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.

Congrats To The New 2011 My Little Shoebox Team!

I want to extend my congratulations and kudo's to all the wonderfully talented ladies that made the new 2011 design team for My Little Shoebox.  I was not one of the lucky ones chosen this time, but by golly I'll keep trying.  I just love MLS, so now I'll take the opportunity to share what I created for their design team call.  Perhaps when this time comes around again next year I'll be able to create with some of their current lines.  All I had left were scraps from some of their older collections, but I made them work and really like how they turned out.  Thanks for stopping by and congrats again to the new team!!

This is a chore chart I made for my little girl.  The flowers stick perfectly to the strips of felt.

Super Score!!

It seems as though I've been most lacking in my blogging skills this past week or so.  I've actually had quite a few projects that I'd love to share, but haven't been able to quite yet.  I also think that facebooking and blog hopping has taken up way too much of my time lately!  Anywho, I just had to come on here and brag a little about my latest super score.  My sister works at a lovely spice shop and they happend to have all these great glass jars, normally used for spices, that they needed to get rid of.  Well, good 'ol sis was thinking me (thanks again sis!!) and snagged a bunch of boxes of these wonderful gems.  I was so tickled!!  I got three whole boxes full! After running them through the dishwasher, it didn't take me long to figure out what to stash in them.  I decided to organize my ribbons and flowers by color.  Now it's so much easier to find what I need instead of surfing through a big ziploc bag full of ribbon scraps.  Plus it just looks so darn pretty!  What a score I tell ya and it made me a happy girl!

Jenni Bowlin's Be Our Guest Crop

So did any of you fine scrapper's out there join in on Jenni Bowlin's online crop last weekend?  It was a great crop with games and some timed challenges.  For the rest of the challenges, everyone was given until today to finish as many as they could.  Let me tell ya, there were some great challenges posted that got you thinking of all sorts of great ideas!  I wish I could have done them all, but there was no way to fit them all in.  These are the ones I was able to complete though.

Jenni Bowlin, DCWV, Paper Trunk.

I did this layout for the timed challenge that kicked off the crop.  We only had an hour to complete a layout and had to incorporate a favorite quote.  This was a real challenge for me since I am usually a very slow scrapper and like to take my time.  I totally freaked out and my hands shook trying to work faster than I was used to, but I managed to get it done even though the paint on my rose was still wet and I had to staple it to my layout, hahaha.

DCWV, Core'dinations, Jenni Bowlin.

The next timed challenge was to create a card with something dangling and you also only had an hour for this one.  I actually had less time since I woke up late and the challenge had been started on east coast time.  I had fun with it though, and it was a good way to get the creative juices flowing first thing in the morning.

Next up are the layouts I did for the challenges that we were given until today to complete.

Celeste's Sketch Challenge.  My Little Shoebox, American Crafts, Jenni Bowlin.



Becky's Photo Challenge : use as many photos as you can.  Jillibean Soup, Basic Grey, and My Little Shoebox, Tim Holtz, America Crafts.

I really wish I could have done more of the challenges, but I'll be sure to hold onto those extra challenges as jumpstarts for my next layouts.  Thanks to Jenni Bowlin and  her design team for hosting such a wonderful online crop!!