I AM WASHABLE

This is the latest layout I have done. It was really hard to get a good picture of this, so it looks much better in real life.

Stamps: Wanted, Pick A Petal, Boho Friend wheel, Spiral Bouquet (Papertrey)

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Palette Canvas and Burnt Umber

Paper: CLose To Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate, DCWV DP- Pocket Full of Posies stack, plain transparency

Accessories: punches- 5 petal, spring bouquet. Cuttlebug with scalloped circle nestabilities, paper piercing tool, flexible ruler from Bo Bunny, white gel pen, Crop-A-Dile, large eyelets, rhinestone brads, flower shaped brads, coluzzle puffy? letter template and cutting system

I first cut out all of my transparency letters with the coluzzle system, then before finishing cutting them out, I stamped on the transparency with the Canvas Palette hybrid ink, then the brown, heat setting each color.

Then stamped my background images on the cocoa paper in Choc Chip and Canvas ink. Used white gel pen to add dots to the Boho friend stripes.

Then I stamped the petal imageds on the DP and cut out the petals. Glued them together the way I wanted then, and put the large eyelet in the center. I later used a red rhinestone brad to attach the flower to the page. The smaller flowers are all sponged with cocoa and the edges are distresed with choc chip marker. layered then attached with flower shaped brads. I then decided to add faux stitching white stems. I made a nice curvy line with the flexible ruler and penciled in the stems, then paper pierced and then erased the pencil and drew in stems with white gel pen.

The scalloped journaling spots are cut out of Purely Pomegranate paper withj the Cuttlebug and a Nestabilities die, sponged with cocoa, and stamped with pomegrante ink for a subtle backgorund.

I used Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue to adhere the transparency letters to the page, worked great.

I guess I have discovered that I really enjoy making my own page accents, and as you probably have already noticed, I love the shabby chic look!

Here is a close up of the right side page. Journaling on both pages reads:

Charlene and Gabby went for a walk in the woods, which is a common occurrence since we have 80 acres of nieghbor's land next door. As you can see, the girls found mud... And what do we do with mud?

We roll in it! Or rather we dance & play in it, strategically smear it on our bodies, carefully avoiding the shirt so Mom won't get mad, then come home and take pictures of our muddy selves! Of course, you had to make sure Mom and Dad saw all the fun you had too....

Another project for February meeting

I am actually getting my projects lined up well ahead of time this time! Last time, I threw together 2 of the projects the day of the meeting, one right before the party at Elli's house! This is a card using one of me favorite new sets, Embrace Life. I think you will love it too!

I used river rock and soft sky with whisper white paper. The river rock is not this green in real life! I think it looks very elegant. The leaf branches are embossed white white EP, and colored in with wild wasabi.

New and Improved!

Ok, I couldn't take it. My layouts were too boring. They really needed something, so I had to change it up a little. So far I have only changed to Boy one and here it is.

I added Old Olive and Really rust stars and strips, and white matting around the pictures, the title and the journaling. I think it looks so much better now. My husband says I am simply impaired : I can't do anything simply!

I had to add the close up shots so you can see the stamped detail on the backgrounds. I hope my small star punch gets here before our next club meeting, which it looks like will be on February 8th.

2 Page Layout for Next Meeting

I just finished putting together a 2 page layout for next month's meeting and I am posting it here so you can find pictures to go on it and so you can let me know which color scheme you would like to do.

This is done with Not Quite Navy and Bayou Blue paper with Versamark and Not Quite Navy ink. The stamp sets I used were Starstruck and Wanted.

This one is in Lovely Lilac and Almost Amethyst paper with same ink and Versamark and Silver embossing powder and white ribbon. I used Carte Postale and the matching wheel on this layout.

As you can see, I used black and white photos for these layouts, and it works well with these colors. You can try this if you would like also! The left side will take 2 5x7''s or 4x6's or a 10x6" photo. The right side will take a 4x6 or 2 2x3's on the upper part and 1 or 2 or more 2x3's. There is plenty of space left for journaling and titles in a variety of places. Let me know what you think.

Stamp/Scrapbooking Retreat

At the end of our last club meeting, Elli suggested to me that I put together a retreat. This is something I have thought about before but was unsure of the interest I would get.

There is a place we can get locally that has 4 bedrooms, sleeps up to 13, 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen, a tv area, and a large open area that they supply with tables and such.

I think we could do this for about $55/person for a Friday night thru Sunday at noon. We would need at least 10 people, for 6 people it would be 75/person. This is just the cost of renting the place, I am not charging anything for teaching a class or anything. Here is a link to the website.

The owner also offered the place for rent, I'm guessing for about $5/person for the evening, for us to use for our monthly meetings. The whole no cleaning, tables provided, etc. sounds good to me if anyone is interested in this. We will only do this if everyone is in agreement as we are each committed to spending at least $15/month in product already.

Let me know what you all think. I'm excited about having a retreat. Elli and I went and looked at the place, and it is very nice, and I know we all could use a Girls Weekend!

The Slacker Returns!

Ok, ladies. I am now going to try to return to the world of Stamping! I apologize, again, for not posting anything in so long!

We just had a lovely club meeting at Elli's house and created a 2 page 12x12" layout in a winter theme in either a boy or a girl color scheme. I used :

Stamps: Snowflake Spot

Paper: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Always Artichoke

or

Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa

Ink: Real Red, Always Artichoke, Creamy Caramel, Versamark

or

Purely Pomegranate, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Versamark

Accessories: Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue (my new favorite!), tape runner, Wheel Guide, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, heat gun, Photo Corner punch, paper piercing tool with Mat Pack, White gel pen, Real Red or Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, Cuttlebug with Snowflake embossing folder and die

We were all covered in glitter but it turned out adorable!

We also made sour cream tube candy holders in a Valentine's Day theme with the Happy Heart Day stamp set. So Fun! And we made an all occasion card using True Friends stamp set.

Last month we were at Renae's house and we made a cute little mini album (tutorial from Nichole Heady on her blog here, thank you so much Nichole!)

And the Votive Surround, at last! The tutorial for this is here on my blog.

We also made gift tags with Tags for All stamp set and mailing labels, super fast and super fun!

I am reorganizing my stamp/scrap space, cuz the hubby found a used corner desk for $5, and it even matches the wainscoting in my great room! He also brought home an exam room light, rolling drawers that will hold some of my 12x12 paper, and desk top organizers that are now holding my scrap paper in an organized fashion so I can actually find it and not have to waste! It still looks cluttered, but it is my creative space. Creativity is MESSY!

Happy New Year!

Wow, can you believe it is 2008?! Our little group has been meeting for 5 months now and it seems to be growing! GOOD FOR US! I am sorry it has been so long since my last post, but I can imagine that everyone else was just as busy as I have been. I haven't really had time to do any real stamping, just using some of my own previous ideas for gifts. If anyone has a project that they have done and would like to share with here, just email it to me and I will post it. It would be fun to see some of the projects made after a stamp club meeting, wouldn't it?!
I have decided to try to get published in the Creating Keepsakes magazine with a layout or 2, so I can't post them here, but I will share at our next meeting. I doubt I will succeed, but doesn't this sound like a fun goal for this year?