I revealed my freebies for this month over on YouTube, but failed to write up my post here. So here is the quick version…
This month’s sketch was based on a layout I shared on YouTube earlier when I did my SCT Sampler Kit unboxing.
For the cut file, I haven’t had a chance to use up my pieces on a project, but the video shows how they all turned out, as well as some tips on cutting intricate files. Here I cut them out of cardstock, vellum and silver mirror paper.
Download the sketch here, the cut file here or, head over to my Freebies Page to peruse all the files I have to offer.
Last time I revealed the SCT Sampler Kit for the month of January. If I haven’t said it enough, I am in LOVE with the kit this month. The dies are to, well, die for. Not to mention the Simple Stories paper collection is super fabulous. So I have another project to share. Well actually, this was my first project, but I needed to hold it up until the DT post over at ScrapHappy went live! 😉
So my photography setup needs some work for doing double page layouts to get equal exposure across the entire image, but other than that I loved putting this project together. And notice that little tag sticking out on the right hand side? That is a pull out interactive element. I got 15 photos on this layout, but I just HAD to have one more photo, so I hid it and made it work!
Oh how I love getting crafty surprises in the mail. I’ve subscribed to many scrapbooking kit companies over the years. In the end I usually cancel due to too many leftover supplies and too much ongoing expense. But the SCT kits are different! Since they are a sampler of current scrappy products, you don’t get too much to be used in a month. And the sample size of these kits also makes them affordable. Plus, there is always some reusable item that makes the value top notch—think stamps, storage pockets and this month… dies! Oh my heart did swoon when I opened my pack and found some generous love themed dies in the pack this month. Check it out on the right middle side of the photo.
Oh man I was so inspired by the supplies in this kit. It helps that Simple Stories is my jam for sure. I put the products to use right away. Oh, but I’m not showing you that project today! You’ll have to wait until next week for that. Rude. I know. 😉
Don’t worry, I have another project for you that I was almost as excited about. (Scrapbook layouts are not like children, I DO get to have favorites.)
I like this layout enough to let it be my produced sketch for the month. If you missed my previous post revealing my freebies for this month, be sure to check that out. Or you can download the sketches over on my Sketch Freebies page.
I did take a break in December to get some other things in my life worked on. Nothing big, just stuff that needed doing that was being neglected. I had hoped despite the break that I’d be able to get a sketch and cut file out to you. Alas, life did not make that happen.
But… I am back and I have some freebies for you now. Be sure to check out the Freebies page to see all that I have to offer. I hope you enjoy! Now let’s see the new files for this New Year!
Of course I’ve got a video. There are a couple of small tips in there on how to get better results when cutting intricate die cuts on your Cricut. And then I just play with those snowflakes in various materials.
I’m here with my take on CKC’s second challenge for the month, and that is to use a sketch from Master Forger Cindy’s Pinterest board. You can check out the full process video here or read on for the short version 🙂
First up, I chose this sketch…
from CREATE: Issue 7, July 2014
I chose to rotate the sketch sideways and then created a double page layout. I didn’t really change the layout much between the two pages. I did use the two small photos and the tag pocket in the sketch as embellishment clusters and stretched those across both pages to help tie things together. These sort of stretched into the banner cluster as well to become one long horizontal embellishment zone.
So what do you think about sketches? Do you like to stick close to them, or do you like to adjust as you see fit?
For 2022 I’m starting on a once a month adventure of incorporating more hybrid scrapbooking into my memory keeping. So what exactly is hybrid scrapbooking? It is the process of using digital scrapbooking supplies to turn them into physical items and then using them to complete a physical layout. If you do a photo collage in an app and then print and use that photo collage as in on a layout, technically you are hybrid scrapbooking. Even using a cut file on your electronic die cutting machine could be considered hybrid as well. My intentions are to use the collection of digital scrapbook kits that I have purchased over the years. I have a backlog of these files because I thought I would turn into a mainly digital scrapbooker at some point. However, the need to use physical items matters so much to my experience of creating art that I can’t go fully digi. However, I can get some of the benefits of digi and use them in my physical layouts.
I’ll start you off with the layout process video I created this month.
In the video I mention the benefits of hybrid as I create. Here I can just easily list them.
You don’t have to have lots of space to store a ton of supplies! You just need a stack of paper and a printer to turn the digi items into physical items. (An electronic die cutter is super helpful, but I’ll cover that in a bit.)
You can use only the pieces of an embellishment pack that you actually like. No leftover unwanted bits.
You can resize items to a smaller size if you like (going larger usually doesn’t work well due to the pixel nature of digital graphics.)
You can duplicate and create as many of the same element that you love.
If you mess up an item, you can always print a new one!
While there are real good things about using digital elements, there are some cons as well.
If you are a 12×12 scrapper, an investment in a 12×12 printer OR the flexibility to design 12×12 layouts using 8.5×11 papers is critical.
It takes more time to select and then print your products as opposed to just pulling out some items and getting to work.
If you want to create embellishments, an electronic die cutter is going to be a life saver. Otherwise you are going to become the fussy cutting champ of all time. A machine is yet another money, time and tech know-how investment.
I’m hear to help with that last point! I have a tutorial for you on one way to use your Cricut machine to take some digital scrapbook die cuts and create physical die cuts.
And here is a look at the final result.
What do you think? Can you tell that I printed most of these products myself?
Let me know what you think about hybrid scrapping!
Each month on the 4th, Counterfeit Kit Challenges hosts a product forgery challenge. We select an item from the inspiration kit and create our own version. As a reminder our kit is On the Go and Going Slow by Traci Reed. Now in this version of the kit you can’t easily see the item I want to forge. So let’s take a closer look.
Here are just the pattern papers. The ninth paper from the left is the one I’m looking at. It is the multicolor scallop & dashed lines stripe print.
So I grabbed an old stamp set that has a short scallop border, a ruler, a black pen and some inks and I got to work.
Here was the final result.
I do go over in the video how to make your own scallop stamp if you don’t have a scallop border. So be sure to check out the video for that tip.
I’ll be back on the 12th and again on the 18th with the CKC layout challenges.
After taking some time off in December to reorganize and refresh, I feel a bit rusty to be back on my media game. But the best way to get over that is to just dive right in.
So I’m back with a brand new kit build for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge team. Our Master Forger Cindy brought us this digital kit from Traci Reed as our inspiration this month. The great thing about digi is if you like it, you can easily just buy it! And for me, the extra great thing about Traci Reed is that she includes printable elements for those of us who are hybrid scrappers.
You can see my whole kit build via YouTube as usual or keep reading for the blog version.
There is a lot going on in that image, but the things that caught my attention first were the pattern papers, and flowers, hearts and bees. So that is the direction I took my kit.
First Traci’s papers…
And my choices…
While not exactly the same I pulled a yellow gingham, some scallop prints, some hexagons, green floral, red pattern and something with colorful stripes. I tend to love Traci’s muted color palettes but my papers weren’t there this month. I wanted to keep pulling papers to help mellow the color scheme but I made myself stop because my kits have been too big lately and I need to calm down a big 😉
On to embellishments… I focused on the flowers, hearts and bees that originally caught my eye. I also used some printable Traci Reed products that I already had on hand from her “The Love List” collection. My embellishments also lead me to adding in pops of black and pops of gold. And that will complete my kit for this time.
I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how the interpreted their kits.
I’ve been quiet here on the blog for a few weeks. It’s not that I haven’t been crafty, in fact it is because I’ve had too many things on my plate and something had to give somewhere. So let me take a few minutes to give a peek into what has been keeping me busy! I hope some of these projects will bring you a little crafty inspiration in some way.
Finishing C&C Projects
First up is a layout I created as part of the Crop & Create event from early October. I still have more layouts partially done, so I’m just sharing this one for now.
Making thank you cards
Next up, teacher thank you cards. I’m so glad for the teachers at my daughter’s alternative school. In fact, I was asked to teach this year and we decided due to our family needs, that the covid situation would not make it work. So… I am extra thankful for her teachers being able to handle this situation. And the school has done a great job with mitigation, so we are all as safe as we can be while still living a full life! I wanted to let them all know that their work is very much appreciated. I had to make 35 of these beauties! Whew!
Distress Ink Class
I love learning things as much as I love sharing things. So, I am often busy with classes of various types. This time I signed up for a Distress Ink class offered by Jenn Shurkus. I have used Distress inks for years but I’m fairly inexperienced with the Oxide inks, so I took that class to learn more about those. But I learned more about other things than I expected. Through trial and error I learned which papers work well for these techniques and which don’t. I have to say that Jenn may have convinced me that the Ranger Heavystock paper is the way to go for inky techniques; it had the most saturated color and the best reactivity with added water. I also experimented with various water-based inks and they were all workable but, again, the Distress is the best. I’m still playing, so I may have more to share on this later.
Holding my Heart… watercolor
Watercolor has been a favorite of mine for many, many years. However producing actual art, rather than abstract mixed media, has always been a calling and a challenge. This watercolor advent calendar has been so peaceful, challenging, and joyful that I just had to share. Oh my, is it stretching me in such good ways. Among other things, I realize I am very heavy handed with my paint and I need to back off quite a bit. Yet with all the things I know aren’t right in my paintings, I am so dang thrilled with the things that are right that I I’m just soaking up the beauty that I am really, truly making!! Of course, having a great teacher in Harriet de Winton, who is offering this event, makes a huge difference for success. You can simply join her YouTube channel, or you can buy the printable advent for a small fee over at Etsy and support her as an artist making a living teaching.
Christmas Cards
This is just as super quick, raw video clip of one batch of Christmas cards that I made. Notice the splotchy, mixed media watercolor look? It combines a couple of the above that I mentioned! I had started my cards long ago but didn’t finish enough, so I made these. And I still need a few more for those who live very close by; so I still have time to make more, right??
December CKC kit progress
If you read my last post you’ll know that CKC this month is doing a advent calendar style kit build this month. Each day is a small prompt to add an item to a kit. By Christmas you should have a full kit of supplies to play with after the hustle of the holiday is over. My kit is all about putting together an art journal kit to use during 2022 instead of a Christmas related project. Here is what I have in my kit so far…
Photo on the left has:
Central Photo sets mood and color scheme.
Left papers are tone-on-tone prints.
Top papers are small motif prints
Right papers are stripes.
Photo on the right has:
Left papers are geometric in nature.
Right papers are medium motif prints. And that heart print is irridescent, so I’m starting to set a shiny metal-esque mood. (Day 1 asked us to choose a metal along with our color scheme, which I ignored. So now I am finding that direction.)
And that wraps up this update. I’ll be back in a week or two with another update for you. Enjoy your December activities as we head closer to the New Year!
Normally on the first of the month I’d have a kit build to share for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge design team. However, December is different over at CKC. In order to take the pressure off during a busy holiday month, the team offers a simpler bit of inspiration. This year we are doing a Crafty Kit Advent Calendar!
The adventure is this: each day there is a prompt offered on the blog to add just a single item to your supplies and by the end of the month you’ll have a complete crafty kit. Over in the Facebook community there is an accompanying image for further ideas & inspiration. So, during this busy time you can take just a 5 minute crafty break from daily life. Now, your kit could be holiday themed, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, I’ve decided my kit will not have anything to do with holidays. Instead, I’m going to build a kit of supplies for a weekly art journal to play in for 2022.
So far the only thing in my storage drawer for this kit is the traveler’s notebook that I plan on using for my art journal. I recently enjoyed a traveler’s notebook class that showed how to create a temporary cover for the notebook and I plan on covering it now and again as the mood inspires me.
While I know all the behind the scenes info into this advent kit build, I am really trying to play along in real time. I will find my item each day as the prompt goes public. I do know one thing for sure: my goal is to use mainly scraps and partial products for this kit. I think that will be a great way to clear out some items from overflowing bins and build a pile of supplies that are strictly for play.
If you want to follow what the other design team members and communitiy members are up to with this project, go ahead and join the Facebook community.
Until nextt time, I hope you have a safe and festive December!
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