Monday, March 24, 2014

Stuck on U Sketches PL Challenge Reveal: My Today

Stuck on U Sketches has a challenge this week with one of my favorite things...Butterflies.  With Spring so close, it was fun to use these in a layout where it actually seemed appropriate.

My brother made a quick trip down here from Ohio this weekend. What a treat!  My niece's boyfriend found a truck for him after months of looking.  Vehicles down here don't rust like they do up there.  I couldn't wait to get the pictures in my PL book.  The weather was in the 70's here, which was a real treat for him.  We actually had a cookout.
I wanted to use Spring colors to reflect the weather we were having that week. Of course, two days later it was back in the 20's, but for that brief moment we had a taste of spring.  I used Studio Calico Cards and Becky Higgins, Honey PL cards.  I also used Studio Calico Stamps and the title was cut on my Silhouette, as was the main butterfly, on the lower left and the die cut on top of the card that was above the main one.
I had to journal sideways, but I kind of liked the movement on the page. I opted to place a butterfly parallel to the writing to emphasize that movement.  The flowers were cut with my i-Top punches. (Cheating I know) I popped them up, and gave them sequin centers.  The blue flower was made using my glue gun and Modge Podge Molds and Glue sticks, then painted with acrylic paint.
I made the butterfly by printing small floral motifs within the cut area before cutting it out on my Silhouette.  I then glittered the dickens out of it across the entire surface. I added the dots in the middle for the body.  I really liked how they turned out.  The same effect can be made with small stamps colored in. You may see more of this from me. 


Friday, March 21, 2014

Stuck on U Sketches Die Cut Reveal: Word Play - You Are...

This week, Stuck on U Sketches has a really fun challenge.  Wordplay is the theme.  There are a zillion things you can do with this, but since this was a die cut challenge, I opted to cut out an entire 8.5 x 11" page on my Silhouette SD.  I used Studio Calico's Office Hours Digital Cut File Set by Page Evans.
I first placed the die cut on an entire page of green card stock.  But it was too dark for the style I was going for.  I ended up cutting it as a border around the die cut and placed it on white paper to brighten things up.

Hand writing in paint and tilted papers and embellies are not my usual style, but I thought I would try something different to make this single face photo more interesting.  I used my modge podge molds I made a few weeks ago and  some Prima Flower centers to put in the middle of them.  I cut the wonky circle rings using to sizes of circle punches then tied them together with ribbon.  I put another circle behind the bottom one to give the bottom more weight to counter the heaviness on the upper left.  I used Gauche paints to make splatters and to give the book page its blue-ness,  Then I put splatters of the paint colors and green sequins to give it more interest.  The banner and tab are from Studio Calico Digital files. I definitely achieved the different than my usual look with this one and you know what?  I like it.  

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Pinterest Inspiration for Color

I am taking a class at Studio Calico that takes sketches to a whole new level.  I was going through Pinterest and found a lot of photos with color combinations that I just loved.  It was an assignment we had in the Color Theory Class at Studio Calico.  This is the combination I used for my latest scrap...


The following was used in the layout":

Martha Stewart Heart punch
Two Peas Heart Feather's die cuts
Studio Calico Free Journal Card
Studio Calico Wood Speech Bubble
Making Memories Sticker
Studio Calico Jubilee Stamp SET
My Mind's Eye, The Sweetest Thing Washi Tape
Water Color Paints in Pink and Blue, each mixed with white and lots of water

Monday, March 10, 2014

Stuck on U Sketches Project Life Challenge" I Love This City

This week, Stuck on U Sketches has a challenge where we are to use neon on our project life page.  I really am not a fan of neon, but got the same effect by using VERY bright colors on black.  I took a tour of a town that is only 10 minutes from me today and found things I never knew were  there. I focused my photos on the downtown district and the pretty and fun things I found.  There was a train track behind the shops on Main Street, a yarn shop where I can take knitting classes (oh boy!),. and a lot of antique and primitive décor shops which are perfect for a our log cabin.  It was a quite a find for something I passed at least once a week.  I will go back often I think.
I used the cut files I got when signing up for classes at Studio Calico, Life Scripted (January's Class)and Stitched.(April's class). I also used their Process Files die cuts to make the tabs for the photos on the left.  This was a fun project because I knew what I wanted to scrap before I left, and which vertical and horizontal shots I needed.  There is a lot to be said for Project Life Planning.  I have taken a lot of pictures in  a week and the ones I wanted to use, did not always fit the pocket pages, so I had to crop more than I wanted. Lesson learned.

Head over to the Stuck on U Skecthes Blog to see what the other designers have come up with for this challenge.  It will surely brighten your day!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

This Calls for Cake and Candles

My niece went to Ohio to surprise my brother and nephew for their Birthdays.  Ruby, her dog is really fitting in with the family. I just loved the photo of her waiting for my brother to come home so the party could begin.
I made this using a combination of stamps and cut files.  The stamps are from Studio Calico and the papers are too.  I am finding stamping backgrounds on paper and then cutting shapes from them can be quite handy when you are trying to unify a page.  SC has matching inks to their papers which make it really easy to pull designs together.  I also used the sewing template for the Love This card from the class kit I got with the Stitching class that Studio Calico will be having in April.  Sewing really adds interest and texture to a page and incorporates colors in a non-invasive way.  The butterfly was made using a Silhouette cut file where I had put digital images of flowers on the wings and  removed the cut function, so they would just be printed on the wings. I then coated the entire bug in white glitter.  It is really pretty up close. This one was really fun to put together!

Friday, March 7, 2014

Stuck on U Sketches Die Cut Challenge: House

Hello all. This week Stuck on U Sketches has a die cut challenge where we are to use a house die cut on our project.  I made a housewarming card. I never seem to have those when I need them.


I used a Silhouette Studio cut file to make the houses. The background was made using a blue rectangle and I stamped white clouds using the Studio Calico Copper Mountain Card digital stamp set.  I added a pinked cut border at the bottom of the houses, and used a digital paper that I had in my silhouette stash to make the swirly effect at the bottom.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Studio Calico Class Kit

Tomorrow begins Studio Calico's class called Color Theory.  I am so excited. Our first assignment was to find a color combo on line that we liked and create a kit out of it. Here was what I have come up with so far, for mine.