Young Crafters Unite! :)

Welcome Welcome Welcome to the Young Crafters Unite Blog Hop! Isn't this exciting? :)

If you're here from Jess Larsen's blog, then you're in the right place! If you've come across my blog by another way, I highly suggest you head on over to the Young Crafters Unite homepage and start at the beginning. This hop is huge and it's jam-packed with amazing talent. Plus, every comment you leave on the participating blogs (through July 4th) will increase your chances to win prizes from Lawn Fawn, Simon Says Stamp, and Paper Smooches. Sweet!

What makes me a Young Crafter is pretty much the obvious: I'm young, and I'm a crafter. I'm also still (yes, still) relatively new to the world of contemporary paper crafting, and I like to think of myself as something of an apprentice (in that I'm learning from them, not that I aspire to take over for them!) to "the greats," which, in my opinion, includes amazing ladies like Kristina Werner, Jennifer McGuire, Stephanie Howell, and Lisa Spangler (just to name a few!). 

For my hop project, I wanted to do something really exciting. (Well, ok, at least it's exciting to me. I hope you agree. lol.) The theme of the hop is My Favorite Things, and I have to admit I was a little bit stumped by this at first. My original plan was to wander around my craft space and choose, say, 10 of the items I'm loving the most lately, and then make a card with them. But I thought that might be too risky. So I decided to interpret the theme a little differently...

Let me be honest with you here for a moment. Lately, there have been a lot of things in my life that I'm not so thrilled about. But I'm working on it. I'm working on being happier, being more motivated, and enjoying my journey. And along with that theme, two of my favorite things right now are challenging myself and setting goals. So here are the challenges I set out to accomplish with this project:
     1. Document more of my everday life.
     2. Try out more scrapbooking.
     3. Use my Studio Calico kits.
     4. Allow a project to take more than one sitting. Don't feel the need to finish now, or rush through
         things.

So, without further ado (aka my propensity for blah blah blah), here's my project...

I'd seen a few of these accordion envelope mini-albums in various places online (most recently this beyond-amazing one that was featured on the October Afternoon blog), but I couldn't find a tutorial for them. So I decided to challenge myself to figure it out :)

Each "page" is an envelope where you can tuck photos, journaling, and memorabilia. The envelopes themselves are decorated, giving space to glue things in a more traditional scrapbook fashion.

I also made some little inserts to make more room for journaling, making lists, and gluing treasures.

Now, because I couldn't find a tutorial for this type of book, I decided to make one! Ok, two actually :) But since this has already been a very long post, and I'm sure you're anxious to get back a-hoppin', I'll let you know that the next stop on the hop is Brittney Baker's blog. I can't wait to see what she's created! And don't forget to comment along the way!

For those of you interested in how I made this mini-album, you can watch my videos below. Part 1 is about the inside, and Part 2 shows how I made the covers. Thanks for stopping by!

CASEing the joint

In my very first post, I wrote "My plan is to show a sketch or link to a tutorial, and then show my take." This post will be exactly that. I've been printing out a TON of photos for my Card Inspiration binder, and today I decided to let two of them guide my crafting.

This first card really isn't CASEd at all. I took this amazing card by Jen Martakis (that you can find here in the 2 Peas gallery) and I pretty much used her design as a sketch.
The original:

My version:

All supplies from Studio Calico's June kit Partly Sunny except: stamp - Hero Arts Essential Messages; buttons - Studio Calico from Granny's Cupboard

Now, this is where the CASEing comes in. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love what Laura Craigie creates. Hers is absolutely, exactly, perfectly the epitome of the style I aspire to... but I so very highly doubt I will ever get there! :) She recently posted a card on her blog that was made with last month's Studio Calico kit. I knew I had all the exact supplies she used, so I figured why not make the same card? Recreating cards I love helps get my brain used to combining and placing materials in a certain way that I'm aspiring to. Muscle memory! Right? Right?! :) I love this card and I love how my copied version came out. I think I might have to "recycle" this design as a layout or a frame too!
The original:

My CASEd card:

So that's it for me for today. Almost time for supper - veggie pizza, yum! - and Jeopardy. I hope you have a lovely weekend!

I've never used {brackets} on a card before

:)

There are SO many collections out right now that use my favorite colors - leaf green, turquoise, coral, sunshine yellow. It's so exciting and I'm having a blast trying to mix and match them! So yesterday, enter Studio Calico's June kit, Partly Sunny. Not my favorite kit - didn't feel like I got as much bang for my buck as usual, but that's probably because I already had some of the items in it! - but boy, oh boy, does it ever go perfectly with some of the other collections in my stash! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice the similarities between the Pebbles, Inc. paper and the Buzz & Bloom fabric clouds , but I was absolutely tickled with these two items! Throw in some Sweet Summertime (didn't I tell you how smart it was of them to use white and ivory?!) and - voila! - perfection! I'm so thrilled with this card-and-envie combo!

All supplies from Studio Calico's Partly Sunny kit and Echo Park Paper's Sweet Summertime collection EXCEPT: buttons - Studio Calico (Granny's Cupboard kit); textured ivory cardstock - Bazzill; glitter brackets - American Crafts Dear Lizzy collection

it's here! it's here!

:-D

on being brave

This is not something I would normally share with a cyberspace full of strangers, but I've been trying a lot of new things lately so I figured why not.

Not long ago, I mentioned that I was trying Weight Watchers again after giving it a shot for about a month last summer. I'm not doing it perfectly, I'm not obsessing (although it's hard for it not to occupy a lot of your thoughts), and I'm not beating myself up for "falling off the wagon" every once in a while... all I can say is thank goodness for those bonus 35 points each week! :)

Also, I think I've mentioned that I'm not much of a scrapbooker, but I've been having a good time with my little page-a-month 6x6 album. So I thought, by way of a little extra motivation, I'd start a second monthly scrapbook chronicling my attempts at losing weight. I'm making a huge assumption that the photos and numbers will show changes from month to month (or at least every few months!), but even if I fail,  hopefully I'll have had fun making the layouts!

So here it is: Page Number One...

I hate the sideways shot. I really tried hard not to "suck it in" - I never look that fat, even though I am that fat! (Although I have to say that it's not all for vanity's sake... Because of my close to two decades of dance training, I actually have to focus conscious effort on not engaging my core muscles!)

My scrapbooks in the past have pretty much been photo albums built on pretty paper with a few stickers or other embellishments thrown in. But I've been seeing so many scrapbook layouts online that are so impressive. I wanted to try something I've seen a lot of  - I call it "scattered bits of stuff" - and I'm not sure how well I executed it here, but it was fun to give it a shot. I think I may have let things get a little too busy for the size of the page, but I used a lot of elements that I really love. And I adore the look of layered labels - Can't wait to play with that look more!

the excitement of simple pleasures

Seriously, be honest - Is there anything that better represents simple happiness than buttons. I adore buttons - I love looking at them, I love the feel of them, I love how versatile they are and I use them on so many of my cards. So I was positively giddy when I opened my Studio Calico May kit yesterday afternoon to find this little baggie of love...

Have you ever seen anything so adorable?! How absolutely perfect are these colors of pinks?! Look at this!

I'm giddy - absolutely giddy! I just cannot get over these buttons! These are my favorites:

I want to just put that heart button in my pocket and carry it around with me!


Ok, ok. I'm a huge dork. Enough's enough. Here's my first May kit card, using my new favorite technique with buttons.

This was also my first attempt at using acetate/transparency/overlay. I really like how the ivory cardstock shows through the window.

I'm definitely going to have to try a couple more variations on this card. BUT, I'm having a very hard time fighting the urge to hoard these amazing buttons! My fantastic LSS Colorful Creations has a Creative Cafe station with some super cute color coordinated buttons - I bet those will work just as well as these adorable coral buttons. I'll let you know how that works out :)

Thanks for stopping by!

why I hate Sundays...

... no mail.

Today, on the other hand, is not Sunday and was a *spectacular* mail day!

 

 Studio Calico delivery!

Unity Stamps + Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety = Better than cake!

Pink Paislee goodies from ebay! :) 

I'm hoping they'll work with the new Starlight collection, but I haven't gotten the chance to put them side by side yet.

But first, I've got to tackle ... this ...

 Ugh.

proud of me for doing two!

WOW was today ever a busy day for a Saturday in our house! I had to go into work for an hour (and I earned $20 and barely had to do anything - sweet!), my hubby and I went out to lunch with my great uncle, we did our weekly dump run (because I know that's what you came here to hear about!), spent a long time perusing a giant craft fair (and got a cute hand-painted sign that reads "no outfit is complete without cat hairs"), and I vacuumed my car for the first time in the almost-two-years that I've owned it (I know, I'm gross. It won't happen again, I swear!). SO by the time I sat down to do challenge #2 it was after 6pm and I was really ready to be done with the day. But I'd been thinking about this challenge since last night so I had to try.

This time I tackled Kimmi's challenge (scroll down to the bottom of her post). I ADORE flower embellishments and I've been watching a lot of tutorials (still trying to master this one - it's alluding me for some reason!) and playing with a lot of ideas for handmade flowers. And I am IN LOVE with Pink Paislee's ribbon pleats (just got the ones from the 365 Degrees collection, although I hope they'll go with the Starlight collection, which I can't wait to use!).  So here's my card...

I used the Queen Bee Ribbon Pleats, patterned paper, cork, and brads for the flowers - I really liked how the other flower I made with the twill came out and I wanted to try again but with an extra layer. The polka dot papers are from October Afternoon's Fly a Kite collection, and the floral paper (which inspired the whole card) is by K&Company and was FREE with a recent 2Peas order!

I have to say I LOVE how the flowers came out, but I'm not so sure about the card as a whole. As I've gazed at and pondered on it, it has at times seemed unbalanced, unfinished, and downright schizophrenic! :) Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to figure out how I feel about the finished product.

Hope you had a great National Scrapbooking Day! Thanks for stopping by!

starting the celebration early

Tomorrow is National Scrapbooking Day! This is a brand new thing for me. I'm not actually much of a scrapbooker, and I know there IS a World Card Making Day (first Saturday in October), but I still don't want to miss out on all the FUN happening tomorrow! In particular, the Studio Calico Design Team members have each issued a challenge. I'm starting off a day early with Davinie's challenge - which I'm most excited about because she was the only one to issue a CARD CHALLENGE! :) Yay!

Plus, her rules are really basic, which I love to see since I'm new to challenges and have to work with whatever I already have around. So here are the rules:
1. Create a card.
2. Use woodgrain.
3. Use the color blue.
4. Use a punch.

Super! Here we go!

I have NO IDEA where this card came from! It's completely unlike what I normally do! But I really think I like how it turned out. The idea just came to me today at work, so I sketched it out quickly while I was waiting for the pizza dough to finish mixing :) I knew right away I would use the Core'dinations woodgrain cardstock from SC's Joyland kit. It looks awesome in this photo, but while I was working with it I actually wished the two colors were higher contrast. Oh well. This is more authentic I guess. The other bits are just scraps from my "blue" file. The letters are from Basic Grey's new Basics Manila collection (you want to get this!). The card base is Stampin' Up's Ballet Blue - and I'm really proud of myself because I usually have trouble using color card bases - A weird hang-up of mine I guess!

Thanks for looking! I hope you like what I came up with for this challenge!

Studio Calico Sunday Sketch 4/18

I have only made one attempt at using a sketch thus far in my crafting career, and I can't say I loved how it turned out. :) There are some out there for card makers but most of the ones that cross my path are for 12x12 scrapbook pages so I don't usually bother thinking too much about them. But for some reason, this week's Studio Calico Sunday Sketch really spoke to me! You can view the original blog post here, and this is what the sketch looks like:

 

Now, like I said, I don't scrapbook on a regular basis - except for my page-per-month 6x6 album. So I decided I was going to use this sketch as a template for a couple cards. So I grabbed my Joyland kit (SC April 2010) and separated out the papers into oranges/reds and blues/greens and started punching away with my 1.5" circle punch. I used the Jenni Bowlin embellished butterfiles (I'm in LOVE with these - even though everyone is using them these days!) and My Mind's Eye Lush rhinestones from the kit, plus the bonus stamp and my fave Chestnut Roan Colorbox chalk ink. I also used my Martha Stewart butterfly punch. And I have to say I absolutely LOVE the results!

 

This card layout was also exciting for me to make because of something I've been struggling with a lot lately: negative space. This was a good exercise in accepting negative space because I didn't have to decide on my own if it looked good because the locations of the elements AND the negative space were dictated by the sketch. It's definitely helping me see when space does and does not need to be filled.

Thanks for looking! Happy Monday! :)