Saturday, January 30, 2010

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

The circles just exploded all over this page!  In my last post I mentioned a Fiskateer's challenge to create a layout using CHA in the title.  Lucky for me, I have a cutie pie nephew named Chase.

I created the title tiles in MS PowerPoint by drawing an auto shape box.  I added the woven mat background, changed the black line to 6 point weight and added the letter--88 point Algerian font.  The patterened paper is all DCWV La Creme stack and the brads are Spare Parts from The Paper Studio.
All my circle cutting tools participated on this layout.  For the large, torn circle, I pulled a big salad bowl out of the kitchen and traced around it.  Then I wet my tracing line and carefully tore around it.  For the largest of the smaller circles, I used the Making Memories circle cutting tool and mat.  I punched the remaining circles using the Fiskars Round n Round XL and L punches, The Paper Studio 1 inch circle punch and a half inch circle punch from Marvy Uchida.

I may not be finished!  I'm kicking around the idea of adding a small journaling block in the lower left corner. 

Thanks for visiting!  Please leave a comment and let me know your opinion about the journaling block.  I appreciate each and every comment received.  Have a terrific day!

Monday, January 25, 2010

WHAT A WEEKEND! PLUS A LAYOUT

The challenges were flowing fast and furious during this weekend's online crops at the Fiskateers and Dare 2 Dream!  And guess what Chickie's?  The Fiskateers crop continues until Wednesday, January 27! Can we do it?  Yes, we can!  Well, maybe.  I have to find my craft table first!  Cleaning chores are my first priority when I finish this post.  Then I'm going to put together a layout for a Fiskateers challenge--create a layout with the consecutive letters, CHA, in the title.  Maybe I will share that one tomorrow!

Today's layout is from one of Saturday's Fiskateer Challenges, Embellish your Embellishments.  The required item was embellished chipboard.  I chose to embellish my  naked chipboard title (Best Occasions), Full Moon, by painting it with Perfect Pearls (Ranger).  I thought I had an oops moment because I forgot to paint or paper the chipboard first--but, the Pearls covered just fine without taking the extra step.



All papers are from DCWV except for the silver portions of the triple mat which is Wausau Papers.  I used the Fiskars  Pearls of Wisdom corner squeeze punch on the mat.  The silver ribbon is from ki Memories and I picked up the gem clip stars at Office Depot.  A bit of adhesive and some dark blue embroidery floss and I was done.

The photo was taken in December, 2008 while vacationing in Aruba.  There is a companion to this page but it is nothing special--just more moon photos and very basic journaling.

Thanks for dropping in.  What did you do crafty this weekend?  I love hearing from you so leave a comment and let me know!

Friday, January 22, 2010

FUN TIMES AHEAD & WEEK 3 of HOMEMADE FAMILIES!

You know CHA is happening out in California, right?  Didn't get to go, like me?  Then what are you doing for fun this weekend?  If you are looking for activity then join Debby Lewis on her new ning.com site (see Debby's Dare blog link on the right, in my favorite blogs, to find more info) for a  terrific online crop tomorrow, 1/23, starting at 1 pm EST.  The Fiskateers (once again, look to the right for the blinkie) are also having a bit of an online crop but their crop is going to be hoppin' for 5 days!  It starts at 7, I think, tomorrow morning.  I expect a bunch of different Fiskateers to help with crop hostess duties on Saturday plus a few of our Fiskateer celebrities to jump in after that.  Don't miss out on all the fun!

My latest Homemade Families layouts are complete!  This is week 3 of Debby Lewis' Homemade Families 52 week challenge.  Here is my two page spread



And this is the left side, with the recipe

 

I used MS Office clip art for the knives and forks in the "M" of the title.  The "D" is a drawing of a pastry blender that I found and copied from the internet.  There is no pastry in this recipe but I couldn't think of any other D shaped kitchen tool!  The checked pp is an MS Office background texture.  I also used the Fiskars Apron Lace border punch around the recipe.  The little birdie is a Heidi Grace "We Are Family" acrylic stamp on an EK Success 1 inch circle punch.  It's layered on the 1.5 inch Seal of Approval scalloped circle punch from Fiskars.

This is the right side of the spread

 

It has a few more little birdies, photos of me (I'm in the blue shirt) and friends and some journaling.  The photos are a tad degraded but they are 30 years old!  Why not scrap the older photos?  I did the journaling block in MS PowerPoint--basic shape outline with a 6 pt line and Lucinda Handwriting font.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I welcome your comments.  Please join our on line crops this weekend if you can and want to have a whole lot of fun!


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

HOMEMADE FAMILIES, WEEK 2!

Remember the new weekly challenge I'm doing at Debby's Dare?  Well, week three's question is up so I'd better jump in and share week two!  The week two question was "What's for dinner?"  This is what I came up with







My husband never asks "Whats for dinner?" but rather "Whatcha got cooking?"  Sometimes, it's this soup.  This is an old Weight Watchers recipe that I've changed up a bit over the years.  I usually make a big pot every month or two during the winter.  It freezes well and is a snap to defrost/reheat in the microwave.

I created the title circle and journaling block in MS PowerPoint and added a red dotted background to both using the same program.  I punched the recipe border with the Fiskars' Lattice & Lace border corner punch.

The flowers were made using punched shapes from the Fiskars XL Seal of Approval squeeze punch, Fiskars L Round 'n Round  squeeze punch and EK Success flower punch.  The "wordy" patterned paper is just a photocopy of a cookbook page.   I also used a big Bazzill black flower.  The smaller brads are from K & Co and the large polka dot brad is from Bazzill.

Thanks for dropping in and taking a look.  I'm working on week three of the challenge now!  Hope you're cooking up something crafty!

Monday, January 18, 2010

RIBBONS, RIBBONS & MORE RIBBONS!

Craft supplies organization seems to be THE hot topic every new year.  I am always looking for a better way to store my tools and sort my pretties.  I want them out of the way until I need them but I don't want to forget what I have.  If you've ever made an unintended duplicate purchase, you know exactly what I mean!   

Ribbon storage has been a problem ever since I started using it to adorn my projects.  First I had it stacked on a shelf and that worked great for the wide ribbon that I use for floral bows and such.  When I started purchasing thinner ribbon for paper crafting, I threw that in a plastic bin.  Look at the mess I created!  Boxed ribbon, carded ribbon, loose ribbon and spooled ribbon--just thrown in the bin or stacked on the shelf. 



I had to do something because I couldn't find the ribbon that I wanted and was spending way too much time digging and putting back.  Plus, I was running out of room and I love ribbon!   So this is my solution, at least until I come up with something better.  I've been using this system for a few days and it works for me, right now.



Six stacking Sterilite shoe drawers came to the rescue.  The ribbon is sort of organized by color--one for black, white & nuetral ribbons, one for red to yellow ribbons, one for blues and greens, one for holiday and special occasions/sentiments, and one for lace and the miscellaneous stuff that didn't quite fit in the other categories.  The sixth drawer was empty so it provided a home for my paints.  I left most of the ribbon on the cards and spools that they came on.  I picked up a couple of packages of old timey clothes pins to wrap the loose ribbon around and will wrap the carded and spooled ribbon when it becomes necessary.  The cardboard spools waste space so I'm balancing a wrap time vs space issue.  Most of the 3 inch wide ribbon is now in the original, before, plastic bin in the closet with all my other floral supplies.

Once the ribbon was organized, I needed to do a layout with ribbon!  So here's one that I did for my Fiskateer's Liftateer circle of friends.  The title is "busted!"  and the journaling reads "C. found the best hiding place ever.  Well it was the best until he was . . ."



Products used include:  Plain Kraft and yellow cardstock, DCWV orange textured cardstock, Imagine That patterned paper, Heidi Grace chipboard hearts, Cloud 9 Raindot alphas, ColorBox yellow and orange pigment ink, Sakura Gelly Roll white journaling pen, Offray ribbon and JoAnn's rik rak, Zots glue dots and Tombo adhesive tape runner.
Tools used include the XL Round and Round squeeze punch, Hearts and Threading Waters border punches, paper crimper, #5 microtip scissors, 12 inch desktop trimmer--all Fiskars. Plus a little sandpaper to rough up the edges of the large circle so the white journaling ink wouldn't look so stark.

Do you use ribbon?  How do you store it?  Until next time, have a wonderful crafty week!
 







Sunday, January 17, 2010

VOTIVE CANDLE HOLDERS

So many times our hand made gifts naturally fall into the homey, shabby chic, vintage style.  While I personally love that style, it doesn't fit in everyone's decor or taste.  I made these for a Christmas gift with that thought in mind.  I got the original idea from the FiskarsCrafts.com site but the example used there incorporated candy filled jars.



I found the two sleek vases (about 7 inches tall), two urn shaped votive candle jars and a basket of shells at the dollar store.  I took a strip of three inch wide Magic Mesh and cut it in half lengthwise and wrapped the lengths around the vases, overlapping at the front.  Then I took some basic twine to wrap and make a bow over the mesh.  The ends of the twine have a few beads knotted on.  The beads were clear so I altered with a little Latte alcohol ink from Adirondak/Ranger.  Next came the simple assembly--arranging the shells in the vases and plopping on the votives.  An easy, inexpensive project and a cute gift for almost any occasion.

Thank you for stopping by Traveling Down A Crafty Road.  Hope your Sunday is grand!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

SOMETHING NEW IN THE NEW YEAR

The holidays are over and I'm slowly getting things back to normal.  I was a crafty tornado between my last post and December 23rd!  I worked on layouts and finished some Christmas presents and then made some last minute type presents, too!  As soon as I locate the photos on my hard drive, I will share.

I'm participating in a new weekly scrapping challenge this year on the Debby's Dare blog.  It's Homemade Families and it's theme is something near and dear to my heart--the moments where our friends and families gather together to break bread.  Each week Debby poses a question for us to scrap and we are to scrap two pagers with that question in mind.  I'm doing 8 x 8 pages and here is my answer to last week's question, "What was your first recipe book?"








The journaling reads: 
The Joy of Cooking was as much a part of my mother's kitchen as the sink or the stove.  She had the 1940's edition with the blue cover and it was held together with tape of various colors and types and rubber bands.
My parents gave me my own Joy about 30 years ago and was I ever thrilled!  Mine is a 1970's bridal edition, even though it was to be 10 years plus before I was a bride.  She just thought it was pretty.  My book has changed kitchens nine different times, survived a grease fire and seems to bear my husband's title change with dignity.
The title change has nothing to do with the book and everthing to do with the cook!  Gary was in big trouble then but we both got over it and think it's funny now.  I believe it appeared when I tried substituting jalapeno peppers (with the seeds) for mild green chili's!  Gary has always eaten everything I've prepared but I was afraid he would hurt himself with that one!
I've got a little secret.  I've never used a single recipe in the Joy--at least not line by line.  I use it all the time but more as a kitchen and entertainment handbook.  It's a great read!

The apron border and the embellishments are MS Office clip art.  The frills and pockets were colored with a Marvy Memory Series pen in English Red.  I added thin black ribbon "ties" (from Hobby Lobby) to the embellishments and accented the pockets and frills with gold Stickles.  The journaling block was cut with my Fiskars scallop decorative scissors and the title stickers are Colorbok.

I'm having a wonderful time working on the questions.  I've already completed week 2 and will share those pages shortly.  If you would like to play along, check out Debby's Dare--link in my blog list at the right. 

Have a wonderful, scrappy day!