Club Scrap Blog Hop - Lock & Key

Hey you!  Welcome to the October edition of the Club Scrap blog hop!  This month we got to hoard, I mean, use the gorgeous Lock & Key collection.  I made an eclectic mini album with some of the fantastic goodies that are available in this kit.

If you've wandered over here from Lisa's blog, then you are on the blog hop trail!  If you've lost your way or just want to see all the links in one place, head over to the Club Scrap Creates blog to see a list of all the talented bloggers participating today.

When I saw the theme for this month's kit, I knew I wanted to to use to scrap some of my pictures from my trip to New Zealand.  I took a lot of pictures while I was there, but I think the most I took in once place was when we went on the Hobbiton movie set tour.  The nerd in me just couldn't help herself.  I'm working on my traditional scrapbook album of the entire New Zealand adventure, but all of the Hobbiton pictures didn't make the cut for that.  So instead of having the remaining photographs sit in a drawer somewhere, I decided to make a mini album devoted just to Hobbiton.

There were so many cool embellishments and beautiful colors in this collection that I had an easy time incorporating these into an album.  I started out by creating my own covers to the album by cutting four pieces of chipboard into 6.5x8.5 pieces, then gluing two of the pieces together to make a double thick rectangle of chipboard.  (I used the kind of chipboard that comes with my orders of paper - any type of relatively stable cardboard will do.)  I wrapped each of the covers with papers from Club Scrap's Pattern Basics, which are such an ease to work with for wrapping!  Just the right weight so your finished product looks great.  If you're new to wrapping or need a refresher, be sure to check out Tricia demonstrating this technique here.

I wanted the basic size of the album to be about 6x8, but I also wanted some of the pages to extend past the outside edge of the album to add some interest.  On the cover I used the AMAZING 12x12 stencil that came with my Lite kit and gold mist.  I also took advantage of this free printable for this kit and printed this on tan cardstock so I could use them throughout my album.  Printables are fun to work with - I find that if I ink the edges of the cutaparts that it tends to look more cohesive with the rest of the collection.

Click to enlarge!

One of the things I liked about having a separate mini album is that I didn't feel the need to do too much journaling since I knew I would be journaling in my main album.  That way I could just put lots of pictures in with no worries!  I created a couple of pockets to house extra photos by using the printed bags that came with the kit and by making a pocket out of acetate paper and washi tape - both types of pockets make this album interactive! This album is still a work in progress since I have a pile of pictures left, but I'll be able to add a page or two here and there thanks to the binder rings I'm using to keep it all together.

Thanks for stopping by!  Your next stop on the hop is Annette Dragon.  Go check out her take on Lock & Key and make sure to stop at the other blogs along the way.  Next month we will get to play with Fire & Ice, so come say hello again in November!

Supplies // Paper: Club Scrap Lock & Key Copper, Teal, Dark Brown, Teal Print, Pattern Basics Neutrals, From stash: tan, acetate / Inks: Club Scrap Earth / Tools: Club Scrap ink applicators, Lock & Key stencil, Cropodile Big Bite / Embellishments: Club Scrap: Comfort Zone Library Cards, Bookshelves Library Card Pockets, Lock & Key Printed Bag, Metallic Sunbursts & Mini Brads, My Mind's Eye Indie Chic - Birds washi, Prima Metal Paper Clips - Key, We R Memory Keepers Baker's Twine - Neutral, Heidi Swapp Gold Lame mist, Studio K Black Label Alphabet, Thickers - Muse, eyelets from stash, American Crafts Slick Writer Pen,

Happy Fall!

Whoa, October has been busy and crazy, but I'm trying to get back on the crafting train.  Luckily this past week I received cards from the Halloween/Fall swap I was participating in at Club Scrap and it definitely helped with inspiration.  Look at these amazing cards I got back!

I had fun making my cards too - when you're making a lot of duplicate cards at once, you don't want it to get too complex, but I still want to have the final product be interesting.  It was fun looking through all my stamps to try to find something autumnal to use.

I really wanted to create a plaid panel for this card so I used the technique in this video to make it.  (BTW, whenever I feel a little uninspired, I usually spend an inordinate amount of time watching scrapbooking videos - my favorites are here, here, and here.)

I used a different stamp than the one in the video, but this technique is so fun - definitely something I'll be using again if I need to make a more masculine card.

I signed up for the Christmas card swap as well, so I need to start getting those completed soon!  Pinterest, here I come.

Supplies // Paper: Club Scrap Mirror, Mirror, All That Jazz, Matrix, light orange, dark green, kraft and cream from stash / Stamps: Club Scrap Brewed Awakenings, Give Thanks, Welcome, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler / Inks: Club Scrap Leaf, Tangerine, Topaz, Earth, India Ink

Welcome to Fergburger...

...home of the Fergburger, can I take your order?  Anybody?  Anybody?

I'm finally trying to tackle all of my New Zealand pictures and my issue with vacation photos is that I like to get a lot of pictures on my layouts - some days I can go for one picture layouts, but I feel like my vacation album should be chock full of pictures.  That's why I like turning to Club Scrap's sketches - they usually provide a lot of room for photos and embellishments and look good too.

September's sketch challenge was using Take Wing's monthly sketch, so I used that for this page.  I just grabbed some coordinating papers and took off!

I wanted to use some of Pattern Basics papers, so I grabbed some plain cardstock that would compliment it.  I used up some of my leftovers from the Peacock kit and added some stamping with the Tribal stamps.  I gussied up the background with some mist and a mask.

The mist was a bit more subtle on the second page, but there was a lot more real estate being used by photos and paper that I was OK with that.  These colors were so much fun that I thought they really helped with the mood of the page - even though it was cold and rainy this day in Queenstown, we were so happy to be chowing down on gigantic burgers.  Because obviously food = fun.

Supplies // Paper: Club Scrap Aurora Borealis, All That Jazz, Peacock (green, blue, and gold), Pattern Basics Brights / Stamps: Club Scrap Tribal Borders & Backgrounds, K&Company Smash roller date stamp / Embellishments: Heidi Swapp Gold Lamé Color Shine, Studio Calico Circle Graph mask, Jillibean Soup Memorable Hexies, washi from stash, Peacock sequins, Peacock cutaparts, Meagan Elizabeth White Cloud alphabet stickers, pink letter stickers from stash

Triple Whammy: Christmas, NBUS, and Card Sketch Challenges

I love participating in challenges - they get my thinking outside of the box and actually using my stash!  I used this card to participate in three challenges over at Club Scrap - Mary's Christmas challenge, Pam's NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff) Challenge, and Anne Marie and my card sketch challenge.  It was fun trying to think of a way to incorporate all three into one card!  This is the second card I made with September's sketch - check out the first one here.

And since tomorrow is the first day of October, there will be a more challenges to look forward to!

Supplies // Paper: Club Scrap Lodge, WOW Holiday 2012, Take Wing (Red) / Stamps: Club Scrap WOW Holiday 2012, Welcome Get Comfy (Club Stamp) / Embellishments: Waxed linen thread, Martha Stewart Baker's Twine / Inks: Club Scrap Onyx, Spruce, White Pigment

Club Scrap Blog Hop - Take Wing

Hello, and welcome to the September edition of the Club Scrap blog hop! This month we're playing with Club Scrap's Take Wing collection. I'm going to show you how to make handmade embellishments for your pages and cards with the stamps and stencil in this month's kit.

If you found your way here from Lisa's blog then you're making your way around the hop! If you're lost or just want to see all of the links in one place, then check out the Club Scrap Creates blog for all your inspiration needs.

I chose to add on the Club Scrap kit to my Lite kit this month because I loved the paper, the stencil, and the stamps so much.  I knew I could get a lot of different uses out of the feather stencil and stamp, so I decided to make my own embellishments to use on my layouts and cards.

I'm sure there are more combinations you could get out of the stencil and the stamp, but I used the stencil and:

• Traced the feather shape onto the Lime plain paper, cut out, adhered microbeads using Glossy Accents
• Traced the feather shape onto the Blue Patterned paper and cut out
• Used ink applicators and the Club Scrap Hybrid inks on the White plain paper and cut out
• Adhered the washi tape from the Lite kit to the White plain paper and cut out

The feather stamp from the Take Wing Collection Unmounted Rubber is equally as versatile - I used this to:

• Stamp on vellum using the Club Scrap Ruby ink and cut out
• Stamp on acetate (I used cheap overhead projector sheets) with StazOn ink in Cotton White
• Stamp on the Red Translucent paper with VersaMark and heat emboss with silver embossing powder
• Stamp on the White plain paper with the Club Scrap Peridot, Lagoon, and Sapphire inks to create an ombre effect

I combined these different types of feathers into embellishment clusters and used these on my layout:

and my card:

With both the layout and the card, I combined different pre-made feathers into clusters.  In my layout, I tried to make a visual triangle around the photos and journaling with my feather clusters.  I also made a little tab for my date to live using my Envelope Punch Board - check out my post here on how to make this.

For my card, I let that feather embellished with the microbeads be front and center.  I loved the colors in the patterned paper, but didn't want it to compete too much with the feather embellishments, so I toned it down a bit by layering vellum over it - you can still see the great paper, but it's just a bit more subdued.  I used embossing powder for the main sentiment just to give it a little more impact.  I also let the feathers hang outside the "canvas" of the card because I really liked how that looked - this will probably be a hand delivered card, instead of one I send in the mail.

Try your hand at making your own embellishments with this awesome kit!  I would love to see what you come up with.

Thanks for stopping by!  Up next is Annette Dragon and her Digital Musings.  Go, say hi, and make sure you stopped at all the blogs along the way!  Don't forget to stop by next month to check out Club Scrap's Lock & Key collection.

Supplies // Paper: Club Scrap: Take Wing Kit (Blue plain, White plain, Green plain, Lime plain, Blue patterned, Red transparent, White patterned), From stash: vellum, acetate / Stamps: Club Scrap: Collection UMs,  Peacock Greetings, American Crafts: Studio Calico roller date stamp / Inks: Club Scrap Ruby, Leaf, Sapphire, Peridot, Lagoon, Tsukineko StazOn Cotton White, VersaMark, From stash: silver embossing powder / Tools: Cluc Scrap ink applicators, Advantus Tiny Attacher, Club Scrap Take Wing stencil, Ranger Glossy Accents / Embellishments: Club Scrap Take Wing washi, American Crafts Thickers - Scene, Martha Stewart red baker's twine, Martha Stewart Metallic microbeads - White Gold

Make Your Own Tabs - and a Sneak Peek!

Sneak peek time!  Stop back tomorrow to see what I have up my sleeve with Club Scrap's Take Wing collection.  I created a cute little tab for my project using the Envelope Punch Board.  It's really quick and simple if you have this tool!  Check out these videos if you want to see what else this can do.

I first took a scrap piece of paper that I wanted to use to match my project and lined the left edge in the center of the punch.  I punched that out to get the first curved edge.

I then stamped my date on the scrap and cut it down to size.  (This was actually my second attempt - the first one came out a bit wonky.  Good thing paper has two sides!)  I again lined the left side up in the middle of the punch and punched away.

I edged the tab with ink to give it some dimension - easy peasy!  I'll definitely be using this when I need to make a tab in a hurry.

Don't forget to see the completed project tomorrow, right here!

Week in the Life: Weekend Words and Photos

Weekends are good. Girls' weekends are better. Girls' weekends spent scrapbooking are the best.

Friday started out rainy, which was fine with me - I was going to be stuck inside at work all day, then taking off for Wolcott right after work.  I drove down the back country roads with my car full of scrapbooking goodies and the radio blasting and ended up at my friend Marie's father's cottage on Port Bay.  Our other friends Judy, Anne Marie, and Anne Marie's daughter Catie also joined, and you know when these ladies get together, hilarity ensues.  I packed pretty light for a scrapbooking weekend, mostly because I ran out of time to pack and organize my photos.  I made it my goal to get caught up on my ALSBs and cut out and mount my mountain of stamps.  While scrapping, we kept a good mix of television on, a little Julia Roberts movies here, a little Food Network there.

Sunday was more of the same:  eating, scrapbooking leisurely and laughing a lot.  Jason works on Sundays so I picked up some food at Wegmans on the way home and sat down with my book, my dinner, and my wine.  When Jason got home, we sat down to our usual Sunday night schedule - Breaking Bad and The Newsroom.  (Both.  So.  Good.)

And that was my week.  Compared to last year, I took way less photos, but I'm much more excited about printing and putting together my album this weekend.  Last year's album is still being sorely neglected.  Maybe in 2014 I'll find the perfect balance of taking enough pictures and having enough energy to put them in an album.