Scrapbook Layout - blog Challenge

Hello everyone. Another snowy day here in Pennsylvania, but the sun is shining. Today I'm submitting a layout for a color challenge with The Memory Nest. Working off an inspiration piece and coming up with something of my own is right up my alley. I decided to use a picture for my layout showing how the snow blanketed everything and when I looked out across my front yard I could no longer see the road and the sidewalk. Untouched, the snow just looked beautiful. So here it is. Hope you like it.

I took my photograph looking out my window somewhat at an angle, so the grills aren't straight up and down like I would like them to be, but no big deal. I decided to place my photograph in a window frame and add a fancy blind to capture the same feeling I had looking out.

Inspiration Piece

To make the window I used chipboard covered with brown textured card-stock and then cut a hole in the layout for the frame to fit and glued it in place. The trim on the window overhangs the frame which gave me some play when cutting the hole. I didn't have to be perfect about it.

Happy Crafting!

Inspirational and Colorful Layout Challenge New Year 2014

Hello fellow crafters! I'm very excited because I just took part in my first blog challenge. 

Being a newbie to the craft scene here online I recently stumbled across Creative Embellishments and quickly became a fan of their chipboard, wood veneers and stamps which have amazing detail. Check out this next link to see one of their products which is definitely on the list of my favorites Feathers.

So here it is! My first challenge layout and wow is it colorful!

I made this inspiration piece to represent my love for and dedication to crafting. I no longer work outside the home and my youngest is almost an adult. Now, I finally have time for ME. The small star rests and pushes down the C which represents crafts. The pulled back triangular pieces of black glitter paper that make a sun shape represent that I've broken out of my past routines and I'm now fully pursuing my dreams; a bright sunny future. "Reaching for the Stars" means to me that I will pursue my dreams uninhibited. I wanted the look of celebration because that's is truly how I feel. I'm doing something I love and it's good for my personal growth.

The challenge piece (below) is so colorful with so many details to work with. As my handmade inspiration for the rest of the year I wanted to capture the colors and glittery shine. I like things that sparkle. The black glitter card-stock that I used in my piece is absolutely gorgeous.

Creative Embellishments

January Challenge Inspiration Piece

The back of the glitter card-stock is white so I used Adirondack Alcohol Ink in Butterscotch, Stream and Wild Plum to make it colorful. To get the ink to spread I placed a drop on the paper and then blew on it through a straw. I placed some loosely quilled circles underneath the words.

For the scalloped edges I used a Martha Stewart border punch and then placed blue ribbon over it. To give the flowers a glittery center I cut circles out of foam Valentines Day hearts. Each triangular piece was glued down and then a bead was glued to it.

To give my layout a celebratory feel I used quilling paper to make the springy curls. The large star is chipboard covered with white textured card-stock and the small star is the leftover card-stock cut from the center of the large star.

Happy Crafting!

Creating Your Own Digital Art

It's fun to make a card, layout or any project that you can share publicly or better yet sell, but finding an image you can use freely is difficult. Many blogs that offer free graphics also have a disclaimer that the images they share could be copyrighted and it's up to the person using it to pursue with the owner of the image what he/she is free to do with it and what can not be done with it. Basically it's "I made the image available for you, but use it at your own risk". I've also seen blogs state that the images are from before the 1920s and "should" be public domain now, but there is uncertainty. These blogs are great for personal use, but they don't help crafters who sells their craft projects.

My advice, if you feel that you may sell the project that you are making, buy one from a blog that makes and then sells them with your rights for use (which are usually very cheap) or take a chance and try to make your own. I decided to add an Easter bunny to some of my cutesy Easter cards and although I cannot draw animals and I'm not experienced at using the Paint program on my computer, I gave it a shot. It took me a few tries to get it to look like a rabbit and it wasn't easy, but I figure the more I try the easier it will be. 

I created the rabbit below from just putting shapes together such as circles for the body, feet, arms, cheeks and eyes, a diamond for the nose, the straight line cursor for the whiskers and stars for the flowers. As you can see my ears were drawn free hand and are messy looking, but overall I have the basic rabbit I was looking for. It doesn't have to be perfect. The nice part is once you make it, it's all yours. So give it a shot, then another. Don't give up. The first few times I tried the Paint program it was like trying to create something on an Etch-a-sketch; it wasn't good. In the end I got what I needed and this rabbit looks adorable on my cards.

You can also create animals with your punches and die cut shapes. If you're better at free hand drawing then draw the picture you want, scan it and save it to pictures so you can print it out as needed. Printing it makes it look as if you stamped the image, giving it a very clean and purposeful look.

Tip: If you make a mistake drawing in Paint or have a bad section you don't want people to see and are too afraid to erase it, just cover it with flowers or something. That's what I did to disguise the pointy head of my rabbit.

If you can get the shape right, but not the details; why not make your drawing a silhouette. There is a How-To-Draw site which is where I learned to draw this dear. You begin with circles and line connections. It was a very helpful site.

www.dragoart.com

If you decide to use your Paint program, making objects that are made of squares, rectangles and straight or diagonal lines are quite easy. With a little practice you'll be making images for your crafts in no time.

Copyright © 2014 Angela Conklin - Heartedly Handcrafted
All Rights Reserved

Masculine Greeting Card with Winter Woods Tree Stamp

Hello! 

Today I made my first masculine card for my brother's birthday. I enjoyed creating something I hadn't attempted. It amazed me that it seemed more difficult to decide what I was going to do compared to a card I would give a female and it was a nice change.

I love the Winter Woods Tree stamp. 

For the picture I used the tree stamp twice. The first time I stamped onto a scrap piece of paper and then onto my card so the trees would have a light appearance. The second time I stamped directly onto the card which makes the lighter trees look like they are in the background. I also used a clear stamp for the sentiment using Tim Holtz Distress ink in "Peacock Feathers" which matches the inside and edges of the card.

For the base of the card I used a brown, textured, double-sided car-stock that is turquoise on the back side. To make the turquoise show I lightly distressed the edges of the base card with a nail file.

The next layer is tan card-stock which I edged with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Vintage Photo. I also used a makeup sponge to ink flat down on the edges of the pager to create variations in the brown ink which gave it a marbleized effect. Below is an example of when I used this effect on another project with black ink.

I placed grommets in the corners to run the jute through.

In the middle I placed a wooden button that I stained with Vintage Photo ink. I ran the jute through the button holes and tied it in a knot in the front.

Happy Crafting!

Hippie Birthday Card

Hello everyone! Birthday card time!

A friend of mine is a nature girl. She likes greens and browns so I kept her in mind when designing this card.

I incorporated a wood-grained deep brown mat and a textured tan mat for that woodsy feeling. For the colorful embossed flowers on the front, I used white cardstock, a Darice embossing folder and 4 colors of ink that I allowed to smudge together as I went. I didn't do a lot of embellishing so the colors and patterns are front and center on this one. To make the large green flowers on the base card I used an old paper that I had punched flowers out of as a stencil. 

Flower and Vine Scrapbook Layout

Hello everyone! Time goes by too fast! This is a picture of my daughter from 17 years ago in her little pink, green and white, flower dress. I grew up with only brothers and I was the oldest so spent a lot of my young life caring for boys. When I had my daughter I was so excited. She is absolutely precious as she is my only girl and also my youngest.

It was time to get her photo out of the old wooden frame that housed it and do something new. I did not use the original photo, but scanned it and printed a copy on matte white card-stock. I considered using a baby theme and baby colors, but who wants to do normal things? Not me. So not only did I use grown up floral papers, I threw some black in there too to make the colors pop.

 I used a Martha Stewart corner and border punch set and a Fiskars border punch to do the edges. Then did a lot of layering of different papers for interest.

Layers

• Base - heavy white card-stock (edged with Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Victorian Velvet"
• First Layer - lightweight cream card-stock
• Second Layer - lightweight black card-stock
• Third Layer - lightweight white card-stock (edged with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peeled Paint"
• Forth/Top Layer - K&Company floral card-stock
• The photo is matted with black card-stock and floral print paper to make it stand out

Embellishment

Scrap pieces of the cream colored paper were used to form the two vases in the lower corner and the leaves coming out of the smaller vase. 

To make the twists I wrapped strips of floral paper around a pencil.  

Once the vases and flowers were finished I embellished the vases with pink ribbon and flat-backed light green gems.

The butterfly in the top corner was cut from the K&Company floral paper 

Strips of cream card-stock and pink from the backside of the double-sided floral paper were used to make an inner border.

Sizzix dies "Build a Lilac" and "Branch with Leaves" were used to form the vines of leaves and flowers. Each flower has a flat back pearl as it's center and was colored with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in "Victorian Velvet". The leaves were colored with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in "Peeled Paint".

Happy Crafting!

Handmade Card for that Special Someone with Flip Down Sentiment

I can't help but laugh as I write this.

Some crafters will go to great lengths for a decent photo of their latest creation. It's very dark in my house even with the curtains open since it's a dreary, snowy day today in Pennsylvania. This afternoon I braved the cold and snow just so I could get enough light to say, "Hey, look at what I created". After freezing, because I didn't think it would take long enough to worry about putting on a coat, I slipped as I tried to move quickly back into my house. I'm fine, but the funny part was that I realized I was holding my card in the air so it wouldn't get ruined and my camera was laying on the ground (my camera is fine too). You have to have priorities. So after all that, I present to you my latest card with a flip down front to show the sentiment.

Hey, Look at what I created!

Happy Crafting!

 

#handmadegreetingcard 

Flower Trellis Card

There is still snow outside, but it's Spring in my craft room! After cutting out an extreme amount of gold, silver and shades of red and green over the holidays it's so refreshing to say hello to pinks, purples and the rest of the color palette. Of course you aren't stuck with any particular colors during the holidays, but those were the colors I chose to use this season and after dozens of Christmas cards I need a break. I'm also enjoying coming up with new looks using the same dies to see how much I can do with them. 

I changed my mind and replaced the button I originally used with a purple bow. Either works, but I like the softness the bow gives my card.

Materials used:
Paper

• K&Company printed flower paper
• Craft card-stock in deep purple, dark green, mint green and white
• Chip-board (used under the scalloped circle to build it up)

Equipment used
Machine and Dies

• Sizzix Big Shot
• Sizzix "Flower, Build a Lilac" die
• Sizzix "Branch with Leaves" die
• Spellbinders Nestabilities dies "Lacey Circles" and "Large Circles"

Measurement for lattice was made using Martha Stewart Scoring Board Envelope Maker

Coloration

• Rubber Stampede Ink for the flowers in blue, pink and purple
• Leaves are edged with Rubber Stampede Ink in Dark green and colored in Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Peeled Paint"

Dry Embossing

• Cricut Cuttlebug "Polka Dot Page" embossing folder

Embellishments and Special Effects

• Offray craft ribbon medium purple
• Glossy Accents to edge flower petals
• Fabric Art Crystal Ultra Fine Glitter for lattice and flower petal edges
• One large and one small button fitted together and tied with a string of burlap
• Flat backed pearls were used for the center of flowers

Handmade Card

Hello everyone! Over the past few months I have found another craft to love and that is card-making. After all, I can play with color, shapes, textures, prints, see what I can make work and I get quick results to feel good about. I find making a card to be very therapeutic and just as wonderful is giving a beautiful card to someone that you made yourself.

I'm thinking that upper corner may need a little more tape. That's the nice thing about taking photos before sending cards off.

Materials used:
K&Company printed flower paper
Craft cardstock in light pink
Textured black cardstock
White card stock with the edge colored in Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Peeled Paint"
Offray craft ribbon in cream
Cream colored craft cardstock for the base

Equipment used:
Sizzix Big Shot
Spellbinders Nestabilities dies (Lacy Circles and Circles)
Computer and Printer for the Sentiment ( I use Word)
Fiskars Rotary Paper Trimmer

30 Signs You're Addicted to Paper Crafts

1. Your desk is known to be covered with scrap pieces of paper and material and there is a ring around your chair that looks just like the surface of your desk.
2. You have partial lines of double-sided tape stuck on your desk.
3. You don't throw anything away because you see a creative purpose for it.
4. Your glue and tape collection has become so large you use a container to organize them.
5. You have pride in the little containers you found to store your beads, pearls and buttons.
6. You've daydreamed about making a craft video and placing it on YouTube if you haven't already.
7. You love collecting fake flowers so you can rip them apart and make your own cute flowers.
8. Your prize possessions are your hot glue gun, scoring board, Xacto knife and heat tool.
9. You're excited when you get more rolls of tape. In fact when you're in need, tape is a perfectly acceptable Christmas gift to receive. 
10. Your eyes light up, like a guy looking at a new sports car, when you buy a die-cutting machine and every time you get something new to go with it.
11. You've not only taken the time to organize your ink and stamps, but you've built your own storage unit.
12. You have curtain rods hung on your walls with ribbon, wax paper, lace and burlap hanging from them.
13. Your craft storage boxes are labeled because you have so many.
14. You can spend and entire day walking around Micheal's, Joann Fabrics and Hobby Lobby and still feel like you're being ripped away when you have to leave.
15. Thrift shopping has become even more fun with all the new crafts you've learned to do.
16. YouTube tutorials have replaced television and you cannot get enough of them.
17. You've started your own blog so you can share your creations with the world.
18. You have multiple pairs of scissors and specific uses for each pair.
19. You freak out like your dad did over someone touching his tools when someone touches your special markers.
20. Having every type of paint brush and sponge brush makes you feel good.
21. Not only have you organized all of your paper by color, but you have organized your scrap pieces of paper too.
22. You've saved the hard plastic covers from foods and craft essentials because you know what to use them for.
23. People often look at what you have used to make something and say, "I would have never thought off that".
24. You find inspiration by following every online Arts and Crafts blog you can find.
25. When you get stuck on a project you just put it aside and start a new one, knowing that something new will refresh your creativity.
26. Your room seems to constantly get smaller as you need more room for finished projects and new craft "essentials".
27. You have to remind yourself while working on a project to eat and get up and move.
28. Filing cabinets and dresser drawers no longer hold just bills and clothes.
29. Seeing someone on Youtube do something smart that you haven't thought of (like storing embossing powder in a container with a spoon) gets you excited.
30. You, too often, find yourself trying to save your project from your tape sticking one piece to another in the wrong position, end up with glue where glue should never be and get tired of picking off hairs from your projects that fall out of cheap paint brushes.
31. Bonus - Making a list called, "30 Signs You're Addicted to Paper Crafts" makes you laugh because you know there are many people who will connect with it.

Happy Crafting!

 

Copyright © 2013 Angela Conklin - Heartedly Handcrafted
All Rights Reserved