Friday, September 9, 2011

Give Your Layouts Their Own Jewelry!



I love making my own embellishments for my projects, and usually that means flowers or rosettes, but I decided I love to wear jewelry, and I'm sure my layouts would like a little bling of their own. So, I'm going to show you how to make a very Nouveau inspired page jewelry.





Step 1. Run a small piece of craft copper through your Cuttlebug with and embossing folder.


Step 2. Cut a scrap of cardboard to the desired size and shape of your finished medallion.
Add Scor-tape to the back.


Step 3. Wrap your metal around the cardboard and adhere with the Scor-tape.


Step 4. Add some color by swiping over the raised areas with Staz-On ink. Let dry, and then cover the entire tile with Sakura 3-d Crystal Lacquer. Let dry completely.



Step 5. Take a round jewelry finding and back it with a patterned paper of your choice. Don't worry about this being to precise, the edges will be covered over, with a border of the Metallic Gold Crystal Lacquer.
Step 6. Add a chipboard motif to the center of your pendant. Then, completely fill in using the Clear Crystal Lacquer. Take a toothpick, and pull a little bit of the gold to the center, so that it is not such a well defined border. Allow to dry, and glue to the tile piece. You are now ready to add this to any project that you would like!

Challenges:
Mark's Finest Papers: Bring on the Bling

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Flower Soft's September Hop

Please join the Flower Soft team on an inspirational hop.

This month’s theme is Anything But a Card

You should have arrived from Debbie Seyer's blog, if not, the hop starts on the Flower Soft® Blog. You have until Sept 15th at midnight CT to leave your comments. The winner will be announced on the Flower Soft® Blog on Sept 16thth. If you get lost along the way the complete hop list will be posted on the Flower Soft® Blog.

Be sure to comment on every blog in the hop. One lucky person that comments on one of the blogs will be chosen to receive a 4 pots of Flower Soft!!!

I have a layout to share with you today. This is a picture of my nephew taken several Christmases ago....and he really looks unsure of this bearded guy! My, how times have changed! Now, he can't wait to tell him all of the goodies he would like to have. I fussy cut my flowers from the Basic Grey's Nordic Holiday paper, and layered them up a bit. It really set them off to add Strawberry Ultra Fine Flower Soft to the centers.


Now it's time to hop on to Dina Kowal's blog.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

September Sketch with The Beary Scrap


It's time for our latest sketch challenge at the Beary Scrap, and I think you are going to like it! It's not a complicated sketch - just one that is open to so many possibilities.


I decided to go all out Shabby Chic for today. So of course, that calls for some wonderful, weathered pink papers. Authentique's Uncommon line was just perfect! Awhile back, I had bought some printed muslin, that looked like it had been stamped with vintage writings. I used a square of this, after fraying the edges for one of the components of the sketch. I gathered crepe paper on my sewing machine, and added a little seam binding over the top, for another layer. The bow is a 5-loop bow, with a snippet of antique lace, and a reclaimed button. I stamped my sentiment from Vintage Floral Labels from JustRite, using black Memento ink. Then I stamped the pattern from Friendship Blooms over the top, with Versamark Ink, and embossed it. Then I misted over the entire thing. I used a wonderful frame from Melissa Frances (that I distressed a bit), to set the whole thing off.

I hope you get a chance to play along with our sketch. One lucky winner always walks away with a $20 gift certificate to the Beary Scrap!

Challenges:
JustRite Stampers: Shabby Chic

Monday, September 5, 2011

Trick or Treat!

We have our first challenge at Scor-Pal, and would love for you to play along. The theme this month is boxes. There will be a random prize drawing at the end of the month for a Scor-Tape prize and we will also pick one project from Sept. entries to be a guest designer for the October Challenge and also get a Scor-Tape prize.



With Halloween quickly approaching, I thought a treat box was in order. I used the Window Box tutorial from the Scor-Pal website (there are tons of free tutorials there - all kinds of fun ways to use your Scor-Pal!) I did change the dimensions of the box, however, to make it a little bigger. (See the end of the post for details).

I got to play with some of the new dies from Cottage Cutz - and actually, the Witch's Castle Door inspired the whole project.....because, the really cool thing is that you can make the door open!

So, I used the Halloween Fun stamp from Crafty Secrets to stamp my sweet little trick-or-treater, and glued her to a piece of acetate in the door opening. I glued some Autumn Flower Soft around her feet to look like leaves blowing in. She looks so shy coming to the door for a little candy. I added accessories from the Castle Door die, as well as the Lantern Mini and Owl Mini dies, to complete the scene. The Happy Halloween on the side of the box is from the Haunted House Border.


So get out your Scor-pal and your Scor-tape (cause that's the only way to put together boxes!) and come join the fun! Just check out the Scor-pal blog for more details! And if you'd like to play along in another challenge, The Scrapping Cottage has a monthly challenge with a $25 gift certificate up for grabs. The current challenge is a great sketch designed by Angelica. So come play along with us!

To make this box, please refer to the tutorial at the Scor-Pal website, but instead of cutting your cardstock 9 x 6 3/4, cut it 12" x 8 3/4". Your score lines will be 1", 5 1/2", 6 1/2", 11". After you turn the paper, you will score at 3/4" and 7 3/4".

Challenges:
Creative Card Crew: Anything Goes
Catch the Bug : Anything Goes
Fun With Shapes: Anything Goes with die cuts
Die Cut Dreams: Gift Box or Bag
Critter Sketch: Anything But a Card
Totally Papercrafts: Anything But a Card
Wags n Whiskers: Anything But a Card
Cute Card Thursday: A Pinch and a Punch
Ribbon Carousel Challenge: two things from a spool (ribbon and baker's twine)
Stamp and Show: Anything Goes
Charisma Cardz: Anything Goes
Fussy And Fancy: 1000 Followers Celebration
Delightful Challenges: Halloween