More stitching

Okay, so yesterday I talked about stitching and alphabets. Today it will be stitching, color and style combos. When I made this layout I had only planned on cutting the large circle background, flipping the circle to use the back of the pattern paper and then stitching around it. I was inspired to try this from similar techniques I saw in magazines. I did my circle and then just kept going.

What ended up happening with this page was trying a bunch of things I don’t usually do. I have got bright colors going on which is not typical. I pulled out some really old stash (alpha stickers) and used those up. I’ve got those rubber sticker accents that I would never have bought had they not come in a kit subscription. And I’ve got those glitter accents (from the same kit). I wouldn’t have bought those accents, let alone paired them with bright colors and rubber accents. But I think it works. Yesterday I gave you the cliche “never say never.” Today I think I’ll use “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I think the elegant silver swirls are working with the funky pink rubber letters. Does your eye behold beauty or chaos?

Recipe

CS: Bazzil
PP, rubber stickers, alpha stickers: KI Memories
glitter swirls: Jolees
felt accent: Quick Quotes
die cut: Cricut (to cut circle)
marker: Marvy

Stitching!

So I managed to sit down and create this weekend! It did feel good to get some things done. I haven’t really worked on much in a couple of weeks. I have some things to share with you over the next few days (and some things I won’t be sharing since I plan on submitting them!). What I found myself working on yesterday was LOTS of stitching. I had the sewing machine going for almost every project I made. The funniest thing about that is years ago I swore I’d never sew on a layout. I guess the old saying “never say never” is a good one!

So I have got the happy sewing going on here. But you know what else makes me happy with this page? Those alphabets! I am so in love with the tiny type alphabet from Cosmo Cricket and the smokey gray alphabet from American Crafts. The Cosmo Cricket letters come with a full row of each letter. Yes that means you will have a million z’s left over but it also means you’ll have plenty of e’s and t’s to spell out whole messages. I can’t get enough of them. I think I am going to have to restock soon because I am using them up too fast.

Speaking of using things up to fast, want to know another secret about me? I used to buy product and then not be able to use it because then it would be ALL GONE. So it would just sit in my stash and I would admire it. You know, I think I like admiring it much better when it is ON projects! So I don’t feel bad about using it all up. Besides I know where to buy more 🙂

Recipe:

CS, PP: Stampin’ Up
punches: EK Success
marker: Marvy
alpha: Cosmo Cricket (tiny type), American Crafts

More stitching layouts to come…

Submissions

So I haven’t been working much on projects. All the things I have made lately have been for magazine submissions. I’m new to this and still trying to figure it all out. I know at this point that I can’t share ’em with you! So, sorry I have no eye candy this time.

I’ve submitted one scrapbook layout to Creating Keepsakes magazine. I’ve also submitted 3 card/paper craft projects to Paper Crafts magazine. They are currently having submission calls for their February issue. So in the midst of summer I am working on Valentine’s Day. It is a small, small taste of the magazine world.

Now I don’t know very well how these submissions work. I doubt they take the time to send rejection letters to those they don’t want. And as far as I know they may save projects to use at some point in the future. So I will either get an acceptance correspondence or none at all. Tomorrow is the deadline for the Paper Crafts magazine submissions so I have my fingers crossed for some news. Wish me luck!

New Kit Club details

Okay, so I already showed you the first project I made with the Scrapbook Chicks June kit club kit. Here are some more details. The kit is one of two offered for the month of June. These are smaller kits than typical clubs offer, but still jammed with great stuff. There were 4 sheets of pattern paper (October Afternoon), 4 sheets of cardstock, journaling cards (October Afternoon), a cardstock sticker sheet (October Afternoon), a thickers alphabet set and a mini alphabet. The kit also had full color layout examples. But that is not all. The kit included this box of goodness…

The box is what the company calls Chick N’ Scratch. This little take-out box was stuffed with tons of buttons, various flowers, three fibers and some miscellaneous brads, bling and extras. The number of embellishments is amazing in a kit that retailed for $14.99! Yes. $14.99 (plus shipping).

I’m very excited by what I received in this kit. The only problem I had was that their website isn’t the easiest to find things. I found out that if things are sold out, the drop off the website as if they never existed. As a new customer I didn’t see the item that I had just heard about. Not reassuring. I contacted customer service and got a message that they just added more kits to the site. I looked and I ordered right away fearing they would disappear again. I’m really glad I did! The kit was well worth it. I might have signed up for an ongoing membership (avilable in 1month, 3month or 6month terms according to the order form drop down menu) except that I could not find any information on how the kit club worked! Would I have  a choice of the two offered kits? Any skipping options? When would the new kits be out? Sneak previews, full reveals etc? No info that I could easily find. I’ll have to contact customer service again it seems.

Now I’m curious to see what comes out for July. So far the website doesn’t seem to have the same offering. Are they sold out already just from membership? Are they not posted yet? The website is unclear. The kits are great and I will keep an eye on the website to see what I can learn about how they run things. If I find out anything new, I’ll keep you posted!

New Kit Club

Super quick post for you today. I listened to an interview with Kim Garner on The PaperLife a while back and she talked about Scrapbook Chicks. This company started out making scrapbooking T-shirts and has moved on to carrying other scrapbooking products. The thing that I got excited about is that they are offering smaller subscription kits. I just bought one and want to review it for you. I’ll have to get to the review part later as I am helping a friend out today. But here is a sneak of what I have done with the kit (and a couple extras).

Recipe:

Scrapbook Chicks kit: Buttons, flours, butterfly rhinestone, alpha stickers, Journal Card & Pattern Paper (October Afternoon).
Extras: Glitter spray (Clearsnap), Tree mask (Cricut), punch (Stampin’ Up)

Craft Store Haul

I stopped by my local Craft Warehouse this week on a whim. And they were having a “fill the bag get 20% off” sale. I decided to pick up a few things like buttons and plastic crystals. I found some American Crafts thickers that I have been drooling over in projects I’ve seen. Then I found the Tim Holtz embossing folders for Sizzix and had to have one of them. Best of all though, as I was getting ready to leave I found the rack of Martha Stewart punches and found 2 punches I have been looking for for months! Sure I’ve found the punches online but never both in one place at the same time! Into my cart went those. And I added in another punch that I recently fell in love with from a project in Paper Crafts Magazine. Fun stuff. Can’t wait to play with it all.

Playing with leftovers

I started an elements scrap drawer a while back. In this drawer I put pre-cut/punched items. I can just go to this drawer and grab items when I need a little something for my page. I have found that I really like this system. I am adding more layers to my projects, which is something I like when I see other people’s work. I am also mixing and matching patterns and colors that I would not normally think of putting together. Plus this drawer makes good use of the last scraps of my paper. I will punch flowers, hearts, squares and other shapes from the scraps that are too small to save, yet too big for me to just recycle.

The background paper and the floral stripe running through the middle were new elements. Most the other elements, the marquee die cut, the scallop die cut, the scallop border pieces and the butterflies were all leftovers. Even the jumbo pieced flower was an element that I had gotten in a kit that I just never used. All these things had no use at the time. But here they all are playing nice together.

So, go ahead, start an element scrap drawer (or bag or envelope). You may be surprise by what you can do with these little bits of goodness later!

Free summer scrap “parties”

I am a fan of Big Picture Scrapbooking as well as Creating Keepsakes Magazine. Both of these companies are offering a free summer “party.” Both places will require you to register an account for their sites, but registration is free. And you may find other benefits you enjoy about each of their sites. BPS has other free classes that you can take and a variety of pay-for offerings as well. CK’s summer camp is run through their online community Club CK.

Each party will include tips, ideas, prizes and more. The BPS party runs Aug 12-24. CK’s is July 12-16. I encourage you to check them out! Maybe I’ll “see” you there.

Design Team Entry

I just got the results back from a design team I entered and I wasn’t chosen. So now I am free to share the project I made for the entry. I decided to use a card I made for my 16th Anniversary. In entering this contest I wasn’t sure whether I should stick with something similar in style to what I usually see from this company or to go with something a little different. I decided to go with something different. I went with a more elegant mellower look rather than the colorful energetic look I often see. The main reason I did this was a brief mention I heard of wanting the designers to show a different style. After seeing the winning entries I don’t think my approach was a good one! Most of the winners were right up there in the colorful energetic and cute category. I’m sure that is not the only factor for their winning. A huge part of this team I think is the activity level on the blog and facebook page for this company. And that isn’t me right now. I knew I didn’t have a big chance of winning. But I tried anyway!