Cathy's Favorite Projects of 2013

Happy Friday!  It's Cathy here. My turn to share my favorite projects from 2013.  As I went back through the year to find my fav's, I could really see that I did far less creating in 2013. I've got to work on that! I'm a much happier person when I get to create!

Wanted: Lost Socks

Wedding Favor Tic-Tac covers for my niece's wedding. (Apparently I never posted this to my blog!)

Spring Bouquet Box

Never a Dull Moment

Sketching with Silhouette

A Little Hello Card

Mixed Media Journal

Silent Night Canvas

They are each linked back to the original blog posts so you scan see the details on how they were made. Except for the wedding favors, which I apparently never shared. Ooops!

Pam shared her favorite pages from 2013 HERE. Over the next week or so many of the other Contributing Artists will also be sharing their favorite pages and projects too.  We hope this gets you inspired to create!

VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S BLOGS/GALLERIES
Cathy Dippolito
Dolores Schaeffer
Cindy deRosier
Lesley Walker
Gael Spence
Sarah Routledge
Sharon Fritchman
Tanya Ham
Sheila Burns
Pam Callaghan

Where Do Lost Socks Go?

If you're looking for our 1,000 Post Party and Give-away, you can scroll down one post or click here.  Don't miss out on all the fun!!

In my house, we have this increasing set of socks that have lost their mates.  They have taken up real estate on my dresser. I wanted to find a more appropriate place for them to hang out while they wait for their match. So I created this missing sock board/sign to hang in my laundry room.

This started out as a plain unfinished wooden plaque.  I found some scrapbook paper that I really like. I'd say that it goes with my laundry room decor, but my laundry "room" isn't so much a room as it is the stairway landing to the basement! Not much "decor" going on there!  The paper is My Mind's Eye: Lost & Found Two - Sunshine: Memories "Sweet".  I also got some acrylic paint to match. I painted the board with 2 coats of the paint to be certain it was covered.

I then cut the paper to fit and rounded the corners. I inked the paper edges with Ranger Distress Ink Vintage Photo.  I also inked the edges of the wood to give it a more distressed and "old west" look. After all, it is a "wanted" sign!  I decoupaged the paper to the wood using some Mod Podge.

I cut the "WANTED" from brown vinyl using my Silhouette Cameo and adhered it to the sign.  I then gave everything a light coat of Mod Podge (hoping that helps to keep it in tip top shape for years to come!).

The clothes pins got a bit of the distress ink on the edges too. They are hot glued in place.  Now they hold the unmatched socks in need of a mate. Even the ones that are a bit worn and stained!  Talk about airing my dirty laundry! :)

Altered Photo Frame with Graphic 45

Another great use for your scrapbooking supplies is to make custom picture frames.  Think of it as creating a 3D scrapbook layout.

I created this frame as a birthday present for my husband.  I started out with a picture frame that I picked up at a craft store.  The frame can hold an 8x10 photo. I placed a mat in it that would surround a 5x7 photo.

This photo of us was snapped while we were on vacation in Hawaii, and I just love it.  I printed it out at 5"x7".  The papers that I chose are Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue. I wanted a tropical feel, and the vintage look to these papers really gave the project a lasting, classic look.

I traced the mat onto two of the papers, then cut them. I adhere them to the mat.  I set the photo and mat in the frame under the glass.

I then created all the details for the frame design.  The roses and rosette were made using this tutorial.  I also made the small flowers (I'll need to do a tutorial for those soon!).  The leaves, parrot and small yellow flowers were fussy cut from some of the Graphic 45 papers.

The palm trees were created using coordinating cardstock. I cut the trees using my Silhouette Cameo and then paper pieced them together.

All of these details were adhered on top of the glass. This gave the frame some really great dimension.  Some items are adhered using double sided foam adhesive. Some I even doubled up the foam adhesive to give it extra depth.

You can get a feel for some of the layering looking down into the base of the palm trees in the image above.

Next time you're looking for a way to preserve a special photo, think 3D. Create a one-of-a-kind, personal photo frame.

Special Guest Artist: Sarah R.

Hey! It's Pam here sharing another special featured artist. I love to showcase special talent and our artist this week creates beautiful one of a kind projects. Her name is Sarah and you can see her blog at http://sarahs-scrapbook.blogspot.ca/ . Make sure you take a blog hop over there to see it! Sarah is sharing a really pretty tutorial on how to make fairy houses. Take note at how cool this turned out from just beginning as a bird house!  First let's get to know Sarah a little better!

Hi There! My name is Sarah and I live in Ontario, Canada. I am a married, working mom to one beautiful little boy. I started scrapbooking a few years ago, and immediately fell in love with it. I absolutely love the creative process of putting together a scrapbook page. I love trying different (non-traditional) materials and new techniques; one of my favorite things to do is to make handmade embellishments, particularly flowers. Although most of my work is layouts, I also love using my scrapping supplies for other crafty items (e.g. holiday décor).  I love working with sketches and also scrapbook challenge sites – so much so that I recently started my own Challenge Blog called “The Paper Mixing Bowl”. I’m having a lot of fun designing sketches/challenges and working with the blogs international Design Team.

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Once Upon a Springtime Fairy House

I was so excited when Pam, the owner of the Ideas for Scrapbookers blog, asked me if I'd be interested in being a featured designer on the blog sometime - of course my answer was YES! I actually had this little project in mind for a while - so this was the perfect impetus for me to actually sit down and do it! I love using my scrapbooking papers for off-the-page projects, such as home or holiday decorations, so I decided to create a lovely little Fairy House using Graphic 45's "Once Upon a Springtime" collection. It is so easy to take a cheap item, like the miniature wooden birdhouse I got for $1.50, and turn it into something beautiful using just your normal scrapbooking supplies! I hope my project inspires you to try your own off the page project!

Here is a little step-by-step how I created my Once Upon a Springtime Fairy House!

1. Paint the plain wooden house using an acrylic craft paint in Antique White.

2.  a. Cut a strip of paper the height of the main 'body' of the house and punch a hole for the bird-perch. 

     b. Mod podge the back of the paper strip and adhere it to the birdhouse. 

     c. For the large hole in the birdhouse, I simply cut a starburst pattern into the paper and folded the points inwards. 

     d. Finally, coat the paper with Mod Podge.

3.  a. Punch out a heck of a lot of leaves - I used the Martha Stewart Rose Leaf punch.

     b. Curl the edges of the leaves - I used a thin paintbrush.

     c. Attach the leaves in graduating layers using liquid glue.

4.  a. Brush the tips of the leaves with mod podge and sprinkle on glitter. I used DecoArt Glamour Dust - it is so pretty and very fine (and unfortunately doesn't show up well in the photos).

    b. "Stamp" the perch and white edge of the base with Perfect Medium and Brush on Perfect Pearls (I used Green Patina).

    c. You'll also notice that I wrapped some ribbon around the edge of the birdhouse where it meets the base - I thought this gave it a nicer finish at the edge. I used the same ribbon at the top of the birdhouse for the hanging loop.

5.  a. Fussy Cut a fairy from an 8x8 sheet of the Once Upon a Springtime paper.

     b. Coat Fairy with Mod Podge and adhere to birdhouse with 3D foam adhesive.

     c. Add floral embellishments - I used the Spellbinders Shapeabilities Bitty Blossom die to create the roses for the fairy house. I simply wrapped them around a paintbrush to roll them into the size/shape I wanted and then used a glue dot to keep them together. I added a pearl bead to the centre of each flower.

     d. Add other embellishments using Mod Podge - I used the "Once Upon a Springtime" tag elements for the "title" piece and round postmarks. 

Here are a couple of photos of the final Fairy House from different angles!

Thanks so much to Pam for having me as a guest on her blog! I had so much fun with this project that I think I might make a couple more and create a little set!

Materials Used:

Patterened Papers - Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime Collection - 12x12 Once Upon a Springtime, Enchanted Forest, Butterfly Kisses, Tags; 8x8 Once Upon a Springtime; Simply Surfaces Mini Birdhouse; DecoArt Acrylic Craft Paint - Antique White; Celebrate It Ribbon; Spellbinders Shapeabilities Die Bitty Blossoms; Jenni Bowlin Studios Pearl Beads; Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder - Green Patina; DecoArt Glamour Dust; Mod Podge - Matte; Glue Dots - Mini and Craft

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Thanks so much to Sarah for being our guest artist this week! :) 

Smash Book/Mini Album

Hi there, it's Cathy, and I've got another type of Smash style mini album to share with you today.  This one was made using a UniKeep binder. These are great for creating mini albums, photo books, and journals.  They help protect your photos and creations. They are sturdy and can stand up to traveling too. So they make great projects to take with you on vacation. They also make great storage for unmounted stamps! (See this post for them in use as stamp storage)

This particular UniKeep binder came with photo sleeve inserts. This will make it easy to create a mini album. You can insert photos and journal cards in the sleeves and presto, you've got a quick personalized album!

Here are a few more views:

My album is a hybrid project. I used a combination of digital kits, cardstock and traditional crafting supplies.  I cut several of the images using the Silhouette Cameo and paper pieced them. To create an insert long enough to wrap the cover front, back and spine, of the binder, print 2 papers with the background digital paper pattern and join them in the center with a strip of paper the width of the spine. Or use 2 8.5x11" traditional scrap papers and join with a strip of paper or ribbon at the spine.

For a complete list of supplies, you can see this post.

Trading Cards Display

Got a child that is into sports?  Maybe more than one child, or more than one sport??  One of my sons is an athlete.  He has played football, soccer, football, baseball, football, basketball, and did I mention football?  LOL

Over the years he has gotten his photo taken for each team, season and sport.  The photo packages usually come with those adorable trading card versions.  After you give the extras out to all the relatives and friends, what do you do with the ones you've kept?

I created a mini to store them in and put on display.  I used digital kits, elements to create the design. I then printed them, cut them out and created a wrap to go inside a UniKeep "Mini Wallet Case Binder" (it's the little one in the set at the link).


The digital kits that I used are: "Grid Iron Grit" by Quirky Twerp, "Play the Game" by Chelle's Creations, "Snippettes: Sports Football, and Sports: Football" by Sahlin Studio.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to design the layout and then print and cut the various elements.

Here's a look at the inside. The trading cards fir in the insert pockets perfectly!

Now I've got all of his trading cards, all the way up to high school, in one place.

Designer Showcase: Throwing Punches

No, we're not really "throwing punches". We're just sharing some projects using paper punches. Cathy here today for the Designer Showcase.  OK, let's not pull any punches, and get right to it (I promise, I'll stop with the puns!) hehehehe!!!

First up is this page by Vicky.  She used a circle punch to create a detailed edge to her page. She simple punched a medium circle every so often around the edge of her patterned mat. By placing the circle punch just half way onto the paper edge, it creates a look similar to a postage stamp.  It's really neat how it allows the background paper to show through. Using a coordinating top paper really is key to making this a classy look.

Marlene used a few punches to create this beautiful page.  She punched and layered the heart - with a detail punch in the center too. The polka dot paper mat is edge punched with sweet little hearts too. The photo mat is border punched with some wavy music notes.  I really like the way she set that mat tilted and on top of darker paper, it really highlights all the details.

Cindy has shared some really cool, and easy to create cards using border punches.  On this first one, she used two punches that have about the same size repeat.  In the black and white colors, this makes for a really elegant card.

On this card, Cindy has taken the cuteness factor way up. She used the same bubble punch that was used on her first card. This time she added a strip of red paper on the edge.  Check out this neat little trick, Cindy gathered up the confetti  from the bubble punch and used them to create the dots on her card. Isn't that cool?  I can just see this card making a Disney fan very happy!

This is another simple card that I made (many years ago). I used a large circle punch to create the stroller bottom and top. I folded a full circle in half to form the card base.  The stroller top is 1/4 of the circle.  Small circle punches were used to create the wheels.

On this altered birdhouse, I used a dew different border punches.  I punched many strips of paper with the apron border punch and then layered them to create the roof.  A lacy border punch frames the soffit on the front. The grass around the bottom was created using a scalloped border punch. Even the butterfly is a punch.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing some ideas of ways to use your punches. They are a tool that comes in handy whether you are scrapping a layout, creating cards, altering home decor or any paper/mixed media projects.