Scrapstashers

The monthly Scrapstashers Class was yesterday. As always, the project is a mystery and a supply list is sent out a few days beforehand. This month the list included 27 sheets of various colors of cardstock and one patterned paper. Sometimes I can guess what the project might be, but this time I was totally stumped!

Here's what we made - a 26-page scrapbook. Each 12x12" piece of cardstock was cut according to templates so that there was a tab on each (in different places) for the letters of the alphabet. The 27th piece was cut down for the cover. I used white rubons for the letters, but some people used stickers and you could always use stamps. This went together very quickly after the cutting was done. The black title letters were cut on the Cricut and "me" and "A" and "Z" are chipboard. I painted the A and Z and added Glossy Accents. A few scraps of ribbon and some buttons finished it off. The trick will be to find photos and add journaling for each letter.

Finished!

I lied - we actually made SEVEN projects on the art day, not six! Here is the final one - a "gentlemen's peep show book." The covers are corrugated cardboard and the pages are ticket tags, all of which was bound with the Bind-It-All. Again, this was an easy-peasy project - simply adhering copies of vintage postcard ladies, patterned papers, stamps, lace, ribbon, flowers and buttons and bling. Jeri had fashioned a crank from a coat hanger which was threaded through the corrugation channel of the front cover to simulate a hand crank for turning the pages of the peep show. I hadn't added mine yet when I photographed this. The binding is actually on the bottom of the cover and the book opens from the top. It measures about 4" by 6." Enjoy the show! (Click on image for closeup.)

And the final two pages. Don't you love the last one?

A closeup...

Spring Banner

It's a beautiful day here in Texas - sunny again and still cool - a great start for the week!

Here's one more project from last Monday's art day - a spring banner made with dyed tags. We had packets of various spring images which were adhered to the tags along with flowers, brads, ribbon, buttons, whatever we wanted. The scalloped ovals had computer-generated letters, but I added the K&Co patterned chipboard letters when I got home. Another simple project.

And this is the make-and-take that we offered at the Open House last week. It uses Heidi Swapp's new Invisibles - awesome new products. This tag was diecut from the lightweight Invisibles chipboard which comes in white with an embossed design. You can use just about any medium over this and the design resists it, giving you a white design on a colored background. The line also includes cardstock, alphabet stickers and peel-and-stick punch-out chipboard shapes. I love this stuff! Here I inked the tag with Faded Jeans Distress Ink, the heart with Fired Brick, and stamped the cardstock rectangle with Brushed Corduroy. Quick and easy. You can see the various designs available. I can see so many possibilities for this!

Happy Easter

I hope everyone has a wonderful day today! It's supposed to be rainy and cool here - luckily our children are grown so we don't have to worry about Easter egg hunts! Here's a sweet vintage Easter image for you.



This is a little Easter book we made on Monday. Our hostess had dyed the small 4-inch square coasters in advance in yummy spring pastels and we were each given a small "kit" of various images. We then assembled the coasters, adding flowers, ribbons and buttons. I also added Stickles, rhinestones and some stamping once I got home. Remember, you can click on each image to enlarge.

Front cover

Pages 1 and 2

Pages 3 and 4

Pages 5 and 6

Pages 7 and 8

Pages 9 and 10

Back cover

A little bit of everything

This has been one very crazy, busy week. Not only were we gone for the weekend and on Monday also went out of town for the entire day, but I also hosted my local art group on Tuesday night, was busy finishing up several class projects for the Open House on Thursday evening and my brother and his two teenagers arrived for a visit Tuesday night through Thursday noon. Needless to say, I was ready for some rest and relaxation on Friday!

Here is one more project from the art playday on Monday. It's a FAT ATC! I'd heard about these online, but had never made one. It's the same size as a regular ATC - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" - but is made on a block of wood which is 1 1/2" thick. So it's three-dimensional and you have four additional sides to decorate. This was an easy-peasy project: the wood block was painted, torn paper added to the front along with a black and white vintage image, a flourish stamped on both the front and back, lace and rick rack added to sides along with flowers and three decorative brass upholstery tacks, and, finally, rhinestones added to the frame of the image. I love the chunkiness of this! (I still haven't found time to finish the other art day projects - maybe next week.)

Here's a side view to show the dimension.

This project is for a class and is a chipboard house and book from Maya Road. I used the "Girl Friday" line of papers from Cosmo Cricket. Below you can see the front of the house. Look closely and you can see the Stickles.

This is another view.

This is the six-page accordian book which fits inside. I love that stamp on the little tag - "Home is where the heart lives."

And the other side of the pages. This is free-standing, but could also be hung vertically. I decorated it with both ideas in mind. It is just waiting for some small photographs.

Here's a closeup of the roof. You can see the glitter better in this photo. As always, you can click on any of the pics and get a closer look.

The saying around the bottom is: "Mother makes a house a home." It would be a perfect Mother's Day album/gift.

Playday Projects

Yesterday was a ton of fun. My friend, Julie, and I drove two hours down to another friend's house for an art playday. There were a total of eight of us and what fun we had! We made six fun projects, had a yummy potluck lunch, ordered pizza for dinner and Julie and I got home after midnight! How's that for a long day!

I still have some work to do to finish up three of the projects, but here are the other three. The first one is a little spring hanging pocket made from only half a piece of 12x12" paper. Two folds, a little tape to hold it, an eyelet for a ribbon hanger and a few embellishments and we were done! This would be cute on a package or even for treats.


I love the vintage image on this one. This is embossed, flocked wallpaper attached to matboard and is approximately 5" by 10." We backed the image with a torn book page and added buttons, leaves, flower petals and some glittery Easter eggs. I might add some Stickles or bling to the dress or stipple the wallpaper background, but then again, I might not!

This is one of my favorite projects and was so, so simple. This image of Scotties was so nicely aged with waterspots or age spots on it. We mounted it on black cardstock and then added ruffles made with sewing pattern tissue cut in strips. Then it was backed again with black cardstock and black ribbon added. I'm thinking I might try to find some red and black tartan plaid ribbon instead - wouldn't that look adorable?!

As soon as I finish the others, I will post them. They, too, are so cute. Thank you to Jeri for hosting a very fun day with great projects, great friends and great food!

Home again

Has it really been almost a week since my last post? How time flies...

We just returned tonight from the weekend in Albuquerque visiting our daughter and getting more wedding plans attended to. Unfortunately it was even colder and windier than it's been here. We did manage to see her soccer team play and win this afternoon. That took me back to all those weekends of soccer when she was little!

I'm off again tomorrow on a road trip a few hours south of here for a "play day" with some art friends. I'm sure I'll have some fun projects to post tomorrow.