Tomorrow is the first of March which means it's time for another Scrapbook Stamping at Two Peas in a Bucket.
I hope you all are enjoying this series as much as I enjoy bringing it to you. :) I am loving showing ways to incorporate stamps and stamping techniques on scrapbook pages. My favorite.
Here's a little sneak peek of my layout for this month's class:
And here are some brand new products in stock at 2peas that I am SUPER excited about:
Have you seen THESE 6x6 paper pads by My Mind's Eye?
They are the most gorgeous colors/patterns and I had to have them all. Perfect for card making. Smaller patterns that are just the right size for us cardmakers and the same patterns as the 12x12 papers. I used the coordinating 12x12 papers on THIS layout from this week's From Start to Finish.
I used the Mabel Papers 6x6 pad for the following card set. Yep, another card set. You can see the one from last week HERE.
I made three of these cards using this technique but will create a few more similar ones before giving this as a gift. I usually like to have 10-12 cards per gift box.
Unfortunately I see that all the MME Stella Rose 6x6 paper pads are out of stock at 2peas at this time. If you click the "notify me" button next to each product, 2peas will let you know when these popular pads are back in stock. I love that feature and use it all the time for ease of shopping. :)
Thanks for stopping by today and have a terrific weekend!
I made these last night for dessert. I don't make desserts as often as I used to so this was a real treat.
These are seriously the easiest cream puffs every and oh so good.
Cream Puffs
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs
4 oz. pkg instant pudding (lemon is my favorite, banana cream is good and the kids like chocolate)
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Heat water and butter to a rolling boil.
Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat for approximately a minute until mixture forms a ball.
Remove from heat.
Beat in eggs (all at one time) and beat until smooth.
Drop by scant 1/4 cupfulls (I use the Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator to make my cream puffs fairly uniform and pretty) onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 35-40 minutes (I watch them really close at 30 minutes, sometimes they are ready early) or until puffed and golden.
Cool completely.
Cut off tops (I just pull the top off) and pull out any filaments of soft dough. (I rarely have to remove anything).
I am betting by now my blog readers know that about me, huh? ;)
I also love telling a story through pictures that span a time frame. The month in review style layouts I have created and that I am finishing creating for last year do just that. They show me my month in a glance. One of the things that is so nice about this is that I failed a little with a couple of months last year for Project 365 but these review style pages help fill in those gaps and give a nice overall look at our life.
I have shared quite a few of these month in review style layouts but I feel that part of this From Start to Finish series should show what I am currently working on/am interested in scrapping in addition to sharing the layout creation process every week.
I had tons of photos for November. A big family vacation and a birthday will do that. I included many vacation photos even though I will likely use those photos in other ways later on (I do a lot of digital style books for Disney Vacations). There isn't any rule on not being able to use a certain photo more than once. Besides, these are small square photos, intended for overall impact. There are memories here that require even more journaling and I will get to those on individual scrapbook layouts.
There are 48 - 1 1/4" square photos on this page.
I have been getting a lot of questions on how I create these collages so I quickly wanted to address that here:
I use Photoshop CS4.
I am not using any templates or anything like that but rather creating my own collage based on the page design I am going for.
I resize all my photos individually (and make any necessary corrections, i.e. red eye, etc.) and then drag them to a new document. In this case an 8.5 x 11 document (because that is the size of paper I am using).
I have not been including these steps in the From Start to Finish series because I am not all that PS savvy. Anything I know is from trial and error. I can do a few basics but that is really about it. Tech-savvy is not me. There are people out there who are genius with PS and photo-editing and I would encourage you to watch tutorials from them, rather than myself. :)
I printed the journaling directly on one of the background papers that had a very faint background so that my journaling showed up well printed on it. I did print directly on a 12" sheet of paper. In my word processing program, I set the page dimensions to 12 x12 with a 1" left and right margin, leaving me with 10" of print space. Ten inches was exactly the length of my photo strips.
Once printed, I trimmed the cardstock down to fit my design.
The title is a combination of a couple of designs from the Silhouette American Store (both designs by Loni Stevens).
november_outline_C00704_19547
count_your_blessings_C00671_19547
I used both Making Memories and Prima resin flowers to decorate the title/journaling strip. I used glossy accents to glue them in place so they wouldn't fall off.
I love how the October Afternoon Thrift Shop stickers have the same vintage feel as the MME Stella & Rose stickers. They coordinate perfectly.
Ribbon tabs add a touch of softness to a layout dominated with photos/paper/resin flowers. I sewed on buttons with baker's twine to secure the ribbon tabs in place.
One of my very favorite things to give as homemade gifts?
Card sets.
I thought I might get ahead of teacher gifts for the end of school year and got one gift card set all stamped up yesterday.
All of the cards use the same basic design:
For interest I used four colors of cardstock and various greetings from Hero Arts stamp sets.
When creating multiple cards with the same or similar design I find it easiest to create them assembly line style.
First, I trimmed all my paper to size and rounded any corners.
Then I stamped the background on each piece of colored cardstock with the coordinating ink.
Next, I stamped the floral design in white over the background.
I stamped each greeting on vellum strips using Basic Gray SU ink.
I die cut several rickrack borders from the Heather Bailey Gray felt and adhered the vellum and felt borders to each cards piece.
Machine stitch the border to the card. I used white thread for the top and a clear thread for the felt (the bottom bobbin thread is white). Leave the strings long and cut off excess all at once when finished sewing.
Pick out coordinating buttons from button collection. :)
Sew buttons onto all cards, then adhere each piece to the white card base.
Stamp the inside of each card with floral and inside greeting if needed.
This week's layout started with these photos of my kids playing outside on the play set.
They had constructed a "fort" with beach towels and try as I may I didn't really get any great photos of them. Or at least I didn't think so at the time (August 2010).
Looking back on the photos now, I see they even though they are not perfect shots, the kids' expressions and smiles speak volumes. I feel their love for each other and the happiness of the day.
I really wanted to focus on the love they share for one another plus express the fun day they shared. I used lots of new papers from Fancy Pants Love Birds collection. At first glance this definitely looks like a Valentine's or Love themed collection but the solids included on the "B" sides of these papers are so great for just about anything!
I wanted to include lots of color so I punched lots of butterflies from the patterned papers to include on my page. I lined the butterflies up in a diagonal rainbow. I tend to gravitate towards that look.
A cluster of embellishments emphasizes the theme of my page.
*note* Adding your embellishments in a cluster give a bigger presence on the page and help them from appearing to random or scattered.
The ribbon, string and button give dimension and help soften all the paper/sticker embellishing.
The journaling is printed directly on the background paper.
I used a couple of the stamps from February's Studio AE Stamp Set above and below the computer printed journaling. Have I mentioned just how in love I am with this month's Studio AE stamp set? My favorite. So versatile and can be used on so many projects. Love it.
I know there are a ton of storage options out there for storing your Copics. I won't go into all those options out there but instead focus on what I actually use and what works for me when storing my Copic rainbow of colors. :)
At home I like to keep my Copic Markers in THESE wire stands specifically made for Copics. For me these work really well because I like to see exactly what I have and have them available right at my fingertips for ease of use.
They line up nicely on my shelf. I also like everything to have a place. They are a little slanted when in the stand so it's easy to see the number and color name. It's easy to use a color and put it back in its designated spot.
As my Copic Marker collection has increased so has the amount of Copic stands I have to hold the markers. I just bought a couple more of the stands from Simon Says Stamp to hold some new markers I purchased from Ellen Hutson. (I am all about sharing the love between my two favorite stores for purchasing Copic products and supplies).
I love the way the little Copic rainbow is so bright and pretty in my studio. To see a photo of how these look in my studio check out THIS blog post. (photo is the 3rd one down after the video).
I picked up the wallet that holds 72 markers to take with me on the retreat. I am all about having choices while away from home.
I also think these would make nice storage solutions if you are someone who likes to hide your supplies away in cabinets and drawers. I could see grabbing these from a drawer, propping them up on your work surface very easily. Then they would simply just slide right back into the drawer until you needed them again.
I like sharing my organizing solutions every once in awhile because I am sure we are all the same in that it's essential to be organized so we can get as much done as possible in the crafting time available. :) Nothing worse than spending the allotted crafting time searching for something that wasn't properly organized. Speaking from experience here. ;)
I have a super busy week here so I better get going on my to-do list!
A few weeks ago I gave away THIS Hero Arts stamp to a blog reader and last week I received the most awesome thank you card in the mail using the stamp:
Isn't her card amazing?!!!
This is just one example of why I think my blog readers are the most wonderful folks out there.
Thank you, Deb, for making me day! Your card has a prominent place of residence on the bulletin board in my office. It makes me smile every time I look at it. :)
My friend, Michelle, also shared a link of the following Pebbles, Inc. Happy Go Lucky Collection with me the other day saying that she thought the colors and style were "me". Boy was she right! I ordered all the following from that collection immediately from 2peas! I can't wait to get this. And, yes, that cloud paper pushed me over the edge. I adore the fun style and bold, bright colors. :)
I finished putting the last few hand stitches in my tabletop quilt this afternoon.
My very first real quilting project.
I dabbled a bit off and on last year but this was my first full-fledged attempt to machine quilt.
I am hooked.
I have so many ideas swimming around in my head now. Sew much fun.
I still need to wash it to get rid of my little chalk lines I drew to follow when stitching. I have no idea if that is even the right way to do it but I tried to stitch a straight line just eyeballing it and it was so badly crooked that I ripped the stitching all out, grabbed my ruler and chalk pencil and drew lines. :)
I didn't do any fancy machine quilting, just straight lines. I figured to get my feet wet I didn't want to try anything too advanced. Besides, I am a linear kind of girl so this kind of worked for me. ;)
Payton helped me get a picture of the front of the quilt:
And the back:
I pieced the back of the quilt together with fabric scraps that coordinated. Got this idea from the uber talented, Susan Weinroth. I think it adds some character to the back of a quilted project, don't you?
This is the pattern I used:
My Simple Kitchen Pattern available at the Fat Quarter Shop HERE.
I am a huge fan of Camille Roskelley's work. Her style and fabric and patterns are right down my alley. Plus her blog is pure eye candy. Check it out HERE.
I used fabrics from Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet Collection. I love the bright and vibrant colors in her collection. Perfect to give my kitchen a little color. Makes me long for spring and summer!
This went together really, really quickly. I was surprised by just how easy and quick it was. I will most definitely be sewing (and quilting) again...soon! :)
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. We have been playing the heck out of Harry Potter Clue with the big kids and Dr. Seuss matching with the little guy. Happy times!
I think that I have only bought and used the Valentine's from the store once (the year Ethan was a baby and I was sleep deprived, cranky and exhausted). ha!
I figure that I have all this great paper crafting stuff, I might as well use it to make our own Valentine's, right?
Besides, I am a sucker for red/pink/white.
I love all things hearts.
Making Valentine's is one of those things I look forward to doing with the kids every year.
Ethan could have cared less about helping. He wrote his name on the fun little die cut and stamped tag and that was it. Done.
I love THIS hedgehog from Penny Black. Who am I kidding? I love all the Hedgehog stamps from Penny Black.
I paired him with a Hero Arts greeting and lots of Papertrey Ink goodness for a fun little embellished gift sack full of sugary sweets.
I created these assembly line style to make the process quick and easy:
I punched 10 circles from Neenah Solar White Cardstock using the 2 3/4" circle punch.
Then I stamped the Penny Black Hedgehog Weight of Love on each circle with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
I colored each image in with the copics shown below.
I die cut 10 scalloped circles from PTI Smokey Shadow cardstock using the Sizzix #2 Scalloped Circles die.
I layered each stamped circle on the scalloped circle and adhered them to the red treat bags.
I die cut 10 banners from PTI Sweet Blush cardstock using the PTI Double Ended Banners die. I used both the big and small banners as to not waste anything.
I stamped the Hero Arts greetings on each banner with SU Basic Gray ink then adhered each to the treat sacks.
I punch hearts from Sweet Blush, Rasberry Fizz and Pure Poppy PTI cardstock and adhered them to the sacks with glue dots. I added Doodlebug Ladybug gems to dress them up a bit.
I die cut 10 tags from Neenah Solar White Cardstock using the Fillable Frames #9 Die by PTI.
I stamped each with the coordinating PTI stamp set using CTMH Cranberry ink for the frame and SU Basic Gray for the "to from".
I added baker's twine to each and stapled them to the top of the bag.
Copics used:
The "please stop taking pictures of me holding this sack and just let me have some candy look".
The kids at pre-school totally made me laugh today when they said, "You're staying here to help today? Is it because you don't have anything better to do?". I guess not. Besides there is nowhere in the world I would rather be. :)
