Roundup

Just a quick roundup of a few things today...

Cards for Boys
...are not soooo difficult, I have found lately:

that's a special birthday, that is

To get the pennants - which are stickers from Echo Park - to stand up, I first stuck them onto some paper, just up to the point where I wanted to curl them away from the card, and then adhered them by the remaining sticky part.

just like they're fluttering in the breeze

And I employed the old paper-weaving technique again for a friend's birthday card. A friend who plays the bass in a band. A hippy living, reggae loving friend.

that's another quite special birthday

Paper Piecing
Just a quick share of something I worked on for a certain wedding anniversary last year:

 

Stuff Going On
Don't forget the Gauche Alchemy DT Call, running till the end of the month. And don't forget the March Madness at Scrapbook Challenges - we're taking bets now, and the competition starts tomorrow! You gotta be in it to win it!


Intelligent Product Packaging
I really appreciate it when a manufacturer thinks about their packaging. Check out this freebie I got from Revlie's class:

ooh, canvas flowers!

And then you look closely, and see that they've also given you a nice thick acetate sheet with beautiful white doily patterns on:

I like acetate with patterns on. A lot.

Has anyone else come across really intelligent packaging of scrapbooking products? I want to hear about them! And why do you like them? Because they're green? Because you can reuse them? Do share!

Working Long Distance

....isn't so bad. I have a sea view, a plush carpet to scrunch my toes into, and a nice comfy office chair of a calibre far beyond mine at home.

Speaking of work, I am thinking about relationships, and what it takes to make them work. It's a delicate balance, I've found, between standing up for yourself and giving a lot - amongst many other things. And I found myself turning these thoughts into a layout in response to a challenge that came up for me recently on Scrapbook Challenges. It was to make an olympic-themed page, and I got in the misting, the journalling, and the altered chipboard that were demanded.

Hoping you all have winning days. I'll be working, long distance, but with a smile on my face.

Just for the Record: I'm Lifting Again

Look at that. I'm getting good at this headline-creating business.

It's layout time. More specifically, it's gorgeous spring yellow, For the Record time.

A blogospherical friend of mine who is rather good at making layouts (not to mention dresses, and cards, and mini albums) made a page a while ago that I kept thinking about. In creating my most recent layout I managed to lift her and use masses of the amazing collection that is For the Record. It's so versatile, with so many different potential 'looks' - I can't stop praising it.

What I'm loving about this page, other than For the Record: clouds, journalling, masking tape and Versamark stars. Thanks to Sabr for the inspiration!

Folds and Feathers

My final assignment for the Mini Book Anonymous DT was to create a mini book on the theme of 'Folds and Feathers'. After 3 months of thinking, thinking, thinking, I finally stumbled across the perfect idea.

An accordion spine book, with...not feathers, but birds. The cards inside each feature a facet of me and fit the mini's title of 'Many a Feather' (like 'many a string to my bow').

I created another video for this mini - and yes, this time I tried to make and talk on film! Check me out! Feedback as always is most welcome. For now, though, I'm going to depart as I've been up ALL NIGHT working and I am a little delirious. I'll just say a big thank you to the MBA team for giving the DT such inspiring challenges and giving me reason to push my boundaries. I would never have done these things without you!

How Very Acetating

Today I'd like to share with you a little money-saving exercise. If you remember from my Summer Rain mini, I made some acetate swirliness to go over one of the pages, and also a whole acetate overlay by tracing a pattern onto the acetate with a CD pen.

Well, I caught the acetate bug, good and proper... but being a bit empty of pocket, can't simply go out and buy those beautiful printed or cut acetate sheets, and more. I did buy some Heidi Swapp Ghost Alphas with my birthday money, and was disappointed to find they weren't all that thick or sturdy. So, since I've been saving bits of acetate packaging for EVER, I finally have reason and motivation to use some of it!

I'm going to apologise in advance for the poor photos - I had to take them at night. Anyway, I powered up the Cricut, cut my acetate to size, and began by cutting a flower:


I'm going to cut so many flowers - acetate is so versatile, and flowers are so often used... I'm never going to have to buy any thing Ghost again! Ha!

After that I cut an oval. I wanted to used some peel offs on this one:


And it looks great from either side. I've used quite thick acetate - the kind that forms the window of a shower gel gift set box. And for this thickness I set the Cricut to cut on the deepest cut setting. The acetate shape generally comes away quite easily from the rest of the sheet:


But sometime you have to 'snap' it a bit.

Next, I cut some tag shapes (I've outlined one of them in orange as they're difficult to see otherwise):


And for these shapes I wanted to use rub-ons to decorate. All I can say is... Wow:


I love how good these look! I can't wait to spend a little more time exploring the possibilities of acetate! What do you like to do with acetate? Post a comment and let me know!