about
i was
i am
i will

friends
richie
katherine

archive
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011

credit
sprinkleberry!
Baby Notecard Set - Soft and Easy!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 @ 12:02 PM 0 comments!


Hi - looking for a Baby Shower Gift?

I designed a notecard set which uses really simple shapes and soft colours which could be used as a gift for an expectant Mom - or even for yourself if you'd like to have a sweet collection of ready-made cards.  I chose soft colours when I was first experimenting, and liked the results, but you could substitute many colour combinations!   


Recycle some scraps. Create a fun grid of polka dots by using the small 1/2 inch circle punch......and our RETIRING Trio Flower Punch (can't believe it!) to add interest.  
A butterfly - highlights the polka dot as well.

The box is 9 inch x 5-1/2 inch  with a 1/2 inch base scored in the middle. Two strips of paper, scored to make 3 sections, each 1/2 inch wide, are attached along the sides. 

The front panel has a half -circle cut away to create a pocket to tuck a tag into.






Embossing the cardstock with polka dots and a simple design means the cards can be used for many purposes - thank you, birth announcement, 1rst birthday......etc. Flexibility! 


To help the appearance, I staggered the height of the cards - this way,
 all the colours show when stored in the box. 




Close-up of box and cut-out front section with tag. 

Time to make: 1 hour or less. 
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Hope you try this - email me for instructions if you like! 
Beverly

Labels: , , , , , ,


Baby Scrapbook Layout and DIY " Top Note " Frame
Friday, May 28, 2010 @ 6:00 PM 1 comments!

Hello to everyone out there on this nice Friday evening!  I am going outside for my evening walk with Pepper but not before I bring out my craft results from today!  I'm really happy about this one too! Here's why....

As Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, we're entitled to receive a monthly glossy magazine, Stampin Success - and I tell you - I look forward every month to receiving mine, lol. Last December's mag, showcased our Artisan Award winners who had been given a challenge and a new stamp set from SU!

One of these lucky ladies was Demonstrator Shanna Jensen  with her pretty scrapbook page featuring a "Love You Much Frame"  - and the frame is made using 4 TOP NOTE die-cuts - and I loved it!!!

I kept this idea in the back of my head until this morning, I just got inspired to create one for myself!

Here's Shanna's inspiring project which if you notice features her putting her own 'stamp' on the Designer Paper - now isn't it just lovely?




And here is mine.....I love it! 



{Yeah....that's me and my toots long time ago! She calls it her 'unicorn hairdo' ! }


This is a nice way to frame a picture without the need to own a large-sized die-cut frame. You could make it as big as you need.  Shanna seems to have cut her frame to fit 'outside' of her picture - or with the picture mounted behind. 
I chose to mount my picture on 'top' of the frame - and here is how I made it......

1. Cut out 4 Top Note diecuts using the 'TOP NOTE' Die (see our catalogue) for the Big Shot. 

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK - CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE 



2. Assemble the die-cuts together - layering them to over-lap, and aligning the curve outline in a pleasing fashion. Don't worry - it sort of 'falls' into place :)

See like this: 


Continue till all 4 are secured together:



Now I try not to cut or glue all of my pictures if I am using the originals, so I made photo-corners and attached those to a layer of beige patterned paper: 


Now I can glue this paper frame to the larger pink one, but  first some stamping! 

If you wish to do as Shanna and I have, pick a nice stamp that you can repeatly stamp to create a border. 

I chose our WEDDING SWEET stamp set because it has co-ordinating flourishes in several sizes - this works great to create an entire project with the same design but featuring different areas of interest. I stamped my paper borders with the smaller stamp and used the the largest stamp on the TOP NOTE FRAME.  

Once I finished stamping the frame, I put 4 small slits into it and inserted my photo layer - again no glue but it will stay there and gives me the chance to change photos!

I finished the whole piece with selections from my stash such as 
 some fab ribbon I found on sale one day!  

I stamped the " LOVE YOU MUCH " - a stamp featured in our OCCASIONS Mini Cataloque, the "Well Scripted"  and a cute little birdcage from another stamp set, " HAPPY MOMENTS".  Shanna has used the bird cage from Stampin' Up!'s "CHIC BOUTIQUE" set. 

So I really like both of our versions - this layout is terrific, and could be used for so many things. 

ALTERNATIVE USES

I am also going to make more TOP NOTE FRAMES - because....I thought the frame can stand alone on its own - punch a couple of holes - and voila, you have a wall frame!  How cute would that be - even a whole series of them in a little girl's room!  

Hope you enjoyed visiting today! 

If you'd wish for anything here shown today - contact me! I'll be happy to help you. 


Labels: , ,


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL YOU HAPPY SCRAPPERS!
Sunday, February 14, 2010 @ 2:19 PM 1 comments!

...OR NOT - Happy Valentine's to anyone visiiting today!  Hope you are having a lovely day! 

WE are quietly enjoying 'normal' as a week of mid-term mania and illness has passed - and I finished one huge important task, so laid-back normal is kinda good!  I am going to make my famous brownies soon and then a nice chicken dinner after we play some monopoly and then a trip to the treadmill later on just to even things out a bit - :)

Did we make each other Valentine cards?  No. Is that kinda queer in a house full of card supplies? Probably 'yes'.  But I have been more focused on some scrapbooking, and just exploring some of my new goodies and I have something I'd love to share with you...remember the teaser in the previous post?  Well, heeeere it is!  It's Alex's first baby photo!  Hurray - I say that because its been in storage for 22 years!!!  Ain't that something?  SO any photo came come out to say 'hello' any ol' time as you can see here!


Let 'er rip! Stamping
First things first - I made the pages earlier before I knew I'd pair it with this photo I just grabbed some VERY VANILLA cardstock to begin the process.  And look, the previous post makes my point - take some stamps and just let loose!  That's all I did!  There was no plan at all - it was what we call in artisitic terms 'a very organic experience' .

 I used different stamps from different sets, and combined colours I thought would go well together, but there was NO DIRECTION until I stamped the letters - then all I did was aim for a 'fairly' straight line but even then, a little un-eveness looks great.  When I was done, I had two pages, the first one shown here is using our alphabet stamp set Lovely Letters - and for some reason unfathomable to me now, I made an 'W' on the end of "SWEET"...??? Who knows what brilliant idea I had at the time, but I made 'sweet history' of it by covering the odd W with a punched out heart ( Heart Punch) and problem solved.




                                                          

And on the other page I left a lot of room for my journalling.  I don't always know what I am doing with these pages if I design them first without photos, so it only makes sense to leave at least one area bare. Its easier to go back and add more later if you want to. I also ripped the top of the page off, and added another 'ripped' strip of PRETTY IN PINK cardstock - and it works on both front and back of the page, that's the beauty of un-even edges, or tearing techniques! :) {showing 'backside'}

 In the end, I loved both pages!

Now it was time to find some photo worthy of my pages - and looking to my baby albums, I found our first photo of baby Alex, you know, the one they take at the hospital. Our hospital is gone now, made way for a new health center, so I guess it has more significance.  Anyways, we had a near disastrous delivery and our  poor baby was delivered dramatically and as a result was paralyzed down one side, and I never held her right away because a team of 4 came bursting through, grabbed her and whisked her away - and thankfully solved the paralyzation problem. But the poor pumpkin had a fractured shoulder and collarbone and a sore head I image from the forceps used to deliver her last minute , which is why she doesn't sit up straight and look too happy. But she was a trooper and we were even more blessed after such a difficult delivery to have her healthy after all. So this photo goes in the album with pride!


PAGE ACCENTS

I used our Heart Punch a lot to make accents, especially for tumbling some hearts together in a stack!  i only glued the pointed tips of the hearts making a place to tuck the next heart or other item like a note, in the top part - treat it like a "pocket".

Eventually I will be making  more journalling but I decided to start with her birth announcement information, and used my own hand and tried to imitate the scrolled letters in the word, Wonderful, as my inspiration. You only have to try - not be exact - and the results will be pretty good! 

TIP - for preservation methods - write in pencil. I  then "copy over the pencil " in whatever medium I like, here I used a journalling pen in pink ink overtop of the pencil. Reason is that pencil will remain for ever - whereas every pen ink we generally have access to - even 'permanent' inks - fade. They might remain but look yellow over time but pencil endurs. That is why I use it as a "base" for more decorative treatment.  Trust me - as a former Art Conservator, I used to run experiments testing for the fastness or stability of black pens on the market, ones even marked 'Archival' - and through means of speeding up the results, they all altered their appearance. OK, enough of that!

I made a small accent using our Stampin' Up! product 'Build-A-Brad' ....see the small word "My", and then I added lovely grosgrain ribbon in pink/white stripe to really emphasize the photo. Another tie in with that is added under one of the journalling lines. Just a tad bit of ribbon, no biggy, but it is enough to add some ooomph! I used ordianry cross-stitch floss. 


I measured the folds into a pattern - make your own pattern, it all works. If you want to crease the edges with an iron while working, or tack the pattern in place with pins - go for it. I used my bone folder, and some of the floss to tack the ribbon in the back before adding a small tie in the front of each folded 'bow' .  This is the only bit of aggravating piece of work - but its nice to do, and you will be glad you did!!!

So finally - its done and in its new home in my new red linen album!



Thanks for joining in!
Cheers,
Beverly

* all materials Stampin' Up!


Labels: , , , , ,


Look Who's Turning Stamp Set - Baby Card
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 @ 2:34 AM 0 comments!




Here's my first real card using my "Look Who's Turning" stamp set as I mentioned in my last post....and my idea to put my Big Shot 'Bigz Scalloped Circle' came about because we were using it this past week-end {showing that post later - stay tuned!}.......and I think I came up with a pleasant idea of making different sized scalloped circles turn into the beginnings of a "baby rattle"!

I cut 4 scalloped circles - 2 large on my Big Shot, and then used a hand-held punch to cut out a smaller circle from the center of one of the big circles. Then the fourth was an even smaller scalloped circle cut from white cardstock. I used a hidden cardstock ring to raise the front of the card a bit. Hope that all made sense - lol

Using various shades of pink ink, I stamped my adorable octopus on Stampin' Up!'s Whisper White cardstock and then used their Large Scallop Oval to punch it out. Before layering it on, I used a hint of ink to create a pink shadow.

A strip of cardstock, another circle - and a few added images to the bottom, and my greeting and I was done. This took about 15 mins. Pretty good I'd say!

Hope you enjoy it!




Labels: , , , , ,