Stars and Stripes

Today, I finished another one hour challenge over at Club Creating Keepsakes. At first, I wasn't too sure about it, but in the end, I think I really like the results. The other nice thing...it completes several challenges from several different places. For the one hour challenge, I had to make a 12x12 LO with a Handmade fireworks embellishment. So I cut a star on my cricut, folded it to make it dimensional, then added some unfolded paper clips and some EK success fibers. I had in mind the sketch from the Club CK weekly challenge, so I used that. I cut the borders on my cricut using SCAL. I cut the title using CK's beantree font. I had a few photos that would not fit on the page. So I placed them on my cricut mat and cut the title. The ribbon was from my stash...I loved the striped pattern with the stars.

If you are looking for places to submit your patriotic LO's, try:
http://sketchesforyou.ning.com/
http://www.stuckonusketches.blogspot.com/
http://scrapdivas.spruz.com/groups.htm

I hope you enjoyed your holiday. Happy Birthday, America!

My Mad Martian Maker

I made this layout for the Brads and eyelets challenge at Scrap Our Stash Blog spot. You can check out their challenge here:
http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/2010/07/july-challenge_03.html

This is one of those pages that I just love. It came together so easily and came out in such a way that I just love it. The bright colors and the photos pop on the black background.

I chose the Sassafrass patterned paper because it reminded me of stars. it also had a retro feel that reminded me of the "my favorite Martian" show. I chose green ribbon from Cosmo Cricket's Jack's world collection as a border. I wanted a space theme, So I used chipboard stickers from K and Company. I made the stars myself. Flat stars would have worked fine, but I really wanted to add dimension. I had just viewed a tutorial about making folded stars on the Scrapbook and cards Today blog. I added brads to one of the stars as an accent.

TIP:
when doing this, make sure your the tabs on your brads are not pointed at a crease...they will poke through if you aren't careful. To adhere the stars to my page in such a way that they would not get crushed, I glued pieces of cotton balls inside of them. I cut the title on my cricut using CK's Jolly Elf font. I love using brads on a LO. They are such an easy way to add a little dimension and interest to your layouts

Diary of a Tadpole

While I did not make it to round two of the last Scrapper Standing contest at Memorable Seasons, I decided to keep participating for a chance to win a gift certificate. Challenge two asked for us to use a black cardstock base and to make at least two handmade flowers. I immediately thought of water lilies. My son and I had found some tadpole eggs...which we promptly brought home in an empty water bottle. Currently, the little guys have hatched and are growing at a wonderfully steady rate. I have been taking photos along the way with the intent to document their stay in our home. This will be the title page for those layouts. I liked the idea of a black background. The photos seem striking against it.

I made the lily pads by cutting circles of various sizes. I cut out a little wedge, giving them the appearance of pac man. I then used my bone folder to crease them. I felt this gave the appearance of leaf veins. I folded the edges of the circle and inked them with colorbox olive ink. I then used various green chalks to add a little variable color to the leaf and to accent the veins. For the tadpole eggs, I used glossy accents and black pony beads. To make the flowers, I cut them on my cricut. They come in two pieces. I rolled up the edges of the top layer and inked them with colorbox ruby satin and royal silk ink. These were the closest colors to the actual flowers we saws and added more depth to the paper flowers. I rolled crate paper sweet branch trim for the centers.
  The title was cut on my cricut. I used CK's sloppy and beantree fonts. The tadpole egg "o" was made from a chipboard alpha. I flipped it over to the white back, added the button and used glossy accents. I am looking forward to making little tadpoles and frogs for the rest of the pages. Stay tuned for those.

I have also decided to post my first project for Last Scrapper standing round one here. The theme was "An American Child." We were asked to use star and stripes. I cut the stars on my cricut...some of which I creased and glued down to add dimension. To help the star hold it's crease, I glued cotton ball pieces inside. The striped ribbon was purchased from the dollar section of target. I chose to keep this LO very simple. I journaled inside a star on my word processor and added it to the border. I added a few small star brads and  buttons.

Crazy About Stars

I recently read a tutorial about making folded paper stars...and now I am hooked. I just have to figure out what else I can fold or crease. I will admit, that on my last 3 layouts, I have found an excuse to add a paper star.
To learn how to make a folded star, go here:
http://scrapbookandcardstodaymag.typepad.com/scrapbook_cards_today_blo/2010/06/paper-stars-with-kimber-.html

For the current Studio calico blog challenge :
 http://studiocalico.blogspot.com/2010/06/be-bold-challenge.html  and for the challenge over on Frosted designs: http://frosteddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/06/tgif-and-you-know-what-that-means.html , I created this layout about my son and his obsession with me taking his photo while he's underwater. All of the photos were taken using a disposable underwater camera. While I wish I had a nice digital underwater camera or the adaptor for my digital one, I find these cameras work pretty well. I love the bold turquoise color of the photographs...and when I matched the red cardstock to my son's red shirt, I loved the boldness of the color combo. So I chose to stick with these two colors for the whole layout. I cut the star using my cricut, but you could use any die cut or star punch. You could also trace a star cookie cutter. Use your bone folder to crease and fold the star. I folded and refolded a few times to make the creases more pronounced. I chose to add diamond stickles to the star so they would match the chipboard alphas(manufacturer unknown).it doesn't show well in the photo, but the alphas have glitter on them. To help the star keep it's dimension and to help adhere it to the page, I glued part of a cotton ball inside. The ribbon is from Cosmo Cricket's Honey Pie. Since the colors and title were so bold, I chose to keep the layout more simple.

I hope you'll be seeing some stars on one of your next layouts.
Update: and thanks to a comment from craftygirl...I just submited this Lo to Pratical scrappers. Thank you for the tip!