"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - blog hop time @ Frosted Designs!

Here we are with our second Frosted Designs blog hop of the summer!  This time our theme is "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"!  (yup, the Cyndi Lauper song is now stuck in my head, LOL!)

For this blog hop, we want to see layouts showcasing girls having fun.  This could be you and friends, or your daughters, nieces, etc.  If you'd rather do a card or an altered project, it just needs to be "girly" - the more feminine, the better!   Link your project back to the Frosted Designs blog by July 3rd, for a chance to win a prize from one of our two sponsors:   Artsy Albums and Scraptown Lady.

Here's my layout for the hop.  My daughter, her best friend, and I went to the Brooks and Dunn concert when they had their farewell tour in 2010.  I didn't get any good pics of the actual concert, so I used the best one I had, plus a couple of photos of us waiting for the concert to start. 

 

I have a small RAK of some BoBunny dimensional stickers, ribbon, and Basic Grey fabric brads to give to one random commenter on this post.  Just tell me what you're planning to do for your blog hop project!

 

My blog is first on the hop, so here is the list of the other DT blogs.  You don't want to miss any of their projects!

 

Brenda (you are here)

Artsy Albums

Felicity

Lori

Manda

Amanda

Sassy

Narelle

Elizabeth

Scraptown Lady Facebook

 (*Note... if you don't have a facebook account, you can still play along with us! You will just skip the 10th stop!) 

Muse challenge #23

This week's challenge at Muse was based on this wonderful card by Anita:

I was inspired by the clean look of the straight lines and the white space.  I used some Paper Smooches stamps to make this "stitched" card.  Orange and red is a little different combination for me, but I wanted to break out of my comfort zone a little.  :) 

 

Check out all the different takes on the inspiration card at the Muse blog!

Another hybrid card for Jingle Belles!

I combined the Jingle Belles hybrid card challenge with a card sketch challenge over at My Scraps & More to come up with this card.  The snowman in the Polaroid frame is a digi stamp from Whimsie Doodles.  I printed it three times, inked and colored different portions and then adhered it back together for some dimension.  I added some Stickles and a stamped sentiment from Mama Elephant.

My Scraps & More - sketch #34

I love the sketches on the My Scraps & More sketch blog, and enjoy using them to get a jump start on page layouts.   Here's my layout using their sketch #34 from last week, and some Bo Bunny "Mamarazzi" papers.  (The photo is my daughter and granddaughter.)  I used some wood veneer embellishments from Studio Calico and stamps from Little Yellow Bicycle for my title.

Jingle Belles digital challenge

This week's challenge @ Jingle Belles is to create a card using a digital image, stamp, paper, etc.  I have a lot of clip art from eight to ten years ago, when I was a member of PC Hug Club (sadly, no longer in operation).   This snowman image is from one of the sets.  Normally I print these images in black and white format like digital stamps, and then color them or paper piece the image.  This time, I printed the image in "painted" format, then added a rub-on sentiment to the snowman's sign,  some glitter pen and stickles to his scarf & hat, and to the moon, stars and snow, and some black epoxy accents to his buttons.  Once everything was dry, I brushed some rock candy distress stickles over everything, added an embossed blue cardstock background, and adhered it to the card front.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but the card is really sparkly (and the best things about stickles is that there is no glittery mess!)

Paper Smooches "Picture Perfect" challenge

I ordered some new Paper Smooches stamps on Friday and they arrived just in time for me to play along with this week's challenge @ Paper Smooches SPARKS!    Here's the inspiration photo for this week's challenge: 

 

I was inspired by the neutral color scheme and the angled lines.  Here's my card, using the Chart Toppers, Notebook Paper, and Clipboard stamp sets and the coordinating dies for Notebook Paper and Clipboard.   I think this will work well for a "guy" card, which are sometimes the hardest ones to create.  I embossed the black cardstock background, and added some gold bead "bullet points" to create a little extra dimension and texture.  The top portion of the clipboard is popped up with two layers of adhesive foam squares, so it has dimension like an actual clipboard.

 

 

Fusion Challenge #12

Time for another Fusion challenge!  For this week's challenge, I "fused" the sketch and the inspiration photo, using the sketch for the card design, and taking my colors from the inspiration photo.  Just love working with those bright colors!

Seeing spots @ Frosted Designs!

The 2nd June challenge is up at Frosted Designs - incorporate polka dots in your project!  Here's my card with lots of dots and some bright colors, too:

 

I used some of the new Hero Arts neon inks for the backgrounds on this card.  For the large pink polka dot, I inked a Cuttlebug embossing folder with neon pink ink and embossed some white cardstock.  For the blue background, I swiped a neon blue ink cube over some white cardstock, and then used the same ink and a polka dot stamp over the top.  Both backgrounds were misted with spray iridescent glitter.  The flamingo is a very old digital stamp image from PC Hug Club, colored with Copic markers.  The speech bubble and sentiment were created in Microsoft Word.

 

Link up your project to the Frosted Designs blog for a chance to win a prize from this week's sponsors: Oh My Crafts! and Copic Markers!

Today at Get It Scrapped, we're featuring projects inspired by folk art.  One of my favorite types of folk art is the penny rug.  This is typically made of circles cut from wool or wool felt and embroidered with a blanket stitch or running stitch.  While I didn't use any circles on this page, I did use some wool felt and hand stitching on the frame around the photo and also on the leaves.  To make the leaves, I cut cardstock with my Cricut and then traced around the diecut onto the felt, then stitched the leaf veins.  I added a little extra texture by laying down some drywall tape as a mask, and then sponging brown ink overtop to create the little areas of grid pattern.

 

 

 

I hope you'll check out the other DT projects at Get It Scrapped, for more inspiration!

Love to Scrap Challenge #8 - Anything but a card

Our second challenge for June at Love to Scrap  is to create a project, layout, tag, etc.....anything EXCEPT a card!  Your project needs to include either a rubber stamp image or a digital stamp image.

Our sponsor for this challenge is Bugaboo Digi Stamps, and they were kind enough to give the DT some digi images to work with.  I used their blossom word block image to create this 4x4 canvas to hand on my kitchen wall.  I wanted some of the canvas to show around the edges, so I printed the digi stamp at 3.75" x 3.75".  I sponged distress ink around the background, then colors in the flower and butterfly with Copic markers, and added a few pearls for accent.  Ribbon was adhered around the edges and a ribbon hanger attached to the back.

Please link up your project to the Love to Scrap blog for a chance to win a prize of seven digi images from our Bugaboo Stamps!

Fusion Challenge #11

Fusion challenge #11 was posted this week.  As always, you have the option of using the sketch or the inspiration photo.  I chose to use the sketch this week, and ended up with this card for the 4th of July.

 

The star paper is from BoBunny's "Anthem" collection.  The flag is a sticker from Pebbles that I cut apart, distressed and mounted on cardstock stamped with a mesh background.  I added a woodgrain star sticker from My Mind's Eye in the center, topped with some distress Stickles.  The sentiment uses Am.Crafts rubon alphas against more of the stamped mesh background.

 

The Fusion challenges are a lot of fun - hope you get a chance to play along this week!

Plaid & Paisley - and a chance for a $10 gift card to Get It Scrapped!

One of the DT challenges this month at Get It Scrapped was to combine plaid and paisley on a layout.  Here's my page, using photos of my granddaughter enjoying the tomatoes from our garden.  (She was just one at the time, and thought it was great fun to move them from one basket to the other!)

 

Cardstock: C’ordinations; Patterned paper: October Afternoon, Jillibean Soup; Alpha stickers: October Afternoon, Making Memories; Stamp: Unity Stamps; other stickers: SRM and October Afternoon; other items: buttons and crochet thread

 

I used a tone-on-tone green paisley print for the right side of the page, and then a larger more open plaid paper with some quilt accents to balance the page. 

 

And now for the chance to win - just create a page mixing paisley and plaid, submit it to the Get It Scrapped gallery (see post here), and you'll have a chance to win a $10 gift card to Get It Scrapped!

Get it Scrapped! - Challenge to get 10 photos on a two page layout!

One of the DT challenges this week at Get It Scrapped was to create a two page layout with 10 photos.  It was a perfect opportunity to scrap some of the photos from a recent visit to the Warther Museum in Dover, Ohio.  I had lots of photos of the amazing hand-carved wooden trains in the museum, so I chose ten of the best photos for this page.

Most of the photos had dark backgrounds, so I used lighter, neutral colors with just a few pops of red and green for contrast.   To add a little weight to the left page, which had fewer and smaller photos, I added the title, some black washi tape strips, and a ticket from the museum.

 

Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup, Echo Park: Alphabet stickers: American Crafts, October Afternoon; Alphabet rubons: American Crafts: Diecuts: Crate Paper; Brads: Basic Grey

 

If you like to make multi-photo two page layouts, check out the DT projects on this post at Get It Scrapped for some great inspiration!

Fusion card challenge #10

I just discovered the Fusion card challenge blog a couple of weeks ago, and finally had a chance to play along with one of their challenges.

The Fusion challenges are twofold - they offer a sketch and an inspiration piece.  You can choose to use just one of the options or you can "fuse" them and use both inspiration pieces, which is what I did on my card.

 

PP: Bella Blvd; stamp: Technique Tuesday; twine: Martha Stewart

 

I used the sketch for my card design, and the inspiration for the color scheme and the blue and white stripes from the photo.  I love getting two card inspirations from one challenge!

A double challenge - things with wings AND a sketch!

For our first June challenge at Frosted Designs, we have a sketch for you AND it's combined with a challenge to use something with wings on your project.    Here's the sketch:

 

 

And here's my layout from the sketch, using Simple Stories "Vintage  Bliss" line.  I fussy cut some butterflies from the patterned paper, and added one butterfly sticker to make my "things with wings".  (The lovely girls are my nieces!)

 

 

We'd love to see your take on the challenge.  Please link your project to the Frosted Designs blog, for a chance to win a prize from this week's sponsor:  Molossi

Muse Challenge #20

Finally got a chance to play along with another Muse challenge.  If you haven't seen their card challenge blog, be sure to check it out here.   Here's the inspiration card for the challenge, from Laurie Willison:

I loved the teal and yellow combination, but I didn't have any teal or blue ribbon in my stash, so I reversed the colors and used yellow as the primary color, with teal accents.

 

The yellow papers are from Doodlebug Designs, and the popsicles were fussy cut from some Bella Blvd paper and then covered with Glossy Accents for some shine.  I used a Sizzix embossing folder on the white cardstock and a computer generated sentiment (font is CK Windsong).

Time for a "Rockin' Rubbah" challenge at Love to Scrap

Love to Scrap has posted our first challenge for June, and it's a good one:   use any rubber stamp image on your project.  This includes clear stamps, but no digital stamps allowed on this one. 

I used three stamps on this page:  the crown, flowers and lace border.  The crown and flowers are from Recollections and the lace border is from Technique Tuesday.  I added some rock candy stickles to the flowers and some gems to the crown for a little bling.

 

We can't wait to see how you use your stamps!  Link your project to the Love to Scrap blog for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from this week's sponsor, Heartfelt Creations.

Get It Scrapped CT Blog Hop

 

Welcome to the Get It Scrapped creative team blog hop!  Each member of the team has chosen one of their favorite articles from the Get It Scrapped site and created a layout inspired by that article.

 

I'm a big fan of multi-photo layouts and blocked designs, but I also like having pages that are a little different so everything isn't just the same arrangement or style (no one wants boring scrapbook pages, right?)  That's why I chose this article as my inspiration:

 

6 Ways to Keep a Blocked Scrapbook Page Design Fresh

It's amazing how just some slight variations in photo placement or size can make such a big impact on the look of the finished page.  Add to that the possibilities of substituting journaling, patterned paper or embellishments or one or more photos and the variations are almost unlimited.

 

Here's my page incorporating some of the techniques from the article:

 

 

If you'd like to learn more about layout design for your scrapbook pages, from now through June 3rd, you can take 60% off the price of the Design Play seminar from Get It Scrapped.  Just use coupon code giscttsbb60p.

 

 

Design principles are a great jumping off point for anyone who want to make original and well-designed pages. Not only do you learn how to work with “variations on a theme” you also get a handle on how attention to every little detail when it comes to design play yields great pages.

 

For more inspiration and discount coupons, please visit the participating Creative Team blogs below:

 

Get It Scrapped
Amy Kingsford
Sue Althouse
Michelle Houghton and Deborah Wagner
Marie-Pierre Capistran
Christy Strickler
Heather Awsumb
Michelle Hernandez
Lise Mariann Alsli
Alexis Aragona
Kristy T
Stefanie Semple
Audrey Tan
Sian Fair
                    **Brenda Becknell **you are here
Carrie Arick
Kiki Kougioumtzi
Tara McKernin
Susanne Brauer
Marcia Fortunato
Katie Scott
Andrea
Rosann Santos-Elliott
Doris Sander
Celeste Smith

Happy hoppin'!