On this page I used my heat tool to emboss images to create a resist technique. I made this for the Try To Resist My Olympic Experience challenge that was to use emboss resist and to use colors from a different country's flag. I picked Azerbaijan whose colors are red, white, navy, and white.
I just had to scrap the only pics I had of Independence Day when I was in the States. Journaling reads: During the summer months of training in Los Angeles, we would always go to Canoga Park to celebrate the fourth of July. July 4, 1997

Stamps: Letterpress Alphabet, Brushstroke alphabet, Fun Filled
Paper: Glorious Green, glossy white
Ink: Night of Navy, Versamark, white souffle pen
Extras: clear embossing powder, decorative tape

January 14 Virtual Scrapbook Night Preview Party

Our preview party for VSBN had a great turnout. This events theme is the Winter Olympics and every challenge revolves around that theme. You get 2 hrs to create a layout. Unfortunately I was stuck at work through the whole event but I managed to do a challenge that night when I got home and another the next day since I had Monday off.

The first challenge I tried was Stats. During the Olympics you hear the announcers talk about the athletes statistics and what they have accomplished throughout their careers. The challenge is to make a layout using a stat sheet, use doodling on your page, and use a file folder. The stats on my page, rather than name, birthday, date of pic, etc, were the various tasks I had while I was in the Shenandoah unit of Covenant Players. The tasks were: Housing Co-ordinator, Program Planner, Office Worker, Show Scheduler, Guy Pal, Actress, Friend, and Comic Relief. The journaling inside the folder reads: These were my many jobs when I toured western Virginia and West Virginia with Sean and Christen. Sean was the Team Leader and ultimately responsible for everything and had to sign all the contracts for shows and took charge of van maintenance. My primary task was housing co-coordinator, which was a very stressful job because most of the housing contacts I called to let them know we were coming to their area didn't want to have us. We did get through the tour and always had a place to stay. Christen was in charge of office files and finances and the rest of our duties were shared. There were a lot of stressful times but we did have a lot of fun too. Sean was a guy that just needed male bonding. It was hard for him to travel four months with no other guys so I did my best to do man things with him. We played tennis, watched guy movies and mostly watched football. Spring 1996 I used Certainly Celery and Night of Navy Cardstock and a file folder from Marcella by K. I stamped the Certainly Celery with the swirl stamp from Fun Filled in Night of Navy craft ink and stamped the title with Brushstroke Alphabet in Certainly Celery craft ink. I inked my primas with Certainly Celery as well and edged my stats with Chocolate Chip. I used a black Zig pen to doodle and write the journaling and stats. The brads attaching the primas and spiral paperclip are from the Hodgepodge Hardware set.

Monday’s challenge was exactly that since I had some “help”. The Olympic ring challenge was to follow a sketch by Becky Fleck that includes many rings. The challenge was focus on uniting the circles and the title and photo. The page is of Lavinia eating pizza for the first time. Journaling reads: Lavinia went through a year eating nothing but hot dogs and cheese and yogurt. We could never convince her to try new foods until one night when we ordered a pizza. She found that she loved pizza. August 2006.

I used Barely Banana, Rose Red, and a non SU blue cardstock. I used my white Souffle pen to do the edges to the journaling block and the ribbon. I made the pizza by taking a Rose Red cirle, stamping circles from a stamp from Fun Filled with Versamark for the pepperoni, then I took a q-tip and applied Chocolate chip ink for hamburger. I then applied a thin layer of Barely Banana craft ink for cheese on tip and heavily around the edges for crust and put in on a larger blue circle for a tray. Now looking at the page, I wish I matted the picture with Rose Red cardstock as well. I then applied various buttons and silk flowers I collected over the years.

I had a plan for the page and had everything ready to put together except the buttons and flowers for the big circle. Lavinia had lots of fun getting into my stash of buttons and flowers. She picked out every button on the page. She insisted on eating grapes while we were putting it together and no matter how often I took them from her and had her wash her hands, she snuck some more past me. She did get some spots all over the page and I did my best to cover them. It’s not bad the circle of flowers and brads are not very even. We did have fun putting it together, which we never did before, and she was better behaved than I expected so I guess that is the most important thing. I would try to do another page with her again, but not when there is a time limit to finishing it.

If you are interested in participating in the big event this weekend, the new challenges will be posted in this thread after this past Sunday’s challenges. You have two hours to complete each challenge, then upload your creation by the deadline. The challenges are posted every two hours from noon until 10 pm AST on Saturday and Sunday. If you just wanted to look at the completed pages from this last weekend they are here. Hope to see you next weekend

Stamp Set Saturday

My favorite alphabet stamp set is SU Letterpress Alphabet. It's perfect for scrapbooking titles or monogram sets. For Christmas I made two name frames with this set and gave one to Philip and Dawn and the other for Diane and Judson. I forget the company that made the patterned paper. I used Letterpress Alphabet stamps and, French Script, Linen, the swirl from Fun Filled and "merry little christmas" from Cute Converse. The hardware is from the Hodgepodge Hardware. I would like to make some more with the seasons for my house and one for Lavinia's bedroom with her name on it.

Fakey Friday

One of my favorite faux techniques is faux metal tags. I love hardware and the look of metal on my scrapbook pages and cards. Basically you make a faux metal tag out of cardstock and metallic embossing powder. I emboss the whole piece of paper and do three coats of EP. While it is still hot stamp on it with a dry rubber stamp. I stamped the tag with small lettering so I only did two coats of EP. It’s a really fun and easy technique. If you’ve never tried it there is a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.com. I also made this card for this week’s splitcoaststampers’ card sketch challenge (SC100).

Stamps: flip flops, Cute converse, Fun Filled (spiral and swirls backgrounds)

Paper: generic cardstock

Ink: black Staze on, whisper White, Versamark

Accessories: gold EP, White fiber

Techniques: faux metal tags

Stamp Set Saturday

Stampin’ Ups Fun Filled stamp set is my latest acquisition. It is one that didn’t impress me when I first looked at it but once I started using it, it is one of the sets that I reach for most often. It is just so versatile. I love the background swirl. It’s good for any kind of card. The whole set is so versatile. Here’s some cards and projects I’ve used with this set.

For the craft fair I did some gift sets and mini gift sets. I really love coffee so I did one of each kind with a coffee theme. Here is a mini gift set. It has a mini notebook, matching pen, 4 3x3 gift cards and a mini post-it-note holder. The coffee mug was made with a 2 step basket/purse stamp. This means there is one stamp to stamp the outline of the basket/purse stamp, then I stamp again to fill it in. Actually I would do the fill first and then the outlining but it is easier to explain the steps backwards without having a visual. I used the swirl stamp for the background. All papers came from my miscellaneous scraps so they are a variety of brands. I used Chocolate Chip and Elegant Eggplant ink.

Here is a regular gift set with 2 cards instead of 4 gift tags. I used Basic Brown ink for the background swirls and used Pixie Pink and Pink Passion for the image. The sentiment reads, “I’d rather be shopping”.

Not only does the stamp set make different kinds of cards but it can also be used with other stamps for even more versatility. Here is another gift set (can you tell I’m getting ready for a craft fair?) using just the background swirls of Fun Filled. I got the main image is Katie & co. and used the Linen background stamp and “baby” from Noteworthy on the panels. My last gift set used the background swirl from Fun Filled as well.

The snoopy stamp is by Stampabilities. Fun Filled is such a great set to use. The 2 step stamp make it easy to do cards fast. You do not have to color the image but also have the option to do so if desired. The background swirls add interest to the whole card, not just the focal point. There is also a flower image and a bow to go on top of the basket/purse 2 step stamp. The stamp set definitely surpasses my expectations.