SOU DIE CUT CHALLENGE: So Lovable

Today, Stuck on U Sketches had a die cut reveal.  I just loved this pic of our grandson, even if it was a little blurry.    Our challenge is to use anything with a writing theme.  I have opted for speech bubbles. I always loved comic books as a kid, and I love the whimsical look it gives the "boy" page without being too girly.  I took different phrases I have heard about Rhylen from people and placed their quotes in the bubbles.

 



The focus of this layout is the use of negative space.  Negative space can be an embellishment all unto its own.  It can be layered, filled with another paper behind it, used as a frame, or even left with nothing behind it for mini ablums, to give hints of the next page.  I used Cricut Craft Room Basics and The Cricut Craft Room Exclusive Word Bubble designs to make it.  The frame, title and speech bubbles were cut and backfilled with an orange/red piece of cardstock. The borders were from old sticker sheets I had laying around as are the ticket.  The mop carries on with the string tied at the bottom. I cut the "SMILE" word arrow from a Silhouette design.   The rest was adorned with brads and bling.  The writing was done with the Uniball white gel pen.  I love that pen for it writes so well.  The trick is to go slow when you write. 

SOU Die Cuts Challenge: Can we come in now?

Stuck on You Sketches has a new challenge this week.  We are to make something with a balloon.  Now I can only make a party balloon so interesting, so I opted for something more playful with the Hot Air Balloon.  I was sewing gifts for Christmas when these two came to the door after being outside for a while. I definitely saw it as a photo opportunity.  Moments like this is why I call them my fur babies. 

 

Confetti and Tag in an embellished Vellum envelope

Enhance your paper with bling

Match your embellies to your background paper to pull the design together

 

I used Paper Lace for the title font then smeared it with silver glitter glue.  I cut the balloon and text bubble from Enjoy the Seasons.  The sun is from Hey Diddle Diddle.  The papers are from Hopscotch.  It doesn't show we fell in the photo, but I put diamond faceted gems on the diamons in the hot air balloon.  The clouds were made using the Cricut Craft Room Basics design, and I hand cut the clouds that went on top with text.  I decided to try a confetti envelope as an embellishment and used pink vellum and a very old sizzix die, then punch multi colored paper with the Fiskars Threading Water Punch.  I used the holes for the confetti.  the inside tag was cut from another old sizzix die.  Now don't laugh but the bow on the envelope is from a dollar store mop. I now have tons of that string and am finding it very handy.  The border at the bottom was from Imagine More.  The corner was painted with Jenni Bowlin paint from an old chipboard set I bought years ago.  I forgot who made it.  The flower is from Prima, and is actually a lot paler in person.  I put a Prima pearl gem in the center.  The red bling on the bottom of the mat is from an old Christmas set I have had and used for years.  The text bubble is from Imagine More Cards. 

And my SOU Blog Hop Winner is.....

Congrats goes to ANNETTE!!!!!!  She was the winner of my blog hop goodies Marion Smith's Life According to me.  Check out MarionSmithDesigns.com to get more ideas for your new scrapping mini.  She has great add ons and ideas.  I included the printable elements with this kit, so you won't need anything to complete this book but she has other printable goodies you can grab for almost nothing to enhance it and make it your own.

Annette, please send me your snail mail address so I may put it in the mail to you this weekend.  You can e-mail it to me at bytesprite@wilkes.net. 

Thanks to all for your kind comments and visit to my blog. We hope you enjoyed the hop.  I look forward to seeing you all on the next one. In the meantime.. check out the SOU Sketches blog for our weekly challenges presented every Friday.  There is scrappy fun there for all!

Holly



 

Stuck On U Bloghop: A Celebration

We are extremely excited to have you all visiting on a historic day for Stuck on U Sketches!

Today's post marks our 100th sketch! How awesome is that, right?  And to celebrate in a big way we have invited our entire Design Team to join in our sketch challenge! An additional challenge was to use this as a layout sketch or transform this into a card design! The surprise in the blog hop is waiting to see what everyone did!  This is our 100th sketch designed by Leah Schaeffer.

 

MY LAYOUT...  I sometimes just wonder about things...these were my thoughts for the day when I made this and they centered around things going on in my life at that time.  I highly recommend  this theme in journaling. It can be very therapeutic.

The Details...

Cricut Cartridges used are Artiste and Cricut Craft Room Basics.  The stamps are from My Minds Eye's, The Sweetest Thing collections.  The papers are from that collection too.  I also used Lizzy's 5th and Frolic digital journal card that I got at AC Digitals.  That is a great site for hybrid scrapping.

Anyone who follows me knows that I am a frugal scrapper.  If an embellishment can be made instead of bought I usually go that route.  It stretches my creativity and I feel like there is more uniqueness to my layouts if I do.  It also does not limit my scrapping time to just my budget.  Most of my projects are made with white paper and my printer with a few other little things for detail. As an example, the twine I used in this layout actually came from a cheap mop that fell apart early. Just drag an ink stain over it and you have a colored string that matches your layout.

The flowers

The title

Journal card

Button

MY CARD...

The details   

I decided to vary a little more from the sketlch keeping the frame and angled embellishment concept, however I made a pocket to put the tag in. I am not a fan of much white space, especially on cards.  I like my cards to be page full. This collage card was made using Crate Paper's new Fourteen Collection 6 x6 paper pad.The paper on the bottom is a collage, so I expanded this theme to the whole card.   I made the pocket border from the Martha Stewart Zig Zag border punch.  I found the satin flowers in theWedding aisle at Michael's for $.50  The epoxy circle embellie was made using my Epiphany punch.  I hope to get more of those soon.  I love how you can use scraps from your project to make a matching something extra.

Collage paper expanded to Collage card

Home made embellishments

Components of a great Valentine

On with the Hop...

Now we just couldn't let a big day like today go without a bit of a treat for you all so we have a few wonderful sponsors for our hop!

Our very own Lisa Norris of Pretty Paper Pretty Ribbon

Regina Easter of The Cutting Cafe

And Stephanie of Whimsical Designs

Our only expectation is to be a follower of Stuck on U Sketches and leave a little love along the way for each team member (this will take some time so our hop is a week long!) We have 3 sponsors and will

pick 3 winners and we'll have those to post for you on Friday, February 7th.

 

To honor the event, I am offering blog candy too.   Just become a follower of my site, and leave a comment and you will be in the running to win this Marion Smith Designs Mini Album all put together and ready for embellishing.  I will even send a few goodies with it, to get you started...

 

 

 

I will post the winner on March 8th.  Good luck to all!

Now head on to the next in the hop, which is Fern's blog.  I always look forward to her posts. She is  so creative and just awesome!!

Should you hop in random order, here is the entire list:

Nanne

Sandi

Leah
Wanda
Tracey K.
Tracey G.
Sylvie
Shona
Patricia
Misty
Margie
Lizzy
Lisa
Leslie
Laura
Kim
Jane
Holly
Fern
Erica
Charlotte
Caroleanne
Bonnie
Becky
Annette
Andrea

ENJOY THE HOP AND THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!