Stitching, part two

Although I typically use a straight stitch or zigzag stitch on my layouts, a few weeks ago, I was looking at my options on the front of my machine and new stitch caught my eye-- one that looked like a scalloped edge stitch. I decided to try it out on a layout:

You can see on the layout above that I ran it down the middle, on the patterned paper and over the photo as well. I kept the stitch at a 4 width and a 2 length.

I was happy with how it turned out, but when it came to making this halloween layout, I decided to change the length to less than one. This gave a more filled in look and I was quite pleased with how it turned out as a border on this layout:



So many stitch options (my machine has 30!), so little time. ;)

So, what are your favourite stitches to use on layouts?

New Jenni Bowlin

It never fails. Jenni Bowlin always comes out with lovely embellishments. My absolut favorite from this release are these...

Right now we have them in orange, brown and black... with more colors on the way.

Some other things I grabbed to add to my stash at home...

New Studio Calico

It's here! The new Studio Calico Anthology collection!
I love love the color combos from this line.... here's a sampling..



Yummy right!?
The new collection includes papers, label and alpha stickers, fabrips (adhesive paper strips) and rub-ons.

Weekly Challenge 1.

So, I'm resurrecting the Weekly Challenges over here on the MSS blog. Every Wednesday I'll post a new challenge. Link to your layouts in the comment section if you're playing along!


Challenge 1: Create a vertical title.

more new stuff.

We R Memory Keepers Linen Album in Silverstone


Making Memories Flutter Collection -- spring-themed embellishments and albums. Some of the papers will be going up today as well.

Martha Stewart Loopy Punches (finally!!!). Use the matching corner punch and go all around your page! So cool!

Look for Jenni Bowlin and Imaginesce either today or Thursday.

New My Mind's Eye

New today...

My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary and Lush.

I don't know what it is. The texture, the colors or the "whimsicalness". Is that a word?
Anyway... I'm love-ing the new My Mind's Eye that arrived today! Awesome papers and super cute die-cuts.

Some of my favs...

Add some of the Lush rhinestones and you're set.

(There was a error with our order and the chipboard letters will be arriving shortly).

Oh... and I'm pretty sure I'm framing this flocked paper for my daughter's room.

Titles

Like you, I have tons of alphas. When I first started scrapping I was practically addicted to them. I needed to have every single package of Thickers in as many colours as I could get them in.

Nowadays, I find that I don't use my alphas as much. Most of the time I find them too 'structured' for the layout. So today I'm going to show you how to make a hand-cut title. I usually use this technique when I'm looking for a bit more flow or to soften up a layout. There are other ways to do this, but this is what I find the easiest and what works for me.

Step 1: Write your title in cursive in pencil.

Step 2: Outline your title. This is where you determine how thick or thin you want your title to be.

Step 3: Cut your title. Don't worry about it being perfect! I think half the fun of hand-cut titles are that they're supposed to look hand cut.
Step 4: Once I finish cutting it out, I usually erase all my pencil marks. I then go back and make new marks for letters that usually have an empty space - e, o, l, p, etc. These marks show where I'm going to cut next.


Step 5: Using fingertip scissors or a craft knife, cut on your pencil marks. Feel free to go back and adjust once you see the finished product. And you're done! Easy!


Here are some examples of my layouts with hand-cut titles:

This last title was cut from Hambly Rub-Ons, making it super tricky. I ended up adhering it to plain white paper so I could use pop-dots underneath to make it stand out.

Super Scrap Day is back!

The wait is over!

Join us on April 17, 2010 from 9am-9pm for our Annual Spring Super Scrap Day.
Cost includes supper, snacks throughout the day, inspiration, challenges, special sales, door prizes, goodie bags and more.

You can sign up here.

Stitching, part one

It's no surprise that I am a huge fan of stitching on my layouts. I have been doing it for years and add it to probably 95% of my layouts.

And although this technique for me is tried and true, it's sometimes fun to break out of the ordinary and try something new. So for my post this week and next week, I thought I'd share some examples of what I've been trying with my sewing maching lately.

Up first is this layout that I created, using Got Sketch? 98:

Often, I like to add some zigzag stitches to join strips of pp together, like it did here:



But I was inspired by these cute SU! felt flowers to add some stitching to the punched scallope circles. Some swirls (for this one, I basically put my layout under the needle and spun the paper as I pressed on the pedal)....

Some intersecting straight lines...

Some double circles....

And some zigzags in a different size from the border....

Some tips:

1.play with the length and width settings on your machine-- it's fun to see the different effects you can get.

2. Don't expect it to look perfect. Figure out how to make it work for you. An example, for the green circle at the bottom, my double circles intersected and I didn't really like the effect of that. I could have started over, but instead, it just helped me to know exactly where to place the chipbard shape with the title on it-- over top of my mistake!

3. Different colours of thread can also lend different feels and looks to your page.

Olympics, Mid-Month Challenge and a Winner

I have a confession. I'm an Olympics junkie. Since the Opening Ceremonies on Friday, our tv has been tuned into CTV all day. When I went to work today I felt a bit of withdrawal, not being able to watch it every second. So I anticipate no scrapping for me until it's over.

However, the one thing I did manage to finish while watching the Olympics was a quick mini for this month's challenge - to create a love layout without using red or pink. I'd been wanting to document how Kent and I got together and our "love story" for awhile and now was my chance to do it. I kept it really simple - just patterned paper and journaling:

Supplies used: K + Co. Tag book, Studio Calico, Basic Grey, October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket and K + Co. patterned paper, brown bakers twine, Maya Road chipboard heart and American Crafts alpha stamps.

And lastly, the winner from last week's giveaway is......Sherri! Congrats!

Valentine's Day Cards

I don't know why, but when I think of Valentine's Day cards, I always think of cute little "punny" sayings. And the one that always comes to mind is from an old Simpsons' episode, where Lisa give Ralph a Valentine that says: "It says I choo-choo-choose you." And there's a picture of a train on it. Very cute!

So, I decided, in the spirit of love and puns, (& because, well, I love puns!) to make some Valentines for those who are dear to my heart. And what better way, than to dive into my scraps!

For the first couple I made, I thought about using my tools to make shapes. So, I cut a larger circle and then trimmed it off and punched it with my scalloped edge punch. I made an umbrella...

Supplies used: Daisy D's pp (from the Feb. kit), Bella Blvd pp & an Autumn Leaves stamp.


And a cupcake...

Supplies used: Collage Press pp (from the Jan. kit), Pink Paislee pp & glitter brad.


Then, as I was digging through my supplies, I realized that I had quite a few chipboard shapes that could easily be used for cards. Here's what I came up with...

Supplies used: My Mind's Eye & Crate pp, an American Crafts bird and an Autumn Leaves stamp.


Supplies used: Pink Paislee pp & Cosmo Cricket cherries (from the June add-on kit).


Supplies used: My Mind's Eye pp, an American Crafts butterfly and an SEI stamp.


Supplies used: Crate Paper pp, My Mind's Eye chipboard mug and Bazzill cardstock.

So, what about you? Do you plan on making some Valentines this year?

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favourite holidays.  I love making little crafts for the kids (and some for me).

Here are a few that I've made in the past couple years that I have loved:

I bought these plain little buckets at Walmart.  I filled them with small treats for the kids and the hubby.  I put their names on them with American Craft Thickers and tied some ribbon on the handles.  For the girls, I embellished the buckets a little more.  They were placed on their plates at our fondue dinner, something we do each year for Valentine's Day.

I also used some of my left over letters as monograms on the presents.  I love the simple touch it gives our gifts and I'm using the letters which I don't have enough of to spell any words!!

Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with love!

Don't underestimate simple

I too saw Elizabeth's valentines display on the weekend and loved it. How I'd love to find a spot in my home and decorate. Especially those glittery XO's! Yum.

But realistically the hours in my day are full full full. With work. With kids. With work... oh yah... I said that already!! ;)

So in my 2 minutes of free time I whipped up this.

Super simple.

Fold a sheet of 5.5"x8.5" cardstock in half.

Cut out a red heart.

Adhere.

Sew (optional).

Seriously simple. But oh so classic and cute!

I also made a couple of these into little booklets (they'll be up on the site shortly).