Quarantine

As in we should be under quarantine here at the Masket household. Welcome to spring break! Sigh...On Thursday I was proudly boasting that we had escaped the various plagues circulating at my kids' school. I should have known better. On Friday, Eli came home from school with pink cheeks, watery eyes, and a fever of 102.5. At bedtime, Sadie said she was really cold (mind you, it hit 80 degrees here yesterday). Lo and behold: 101.5. We will not discuss the epic tantrum that ensued when she figured out that 101.5 last night = no skiing today.

So, with various kids' movies playing in the background, intermittently interrupted by the sounds of nose-blowing, what's a girl to do? Blog.

Here are some things I've done since I last posted (most recent to least recent):

1. Participated in today's round of Saturday Sketches on the Bella Blvd blog:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd + Stickers: Bella Blvd + Die Cuts: Silhouette (snowflakes, title) + Fonts: Typenoksidi (journaling) + Pacifico (title)

2. Had a card (full disclosure: this card has been posted on my blog before) featured on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog yesterday (while you are at it, check out their new spring issue, available online here: Scrapbook & Cards Today Spring 2012 issue):

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd + Stickers: Bella Blvd + Buttons: October Afternoon + Brads: American Crafts + Stick Pin: Maya Road + Twine: Divine Twine + Die Cuts: Silhouette (ladybug, flowers)

3. Posted a tutorial on the October Afternoon blog on Tuesday (layouts below, please see October Afternoon blog for tutorial):

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Spray Ink: October Afternoon + Stickers: October Afternoon (cloud, label) + Die Cuts: October Afternoon (heart, star, bee), Silhouette (title) + Pen: Sakura + Fonts: Pacifico (first), Dock 11 (Daffodil)

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: October Afternoon + Journaling Card: October Afternoon + Stickers: October Afternoon + Tin Pin: October Afternoon + Die Cuts: October Afternoon (word strip), Silhouette (title) + Pen: Sakura + Font: Pacifico

4. Created a layout for a Wednesday layout feature on the Bella Blvd blog:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics + Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd + Stickers: Bella Blvd + Chipboard: Bella Blvd + Twine: Divine Twine + Punches: Fiskars (stars) + Die Cuts: Silhouette (letters) + Fonts: Typenoksidi (journaling, printed title words), TW Cen MT Condensed Extra Bold (right)

I plan to do a lot of scrapbooking and cardmaking over spring break, especially during these next couple of days when I anticipate being stuck at home with sick kiddos. I am excited to start digging into my brand-new Bella Blvd and have a few other new-ish goodies awaiting me as well.

Back in Time

I have a layout up on the October Afternoon blog today for Jill Sprott's "Clustered Patterned Bits" challenge:

I'm going to give you a peek into my layout creation process here, which took some unusual twists and turns. Here's my step-by-step process:

1. After Jill emailed me the challenge idea, I decided it would be quick and easy to cut shapes with my Cameo so I searched for "shapes" in the Silhouette store. I quickly scanned through what appeared and immediately fell in love with the aptly named "retro shapes." 
2. From there, I decided I wanted to create a layout about "Mad Men." I remembered someone having linked me to the "Mad Men Yourself" feature on the AMC website, so I went there and spent far too long playing with the image options (I tried on several different dresses, accessories, and noses :)). I ultimately decided on the combination seen in the layout above, saved it, and printed it, placing it roughly where I wanted it on my backgound kraft cardstock. 
3. I sized the retro shapes so that four shapes would fit in a 2" square and cut a bunch of shapes out of the Boardroom (woodgrain) paper from October Afternoon's new 9 to 5 collection. 
4. I began arranging the shapes above and below the image until I had them where I wanted them. I glued the shapes down, substituting a 9 to 5 tin pin for one of the circles where the pattern would have overlapped the image.
5. Next, I tucked bits and pieces from the 9 to 5 Miscellany and patterned papers under the top right corner of the image.
6. I added a title created with letter stickers from October Afternoon's Boarding Pass collection (red letters) and letters cut from cardstock with my Cameo (white letters).
7. I printed my journaling out on white cardstock, cut it into strips, and glued them down.

As always, I never know why I'm putting things where they are, I just know when they work. Having finished the layout, however, I can step back and see that I used the woodgrain shapes to lead the viewer's eyes into the image; created Z flow with pattern (woodgrain shapes), color (red embellishment and red title letters), and my journaling strips; and grounded my image with the tin pin and the journaling strips.

So...who else is looking forward to the fifth season of "Mad Men" starting in just three weeks?

 

Tone-on-Tone Raised Embellishments

One way to add subtle detail to a layout is to add tone-on-tone raised embellishments. I added tone-on-tone raised embellishments on this layout in three places, punching or hand-cutting shapes from the same patterned papers used for the blocks on the layout and layering each (with pop dots) on top of the matching patterned paper block. I extended each shape beyond the edge of the block to make the shape pop more clearly.

Here's a closer look at the red star:

I created this layout as part of this week's challenge week on the Bella Blvd blog. Today's challenge was to create a project using patterned paper from four or more different collections. Be sure to check out the challenges at Bella Blvd this week and participate for a chance to win!

 

A Couple of Cards

I created a couple of cards for today's theme/un-theme challenge at October Afternoon:

 

  Check out the challenge on the October Afternoon blog!

 

 
 

Happy Birthday, Kimber!

Today we're celebrating Kimber McGray's special day with a card blog hop! So...without further ado...

Happy birthday, Kimber! :)

Cardstock (Bazzill Basics) + Patterned Paper (American Crafts Dear Lizzy, October Afternoon) + Sticker (Jillibean Soup) + Ribbon (May Arts)

For those of you who don't know Kimber, she is smart, funny, a super-talented paper crafter, and one of the most friendly and outgoing people I have ever met. I am so glad that I met her online (just realized that was about five years ago!) and have had the opportunity since then to spend time with her in person at several CHA trade shows as well as at Canada's Crop for Kids back in the fall of 2007. 

I'm guessing most of you came here from Amy Martin's blog; the next stop on the happy birthday blog hop is Carole Maurin's blog. (If you just happened across my blog and want to start at the beginning of the blog hop, please go to the Jillibean Soup blog.)

Kimber, hope your birthday is fabulous and that you have a wonderful year!

Bella Blvd Inspiration Unlimited Week Continues

Today's Inspiration Unlimited feature at Bella Blvd is the new Designer Tape:

Check out the Bella Blvd blog to see projects featuring this fun new embellishment!

 

X Marks the Spot + Bella Blvd Inspiration Unlimited Week

X Marks the Spot
I had a lot of fun making this spring card! I loved this cute little ladybug die cut shape and decided it would be fun to fill the spots with different embellishments. I added a couple of buttons, a sticker, some die cut flowers with brad centers, and I was done. I really love this look and want to try it on a layout next.

Cardstock (Bazzill Basics) + Patterned Paper (Bella Blvd) + Stickers (Bella Blvd) + Brads (American Crafts) + Buttons (October Afternoon) + Stick Pin (Maya Road) + Baker's Twine (Divine Twine) + Die Cutting Machine (Silhouette)

Bella Blvd Inspiration Unlimited Week

 
Today marks the second day of the second week of Inspiration Unlimited over on the Bella Blvd blog. Up today are projects featuring the new crochet flowers:

Head on over to the Bella Blvd blog for a closer look and some inspiration!