Summertime Bicycles

     I recently spent the afternoon with two of my grandchildren. They were showing me how well they can ride their Christmas bikes. I used this opportunity to take some pics. I used Lisa Hidy's sketch from Sketch N Scrap to get started on the left page. 

     I am still trying to whittle down the stack of Graphic 45 Seasons paper left over from the card classes I taught last year. I am on my second layout - the first being a Spring layout.

Sketch #176 by Lisa Hidy

      Since this patterned paper has an old-fashioned feel, I decided to look in the Silhouette store for some bikes of yesteryear to set the tone. As soon as I saw these big wheel bikes, I knew that I was going to put a round pic in the spokes. The scalloped circle mat inside the wheel was a little something I found in the bag of leftover goodies. The red floral paper is on the reverse side of the elements page. With some strategic cutting, I was able to get the "Summertime" title, the "Explore" sentiment, and the row of flowers on green strips. 

     I had my son hold the bike up at Ellie's face level to get this pic of her looking through the spokes of her bike. 

     To continue the layout into two pages, I extended some, but not all of the lines. 

     I had some fun on this page matting my pictures. For this pic I trimmed diagonally between the bikes and off-set the pictures. This made the picture take up less room horizontally. I added the strip of flowers on green for a repeat of elements from the left page. 

     For this 5 x 7 pic I made the mat with a 3/4 inch border. I then cut 1/2 inch strips of metallic gold. I placed them around the pic leaving 1/8 inch borders inside and outside of the strips. I also mitered the corners. 
     I made a point of repeating an element from the cards on my spring layout, so I thought I would do the same here. I repeated the pen nib butterfly exactly as it appears on this card from my class. Because of this I added a couple more butterflies to the layout.

     These purple half pearls in two sizes worked out well in the centers of the wheel and sprinkled on the page. Also I will note that I added the mini scalloped circle to the center of the wheels, because the Silhouette had a bit of trouble cutting them to a point. Instead of fussy cutting each to fix it, I just added a little somethin' somethin' to hide it.

My BINGO card so far

Materials List:

     Patterned Paper: Graphic 45 - Seasons

                                                     Summer & Summer Collective

     Card Stock: My Colors - Concord Jam

                                        Wildflowers

                                        Ecru

                      Paper Cuts - Metallic Gold

     Die: Spellbinders - Las Papillons

            Sizzix - Nested Circles

     Silhouette Files - Vintage Bicycle by Alaa!K

     Ink: Inking - Frayed Burlap

     Embellies: Purple Pearls (4mm & 7mm)

                     Purple Twine

                     Pen Nib

Challenges

a2z Scrapbooking - Anything Goes - #6 - *
Your Scrapbook Place - Anything Goes - #12 - *

Sunflowers & Ladybugs

     Hey, I actually remember buying this stamp in the summer of 2014 in Brown County, Indiana. I was spending a couple of weeks with my sister and her husband in Indianapolis. We decided to take a road trip to Brown County where the shopping is amazing. Believe it or not, there were two papercraft shops across the street from each other. I WAS IN HEAVEN!!! I spent quite a bit that day - mostly on stamps and paper. I bought so much that I had to mail it back home. One of the stores had stamps from floor to ceiling on two walls. I picked up two Miss Muffet stamps that day. I hadn't used the other one yet either (a winter theme).

     My compliments to Heather Hall on this sketch. This is my absolute fave type of sketch. I love layers and a spot for a focal point. I can see myself using this one over and over and turning it around and around. It has four great sides. I can reverse it and it will have four more great side. Voilà . . . 8 different sketches in one.

Sketch #143 by Heather Hall

     I cut every mat on this sketch with Grass Green paper and then chose a patterned paper for each mat. Every mat is popped on here - lots of dimension. Since I popped the gray layer onto the red layer, I needed to to double pop the top half of the little girl. The lady bugs on the sand are from another stamp set. Originally I colored her hair with my fave hair color, which is the color of those sunflowers you are looking at. Oops too much of that color, so I colored over top of the golden hair with light browns.

     I have colored with pencils and watercolor markers, but Copics are my favorite. I love the way they blend and the vast choices of colors. There is rarely a project I do that doesn't have have Copics somewhere on it. It can be a touch of color under an arm so it don't have to fussy cut an arm triangle, a pearl gem, and here I was able to match the dress, sunflowers and leaves to the paper.

     The metal sunflower is a fun goodie from my stash. I interpreted the banner at the bottom a little differently than prescribed. I used 1/2 inch canvas ribbon to finish it off.

     For the inside of the card, I used scraps from the table and attempted to repeat as many elements from the front of the card as I could.

• patterned paper
• rounded corners
• similar leaf stamp and green Copics
• same ladybug stamp

Inside of Card

Materials List:      

     

     Patterned Paper: Close to My Heart - Grateful Heart

     Card Stock: Gina K - Grass Green

     Ink: Momento - Tuxedo Black

            Distress - Frayed Burlap

     Stamp: Little Miss Muffet - Polka Dot Pals

                 Gina K - A Year of Flowers

                 Impression Obsession - On Your Birthday

     Copics: Face - E50,51, 53, 55, 93

                 Hair - E31, 33, 34, 35

                 Sunflowers - YR20, 21, 23, E27

                 Dress - R56, 59

                 Pantaloons - C1, 3

                 Ladybug - E9, R56

                 Leaves & Headband - YG61, 63, 67

                 Ground - YR20, 21, 23, E27

     Embellies: 1/2" red canvas ribbon

                     metal sunflower

   

Challenges

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge - Coloring - #10 - *

Craft Stamper Magazine - Stamping - #8 - *

Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes - #54 - *

Creative Fingers Challenge - Anything Goes - #11 - *

Creative Knockouts - Anything Goes - #9 - *

Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes - #67 - *

Simply Create Too Challenge - Anything Goes - #7 - *

TN: Cactus AZ

     We spent March 10 - 23 in Mesa, Arizona. It ranks in the top 3 vacations I have taken to date. In case you can't read the list of fun things we did on the journaling card, I will tell you bit about it. We visited with cousins Denny, Sue, Ruby, and Donna . We got to do some touristy stuff too - Grand Canyon, Goldfield Ghost Town, and Tortilla Flat. We got to eat at some great places: Waldo's Bar-B-Que, Del Taco, Chicago Hamburger Co., and Sam and Luca Rustic Kitchen (Italian). We shopped at a huge Flea Market and enjoyed it so much that we made a second pass. The BEST part by far were the 6 days we spent at Sloan Park watching games, batting practice, comparing notes with other fans, walking laps around the stadium, and meeting a couple of Hall of Famers (Andre Dawson and Fergie Jenkins.)

     Here is my March Traveler's Notebook page. I used Lisa Hidy's sketch and followed Lori's Washi tape challenge. I found this roll of Washi tape in a craft store in Tempe, AZ. It is shiny copper.

TN Sketch #3 by Lisa Hidy

     This is my fave pic of Huey and I at the Grand Canyon. I chose cacti for theme on this page. Not only did we see a multitude of cacti on this trip, the CUBS do their spring training games in the Cactus League.

Left Page

     Once again I am using dies for the first time, that I have had for quite a while. I had January 2017 written on the packaging for the cacti. The two die sets for the letters are some of my favorites and I have used them many times. 

The Spellbinders "Doily Accents" do not include the "Splendid Circle". Funny thing the "Doily Accents" are not circular. I guess they are just accents.

     If you look at the top of this cactus, you will see that I have hidden the word "Monday" there. Yes, indeed, we went to the GrandCanyon on a Monday.

Right Page

     I elected to place dandelions on the right page. I'm not sure it was a good decision. It seems that dandelions need moist soil 14 inches deep. That is not what we were seeing on our visit to Arizona. There are dandelions in Arizona, but probably not in the area we were staying.

Materials List:      

     

     Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny - Calendar Girl (March & December)

     Card Stock: Bazzill - Papaya Puree

                       My Colors - Black Magic

                                        Lime Pop

                                        Spanish Mooss

     Ink: Gina K - Soft Stone

     Dies: SOL: Succulents 2 Stamp

             Spellbinders - Splendid Circles

                                  Doily Accents

             Burniston - Alphabet .8 in.

             Sizzix - Circles

             Anboo - Dandelion

                         3/4 inch Alphabet

     Embellies: 2 green sparkle gems

                     Paper Source - Washi Tape - Copper

Challenges

Dragonfly Journeys - Dandelions - #3 - *

Scrap from Your Heart - Use Dies - #25 - *

TN Time with Lori - Use Washi Tape - #6 - *

TN Time with Lisa - Sketch #3 - #6 - *

Dr. Seuss Day

     My daughter handed me these two pictures and said, "I would really like a page for Brooklyn's Dr. Suess Day at school." I did some shopping on Etsy for digital paper, images, and a fun font. 

     Luckily this sketch by Lisa Hidy is just the two-photo layout that I needed. Since my pics were portrait rather than landscape, I flipped it 90 degrees counter clockwise. This time I am right on and right proud that I stuck VERY close to the sketch.

Sketch #174 by Lisa Hidy     

     These digital papers are only 8 inch squares, so I usually only use them for cards. I carefully hid two seams in this layout. I would challenge you to find them, even in person!!! For the title, I had used my Cameo Silhouette. I uploaded this Grinch font and Cat in the Hat image into the program. I first added a border around "The Cat" then added the title and added another border. I can't tell you how sad I was that I glued that tail down so securely. When I went to place the "e", I so wanted to pull that tail through. Just so you know, I fussy cut "The Cat in the Hat" 3 TIMES!!!! The first time he was too big. The second time there was a miss print with my printer. I was cutting around the last (right) side and I hadn't noticed that his tie and part of his face were missing. As they say: third time is the charm. You may think my fussy cutting skills are pretty fine, but I will "fess up." For the spaces between his fingers and under his right arm, I color-matched the blue with my Copics - a perfect match.

      Thing 1 and Thing 2 are just printed and fussy cut images. I am pretty excited about the rosettes though. I have had that rosette die FOREVER; and I believe this is the first time I have used it on one of my own designs. What a playful look it gives the page! That 8 inch paper was a bit of a trial here as well, but I managed to piece it together to get full rosettes.

     The journaling card is homemade. I did some strategic cutting and used the printer to do my journaling. 

Materials List:

     Patterned Paper: Digital Paper: Cat in the Hat

                               Dr. Seuss by Cherry Workshop 2

     Card Stock: My Colors - Atlantic Shore

                                        Snowbound

                                        Imperial Red

                       Bazzill - Greystone

     Digital Images: by Bundle SVG.co

     Font: Grinch 2.0

     Dies: Sizzix - Circles

              Tim Holtz - Mini Paper Rosettes

     Embellies: White Brad

                     Red GEm

Challenges

Kitty Snuggles

     This is the birthday card I made for my sister's birthday. Her cards usually contain the same elements: cats and/or purple. I left out the purple this year. 

     I have to apologize for the way I interpreted this amazing sketch by Lisa Hidy at Sketch N Scrap. I promise that I started out with this sketch, but now that I look back, I am wondering how I deviated so far from it. At the time I was working on it, I felt that I was right on target, but now I'm having a bit of trouble finding my point of reasoning. I can see how I used the sketch, but now I'm hoping my followers can see it too.

Sketch #142 by Lisa Hidy

     You can see the kitty peeking through the window, but when you open the card the kitty pops up and rocks inward. This die by Karen Burniston is called "The Rockin' Rectangle". It was hard to get pics of the sentiments: "If all else fails . . . snuggle with your kitty".  
     My favorite feature of this die set is the die to make your own sequins. How many times have you wanted to add sequins, but didn't find just the right color? Have you ever placed sequins on a project only to have it fall off? Well those days are over for me!!! I now make my own sequins. The foiled papers I use to make it have paper backing, which when glued to a card STAY WHERE YOU PUT THEM.

     I stamped this image from High Hopes called "Cat and Mouse Party". I have ordered stamps from High Hopes several times. I just love her artwork -- so cute! I colored the image with my Copics. You might notice the stripes on the kitty. I probably should have made them darker, but it was something new I was trying. I didn't want the stripes to overtake the picture. 
     This paper is Echo Park's "Meow". I rarely use the sticker sheets, but I particularly liked this sentiment -- also the black cat is a sticker.
     Lastly I want to mention the cat balloon. This is from an old Burniston die from her Elizabeth Craft days. It is actually a teddy bear balloon, but I trimmed the ears to be pointy and added the face from Burniston's newest cat die set.

Materials List:      

     

     Patterned Paper: Echo Park - Meow

                              (Kitty Paws, Kitty Plaid, Border Strips, Sticker Sheet)

     Card Stock: Bazzil: Sugar Wafer

                       Echo Park - Orange

                       Recollections - Foiled Turquoise

     Dies: Burniston - Rockin' Rectangle Pop Up

                               Explosion Pop Up (streamers)

                               Cat and Dog (cat face)

                               Props #2 - (Balloon & Bow) (Elizabeth Craft)

     Stamp: High Hopes - Cat and Mouse Party

     Copics: Cat Y21, 23, 26

                 Face Y00,R20

                 Icing RV91, 93, 95

                 Candles BG11, 13

                 Hat BG11, 13, G21, R24

                 Cake BG11, R24, G21, R24

                 Flames YR18, 12, Y32

                 Mouse W2, 4, 6, R20

   

Challenges