Very Mary

Attitude (a layout)

My project of the day at the Banana Frog blog:

The inspiration for this layout came from the little piece of flair by American Crafts. Sadie is genuinely a cool kid, but whenever she wears her trendy sunglasses, she announces, "Sadie cool dude." It had to be documented, and that piece of flair had to go on the page.

For this simple layout, I used Banana Frog's Super Stars set:

For the background, I stamped the stars with Versamark and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I like the subtle texture.

Once I had created the "patterned paper," I added several other papers from the Moda Bella line to create my layout. The title "attitude" and "you" are both die-cuts from Provo Craft's Graphically Speaking cartridge.

To create the star image under the piece of flair, I stamped the striped star from Super Stars with Versamark and sprinkled it with white embossing powder. A helpful hint: when using white embossing powder, you'll get a much cleaner image if you stamp, emboss, heat-to-set, and then repeat the cycle a second time.

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Wednesday! (We sure did, as evident by that photo of my cutie hanging out in the backyard. Loving the summer!)

Supplies: Cardstock, Patterned Paper, Embellishment, Brad: American Crafts; Buttons: Basic Grey; Die-cuts: Provo Craft; Stamps: Banana Frog

Curly Q (a layout)

Did you know that American Crafts does a challenge on their blog every week? As you know, I love a good challenge, and over the years have managed to amass quite the glorious stockpile of American Crafts products. Ever the good excuse to make a scrapbook page, don't you think? This last week, the challenge was to use papers from the Baby line. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the soft and sweet patterns from the newborn Baby line, but I have some of the older Baby papers (think brown, pink, cream, and white) from when Sadie was born! They worked perfectly for this page:

Shortly after Sadie was born, she lost every single strand of hair on her head, with the exception of a patch of fluff at the back of her neck. I had a bald baby. But I couldn't bear to shear away the fluff. And so, for the next two years, the fluff grew into a little curly Q tail. At which point, I either had to start braiding it (remember that style mistake from the '80's??) or cut it off.

I used my scrapbooking scissors.

You can't really tell, but still everyone has been asking if she's gotten a haircut. "Yes, from Fiskars."

I used Provo Craft's Lyrical Letters cartridge to die-cut the "Q," and the Swiss Dots embossing folder for the background.

The only journaling on the page is the small caption underneath the curl. (I used the Little Days font.) The little plastic case is actually the plastic portion of packaging from a set of American Crafts embellishments.

It's good to be scrappin' again. Hope you all are having a great day!

Supplies: American Crafts patterned paper (Gretel, Little Lamb, Thumbelina), American Crafts rub-ons (Kate); American Crafts ribbon, American Crafts button; Provo Craft Lyrical Letters die-cutcartridge; Provo Craft Swiss Dots embossing folder

Home (a card)

I just shared my stamping school project over at the Banana Frog blog! Click here to can find instructions to create this sweet, homespun card using the Backgrounds, Greenwich Park and Funky Paisley stamp sets:

Enjoy!

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Bo-Bunny, Die Cuts With a View; Stamps: Banana Frog; Die-cut cartridge: Going Places by Provo Craft; Button: The Paper Studio; Punch: Fiskars

Hibiscus Box (a project)

Another fun project that I made with my Cricut! I used the new Life is a Beach cartridge to decorate a plain chipboard box:

Super cute, super easy. It took me all of 20 minutes or so to cover the box with patterned paper and ribbon and die-cut the hibiscus flower for the top. I added a bit of shading with some chalk ink and that's it! A great spot for your summer treasures or a way to dress up a small gift! :)

Patterned Paper: SEI, Scenic Route Paper Co.; Ribbon: SEI; Die-cut cartridge: Provo Craft

Simplify (a tin)

Another little project I created using the Home Decor Solutions cartridge:

All the die-cutting on the tin (dragonfly, "simplify", flourish, scalloped circle) are from the Home Decor Solutions cartridge. Gotta love that kind of versatility, right? I cut the dragonfly twice: once plain and the second time as a shadow image, and I layered them and attached them to my tin with foam adhesive.

In order to cut the flourish from vellum, I experimented with the pressure setting. It cuts beautifully (depending on the intricacy of the design) on medium pressure with the multi-cut setting. I also found that it works best if you are using an older cutting mat; i.e., one that is not brand-new super-sticky. If the mat is too sticky, the vellum won't release without tearing or curling.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Vellum: The Paper Company; Die-cut cartridge: Provo Craft

Miracle (a card)

A quick card share to prove that you need the Home Decor Solutions cartridge:

 

I think I've mentioned before that it's one of my favorites, and I made several projects with it for Provo Craft. Once I got going, I couldn't stop, so I made a few cards of my own and I've got a layout in progress too. At my current rate of production though, who knows when that will get done? The outlook isn't promising.

For this card, I cut the word "miracle" three times. Once plain, once in blackout, and once in shadow, and then I layered them all together for this dimensional look. I also cut the frame twice, and layered them, lifting the second one up on foam adhesive. I love attaching die-cuts with foam adhesive; the extra dimension adds visual interest, and I'm a sucker for those little details. :)

Supplies: Patterned Paper: KI Memories; Die-cutting cartridge: Provo Craft

Dream Big (a layout)

As promised, how ever many days ago...

Here is my other layout for my friend Heather's album:

Jonathan asked us to create a page with a photo of ourselves and some words of wisdom or encouragement for Heather. I chose to journal about how she inspires me. She is always challenging herself. Always. Heather just isn't a person who sits back and lets things happen, and frankly, she doesn't give herself enough credit for that. She works very hard at life. Sometimes even (most of the time, if I'm feeling honest here), she makes me feel downright lazy. I could do without that part, but if nothing else, she certainly inspires me to get moving. :)

I went very clean and simple on this layout. So much so that I skipped my trademark stitching, but added dimension by popping up the middle portion of the layout with foam adhesive. "Dream big" is from the Graphically Speaking cartridge, and I used one of my favorite Hero Arts stamp sets: Thank You Flourishes.

I like it. I might have to recreate something similar for my own book. You know what they say...no sense reinventing the wheel and all that.

Oh, and someone else likes it too...

Scrapbooker- in-training? Yes, yes I think so.

Supplies: Die-cut cartridge: Provo Craft; Butterflies: American Crafts; Stamps, gems: Hero Arts

Ten (a layout)

One of my very bested buds, Heather, recently celebrated her tenth wedding anniversary! Back in January, her amazing hubster contacted me to help him with a little scrappy idea he had. He wanted to make an album with ten special memories from their ten years together, and he wanted to get a bunch of Heather's scrappy family and friends involved. What a genius he is, right?

Jonathan asked me to make the tenth page, which features their sweet baby boy:

Jonathan wrote all the journaling and provided the photos, so I had only the fun part - the design!

The die-cut "ten" is from Provo Craft's Graphically Speaking cartridge (which is quite possibly my very favorite cartridge - highly recommended).

Tomorrow, I'll be posting the second page I made for her album (Jonathan asked us to provide a photo of ourselves and a bit of inspiration for Heather)!

Supplies: Die-cut cartridge: Provo Craft; Punch: Fiskars; Buttons: The Paper Studio; Ribbon: Making Memories; Pin: Heidi Grace; Stamp, gems: Hero Arts

A Wish Came True (a card)

A simple little card for my big brother and his brand new fiancee. So excited for them!

All the die-cutting on this card is from the Storybook cartridge.

I used the multi cut function and cut the words and the marquee from SEI glitter paper. Quite the fancy schmancy look, let me tell ya. :)

Supplies: Paper: Creative Imaginations, SEI; Ribbon: American Crafts; Die-cutting machine/cartridge: Provo Craft

29 3/4 (a layout)

I finally had a chance to catch up on some of my favorite blogs, and man oh man, were you all busy while I have been whiling away the hours schooling myself on vampires! Today, I managed to be semi-productive and finish a layout for Banana Frog:

For a while now, I've been envying other scrapbookers' ability to use these full sheets of wild American Crafts patterned paper (this is Chic from the Moda Bella line), and for me, it was a stretch, but I kind of like how it turned out. Not my usual style, but it's good to change it up every once in a while.

To create the title block, I stamped the journaling block from It's All About...Circles onto white cardstock, and trimmed it out. I stitched around the border with white thread, and I matted the block on a marquee border die-cut from Provo Craft's Storybook cartridge. The numbers are from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, which comes with the Cricut Expression.

That's all for now! Enjoy your weekend!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: American Crafts; Stamps: Banana Frog; Ink: Tsukineko; Butterfly: Me and My Big Ideas; Gems: gel-a-tins; Die-cutting machine and cartridges: Provo Craft