Friday, April 29, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 8 (Friday)

This week's layout is a scraplift of this layout by Angie Lucas.  I love the simplicity of her page in addition to the bright fun colors.   Now, your portrait photo is 4x6, so you will probably need to trim a little off the top or bottom of each of your landscape photos in order for them to line up nicely in a grid.  Or maybe you could double mat the portrait photo which will get you a little extra height to work with.

Here is my take on the Week 8 layout.  Pictures are from a year ago.  This little cutie (my friend's little man) just turned 2 (one week ago) so I figured a page about him would be perfect! Happy Birthday D!  Upload your pics to our Flickr group so we can all enjoy, encourage, and gain inspiration from each other. Make sure to tag them as Mystery8!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

It's that time again!!!!

So it's now April 28 and I realized yesterday that LOAD (Layout a Day) begins again in May!  I am SOOOOO excited I can hardly contain myself.  How in the world am I going to be able to wait 3 more days until the first prompt!  If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, check out this earlier post for more details. 
If you are interested in trying LOAD for yourself, go to this website - she's got a special going on. Normally LOAD is $30, but if you order now, you get it for $25.  This was such a fun thing to do - it really got me motivated to get some pages done. The best part is I have continued to do anywhere from 1-3 pages a week since it ended.  I've sped up my process.  Gone are the days when 1 page would take me 6+ hours!
Check it out - you won't be disappointed!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 8 (Wednesday)

In addition to your pictures, for this layout you'll need to gather
1 12x12 solid color cardstock or patterned paper for the packground. 
1 sheet of 8.5x11 or larger solid color cardstock (to use to mat your photos in a collage)
a punch
11" strip of paper in a coordinating color
title letters
additional cardstock same color as your mat
card stock on which you can write your journaling
small embellishments 2-3 about half an inch to 1.5 inches
additional punched items 6-8 (optional)

Monday, April 25, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 8 (Monday)

For the Week 8 layout, you will need a portrait 4x6 and 6 landscape 2x3's.  If you can make them as a collage in Photoshop Elements, that might be the easiest way, but if not, just print and you can mat them all onto a large piece of cardstock to create a collage. This design will work well for a series or progression of similar pictures.  My title is short & sweet, but if you need a longer title to fit with your pictures, you can make that work.  Approx space for journaling is 2.5" x 4".

Saturday, April 23, 2011

My newest obsession

My newest obsession is Cake Pops.  I stumbled across them on a blog one day (Bakerella) then saw a book at ACMoore on the subject. They are adorable and fairly easy to make. You don't need a whole lot to get started. A cake mix (with the ingredients to make it). A container of frosting, lollipop sticks, candy melts & a piece of styrofoam or floral foam.  There are a zillion tutorials on the web & youtube.  And, you can make them into any character or shape you can imagine!  Here is what they look like before getting dipped in the candy melts - sitting in the fridge to get them nice & cool.
After that, I dipped them and decorated while they were still wet with various sprinkles to make these cute little chicks.
Stick them in the styrofoam to let them dry - it doesn't take very long. Then I put little bags over them, tied with a ribbon and added a Happy Easter tag.  Put them in a little bucket with floral foam covered with Easter grass.  Cute little presentation and yummy little treats! (Check out Cooper trying to get in on the pictures)

Friday, April 22, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 7 (Friday)

Good morning!  TGIF right? I hope no one was checking really early this morning... I stayed up too late last night playing. Check back tomorrow to see my latest obsession!  Too cute and so fun that I was skipping around the kitchen last night. My husband thought I had lost my mind!
Anyway - on to the business at hand!  I told you that this week's layout was based on a sketch rather than a scraplift.  It is based on a Page Maps sketch by Becky Fleck. You really need to bookmark this website.  Her sketches are wonderful and she has two books out as well.  (Court - if you are reading this, I think you have one of her books - go look!). Unfortunately, I'm feeling kind of disorganized this morning and can't find which month's pdf contains the sketch. So - I will find that and link to it tomorrow.
Here is what I came up with
Let's see your variation!  Join the Flickr group by going here http://www.flickr.com/groups/kariscrap9/ and tagging your photo Mystery 7.  Don't forget - serious cuteness tomorrow!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 7 (Wednesday)

In addition to your 3 portrait pictures, you will need:
12x12 patterned paper (or solid colored cardstock)
10x7.5 white or light colored cardstock
1.25x7.5 strip of patterned paper
3 border strips (punched cardstock, ribbon or border stickers)
3.5x8.5 coordinating light color cardstock
3-4 embellishments (approx 1"-1.5") - chipboard shapes, punches, flowers, etc
letters for title (chipboard, stickers, Cricut)
mini stickers or mini stamps for subtitle (optional)

Monday, April 18, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 7 (Monday)

This week the layout comes from a sketch instead of a layout someone else has created.  You will need 3 portrait oriented pictures that are 3"x4".  Title can be up to 12" wide. Journaling area is up to 3.25" x 2".  See you in a couple days!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 6 (Oops!)

I just realized that I never finished my post for yesterday's Mystery Scrap!  I uploaded the picture, but never added any text to it! OOPS!  This week's layout is based on one on this blog - title is Big Sister.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 6 (Wednesday)

As far as supplies for this layout, you will need:
1 piece of 12x12 cardstock for your background - a darker color will work best
1 piece of 11x11 patterned paper - lighter color/s
4 pieces of 3 different colors (or shades of similar color) ribbon
     ribbon A: 5.5"
     ribbon B: 8.5"
     ribbon C: 11"piece & 8" piece
5 approx 1" embellishments (punches, chipboard shapes, fussy cuts from patterned paper)
optional: tiny embellishments like i-rock gems or brads - 3-12 as desired

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

What is Fussy Cutting

In tomorrow's post, I mention fussy cutting and I thought I would explain ahead of time what that is.  Fussy cutting is a term most used in quilting and it means "to target and cut a specific motif that's printed on fabric, rather than randomly cutting yardage." The concept applies well to and is often used in scrapbooking and stamping, too.  I am a BIG fan of punches that coordinate with stamped images. HUGE FAN.  But, that's not always an option.  Fussy cutting allows you to carefully cut around any shape you want. I find it much easier to leave a little border of white around the image (rather than trying to cut exactly on the line of the image).  With practice, the borders end up being fairly even.  The key to fussy cutting is a very fine tipped scissors like this one...
I try to only use these scissors for very fine paper cutting so they stay nice and sharp.  When fussy cutting you want to hold the scissors steady and rotate the paper. Here's a piece of patterned paper that I fell in love with, but couldn't figure out how to use as patterned paper, so I fussy cut all the owls while sitting in front of the tv (this was so repetitive, it was very relaxing!)  And below it is what the cute little owls looked like all cut out and ready to be used on cards, pages, etc.
Finally, here are some other patterned papers that I have that would work well for some sort of fussy cutting. 
So now ya know what I'm talking about tomorrow when I say "Fussy Cut".

Monday, April 11, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 6 (Monday)

I hope you enjoyed Week 5 - that was one of my favorites so far!  This week's design is another way to get quite a few pictures on your layout.  You will need 5 landscape oriented and 2 portrait oriented photos.  Each will be 2.5"x3" (or slightly smaller - having a couple that are 2"x3" or 2.5"x2.75" will add a little extra visual interest to the page.)  Either leave a little white border around the photos or mat them on a piece of cardstock 1/4" larger each way - so that each side has a 1/8" mat.  Your journaling area will be ~5" wide by 1.5" tall. A fairly short one or two word title will work best with this design.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 5 (Friday)

Yippee - it's Friday again - the big reveal & the last work day of the week!  This week's page is based on a page here by Barb Wong.
Take your paint, or stamp pad and swipe some on in the area around where your pictures will go. Don't stress about it - just go for it!  I did and that's something I've never tried before. I really kinda liked it!  Then start adhering your photos, title, journaling (unless you are handwriting it) and whatever you have picked for your border!  This page should come together really quickly!  I would start with the top photo closest to the center seam on either the left of the right page - then work out from both sides and then down. NO MEASURING ALLOWED! Here's my page.
 Don't forget to post to our Flickr group with the tag Mystery5.  If you are not set up yet, go to this link and request to be added to the group! 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 5 (Wednesday)

Happy Wednesday!  Let's get right to the fun stuff...
For this layout, you will need:
2 12x12 pieces of cardstock for the background - I used white. 
Cardstock to mat photos (optional - save some time and leave them naked!)
Paint, shimmer spray, or a stamp pad
2 11" widths of something that could be a border like ribbon, a punched strip of paper, a border sticker, or a series of small embellishments like brads, eyelets or gems.
Title - chipboard letters, stickers, cricut cut outs, etc ~1"
1 larger embellishment (chipboard, punch, stamped image)~1-1.5"
1 medium embellishment ~.5"(button, or smaller chipboard, punch, stamped image)
2 tiny embellishments like gems, buttons, eyelets, brads, etc.  

Monday, April 4, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 5 (Monday)

It's time for the beginning of Mystery Scrap Week 5!  I've had a request for a layout with more portrait oriented photos, so Christine - this week is for you!  You will need a total of 10 photos. Some will be 3"x3" and some will be 3"x4".  I used 5 of each, but you could do 4 of one and and 6 of the other if that works better with your photos.  Title can be short or long - the design should accommodate either.  For your journaling, you will have a space 3"x3" (so plan for slightly smaller than that). This design would be great for a sequence of photos that are all similar - or for a bunch of photos from the same event.  This will be our first 2 page spread.  I'm trying to vary things a little, so if there is something you'd like to see, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to accommodate!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Cupcake Cards

Another of my hobbies (obsessions) is rubber stamping and papercrafting.  I'm not really sure where one starts and the other begins. In my mind, they are pretty much interchangeable.  I haven't done a whole lot of either since Valentine's Day when I made goodies for the kids' classes at school & daycare.  Since then I've been totally scrapbooking focused.  So, last night once the kids were in bed and I had cleaned up a little, I decided to make a couple cards.  My project started out looking like this:
 
And ended up like this. 
I used the Stampin Up! Create a Cupcake punch - I LOVE this punch. The possibilities are endless! Then I used my i-rock to add some bling. I've got lots of cupcake pieces left, so I'll probably make a couple more at some point. See you tomorrow for the start of Mystery Scrap Week 5!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Mystery Scrap Week 4 (Friday)

Draw or sew a portrait shaped box. Put in a sentence (or a couple) of journaling.  Add your little embellishments & voila!  Super simple page.  Based on this page by Kim Morgan http://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/photos/holiday_food_drink/1-morgan_dec2010.html
Here is my version...
And a close up of the detail.
Honestly, not my favorite page, BUT - Done is better than perfect, right?