December Mosaic Moments Challenge

The first challenge for December was to use Pewter Mosaic Moments grid paper and Page Pattern #26.  This worked out perfect for Gavin's first day of school:

Mosaic Moments Cards

Our second challenge this month was to make cards using the Mosaic Moments RTC (ready-to-cut) grid papers.  I made six cards in a combination of black and white grid RTC paper, and tried to make each one a little different.  You can see the full explanation and more pictures of the technique to make the snowflake at http://www.journella.com/storyboard/fullview/id/10295/Holidays-Cards!-Cards!-Cards!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankful For You

 





For this month's first Mosaic Moments challenge, I did something a little different. We were to create a layout about things we were grateful for. I focused on people and instead of showing the pictures, put them in little covered booklets, that you then could lift up. I used a new product to me called Flip Flop Fasteners from Paper Wishes to make the little books open and close. The journaling tells what each person has done for me.

 

 

 



 

My Little Budding Musician

Our assignment this month for Mosaic Moments was to use 8 1/2 x 11 grid paper applied to a 12 x 12 page and then add stitching or felt. I chose stitching.  To bring out the gold and purple in the photo, I used Paper Wishes Color Me Paper and colored it with chalk inks. I then added stitching around the flourish in the print, and added music Dazzles, also from Paper Wishes. 

I'm so excited Leyda is taking band this year! Neither of Tony's kids got into music and now, once we move back to Virginia, I'll be able to go to concerts!  I just hope she sticks with it. So far she's loving it.

Winner of the Drawing for My Site - World Card Making Day

Here is the result of the random drawing!  Kim, I will send you your items from my Paper Wishes stash! Congratulations!

List Randomizer

There were 12 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Kim
2. Fab
3. CarolJ
4. Kitty
5. MsPat
6. Precious Thoughts
7. Cheryl
8. rgcarr
9. Eomen Hisf
10. Crafty Patti
11. pennyd
12. Rhonda Lynn

Timestamp: 2012-10-07 20:04:57 UTC

Baseball AT LAST!

Just finished a challenge layout of my grandson, Gavin, playing baseball for the first time. He's been watching his brother and sister forever and has been dying to play - it's finally his turn.

This layout challenge was a scavenger hunt - we had a list of 33 things - we were to put as many things as we could on one layout! I got 24.....can you find 24 elements?

Paper Wishes Blog Hop

Welcome to the Paper Wishes*BLOG HOP - we are so glad you are here to help us celebrate World Card Making Day! This year's theme for the blog hop is gardening.

Below is my flower-themed card for the day. I used the new Ebony Color Me Card Toppers from Paper Wishes. I love these so much - you can coordinate them with any paper you may have! I colored this one with colored pencils, blending with Gamsol.  I popped up the sentiment in the middle with foam tape and added the small flower with a brad.

Some card making day trivia for you:
Today, card making is a worldwide hobby, especially popular in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
1 in 6 U.S. households participates in making cards
86% of scrapbookers also create handmade cards
92% of paper crafters create cards more than any other type of project

Be sure to check out all the blogs in this blog hop, as well as visit the Paper Wishes message board*as there are lots of things going on there today, all sponsored by Paper Wishes, with some great prize packages! You don’t want to miss a chance to win!

To win a prize package of Paper Wishes products: leave a comment on ALL THE BLOGS and a random drawing will be done to choose the winner. You also must be a registered user on the Paper Wishes Message Board. It's easy! It's free! Just go to www.paperwishes.com and look for the Message Board link on the bottom right corner of the screen and register. I will also be giving away some Paper Wishes goodies to one lucky commenter!

So on with the fun – it doesn’t matter where you start the blog hop, just see where you are on the list and make sure you visit them all and leave some sweetness behind!

Participants:
Penny at Penny's Page
Nancy at Nancy's Creative Space ----------you are here!
Michelle at Precious Thoughts
Patti Prince at Crafty Patti's Cards
Robin at Red Robin Lane
Jackie at Jackie's Cards & Stuff
Cheryl at Cher-ing Paper Memories
Sam at Never try to teach a pig to sing

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment on all the blogs for a chance to win!

Quilled Calendar Class

I'm taking a quilled calendar class on www.mycreativeclassroom.com.  Just finished my first page - this series is really beautiful - takes a lot of work but worth it! It's really a combination of quilling and punched flowers. My favorite month is March - lots of months to go before I get there, though!  :) The stamens in the flowers are starburst punches with brown Flower Soft on the ends!

Starting on Christmas Cards!

I went to a crop this past weekend and started making my Christmas cards.  I have two beautiful stamps I bought from Outlines Rubber Stamps before they went out of business.  This partridge in a pear tree was one of them. The other is a cute reindeer - when I make a few of those, I'll post them.

 

 Of the three this one (below) was my favorite:

 

I also made a card with the new snowflake template from Paper Wishes. While it takes a little tedious cutting, I love the effect! The snowflakes are made from a vellum with gold script, and I outlined them with gold Stickles, and put a Dazzle in the middle.

 

 



World Card Making Day Is Coming!

We are planning a great day on the Paper Wishes Message Board for World Card Making Day (October 6). If you have never visited the Message Board on the Paper Wishes website, you ought to plan to come visit!  It's easy and free to join.  Go to www.paperwishes.com and then click on the bottom right hand corner of the screen where it shows Message Board.  Then click on register!  We have all kinds of weekly challenges and fun exchanges all year round, but for World Card Making Day we turn up the heat!  Our theme this year is gardening. Here are the activities we have planned - and oh, did I mention - there will be prizes!!!!

1. Blog Hop - members of the Message Board will host a blog hop. Those who visit all the blogs and leave a message at all the blogs will be entered into a drawing for a prize.

2. Challenges - throughout the day we will post various challenges using our gardening theme for projects to be completed. Each challenge will last for 75 minutes with a new challenge every 90 minutes. Once each challenge has ended a random winner will be drawn - there will be lots of chances to win throughout the day.

3. Trivia - Every 30 minutes the swaps team will post a trivia question on the topic of gardening. The first correct response will earn 2 points, the second correct response 1 point. We will tally the totals and award 2 prizes, one larger than the other for the 2 top gardening "experts".

4. Container Gardening - this will be our "anything but a card" project and you will have from 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 6 until 12 midnight (EST) on Sunday October 7 to post a picture of your project.

5. Window Box - will be to make a card with the same time frame as container gardening.

6. Bouquet - this will be a scrapbook challenge with a twist.

 

7. Scavenger Hunt - will be a scrapbook project again with a deadline of midnight (EST) on Sunday 10/7. You will be given a list of things to "find" on a scrapbook page and the person who includes the most on their page will win a prize.

8. Garden Journal - this year our group project will be creating a journal for each participant. Similar to the cookie recipe exchange we did last year. Those participating will create the same journaling page for each person. I.e. if 10 people sign up, you will create 10 of the same page using a gardening theme. All the pages will be sent to me (Penny) and I will collate all the pages and mail them back out so each person will have their own copy of everyone's page. There will be a separate post with complete info and sign-up info later today. There will also be a prize for this activity - so check out the other post - this is the perfect project for anyone who can't participate on the actual day itself - although we want as many people to sign up as possible!

9. Bingo - We will be sending out a Bingo card. Each of the spots has an element such as a color, or an embellishment, or a technique to use. You will need to complete a project using all the elements in that bingo row. You can do more than one project, but you must use a different row for each project. Prizes are to be had!

__________________

September Technique: Seamless Tiers

For my Paper Wishes Message Board Technique Challenge this month I chose to share the seamless tiers technique. I saw this recently on Splitcoast Stampers as well as a couple of Stampin' Up! blogs. It's an easy technique that leaves people wondering how you did it and is good for any type of card - birthday, get well, even Christmas!

Cut three panels of white or light-colored cardstock:
5 1/4 x 4
4 1/4 x 3
3 1/4 x 2

And then 2 panels for your mattes and your base card from a colored cardstock that will coordinate with the inks you plan to use on the card:
5 1/2 x 8 1/2 (folded in half for A2 card)
4 1/2 x 3 1/4
3 1/2 x 2 1/4

Next, take your light colored panels and put a very small amount of repositionable adhesive on the back - just enough to hold them in place temporarily. Stack the three on top of each other, centered:



 

Now you will begin stamping. First place your sentiment where you would like it to be. The example I was following used the lower right corner of the top panel.  Then begin stamping other designs around your sentiment.  You can use one color or more than one as I did. I liked the idea of using a more subtle background color with one shape and then a more vibrant color with another shape.

 



Once you have everything stamped, you will separate your layers and matte them with your colored cardstock, placing the largest panel on the base card.

Then we will begin re-stacking the pile!

Put your smallest matted piece on top of the middle-sized matted piece:

 



If you want to place a ribbon around this section now is the time to do it before you add these panels to the base.

And here is the finished card!

Here are two more ideas to get your creative juices flowing.  Notice on the 3rd card, I changed the stacking - instead of centering the panels, I moved them to the upper right corner:

 

 

For the Love of Cats

Our first challenge for September on the Mosaic Moments Design Team was to create a layout about a collection. I decided to use my cat figurine collection. I've got a LOT of all different kinds - Necco cats, a Buddha cat, a sunbathing cat, a patriotic cat, a snowflake cat, a cat angel - you name it! Here is my design - you can learn more about my love of cats at http://www.journella.com/storyboard/fullview/id/10017/Pets-Animals-For-the-Love-of-Cats

 

 

Love Penny Black Kitties!

Well, something has happened to my background! I'll have to work on that. I guess it was time for a change anyway!

In any case, I wanted to share a card with you today. For once I was just making a card with no requirements! No specific paper I needed to use, no specific design, no specific color scheme - wow - so many choices!  I have some Penny Black stamps I just got at a sale, so I decided this one would be perfect for a birthday card:

 

Isn't he just the cutest thing? I love the Penny Black cats. They always make me smile.  I colored this one with Prismacolor pencils, blended with a little gamsol. Papers are from Anna Griffin and of course, the Dazzles are from Paper Wishes/Hot Off the Press.



 

New Mosaic Moments Post

Challenge time again! This time we were to use husk grid paper, page pattern 14 and either hand journaling, a download, or clear stamps. The layout called for sixteen 2 1/8" photos (or paper pieces) and my 2 1/8" punch sure came in handy!  Sooooo much easier than measuring and cutting each one. I used the Summer Seals stamp set from Mosaic Moments for the corner treatments and the miniature roller coaster at the bottom of the page.  The pictures are from my grandkids' trip to Kings' Dominion in Richmond, Virginia back in 2010.

Summer Layouts

It seems like life if just now beginning to get back to normal following my mom's death. For a while (and still a little bit) it seemed like the world was whirling past me and I just couldn't keep up!  I'm finally caught up on my Mosaic Moments assignments. I've used summer pictures for the last two so I thought I would post them together.

The first was for the 2nd July assignment - we were to use Navy grid paper, page pattern 60, and either one of the July free downloads, a list or doodles. Let me tell you - I had some challenges on this one! I went to a crop at the end of July and planned to finish the layout and get it posted the next day. Well, I got there and realized that I had left the pictures I planned to use at home!  Arggh!  Well, like all good scrapbookers, we move to Plan B.  I found the pictures of Gavin at the beach that I was going to use for my August layout, but I figured I'd worry about that later! I was going to use taupe paper for that layout, but I needed to use Navy now. Hmm. So - I used taupe for the mattes!  Then to spif it up a bit, I used some orange peel-offs to give it a little bling - it really helped bring out the orange too. Now - for the third element - I decided to use doodling because I was planning to use the July free download in my August layout.  The store had a little fish stamp, so I doodled waves at the top and bottom and used Stardust Stickles to add a little more bling. I also hand-drew the title.  In the end I really liked the outcome, but it took some doing to get there!

The second layout for August was a photo challenge using pictures that said "Summer" to us. I used pictures from last year when Judy and Hunter got their pool. I decided it would be fun to enlarge one of the pictures and pop it up - I really like the effect!

America The Beautiful

Our first challenge for July was to use a patriotic song as the inspiration for a page. I started thinking about the pictures I might use and knew pretty quickly that I wanted to use America The Beautiful. We have taken some wonderful pictures on our trips down South.

For the large background pictures, I used a photo of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. The three smaller pictures are of a waterfall in Georgia on the Turnpike, a picture of Shore Drive in Virginia Beach, Virginia from the beach behind our favorite restaurant, Duck Inn, and a picture of one of the trees in my neighborhood after a snowfall.

For embellishments I decided to adapt a folded star pattern to paper. For the banner below the title, I used 1" squares and folded in two edges. For the actual star embellishments on each side of the title, I used 1" by 1/2" pieces and folded in two edges to make triangles (by cutting off the other half, it cut some of the bulk). I then cut the gold circles using Spellbinders dies on my Cuttlebug.

First, adhere four white triangles to a 3"x3" base.

Next, attach four blue triangles to the white triangles.

Attach four more blue triangles in between the first four blue triangles.

Next, add eight red triangles next to each of the blue triangles

I was going to stop there,  but when I cut the circles out of the gold cardstock with my die cutter, there was too much space left, so I added eight white triangles to the red ones.  I then added the gold circle cut from gold cardstock. Then, using scissors, I cut around the circle.

The finished embellishment!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day everyone! This is a card I created for my mom and for a technique challenge at Paper Wishes. The technique itself I saw this month in Creating Keepsakes magazine. You use a doily as a pattern for piercing your paper, and then stitch it!  I will definitely use this technique again!

Just a quickie note - I had a great surprise yesterday morning - I won a contest on the Paper Wishes site - it was a Designer's Challenge to use a certain set of papers and their new design tool templates. I created this gatefold card and I won! $15 of Paper Wishes supplies - I'm going to get their new Ebony Color Me papers - they are resist papers with beautiful black filigree designs!