one line, two ways - part one

Well, hello there! Pardon my brief absence -- we went to Chicago for a few days (nice little mini vacation -- mini album to follow ;) ), and then came back just in time to spend the 4th with family and fireworks. Happy Independence Day (a bit late), and Happy Canada Day, too (a bit later!).

In my June kit from Scrappy Chic, it just so happened that I had papers from We R Memory Keeper's monthly line, Red White and Blue. Needless to say, they were very patriotic papers, with a bit of a military theme. Unfortunately, I was scrapping with them sans any photos that fit either theme! What's a girl to do? 

First, I selected a photo that I wanted to scrap and that fit well with the colors -- one of my parents' dog, Roxy. Then, I searched my stash for a bit of inspiration to both tie the colors of the line together AND pull away a bit from the patriotic-ness. Here's what I found:

Yup, just one sticker (this one's from American Craft's Chap line) -- but it has blues, red, AND a golden yellow -- ta da! Suddenly, instead of a patriotic color scheme, I had a primary color scheme with a twist. Here's the layout in full:

Now it's a festive layout about a cute dog that just happens to include some stars. Nice! I made sure to repeat the yellow enough to make it look intentional -- the inspiration sticker, the title (basic grey and october afternoon alphas), the label sticker up top, and in this embellishment cluster:

I added pins from Maya Road, a paper clip flag from Smash, and more stars in sticker and veneer form (the veneers are Studio Calico, and they're sprayed with yellowish Mister Hueys).  I call it a success!!

But after all, it is a patriotic line, so I made a bit of patriotic decor as well:

I used star tins from Maya Rd along with die-cut stars, circles, and scalloped circles to pull this one together (I used my beloved new Silhouette for the die-cutting, but simple shapes like these are available for any system). 

The tins (which are about 2.5" across, if you'd like a sense of scale) are painted with Ranger Distress Paint first, then the stars are added, then the tins got a layer of crackle medium (mine was Ranger also, but other brands exist). The little alphas are LilyBee (kit leftovers from the other week), and the large alphas are old Thickers.

You can really see the crackle effect here. Twine from Maya Rd. and Divine Twine tie it all together...literally. You can find both projects at Scrappy Chic, as well as on their blog today. You'll find me at the store today as well -- it's Freedom Grab day! Get your shopping on, local folks!

Enjoy your day, and see you soon.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello lovebirds!
Hope you are having a lovely Valentine's Day -- or that you had a nice weekend...no fair for holidays to fall on Mondays, if you ask me!

Well, we don't go all-out around here for this particular holiday, but I do like to make Andrew a little something. This year I stepped outside my papercrafting box and made this:

Aww, it's a frame :)

I started with a $1 heart frame from Michael's, painted the edges, and added a layer of some adhesive fabric paper stuff that I've been hoarding for at least a couple years -- it's from the "love, elsie" line that's long since disappeared! The fabric started white, but I grunged it up a bit with a couple colors of glimmer mists, and then I frayed the edges a tad.

I used the first phrases from one of my very favorite love poems -- from E.E. Cummings, of course (by the way, that whole lower-case-name business is a bit of an urban legend, but that's another story). I replaced the "heart"s with, well, hearts -- but not just any ol' hearts -- puffy hearts! I followed Emily's very cool tutorial, and it worked like a charm. Thanks, Em! The hearts themselves are die-cut and stamped with PTI's heart prints dies and stamp, then colored in a bit with my good old versamarker.

I stitched  around the heart photo opening and through my letter stickers (Mini Market letters from October Afternoon), made some parentheses using circle punches, and added a few hearts to the photo. I must say, I'm kinda proud of this little project -- and yes, Andrew really likes it!

Hope you do, too -- enjoy your day!

More Dirt. Oh, and OLW13

Hi there -
It's late, I've been roller skating, and I've had a beer. This post is gonna be quick!

I've got 4 cards for you -- all for the Dare to Get Dirty challenges, and one bonus: Susan's One-Layer Wednesday, which just happened to work with some of the DTGD stuff. Nifty.

First, a non-card:

So, I've never really gotten over my college-era Audrey Hepburn fascination. I may have mentioned this before. I have a whole set of Audrey images from Stampsmith, and this one in particular was perfect to make movie-themed treat packaging featuring a girl and some gingham.

Next:

Next, a delightfully bright color combo in a die-cut-employing sketch that uses a set from PTI - Chair-ished - that hasn't seen ink yet, though I've had it for months. 

Third: 

Another sketch featuring more die cuts and a winged woman. That color combo came from a bit of serendipity (ooh, does that word give anyone else another Audrey Hepburn reference, or am I the only one who has seen Paris when it Sizzles?).

Anywho, there were bits of Hawaiian Shores, Berry Sorbet, and Kraft in a pile. I dug them together.

Finally:

My fave of the bunch, even though the photo sucks and I was too lazy to retake and re-edit. This is the card for Susan's challenge (sorry for making you wade through, Susan!), as well as a similarly-themed DTGD challenge and another which involved cas and color, and another avoiding the A2. 

When I got this PTI set, I struggled with making cards I liked. I might not have made any at all that actually made it out of the house. This time, it works! I even like the sentiment, though I wish the font size on all the sentiments in the set was a titch larger. Odd scale if you ask me. 

Enough for one day! If you see something here that I didn't explain fully, or you want to know more supply-wise, just ask. You are welcome to take a peek at these cards in my SCS gallery -- there's a link somewhere over on the right, and I do a much better job of listing supplies over yonder.

Please, have a delightful evening. I think I'll have a G&T. Delightful.