Yesterday's Crafty Endeavors

I have a meeting at the middle school to attend this morning, but I just wanted to get this posted as I'm quite proud of the way it turned out.  It is my "warm-up" from yesterday (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, check this post.)

Crafter's Companion has just released the Kanji line, and I took the "Happiness" stamp and made this card:

 I started with a piece of white cardstock and covered it in Hay Ride Glimmer Glam.  The color was a bit off, so I spritzed it with some Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist.  Hated that even more...so I painted over it in blue acrylic paint.  As I painted, I noticed that I was liking the three colors together, and added a bit of water to dilute the acrylic paint a bit.  I love how the paint started coming off of the Glimmer Glam/Mist in places.  When I was done, I coated the whole thing in Icicle Glimmer Glaze and splattered some black acrylic paint.  LOVE this so much, I don't want to part with it!  It may go from card to wall art...

 You can kind of see the shimmer and glitter all over this baby.  Much better in person!

 I put a smidge of black acrylic paint around the edges of this little stamp, and when I covered the whole piece in Glimmer Glaze, it seemed to dull the black which I liked.  Adhered to the card with foam squares.

I hope you love it as much as I do, and that it encourages you to dig out some messy mediums and play a bit.  You don't have to know what you're doing...often, mistakes will lead you to the masterpiece you've always dreamed of creating!

Now it's off to see how my oldest is doing in school...she's had a lot of trouble with her transition to middle school, but I feel we are finally through the worst of it.  At least I hope...wish me luck!!

xx
Khristen

I seriously did a 2-pager? **giveaway alert**

Boggles the mind.  I used to do these things all of the time, but the scrapbooking world made a move towards one-pagers with one photo as the focal point years ago and I broke myself out of the multi-photo/page box to give it a go.  Not surprisingly I fell in love.  Who doesn't love all the blank space for altering a one-page layout affords you?  Recently, I've tried to rekindle this lost art of creating 2-pagers within myself and I think I've finally succeeded.

Birthdays are just one of the many examples of multi-page layout gold.  So many pics are taken, sometimes it's hard to choose only a few.  Here, I chose my favorite shots and printed almost all of them out in the same size, with one larger photo to showcase.  This page features MME Hip Hooray Girl, a steal at Scenic Route one day many months ago.  I've been sitting on it for a while, glad to finally cut into that first sheet of patterned paper :)

 Page 1: the banner was fussy cut out of a sheet of patterned paper, mounted with foam squares.  I did the same to the Let's Go Party sentiment below.  Added some Black Soot Distress TH Stickles to make the little dots.

 Page 2 (of course I forgot to take a pic of just this one page, and I'm too lazy it's too late to turn back now haha)  MME alpha stickers accented with more of the Stickles, kind of resembling stitching here on the computer screen.

 More Stickles and die cuts from the kit.  I made the banner at the bottom stick out by curling it and adhering just the left and right edges to the page.

 See that dimension?  I also popped up the journal box, banner on the journal box, and present.

I love how quickly layouts can come together when there's a kit involved.  I love mixing them all up, but every once in a while, I will strictly stick with a kit to see what happens.  I have another birthday party to document (Rileigh was lucky the year these pics here were taken and treated to two birthday parties, one for friends and one for family) so I'll have to try another 2 pager.  Do you find yourself doing more one or two page layouts?  Why?  If you answer this question by commenting below, I'll be sending out a cute little stamp set prize, of course Crafter's Companion.  Which one?  Why, this one from our new S.W.A.L.K. Winter stamp line.

Leave a comment and put this picture in your sidebar by 1/29 for a chance to win.  I will draw a winner 1/30.  Good luck!

xx

Khristen

Catch-up

Before I jump right into show and tell, I thought I'd pass along a bit of info you may find interesting...the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog is having a giveaway each week!  Pretty awesome, huh?  This week, we're giving away a stamp from one of our newest lines, Art Kure - Tewksbury.

Isn't that pretty?  I plan to use this one later in the week on a card, just have to finish coloring it.  Head over to the CCCB and leave a comment on **this post** to enter to win this gorgeous stamp.

Ok, on with the show!  After a sinus infection knocked me on my rear last week, I was happy to get back into the craft room.  It was slow going, however, and I ended up using advice I received from Natalie Kalbach's Creative Jump Start Summit I signed up for.  It goes all month long, and has really done a great job of teaching me ways to get the creative juices flowing when it seems they've run dry.  One of the tips I learned: warm up!  The instructor pointed out an athlete wouldn't just jump into the game, he or she would warm up their muscles first.  This seemed to make perfect sense to me, so when I sat down to work today, I took out a couple of pieces of scrap paper and went to town misting, inking, painting, and coloring it.  Afterwards, I pulled out a new Unity stamp set I got recently and made this card.  Not really what I'd consider great, but it was warm-ups after all :)  Unity Whimsical Birthday, Spectrum Noir markers, Frosted Lace Stickles, Scenic Route alpha, MME Hip Hooray Girl paper.  Simple and sweet.

I pulled out a second card blank and the new April Showers Cricut cart I recently acquired, and chose this birdhouse and bird.  The shop selling the cart had Lily Bee Memorandum paper, a 6X6 pad, and I just had to use it for all of the layers.  I had ordered Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist as well (as it was a ridiculous deal) and applied it to the heart/circle of the house and the heart on the bird's tail.  Black and Diamond Stickles were added to the die cuts for a little something extra.  Love how this one came out!  I channeled my inner They Might Be Giants for the sentiment written with my Spectrum Noirs (which also made the sun), lifting them up with adhesive squares, and adhering them above randomly sized strips of washi tape.  Again, not one of my favorites, but better than the first one!

 I then moved on to this one, and knew I was back in the swing of things.  Don't you just love when that happens?  MME Lime Twist papers.  Spectrum Noir markers.  Sentiment stamp: Studio G stamped in Jenni Bowlin Stick Candy ink.  Imaginisce Iroc pearls and flower.  Random glitter.  MME trim.

 I attacked this one with gesso to start for its dimensional properties, making mounds of snow that ended up having a crackled effect when it dried.  Worked out pretty well!  Made this for Stacy's challenge over at Sketches4all where she is asking to see border punches on your projects.  I pulled out my EK Success punch and went nuts on this MME Lost & Found paper from the January Scraptastic Button Box kit (which is where just about everything on the layout came from.)

 Can you see the October Afternoon Robot Blue Sprinklers?  Thought it was a nice touch.  Thickers and October Afternoon Mini Market alpha stickers.

 Prima Parchment Vintage flowers from the kit...love these!

 October Afternoon Farmhouse word stickers and a close up of that Prima loveliness.

 The flower clusters were made with die cut elements and buttons included with the kit, adhered to an MME Lost & Found sentiment.  Lost & Found label sticker, too.

 Close up of the flower, of which I curled the petal edges.  Spritzed the background die cut with Sprinklers to help tie it into the layout.

 See the crackling effect?  LOVE.  Also love the blue on white.

 The blue paper under the label sticker with the script writing is actually the packaging from the Prima flowers here from the kit.  I just spritzed with the OA Sprinklers and stuck it down!  Looks great, and I love repurposing :)

So you see, if you are not coming up with ideas, just start playing.  It is so true, things come better when you get some practice.  Not everything is going to be perfect, but it will be better each time the more you practice and experiment.  This week, I am hoping to be brave enough to tackle the new alcohol inks I have acquired *gasp*

Have a great week, hope to post more tomorrow!

xx
Khristen

Dream Valley Challenge #23: Anything Goes!

Good morning, better late than never with this post, right?  Sheesh.  I did a MASSIVE housecleaning effort on Saturday and spent Sunday at my parents' house, and almost didn't remember to post this (I think an "I will auto-post every time a project is completed" resolution is in order this year *ahem ahem*)

This is the first Dream Valley Challenge for 2012, and it's simple: anything goes!  After all the chaos of the holidays, isn't it nice to have a super simple challenge?  Show us ANYTHING you want...scrapbook layout, card, ATC, altered item, even jewelry, for a chance to win our prize..........a gift certificate to One Stop Card Crafts!

Here's my creation, the first card of 2012.  I kept it simple (probably because I just finished making all of my Christmas cards right before tackling this one!!)  Pulled out a Crafter's Companion Popcorn's Pals stamp set and went to work coloring her with my Spectrum Noir markers.  Added some Stickles for accents, and made sure to coat the balloons and her shoes in Glossy Accents.  I love shiny things :)  MME Lime Twist Happy Go Lucky 6X6 pad for the papers.  I have committed to use up my stash from 2011 before I get new stuff...yeah right.  I say that every year.  Just not gonna happen.  These papers are about a year old, so I figured I'd better get crackin!  Crate Paper border sticker accented with Stickles.

That's it for now, head over to the Dream Valley Challenge Blog to see what amazing things the rest of our DT created (and there are some GORGEOUS things!)  Link up your own creation, we love to see what you all make, and enter to win our fab prize.  You have until January 22nd to do so.  Hope to see you there!  Time to get back to my "real" job.  Boooooo...but it pays for my paper addiction, so I'll do it :)

xx
Khristen

*breathe*

I am so glad for the holiday chaos to be over.  If feels like ever since Halloween, life has spun out of my control.  However, it is OVER.  Really.  I'm soooo thrilled.  I was able to get two layouts done JUST. FOR. ME.  Amazing, I know.

I started out with this awesome page done using the current Scraptastic January kit, Button Box (well, one of the two kits for this month.)  It features this awesomeness known as October Afternoon Farmhouse, and I love the old-fashioned prints of the paper and all of the elements associated with it.  Like, really love.

 OA Farmhouse patterned papers (Guest Room, Church Social, Phonograph, Button Box, and Clothesline) punched with my CM square punch to create the blocking above and below the photo.  I used my EK edge punch for the dotted piece (although in hindsight, I wish I had used a plain piece of cardstock where the punches would stand out a little more.  The dots make the pattern of the punch get lost!)  Studio Calico chipboard alpha (front), Webster's Pages alpha (2), and My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy alpha (teeth).  I used the OA butterfly sticker in the upper right corner, stitching messily with gold thread, and ending with a spatter of OA Sprinkler in Robot Blue.

 I love how the Clothesline paper has these fun banners to use.  This is my second layout in a week featuring this fun paper, and I still have a few strips of banner left to fussy-cut!  Love the stitching.

 I used these fun punched butterflies from the kit and bent their wings up slightly, adhering them with Eco Green Crafts Green Glue (awesomely eco-friendly).  Some of those buttons (like the fun, ornate wooden ones) were from the kit, while others were taken from my stash.  I have so many, and often forget to use them!

 Love these patterns (and that pic!)

Here's another for Rileigh's album.  I forced myself to go through my collection of papers and choose something I'd had for a while (which I think I'm going to have to do more often!)

 Sassafrass Lass Sweetly Smitten paper and stickers (border underneath photo, journal box, heart.)  See the upper right corner, where the word "happy" is?  I fussy-cut the patterned paper to make it appear to be a piece of tape holding the photo on.  Cool, right?  I had taken more close-ups in the fading light, but they came out blurry  :(  Oh well, you can see them pretty well in this first pic.  MM Moroccan Metal Label Holder (love the glitter!).  MM Vintage Findings Mini Fall Kit for the shiny flower/leaf up above the photo next to the "happy" sticker in the right corner, accented in Stickles (Tumbled Glass).  Balzar Designs stencil for the honeycomb design next to the pic, rubbed with pink ink...there was black ink left behind on the stencil, still wet, and I knew it would make for a great color combo.  So great in person.  SEI Dill Blossom alpha "total," Glitz Teeny Alpha in aqua for "{cute}ness."

 See that awesome metal frame?  I adhered a piece of Scenic Route Garland - Howard Road paper behind it to make the "adorable" sticker stand out.  More Stickles, and a button with Stickles in the center in the middle of the heart.

There they are :)  I got a couple of Valentine's cards in the store, head on over and check them out.  I am also *finally* putting the family-themed CD tin album in there as well...took me long enough!!  I hope you all had a great day, off to fold more laundry and take the tree down.

xx
Khristen

True XOXO Girls January Challenge: 1

As January is the first month of the year, isn't it fitting that our challenge at True XOXO Girls this month is "one?"  Yes.  Just ONE.  What does that mean, you are probably asking?  Anything you want!  One picture...one paper...the number 1 or the word "one" somewhere in your title...a one word title...one flower...as long as you tell us why your layout represents the word "one,"  you're in for a chance to win a shot at a GDT spot!

I was going to do a one manufacturer layout with one picture, but kind of blew it and decided just to do ONE of certain things.

ONE piece of Crate Paper Farmhouse patterned paper, ONE kraft cardstock, ONE color SC Mister Huey in Clay, ONE color of Stickles (Cotton Candy), ONE alpha in the same color as the Stickles (MM Dilly Dally), ONE CP Farmhouse chipboard element, ONE CP Farmhouse trim, ONE CP Farmhouse border, ONE CP Farmhouse sticker, ONE CP Farmhouse journal box die cut, ONE color Spectrum Noir marker used for journaling, and ONE picture of two cute kids :)

It's hard to see the mist, but it's there behind the title :)  I also distressed the edges of the patterned paper with my Heidi Swapp edge distresser.

I gathered the ruffles here for added interest.  Love this trim so much, and so sad that it's all gone :(

So there it is!  Head on over to the XOXO blog to see how our other team members took the "one" challenge, and link up your own creation today.

xx
Khristen

CCCB January Challenge: Anything Goes!

Happy New Year, Crafter's Companion friends!  I hope you all celebrated safely last night, and spent some quality time with your loved ones.  The kids surprised me: Patryk lasted until 11:40, and the others made it to midnight!!  We had a great night with neighbors, setting off some fireworks (that went horribly wrong at the end, but we won't talk about that!), playing a little cribbage, and enjoying the most delicious egg nog tinis.

With the hectic holiday coming to an abrupt halt (YAY!!), our first challenge at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog for 2012 is anything goes.  Pull out your Crafter's Companion stamps and make a little something, whether it be a card, layout, or altered item, for a chance to win the entire Humphrey Christmas collection complete with CD Rom full of the most adorable Humphrey images, a little over 2500 to be exact!

I pulled out the new Love You stamp set from the SWALK Winter collection and went to town coloring it with my Specrtum Noir markers.

MME paper from last year's Christmas cards scraps (I.  Save.  Everything.)  I was so excited to play with these new trims I received in the mail the day before Christmas, Stella & Rose.

A close up at those awesome Spectrum Noir pens (which I still need to practice with when it comes to blending!)

See that gorgeous trim?  Love the texture it adds to the card.

The inside.  I love the sentiment, and the Echo Park Season's Greetings snowflake is the perfect addition.  This was supposed to be for hubby, but he saw it while I was trying to get pictures.  Oh well, he'll forget about it next year, I'll just pull it out then :)

I hope you are inspired by one of the DT creations to play along yourself.  Head over to the Crafter's Companion Challenge blog for details on linking up.

I have to get my little butt outside and keep an eye on hubby, taking down the Christmas lights.  We have great weather for it today, with mild temps.  It's quite strange, but I'll take it!  Off to the in-laws for dinner, can't wait!  I hope you all have a relaxing day and that 2012 brings you everything you want.  Remember to watch the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog all year for tons of inspiration, new ideas, and lots of incredible prizes!

xx

Khristen