JANUARY Memory Works Express Kit

This is not my picture. The image is borrowed from Memory Works. http://www.memory-works.com/admin/index.mhtml?sp=1&category=product&page=product_list&product_category_id=53

I am really looking forward to getting this kit in January.

DECEMBER Memory Works Express Kit

This picture is missing a few papers, ribbons, and embellishments I have already used. This is a super fun kit!

Rub-a-dub-dub-ons

As I was looking through my posts, I noticed there was a post that was saved as a draft, but never actually published...so I will try this again.

Here is a page I did of Natasha and I. I have also been into the color pink a lot lately. I used a lot of rub-ons for this page. I also cut some circles from some scraps of patterned paper.

These are some of the colored rub-ons. Most of the time you will find black or white rub-ons.

Another rub-on and a flower!

RED

I guess red has been my favorite color to scrapbook lately. I am currently out of printer ink--it's supposed to be coming in the mail soon, and so I have been working on some pictures that I had printed previously. These are some of my favorite pages! I have been seeing my scrapbooking style change. Lately it has been a lot of bold colors, browns, glitter, lots of embellishments crowded together, and funky patterned paper. Getting the Express Kits from Memory Works and using the products has been a TON of fun!!

Haha! You'll probably need to click on this one also to get the full perspective of what is going on in this picture. Natasha took this picture of Quent and I last year. The paper came from the December Express Kit by Memory Works. The back side has some beautiful designs on it too! Check out the next post to see the details of the chipboard letters spelling "ME" and also the flower I made out of ribbon. It was the first time I did that!

Paper has been a big thing for me lately. What I am discovering is that the biggest part of planning a page for me involves two main things...the picture and the paper. Those two things are going to be what expresses the feelings you want to portray. Now, I may have just lost some of you...but really, scrapbooking is about expressing and capturing memories through the pictures you have. It's art! Ok...I'm getting off a little bit here. Ha! Check out the post below to see more detail. Oh...this is a picture of me and my friend Carly.

RED--upclose and personal

BRIGHT!

Orange is one of my favorite colors right now. This picture is dark on purpose. I played around with it on Photoshop. I used quite a few brushes on this layout. All of the hearts, except for the sewn hearts are brushes, along with the 2 bright pink sun-shaped ones, and the boxes around the picture and journaling.

3 Digi's

Different, but fun.

This is one of my favorite pages I have made digitally. I "scrap-lifted" from http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=46294. Look familiar? I love all of the bright colors.

This is a pretty simple page. I may add something to it later on.

I LOVE glitter!!!!!!!!!

Recently I saw an ad in Creating Keepsakes magazine for Martha Stewart crafts and it said, "Let it glitter, let it glitter, let it glitter!" Right on!

Oh glitter!! I just LOVE the way these flowers turned out!

I found a product I am giggling about! It's Doodlebug's sugar glitter. I bought a set of these small bottles. GLITTER!!! Quent should be afraid...VERY afraid!! Bwhahahahahahaaa!!

Siblings

The background paper was purchased specifically for a page like this. Don't be afraid to combine different colored papers. The center of the flowers are something I made months ago using Crystal Effects from Stampin' Up! To make the embellishments you:
1) stamp your image (circular is best, or something that will fit in a circle)
2) color, glitter, or whatever you want to your stamped image
3) wind wire around a pen (I used a Stampin' Up! marker) until you have as many circles as you will need.
4) take wire off of pen and cut circles from wire
5) reshape circles if necessary
6) put circle wire over stamped image and drop in and spread around Crystal effects
7) let dry to get your epoxy looking embellishment
8) cut out and add to page, card, etc.

I cropped so you can read the journaling. I am learning to find more ways to journal creatively. The bench was a perfect spot!

Memory Works Express Kit-November

I subscribed to receive an Express Kit each month from Memory Works. They put together a kit of paper, embellishments, ribbons, etc. and it costs just under $40 each month. It's exciting to see what comes and it's neat because some of the products is not stuff I would normally order, so it will widen my creative scrapbooking box. This is what came in November's kit:

"Manly" cards

It was a challenge for me to make "manly" cards. These cards are the last of the 15 I made for a customer. It was a lot of fun and I felt myself getting out of my creative "box". She gave me some paper to use.

This has a "girly" flair to it...I promise I tried my best. Haha!

I'll talk more about this card later. But for now: Do you see that cardboard type paper that is toward the bottom? I tore that and put it under the strip of paper. I see a lot of ideas using that kind of paper (even digital).

It looks like there's a shadow on the left side of the card, but that's actually the paper. This was my first time using Stampin' Up!'s Groovy Guava paper and ink. (Yes, this is kind of girly too...sigh).

More Cards

Another card made with the technique I showed below. The stamps are from a Stampin' Up! set called Priceless. You cannot see it so well in this picture, but on the bottom left corner the word "celebrate" is stamped in silver metallic ink and it's covered with a black organdy ribbon. I love the elegance of this card!

I was into the "grundge" look the day this card was made. It was also the first time I played with eyelets in a long time.

Pretties!

Recent Cards

These are the two cards we made at my stamping party this last weekend.

The directions for making the center snowflake is found at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/fauxmetal.php.
Stamp set is Snow Burst from the Holiday mini-catalog.

This card was used with the marble technique. Take an empty plastic stamp container, put 2-3 drops of each color reinker (we used 3 different colors) into the container. Put 3 or more marbles into container; close. Shake around and then transfer marbles to an empty plastic container with a sheet of paper already inside. Shake again; take out paper and you have a neat background design.

We added more things to this card, but this was my demo that I didn't quite finish. Brown ribbon, a stamped word such as "Happy Thanksgiving" in brown, and color to the pumpkin stems were added.

Stamp set is Autumn Harvest from Holiday mini-catalog.

The Beach

I bought special paper just for these pictures that were taken when we went to the beach this summer when I was in Michigan. I usually scrapbook in time order, but I couldn't wait to do these pages. Both of the background papers are shimmery.

My step-mom, Kelly, took these pictures. They are super cute...because of the super cute kids in them! Ha! The pink flower in the upper right corner is Stampin' Up! chipboard that I rubbed on an ink pad to color it pink. Then I doused it with glitter and stuck a green-colored chipboard circle in the center of the flower. The round circle with the flower of it in the middle of the page is the same thing, except without glitter, but with a rhinestone brad in the middle.

Preparation and fun!

As a demonstrator, I am often asked what I like to use best to color when it comes to stamping, making cards, and scrapbooking. My personal favorite is markers, but not just any markers, Stampin' Up! markers! I earned this whole set last year and have enjoyed coloring with them.

Here are a few reasons why I like these:

1. You can color directly onto the stamp, huff on it (to moist) and stamp it. It's fun for those stamps that you want to be different colors.
2. You can color in the lines just like you do with regular markers. (or you can color outside of the lines...whatever suits you best!)
3. You can write with these markers. There are two sides. One side is the marker and the other side is a "pen".

In September we went to the Grand Canyon. These are some of the things I purchased just for scrapbooking the pictures we took. I'm excited to get started! I like to put things together in a pile (usually on the floor) to prepare for upcoming scrapbooking.

New Toy

Stampin' Up! color caddy here we come!! Yeah! The stamp pad holder Quent made me no longer held all of the stamp pads, so I had to upgrade. (I'll have to find another use for the wonderful holder he made me). I had my eye on this product for a long time and finally gave in and bought it. I also have the extender kit attached here that a friend got me for a 1/2 birthday gift. (Thank you!) This is one great way to store stamp pads.

Card Flair

I was hired by someone to make them cards. Here are a few of the cards.


These flowers were orginally white. I dyed them using Stampin' Up! ink pads. I just put them on the pad and rubbed the color on until it was all colored. It took them awhile to dry. It was super fun making them and they add such a pretty embellishment to the card.

This was fun!

This looks blurry, and it's cut off. (oops!) My favorite stamp set is Doodle This by Stampin' Up! I don't usually use patterned paper on my cards, but I did for this card. It adds a lot to it.

Simple, but pretty.