Photobooks will be good for) but I can still create nice summarized layouts to include in our family albums that tell the story perfectly.
That's what I started on the layout below. I chose to keep the focus very much on the photos, using minimal embellishments and using only cardstock. (I am having a love affair with American Crafts cardstock so using only cardstock was super easy! ha!) But the layered circle design still gives that feeling of patterned paper and adds a pop of color (or colour, I like that spelling much better!) as well.
I created this using a new Silhouette background from the June 18th release (circle_background_1724).
I resized the design to 5" square and cut it out three times: once in black, once in yellow and once in red. I adhered the black design to my layout using Krylon Spray Adhesive. Then I adhered circles from the yellow and red designs randomly to my layout to create a unique and colorful background for my page embellishments.
To create the Mickey Mouse symbol I actually just welded 3 circles together in my Silhouette Software program and cut it out. I resized some numbers and cut them out as well and adhered them right to my customized "Mickey". I love how that just pops off that circle background. This was so easy and quick to do!
I created the photostrip up at the top of the layout by resizing those photos to 2"x3" each and then creating a new document in Photoshop and printing them out as one strip. I changed the large photo to black & white and resized it to 5"x5" and adhered it right next to the circle backgorund.
The flourish is a design that comes with the Silhouette Software. I have shown it here before because I use it all the time. It is definitely one of my favorites.
For the title, I found a great Walt Disney font download online HERE. I just typed my text into the Silhouette program and cut it out to size for my layout using black cardstock. So easy.
I finished my title page with machine stitching, my MM notch tool and brads. That's it.
Now this layout could be the start of it's very own album but I am choosing to just place it in my 2008 scrapbook chronologically. It will be the start of more Disney Vacation layouts to come. :)
Digital Elements (Ali Edwards & Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals)
Notch Tool (Making Memories)
Brads (Making Memories)
I was asked a couple of weeks ago by Tamekia "how I plan/design my layouts" and if I would "share a bit about my process". I thought that I could do just that by sharing how I put together another one of our vacation layouts.
Although this layout is very simple in design, the same basic process that I share below applies for even the most intricate layouts and cards I create.
I almost always start with a sketch. It doesn't always follow the sketch to the letter but the sketch allows me a good starting place for designing the page. I figure out my photos...how many...what sizes will work and then I plan the sketch from there.
This is a pretty rough design. You can see I originally thought I might make the largest photo 5"x8" but changed my mind as I decided to include more photots/embellishments.
Created this the other day using the watercolor technique with Ranger Distress Inks shown HERE. I am absolutely loving Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking Class. So fun.
I am not a very distress-y, vintage-y type girl so I am drawn more to the colorful distress inks: Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade were all used for this card. I threw in some Vintage Photo, too, since it's my favorite of the "brown" colors. :)
I punched the hearts out of cream cardstock using a Stampin' Up Heart Punch and dipped them in watercolors made from the Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick & Spiced Marmalade distress inks and mini mister as Jennifer outlined in her video HERE.
I punched the butterflies out of the same cream cardstock and dipped them in a watercolor combination of Vintage Photo, Fired Brick and Worn Lipstick Distress inks.
The leaf branch was die cut out of cream cardstock using the Silhouette and I did the same watercolor technique on it using Peeled Paint and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks.
I thought it would be fun to feature a couple of my favorite products: Doodlebug Glitter Spot Papers & Quickutz Flower Dies.
I love Doodlebug specialty papers. In fact, I have mentioned them here before. They are perfect to use with the Quickutz Dies. I also like to use them with Sizzix & Cuttlebug Dies. They are generally made from a thicker paper and the textures won't cut well with the Silhouette so I don't recommend using them with it, the glitter/flocking/etc. can ruin the cutting blade. But with the abundance of fabulous dies available for the Revolution you can create all kinds of amazing accents for your cards and layouts!
Here's a quick and fun birthday card I created for a friend using some "pop-up" QK dies and the Doodlebug Glitter Spot papers.
I embossed the background of the card with the QK A2 embossing folder and rounded the corners of the card. Then I added a couple of bingo cards and a scallop border to the background and stamped the greeting. To create the flower accent, I die cut the flower out of both the cupcake and strawberry glitter spot papers and layered them on top of the die cut glitter spot leaves. I added a large brad and some gems to finish the flower. So easy!
To see more of the colors of papers available (and other QK flower dies) click HERE.
Have you seen Jennifer McGuire's new 9 week class at Two Peas? Every week there are 3 new classes (on Monday, Wednesday & Friday) with tons of projects, how-to videos and lots and lots of inspiration. :)
Click HERE to find all the installments for this class.
I am learning a lot of new things about my inks and supplies. Love that.
I am hoping to play along as much as possible. :)
Here are a few cards I did last week to play along with THIS class.
First, the blue/green card. I pretty much copied how Jennifer inked up one of her tags, only instead of a plain tag I grabbed one of these 7Gypsies tags I had been considering getting rid of. I love the effect of distress inks over the design of the tag. Needless to say these went back into my "things to keep" pile. :) Because my Ranger Mini Mister isn't here yet (it IS on order!) I just took a paint brush and a little bit of water and flicked it onto my tag to get the cool water spotted effect (I forgot the stamping term for it...must go back and rewatch the how-to video). ;)
The butterflies were die cut from cream cardstock using a Stampin' Up die. I used the Ranger Foam Applicators to add color to the smaller one (similar to the tag) and I stamped my favorite Hero Arts Houndstooth background stamp on the larger butterfly using VersaMark. I heat embossed with white embossing powder and then I applied the distress inks to the butterfly. The embossed images resisted the ink.
I inked up the small punched butterflies too and added some stamping to the background of the card with white Memories ink.
For my second card I wanted to try out the masking technique from the class.
I don't have any of those super cool masks from Tim Holtz that Jennifer used (or any masks at all anymore. I think I got rid of them last year). Dumb me. So instead I had this cardstock die cut circle background that I had cut with my Silhouette but had ended up not using for whatever reason. I sprayed some Krylon temporary spray adhesive on the back and adhered it to my tag. (First, I covered the entire tag with the Worn Lipstick Distress Ink). Then I took my foam applicator and the Peeled Paint Distress Ink and applied the ink over the entire tag & mask. I carefully pulled up my homemade "mask" and this was the result. I am definitely going to be trying this with other die cut designs!
The butterflies were cut with the Stampin' Up Butterfly die for Sizzix out of cream cardstock and then I inked them up with the Worn Lipstick Distress Ink and a little bit of the Peeled Paint and then flicked a bit of water on the ink and dried it with my embossing gun. I finished them up with a big of Vintage Photo Distress Ink on the edges.
Finally, I tried out the technique of customizing patterned paper using distress inks. See that paper in the background? That's some older Sassafras Lass I had lying around. It is the same paper that is on the card. I just used the foam applicator tool to add some Worn Lipstick and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks to the tag. I applied just a touch of Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the edges.
I inked up another butterfly to match and then stamped on the cream MM flower using Spiced Marmalade and a Hero Arts text stamp, layered the flowers in the center of the butterfly and attached it with a big pearl brad.
I stamped all the greetings on each of the cards using the Vintage Photo Distress Ink. If you haven't guessed by how much I use it, it's my favorite brown distress ink. I *heart* it. ;)
Today I have a quick Father's Day Card to share with you using a brand new (June 18th release) die cut for the Silhouette.
I die cut the gift card using two coordinating colors of green cardstock, stamped a background, added a die cut grass border, die cut golfball and tee, stamped a greeting and that was it! Quick and easy (all I need to do is add a gift card inside) and perfect for those last minute Father's Day gifts!
I have more new Silhouette designs to share from today's new release. :)
This release has lots of great seasonal designs as well as more "masculine" designs. I have really been loving the more boy-ish, masculine die cut designs. Sometimes I find it hard to find just the right thing for my guys' pages but not anymore! Not only are the current designs fab, I've seen a sneak peek of the next release and there are even more great designs on the way!
The star background and star flourish are perfect for the layout below but just imagine changing up the colors and using them on boy pages, birthday layouts and cards and more! And the grunge file folder is getting a workout. I have used it a bunch. I will have a new layout in the 2peas Garden on the 1st featuring it as well. :)
Without further ado, here is my 4th of July layout using four designs from the new release:
Silhouette designs used:
file_folder_grunge_1744
phrase_fourthofjuly_1742
star_background_1726
star_flourish_1748
I love how versatile that grunge file folder can be. On the left side of the layout I used it as a spot to add my computer printed journaling and my die cut title. On the right side I used it as a photo mat. So easy!
To get the layered look of the star background, I die cut it first out of red cardstock, layered it over my white cardstock mat and trimmed off the excess. Then I die cut it again out of navy cardstock, removed the "inside" star pieces and adhered them to the background. I added a few star gems to give it some added dimension, not to mention a little pizazz!
And here's just a simple set of mini cards I created using two of the background designs:
Silhouette designs used:
circle_background_lg_1692
circle_background_lg_1695
I just cut the solid circle background from scraps of leftover cardstock. Each one is a 4" square. Then I cut the open circle out of black cardstock three times. I layered the open circle over the bright one on a 4 1/2" square card, added some layered flowers secured with a large brad and then stamped a quick greeting on white cardstock, punched it out and adhered it to the card. So quick and easy. Perfect if you need a bunch of thank you cards.
That's right all my die cutting enthusiast friends, it's time for another fabulous Silhouette die release. :)
I was lucky enough to get to work on this release and I can't wait to share my projects with you. And by "can't wait to share", I mean I am in the mood to share right now, tonight.
How about a sneaky peek? Shhhhh....don't tell that I'm sharing early, ok?
This is my favorite card I made using this new batch of dies. And I am not kidding when I say I made this in less than 5 minutes flat. First of all, I had die cut the grunge diamond background for another project and didn't end up using it so it was just lying on my work table. Same goes for the flames. So if you add in cutting time for this card it probably was more like 10 minutes total. I stamped that star (it's from a Stampin' Up set that I love), embossed it and punched it out with SU's coordinating star punch and adhered it with pop dots. Then I just adhered the star gems with mini glue dots. That's it.
