Digital & Paper Layouts...

UPDATE:  The contest officials opened up viewing and voting early!!  You can vote for my layout here:  Vote for Cat's Layout - Inspiration

Thanks!   I need those votes!

Hi everyone!  Well, I've recovered from the blow to my ego from the MFT contest. ha ha.  I found another contest on Persnickety Prints to make a layout using a free digital scrap kit from Scrap Orchard.  The kit is really beautiful and I've been wanting to do another layout for a long time.  They are going to have open voting for the winner of the contest, so please go and vote for me.  They are keeping the layouts a secret until voting starts on Monday, so I will post a link then.  But in the meantime, I wanted to show you the digital layout I made for the contest:

The theme of the contest was to create a layout about what inspired you in 2012.  Well, of course, it had to be my little Mitzy.  We just love our little dog and dote on her.  Rob and I were in our mid forties when we married, so it was too late for us to have children, which was ok.  But, without having kids to focus on, its easy to become somewhat self-centred and only pay attention to what affects your own life on a day-to-day basis.  She's made us look at life outside our own self and see there are people and creatures that need our care and attention.  She has taught us to be more compassionate and patient.  So, in essence, she has inspired us to be better people.

So, I loved this layout so much that I wanted to see if I could re-create it in paper.  So I printed out all the papers I used on the layout and fired up my CraftRobo.  Here is the paper version of the layout:

I was having problems with the print & cut (of course - stupid Silhouette software screwed that up), so I had to make my own embellishments for the layout.  I was, luckily, able to still cut shapes, so I found some files that I liked and cut and glued and glittered.  As luck would have it, I even had some bottle caps in my stash, so I printed out the bottle cap from the digital kit and glued it to the top of my bottle cap and then put Dimensional Magic on top to give it a glassy finish.

I think the layouts look very similar.  And as I look at it them right now, I just realized I forgot to put the little heart with the mini clothes peg on the paper layout.  Darn!  I even have the mini clothes pegs too.  Oh well.

Well, that's it for today.  Come back on Monday and I will have the link posted so you can see the other layouts for the contest, and of course vote for me. :)

Talk to you later...

Cat

Halloween Cards & a layout

I know Halloween is long gone, but I wanted to show you the cards I made.  I'm so behind on organizing my posts & my pictures.  I'm working on it.

So anyway, I think these cards turned out pretty cute. I made one for my brother and one for my niece. I love these digi images by Sassy Studio which I coloured with my Copic markers.  The tag is a graphic I found on the internet a couple years ago, so I don't have the details of where it came from. All the shapes were cut using my CraftRobo and I used my scallop edge punch from SU.  The patterned papers are from a Halloween mat stack by K & Co. I  bought at Michaels 2 years ago.  I love using the mat stacks for my cards because the scale of the design is perfect, and there's very little waste when cutting into a sheet.  Here are the cards:

The layout I want to show you are of pictures of my husband.  He's probably not going to like it that I'm putting these pictures up on my blog.  I think they're cute. They were taken on his birthday a few years ago and he was listening to some music with the headphones on.  All the cardstock is Recollections brand and I don't remember if the patterned paper is My Mind's Eye or SEI.  Again, I cut the shapes for the embellishments, the journal tag, and the title all with my Craft Robo.  This layout was made for the October tag layout challenge over at the Scrapture site.  Here's my layout:

I also used my loopy border punch and a pair of Fiskars deco scissors on the patterned papers.  That line of music was a bugger to get on there straight with those skinny strips of paper.  It was fun to make though.

Well, that's all for today.  I'm working on getting myself organized and trying to get caught up on deciding which projects I want to post.  I have quite a few I want to share here, so check back soon.  I'll probably have a few posts over the next week or so.

Talk to you later...

Cat

My Sweet Kinko

Hi everyone!  I have a layout that is special to me.  I made this a couple months ago for one of the layout tag challenges over at the Scraptures forum.  This one is of my sweet little baby, Kinko.  I got Kinko when she was just a tiny little fluff ball at only 4 months old.  She was so cute and cuddly.  She grew up to be a beautiful cat, albeit somewhat aloof until the last couple years.  Unfortuantely, she became ill very quickly and I had to make the choice to have her put to sleep in May of this year.  She was almost 17 years old.  I'm glad that I was able to give her her forever home.  I loved her as if she were my child and I really miss her. Here is the layout:

The cardstock base is SU, the patterned paper strips are scraps that I had in my stash. I can't remember the name of it off-hand (and I'm too lazy to look it up), but I also used a SU wheel stamp (unmounted of course) along the edge of the base. The black used for the picture mats is Recollections brand (Michaels house brand).  The flourishes, butterfly, and Title were cut using my Craft Robo on Wausau Exact Index 110lb scraps.  I don't recall if they're files I bought from the Silhouette store of if they're something I traced from an image I found. The paper flowers are from the dollar store & the brads are Recollections brand.

Isn't she pretty?  She had the most amazing green eyes and she would often just gaze up at me with such a dreamy look in her eye.

Well, that's all I wanted to share with you today.  I'll be back again soon with something else to show you. :)

Talk to you later...

Cat

A Scrapbook Page...

Hi all!  I'm back again to show you a scrapbook page I did a while ago for a layout tag challenge at Scraptures.ca.  I hadn't done a scrapbook page in a very long time.  I really like these challenges because they only happen once a month so I'm not under the gun to do a whole bunch of pages and they give me a theme or template to follow.  It works for me because then I don't have to think.  Life is better when I don't have to think. :)

So here is my layout:

Actually, in this photo the pictures are photoshopped in because just as I went to print my photos, my printer decided it was going to go kaput. The final version has these exact pictures and I added the date & place on the journaling spot, so it looks just like this photo.  I did finally get my printer working.  I thought it was the print head, so I ordered a new one that cost me $60.  Waited the 10 days for it to arrive only to find out it wasn't my print head.  The continuous ink supply system I have failed.  So I thought it was the resettable chips on the cartridges and ordered a new set of self-resetting chips.  Nope, not those either.  Its the actual ink tanks themselves that aren't working.  I don't know how that is, but I refilled an old set of ink tanks and reset the chips and it printed like new again.  Well, at least I have a back-up print head and a new set of self-resetting chips.  I need to find some new low volume tanks to fix the CISS.  If you have ever used a CISS and then had to go back to manually refilling your ink tanks, then you know what a pain in the ass it is.

I don't know what company makes the patterned paper I used on this layout since they were scraps I had left over from other projects.  The base cardstock is SU (don't know what colour), and the dark blue and white are Recollections from Michaels.  The embellishments are from the dollar store.  I used an EK Success punch to punch out the little crab and the pennants are just triangles cut from scraps.  I used a marker on plain white kitchen twine to make the twine the pennant is attached to.  I did use my Craft Robo to cut the wave shapes for the border along the bottom.

So that's all I have for today.  I have more projects I'll be showing you over the next little while - some cards and a few more scrapbook projects.  I hope you drop by again to see what I've been up to. :)

Talk to you later...

Cat

The Brakefast Club Challenge # 22 - Primary Colours

Hi everyone!  Today I want to show you my project for the Brakefast Club challenge that ran last week.  I know I'm a little late with this, but this project took waaaaayyyy longer than I had expected.  The challenge was to create something using primary colours.  I love bright colours, and I thought this would be a great combination for a project that had something to do with kids.  So I decided to do a scrapbook page with pictures of my niece.  Here it is:

Supplies:
Stamps:  Beach Toys (I Brake for Digis)
Papers:  Coloured cardstocks (Recollections), Domtar Cougar 130# white cardstock (picture matts), Wausau Exact Index 110# white cardstock (journalling), Matte finish photo paper (Kodak), Glossy finish photo paper (Canon), Digital patterned paper (Summertime Designs)
Tools & Embellishments:  Craft Robo, Silhouette cutting files, Sharpie Markers, Zig Memory Writer markers, red, green, & gold Stickles, Mod Podge Dimensional Magic,  paper crimper, plastic wave template, foam letter stickers, rhinestones, pop dots


The title is some foam letter stickers I've had in my stash for about 5 years (finally used them - yay!) and all the other embellishments were cut with my CraftRobo. The sunglasses have Mod Podge dimensional magic on the lenses to make them shiny. I added a little bit of stickles on the rims to glam them up a little bit. The digi stamp was coloured with Sharpie markers and traced & cut on my CraftRobo.  I also created a white mat around it so it would stand out a bit and adhered it to the page with pop dots. The patterned paper is a digi paper from Summertime Designs and cut in a large square scallop on my CraftRobo. The little flipflops (Silhouette cutting file) have rhinestones glued to the strap at the toe. I used a plastic template to trace and cut the wave design, and I used my wavy paper crimper on the banner going across the page.  The journalling block is, again, another Silhouette shape.

Here are a few close up pics of the different elements on the page:

Well, that's all I have for today.  You can pick up the Beach Toys digi stamp in the I Brake For Digis shop. Its a great stamp to have for all those summer projects I know you'll all be creating here shortly. :)  Don't forget to grab the discount code in my sidebar before you head off shopping.  Another challenge starts today over at the Brakefast Club.  So pop on over there too to join in this week's fun.

Take care & talk to you later...

Cat

Fairies Play Here - Version 2

I really love this release from ADFD.  I have these pictures of my niece when she was 5 years old wearing wings, a crown, and holding a "magic wand".  She looked so cute and I couldn't help but make another scrapbook page of these photos with a couple images from this new release.  Here's my layout:

Supplies
Stamps:  Fairy Mushroom, Quiet Fairy (A Day for Daisies)
Cardstock:  DCWV, Recollections, Wausau Exact Index 110#, Domtar Cougar
Tools & Embellishments:  star dust stickles, rhinestones, small scallop decorative edge scissor (Fiskars), frond punch (Martha Stewart), French Script font (title), Craft Robo, Marvy markers, Crayola markers, iridescent medium (Windsor & Newton), ric rac ribbon (Dollar Store)

I've been wanting to make some of the large quilled flowers that are cut from circles.  They look so pretty.  I decided to cut some with my deco scissors for a little bit of a different look.  To make the flower, you cut a sprial from a circle. You can use a quilling tool or just roll the sprial to the centre and then glue in place.  I glued a rhinestone into the centre of each flower.  You have to use a good strong adhesive with these.  I used Aileen's fast grab tacky glue.  It works really well.  The big green leave are hand cut from scraps of green cardstock, and the smaller ones are punch outs.  These flowers and leaves are a really good way to use up those smaller scrap pieces.  The largest flower is about 1" across and the starting circle I cut was about 2.5" across. You don't even need to be all the accurate cutting since a little deviation here and there gives the flower some "petal" shapes. Here's a close up of some of the flowers:

I've been trying to use my Craft Robo more than I have lately.  Its a great tool and I'm always impressed with how nicely (and easily) it is to create with it.  I used it this time to create the frame which is pretty straight forward, and I also used it to create the title.  I love the matting & the print & cut features in the RoboMaster software.  I printed the title, then used the mat feature a couple of times, making a larger mat each time for the different layers.  Here's a close up of the title:

And finally, the images that inspired me to make this scrapbook page:  the Fairy Mushroom & Quiet Fairy images.  I combined the two images, then imported the jpg into my RoboMaster software and used the autotrace feature with a little bit of a margin to create the cutting line around the image.  This is SOOOOO much easier than hand cutting all those little crevices. Plus its always exactly the same distance from the lines all the way around. Here's a close up so you can see some detail:

I used my Marvy markers on the mushroom because I had a marker colour called mushroom, so that worked. I then sponged some iridescent medium over it when the marker ink was dry, but that seemed to wash it out, so I took some Momento rich cocoa ink and sponged that on to give it a little texture.  I used Crayola markers to colour the little fairy, and once the ink was dry I put stickles on her wings because all fairy wings sparkle.

A couple other things I did was I cut the big scalloped circle on my CraftRobo with a font called 09KutUps. Its a font with shapes with some similar to Nestabilities that you can cut directly from any cutting machine that will cut true type fonts.  Secondly, I wanted it to look like there was "fairy dust" coming off the wand in the first picture, so I drew some swirls on the cardstock very lightly with pencil.  Then I used my star dust stickles and went around the lines with little dots.  Once the stickles were dry, I erased the pencil lines, then I glued little flower shaped rhinestones in amongst the swirls.

Well that's it for now.  Its pretty late here, or I should say, its pretty early here (3:40 am).  I'm having another one of those nights were I can't sleep, so I thought I would post this layout.  Hubby doesn't have to go into work until later in the afternoon, so I'll be able to sleep a little later.

Take care & thanks for stopping by...

Cat

ADFD Challenge #3 - Layers

Well, I'm back.  Things are still up in the air as far as the health issue I've been dealing with, but I'm not going to let it get to me any more.  Worrying about it isn't going to make things better - will probably aggravate it if anything.  So, thank you to everyone for sending their well wishes.  I really appreciate it.

Today is the start of the A Day for Daisies Challenge #3.  The theme this time is Layers - lot of layers.  I usually don't use a whole bunch of layers so this was going to be a stretch for me - but I guess that's why its called a Challenge huh?  I really wanted to use the Babe Basket image.  It is so cute.  I also wanted to use it on a scrapbook page.  I had the perfect image for the layout - a picture of my niece I took only 12 hours after she was born.  I took artistic liberties with interpreting the challenge and decided to use "layers" (= shades) of a colour.  I have layers of purples and pinks in this project.  Here is the layout I came up with for the challenge plus a few close up shots of some of the elements:

 

 

Supplies:
Image:  Babe Basket - A Day for Daisies (printed on a Canon MP560)
Cardstock:  Recollections, Wausau Exact Index 80# white
Patterned Paper:  unknown 
Flowers:  Michaels (large pink silk flowers), unknown (paper flowers)
Buttons:  Dollar Store
Brads:  Unknown
Ribbon:  Michaels
Studio G glitter glue, Stickles, Liquid Pearls,  Tattered Angels Sherbert Glimmer Mist
EK Success Tulips Large Edger Punch, Copic Markers, Sharpie Markers , Cats Eye ink
Velum tag:  Deja View 

I printed the image 3 times and then cut out the various layers and popped them up on pop-dots so that the blanket and flowers would have some dimension.  I used my CraftRobo to cut the butterflies and glued little rhinestones to the wings and put purple stickles on the body.  I also used my CraftRobo to cut the title from the patterned paper and then used pink cardstock and cut the matting for the words.  It doesn't show up in the photo, but I used glimmer mist on the purple cardstock.  Once that was dry, with a pencil I lightly drew some large swirls and then used stickles, glitter glue, & liquid pearls to create some "bling" swirls on the background. I've had the vellum tag for a really long time so I thought it was time to use it.  I tore the edges and then inked them with purple Cats Eye ink.  Assembling the layout was pretty straight forward.  The only thing I had to do was mount the layout onto a heavier piece of Domtar 130# card stock.  After using the glimmer mist, the purple card stock warped a little.  I cut a piece 11.75" x 11.75" and glued the layout to it so that it will lay flat.

I didn't get this next project completed on time, but want to show you a really pretty image from ADFD.  I'm such a sucker for Christmas images and this one is so cute I just had to have it.  Its the Christmas Elf image and its a great image to work with - so many colour possibilities.  Here is a card I made with it:

Supplies:
Image:  ADFD Christmas Elf A (printed on a Canon MP560)
Stamps:  Studio G (sentiments)
Ink:  Marvy markers, Copic markers, Sharpie markers 
Cardstock:  Wausau Exact Index 80# white, SU! Whisper White, Recollections
Patterned Paper:  DCWV
Punches:  Martha Stewart Branch, EK Success Snowflake Edge, Marvy Uchida Snowflake, Marvy Uchida
   Southwestern corner punch
Ribbon:  Dollar Store, DMC floss 
ProvoCraft Snowflake embossing folder, stickles, glitter glue

I coloured the image with Copics and Sharpies.  I then put stickles and glitter glue on the hat and pompoms to jazz it up a bit.  I used the Southwestern corner punch after I double matted the image and wrapped embroidery floss around the edges through the punched corners.  I punch both sides of a strip of Christmas patterned paper to make it look sort of like lace and adhered that over the embossed whisper white card stock.  I punched a few branches with the Martha Stewart punch and glued them into a "swag"  and glued that to the card and then glued a punch snowflake on top to hide all the glue.  I put stickles and glitter glue on the swag and snowflake as well.

That's all I have for today.  You should head over to ADFD and enter into the challenge (the link is in my sidebar).  There is a great prize offered to one of the lucky participants of the challenge.  I have another craft show this weekend and have a couple things I want to prepare for it so I will post pictures of the new items next week.

Take care & talk to you later...

Cat