A Few Simple Fizz Projects!

Here are a few simple Fizz projects that I made recently!


On this card, I simply stamped the images and trimmed them out to adhere to the card! I used these supplies:

• # Club Scrap: Fizz 01/07 Dark Pink, Light Pink Black & Silver Paper and Fizz Unmounted Borders & Backgrounds Stamps;
• Stewart Superior - Palette Noir Black Ink Pad;
  

This simple book, along with other color schemes, is one of the Spring-themed bookmaking projects that I will be teaching on April 7th, 10Am-12PM in Beverly, MA! It's a very low cost project that won't even take half of the time! So if you'd like to attend, just email me and tell me what time you'll be there! I'll have more stamps, stencils and die cuts available for you to decorate your books with!

On this version of the book, I used my Niji Waterbrush & Adirondack Ink Pads to watercolor the tulips! I also used the following supplies:

• Club Scrap: Fizz 01/07 Light Pink & Silver Paper, Salsa 11/03 White Paper, Matte Board, Niji Waterbrush, and Bookbinding Glue;
• Ranger: Seashells Ink Pad in Tropical Raspberry, Sea Brights in Watermelon Red & Citrus, and Adirondack Ink Pads in Meadow; (Please note that the Seashells and Sea Brights are being re-released as Adirondack Ink Pads.)
• Offray Pink Ribbon;
• Sizzix: Paper Sculpting Tulip 38-1118;

When Chipboard & Paints Come Out to Play!

Something got into me this weekend! I had some great new paisley chipboard pieces, felt flowers, and ribbon from Scrapbook Takeout's newest Passion for Paisley March Kit plus a renewed desire to scrap with Club Scrap's Paisley paper after last weekend's banquet... and then a few of the great Ranger Adirondack Dabbers with their seals still in place?!? AND Scrapbook Takeout was holding a Cyber Crop, complete with fun challenges like using NO patterned papers and using a mishmash "Alphabet Soup" for a page title... What else was a girl to do but scrap!

Supplies Used:

• Club Scrap: Refresh 3/7 Beads; Color in Black & White 4/6 Copper Paper; Paisley 3/6 Coral & Burnt Orange Paper and Overlay Stencil; Painted Desert 5/5 Sand Paper; Let Me Count The Ways 2/6 Aqua Paper;
• Scrapbook Takeout: Passion for Paisley 3/7 Kit's Fancy Pants Big Board Chipboard in Paisley, American Craft Sadie & Annie Felt Flowers, American Crafts Downtown Orange Ribbon;
• Ranger: Frosted Crystal Antiquities Pad; Raisin Adirondack Pad; Lettuce, Aqua, & Copper Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers;
• Additional: JoAnn Metallic Mini Brads in Copper; Beadery Elements Hemp Jewelry Cord #2774H; Nicole's Metal "S", Making Memories Alpha Charms; EK Success Alpha Brads; Maya Road Dingbat Chipboard;

Techniques Used:

• I masked off half of the paper and used Direct-To-Paper (DTP) to white wash the bottom 2/3 with the Ranger Frosted Crystal Antiquities Ink Pad. Then I used the Aqua Dabber to stencil the paisley motifs onto the same area.
• I also used DTP to tint more of the Paisley paper with Ranger Raisin Adirondack Ink Pad.
• I painted the chipboard and metal letters with the Ranger Dabbers, sanding the "S" free of paint. Also, I used a paintbrush and the opposite end of the paintbrush to dot and outline the flowers, frame, and paisley images as well as circular pieces of scrap paper.
• I traced the chipboard to cut the cover papers with, then cut slightly smaller than the tracing... off-centering the large paisley motif one!

Scrapbook Take Out's Cyber Crop!

I'm under the weather again, but trying not to let that stop me! Scrapbook Takeout is having a Cyber Crop all weekend long! (Today is the last day, but images can be posted through midnight EST tomorrow!) We've been having a blast with all kinds of silly games, door prizes, and 15 awesome challenges!

I believe the only challenge that remains will be the one for children, hosted by my own daughters! It'll be posted at 2pm EST today! Definitely join in!

I'm going to list the inks from my "Name That Color" card challenge in the comments for that blog post! It was a blast, but I think noone was creating during that hour... just hunting Ranger's website and making a few new addicts of them!

Anyhow... here are a few of the challenge entries that I managed!

Club Scrap DigiGoodies Kit Refresh 02/07 Papers, Bambino Font, and My Kids' Photos by Me!

This layout was created for Francine's Ad Challenge using this page of an old O Magazine!

The text reads:

E - Easter Egg Hunt April 16th, 2006
The kids adored having their Easter Egg Hunt at Mimi & Papa's house this year! They bonded so well with Jordan & Jason! They also could no resist helping one another on their quests!

While they can squabble at home, they can't help but cooperate everywhere else!

Club Scrap DigiGoodies Ivory Elegance 12/06 Kit plus Xtra from Farmer's Market 10/06 DigiGoodies Kit; Girls Are Weird Font; Created for the "-tion" challenge where you needed to use a word ending in "-tion" as your title/theme.

Club Scrap Refresh 02/07 Greetings to Go & Fizz 01/07 Crazy About Fizz UM Stamps; Ranger NonStick Craft Sheet and Nick Banktock Sapmoss Green & Chartreuse Leaf Ink Pads; Angelwings Radiant Pearls Bitter Apple; Niji Waterbrush; Sizzix Hearts #38-0157;

This card was made for the altered die cuts challenge AND for a little girl's St Patrick's Day birthday! I layered die cuts, stamped on them, layered heart stamps, used monoprinting with water and ink, then water and Radiant Pearls!

Club Scrap: Painted Desert 5/05 Sand & Embossed Sky Solid Papers, Nature's Wonders 5/06 Daisy Stencil, Matte Board, Bookbinding, Padding, & Laminating Adhesive, ColorBox Stylus with Sponge Tips; Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads in Juniper, Lemonade, Peach Bellini, & Shell Pink; AC Moore: Bargain Ribbon;

I created this mini squash/explosion book for the "No Patterned Papers" challenge!

I made the bracelet using my own the Club Scrap Wheel & Sprocket 8/06 CSt Bracelet Project and a few other Club Scrap Beads. The layout used Club Scrap Digital Kit for Wheel & Sprocket 8/06 plus plus DekoSide Font.

This little digi layout was actually for an early challenge to do a layout of an object, no humans allowed! It is also made specifically for my 6x4 Kodak Digital Picture Frame!

Distress Ink Monoprinted Bookmarks by 1st Graders!

These bookmarks were created by my daughters' First Grade class! Each of the kids selected one color of my Club Scrap Cardstock Pieces first, then some stamps, and together we selected the ink colors, in the end, using nearly the complete line of Ranger's Distress Inks! We pressed each ink color on my Ranger Non Stick Craft Sheet and then misted the inks with water before the kids' pressed their glossy paper into the inks, then swirled, swiped, bent and striped it, etc until they were satisfied! (I helped cover a few white spots for them.) Then we ran adhesive across the backs of the inked paper and stuck them right down onto the Non Stick Craft Sheet and stamped over the papers with Ranger's Waterproof Archival Inks and Club Scrap Stamps! Then, while each child cleaned their fingers, I adhered the inked papers to the cardstock, laminating them all at home!

They did such a beautiful job! Each child selected one bookmark to keep and one to contribute to the Class Auction Project! They also each made Japanese Stab-Bound Mini Books last week and I'm going to bind one Writing Workshop story per child, with about the author pages, into a Hand Stitched Journal. Along with all of these handmade goodies, parents are contributing towards storebought books and book related items, some additional handmade surprises, and an unfinished wood nightstand bookcase! Rocky's Ace Hardware of Millis is also donating the winner's choice in colors for one quart of paint or stain and advice to complete the bookcase!

I've also donated a complete Mini Kit For a Cause Handmade 6"x6" Postbound Scrapbook with ALSB Layouts (ready-for photos) and accompanying cards, stamps, stencil, and more! This will be a separate auction item!

I've had such a blast working with the kids in the classroom, and especially loved the enthusiasm from some of the boys... including the extra twinkle when one worked with purples and pinks! So adorable!

I will also be making bookmarks (die cut shapes and possibly this same ink technique as separate options) at the Millis Girl Scouts Craft Expo on March 25th! It will be from 12:30-3:00PM at the Church of Christ, with a $2 entry fee for adults (children under 19 are free!), with plenty of crafts to make and buy as well as a full concession stand to benefit the Girl Scouts of our town! (We will even have extras of my daughter's homemade GS Cookie Inspired Chocolates for sale at our booth! Mmmmmmm!!)

The New Old Me (Rhapsody Layout)

My pants keep falling off because I've been losing weight! So, last night I bought a new pair and you know what... after seeing myself in the mirror, I looked so much more like the Me that I used to know! So, I thought it was high time for a new self portrait! It just so happens that a favorite top and this season's natural backdrop really made the photo blend so well with this month's Club Scrap Rhapsody 3/07 Kit!

Everything that I used, except for some inks and tools, came from my Sr Rhapsody Kit with both the Embellishment and Greetings To Go sides! I used the Sr 12x12 Rust Print, Blue Plain, Cream Plain, & Yellow Plain Papers, the Sr Antique Copper Blissful Pinwheels & Mini Brads, Aged Copper Photo Turns & Mini Brads from the Embellishment and Bead Assortment, a Cream Rolodex Tag from the Embellishment Tags & Cutouts, the It's All Good Stencil, the Rhapsody Brown Dye Ink Pad from the Greetings to Go, and the Belisa Plumilla Manual Font. Outside of the kit, I also used Ranger's Adirondack Ink Pads in Lemonade & Sandal, Ranger's Distress Ink Pad in Vintage Photo, and ColorBox's Stylus with Sponge Tips.

The smaller journaling reads:

I am actually starting to look like the old me, again! A little while back, with all the changes in my medications, etc, I managed to gain weight so suddenly! My doctor was concerned and sent me to the nutritionist... I have been trying to remember to eat like she told me and it has worked! I have already lost 22 of the 30 pounds that I had gained and I needed to go shopping for smaller jeans today! I have never cared much about weight/appearance, but I must admit that it is kind of neat to look into a mirror and see ME again!

A-Scouting We Will Go!

When I got this February's Club Scrap Refresh Kit, I immediately thought of Scouting! I think that the colors and designs of the kit really brought these Cub & Girl Scouting photos to life! Both of these digital layouts were published in the DigiRap Newsletter that went out with the February Club Scrap Digital Refresh Kits!

If there is an element in the DigiLayouts that your want for your own creation, just grab it! Copy any portion of the DigiLayout, edit out any stray marks or backgrounds and paste it right onto your original creation! In this layout, I used the "two thousand seven" sticker from DigiLayout number 16 on my design. I also used a free font, Do I Like Stripes?, as an alternate for the kit's font.

And, yes! That is an actual alligator that my son is holding! His name is Fluffy!!! Once I held him, myself, I got the name... his underside is so squishy, it's nearly fluffy! But, what a patient animal! After Sebek was done holding him, all of the other scouts, their siblings, and some parents took turns! Not one drop of annoyance or resistance to it! Did I mention, I love reptiles! And, since my son's name is that of the Egyptian Crocodile God, we had to take the photo op!

This little layout will be a title page for a 6x6 (or maybe 8x8?) Brownies album for 2006! I took this month's beveled alphabet and altered the colors and size. I used the scratchy frame transparencies (be sure to erase scratch marks from your children's faces.. and green ones from their pants... don't want everyone to think that they are grass stained!) to create my photo matte... and beveled it just for kicks!

I love this photo of my girls... we had just completed a Brownies' field trip class at a local Audubon site and decided to explore! There are some other delicious shots of them under a gigantic fallen tree, near overturned tree roots learning about everything embedded within the dirt, and more! At this point, we were on a little footbridge over a lovely mossy stream while discovering a fun geocache!

Mini Kit For a Cause!

I am just thrilled to play with the Mini Kit for a Cause with the bonus 6x6 Postbound Album Kit! First, I'm going to share a pair of overall images of the two book projects that you will get, along with 3 of the 4 cards that I created from the leftover papers!

In addition, I chose to use up the rest of the papers to create these gorgeous ALSB layouts!

Here's what comes in the Mini Kit For a Cause Bonus Kit!

• (14) 6x6 Prints/ 2 each Green Bud Splash, Green Flower Bud, Peach Bud Splash, Peach Flower Bud, Blue, White, Yellow
• (8) 6x6 Plain/ 2 each Blue, green, White, Yellow
• Unmounted Stamp Kit
• Hope & Faith Stencil
• Mini Squash Book Project Kit
• 6x6 sheet Kit for a Cause Mini Stickers
• Idea Recipe Cards - Fonts, Layouts, Backgrounds & Borders
• Scrap Rap Newsletter
• 6"x6" Post Bound Album Kit (includes 2 8.5x11 Prints and 4 8.5x11 Solids, plus all of the chipboard and screw posts which you need)

These are the only additional things that I used to make my samples:

• Ranger Adirondack Dye Ink Pads in Peach Bellini, Pesto, Stonewashed, Terra Cotta
• Stewart Superior Palette Hybrid Ink Pad in Noir Black
• ColorBox Stylus with Sponge Tips or Ranger Cut n' Dry Foam (either works great with the stencils and paper inking!)
• Adhesive, use your preferred scrapbooking tape or glue for the layouts
• Paper Trimmer, I used the Tonic Studios 12" Small Base Guillotine Paper Cutter

These are also needed for the book-making:

• Bone Folder
• Scissors (any will do, it's just snipping a few corners lazily)
• Club Scrap Bookbinding, Padding, and Laminating Adhesive

Yet 6 More Mugs!

I've been having so much fun making more mugs! I'm up to 10 designs now, about half way to my original goal! And I have a few more preplanned, in many color schemes! But, somehow, this batch came out mostly in shades of orange!?!


This first mug features gorgeous and gigantic hibiscus blooms from a garden near last year's Club Scrap Main Retreat in August 2006! That day, everything around us seemed like it was lit up on stage in some perfect movie scene... it reminded me a lot of Pleasantville! Anyhow, I used Club Scrap DigiGoodies Surf's Up! 7/06 Papers, Transparencies, and Genius of Crack font, plus a glow filter.



This lighthouse photo was taken on the same day, just outside of the Retreat location! (As was the waterlogged rowboat from my older mug!) It features the Kimberly Point Lighthouse, Club Scrap DigiGoodies Surf's Up! 7/06 Paper, Club Scrap DigiGoodies Ivory Elegance 12/06 Glass Bubble Xtra, and Genius of Crack font, spherized.

The lighthouse at Kimberly Point on the shore of Lake Winnebago in Neenah, Wisconsin has stood for the last 50 years in a place where Indian Tribesman met for pow-wows 150 years ago at the mouth of the Fox River. The lighthouse site has historical significance to the City of Neenah because it was once the site of an enormous elm tree called the Old Council Tree by the Menominee Indians. The tribesmen would hold councils under its sheltering arms prior to the 1830's. http://www.ci.neenah.wi.us/Heritage.htm



This beautiful glass art is Deco Study #3 by Milon Townsend, reflected into the mirror behind it at Bergstrom-Mahler Museum (http://www.chalkfarmgallery.com/img/townsend-fig03.htm
http://www.carlislemachine.com/CarlisleGla...lonTownsend.htm, & http://www.milontownsend.com/page/page/2708439.htm) in Neenah, WI. I altered the hue on the gorgeously distressed and patterned paper from Club Scrap DigiGoodies Refresh 02/07 along with Club Scrap DigiGoodies Ivory Elegance 12/06 Transparency Swirls and Campaign Normal Font.


On this one, I just love this photograph of my daughter... so I only added the transparency quote from Club Scrap DigiGoodies Farmer's Market 10/06!



This one involved a whole lot of playing with ClubScrap DigiGoodies Wheel & Sprocket 08/06, including the Prints, Transparencies, and Solids along with a Pepper Frame. In the printouts, the colors blend a little more!



I tried to capture some of the natural beauty of this flower with the Club Scrap DigiGoodies Fizz 01/07 Kit. I altered the hues of the background Paper and Flower Die Cuts, added Wow Plastic and Neon Filers, Shadows, Glows, etc and even the Transparency Circles from the kit!

More Digital Mugs!

I posted a few of these custom, digitally designed, mug liners in the past and am hard at work making more! My goal is to have at least 12-18 of these designed and to serve coffee in them at all of my banquet workshops!

The above mug is part of a more masculine pair of mugs... not exactly what you expect to see on a food container, but I love these none the less! This one was created using Club Scrap DigiGoodies Refresh 2/07 Kit and the CheltPress font. I warped my text using a technique shown in the DigiRap from the same kit! I also added a pepper frame, inner glow, and drop shadows along with tags from the kit and a DigiTemplate that I designed!

This frog mug really warms my heart! The frog, itself, was so engaging and genuinely seemed to love being held and gently pet by my children! How could I resist putting him on a mug?

I used the Surf's Up! 7/06 DigiDeluxe/Goodies for the background cardstock, the tag, and the green mattes. Then I added in Ivory Elegance 12/06 DigiGoodies/Deluxe for the thin brown matte and the swirled transparency images as well as the glass bubble! I scanned in the mug's template and resized a copy of the image to create the shape for my mattes and photo. I also altered the colors of the papers and transparencies to go a little bit better with my photo. I added inner glows, drop shadows, and homemade splatter brushed edges as well!

If you would like to see the mug designs that I posted earlier, please visit my 12/23/06 Blog Entry, Another Last Minute Gift Idea. And, if you would like to purchase the mugs, they are from Dollar Tree! They are called "16oz Picture Tumbler #858563" (the front of the item says "Photo Tumbler") with UPC 6 39277 58563 9!

Working With Children... What Keeps Me Busy!

The start of March is filled with children's projects that keep this mother very busy! First, we finished up my son's Pinewood Derby Car, without any scrap-supplies! Then we moved onwards to making Japanese Stab Bound Books with 1st Graders in my daughters' classroom... And now, we're hard at work finishing up mini chocolates to give in thanks to our Girl Scout Cookie Customers!

These lovely books were all made by 1st Graders! I used my handy, dandy Club Scrap POPs, some jewelry cord from Walmart, and some bargain-bin ribbon to set up small kits for the kids to choose from. I had already prescored the covers and the thicker pages with my ScorIt, using Club Scrap Cardstock, copy paper, envelopes, paper bags, and lined paper as the pages. The kids pressed all the folds with a bone folder and then stacked and clamped the pages together while I made the holes. My daughters helped me show the binding technique and each child bound their own!

Clockwise, from the top left, the papers used are: Wild Wild West 10/05 Terra Cotta with paper bag pages; Fossils 8/04 Kraft Print with a miniature lined notebook inside; Musical Interlude 12/05 Ochre with manila envelope pocket-pages; Retro 9/06 Dark Raspberry; Science 9/05 Amethyst with Chocolate Shoppe 2/05 pages; Let Me Count the Ways 2/06 Dark Cherry with lined paper pages; County Fair 7/04 Red; Wheel & Sprocket 8/06 Purple with lined paper pages; Surf's Up! 7/06 Light Green with copy paper pages;

Today, the girls are hard at work making a pair of miniature chocolates for approximately 70 families who ordered Girl Scout Cookies through us! (They sold 226 boxes in just 3 days, with Mimi helping out with 50 of those boxes through her friends!) Each family will get a pretty little tag that lists their order and thanks them, along with one Caramel deLites (aka Samoas) flavored chocolate and one Thin Mints flavored chocolate! I have to say that they are beyond delicious!

The Caramel deLites include a milk chocolate shell then a small dollop of caramel. On top of that are some toasted coconut shreds and crushed GS Shortbread cookies! Then they are sealed with another coating of milk chocolate, et voila! The Thin Mints are made from a thick layer of mint flavored dark chocolate, a thin layer of dark green colored white chocolate, and a final layer which mixes milk chocolate and crushed chocolate cookies! (Make sure that you seek out the harder style cookies for that!)

The girls started singing my praises when they tasted the chocolate! "Oh, Mommy, you have such great ideas! You make the yummiest chocolate recipes!" I had to blame it on the delicious flavors of the Girl Scout Cookies that we just copied!

We promise to share more photos later! There will be at least 19 books that are part of the classroom contribution to our school's auction! Plus we'll have photos of the wrapped chocolates and the Thank You tags! Stay tuned!