Magpie Club May Sneeky Peeky

Did you know that the fabulous Magpie Club is relaunching it's kit club with an all new embellishment kit, as well as a main kit and a project kit?  Well, now you do and I'm here to show you some enticing little sneek peeks =)  I hope you're feeling spunky and creative cause May's new embellishment kit is WILD!  In fact it's theme is "Where the Wild Things Are".  How fun does that sound?!  It was so much fun to work with and there are plenty of little bits and bobs in there for me to create even more!  I love these sort of one of a kind treasure kits!!  The full reveal will be on the first so stay tuned for that and check out the blog at www.magpieclub.blogspot.com

Thanks for hanging out with me for a few mintues.  I hope you'll come back by to see the full layout and lots more inspiration from the rest of the new Magpie Club Design Team!!

The New 2011 Helmar Hotties...

Today is the day that Helmar announced their new design team. I'm so thrilled and over the moon to announce that little 'ol me made the team!!  I'm so honored and congratulations to the rest of the team,  I look forward to working with you all!  Here are the projects that I submitted with my DT application.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'm so excited to share my happy news that I've been sitting on for the past week.  There are some wonderful things coming in May, so stay tuned =)

My Core’dinations Creative Frenzy

Well hello again blogger land! Have you heard that Core'dinations Cardstock is having a design team call?  I'm sure you've picked it up on the grapevine though as I've spied many great blogs with submission posts.  I'm taking my chances and hoping and wishing with my eye's pinched shut that I'll make this team!  Core'dinations cardstock is just so amazing and I certainly have been a very busy crafty bee and the title of this post explains it all!  Seriously, you should see my scrap space right now, there's obviously been some frenzied activity in there and I have my black pants covered in sanded paper dust to prove it too!  I love working with my stash of Core'dinations cardstock, it's so versatile and sturdy and so much fun to emboss and die cut.  I think my favorite would have to be the whitewash cardstock, or maybe it's just because it's Spring now and it feels so fresh to me.  Either way, I'm so happy to share with you all my submission work for the Core'dinations design team call.

For this first layout, please forgive me for all the close up pics.  I loved how this one turned out and I just couldn't pick which close ups I liked best.  I used whitewash and chocolate box cardstocks on this project and used my cuttlebug to emboss with the small polka dot pattern and then of course did some sanding.  The patterned paper, rub-ons, and stickers I used here are from the Basic Grey Nook and Pantry line.

Here I added a small heart punched for my Core'dinations cardstock to tie in with my heart stickers. The photo is matted in plain white cardstock and then placed on an angle on top of mat made from Core'dinations, and sanded around the edges.

On this photo I gave it a double mat, the bottom one being out of Core'dinations.  I then took my scoring board and scored a line around the mat to form a border.

I took this patterned paper, fussy cut it,  and then cut matching ovals of the same size from Core'dinations cardstock, then embossed, sanded, and added a touch of shimmery baby pink paint from Making Memories.

I added a frame cut from Core'diantions cardstock with my Cricut to bring attention to this cute little side title.  I also folded a strip of Core'dianations cardstock to make my mock ribbon accent.  First I crumpled it up in my hands to make it a bit more flexible.  Then glued it down with some Helmar 450 quick dry and secured it with the brads and added a paper rose also made from Core'dinations and embossed before rolling.

This layout is created with the American Crafts "Spring" collection and of course Core'dinations whitewash cardstock.  The base of my layout is the backside solid color of a piece of Core'dinations whitewash cardstock.

 I cut my Core'dinations cardstock into strips, gave them a really rough sanding on one edge, used my scoreboard to score lines in random spots and then layered the strips to resemble house siding.  I also cut small scraps, sanded and embossed them and then used Helmar Scrap Dots to give them dimension on an angle to mimic the bricks in my photo.  The lattice border is also made with Core'dinations and the little epoxy hearts were made using Epiphany Crafts shape studio tool.

This little card was a lot of fun to create!  I used my Cricut to cut out the card and bunny shapes using none other than Core'dinations cardstock :) I used two different types of embossing folders and sanded to reveal the core color.  I just love a blue and brown color combo!

This last layout is one I did recently, but not specifically for this design team call.  I had used Core'dinations cardstock for it though so I just wanted to share since I hadn't had a chance to post it on my blog quite yet. I used Core'dinations for my base paper, American Crafts "Spring" collection for the patterned paper, Cuttlebug embossing folders, the Cricut, and Epiphany Crafts studio tools to create the epoxy hearts and acrylic buttons.

Since I don't own a tool that would allow me to emboss a whole 12x12 sheet of paper, I simply took my cuttlebug embossing folder, opened it up and placed it underneath my paper and then just took my bone folder and started rubbing.  I then took my sander and revealed the core color.



Thank you so much for stopping by my blog to check out my design team submission!  I had a great time creating these projects and I hope my designs delighted everyone enough to earn me a spot on the fabulous Core'dinations Cardstock Design Team!  I love feedback, so please let me know what you think.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Gigi By The Sea Shore

Hi there, this time I'm sharing a layout with one of
Paper Trunk's older lines called "Gigi".  When I was surfing through my papers I
immediately stopped at Gigi because it was a perfect match for the soft sky
blues in the photos I was working with.  These pics were taken on one of the
many shores of the Puget Sound.  It was a perfect match and I thought it
lended a bit of a nautical feel, especially when I added some handmade paper
beads.

The flowers are
preprinted on the paper, but I wanted to add a bit of dimension.  All I did was
take my Helmar acid free glue, trace around the flowers, then lay down some
twine. Since the glue dries so nice and clear I didn't have to worry too much
about my glue lines and if they were a bit messy.

For my birdie here,
I took a chipboard bird from Maya Roads and then layered some borders punched
from the "Gigi" collection that I inked and glued down with my Helmar acid free glue.  Then I just turned it over and took my xacto knife to cut away the excess.

I love the soft
shade of blue in the "Gigi" collection, it reminds of blue skies in the Spring
and Summer and I hope that Spring has reached to where you are in the world! 
Thanks for stopping by and may blue skies come your way!



A Bookmark How-To

Sometimes I like to take a break from creating layouts and do something different like an altered project.  Recently I've been wanting to get back into reading.  I use to be able to tear through a novel in just a couple days, it was something I really enjoyed, but for some reason (maybe due to parenting and being consumed with everything crafty) I've let that joy slide out of my life.  So to get me in the mood to pick up a book I decided I'd make myself a cute little bookmark.  I used some Jillibean Soup and Pink Paislee patterned paper, Core'dinations cardstock, Paper Trunk alpha stickers, a Pink Paislee brad, an eyelet and some ribbon.  You'll also need some paint, plain chipboard, an xacto knife, and some strong glue like Helmar's 450 Quick Dry Adhesive. 

First, cut two pieces of your chipboard the same size.  I made mine 2"x6" and also cut a strip of patterned paper the same size.

Next, cut circle out of the center of your patterned paper.  Allign it over one of your chipboard pieces and trace the circle with a pencil.  Then using an xacto knife, cut out circle from the chipboard.

Cut a circle of coordinating patterned paper and glue it to the bottom piece of chipboard.  Glue your other piece of patterned paper to the top piece of chipboard (the one with the hole you just cut out)  Use a glue like Helmar's Quick Dry Adhesive.  It has a super strong bond and drys fast so you can keep working!  Now you can glue your two sides of chipboard together to form a double layered bookmark.  This will give you some extra dimension as you'll see in a moment.

The next step I took was to cover the backside of my bookmark.  I had a scrap of core'dinations cardstock that I had already embossed and sanded.  I had it lying around from a previous project and wanted to use it except it wasn't the color I wanted.  So I pulled out some paint and changed my paper to a green I liked.  I also discovered a new tip and use for your old dryer sheets.  They make great throw away painting tools.  It's super easy and almost like a dry brush technique.  All you do is wad up your dryer sheet, dip it in the paint, and then rub it on and voila you have a custom colored accent or cardstock!  So from now on I have a jar that I'm statshing all my used dryer sheets in.  They make for great cleanup and fast work!

Okay, now flip your bookmark over and use some of the same paint to dry brush around the circle to give your design a punch of color.  Because there are two layers of chipboard here, it gives you some extra dimension making the circle reset a bit.  When the paint is dry you can add your alpha sticers.  I used Paper Trunk's "Benny" alphas.  For a little fun element I used a brad from Pink Paislee to replace the "o" in the word "spot".  I didn't want the prongs to show on the back of my bookmark, so I snipped them off and used my Helmar 450 Quick Dry again to glue down my brad.

Next, I cut out this cute little owl and used a Helmar Zapdot on the back to give it a little lift as it sat in the recessed circle of the bookmark.

Then I just finished it all off with an eyelet punched and set at the top and a ribbon tied on.  I also used one of Jillibean Soup's corrugated letters to add my initial on the back with a touch of matching green paint.



Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my one and only true love and hubby, Jay!!  You ROCK sweetie!!

Cardstock: Core'dinations, Patterned Paper: Paper Trunk "Rockabilly", Button: Paper Trunk, Imaginisce Glam Rocks, Stamp: Stampin Up, Embossing plate: Cricut, Ink: Clearsnaps, Brads: unknown.