SOU Sletches Die Cut Challenge: Birds Dressed for Spring

SOU Sketches has a fun challenge this week for die cuts.  The theme is birds.  I work in a cubicle and love dressing up my little spot in life.  I made these birds to set among the shelving I have to celebrate spring. I haven't come up with my Summer idea yet.  I got this idea from Kristin who posted these birds on the Cricut Blog when it was active.  These are really fun to make and dress up.

I used my Silhouette SD to die cut the three birds. I cut two of each using the mirror right function for each second bird.  I stitched them together and then stuffed them with fiberfill. Like Kristin, I used paper clips for the legs to keep the office theme. I hot glued the legs into the bird as they were only poked through the stitching. That gave me control of their height.  The other adornments were hot glued too, as I see lots of folks picking them up to look at them.  I made the bird house with the Silhouette also.  I wasn't sure what to use for the post and opted for an old spool of thread. It was shimmery and had the base built in to give it stand up ability.

Head on over to SOU Sketches to see the details on the challenge and post your birdy projects too. We would love to see what you come  up with.  Thanks for stopping by.

SnapKnot announced that they are having a camera give away!!!!!

Big thanks to the SnapKnot wedding photography directory for offering this great camera giveaway!

My best camera lens was broken at a graduation party last weekend.  The focus is not working on my D40 anymore.  Anyone who knows me, knows I am my camera and my camera is me.   I would LOVE to win one of these.  Why Do You Want a D800 or 5D Mark III?

 

 

Cutting Cafe Inspiration: View Finder Card

Greetings to all.

We had a really fun project at the Cutting Café this week.  The View Finder.  This was one of my favorite toys as a child. I can remember saving my allowance to buy the cards for it.  I would get the ones that were related to my favorite Disney movies.  Wish I still had those, let me tell you.  I made this using one of the sentiment sets that came with it, but also added the Many Thanks set to add the Thanks for your hospitality to the front of the card so it was the first thing my friend saw when she took it out of its pocket.  The UR sentiment is inside.

This is a great project and a lot of fun. I used the Lucky Charm digital paper set that I bought at AC Digitals.  I have really used that set for a lot of project.  You may have noticed...lol.   To give the reel a more whimsical look and feel I messily colored in the inner circle being sure to go over the edges....no that was not a mistake. It just didn't have an art look to it when just coloring in the circle. I typed the appropriate information on the label in different colors to give the sleeve more personality and wrapped it in what is becoming my trademark mop string.  I also used the Mini Words set to tie a little tag to it.

Head on over to the Café to see the files Regina is coming up with.  She is on a roll for fun these days!Cutting Cafe

UR delightful, spunky, darling, warmhearted

I met a very interesting woman last weekend. She is an artist, mother, wife, neighborhood go to person.  She had given herself a birthday party, where we were to bring cans of food for the food drive instead of gifts.  She was also very funny.  She is one of those people who deserve what she has and I am very glad to know her.

 

I wanted to make this layout energetic yet very feminine.  I matted the picture on bright pink paper and backed most of the elements with the same to brighten them up a bit.  I made my own enamel dots by making dots on white paper with gel sticks and then dropping a drop of glossy accents on each.  Once dried, It then cut them into wonky circles.  The bottom border was made using Martha Stewart's Arches punch around the page border punch.  The flowers and banners were fussy cut from My Minds Eye, The Sweetest Thing paper.  The little black and white tags came from Marion Smith Designs.  The butterflies were punched using the Martha Stewart, Pop Up Butterfly punch.  I wrapped the flowers with black and white bakers twine. I just got a mother lode of twine from a  PeachyCheap.com deal this week. The UR was cut Silhouette, using the Curlyz font I found on line.  I stapled ribbon to the side of the picture to give that space more interest.  The flutter lines were made doodling with my Uniball White gel pen.  Love that bad boy for no other white pen writes every time like this one.  This was a lot of fun to make.  Looking at it now, I wished I had split the banners and put the UR in the middle.  Otherwise, I am happy with the way this turned out.

 

Grace

Was too tired to paper scrap tonight, so I went digital.  This is my DD at a Jazz concert we went to in near Richmond last weekend.  I watched her walk up the hill and was amazed and proud of how graceful she looked. 

I used Jodi Lee's Vintage paper collection, on sale today only at Jessica Sprague.com  I played around with the drop shadow brush in Adobe Elements and really liked the overall results.  I have been playing with the shadow buttons in Effects, but this adds a whole new dimension.

Cutting Cafe Project: Keep Calm and Party On

Hi all!

Regina has another current and trendy file available that we made for this week's inspiration. You can find this Keep Calm And set at the Cutting Café.  It was hard to choose which sentiment to use for they all are wonderful.  I opted for the obvious...Keep Calm and Party On.  This is my attempt at a masculine look and feel for I really need a better inventory of cards for men.  I can be such a pinkaholic.



I used patterns that are available in the Silhouette store again. I am really drawn to those Glitz Designs. I am really please with how quick and easy these files go together.  If you haven't tried them you really should give them a shot. You will be hooked like I am.

I Love The Cutting Cafe Card Toppers!

If you are looking for something quick and easy to pull together then the Every Day Shaped Window  Card Tops Regina had introduced at The Cutting Café a few weeks ago is the perfect solution.  There is so much you can do with these gems.  I really like the concept of using negative space in my designs. I have another example of this concept in my March Post where I used speech bubbles.

I decided to try the Circle Topper.  Without having a specific event to create a card, I opted for a Just Because theme and thought the circles could be used for many things in design.  I decided to back the holes with washi tape and put the Animal and Bugs Stamp set, also found at The Cutting Café,  using the Bee design.  I liked the contrast of the pastels with black so the topper was cut using black card stock.  I placed the topper on a plain white A2 card for the files come in that size.  I imported the stamp set into my Silhouette and placed cut circles around each one. Now I have an inventory of sentiments and colored stamps ready to go for those quickie card needs.  I took the bee and popped it up on a pop dot.  I wrapped the ribbon around the card prior to gluing it on the blank card.  Now I have something cute to mail my daughter that she can put on her refrigerator.  I love how she does that with my cards. 

Hugs to all...and have a great week!

Hubbies Birthday Card

I made my husband's birthday card this year using the Cutting Cafe's Husband Birthday file.

To cut the circular sentiment, I did the following:
I  opened the PDF file in Photoshop Elements
Then I selected and copied just the circular message.
I then created a new file being sure not to change the size settings.
I then pasted the content on the new photoshop file I created.
I saved it as a PNG file.
and imported the file into the Silhouette Design Studio Software
Then created the cut file using that tool.

The cow was cut using a Silhouette file they came out with around Valentine's Day.  My husband raises cattle, so I thought it was cute.  I used pop dots to lift the sentiment off of the card.  I glued a circle using Lucky Charm paper in the middle and popped up the cow with dots too.  Lifting the ring, gave me space to tie the ribbon.

Finished Weekend Journal

This is the finished journal that I had posted earlier.   I wanted to show how blah went to cool just by gluing in the photos, and adding the journaling.   Given the digital prints and album cut file I bought, the few embellies I added, some chipboard from empty paper pads and 12 sheets of 8.5 x 11 cardstock, this whole book probably cost me only $8.00.   I will treasure this piece always for it not only has the pictures but everything I did and loved about the trip. Not bad for a treasured album ...eh?  Thank you Regina at the Cutting Café!!!!

 

 

 





 

SOU Die Cut Challenge Reveal: Flower

We have another exciting die cut challenge for you at  Stuck on You Sketches and, it is an easy one.  The theme is flower.  With all of the cuts out there in shabby, 3d, playful, vintage...etc., this challenge is great for anyone.  My niece came to visit me from Ohio for a few days.  I haven't had much of a chance to get to know her over the years since she has always lived there.  I was amazed at how much she is like me at her age.  I am not sure she was aware that I knew what she was thinking before she even thought it.  She is a charming girl.  She will be moving here as she got the job she came to interview.  I am SO excited.  She graduates this year with her Masters in Speech Therapy.  She is to work with small children who were born deaf.

The die cuts were made using my silhouette including the butterflies, cloud, label and flowers.   I opted for a black and white photo to allow the colors of the embellishments to create the horizontal line across the page and corner adorners.  I pulled out my stamp set from the My Minds Eye. The Sweetest Thing to make the circles above the picture and in the bottom left corner.  I only inked the edges to create a circle above the photo. The full circle would have been overbearing on the photo.  The background in the upper left and bottom right corners is nothing but Washi Tape,  from the same My Minds Eye collection.  I wanted to space out the die cuts this time. I have been clustering for a while now which is a great design concept but I felt my layouts were starting to look alike.  I opted to spread them out but to lay them in a pattern to still highlight the photo. Placing the title over the picture helped.  I created a mask with my silhouette, but drawing a rectangle and placing random sized circles and ovals in it. I then used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Worn Lipstick to create the dotted back drop for the tile and photo area to ground them better.

 

Once put together I felt the page still needed something other than die cuts to tie all of that free space together. I opted to use sewing. I created a zig zag frame around the edges and made a swirly path for the butterfly at the top.  I also sewed inside the picture to make an inner frame on the photo to give it more emphasis.  I have always used patterned papers for my layouts, but am finding plain white paper to be a great backdrop to highlight colors and photos.  It is more of a challenge, for you are definitely starting with a blank slate, but with all of the techniques out there I always like the results when I use that clean backdrop.

 

So get your punches, scissors or machines and make some flowers to create your own flower creation.  We would love to see you post it on our blog so you can share your ideas with us.  Everyone is always looking for new ideas.



Gift and Coffee Cup Card Set

I made this as a hostess gift box and card for this weekend's visit to Richmond. ( I even made the gift inside.)  I always like to make a little something for my daughter and my friend who live there for allowing me to stay with them during my visit.  Since we all LOVE coffee, I used the new Coffee Cup Card design from The Cutting Café for this project.  The box was made using the Book Box Set.   I just love Regina's designs, for they come complete with everything you need to make something darling.

I used the American Crafts Lucky paper line that I bought and printed from JessicaSprague.com.  I just love the blue, pink and red together.  I made the medallion on the box using Tim Holtz Mini Medallion die cut, a Prima flower and, some bling I had laying around. 

These cards come together really quickly.  If you have a friend who likes coffee or have a Starbucks gift card to present this file will probably interest you. It has cuts where you can add the gift card inside the card.

The Last 3...

I found this challenge at The Big Picture Classes site yesterday for their celebration of National Scrapbook Day. I thought it was an interesting concept for a page and it was a lot of fun to do.  I wish the page was bigger so I could add more categories.

The background is from American Craft's 5th and Frolic collection. The strip of paper behind the photos were actually from the Fourteen collection 6 x 6 pad where I had cut a page in half.  The photos were shot with my Instagram  application and resized to 2".  I just made the label squares using my Silhouette.  I printed the labels on my computer using the shadow feature and a font I can't recall.  The Last 3 and circles were cut using my Silhouette.  I used scraps from the label paper (turned into a stripe) and the top of the Fourteen paper to make the banners in the upper left corneur.  And of course, my trusty scrap mop was used to make the bow.  Boy that thing has come in handy.
The category that I found to be most interesting was the things my husband did that I loved.  It was easy to remember them for they have all been in the past few days. I just love that man.

My Debut Cutting Cafe Project: A Weekend Travel Journal

Greetings all! 

I am happy to present my first project for The Cutting Café .  I am visiting my daughter next weekend and wanted to create a journal to document the trip.  I will be writing in it during the trip then posting photos in when I return.  So, it is blank right now.  Glitzy embellies will go into it after the pics and journaling are placed.  Would any of you be interested in seeing the final project when it's completely done?

A place to put my photos until I am ready to glue them on the pages

so they don't get lost among the "to scrap" photos



This is for a list of things we plan to do and to be pictures of dinner

while discussing the plans when I get there.



We are going to a concert in the park on Saturday.  I made a

spot to list the bands and journal about our day. As well as a photo

spot.



The last section is for the special things said and done

on the trip along with a photos. 

Of course another photo page with a journal spot.

I take lots of pictures and my girlfriend is a ham so I

always get good ones.  Plus. I will be with my daughter.

(this book may not be big enough...hmmm)



A list for my top 6  fav things about the trip

and favorite pic

Their top 6 things about the trip

and the pic we had the most fun taking

I created a pocket page for receipts, tickets and such.

I used the Suitcase Mini Book files that the café recently released.  I also used the following  Cutting Café files:

Jot it Down
Lined Paper Pad
Coin Envelope
Slash Pocket
Camera Photo Holder

The City card was cut using my Silhouette and one of their designs. 

The pattern papers were printed from Glitz Design I got on the Silhouette site and the American Crafts Lucky collection I got at JessicaSprague.com.  I also used My Minds Eye washi tape from their The Sweetest Thing line.

I can't wait to start using it and preserving precious memories.  We only see each other once or twice a year.   A trip can't be any better than being with my daughter and my bestie all at once.

This will pass

Took this snap of my daughter at Christmas, when she came to visit. It seemed fitting for this time in her life. I made this for a Challenge going on at the 2Peas site today.

Besides being totally therapeutic or me, it was a lot of fun making this one.  I used metallic gel sticks to do the painting in the background.  I made a stencil on my Silhouette to create a frame for  the picture.  I love the watercolor effect it gave to the page.  Who knew flat could add so much depth.  I also used the pens to color the flowers, then sewed them onto the page.  I took a strip of fabric to make the flower and then glued it on scrap paper, using Multi Medium.  I added a strip ribbon, the bling I got at Walmart and a few buttons and called it done.  Not only do I feel better, but I really liked how this turned out.

This is me flaws and all

Happy National Scrapbook Day. I am having a marathon scrap today. I started with this scrap of myself.  I am not a fan of close ups of myself, but decided that at 52 I deserve to show my face as is.  A persons face tells so much about their lives.  I see all of my history in mine.  But what I am very pleased to see is underlying happiness.

  

I toyed with Photoshop Elements and a mask I bought at Jessica Sprague.com.  I have wanted this $3 gem for months now and decided to take the plunge in honor of today's holiday.  I am stretching my capabilities and hybrid scrapping is definitely cost effective and really fun!  I used a gift certificate I got for Christmas to buy the Faber Castill gel sticks and am having a ball with those too.  I bought the kids version at Amazon after viewing the Frugal Crafters Comparison review of those and Gelato Pens.  They looked identical to her and me.  I embossed a square of black paper with Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder then blended Silver Gel Pen over it. Very cool effect.   the rest of the papers were total scraps I had laying in my bin.  I thought it would be my contribution to cleaning .  Because, I don't see a whole lot of that happening today...lol.

 



Stuck on U Sketches Die Cut Challenge: Mom

Hello to all!  This weeks challenge at Stuck on U Sketches is to use the word Mom or a die cut of a woman on something.  I opted to make a note paper holder, which can make a great gift.  When closed it looks like a little book.



 

 

 

 I used the SVG Cuts Attic Treasures pattern for the book.  I upgraded my Silhouette Studio to  the designer edition to I can take advantage of the great SVG files out there on the web.  I really like the way this was designed, for when the lid is opened, it stays opened, which led me to designing the inside cover.   Pumplin Patch Stamps had an offer I couldn't refuse.  Not only do they have the cheapest price for the upgrade I could find, but they also offered a $10 gift certificate at SVG Cuts with the purchase. The file is originally sized for the Cameo, but I only have the SD so, I had to conform the size to 8.5 x 11. 

I used Bazzil csrdstock for the base. Then cut the panels and interior lining using the Glitz Design patterned paper as a fill.  It can be found in the Silhoutte online design store.  The cameo was also found there.

To give the project a little more sturdiness for use, I coated the interior book pages and cover with Matte Medium.  It gave it a great book like finish to the cover.  I think I will invent a book cover impression stamp for matte medium to make it even more realistic...hint, hint manufacturers.  At first I was planning on decorating the front with flowers, metal keys...etc.  But then I thought sometimes simple is better.  If to sit with other books, I would want it to be flat. so it looks more realistic.  However, if I only had some wet cement handy, this really could make a great bookend if decorated.