Just a Few Cards...

Jenn from the ScrapBox asked me to come up with some cards using the Tim Holtz Rosette die recently. (She also asked for some Christmas cards using Copic markers...I still owe her those.)  I usually make my rosettes by hand so I was interested in see how the die worked.  Was it going to be worth the money to pick up the die when making them by hand wasn't that difficult?

Well, I must admit it was very quick, relatively easy to put the rosettes together.  Jenn had mentioned that since the folding edges are perforated, it was best not to fold the edge more than once otherwise the fold could easily rip.  I thought I would test that out and sure enough, make sure you only fold it once.  The other thing I would recommend is that you glue the rosette to a base scrap piece of paper just to help hold everything together.  It is more stable when it is sandwiched between paper.

I also combined the cards with the challenges for the LCOM Scrap Race.  I might was well kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Echo Park pattern paper, Melissa Frances chipboard, glass glitter and mica flakes, Gold embossing powder, Krylon Gold leafing pen, Tim Holtz Rosette die.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Kaiser Craft bling, Micheal's $1.50 bling, Echo Park pattern paper, Pink Paislee pattern paper, India Ink, Krylon gold leafing pen, Spellbinder Fancy Labels and Snowflake dies, Tim Holtz Rosette dies, Marvy Scallop Circle punch.

Materials used:  Bazzill Cardstock, Pink Paislee pattern paper, Making Memories pattern paper, Distress Ink, Liquid Pearls, Stickles, misc. brads, Tim Holtz rosette die & stamps.

So would I buy this die?  Yes, I would.  Would I get a lot of use out of it?  More than some of the other dies that have come out recently.  It fits my style and it gets bonus points for being quick.

A Few More Projects....

I have actually produced quite a bit in the last little while.  Joining into forum challenges tends to get me motivated and the Scrap Race at LCOM has certainly motivated me.  I still can't believe that I haven't been eliminated yet.  I am so slow.  Anyway....here are three of the layouts that I have completed lately.

The first one is dealing with "me"...one of the most uninteresting topics but at least I can make it visually interesting:

Materials used:  American Crafts Just Write journalling cards & thickers, Bazzill cardstock, Prima flowers & masks, Tattered Angels glimmer mist, Ranger Distress ink, Tim Holtz stamps, & Kaiser Crafts bling.

I love how the American Crafts journalling cards looked after they were crumpled, distressed and inked.

The second one is based on a sketch from the Creative Scrappers.  I believe it was sketch number 54 if I remember correctly.

Materials used:  Bazzill Kraft Cardstock, Core-dinations cardstock, Graphic45 pattern paper, Websters Pages Trim, American Craft Just Write journalling card & thickers, Prima felt & bling swirls, Copic Markes, Tattered Angels glimmer mist, and misc. pattern paper scraps that I can't remember the manufacturers any more.

This photo is one of my absolute favourites of my daughter with her Papa.  Just to give a bit of context, my grandmother passed away in the Spring.  We went home for the funeral.  After the funeral, we all went over to my aunt & uncle's for a family barbeque.  My aunt & uncle had recently moved into a great place with a huge, really huge backyard that backed on to the river.  Papa and my daughter had walked down to the water to check everything out.  This photo was taken as they were walking back from the shore and she was telling him all about the flower she had in her hand while he as making sure that she didn't stumble on rocks.

This last layout is about an adventure trip the kids and I took in the Summer of 2009.  We went to a local farm that specialized in mazes -- all kinds of mazes.  My son is fascinated by them.  We spent the whole day searching for the minotaur.

Materials used:  Bazzill kraft cardstock, Graphic45 pattern paper, Daisy D die cut, Ranger Distress ink, dictionary paper, Prima flowers, Making Memories leaves, About a Girl letters, American Craft thickers, staples, and misc. beads.

Have I ever mentioned that I love Graphic45 paper?  If I haven't let me say, I just love them.  I love Victorian, Art Nouveau and Art Deco patterns.  I love the complexity and the colours.  I have such a hard time cutting into their papers.  I always want to frame them.

I have a number of cards to share as well but I will save that for another post.  Some of them were done for the ScrapBox as samples of what you can do with the Tim Holtz Rosette die.  I need to figure out what I actually used on the cards before I post them.  I did a boo boo and forgot to write down what I was doing as I was working on them.

I'm in Love.

I am in love with glass glitter.  I was lucky enough to attend a Melissa Frances class last night that was actually taught be Melissa Frances herself.  The class was making a number of Christmas ornaments out of her new Christmas line and chipboard, etc but the central focus was her line of glass glitters.  We were using it to cover chipboard, edge elements and just basically get a feel for working with it.

The first project of the night was completing this card using pages from her tag album:

We outlined one of the die cuts with the glass glitter.  As the card ages, the glitter will tarnish to give it a more "old-time" feel.  I love this stuff...and Mom if you are looking...look away or you might see something that might end up in your Christmas parcel...

We were suppose to make a number of small ornaments with small tags with scalloped edge kraft envelopes but due to an "oops"...they did not make the trip. Our ornament class turned from a pure do this, put that there type of class to a free-for-all technique inspiration class.  Melissa turned the class around and improvised.  This how you know a great teacher...one that can quickly think on her/his feet and you leave the class with all kinds of inspiration ready to scrap.

So using the original ornaments design as inspiration, we played and tried to come up with interesting cards or album pages using the same tag album pages that we made the first card.  There were some really cool projects made by everyone in the class and here are the ones that I completed using her designs as a base:

I really enjoyed this class and I wouldn't hesitate a second to sign up for another of her classes.  I know tonight I am going to be digging out the glass glitter and playing some more.

Happy Saturday.

A Mini Album....

I don't do mini albums very often.  I find they are hard to store around the house.  If I make one, it is usually because it is going to be a gift.  So imagine my face when I saw that the Week 3 Challenge for the Scrap Race at LCOM was to complete a mini-album in a Halloween theme.

I hummed and ha'd over this one for a while.  What to do?  What to do?  This called for some serious rummaging through my stash.  It had to be 6x6 or less.  I wanted  lots of visual interest.  There is no point in doing something that I am not going to like.

After much searching I found some great Bazzill big chipboard pieces that were going to work perfectly.  Some Maya Road chipboard was added to the pile and then some transparencies.  Digging around some more, found some old coloured envelopes.  I was starting to see the album take shape.  Add in some book covers from 7Gypsies, Graphic45 paper and some Core-dinations cardstock and the album is getting more and more interesting.

It took a few days...{I am not much of a racer}....

Front cover:

Interior Pages:

I used an envelop to make the pocket for the journalling.

Both the round chipboard from the first page and this pumpkin are mounted on a transparency to make it easier for rings.  I wanted them a sufficient distance apart so that the book was a bit more stable.

Back Cover:

Now I just need to figure out whether I am going to keep it or give it to someone for Christmas. 

 Happy Monday.

Happy Halloween

Well, it did this last night....

You can blame it on her:

The Snow Queen has struck.  So if you see her being escorted by Commander Rex and they demand candy....well, I would suggest that you comply unless you want a particularly snowy winter this year.

Have a Happy Halloween!