Bad little blogger!

*hanging head in shame*

I know, I know.  I haven't been around.  I've been emotionally unavailable to the blogging world.  Sure, I could list excuses, I could tell you how time got away from me.

It would be a lie though.

The truth is that everyday I thought about how a blog post was due, and everyday it became just a little bit harder to make an entry because of how long it had been already.  This week, I had a new mistress...

Her name is sleep.

Patrice and I went away this past weekend, and while we had way too much fun, we also got way too little sleep. So I've been napping. Napping is actually putting it mildly, I've been falling into a coma every day a little after lunch. 

So now I'm back (although I'm the first to admit that I think I now have a napping problem). 

And it is Make a Flower Friday!

So let's get to the flower :)

Ooh, pretty!

And you can make it with your scraps! So get out a scrap of paper and punch a few circles out of it:

Then you'll want to put some strong adhesive on one end of the patterned paper and roll it into an oval like this:

We are going to cut small strips from our oval of patterned paper now.  I couldn't take a picture of myself cutting the paper because I only have two hands, but here is what the finished result will look like:

Put some glue on one of the circles (this will be the back of the flower) and arrange the oval strips however you like to form the 'petals'. I used hot glue because I didn't want to hold anything down. Once the petals are arranged how you like, put glue on the second circle and press down onto the middle of your flower and decorate however you'd like!

Have a great weekend everybody! And thanks for looking :)

Keathe

Make a Flower Friday!

Today, we're dealing with one of the most versatile 'flowers' that are out there, rosettes!  The best thing about rosettes, is that you can make them as masculine or feminine as you want just based on the patterned paper you use.  Because you use patterned paper to make them, you can tailor them to go with any layout.

The first thing you need is a 12 inch by 1.5 inch strip of paper (I find double sided paper works best). 

  

You'll want to use your score board and score the strip of paper at every 1/4 inch.

    
Remember when you were young and would make those super cool fans out of any paper you had lying around at the time?  We're going to fold back and forth on the lines we just scored until it looks like a big accordian thingy.

Now you'll take some glossy accents or a hot glue gun (definitely want a liquid glue for this part) and glue the two edges together.

Take a circle punch (size doesn't matter as long as it is smaller than the rosette) and punch a circle out of some scrap cardstock. Put some liquid adhesive in the center of your circle.

Now, take your rosette and center it over your circle (notice that I am doing it incorrectly in the picture, so don't do what I do) and press down on it in the center to flatten it and press it onto that cardstock circle. (you'll want to hold this down for a few minutes while the glue dries)

And when you are done, you can embellish the center however you want. I used a button for this rosette.

Now, say you like the look of that and all, but you want something a little easier with less steps?  Well, Tim Holtz and Sizzix have a die that will cut out the paper for rosettes.  It is a flat die and I use it all the time to make my rosettes (it is how I made the smaller rosette pictured above).

The regular rosette die makes one rosette size, and the mini rosette die makes two rosette sizes (the paper strips above were cut with the mini rosette die).  The die cuts and scores the paper for you, and then the rest of the steps are the same.  With the die above you can either make two separate rosettes or you can layer the paper on top of each other for a neat effect.

Another neat effect that I did with this rosette made from the regular rosette die is to put tissue tape from Ranger along the bottom of the paper strip and then make your folds.

Do you have any other ways that you make rosettes out of the ordinary? Comment to let us know and we'll feature your ideas in another blog post!

Thanks for looking! 

Keathe

Simple layout with Simple Stories!

 This was a quick layout that I did this past weekend. I actually intended for it to be very fussy and detailed and with tons of embellishments, but as I worked on it decided it didn't need much of that stuff and I was still happy with it.

I picked this calendar paper from Simple Stories' Year-o-graphy line because I just love this paper! I loved the paper so much that I didn't want to cover it up a whole lot.

I decided to go ahead and use the paper as if it really were one of my monthly calendar pages, and I put in all the activities my family had in the month that I was scrapping about. I really liked the way it came out because some day I'll be able to look back and see what a general month was like at this particular time in our lives.

I used one of the flash cards (distressed first, of course), and put some of the smaller stickers that come in the Year-o-graphy paper pack on for part of the title and then used the larger brown stickers (also with the sticker pack) in for the main part of the title. I used a journaling card from Jenni Bowlin for the other part of the title and the journaling. 

I cut off one of the border strips from the papers and used it on the bottom on the paper to add interest.

I matted a picture of my baby in black cardstock (because I have a thing with matting photos). 

Not a lot of embellishments after all (mostly because I really liked that calendar paper, but I decided that the layout worked without a lot of embellishment. So don't be afraid to do something different than usual because you might love the way it turns out.

Thanks for looking!

Keathe

What to do with all those 6X6 paper pads?!?

 I am a bit of a paper hoarder. I know, I know, you are all probably shocked, but if there was a twelve step program, I would be the star member. The reason I LOVE 6X6 pads so much is because they are so much easier to hoard than 12X12 paper, and they are so pretty!

I also have a lot easier a time cutting into my 6X6 papers than cutting a strip from one of my precious 12X12 papers (especially for card making), but I've noticed that I don't use those smaller papers on my layouts very much. So I saw a layout someone posted on twopeasinabucket.com and knew that I had found my inspiration.

I started out collecting a few pieces from various paper pads, here I have a sheet from Lily Bee Designs and one from Glitz.

I wanted to use kraft paper as my base (since it goes with anything), this is Stampin Up's Crumble Cake (formerly called kraft). 

I wanted to pop the red color of my husband's hat, so used this red cardstock, and cut 1 1/2 inches from the top and the bottom of it, so that the kraft paper would frame it.

I left one piece of 6X6 paper whole cut the rest of my papers to fit in the red frame. Then I used my paper distresser and roughed up all the edges. 

My cat decided she had to plop right down in the middle of everything I was doing. Typical day. At least the baby wasn't in the background destroying something :)

I also wanted to distress my picture since it has that nostalgic, old times kind of feel to it. I wouldn't have done this if it was my only picture of this event, but I have lots of copies of it, so I went ahead and scratched up the edges of it.

Then I took this handy brush (I bought it long, long, ago as a distress tool, but I think it is actually a grill brush) and I scratched off little pieces of the corners.

I inked the edges of the red and kraft cardstock and left the others plain. Adhered everything down and put in a Jenni Bowlin journaling card (also distressed).

Here is the finished result. I've been trying to find the right patterned papers for this picture for quite a while now, but it turned out I had them all along but never thought to check my 6X6 paper pad stash!

 Thanks for looking!

Keathe

My love of Bird Cages

Hi Everybody!

I am a sucker for anything with a bird cage. I don't know what it is. As Patrice can attest, anything that has a birdcage on it, I'm buying. So I couldn't wait to work with this Tim Holtz bird cage die!

I didn't take pictures of this project as I went, sorry to say. I thought I was taking video, but unfortunately the camera batteries died about a minute into filming (story of my life).

For this project, I started out with a manilla tag and I covered the entire thing quickly with the vintage photo distress stain. I then went over the edges of the tag with the vintage stain ink pad to really bring out the color (not with the blending tool, I just rubbed the edges right on the pad itself).

I took a script stamp from Hero Arts and applied the picket fence stain to it and stamped it onto the tag. I hit it with the heat tool for a few seconds just to dry it a bit. Then I took my dictionary paper and ripped off three pieces and added them to the project with Ranger's glue and seal medium (love it so much more than Mod Podge).

I inked over the dictionary paper with the blending tool and some vintage photo distress ink. Next I cut out the bird cage on some of Tim's grunge paper (love that stuff too!). I painted the whole thing black with the Adirondack pitch black paint dabber. Once that paint was dry, I went back over it with the gold paint dabber and just pounced on a couple of spots (to give it an aged look).

I adhered it to the tag with one of Tim's swivel clasps, and glued the birdcage down with glossy accents.  I added a few Recollection pearls in chocolate to the bottom of the bird cage, and was finished.

So who else is crazy about bird cages? Is there something else that you are crazy about? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Thanks for looking!

Keathe

Make a Flower Friday!

Hi Everybody!

It's Make a Flower Friday again!  This week, we will be doing (just a little) sewing. I promise you that I have absolutely no sewing skills, so anybody can recreate this flower!

First thing you are going to need is a strip of fabric in whatever style and color you choose. I like to buy the cotton fat quarters, or the strip bundles they sell for quilters.

Now go ahead and fold that piece in half (it doesn't have to be very precise).

Take a needle and thread (I usually use just plain white but today I decided to color coordinate for you guys) and start stitching a running stitch (I hope that is what it is called) along the open ends of the fabric.

Again, you don't need to be very precise or anything. Just keep stitching in and out and occasionally gathering the fabric. It will start to make a circle.

Keep going until you are happy with the size of your flower.

Noe you'll want to just join the two edges with a quick stitch near the center of the flower.

I like to stitch the middle of the flower closed. I stitch each opposite side closed and keep doing it until I'm happy. You can play around with it and find the best way for you.

I finished my flower by stitching a button onto the center. I've also glossy accented buttons, jewel centers, or other items onto the center as well. Anything you want to add to your button for 'pizazz' at this point is great!

There you have it! Another flower perfect for embellishing any of your scrappy projects!

Thanks for looking!

Keathe

Waiting for my Mojo

Hey Everybody!

Today I have another tag to show you.  This was something I started a while back and never finished because I just wasn't feeling it at the time.  The lesson here is, if you're not sure what you want to do next, sometimes it is good to just stop, walk away, and come back to it another time.

I had gotten this far with my tag about a month ago:

I inked the tag with vintage photo, added a bunch of Tim Holtz's tissue tape, inked the tag with a french script stamp and black ink, and brushed the entire tag with white gesso. The edges of the tag were painted with Ranger's black paint dabber.

I have one of those old style letter punches, and I stamped a distressed piece of paper with the word 'travel' in black archival ink.

I had a few label plates but they were all a bright silver, so I painted one of the plates with black gesso and let it dry. I put the 'travel' title under the label plate, and added it to the tag with two black brads. I used Tim Holtz's bingo pieces in black to add the word 'go' to the tag as well.

Next, I took a flat bottle cap charm and punched out a one inch circle of patterned paper to fit inside it (glossy accents worked really well to adhere the paper to the bottle cap).

Now I've finally finished my tag!

Thanks for looking!

Keathe