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

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 15^th at midnight CT to leave your comments. The winner will be announced on the Flower Soft® Blog on Sept 16th^th. 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.

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

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

Wrapping Up Summer

How was your summer? Now that it's almost over, I thought I would share a Mini-album that I made using Best Creation's Splash Fun line and an adorable custom "Beach" mini-album from Clear Scraps. I also got to through in some goodies from Epiphany Crafts!

Robin's Nest Inspiration

Sometimes you look at a piece of paper, and know it's just too cool to cover over. That's how I felt about this Glitter Black and White Animal Print. I decided I would make a tag that would allow lots of the DP to show. I die cut some Grunge Board, and covered the bottom layer with Red on Red Rope . I used Viva Decor Gold to color the Grunge, and embellished the crown with Fairy Dust Dew Drops. I filled in my cut-outs with Sakura Crystal Lacquer. I love how you can the the red sparkle of the paper through the glaze. Finally, I altered my Gold Glitter Letters by coloring over them with a red Copic marker, so they would match my heart.

Thanks for looking!

Big Cheer for Best Creation!

I wanted to share with you a layout that was on the Best Creation Blog this week. The challenge was to create a project using the new Team Spirit Collection.

It's such an adorable line of papers - especially if you have a little cheerleader in your house. Now....I don't have any cheerleaders around, so I had to dig out old photos of my high school years, but that's one of the great things about this timeless collection.....it works for modern or vintage photos.


I made the pom-pom flower by cutting strips of glittered paper using my Martha Stewart fringe scissors, adding Scor-tape along the edge, and rolling it tightly. I love how it turned out!

Last Call for Tic Tac Toe!

We hope that you have had fun playing along with the Beary Scrap Gals with our Tic Tac Toe challenge. It's about to wind down (you have until the 31st to get your entry in, if you haven't yet!)

I've got a layout to share with you today, that uses one of my all time favorite papers from Echo Park - For the Record. It is just a great collection for vintage projects. And although there are plenty of sweet girly prints, this works great for boy layouts too. Just add a little distressing and you are good to go! I stamped the ice cream cone border with a design from Unity, and then added Stickles to the cones.

We will have a new challenge for you on the first, but in the mean time, get those entries in!

Sakura Hobby Craft Design Team

I am so excited to say that I will be designing for Sakura Hobby Craft for the next six months. They make the most wonderful 3D Crystal Lacquer - and I've been adding it to everything!

Here's the very talented design team, that I will have the privilege of working with:

• Jessica Griffin
• Leslie Rahye
• Becky Conley
• Gini Cagle (me!)
• Aileen Roberts
• Karen Myer
• Gloria
• Terri Sproul (DT Leader)

I've got a quick little necklace that I made using an image from Crafty Secrets/Heartwarming Vintage Mini-Vintage Creative Scraps. I trimmed my image to fit in the finding, and added a little Crystal Lacquer to glue it down. Then I filled the bezel full of the lacquer and sprinkled a tiny bit of Art Institute Glitter around the edges. I left it to dry, and came back to find a gorgeous medallion.

If you haven't tried Crystal Lacquer, go grab some! I know you are going to love it. And , it comes in pearlescent and glitter colors as well as the clear.

End of Summer Hop

There is a great manufacturer's hop going on today, and I am pleased to say that Scor-Pal is participating! If you would like to check out all of the yummy inspiration, hop over to the Scor-Pal Blog , and you can see the wonderful projects that some of the DT came up with. (See the end of my post for all of the prizes and participants for this hop - You won't want to miss it!)

My card today is a Box Card. I found the tutorial from Valita's Designs.
I added a book mark as the little goodie for the box.


Isn't that a fun and different fold? It is so easy using the Scor-Pal.

Project Recipe:
Scoring Tool: Scor-Pal
Adhesive: Scor-Tape
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey
Cardstock: Core'Dinations
Dies: Cheery Lynn Designs, CottageCutz
Bakers Twine: The Twinery
Crystal Lacquer: Sakura Hobby Crafts
Stamp: Serendipity
Distress Ink: Ranger

The Scor-pal blog is giving away your choice of a Scor-pal or a Scor-buddy

New to Scor-pal? Well, here are just a few of the great things this tool has to offer:

• The slightly textured scoring surface is 12" x 12", with a raised fence at the top (with easy to read ruler markings) and on the left and right side. This aligns your paper for perfect scoring. No more crooked cards!
• Grooves are across the board at different intervals. A perfect combination of 1/4" and 1/8" grooves. Makes card making fun and easy.
• There are grooves at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8" for gate fold cards, at 4 1/4" for normal A2 cards, and at 3.666" and 7.333" for brochure folding (divides 11" paper into equal thirds) .
• When you place your card stock on the scoring surface, you are able to do multiple scores without moving the paper. Grid cards, accordion folds, boxes etc are scored in seconds.
• The score lines result in crisp, accurate folds! At the 0 to 1" mark and 11" to 12" mark there are 1/8" grooves. By proper paper placement this will allow you to score 1/8 " increments such as 1 7/8"
• The included scoring tool snaps into place at the top of the unit. It is always at hand. It has been specially designed to fit the grooves so the card stock can not be torn while scoring. Additional scoring tools can be ordered separately.
• Scor-Pal is the perfect tool for straight and diagonal line embossing on cards and scrapbook pages!

To enter for our special prize there are 2 ways you can enter:

• Become a follower
• Join our Fan Page on Facebook

For a chance to win the grand prize leave a comment on each of the 11 blogs participating.

On 8/29, Libby from PSA will choose one person using random.org who has commented on all 11 blogs to win the prize pack listed below.

We will post the winners of both prizes on our Fan Page, as well.

GRAND PRIZE DETAILS:

· PSA Essentials - 3 Peel & Stick stamp packs, 1 stamper.

· Purple Onion Designs – 2 Stamp Sets

· Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker - School is Cool Collection Kit.

· Really Reasonable Ribbon – August Ribbon of the Month

· Want2Scrap - $25 in merchandise from their online store

· Discount CardStock - 20 metallic sheets of 8.5 x 11 cardstock

· The Twinery - Colorful Bunch Sampler Pack

· Helmar USA - Scrapdots, Quick Dry Adhesive, Premium Craft Glue, and Gemstone Glue

· Scor-Pal - 1 Scor-pal

· Flower Soft - 4 pots

· Urban Swank Embellishment Pack

For a TOTAL PRIZE PACKAGE VALUE over $300!!

BLOG HOP LINK LIST:

· Discount CardStock

· Scor-Pal

· Flower Soft

· Want 2 Scrap

· Urban Lily

· Really Reasonable Ribbon

· Helmar

· Purple Onion Designs

· Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker

· The Twinery

· PSA Essentials