One Word One Technique #17

The latest prompt is over at the Truly Madly Crafty Blog, you can check out my post & tutorial here. This month's technique is fabric & i've made my own button embellishment. Here's my layout:

Kit: Studio Calico City of Lights.Other: Fabric, Button Maker.

i am usually a 'B' side scrapper, but sometimes an A side comes along which is too pretty not to be used in it's entirety. Such is the case with many of Rhonna's designs for MME. Embellishments & design are kept to a minimum as the paper has enough going on. Journalling is in the envelope for privacy reasons.

Ms Pacman

The wonderful Doris came up with a new stash busting game called Ms Pacman. The details/rules are over at the JBS Mercantile forum here. i thrive on these kinds of challenges because they keep me focused. No indecisiveness about which product to use mid way through a project, because it's not allowed! It pushes me to look creatively at the supplies i do have and figure out ways to make them work for me. i really love seeing how i can get different projects from the same collection of product. Here's my Ms Pacman Kit:

Supplies: Paper: Studio Calico, MME, Pebbles inc, Fabric Swatches: Ormolu, Brads: Jenni Bowlin, Washi Tape: Masking Tape, Border Stickers: Basic Grey, Other: Twine, Buttons

Doris challenged us to create a layout and two cards but i ended up doing two layouts and one card. Rules are meant to be broken, right? Here's the first layout i did:

Although i like the finished layout, i'm not happy that your eye isn't immediately drawn to the photograph. The designs of the papers are too busy and the hand cutting i did is distracting. But i can live with it. i still have lots of photos left to complete the telling of this story so i'll add them into my album in divided page protector right next to this layout.

i am not the greatest artist with my craft knife, i am not a very precise scrapper and eyeball everything. But i can mange fairly straight cuts if they're small enough and i like to add interest to my patterned paper with this technique sometimes.  The graph design from Studio Calico is one of my all time favourites and i grab it in every colour they release. i barely have any of this navy left so i wanted to do something different with it. As triangles are so on trend right now and work well with this pattern that's what i went with. i also like that the sharpness of the angles supports my theme of the page (crocodiles).  i left a couple of the triangles blank so you could see the kraft cardstock and backed some with different papers. They really stand out against the navy. i'd like it if the triangle trend stuck around for a while yet. What do you think the next 'trend' will be, maybe diamonds?

Let me talk you through some of the 'techniques' i used on my pages.

i'm not sure if we were allowed to use punches or not for this challenge, but the yellow paper from Pebbles inc that i had included in  my kit already had lot of starbursts punched out of it from a previous project (in this post). So i decide to try & work that into my design. It seemed natural to house buttons and brads in the negative space. i really love how the brads are bumpy like a crocodile!

One of the things we had to include in the kit was 1 yard of trim, but only 11 inches of any one trim. i'm not sure if twine really counts as trim, but we'll go with it as it's one of my all time favourite items. Something i often like to do is add twine along the top of my page. But as we were only allowed 11 inches of any one trim it wouldn't stretch far enough! uh oh! i ended up tying two ends of  different coloured twine together to get around that. i really like the effect and will be doing this again for sure.

The Heidi Swapp Chipboard letters i picked out were glossy so i wasn't sure how it would take to mist or other mediums. i always experiment with the numbers that come in these types of packs as i hardly ever use them anyway. i tried spraying mist on one to see how it would take. As i was expecting, not very well. But i dabbed it with kitchen roll and found that some of it did get absorbed into the edge of the chipboard number, so some of the white still showed through, giving a kind of mottled effect. i quite liked the distressed look so i ended up using this technique on both of my layouts.

Here's layout number two:

The 'it's a fact' banner on this page is actually from the back of the packaging of my Ormolu fabric swatches. When i received my package from Ormolu i tweeted about my delight at the packaging and that it would be working it's way into one of my projects. Kaitlin told me that they had recently redesigned the packaging with that in mind! So very cool. i am a huge fan of their products and it's a real added bonus that they are earth friendly too! i added a little bit of stamping to one of my swatches using StayzOn and i was really please with how it took, no bleeding at all. Although my stamp wasn't in my original kit, i think i can get away with it under the 'unlimited techniques rule' ;)

There's no reason why you can't use washi tape just like patterned paper. On this page i cut it into short strips and stuck it right down. i also cut up one of the border stickers into three to create a repetitive design.

i also got to work on this green herringbone paper from Studio Calico, and made lots of random cuts. i didn't back it with patterned paper as it would have been too busy, but i think it does add some interest to the page.

 i stuck with triangles for my card. i'm hoping i can get a way with using stamps again!

i didn't even end up using the diagonal striped paper from MME, so that's still waiting to be used on another project. But other then that i don't have much else left from my kit left. i'm hoping Doris sets another stash busting challenge soon because it really keeps me motivated!

Guest Designing at Jenni Bowlin Studios!

i am super duper excited to be guesting over at the JBS inspiration blog today! It's no secret that i am a HUGE fan of Jenni's products, putting these pages together was SO FUN! Doris and the Design Team are all so creative & unique in their own way & the Message Board is an inspiring and supportive place to hang out.

There is so much to love about this line, but my favourite of all is that pretty flower paper. i like it even better scaled down. And did you see how i managed to sneak some packaging onto this page? Everything Jenni designs is pure class. You can see all my layouts & read about them over at the JBS blog. Thanks for all your kind comments so far, they are truly appreciated. 

April TMC Kit Layouts

Just popping in to share some more projects i made using this month's kit from Truly Madly Crafty. If you're wanting to see the other projects i made you can check out this post on the TMC blog. This kit is perfect for spring projects and these photos from a trip to Exbury Gardens in May 2010 sprung to mind when i first saw the kit. i really like to use product in a way that supports the theme of my page. The honeycomb pattern and the bees & butterflies all symbolise spring time and flowers to me. 

i have to say i am becoming a big fan of 6x6 paper pads. i really like the smaller pattern, they are perfect for card making and Project Life. Because the pattern was scaled down i was able to use the hexagon's from the 'honey blue' paper as an accent on their own. Maxine always sends me the kits beautifully wrapped in tissue paper and string. i managed to sneak both those items into this layout. 

i used my craft knife on the 'Be the Best' paper to cut out some of the hexagons and then backed them with the kraft coloured graph pattern on the B side of the 'Ephemera' paper. This one of my favourite techniques to use lately. 

As there was ribbon and washi tape included in the kit i wanted a way to incorporate them into the design of my layout. i created a mat for my photo using those supplies along with some pattern paper scraps i had left over. i liked the result so much i also made a card using the same design.

Happy Easter to you, i hope that you are able to enjoy a break and spend time with your families!

TMC April Challenge

This months challenge over at the TMC challenge blog is  to make handmade flowers. I used a mistable trim from Pink Paislee to make mine.

Supplies: Scrapbook Circle February Kit. Papers: Crate Paper, October Afternoon, Flower Sack Pieces: October Afternoon, Polaroid Printable: Scrapbook Circle, Mistable Trim: Pink Paislee, Washi Tape: Hambly, Chipboard, Brads: MME, Journalling Card: Elles Studio, Stamps: Studio Calico, K&Co, Alpha Stickers: Basic Grey,  Ink: JBS, Mists: Maya Road & Studio Calico, Other: Button, Tiny Attacher. 

Yellow flowers are my favourite, you can usually find a bunch on my living room windowsill and as i am forever snapping pictures of them i thought they deserved a page. 

April TMC Kit

The TMC April Kit is now in the shop. Every month i am surprised how mush Maxine manages to pack into the kit, they are such good value! i really enjoyed working with the Follow Your Heart 'Be Amazing' line from MME. i am not normally a card maker, but i made NINE with this kit!!

i'll post the layouts i also made, later in the week, but you can see everything i did this month over on the TMC Blog.