A Few Cards for a Fiskateer Challenge

Lead Fiskateer Tami Bayer hosts a monthly color challenge at Fiskateers.com.  April's prompt was NEON and it really took me back down my memory late--about 4 decades!  Both cards utilize Michael's Recollections brand card stock and Fiskars Give it a Swirl, Cupcake, Apron Lace, Threading Water and Lace border punches.

The hat on this card has little tabs along each side that I folded under.  The tabs are attached to provide a slight bend to the party hat.   The purple flower trim was made from purple tissue paper.  Each flower consists of 8 layers of tissue punched with the Fiskars Seal of Approval squeeze punch.  I used stickers for the Celebrate and 21.  The 21 has a thin layer of black stickles on top.  I cut the numbers from the sticker sheet and applied the stickles to the sheet.  When dry, I carefully peeled the numbers from the sheet.

Here's a different variation of the same card design

For the trim on this card, I gathered sections of crepe paper streamers by hand basting with thread.  Stamped Celebrate! with Fiskars Simple Stick Birthday Cheer stamp set.  I decided to skip the tabs and bendy front on this card and just use pop dots to attach the party hat.

Thanks for dropping by.  Hope all your celebrations are NEON bright and happy.

A Fun Tag

I needed a break from all things Distress and Cheryl Waters, Lead Fiskateer at Fiskateers.com, had just the ticket, er tag!  She issued a challenge to create a mixed media tag using at least five tools and three different mediums.  I came up with this!

My mediums were colored pencils, white craft paint, pigment ink pads (Fiskars and ColorBox), Ranger Glossy Accents (on the bubbles), Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Fireworks pigment ink spray.  The tools I used were Fiskars desktop rotary trimmer, #5 scissors, interchangeable border punch with Lacy Doubles cartridge, Tim Holtz/Tonic paper distresser, my computer (sentiment) and stamp from Studio G.  You might not see in this photo but I first ran the tag thru my Big Kick with the Fiskars Netting Texture Plate to give a tile like embossed grid.  The dark blue swirl and dots in the upper right corner are Cloud 9 Raindots.  All paper from my scrap bin.

I'll be back in a day or two with more Tim tags from class.  See you then!

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!

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!

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!

 

AN ATC FOR YOU!

Hi, there!  Welcome back to Traveling Down a Crafty Road!  I've been working on a bunch of ATC swaps and would like to share the only non-Christmas one that I've done.  Keep in mind that I've recently completed 4 swaps.  Three were Christmas or sort of Christmas themed and involved a grand total of 63 cards!  This one only required 12--one for each month and I was responsible for September.

I found the seed packet image on the internet (morning glories are the September flower) and I replaced the seed company name in MS PowerPoint.  I also accented the flower with a little Perfect Pearls painting technique.  The sapphire-like jewels are from Michael's Recollections brand.  Stampendous Royal Blue pigment ink finished off all the edges.

Now let me send you to fabulous places! 
Debby Lewis, Fiskateer of the Year for 2008, hostess of the 52 week long Dare Ya! challenges, owner of Debby's Dream Studio shop and a wonderful crafter is doing "12 Days of  Home for the Holidays" on her blog (link below).  The ever creative Debby has invited 12 guest designers to share their holiday traditions and creativity.  It's a fun time over at Debby's Dare and I encourage you to visit and maybe learn something new.  I've also signed up to participate in the Dare Ya! challenge for 2010 so you can look for my challenge layouts right here on my blog starting in January!  I would love to have your company in the challenges.  Find out more here:  http://debbysdares.blogspot.com/

Lisa Falduto, another amazing designer and fellow Fiskateer, is hosting a Week of Holiday Cards on her blog, Paper Fashions.  Lisa is always inspiring and her cards are absolutely beautiful.  Please take a minute to check them out.  They are really super!  And she's got a giveaway going : )  Here's the link
http://www.lisafalduto.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you are having great success doing all the crafty things you do and preparing for the holidays!

BUMMER!

Welcome back to Traveling Down a Crafty Road!  I have a scrapbook page of my adorable, littlest nephew to share today.  This layout was originally a part of the Scrap lift a thon on the Fiskateers site.  Our nephew, Colton, is the star and he's 5 years old.  He's also not a happy camper!  The journaling is straight from Facebook and reads--"Lesa:  What's up with Colton?  He looks so sad!  Terri:  He wanted them to throw more candy! . . .Colton, Lincoln Highway Days Parade, Nevada, IA  8/29/09".  He is soooooo cute!

Supplies include patterned paper from The Paper Studio by Hobby Lobby, black ink Zig writer, DMC embroidery floss, Making Memories and Colorbok chipboard letters, sandpaper, Fiskars 12" desktop trimmer, Fiskars fingertip craft knife.  Photograph of Colton courtesy of Leanne Farrington.

A little tip for you:  I hand embroidered/sewed the running stitch border.  To make the stitches even, I placed a ruler along the edge of the paper and pierced holes with my needle at even intervals before sewing with floss.

Thanks a bunch for visiting.  I love your comments and read them all.  Please stop by again--LTL

AN AUTUMN WREATH & A NEW TOOL

Look what I made for my front porch!

Well, actually we have a front stoop and I hung the wreath on the side wall because it was pretty, and stationary.  I purchased the grapevine wreath, flowers, leaves, and ribbon at Michael's (on sale or with a coupon, Yaaaay!)  The flowers and leaves are hot glued and the bow and streamers are attached with a pipe cleaner.  I also made a hanger for the back with another pipecleaner and hung the wreath from a nail (in the wood trim above the rock) with fishing line.  Here's a closer view.

The hardest part of this project was hanging it because I didn't measure my fishing line first and our smallest ladder  is 8 feet tall!  That ladder doesn't fit on the porch the right way so I felt, and probably looked, like a monkey. 

Making the wreath was a snap because I used my new Fiskars Floral Stem Cutter.  No more wire cutters for me!  That baby cut the floral "bushes" apart with little to no effort.  The individual stems cut like paper.  So much so, I started cutting bunches of 4 or 5 at a time and it was easy!  I did have to adjust some of the leaves to get the stems thru the cutting slot but that was no biggy.  The stem cutter is a table top model, cuts up to 1/2 inch diameter stems, and is covered by the Fiskars limited lifetime warranty.     

NOTE:  I was a lucky monkey and one of a few that "won" this fabulous tool on the Fiskateers site.  My only reward for giving a positive review is the good feeling I get by sharing a great idea with my fellow crafters.   

Hope you enjoyed my wreath!  Happy crafting to you!

FISKATEERS!

Hello, everyone!
It's raining here and I have several craft projects to post--but I want to get good photos of them so stay tuned!  Love the rain after our drought but I think I'm growing gills!  I've got cards, my ATC box, layouts and a sewing thing to post when the weather cooperates for photos. Think the weather is breaking tomorrow.
In the interim, I thought I would share a photo of me at the Fiskars 360 Celebration!  Yes,  Fiskars has been in business for 360 years!  Can you believe that?  Fiskars started in Fiskars, Finland 360 years ago in the steel business.  Their return policy and customer service has no equal in my opinion or knowledge.

It was an honor to attend the Fiskars 360 Birthday Celebration at Epcot in Orlando.  I got to meet a bunch of  my on line friends, all the Lead Fiskateers and some of the home office Fiskars folks.  I met Maxine from WV and watched as she was crowned FOY of 2009 (Fiskateer of the Year for 2009!  YaaaaaaaaY Maxine!).  All I can add is that it was fabulous and it was hot and humid while running around the park doing Scavenger Hunt.  BTW my hair gets a bit wavy/curly in those conditions.

Fiskateers are brand ambassadors for Fiskars products--paper crafing, gardening, sewing, jewelry or floral. If  I didn't list a crafty item (like ceramics, knitting, crotchet, etc.), I didn't do it on purpose because all crafts are represented on Fiskateers.com.

Come join in the fun!  We have a fun, and short, on line crop scheduled for 10/17/09 for Breast Cancer Awarness.  Click the Fiskateer blinkie on the left or go to http://www.fiskateers.com/  and follow the instructions. 

I would love to see and welcome you as a new Fiskateer!

MEET THE COFFEE CATS!

Starbucks, Kona and Java came to live with us about 11 years ago.  They got their names when Kona found a coffee bean under the kitchen sideboard and started batting it around.  The vet's office called them the coffee cats on their first visit and they've been the coffee cats ever since.

I put together the layout of my fur babies for a weekly scrap lift challenge that I've been participating in with the Fiskateers.  Cat photography credit goes to our fabulous cat sitter and professional pet photographer, Sylvia Brown.  She is wonderful and life without Sylvia would be difficult for our little family.

I wanted to use coffee themed embellishments but I didn't have any!  What's a scrappy crafter to do?  Make them yourself!  The coffee bean border came first.  This is what I used:

No, this is not a medical tool, ha ha!  This is a stamping tool.  I cut a piece of fun foam into an oval.  I then bent the oval in two and cut a shallow slit down the middle, taking care not to cut it into two, separate pieces.  In order to work with such a small stamp, I stuck it on a craft stick with a mini glue dot.  I practiced a bit on scrap paper.  By varying the amount of ink and pressure, I made the solid and split side coffee bean images with the same foam stamp.  I used Anna Griffin chocolate pigment ink.

The little hearts on the right side are paper scraps stuck to some Dollar Store stickers.  I cut them out and adhered them sticker image down.

The cups are homemade paper piecings.  I found some images that I liked on the Web and copied them to MS Power Point.  Then I resized them, printed them and created the different pieces.  I would share the templates but I sort of destroyed them in the process of creating!  The rising steam tendrils were created with Autumn Leaves Flourishes stamps and white Stampendous pigment ink.  Please note that I printed the photos on matte photo paper to make sure that my pigment ink would work.

Other than scraps of cardstock and bits of patterned paper, I used one sheet of DCWV textured cardstock for the background, Making Memories Alpha Stickers (CATS), Heidi Grace Satin Letter Stickers from the Harvest Row line (Java), Cloud 9 Rub On Alphas, Outdoor line, (Kona), a black Zig writer and a Marvy Uchida gold opaque pen for Java's cup doodle.  This was a frugal layout!

Today is World Card Making Day and I have a scrap table with a few new cards in process.  Hope you are making cards today, too!  Scrapbook Royalty is accepting cards for their Cards for Troops campaign until November 1.  If you would like to help, details are on their site (link is on this blog to your right).

Thanks for looking--and meeting my kitties!  Have a wonderful weekend!

LET'S ROCK!

My youngest niece, Jessica, has a new PINK electric guitar! As soon as I saw this picture, I knew I had to scrap it. She’s so cute with her new “axe”! Looking forward to the concert the next time we see her.

A few days after I got her photo, the Fiskateers were having an online crop. It was also National Talk like a Pirate Day and one of the challenges involved creating a layout of someone or thing that you treasure and using a skull and crossbones on the layout. Perfect! Here’s what I did.

Now you know I revisit and tweak layouts on occasion. The ROCK portion of the title has been tweaked on this one. I originally used one inch alpha stickers in the blackadder font. They were okay but I felt they just weren’t heavy enough. I carefully removed the stickers and stamped ROCK with Making Memories foam stamps and Liquitex black acrylic paint. The letters are intentionally out of line. I wanted them to look like they were rocking out! Other products used to create the layout include DCWV textured cardstock (background), Inks by Steph Fletcher Cove stickers (photo corner, stars, skull and crossbones), Me and My Big Ideas adhesive rhinestones (princess and flowers), Bazzill (black) and Heidi Grace (pink) flowers, Making Memories medium star brad, Colorbok journaling block, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby brands ribbon.  Photography by Christina DePalma.

Thank you for taking the journey with me. Rock on!

HEIRLOOM SCRAPBOOK PAGE Part 2

Finally!  The second page of my double layout is here.  It's been ready but I had hoped to get a better photograph for you.  Our weather has just not cooperated.  If the rain keeps up much longer, I'm getting the snorkel gear out!

This is the right hand companion to the page posted on 9/19/09.  It is the reworked version.  In the original (and you have to be a Fiskateer to catch the before shot, Ha, Ha!), I used the invitation along with a copy of the actual newspaper announcement.  I didn't like the way they were displayed so I played around with those elements.  The gray patterned paper mat and the three bejewed inchies are additions.  I also took a few sentences from the newspaper announcement and typed them in MS PowerPoint--"The bride wore a dress of Copenhagen blue crepe, with sweetheart neckline and draped skirt.  Her hat was of matching blue crepe."  Don't worry, I'll add the copy of the entire announcement elsewhere in the album.  I didn't change the patterend paper border (the "rest" of the Fiskars quilted corners border corner punch from the left side) or the ribbon with the inchie and oval photo. One more thing to note--I used white paper for the newspaper lines for the sake of album continuity.  All the journaling blocks in the album are printed on white paper. 

Here's what they look like side by side.  Trust me; I do believe the right hand page is a bit more elegant in the reworked version.

Thank you for swimming by!  Now where did I put that snorkel?

ANOTHER HEIRLOOM SCRAPBOOK PAGE Part 1

Would you like to see another layout from what will be my mom and dad's wedding album?  A little background--I posted a double page version of this one in my Fiskateer gallery last night for a border challenge.  I wasn't happy with the right hand side of the page and am reworking it.  NOW, I like what I'm doing with the right hand page and will share that side with you in my next post.

Do you ever go back and rework a page that you're not happy with?  Wish I got each one right the first go round, but I don't!  Those not quite right pages nag at my serenity.  I go to bed at night thinking I can do better.  Sometimes I have a Eureka! moment before sleep claims me.  Sometimes I even remember that moment when I wake up!

Here's the left hand page.  Please know that my borders are straight, my photograply is crooked.  The photo is a solo shot of my mother.



I used the Fiskars border corner punch, Quilted Corners, around the mottled gray patterned paper (The Paper Studio) and carefully cut the outside edge off (more on that in the next post).  The photo is matted on the same gray cardstock but I left about two inches on the left side.  Punched that side with Fiskars Diamond border punch.  On another piece of gray cardstock, I used the Fiskars Leave it to Weaver border punch and threaded pink organza ribbon through the punches.  Then I poofed the ribbon.  Not sure who made this ribbon--it's labeled Decorative Ribbon, made in Taiwan.  I'm sure it was a bargain!  The ribbon bedecked piece is adhered to the mat with medium sized glue dots.  To complete, I made 5 inchies with cardstock and square rhinestones to place along the far left side.

Thanks for visiting!  I would love to know the if, when, how, and why's of reworking your own pages--leave me a comment.  Come back around for part 2, round 2, page 2, whatever you want to call it!

CROP CRAZY

Wow, what a Fiska-fabulous weekend! The Fiskateers hosted an online crop and the challenges were flying at fever pitch. The message board was hopping, the gallery was popping and the chat room was, well, chatty. The crop started mid morning on Friday and the majority of the challenges were due by Saturday, 10 pm CST. I spent most of my free time on Sunday commenting on my fellow Fiskateer’s lovely projects. Here's one of mine.

We were challenged to create a scrapbook layout, card or other project using a “sacred” paper or embellishment. You know, that paper that you fell in love with at the store, just had to have and then were too taken with it to use? That’s my background paper! I just love the soft, warm tones and the subtle paisley and floral pattern. It’s Terra Cotta Paisley from the Sonnets Studios line from Creative Imaginations, LLC. The bird is from Prima and the brads are Spare Parts. Photos are from a trip I took to New York City in 2007.

Cropping and sharing the creativity with my Fiskateer friends is always special. Click the Fiskateer blinkie on the right for more details about this super group.

Thank you for visiting Traveling Down A Crafty Road! Please sign my Guest Book at the bottom of the page. Comments are always read and welcome

CARDS

My craft space has been card central lately! First, I needed some Thank You notes but my cupboard was bare. Time to make a few.

These are really multi-purpose notes. They are 6 inch square, which requires extra postage, but I love the look of a square card. The white and yellow card utilizes the Fiskars Pearls of Wisdom corner punch, two Prima flowers, and a square mini brad from The Paper Studio. The green and white card has a scrap of Provo Craft patterned paper and Heidi Grace flowers and brad.

Next step in the card making marathon was a Fiskateers.com challenge to make 38 birthday cards to help celebrate lead Fiskateer Angela Daniels’ birthday. I liked the simplicity of the cards shown above so I decided to duplicate some for Birthday cards by stamping Happy Birthday inside. I made some 4 by 5.5 inch cards, too. Here are two of my favorites:

Provo Craft patterned paper from the scrap bin, a little ink, some chipboard flowers and a bit of acrylic paint were used on these. The flower stems are Martha Stewart Happy Birthday ribbon. I added a little self adhesive pearl to one and the other has a pearl and metal brad from Déjà Views.

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look. Comments appreciated.
Happy Crafting!