Oct 27 2010

Mid-Week Inspiration – Oct. Challenge #4

We have a couple of awesome projects to show off for our mid-week inspiration today! We hope this will inspire you to play along. And remember, our challenge participation requirements have changed. In order to be eligible for our awesome monthly prizes, you must only participate in one of our weekly challenges (although the more you play along, the more chances you have to win!)

For more information about October challenge #4, click here. To view all of our open challenges, use the drop-down menu in the right sidebar, and choose “Challenges”. You have until October 31st to participate in the October challenges. :)

Our first mid-week project is from October Guest Designer Krystle Thomas.

For this layout Krystle used prompts 1 and 3:
1. Include a photo of yourself preparing the dish, or a photo of the completed dish.
3. Make a copy of the original recipe, or hand write the recipe on a card and include it on your layout.

Sponsored supplies used:

Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Midnight Black 12×12 80#”
Papers and embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”
Stamps: For the Luv of Art “Favorite Things Stamp Set”

Additional supplies used:

Paper and Embellishments: Jenni Bowlin;
Embellishments: My Mind’s Eye ribbon, Prima rhinestones;
Paint: Ranger Stickles “Black Diamond;
Tools: Tim Holtz alpha die
Pen: Sakura “Glaze Pen”

Our next yummy layout comes from Kas Mello!

I am not sure this is my all time favorite recipe but it was given to me by a dear friend. She was quite ill at the time, but had made this for me knowing how much I LOVE zucchini and squash. Not long after this, we lost her in a car accident, but I will never forget her loving heart. She had gotten the recipe from the paper and made me this copy when I told her how much I enjoyed it. Thanks Melanie!

The flower is made from wax paper which I got in my Gauche Alchemy Wholly Sheets kit. It is edged with Copic Marker. I also used the marker to highlight the wrinkles that I crushed into it. The Copic worked quite nicely on the wax paper. The paint design on the paper was made using Gauche Alchemy Punchinella as a mask.

“Favorite Recipe Challenge”
Kas chose the following options in hers:
3. Make a copy of the original recipe, or hand write the recipe on a card and include it on your layout. (this is the one handed to me)
4. Use cardstock as your background, but ink, stain, paint, or color-spray it to make it unique.
5. Use a shape punch or border punch somewhere on your page.”

Sponsored supplies used:

Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Posh Chocolate Felt Cardstock 80# , Intense Yellow Prismatic Cardstock 70#, Surf Blue Translucent Vellum 27#”
Papers and embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “Mixed Media Color Kits: Lady Marmelade Orange, Blue Streak, Banana Hammock Yellow,” “Ouchless Cardboard,” “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit,” Kitsch Delish Paper Craft Mixed Media Kit,” “Wholey Sheets Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit,” “Punchinella“;
Stamps: For the Luv of Art “HeART Stamp Set”
Paint : Plaid “Apple Barrel: Pure Bronze #20763, Cobalt Blue #20596”

Additional supplies used:

Adhesive: Glue Arts “Pro-Glider: Perma Tac,” Beacon “3-in1”
Ink: Colorbox “Fluid Inking Chalk: Amber Clay, French Blue, Yellow Citrus”
Markers: Copic “Y08”

Oct 24 2010

Design Team Reveal: October Challenge #4

Our fourth and last October challenge is all about those beloved recipes handed down from friends and family, and the comfort food that always reminds us of home and happy times. Our design team has whipped up some delicious pages to inspire you.

Don’t forget – you can click on the images below to see them much bigger so you won’t miss any details.

Be sure to see the post directly below this one for this week’s challenge, and entry instructions. Remember, our participation criteria has changed – you only have to participate in ONE challenge per month to be eligible for our sponsored prizes, but the more you enter, the more chances you have to win!

For added convenience, click on the links provided in the design team supply lists to be taken directly to the Discount Cardstock online store, as well as our monthly sponsor’s shops. There, you can purchase the exact cardstocks, papers and embellishments used in our projects!

Be sure to subscribe to our fun & informative monthly email newsletter for more challenges, inspiration, and subscriber-only goodies! Sign-up is located in the right side-bar.

Sponsored supplies used:

Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Clove Felt Cardstock 80# 12×12,” ” Brilliant White Cardstock 80# 12×12”
Paint, stencil, adhesive: Plaid “Apple Barrel: Vanilla Ice Cream,” “Simply Stencils Value Packs: Damask,” “Mod Podge: Paper” & “Mod Podge: Matte”
Vintage ledger, book & sheet music paper, lace trim, nylon thread: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”
Stamp: For the Luv of Art “Sweet Ollie stamp set”

Additional supplies used:

60s fashion paper: Chronicle Books “Hemlines: Mix and Match Stationery”
Alpha stickers: October Afternoon “Mini Market Stickers: Black & Cream,” Basic Grey “Max and Whiskers: Micro Mono Stickers;” Chipboard utensils: Cosmo Cricket “Early Bird: Ready Set Chipboard;” Felt accents: Basic Grey “Nook and Pantry: Woolies;” Sequins: Doodlebug Designs, Inc: “Flower Sequins: Rasberry Sunrise” & “Seabreeze;” Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts “Craft Punches: Monarch Butterfly Embossing Punch”

Journaling:

My wonderfully talented mom has always loved spaghetti; in our house, Italian food is pretty much a staple. What’s even better is Mom’s homemade sauce! It makes the meal.

Chosen criteria:

1. Include a photo of yourself preparing the dish, or a photo of the completed dish.
3. Make a copy of the original recipe, or hand write the recipe on a card and include it on your layout.
5. Use a shape punch or border punch somewhere on your page.

Techniques:

After stenciling and painting in my own damask pattern on a sheet of Brilliant White cardstock, I ended up loosely tracing over the designs with a black pen and then cutting them out individually, making sure to leave a white border around them. I then adhered the pattern to the Clove Felt cardstock to use as my base for this layout.

To soften the hot pink of the lace, I painted over it with Vanilla Ice Cream acrylic paint. A couple of layers allowed some of the pink to show through, just enough to give it a rosy tint and to better blend in with the other elements of my layout.

As in my October newsletter project, I customized my For the Luv of Art stamp set to suit my needs. This time, I took the tiny “You are my ♥” stamp and cut it apart to form the word “yum.” Again, because the stamp is acrylic, I can just piece it back together on an acrylic block and use it whole!

Not only did I have fun creating the layout for this challenge, the afternoon spent cooking up the recipe was totally awesome. Three of my aunts happened to be in town visiting my mother, so we all got together to create my grandmother’s Croatian Potato Salad recipe. Unfortunately I got so caught up in preparing the dish with them, that I forgot to take a photograph of them all together! Drat! But I did get a photo of my Aunt Sally doing her magical potato peeling trick for us.

For the additions to the challenge I included a photograph of the finished dish, as well as the hand-written recipe card that my Aunt Kathleen wrote out for me. After deciding on how I wanted to lay the page out, I realized that I needed a special place for the recipe card and didn’t want to permanently affix it to the page in case my daughters ever wanted to recreate the dish for themselves at some point in the future. So I cut the side off an envelope, adhered it to the layout and then adhered the dish photograph on top of the that. That created the perfect spot to put the recipe card, which I attached a bit of ribbon to, so the card can be pulled out of the envelope easily.

To incorporate our sponsor products for this challenge. I created the flower leaves from wallpaper that was included in my Gauche Alchemy kit, I painted a thin coat of Plaid’s Folk Art paint in Mettalic Peridot to give the leaves a bit of shine. I also embossed them and folded them to add texture to the layout. I added the stamped “Enjoy” from the For the Luv of Art “My Favorite Things” stamp set as well and colored it up a bit with a couple of Copic Markers. Discount Cardstock’s “Really Red” cardstock was the perfect mat for all my photographs too!

I also added a journal block to tell about the fabulous day I spent with my aunts and my mother cooking, as well as to explain where the recipe card is “hidden”.

Sponsor Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Really Red 80# 12×12”
Stamps: Plaid: For the Luv of Art “My Favorite Things stamp set”
Embellishments: (Leaves) Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”
Paint: Plaid: Folk Art “671 Metallic Peridot”

Additional Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink “Vintage Cream”
Patterned Paper: October Afternoon “Thrift Shop: Complete, Collector’s Item, and Needs Paint”
Ink: Ranger: Archival Ink “Coffee”
Embellishments: Papertrey Ink Grosgrain Ribbon: “Pure Poppy”, Webster’s Pages “Sparklers”, American Company: “Shipping Tag”, Melissa Frances: “Kitschy Kitchen Chipboard”
Other Tools: Copic: Markers: “BG11 and R29”, Fiskars: Border Punch, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and envelope, ProvoCraft: Cuttlebug and “Swirls Embossing Folder”.

I guess I started using this recipe about 12 or 13 years ago. On Christmas morning, we always went to my in-laws for brunch, and my mother-in-law made her traditional brunch. As Shane grew, we decided to start staying home for our own traditional brunch. And that’s what this quiche is. I make it every single year. I also use this recipe when we have company. It’s so easy, quiche, and it’s a press-in-the-pan crust. No rolling pin!! REally don’t you think it looks yummy?

I have used three of this week’s options in my layout:

#1 – I used a photo of the finished dish that was taken last Christmas; #3 – I die-cut a fancy recipe card using my Slice Bon Appetit card and hand-wrote the recipe for the layout; #4 – I used kraft cardstock for my background. I so seldom do that! It was fun to paint it using the big circle mesh. I let the mesh dry and added that to the page as well. The splatters in the corners are from an All Night Media background stamp. I love that one!!

Can I tell you a secret? I have really been challenged this month designing for Better Living Through Scrapbooking! I am not much of an ephemera girlie, but these challenges have helped me grow and learn more about myself as a scrapbooker. I truly appreciate that about BLTS, and I hope as you go through the challenges you learn more about yourself, too!!

Sponsored Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Kraft 80# 12×12, Really Red 80# 12×12″
Stamps: For the Luv of Art “My Favorite Thing”s stamp set, Plaid “All Night Media: Splatter Background stamp”
Papers and embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “Punchinella, Kitsch Delish Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”
Paint: Plaid “Apple Barrel: Antique White”

Additional Supplies Used:
Embellishments: American Crafts “Chocolate Ribbon”; Making Memories Slice “Bon Appetit design card” Colorbox “Chestnut Roan ink”

Let me introduce you to my BEAUTY!!! My Beautiful Gorgeous Banana Cream Pie. I love this pie so much that I made two of them for my family, but this one got it’s cameo. I’m so proud about how high my meringue is too. The funny thing is that I don’t even like meringue. In fact it reminds me off of cow slobber. But, my family loves it and I love them! They really loved this challenge because I spent all day in the kitchen making pies for them, LOL!

Sponsored Supplies:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock: “Classic Magenta 12×12 80#”
Adhesive: Plaid “Mod Podge: Dimensional Magic”
Stamps: For the Luv of Art “My Favorite Things stamp set”
Embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “ACME Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”

Other Supplies Used:
American Crafts- City Park Collection:12×12 sheet Courtland Gardens (Glitter) (2-sided)
American Crafts- City Park Collection:12×12 1 sheet Lincoln Park (2-sided)
American Crafts- City Park Collection:12×12 1 sheet Fairmont Gardens (2-sided)
12×12 sheet American Crafts Mulberry Cardstock
American Crafts – Thickers – Glitter Foam Alphabet Stickers – Rainboots – Aqua American Crafts – Thickers – Glitter Foam Alphabet Stickers – Rainboots – Raspberry Martha Stewart Crafts – Edge Punch – Optic Dot
BasicGrey – Opaline Collection – Pearls – Heart Trio Half Pearls

Oct 19 2010

More Challenge #3 Inspiration!

Today, we have two special projects created using prompts from our October challenge #3 – the “Recycle, Reuse, Renew” challenge!

First, from October Guest Designer Krystle Thomas:

“I completed my layout for the third challenge (recycling), which I have attached here. My layout is about enjoying beautiful New Mexico.”

For this layout I used prompts 1 and 2:
1. Use corrugated cardboard or other recycled packaging on your page.
2. Find fun or unusual items around your house and use them as elements on your page. Playing cards, clothing tags, junk mail, broken jewelry, old greeting cards or postcards, buttons and/or material from old clothing, advertising magnets, pins and keychains, and blooms and/or leaves from discarded plastic floral arrangements are just a few ideas.

Sponsored Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Midnight Black 12×12 80#”
Corrugated Cardboard, Scrap Fabric, and Tickets: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Craft Kit”
Stamp: For the Luv of Art “My Favorite Things” stamp set by Norma Kennedy

Other Supplies used:
Paper: Crate Paper “Prudence Collection”; Ink: Tsukineko “Brilliance” Inks; Paint: Ranger “Dimensional Pearls”

To see more pages by Krystle, be sure to visit her blog!

Next, a page from Renee Lamb of the For the Luv of Art design team!

Renee used recycled items, along with tons of awesome products from the For the Luv of Art shop to make this fun & vibrant layout.

For more of Renee’s beautiful work, visit her blog!

Oct 17 2010

Design Team Reveal: October Challenge #3

Our third October challenge gives a little shout out to our awesome planet, and reminds us to take care of it. It’s often easy to get caught up in all the brand new scrapbooking products available, but don’t forget – there are lots of great items to use on your pages already in your home. We encourage you to look for recycled or reuseable products to scrap with. Check out what our design team created this week using the “Recycled, Reuse, Renew” challenge!

Don’t forget – you can click on the images below to see them much bigger so you won’t miss any details.

Be sure to see the post directly below this one for this week’s challenge, and entry instructions.

Be sure to subscribe to our fun & informative monthly email newsletter for more challenges, inspiration, and special coupon savings from Discount Cardstock! Our newsletter sign-up form is in the right sidebar.

For this challenge, I used corrugated cardboard for the background paper and then beautiful lace for a splash of color. I used Plaid Dimensional Magic on my title alphas to give them added pop and shine!

Sponsored Supplies:
Cardstock: Discounted Cardstock “Brilliant White 80# 12×12, Key Lime Green 65# 12×12”
Adhesive: Plaid “Mod Podge Dimensional Magic”
Stamps: For the luv of Art Stamps “My Favorite Things Stamp Set”
Corrugated Cardboard and Lace: Gauche Alchemy “ACME Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”

Other Supplies:
Alphas: American Crafts Thickers Chipboard Hocus Pocus in Black

Sponsored supplies used:

Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Orchid Cascata Felt Cardstock 80# 12×12, Ocean Blue Cardstock 65# 12×12, Orange Vellum 27# 12×12, Key Lime 65# Cardstock 12×12, Really Red Cardstock 80# 12×12”
Paint: Plaid “Apple Barrel: Vanilla Ice Cream”
Vintage clothing pattern, vinyl wallpaper border, corrugated cardboard, playing card, jewelry charms, “n” & “t”: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”
Stamps: For the Luv of Art “Sweet Ollie stamp set”
Adhesive: Plaid “Mod Podge: Paper”

Additional supplies used:

Alpha stickers: American Crafts “Thickers: Poolside – Cricket Green”
Chipboard teacup: Cosmo Cricket “Early Bird: Ready Set Chipboard”
Paw print & milk bottle stickers: American Crafts “Remarks: Catnip Glitter Accents & Phrases”
Lion & “Tasty Homemade” embellishments: Via http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/

Journaling:

Be watchful when making powdered milk: There could be a Stumpy afoot! He’s so cute when he uses his paw to reach in & pick up chunks of milk to eat. He’s sneaky & always in the kitchen when food is being made.

Chosen criteria:

1. Use corrugated cardboard or other recycled packaging on your page.
2. Find fun or unusual items around your house and use them as elements on your page. Playing cards, clothing tags, junk mail, broken jewelry, old greeting cards or postcards, buttons and/or material from old clothing, advertising magnets, pins and keychains, and blooms and/or leaves from discarded plastic floral arrangements are just a few ideas.

Technique:

The naturally aged, vintage pants pattern provided in the Gauche Alchemy kit is perfect! I knew I wanted to showcase it up front and center. Its light tan color and very thin weight made it function somewhat like vellum — you could see through it. I chose to give the Orchid Cascata Felt an aged look by layering the pattern on top and sandwiching a piece of cut out vinyl wallpaper border between, which you can see in the lower left hand corner. I used plenty of Paper Mod Podge to stick everything together; first, a layer of Mod Podge on top of the cardstock, to which I stuck the vinyl and smoothed it out, and then another layer of Mod Podge on top of the vinyl and the dried cardstock, to which I stuck the pattern. Because the pattern paper is so thin, it’s easy to tear, especially when moist — be careful! And embrace the little wrinkles and lines you’ll get as a result of smoothing it out. It adds wonderful texture. A little bit of Apple Barrel Vanilla Ice Cream paint and my background was good to go!

I thought this challenge was perfect for a card, so that’s the project I wanted to bring you this week. I used corrugated cardboard to make my flowers (option #1). After I die-cut them I gave them a thin layer of Sparkle Mod Podge. Have you ever worked with it? I LOVE that product from Plaid! Who doesn’t like to add a little sparkle?! Now that twine is from my kitchen. I normally use it for tying meats, but it worked perfectly on my card (option #2). I also used staples to hold the twine in place (option #4). I think they give a nice look to a vintage-type card.

I thought about my grandma the whole time I made this card. The paper is Graphic 45 and comes in the Gauche Alchemy Kitsch Delish Mixed Media Kit. The coffee pot on the paper reminded me of my grandma’s egg coffee that she percolated on her stove. Such a nice memory!

Sponsored Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Really Red 80# 12×12”
Stamp: For the Luv of Art “My Favorite Things stamp set”
Papers and embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit, Kitsch Delish Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”
Paint: Plaid “Mod Podge: Sparkle”

Additional Supplies Used:
Embellishments: Recollections “Rhinestones”; Foo Fa La “Red Buttons

For this layout I decided to use old books pages to make my flower embellishments and use part of a paper bag that I received when I bought a cute stamp from an Etsy shop. I also used corrugated cardboard letters for my title and vintage paper from the Gauche Alchemy kit (one of our fabulous Better Scrap sponsors this month!). I also stamped images (from our Plaid sponsor) onto plain brown packing paper that comes in a monthly scrapbooking kit I receive. I dug a few buttons out of my old button jar too… removed from clothing that was too worn out to donate.

I took this photograph of my sweetheart John, when we were visiting this quaint little “Heritage Village” (near the lakeshore in Michigan) while we were on our (much-needed) week-long golfing vacation. I have tons more fun photographs to scrap from that trip too… but this time, I just really wanted to do a layout about, “My Love”. Isn’t he just a doll?!!

The journaling reads, ” Thank you for “getting me”. For always being there for me. For loving me and understanding my moods. Thank you for being my love.”

Sponsor Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Midnight Black 80# 12×12”
Stamps: For the Luv of Art “My Favorite Things stamp set”, Plaid Enterprises, All Night Media “Ornamental Rubber Stamp Set”
Vintage Paper: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”

Additional Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink “Rustic Cream”
Patterned Paper: Crate Paper “School Spirit Collection: Chemistry” Cosmo Cricut “Togetherness: Making Plans”, My Mind’s Eye “Lost & Found: Market Street “Love” Beautiful Paper”
Ink: Zig Memory Systems: “Pure Black”, Ranger: Archival Ink “Coffee”
Embellishments: Button Twine: Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream Button Twine, Jillibean Soup: Corrugated Cardboard Alphas “Kraft”
Other Tools: Crop-O-Dile: Corner Chomper, Brads and Buttons from my stash, paper sack. packing paper

Oct 13 2010

A Goodbye, A Hello & Some Mid-Week Inspiration

As with any team, sometimes we have to say goodbye to faces we’ve come to love, and sometimes we get to say hello to shiny, new faces! This week, we are sad to say goodbye to Michelle Sanders. Michelle has had some wonderful opportunities arise, and is leaving us to begin this exciting new journey. We hate to see Michelle go and we will miss her fun and inspiring pages, but we’re excited for her just the same.

To fill the empty seat left by Michelle, we are very happy to introduce you to Kristina Harmon. Here’s a little bit about Kristina in her own words:

“Hi there, my name is Kristina and I am a 39 year old wife, mom, and nanny. I love doing paper crafts and have been scrapbooking on and off for years, but I started to get really serious about it a year ago. My days are filled with drool, bottles, diapers, cooking, cleaning, fur and of course crafting, but I couldn’t do any of it without coffee! I love being a part of the online crafting community, it provides me with so much inspiration and support. You can learn more about me on my blog called Kristina’s World.”

Here is the layout that Kristina made for this week’s challenge, the “About Me” challenge.

This layout was a lot of fun, however finding a picture with just me in it was a challenge! Making the title out of letters cut from a magazine was something I had never considered doing before, but I love the result and it couldn’t have been easier. I have a feeling that will be something you might see from me again in the future. I also really enjoy having my own handwriting on the journaling spots. I think it is important to leave samples of it behind for my family, present and future, something that I hope my family will treasure forever.

Supplies Used:
Card stock: Bazzill; Paper: Basic Grey “Kioshi” collection, Sassafras “Pocket full of Rosies” collection; Tools: Cricut “Accent Essentials,” Dymo Letra Tag Label Maker; Buttons: Stampin Up “Brights” collection; Alphas: cut from magazine; Divider tab: Avery; Misc: 1″ Circle Punch, Generic index cards for journaling; Foam adhesive dots: Stampin Up

Kas Mello served up the following fabulous page for this week’s challenge!

Sponsored supplies used:

Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Surf’s Up Seaside Cardstock 65#”
Papers and embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit, Kitsch Delish Paper Craft Mixed Media Kit, Blue Streak Mixed Media Color Kit, Lady Marmelade Orange Mixed Media Color Kit, Scarlet Fever Red Mixed Media Color Kit, Banana Hammock Yellow Mixed Media Color Kit, Punchinella,”
Paint: Plaid “Apple Barrel: Pure Bronze, Folk Art: Metallic Blue Pearl,”
Stamps: For the Luv of Art “HeART, Plaid “All Night Media: Typewriter Alphabet,”

Additional supplies used:
Adhesive: Glue Arts “Pro-Glider: Perma Tac,”
Ink: StazOn “Jet Black”

Oct 11 2010

For the Luv of Art Tackles Challenge #2!

The delightful ‘For the Luv of Art’ designers are back again, and this week, they are taking on BetterScrap Challenge #2 – the ‘About Me’ challenge. Check out their beautiful and inspiring pages below, and then stop by the For the Luv of Art online store to purchase the fab kits and supplies they used to create these brilliant page layouts!

“Snapshot of Me” by JulieAnn Shahin
Visit Julie’s Blog here!

“My New Gig” by Carrie Farrier
Visit Carrie’s blog here!

“Risk” by Jessica Wilson
Visit Jessica’s blog here!

“True Colors” by Renee Lamb
Visit Renee’s blog here!

Oct 10 2010

Design Team Reveal: October Challenge #2

Our second October challenge is all about YOU! As scrapbookers, many of us spend so much time behind the camera lens, photographing and scrapbooking memories about our kids and our family that we forget to photograph and scrapbook ourselves. This week, our designers show how much fun it is to scrapbook a page “all about ME!”

Don’t forget – you can click on the images below to see them much bigger so you won’t miss any details.

Be sure to see the post directly below this one for this week’s challenge, and entry instructions.

Sponsor Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Midnight Black 80# 12×12”
Stamp: For the Luv of Art “My Favorite Things stamp set”
Papers and embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “Ouchless Cardboard 12×12”
Paint: Plaid “Apple Barrel: Light Leaf Green, Satin Cream”

Additional Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink “Vintage Cream”
Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup “Coordinating Old World Cabbage Soup”
Embellishments: Ribbon: Papertrey Ink Saddle Stitch “Spring Moss”, Button Twine: Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream Button Twine
Other Tools: Sizzix Flower Die Cut, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher with Staples, Fiskars Top Crest Border Punch, ProvoCraft Cuttlebug with Swirls Embossing Folder, Brad and Button from my stash.

When this challenge came up I was really stumped as to what I wanted to do, it felt like I had done a lot of layouts that had something or other to do with me (more than I had done in all my years of scrapbooking). So as I sat down to work on this project, I began thinking about why I scrapbook to begin with and with that in mind, this is the layout that was inspired from this week’s challenge. “It’s not all about me!”

I also chose several of the options that went along with this challenge. I used a photograph of me , wrote the journal about myself and why I scrapbook, and I used staples (a traditional office supply) to secure my ribbon to the layout.

To incorporate our amazing sponsor products, I painted the Gauchy Alchemy cardboard with Apple Barrel paints and highlighted the journal block with the pretty rose stamp from the My Favorite Things stamps set.

To add a little something extra to the layout, I also created an easy handmade accordion flower as an embellishment. For the record, I do believe this is the most photographs I have ever included on a one-page layout before.

Sponsored Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Clove Felt 80# 12×12, Patriot Blue Linen 80# 12×12, Surf Blue Translucent Vellum 27# 12×12”
Stamp: For the Luv of Art “My Favorite Things stamp set”
Papers and embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”
Paint: Plaid “Apple Barrel: Burnt Umber, Antique White”

Additional Supplies Used:
Paper: Close To My Heart “Serendipity”
Embellishments: Close To My Heart “Outdoor Denim Ribbon, Prisma Glitter, Chocolate Ink, Chocolate Brads, Dimensional Elements – On Target “; American Crafts “Thickers: Chit Chat – Chestnut”; Creative Imaginations “Creative Café – Chipboard Shapes”; May Arts “Ivory Wrinkled Ribbon”

I found this challenge rather difficult to do. I am not used to doing layouts of myself! Oh, I am in many layouts of family events, etc., but this was all me! I started a book that is just about me, and I hope this week’s challenge will inspire you to so the same!

I used all five options this week. My office supply is a paper clip, and I attached a flower on top that I cut from my patterned paper. The paper flowers were die cut from a book page that came in my Gauche Alchemy kit. You’ll see some dark brown flowers hidden amongst the others. They were raw chipboard flowers that I painted to match. I also painted the hearts and then gave them a good dose of glitter!

Journaling reads: “What did I want life to be like at 48? I was very goal-oriented in my 20’s. I think I accomplished enough of what I wanted to at that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself over the years and understand now that sometimes goals have to be shifted to meet the circumstance. Now there are wrinkles on my face, and I carry extra pounds, But I am what I hoped I’d be on the inside. I’m happy, over-the-top in love with my husband, proud of my son, and I love my ever-changing life. That’s a pretty good 48 to me!”

Sponsored Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Clove Felt 80# 12 X 12”
Papers and embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”
Stamp: Plaid “All Night Media: Splatter Pattern Stamp”
Paint: Plaid “Apple Barrel: Apricot”
Adhesive: Plaid “Mod Podge: Matte”

Additional Supplies Used:
Paper: My Mind’s Eye
Embellishments: Lucky Girl Crafts Kit alphas, Making Memories journaling tag
Ink: Close to My Heart
Misc: Felt flower, button, twine

Criteria I chose for this one was to include a photo of me, use an old page from a book, journal about something life changing (my infertility issues), and to use office supplies (tag and twine).

I loved this All About Me Challenge. I really had to think about something that defines me as a person at this stage in my life. For me, at 41, that was that I have finally come to accept my infertility. I always knew that at this stage of my life I would be a mom, driving kids to and from football practice. We’ll, I’m a teacher of third grade students and an Aunt (Nee Nee) to six incredible kiddos. I’m not technically a mother, but my life is very blessed and fulfilled. I’m in a very happy place at 41!

Design Team Reveal: October Challenge #1

Our first October challenge is all about favorite colors – and these colorful page layouts and projects created by the BetterScrap design team members are sure to become favorites of yours!

Don’t forget – you can click on the images below to see them much bigger so you won’t miss any details.

Be sure to see the post directly below this one for this week’s challenge, and entry instructions.

Supplies used:

* Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Kraft 80# 12×12, Clove Felt 80# 12×12, Pink Mulberry 8 1/2 x 11”
* Vinyl: Gauche Alchemy Acme Kit
* Paint: Plaid Apple Barrel Victorian Green
* Vellum: Colorbok Friendly Forest Collection
* Fleece: American Crafts Fieldhouse Blue Skies
* Bird stamp: All Night Media by Plaid
* Banner, heart & “eE” stamp: For the Luv of Art “Sweet Ollie” Stamp Set
* Ink: Rubber Stampede
* Brads, sticker & journaling spot: Crate Paper Season Collection
* Bird, flower & leaf die cuts: Colorbok Blue Skies Page Kit
* Punchinella, tickets, chipboard letter “R” & plastic “G” & “N” game pieces: Gauche Alchemy Acme Kit
* Adhesive: Plaid “Paper Mod Podge, Sparkle Mod Podge“, Elmer’s Craft Bond Glue Dots
* Other: Thread

Journaling:

Green has been my favorite color for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I always had to have green everything. If my brother & I got the same toy, mine had to be green. Now, I associate it w/ calm feelings & nature. I guess that’s part of why I like it so much. It’s been a constant in life & always calms me down.

Chosen criteria:

2. Take a photo of something you love that is in your favorite color, and use it on your layout.
4. Create hand-doodling somewhere on your page.
5. Make the name of your favorite color a prominent part of your title.

Techniques:

For my background, I used the credit card technique with my paint. In case you’re not familiar with it, it’s exactly what it sounds like: I squeezed paint directly onto the bottom edge of an old plastic card (used gift cards work great for this!), and then smeared it against the Kraft Cardstock.

The For the Luv of Art stamps are so cute! Instead of just making a plain brown cardstock banner, I stamped the image in brown on a sheet of Light Pink Mulberry, cut the banner out, adhered it to the Clove Felt Cardstock, and then applied a coat of Sparkle Mod Podge over it. The same idea applies to the hearts. When finished, I had really pretty handmade embellishments to cut out and use!

Speaking of the stamps, to complete the word “Green” in my title (which is a play off the Aerosmith song “Pink,” by the way!), I needed a couple of “E”s — which is exactly what I found in the “Sweet” stamp, so I inked up them up and used them out of context! You can get so much more mileage out of your stamps by thinking about and using them in different ways. You can even cut acrylic stamps into pieces and use them that way; just piece them back together on an acrylic block if you want to re-use the whole word/image. Happy stamping!

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Sunflower 80# 12 x 12“; Stencil: Plaid Simply Stencils “Hip Floral”, Plaid Apple Barrel acrylic paint “Apricot”, Plaid “Mod Podge Sparkle” (inside the heart, on the butterfly and flowers); Stamp and Punchinella: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Kit”; We R Memory Keepers floral paper, Die Cuts with a View Nana’s Nursery (plaid paper), CTMH yellow heart paper, All Night Media splatter stamp, Sakura White Jelly Roll Pen, CTMH orange pen, Prima (blooms and alphabet), Misc. buttons, twine, ribbon, butterfly.

Criteria used:
I journaled to my favorite color, yellow, as if I were speaking directly to it, I told her why I love her and just what she means to me. I also chose to add some rounded corners with the floral paper. I used some hand doodling with a stencil and I included YELLOW in my title. I must say this is a challenge that I LOVE, it has inspired me to scrap more of my favorites to include in my book of me!!!

Techniques I used are to paint the All Night Media stamp with Apricot paint and stamp directly onto the page with ink. I love this!!!! I also chose to not ink the edges of my pages, but rather paint them with a sponge. This gave such a fun soft effect! I also used the sparkle Mod Podge to paint the inside of my heart and add just a touch of bling to the butterfly and flower. Did you notice my ribbon flowers? Those are just leftover pieces of ribbon that have been folded lengthwise, crisscrossed, and attached with a brad.

For this challenge I chose to do an inspiration mini journal based on my favorite color. Since my favorite color is yellow the cute little vintage book pages in my Gauche Alchemy kit was perfect! I used that as my inspiration and went from there!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Discount Cardstock “Brilliant White 80# 12×12“; Cardboard & embellishments: Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Kit”

Prompts:
Journal speaking directly to your favorite color
Use rounded corners
Use hand doodling (journaling was my “doodle”)
Make the color part of your title

Hmmm…my favorite color. I know what my favorite color is, but I wanted to show you something vibrant, something bright. Wouldn’t you love to see bright pink, maybe a purple, or sunshine yellow? However, the truth of the matter is that I love brown. All things brown – no matter what shade – make me feel peaceful inside. So I am bringing you a layout that is somewhat unconventional for me, but definitely highlights brown!

Plaid is one of our sponsors this month, so I wanted to show several different ways to use paint on a layout. The base sheet is a kraft cardstock, and I painted the edges. If you look closely, you’ll see that I also stamped a splatter stamp on my base and on the corrugated cardstock. I stamped with paint. It gives my layout just a little more texture, I think. That huge leaf is actually a stencil. After painting it, I put some dimensional magic here and there to give it some shine. Do you see the interesting bits and pieces on my layout? How fun are they? They are from another one of our monthly sponsors, Gauche Alchemy, and I am crazy about all these types of embellishments! I used old book pages and a simplicity pattern to make the flowers.

I sprayed the book pages (and the tickets) with Coffee Shop glimmer mist. Once I created the darker flowers, I randomly applied dimensional glaze and some antique bronze stickles. I aged the simplicity pattern flower with chestnut roan ink. Using Norma Kennedy stamps (yet another fabulous sponsor!), I created the journal spot and stamped on the lace. I have to tell you, the black lace is what wrapped my Gauche Alchemy package! How pretty is that!! I’ve used two options this week on my layout . First, I rounded the corners on the journaling tag and secondly, I used the name of my favorite color in my title on that journaling tag.

Plaid Products: Apple Barrel acrylic paint “Burnt Umber”, Mod Podge “Dimensional Magic”, Simply Stencils “Fresh Foliage” Stencil, Art Materials “Spouncer Set”, All Night Media “Splatter” Stamp

Gauche Alchemy “Acme Mixed Media Paper Craft Kit” Products: Ouchless Cardboard, Book Pages, Simplicity Pattern, Pin, Tickets, Lace

For the Luv of Art products: “My Favorite Things” acrylic stamp set

Discount Cardstock products: “Kraft 80# 12×12″

Other: Fancy Pants Buttons, Colorbox Chestnut Roan, Tattered Angels Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist, Ranger Antique Bronze Distress Stickles

I combined the products from our sponsors, Discount Cardstock, Gauche Alchemy, Plaid and For the Luv of Art Stamps with some products from my own stash to create this layout featuring my favorite color shades of Aqua Blue. I also chose to round the corners of my accent paper, use the color I featured in my title and journaled about the color (sort of) as additions to this Favorite Color challenge.

I started this layout by using Discount Cardstock in Aqua Ice Dust. Plaid’s Apple Barrel Paint in Cloudless is absolutely my favorite color from their beautiful paint line, so I knew that I had to add it to my layout. I sponged the paint onto the Gauche Alchemy tag and also used it to paint the white Prima flowers that adorn the bottom of the layout. As a base for the flowers, I cut three scallop circles from vintage paper in the Gauche Alchemy kit, which I thought was the perfect addition to add a little something extra to the flowers. I created the journaling block using one of the stamps from the For the Love of Art Stamp set and some Hawaiian Shores ink, one of my favorite shades of ink.

As a final touch, I created flowers in my favorite color, added ribbon and lace and some patterned paper that featured my favorite color as well.

Supplies Used:

Plaid products:
Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint “Cloudless”

For the Luv of Art Stamps: “My Favorite Things” stamp set

Discount Cardstock: “Aqua Ice Dust 80# 12×12″

Gauche Alchemy: “Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit”

Other Supplies:
Papertrey Ink: Hawaiian Shores Cardstock, Perfect Match Hybrid Ink, Hawaiian Shores Ribbon, Vintage Buttons and Leaf Ribbon
We R Memory Keepers: Vintage Blue Patterned Paper
Websters Pages: Bloomers
Mark Richards: Crystal Stickers
Cosmo Cricut: Ready Set Chip in Fairy Tales

Other Tools: Corner Chomper, Sizzix Flower Die Cut, Paper Shapers 2 inch Scallop Punch

Oct 3 2010

BetterScrap October Prize Offerings

It has happened yet again! We have so many WONDERFUL prizes to give away this month, we had to list them in a post of their own! We have an unbelievable selection of goodies to give away this month. What do you have to do to win them? Simply participate in all four of our October challenges (instructions on how to enter are located at the end of each weekly challenge post.) So without further ado…

Daylight™ Company

We have an absolutely incredible prize to give away from Daylight ™ Company!

Love colors just the way they are. Daylight™ technology not only reduces eye-strain; it gives you the best colour matching ever. With full spectrum Daylight™ technology, your eyes will still be fresh at the end of the day! No headaches, no red-eyes, working under Daylight™ becomes as relaxing and natural as a walk in the park. All Daylight™ bulbs and tubes use 80% less energy. When you work with your lamp, you reduce your electricity bill and do your bit for the planet.

Daylight’s™ popular portable lamp now comes with an ingenious Easy-Twist™ shade for maximum light angle & maximum work space! The ‘Easy Twist’ shade has been designed by Daylight ™ to give you the ultimate spread of light across the whole of your work area. This means you can achieve the best colour matching ever with the sensational light delivered by Daylight’s™ 13w energy saving tube. The lamp itself is lightweight and designed to fold neatly away, making it very easy to transport. Now for the technical bit – this top lamp boasts even more practical features, all designed to make sure you craft in comfort. The lamps detachable base makes it extremely stable and with Daylight™ technology there is absolutely no strobe effect so eyestrain is reduced and potential headaches are eliminated.

For the Luv of Art

Norma Kennedy, owner of the For the Luv of Art web site and online store, is offering the following prize pack for one lucky challenge participant. This generous prize pack includes three acrylic stamp sets designed by Norma. In addition, there is a 15 gift certificate to the For the Luv of Art online store, so you can add to your stash!

Watch the Better Living Through Scrapbooking blog during the month of October for fabulous ideas using the For the Luv of Art stamps. The BetterScrap designers will be using these stamps on all of our October challenge projects. Also, the talented For the Luv of Art design team will be participating in our weekly challenges. Look for their projects, which will be revealed each Monday during the month of October!

Gauche Alchemy

Gauche Alchemy is another of our BetterScrap sponsors for October. Be on the lookout for their vintage paper products and eclectic embellishments in our project reveals during the month!

Gauche Alchemy has provided us with a fun “Nature Calls” paper crafting kit to give away, jam-packed with wonderful papers and goodies, including lots of the signature Gauche Alchemy vintage paper goods and items.

Dragonfly Buzz

Sylvia Feller-Dow, owner and designer of DragonflyBuzz stamps, has donated this gorgeous set of vintage-inspired, Halloween-themed red rubber stamps for one of our October winners.

Be sure to check out the DragonflyBuzz shop at Etsy for more unique and fun vintage-inspired pressed red rubber stamps. These stamps are extremely high-quality, with intricately detailed designs, and are foam-mounted on hardwood handles. You won’t believe the extremely reasonable prices for these truly beautiful and unusual stamps!

Better Living Through Scrapbooking

Because scrapbooking is cheaper than therapy!

Tag Archives: For the Luv of Art

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