Pamela's World: January 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

More Cosmo Cricket goodness :)

Last night I sat down and made a few more things with my Cosmo Cricket "Chemistry" line from ScrapLovers. Here are a couple simple cards...

And then I made a wall-hanging. :)

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

2009 Calendar

Ok...so I think there must have been some Blogger tracking system that registers when people complain about them, and then some Blogger dude that quickly fixes the problem, because right after I complained that it wouldn't work...wouldn't upload pictures...it started working! :)

This is one of those projects that I have been working on for a little while and it was just taking forever. Not necessarily because the project should take forever, but because I was moving VERY slow with it! I don't know if it was because I haven't been feeling too well, or because I just lacked motivation...but I had the hardest time getting this done! But it is! Done.

This is one of my projects for this month's ScrapLovers reveals. The "Calendar Album" comes from Maya Road as well as the chipboard I used. The papers, brads, and chipboard numbers are all part of the Savannah collection from 7 Gypsies. You can view that collection here. I also got to incorporate these fun "Frosty Treat Stars" from Prima.

Anyways...so here is the whole thing...

My approach to this project changed many times! I wasn't sure that I wanted to make a calendar that I put a lot of effort into if I could only use it for a year. So I designed the calendar myself in Photoshop. That way I could easily make the same size, same look calendar for any year. Then I took special measures to make my pages so I could easily replace the old calendar with a new one for 2010 (and any year after that). And totally as a side note...did you know how easy it is to make brushes in Photoshop? I had no clue it was so easy. So I made brushes for each of these monthly calendars. IF I can figure out how to put them on my blog so anyone who wants to can download them, then I will do it (let me know if you know how to do this!).

But back to my approach...after doing all of that to make sure I could replace the calendars...I changed my mind. I now plan on taking the album off the stand and then making it into my "year in review" album...incorporating additional pages with photos, etc, for each month of 2009. :) So look for that in 2010.

Anyways...there you have it.

Thanks random blogger dude (?) for fixing my problem. :)

Ugghhh!!!

Sometimes Blogger is SO frustrating! I have been trying to load pictures for a post for the past two hours! Yes, there are a lot of pictures, but I have only managed to get 4 loaded so far...in 2 hours! Blogger is just not working...and man it is making me frustrated! So, I do have a post...coming soon, but I may have to walk away from the computer and come back later. :(

Monday, January 26, 2009

SC Sketch 127

So we are having a fun snow storm here...been having trouble with my internet all morning! :( But hopefully I can get this up without any trouble.

Here's today's sketch for Scrapbook Challenges:

And here is what the SC girls did with the sketch. I love them all. :)

Andrea--

Brynn--

Jen--

Lily--

Marilyn--

Pinky--

Sookie--

Let us know if you play along...if you use the sketch! :)

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Embossed Chipboard (with a little resist)

So I sat down to work on some projects yesterday and I wanted to do a cool technique...try some new things. I had never embossed chipboard before, so that is where I started. I bought a few embossing folders for the Cuttlebug and wanted to try them out. Note: I do not have a Cuttlebug. :)

Here's how to emboss chipboard:

1. Using a spray bottle, get your chipboard wet.

I did experiment with this, and it works much better with wet chipboard. here's a picture of two pieces of chipboard. The first one was embossed as normal (dry) and the second one I sprayed with water before embossing. I am sure you can see the difference.

2. Place your piece of chipboard in the middle of your embossing folder.

3. Roll through your machine (if you have one).

* I used my Quickutz Revolution for this.

* You can use a rolling pin and roll over the embossing folder to emboss.

* Apparently you can even use a pasta maker to roll your embossing folder thru. :)

4. Your chipboard is now embossed. If it is wet, allow it to dry before doing anything else with it.

Now, just for fun...let's heat emboss your dry embossed chipboard. :)

Heat Embossing:

* This helps your pattern stand out a bit more.

1. Using my Versamark pad (a watermark ink pad), I rubbed it over my image, trying to just get the raised parts.

2. I poured clear embossing powder on my piece of chipboard.

3. I poured off excess onto a piece of paper and then back into my container.

4. *tip* I took a small paintbrush, and in the areas where I didn't want it to emboss but there was some powder I gently wiped it off.

4. I used my heat gun to heat emboss it.

Now, because we haven't done enough techniques, let's throw in a little emboss resist. :)

Emboss Resist:

1. Taking my chipboard that is already heat embossed. I simply sprayed glimmer mist on it. (You have heard of doing this with regular ink, I wanted to try it with glimmer mist and it worked great!)

2. Using a kleenex I wiped of the chipboard (it takes the ink of the embossed parts).

Easy, schmeasy. :)

Variations:

This is the piece of chipboard heat embossed with clear powder (with no ink):

This is a piece of chipboard heat embossed with clear powder and then sprayed with pink glimmer mist:

This is a piece of chipboard that is heat embossed with colored powder and then sprayed with brown glimmer mist:

I really had a lot of fun playing with this. :) Here are a couple finished projects using my pieces of chipboard...

In the ScrapLovers Store:

Chipboard

Chipboard from Maya Road (my favorite)

Embossing Powders

More Embossing Powder

Glimmer Mist

Versamark Pad (this is not the regular pad I used but a special "champagne" pad)

Embossing Folders

Supplies for "Thank You So Much" card:

Cardstock--Archivers, Patterned Paper--Making Memories, Stamp and Ink--Stampin' Up!, Chipboard--Maya Road, Cuttlebug Embossing Folders, Embossing Powders--Stampin' Up!, Glimmer Mist--Tattered Angels, 3D Paint--Scribbles, Twill--DCWV

Supplies for "So Big" layout:

Papers--Graphic45, Sassafras Lass, Jenni Bowlin, Stamp--Catslife Press, Ink--Stampin' Up!, Chipboard--Maya Road, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Embossing Powder--Stampin' Up!, Black Rhinestones--Marcella by K, Flower--Prima, Chipboard Journaling Spot--Sassafras Lass, Felt Letters--American Crafts, Decorative Tape--Prima, Lace and Button--vintage, Thread--DMC.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Anyone up for some Chemistry?

My ScrapLovers goodies this month included the new "Chemistry" line from Cosmo Cricket. So this might get a little lovey-dovey...stop now if you don't like that. :) You can find the line here in the ScrapLovers store. Here are two layouts I made with the line:

Another view:

I also added some stickers from Hambly that you can find here.

And my second page...

Those words near the bottom on the left side are all names of paper (in their Chemistry line)...they are from the part of the paper that you cut off...but I still used them. :)

Some close up pics:

I had a lot of fun working with this line. And don't worry, you will see more of it from me. :)

I cheated.

So, my youngest is out of his room and now sharing a bedroom with his brother. They got new bunk beds for Christmas. They couldn't be happier. Now comes the time to get the room ready for our new little girl.

When we first moved into the house I let Hayden pick the color for his wall (green) and I painted something on the walls for them. Hayden had a big giraffe and then a tree with a monkey.

I do NOT feel like repainting. So, I decided to paint a necklace around the giraffe (also added eyelashes and earrings) and a little pink bow on the monkey's tail (with heart earrings)...and leave everything else the same.

Now I just need to get/make some cute curtains and try to figure out how to cover my glider's blue cushions with another color/fabric. We're getting there.