10 Cards Using Herringbone and the ALCM Idea Deck

Club Scrap has tons of great ideas to help you with card making! Every month the Club Stamp Rap (full color newsletter that comes with the monthly Club Stamp membership kit) includes images of 15 great cards that are often created by members, using that month's kit. There are often tips and techniques scattered throughout the Sr, Jr, Club Stamp, and Digital Raps that either deal directly with cards or translate easily to them. There is also a full set of free instructions available to members to help them make 15 cards using the optional monthly Greeting to Go side order. And then there are countless videos in the Cinema with more ideas... And finally, the awesome ALCM (Assembly line Card Making) Idea Deck which has 52 idea cards with full cutting instructions so that you can transform a few sheets of 12x12 and/or 8.5x11 papers into a set of coordinating cards! A sampling of these cards were given away for free during the last PSL (Pro Scrapping League, a multi-week challenge to work as teams to create layouts and/or cards, competing for prizes and discounts... a brand new Summer Camp PSL is opening up on July 6th)!

Today, I'm going to share 2 new cards that I made using the Herringbone Technique that was just featured in a recent CS Cinema episode and some cards that I made during the last PSL using the 5 of Hearts card from the ALCM deck and papers from the Vintage Choice Collection! Enjoy!



Club Scrap: Concrete Jungle 6/09 - Birthday CSt WM Stamp; Milestones 12/08 - Plain Paper in Soft White; Wings 7/05 - Plain Paper in Apricot, Brown, Dark Blue, Light Blue, and Mustard; Hybrid Ink Pad in Earth; Herringbone Technique;
Carpet Tape;

The Herringbone Technique was features in the Henna 5/09 Club Stamp Rap and there is also a great video up in Club Scrap's cinema that teaches the technique! Basically you take thin scraps of cardstock and adhere them to carpet tape (from the hardware store) or another equally sticky surface, and lay them out in a Herringbone-like pattern then trim away! very simple and lovely! Use plain cardstock, printed papers, or stamp all over them before cutting... use left over scraps or cut up some extra paper, anything goes! It's a really great way to use up tiny scrap from your projects! I wound up diving into my ziplock baggies with old scraps in them and trimmed the strips to some skinnier pieces!



Club Scrap: Concrete Jungle 6/09 - Birthday CSt WM Stamp; Collections 6/06 - Plain Paper in Red, Saddle Brown, Tan, and Teal;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Stream;
Carpet Tape;



Club Scrap: Idea Deck Assembly Line Card Making - 5 of Hearts; Vintage Choice Kit: DIY Green Block Print, DIY Light Tan; Extra Extra 6/04 - UM; Rhapsody 3/07 - UM; Refresh 2/07 - UM;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pads - Latte, Starfish Green, Meadow; Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain;

What do two sheets of 12x12 paper do when thrown into a PSL final challenge? Why, pair up with the Assembly Line Cardmaking Idea Deck's 5 of Hearts and become a quick set of 4 cards, of course! And I love this recipe since it creates cards which fit into standard invitation sized envelopes while also working quite easily with printed papers and stamps! Or toss some simple embellishments onto the smaller rectangle to finish out the cards!



Club Scrap: Idea Deck Assembly Line Card Making - 5 of Hearts; Vintage Choice Kit: DIY Purple Print, Time & Space Mauve Dust; Ivory Elegance - UM; Chapter One UM; Unknown Flowers and Brads; FFC Ways of Stamping - UM; Palette Hybrid Ink Pad - Noir Black;
Colorbox: Unknown Purple Ink;

Stay tuned for some more ALCM Idea Deck cards, coming soon!

Carnival ALSB Kit - 6 Fun Summertime Layouts!

Getting back into the swing of things and running around with Summer fun has been keeping me busy!

In the spirit of the Summer and to show you another great new FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit (perfect for a Summer Workshop!) I'm sharing my layouts using the Carnival FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit :) I doubled up working on them with some challenges going on at Club Scrap Chat's Camp Ya-Hey-n-So (Wisconsinisms in the title, they only kind of translate to my language!), so you'll see some recycled items in a few of them! You may recognize some of the papers from past kits as this ALSB Kit includes papers from County Fair 7/04, To You With Love 2/04, Extra! Extra! 6/04, Bridges 2/08, and more, plus the stencil from County Fair!







Club Scrap: Carnival FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit - ALSB #1 & 2, Dark Blue Plain, Red Plain, Light Blue 8.5x11 Print, Translucent 8.5x11 Print;
Cuttlebug - Paisley Dies;
Ranger: Inkssentials - White Opaque Pen;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - Boxed Brush Alphabet; Recycled Items: Cookie Box and Aluminum Can;

I just love this ALSB design and have used it in so many other ways! It's great for anywhere from 1 to 4 photos per page, or more if you wanted! I could have squeezed more in, but I think this gave a good overview ;) Right after my brother was married, we gathered his new stepchildren, neice, and my kids, plus older family and headed over to Salem Willows. At first we ate together then had the kids play games for a long time, but as everyone was ready to head out we stopped in one of the other arcades where they had a ton of 1 cent through 10 cent machines from long gone eras when it was a honeymoon destination! We made Chris and Stephanie take every possible love test and photo booth pictures before they ran off for a mini-honeymoon without the kids! Then, my girls had to take the love tests, luckily getting all sweet and innocent results.. but I must say that my husband and I scored higher than all the other couples on each test we took ;)


Here are a few examples of the same ALSB instructions used with my own mix of papers and assorted numbers of photos! Please, click on them to see them larger in their own blog article!











Club Scrap: Carnival FFC Exclusive ALSB Kit - ALSB #3 & 4, Light Green Print, Dark Green Print, Red Plain, Newsprint 8.5x11 Translucent Print;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - Boxed Brush Alphabet; Originals - Tickets;
Recycled Items: Cookie Box and Aluminum Can;


The newsprint on this layout is really perfect for our photos! It was during this Twin Day at Coney Island that my girls wound up having two separate photos run in newspapers, one in a local NYC paper and the other nationally! They also had many other newspaper and magazine photographers taking their photos, including one by the clown trash can in the second smallest photo of my layout!



Club Scrap: Carnival FFC Exclusive ALSB - Cream Print, Dark Green Print, Red Print, Stencil;
Design Originals: Tim Holtz Distressables and Doo-Dads - 0753 Toy Blocks;
Ranger: Inkssentials - Opaque White Pen;


I am not sure why I *needed* to take so many photos of this adorable little ferris wheel, but it sure worked out great for this layout! This is the first year that I let my kids split up at the school's annual Fun Fair and they had a blast going on all the rides with their friends!



Club Scrap: Bridges 2/08 - Cream Print; Workbench 8/05 - Dark Green Print; County Fair 7/04 - Red Print, Stencil;
Design Originals: Tim Holtz Distressables and Doo-Dads - 0753 Toy Blocks;
Ranger: Inkssentials - Opaque White Pen;


I am not sure who took each photo during this trip to 6 Flags with my friends Shakira and Vernell (two of the three co-owners at Scrapbook Takeout along with Vernell's sister, Francine)... I basically could only ride the Ferris Wheel and Merry Go Round with my heart problems, but I sent them on all of the fastest rides and held their bags while taking tons of photos with their cameras! I must admit that I rotated this layout since I had so many more landscape photos to include. But how great is the gridded green paper for journaling?? I can't write in a straight line to save my life, but this certainly helps!

My Favorite Kit, Needle Felting, and Stencil Tutorial Links!

One of my favorite Club Scrap kits has got to be Color in Black and White... it's so full of great muted tones alongside copper and with duplex prints showing a more neutral version of the full color prints. The patterns are a mix of industrial style prints and nature... both are things that I love, it's like when you find a fire hydrant in the middle of the woods, only much more beautiful! I love it so much that I made myself a needle-felted purse with the design based on one of the prints (please bear in mind that the photo is after I'd used the purse for months, but the grittiness in the pattern was intentional)!


Club Scrap: Color in Black & White 4/06 - Sr Land Duplex Print, Sr White Duplex Print, Black Solid, Stencil; Collections 6/06 Digital Kit - Paper Tan P1; Craft TV Weekly - Tricia Morris's Life and Art Webisode;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink - Currant, Ginger, Latte, Lettuce, Stream; Distress Ink - Walnut Stain; Ink Applicator Tool;
Needle Felted Purse, Inspired by Color in Black and White, created by Neith Juch;

I was creating a list of stencil tutorials for the ClubScrapChat forum because this week's PSL challenge is to create CS layouts using stencils in some manner... in doing so I took another look at the Life and Art Webisode that Tricia recorded for The Scrapbook Lounge at TVWeekly. It features the plainer color side of the Color in Black and White papers and shows you ways to customize them with Direct to Paper inking, stamping, and stenciling. What a perfect way to highlight the colors I chose for my purse!


Club Scrap: Color in Black & White 4/06 - CSt White Duplex Print, Translucent Print, Black Solid, Alpha Stickers;

I have to double check the date on this but I think it's 1976 or 77 and I'm the little blonde while my big sister is hiding her face from the camera!


Club Scrap: Color in Black & White 4/06 - Land Duplex Print, Land 8.5x11 Duplex Print, Translucent Print, Black Plain;
Jo-Ann: Silver Round Concho;
Zig: Millennium Pen in Pure Black;
Personal Swap Stash: Unknown Fibers;

This is from my 1987 week-long hiking trip with the 8th and 9th graders from my small school. I haven't found any other photos and the quality was terrible but wanted to get at least one shot in there!


Club Scrap: A Study In Red 1/08 - Palatial Trim, Black Plain; Color in Black & White 4/06 - White Print, White Plain; Musical Interlude 12/05 - Black Plain;
Sakura: Signo Uniball Pen in White;

We were at Axis, a nightclub, to watch a friend perform, and of course my best friend and I had to escape to the cheapie photo booth! I actually printed the blown up image onto the white cardstock to give it the nice canvas texture of the cardstock!


This one used 6 CS kits: Everything is Club Scrap except the inks and frame... From outside to inside, the papers are Collections 06/06 Saddle Brown Boxes 8.5 Sr Print, Paisley 3/06 Burnt Orange, Farmer's Market 10/06 Brown,and Color in Black & White 04/06 Copper Sr Duplex Print. I also used a Tan Bookplate from the Collections 6/06 Embellishment Pack Tags/Die Cuts, Mini Brads and Fibers from Rhapsody 3/07 Embellishment Pack, plus the letter drawer and "... Defining Moments" stamps from Heritage: Extra! Extra! 6/04 CSt UM Stamps. Unfortunately I don't have a list of the inks, but do know that they were Ranger! I believe I used Ginger Adirondacks (one of my favorites) along with some others!

The photo is from an awards dinner where one of my father's employees, Nella, both emceed and received an award for being an outstanding mentor to other teens... My father asked me to create something for her to display that featured the photo and I had limited random supplies already with me, but it worked out and he surprised her with it already put up at the store when she came in to work... she did get to take it home! I'm still waiting for her to write it up properly for my blog! Sorry to have to use a photo, there was no scanner available!


Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - Splendid Brocade Stencil; Color in Black & White 4/06 - Black Duplex Print, Black Solid; Mosaic Twist 1/05 - Lime & Handmade Lime;
Scrapbook Takeout: Garden Party 2/08 - Prima Clearly IOD #517809 Lime Scrapping Tape; It's A Date 12/07 - American Crafts Vinyl Shapes, Heidi Swapp Jet Tulle;
Ranger: Black Soot Distress Ink, Ink Applicator Tool;
Sakura: Gelly Roll Glaze Pen in Black;

We all have those not so glamorous photos that capture fun moments, so I went for it! I do need to find the photo we took of her pickle tasting Polaroid up on the Pickle Puss Wall and make a companion page later!

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Now, onto needle felting...


Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 CSDigital Kit;
The King and Queen Computer Font;

Needle Felting... What is that, you say? Oh it's a great art/craft where you take loose roving (wool is great, but many other animal fibers work... I have some that are mixes of silk, alpaca, Shetland wool, Merino wool, etc) and use dry friction to lock the fibers to each other or a base surface with a barbed needle. Animal hairs are scaley and those scales lock together... just like when your children's hair tangles into knots that can become dreadlocks if you aren't careful, or if you intend for them to! Felting is a way to take advantage of that quality and felt is actually the first manmade fabric every produced!

Needle felting takes it to another level where you can create art by using different colors and textures of roving. You can also sculpt with it and create 3 dimensional objects like this little kitten that I have begun! I actually started the kitten during the class at Yarns in the Farms which is shown above! At the class, along with my mother and both of my daughters, we were taught the basics of needle and machine felting and then began creations on a panel from an accidentally machine felted blanket and began our own 3 dimensional projects as well!

You can also machine felt these fibers by washing with a hot wash, cold rinse cycle in the washing machine and watch your sweaters (or intentional things like some of my crochet purses) shrink and get soft and fuzzy, more and more like store bought felt with each washing! There are additional techniques where you can wet felt by hand... the simplest method is to wad some roving into a ball with your hands, dip it in hot soapy water and roll and roll until you have a hard little ball that you rinse in cold water and set to dry! We made around 100 of these balls and made a bunch of little bracelets from them for Christmas gifts and used others as the "buttons" for closures on my purses! Other methods involve all kinds of things like bamboo sushi mats and bubble wrap to help with the rolling friction!

There are many books out there now about felting, plenty of episodes on Carol Duvall, Martha Stewart, Knitty Gritty, etc on the DIY Network, etc. But it's a little hard to get roving at a great price. Many local yarn shops will sell sample bags of multiple colors of roving in small bundles, ebay vendors often sell mixed lots of unknown origins where you win some, you lose some, even after making the purchase! Some local wool or Alpaca farms are known to sell uncolored or hand dyed roving (I LOVE the huge balls of hand dyed roving that I get at a great price from a local farm, Iron Horse Farm in Sherborn, MA). Clover has put out some small bundles of very smooth, uniformly colored roving packages that are available at some of the large craft chains, they also have a great needle plunger tool which makes use of 5 traditional felting needles all at once and sell refills at a good price... whenever you can catch those on sale in the chains or at joann.com it will save you money, which you can in turn spend at those local yarn stores or farms!

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And the promised list of links to Stencil Tutorials! You will need to create a free account at TVWeekly in order to view the guides, but it's well worth it!

• Neith's Stenciling Revisited Tutorial - My tutorial on stencils, showing the same stencil used with different techniques... ColorBox Stylus, Cut 'n' Dry Foam, Chizzel-It, Waterbrush, Paint, Metal Embossing, & Heat Embossing


• Neith's Samples - My stenciled creations on this blog, you can always find these through the Blog Entries by Categories section in the left-hand margins of my blog!
  
• Dawn's (DawnTCB) Sample Stencil Technique Tags - These tags are from a CS Retreat and Dawn's accompanied them with write upa on how to recreate them!
  
• Jac's DIGITAL Stencil Tutorial - Instructions for how to use Transparencies or other shapes to create a digital "stencil" to brush color into, like I did on my Digital Korean Language Flashcards
  
• Janie's (janiesagmoe) List of CS Stencils - MS Word list of all CS stencils and their kits
  
• Luanne's Stenciled Tag Tutorial - Takes you step by step through the process to create a very cool tag, a la Tim Holtz!
  
• Tricia's TVWeekly Webisode Serengeti Mists - Uses Memories Mists
  
• Tricia's TVWeekly Webisode Misty-fied - Uses Glimmer Mist
  
• Tricia's TVWeekly Webisode Life and Art - Uses the ColorBox Stylus
  
• Tricia's TVWeekly Webisode Artist Incognito - Uses Watercolor Pencils

Woman's Born to Weep and Fret

Lately, I keep replaying a few versions of this song... Black Coffee, the Ella Fitzgerald version, but with modern female singers. And with the recent Mocha Java Remix stamps from Club Scrap, I just had to make some cards!



Supplies/Techniques Used:

• Club Scrap Mocha Java Remix 2007 Unmounted Stamps;
• Club Scrap Interior Designs 11/06 Brown Cardstock;
• Club Scrap Collections 6/06 Brown Cardstock;
• Club Scrap The Written Word 11/05 Cream Cardstock;
  
• Club Scrap Down to Earth 4/05 Light Yellow Cardstock;
• Club Scrap Heritage: Extra! Extra! 6/04 Club Stamp Unmounted Stamps;
• Club Scrap Mocha Java 11/02 Wood Mounted Sr Stain Stamp;
  
• Ranger Adirondack Ink Pads in Caramel, Espresso, Ginger, and Terra Cotta;
• Ranger Archival Ink Pad in Sepia;
• Ranger Sea Brights Ink Pad in Mussel Black;
• Collage Stamping;
• Direct to Paper Inked Distressing;
• Ella Fitzgerald Lyrics;
  

You Bring Me Joy (new cards and ATCs)

Here is a series of cards and ATCs that I just finished!

On each piece, I used the same Club Scrap products! The Written Word 11/05 Cream, Dark Blackberry, Light Blackberry, and Medium Blackberry papers plus the Stewart Superior Dark Blackberry Ink Pad which came with the kit. The stamps are from Mother's Day 2006 UM Stamps plus the woman from Extra! Extra! 6/04 CSt UM. I also used Ranger's Adirondack Ink Pad in Eggplant and Sea Bright Ink Pad in Mussel Black and their Posh Silver Accent Pen.

I used some simple collage stamping with both dark purple ink pads for the background, a little distressed inked edges, a silver edge, and paper tearing. All to create a simple, yet pretty finished set in time for Mother's Day!

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!!)

Hand Stitched Journal and Paper Bag Books

I must admit that I'm fairly addicted to making handmade books! I just love this hand-stitched journal project that Club Scrap put out in many designs, inclusing this Paisley version!


Here's a sneak peek at another project! This unique Paper Bag Album skips the lunch bags and goes for a more streamlined Kraft Bag. You will learn to (or practice!) use Japanese Stab Binding while folding extra pockets into your pages.


You can choose to seal your pockets' edges with additional stab binding, simple whipstitches, brads, eyelets, staples, etc! And, the class can, optionally, come with additional supplies to fill the pages with coordinating papers and prints! I've actually left the threads long on my Textiles & Notions cover because I want to add some sewing themed charms to the tails! This little book will be wonderful for scrapping about my children's knot tying lessons with Scouts, the girls' Sit-Upons, my son's Cross-Stitching, and the gorgeous Korean Gwi Ju Meoni pouches that my children just made!