February 10 Challenge @ Scrap Our Stash and Tutorial

I got another Peru layout finished! This one is a two-pager about our second day of hiking through the Andes Mountains in Peru. If you're interested in seeing more pages about our trip I have finished, click here.

At first I didn't know how I was going to get all these good photos included in the layout. Do you ever have that thought that 12x12 (much less two of them) just isn't enough real estate? Eventually I figured out how to trim enough to make 10 of the photos to fit but yet still tell the story of the hike. As you might notice, we had a variety of weather on the second day: from being hot from the sun to rain and cold (like my yellow poncho?).

This layout is for the February challenge over on Scrap Our Stash, a new challenge blog I found helpful in getting me to do scrapbook layouts.

A Little Tutorial:

If you're interested in knowing how I did the scalloped shapes in this layout, here's a little tutorial.

1. Start with cardboard shape of your choice. I got this one at Michaels in their $1 bin as a little mini album, but I just wanted to use the shapes separately.

2. I cut the shape in half because I was trying out where I wanted it for the layout (but this is optional).

3. On the backside of the paper, trace the shape.

4. Cut out the shape following your traced lines, but cut a little outside the lines.

5. Glue the paper to the shape. It should be overlapping the shape.

6. Use a distresser tool to go around the edges of the shape. This folds and cuts the paper around the shape.

I wish to thank you for stopping by! Hope to see you again....

DETAILS:
Paper - Solid (Martha Stewart), Patterned (K&Co, Colorbok)
Title - Font (Markerfelt), Die-cut (Silhouette)
Embellishments - Buttons (Stash), Cardboard Shape (Michaels)

Working Girl Card

I decided to get one of my stamp sets from Christmas inky today. This stamp set is Who's That Girl - Digital Girl from My Favorite Things. I think this set is a fun take on the working girl. Maybe this girl on my card is Barbie as a Computer Engineer....at least maybe I'd like to think so. And as I'm a computer engineer that likes to stamp, I figured the sentiment was perfect. I put the working girl in a cube, but made sure that she's had a little fun and decorated it with a little framed picture.

This card follows the Tuesday Morning Sketches color challenge, The Pink Elephant's sketch challenge, and has paper piecing (love to paper piece!) for Joanne's Blogaversary challenge. I love having a sketch to follow for layouts or cards and the colors just came as a continuation of Who's That Girl's dress and fancy shoes. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (Martha Stewart, DCWV), Patterns (K&Company)
Image - Who's That Girl - Digital Girl (My Favorite Things), Ink (Colorbox - dragonfly), Technique (paper piecing)
Embellishments - Border punch (Fiskers)
Sketch - The Pink Elephant #55

Tuesday Morning Sketches Guest Designer Week 4!

Can you believe we're already into week 4 of February? I sure can't. Today marks my fourth and last week as a guest designer at Tuesday Morning Sketches. It's been a great month and very fun to go "behind the scenes" of a challenge blog. I now have greater respect for those that put up such great challenges and moderate their design teams. It's a lot of work! Melissa of Tuesday Morning Sketches has been absolutely fabulous and very organized. I don't know how she does it week after week, but she's great at it. :)

So this week's Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge is a little different. We're doing a color challenge this week! The colors this week are Chocolate Chip, Light Orange and Vanilla. Our sponsor this week is InfinimentScrap. Be sure to check them out sometime this week.

Here is my card. I decided to use Waltzingmouse Stamps for this little project. I had not gotten my little house scene stamp from Claire's Irish Blessing set inky yet. Shame on me! I thought the stamp did well on its own with Colorbox cocoa ink and didn't need coloring. I think this lets the card keep to the color requirement better too. What do you think?

With that, I have finished my guest designer role for February. It has been a great experience. Thank you, Melissa! Look for me participating in this great challenge blog in the future. And I hope you consider playing too.


DETAILS:
Paper - Orange Solid (Bazzil), Brown (Wausau Papers), Vanilla/Cream (Paper Factory)
Image - Irish Blessings (Waltzingmouse Stamps), Thinking of You (Studio G), Ink (Colorbox - cocoa)
Embellishment - White Gel Pen (Sakura), Dimensionals on sentiment
Sketch - Get Sketchy 26

Waltzingmouse Stamps Customer Blog Hop!

Hello! I'm excited to be a part of the Waltzingmouse Stamps Customer Blog Hop today! You should be coming from Julie Masse's blog if you're following along the hop. If you didn't, be sure to start at the very beginning at the Waltzingmouse Stamps blog to find the entire list of participants and to see Claire's project. Then I hope to see you back here. :)

This is my first blog hop and I'm happy to be showing my project using Claire's great stamps. I have been a fan of Waltzingmouse Stamps since finding her blog in September. I fell in love with Sewing Box Christmas in the September release and one of that set made its way to my mailbox soon after. I used the set throughout the Christmas season with great success.

As Sewing Box Christmas is my first and only set so far, I had to get a little creative when it came to making a Spring project for this hop. I came up with a little something though. I was inspired by Claire's own real Easter tree she did for the latest release and decided to make a mini version fit for a card!

Using the little tree from the set I stamped the image in ColorBox cocoa ink and then embossed it with clear powder. I then set to making my little "Easter eggs," which are the tiny heart negatives from my Martha Stewart Heart Lace border punch, just modified a bit. I went with various pastel scraps in my stash. I've seen many nice projects on kraft paper lately, and thought I would follow suit, so as to let my "eggs" stand out more. Finished the card off with a little ribbon and my own handwriting sentiment and there you have it. :)

I hope you enjoyed your stop at my little blog on your way through the hop. Your next stop is Helen Berry, who I bet has a wonderful Spring project to share. And remember, if you get lost along the way, head back to Waltzingmouse Stamps for the complete list.

Thanks again for stopping by! And thank you, Claire, for a fun experience!

DETAILS:

Paper - Kraft Cardstock (Wausau Papers)

Image - Sewing Box Christmas - Tree (Waltzingmouse Stamps), Ink (Colorbox - Cocoa), Embossing Powder - Clear (A La Mode), "Easter Eggs" (Stash papers), Adhesive (Martha Stewart ballpoint glue pen)

Embellishments - White Gel Pen (Sakura), Ribbon (Target), Corner Punch (EK Success)

80's Layout

Hot off the presses comes my entry for the Sketchy Thursday Guest Designer challenge. As it had requirements of colors (pink, black, white) and an 80's theme, I figured this would be the perfect time to scrap my cousin's 40th birthday party. It too had an 80's theme...how perfect, right? The photo in this layout is my cousin's sister, my mom, myself, and the birthday girl all decked out in 80's gear. A fun party even though it also made me feel old because I was born in the 80's!

The sketch for this challenge offered some fun elements with five circles to accent the one picture. Armed with my JustRite circle stamper, I jazzed up my circles. I'm proud of myself for using my stamps in this layout because sometimes it's hard to remember to use stamps for cards AND layouts.

DETAILS:
Paper - Patterned (Making Memories), Solids (DCWV)
Stamps - Circle Border (JustRite), Celebrate (Studio G), 40 (Autumn Leaves)
Embellishments - Ink (ColorBox), Border Punch (Fiskers), Ribbon (Target)
Sketch - Sketchy Thursdays

Peru: The Kids!

I finished another page last night for my Peru Honeymoon book. This page's inspiration was the cute Peruvian kids we saw along our trek across the Andes on day 2. Armed with crackers from the local market, they were always happy to see tourists along the trail. I found it interesting that they would be up there by themselves or just in small groups tending to a big flock of sheep or llamas for their family. And they always had sandals on! And here we had to bundle up in many layers...we were such wimps. (That's probably what they thought of us...haha)

I used the latest Sketchy Thursday sketch for my layout. I added in a colorful circle of Fancy Pants paper to go with the kids' colorful dress but yet went with a neutral main page color to make sure it stood out at the same time. I enjoyed showcasing the photos in this type of a sketch. I did have to add a little bit of button bling in the corner just cause. :)

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (Stash - colors, Martha Stewart - off white), Patterned (Fancy Pants All Fall "In Line")
Embellishments - Alphabets (American Crafts Thickers), Buttons (Joanns), Alpaca (cut from a handmade card we got in Peru)
Sketch - Sketchy Thursdays 2.11 Sketch

Tuesday Morning Sketches Guest Designer Week 3!

We're into the third week of February! Can you believe that? It seems that February just started!

I'm coming off a very fun Valentine's Day weekend with my husband, where one of my presents was a handmade card by DH himself!!! I am so special. He worked at my desk while I was away (he shooed me away) and created this beautiful card, even finishing the inside! He also enjoyed his card and mailbox that I had ready for him.

  

Also, while we usually spend a lot of time together at home on the weekends, this past weekend just seemed even more special. While I know others are getting dumped on with lots of snow (not something that I miss in the slightest), here in California we got some nice spring-like weather on Saturday. We were supposed to be working on our iPhone app but it was much too nice to stay inside ALL day!

So we went on a bike ride around the Stevens Creek Trail by the south bay. The trail isn't that far from our house and when we left the busy road and started on the trail it felt as if we were in a different place. Definitely the way to forget that you're in the busy SF Bay Area! We even did some off-trailing and rode in some mud (his idea). Maybe not the best idea, but it was still fun. Here's a picture of DH showing off the mud on his elbow....

Anyway, you might be looking for my Tuesday Morning Sketch card....

Here it is! This week's challenge was a real challenge for me. I had to modify the sketch a little bit so that I made sure to fit in the great image of Audrey from The Stamping Boutique (this week's sponsor). As I don't get to use the color purple much in my projects, especially with my recent project of our Peru Honeymoon book, I thought it fitting to make everything purple for this week's card. All in all, I think the card turned out better than I thought it would. If you can't tell I'm a paper piecing girl and don't pull out my colored pencils very often. I am glad that I got to use some paper from my stash that has been there for quite some time. Thanks again to Melissa and The Stamping Boutique! 

Be sure to check out the challenge this week....it's the judged challenge so you'll want to do your best! A great prize is in store for the winner, the top 5, and then new this week is the opportunity to receive one of the DT's (including this one) cards for free! With those kinds of odds, who wouldn't want to play this week!?!

Thanks for stopping by...

DETAILS:

Paper - Solids (Martha Stewart), Patterned (Paper Pizzaz)

Image - Audrey With Pleated Dress Digi (The Stamping Boutique)

Embellishments - Coloring (Crayola Colored Pencils), Ribbon (Target), Button (Michaels), Twine (Joanns)

Sketch - Tuesday Morning Sketches #33

Swapping Sistahs! Part 4

Welcome to another post about the Swapping Sistahs! We're at it again with Ren-Yi providing the inspiration for this round of cards/projects.

This time we were charged with making a project around Ren-Yi's yummy chocolate lollipops and some assorted heart brads and eyelets. My DH found out I got chocolate in the mail and proceeded to eat one of them right away. It eventually came down to hiding one of them on my craft desk so I at least had one to make a card with. Boys and their chocolate! :)

To help me do this card I looked to Get Sketchy's latest sketch. The boxes offered many possibilities and seemed perfect to be able to showcase the chocolate lollipop. I used Basic Grey's Sugar Rush paper to accent.

Be sure to check out our other Swapping Sistahs projects on the right. :) 

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:

Paper - Patterned (Basic Grey Sugar Rush), Solids (Stash)

Embellishments - Ribbon (Target), White Gel Pen (Sakura), Brads (Ren-Yi provided)

Sketch - Get Sketchy #25

Love Park: Peru

Yet another Peru page complete!

This page features the Love Park of Lima, Peru, that we seemed to be drawn to a lot during our trip. We saw this same park no less than four times from various tours. It was the staple attraction each tour guide made sure that we saw when in Lima. We took each visit in stride and looked for new ways to photograph the elements of the park while we were there. One trip produced these fun photos as we explored the mosaic walls surrounding the main feature, The Kiss statue.

Only fitting to post this page this week, as they hold contests in this park around Valentine's Day in Lima. I bet come Sunday many Peruvian couples will be heading here to see if they can kiss the longest. It's a contest that has been a tradition since the park was dedicated on Valentine's Day in the 1970's.

I was inspired by Scrap & Stamp Saturday's Inspiration Challenge going on this week. The inspiration image had four boxed elements (hence my four pictures). I was also influenced by one of the design team's pages where she had text in the middle of her four photos. My stamp used on this page is one I got recently while being the guest designer for Tuesday Morning Sketches from DRS Designs.

DETAILS:
Paper - Patterned (ColorBok), Solids (DCWV and stash)
Embellishments - Thickers (American Crafts), White Gel Pen (Sakura), Heart Stamp Border (DRS Designs), Embossing Powder (A La Mode)

Caardvarks Wedding Card Challenge

I was interested in Caardvarks' CARDS challenge to make a wedding card for the chance to be published in an upcoming issue. I have a wedding I'll be heading to come the end of March, so I figured this would be a great opportunity to get ahead and create my card for the happy couple. 

I started this card with the stamp, which is from JustRite. As for the color, that just kinda happened as I went along. It was first going to be brown, but the silver embossing (and I'm a silver girl anyway rather than gold) was calling for attention to be used. Then the quest for the perfect paper to go along with my silver tag.  I found it in a DCWV mat stack I got when I wanted to try out a black/white card. For the record, this is finally my first one.

The result turned out better than I thought it would and I'm pleased to be able to give this card to my friends. :)

DETAILS:

Paper - Patterned (DCWV La Creme MatStack), Solids (Paper Imaginations)

Stamp - Mr. & Mrs. Stamp (JustRite), Embossing Powder (A La Mode)

CPS Love Card

I felt in the Valentine's Day spirit today and decided another fun love card was in order. This time I used the Card Positioning Systems sketch 153 as my inspiration. I also challenged myself to only use scraps, and it proved successful too!

A simple little card when it came down to it, but a fun way to spread just a bit more VDay love. :)

DETAILS:

Paper - Patterned (Basic Grey Sugar Rush), Red Solid from stash

Embellishments - Ribbon (Joanns), Embossing (Cuttlebug Folder, Swirls), Dimensionals behind heart

Sketch - CPS 153

Valentine's Day Mailbox

With the holiday coming up I knew I needed to get to work on finishing DH's present. Seems mean to work on it when he's at home by making him stay away from the living room, so I wanted to make sure to finish it before the weekend.

Thought this would be a great time to try out the altering of those little Target mailboxes found in the $1 section of the store. I saw all the threads on Splitcoast about them, so when I saw some on a trip to Target when they first put the Valentine's Day stuff out I knew I wanted to grab them quickly. Mountain View must not have too many paper crafters in it because there has been a little stash of them each time I go, but I'm happy with my four that I bought before. And with now learning how simple it is to alter these cute things, I just might finish up the other three in time for Vday.

So for this little box, I kept it simple as it is for my DH. Not too frilly, but yet still fun. :)

I packed in a little treat (the movie Juno come to mind?) too. I got a bunch of these orange tic tacs right after we watched the movie together and I get them occasionally when I see them at the store. With the mailbox as my inspiration I went on the hunt for a bunch more and have it full with them just like in the movie. Paired up with the card in the post before this one, I'm all set with DH's present!

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:
Paper - K&Company
Ribbon - Michaels
Mailbox - Target
Tutorial - http://emilygiovanni.com/?p=1520

Tuesday Morning Sketches Guest Designer Week 2!

Thank you everyone for your nice comments about my Tuesday Morning Sketches project for week one of my guest designer position. I'm back again in this post for my week 2 assignment. This week's sponsor is DRS Designs, with the offer to win a $10 gift certificate to one lucky participant in the challenge! Here's the challenge sketch...

This little card was time consuming but a nice change of pace for me. I wanted to check out what all this "sewing on cardstock" stuff was all about, and while I don't have a sewing machine, I thought hand sewing would work just fine. I do like the effect that my jagged little stitch does to the overall effect of this card, but SEWING BY HAND TAKES FOREVER! Add on top of that the bright idea to create my own patterned paper (with stamp H342 Open Heart Border) and paper piecing with Basic Grey Sugar Rush. This is one time consuming card....but it turned out even better than I expected and just how I was imagining it.

A fun part I like about this card is the ability to use one of my other DRS Designs stamps I got awhile back (A420 Tiny Frog). Also, I thought it only appropriate to have a little more fun by completing the inside of the card too.

One consolation for all this work on this card is that even if I did have a sewing machine, I don't know if I would have gotten all these stitches to come out like I did by hand. That circle was hard enough by hand! But I'm not afraid to try a new technique and maybe you'll see more sewing on my cards in the future...

Thank you to Melissa at Tuesday Morning Sketches for the great opportunity to try out this sketch and Cathy at DRS Designs for the stamps and sponsoring!

Hope you enjoyed your visit!

DETAILS:

Paper - Patterned Paper (Basic Grey Sugar Rush 6x6), Solid White (DCWV)

Stamps - H342 Open Heart Border and A420 Tiny Frog (DRS Designs)

Embellishments - Ribbon (Joann's), Dimensionals for circle (3M), Embossing Powder (A La Mode), Glue Pen Handwriting (Sakura)

Techniques - Sketch (Tuesday Morning Sketches #32), Paper piecing, Hand-sewn stitching

Papertrey Ink Challenge

Thought I would try the "paint by number" challenge over at Papertrey Ink. Nicole offered up the sketch, measurements of each paint-by-number section and the color palette. As the color palettes were determined by user name (mine being "lalybi"), I was charged with using the following:

This color combination was interesting, but doable. I think it turned out simple but cute. :) I decided to make this card a birthday card because I always need more of those in my stash as birthdays sneak up on me too often.

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (DCWV)
Embellishments - "Happy Birthday" Stamp (Studio G), Border Punch (Fiskers), Dry Embossing (Cuttlebug), Ribbon (Michaels)
Techniques - Papertrey Ink "Paint By Number" sketch/color combination

Tuesday Morning Sketches Guest Designer!

Woot! If you can't guess by the title of this post, I'm the guest designer over at Tuesday Morning Sketches for the month of February! Melissa asked if I would be on the team for this month way back in November and I've been looking forward to it ever since. :)

Today kicks off my first design team project for Tuesday Morning Sketches. Here's the sketch:

And here's my interpretation:

I thought this sketch went perfectly for a little purse project that I've wanted to do ever since I found the directions here. This is the second little purse that I made and they are just so fun to do. I do find that what makes these great is that the base is merely one full sheet (no cutting) of 12x12 paper. My goal was to find a two-sided 12x12 that allowed me to embellish the sketch on the outside but still be fun on the inside. Here's a picture of the inside:

I love how this Martha Stewart paper has the cross hatch on the outside but then polka dots on the inside. :) The directions are quite simple to follow. My first one had ribbons around the long sides like the directions show, but for this one I wanted to make sure to focus on the sketch elements. The other side has the sketch flipped with another red flower. Velcro self-adhesvies finish the deal and now I have a little purse gift bag for something fun for a friend for Valentine's Day, how great is that?

Now it's your turn. :)

I'd love if you would join me over at Tuesday Morning Sketches for this week's sketch. There's a great prize in store from KL Stampin N Scrappin (two stamps!). There's also much more inspiration on what to do with Melissa's sketch from the Tuesday Morning Sketches DT and the KLSS DT, so check it out here.

Being the guest designer this month is very exciting! Melissa has lots of fun lined up this month and I can't wait to show you my next projects. Thanks for coming by!

DETAILS:

Paper - Martha Stewart Cross Hatch/Polka Dots, DCVW Solids

Embellishments - American Crafts Striped Ribbon, Petaloo Flower and Bling Flower, Pebbles Brown Ruffle Ribbon, White Gel Pen, Self-Adhesive Velcro Tabs

Sketch - Tuesday Morning Sketches

Purse Directions - Found Here