Sweet Wishes

I had so much fun combining  my new “Party Time” and “Words and Frames 1”  stamp sets from Claudine Hellmuth Studio and  items from the Jenni Bowlin Studio February 2013 Papercrafting kit , which include Modern Mercantile patterned papers and the Printer’s Block Alpha’s rub-ons,  to make this “sweet” birthday card. 

I use jet black Archival Ink by Ranger to stamp the images over the patterned papers and cut them out.

I put some foam squres under a few of the center flags to add some dimension to the banner.

Calvinball is almost over so it’s time to get points however I can.  I taught an art lesson at my son’s school today so how about a point for spreading creativity to the young!  Also, 1/2 point for this post.

• Calvinscraps: 8
• Calvinblog:  5 1/2
• Calvinbonus:  25
• CalvinTOTAL:  38 1/2

Wilderness Walk

I made this layout of my son and our dog enjoying nature with the February Papercrafting Kit from Jenni Bowlin Studio.  I did an all over sanding of the Coredinations cardstock and stenciled over it with acrylic paint from Liquitex.  As you can see there are a few feathers from the give-away I recently won, which includes the lovely large feather from Ashley Calder and the Things That Shine.

I used the “File This” punch from Jenni Bowlin to create a little stamped heart tab to go atop the label cut from the JBS Wren Acessory Sheet, which is layered on the Modern Mercantile paper.  Boy, I’ve really gotten a lot of milleage out of one Wren Acessory Sheet.  I’ve used it here, here and here.

I painted the two JBS Plain Chipboard feathers, using one for the date.  I added a twine bow and brad to repeat what Ashley did on her feather.

I created a third bow to go on top of another Wren Acessory Sheet label and below a JBS Reader-Flatback.

The month is almost over and Calvinball in winding to a close.  I’m not doing too bad for an “Newbie”…I think I’m some where in the middle.  Buy, hey…there is still time!!! Here are my totals SO FAR!

• Calvinscraps:  8
• Calvinblog:  4 1/2 +1/2 (this post)= 5
• Calvinbonus:  24
• CalvinTOTAL:  37

xxox Claudine

A pretty package arrived in the mail from none other than Claudine Hellmuth!!

6 sets of her fabulous Clear Stamps and a hand made card!  Why me you ask?  Well, a little back story on that.  It was about a year ago when I first saw Claudine and her super cute papercrafting kits on HSN and thought “WOW” this is different from anything I’ve seen.  I just loved her whimisical illustrations and enthusiastic attitude.  Although, I had known of Claudine (who hasn’t?)  her wonderful kits were new to me.  After ordering her kits from hsn.com, I began faithfully following her blog.  From there I saw she was to teach a class through Big Picture Classes titled Compostion for Collage…sign me up!!!  That was an amazing experience for me.  Not only was it the first time I ever took photos of my work to post online, but the class information was so complete and concise.  I have a background in fine arts and through all my years of schooling, compostion and it’s application was never explained so well to me.    I could go on and on, but to cut to the chase, because Claudine is so friendly and encouraging we kept in touch and I started this blog.   If you’ve read pasts post you know Claudine and her amazing fun products pop up over and over again.  I really just credit her for giving me the confidence that got me  involved in this amazing online community of artists and crafters, so I try to support her at every turn.  Thanks Claudine…YOU are amazing!!!

Pop over and visit Claudine’s fabulous website and blog by clicking here!

And now…drum roll please….a Calvinball Update!!!  I finished a layout last night and this post makes an addition of 1 1/2 pts.

• Clavinscraps:  7
• Calvinblog:  4 1/2
• Calvinbonus:  20
• CalvinTOTAL:  31 1/2 !!!

Look Weeds

I just love how my son was so enthusiastic about weeding in this photo.  With weeds that big you can tell I am no gardner.  Besides all the sneezing it causes, I just have to use that valuable time for scrapping.  That’s my excuse anyway.   I thought this image of my my son holding the unwanted grasses went so well with the Bingo Card and Seed Packet, which are two elements from the Jenni Bowlin Studio Hodge Podge LOOK Book.  When I  bought the Hodge Podge kit I fully entended to make a mini album with it, but this is the second time I’ve used elements from this kit on a layout.  Check out the other layout here.

For the “Weeds” portion of the title I was inspired by a technique Jenni Bowlin used on her “Gamer” layout.  She spelled out her title with the JBS Skinny Alphas, inked over and around them and then pulled the alphas up, using them as a mask.  I did the same thing with the Grey Skinny Alphas, only I use some acrylic paint from Claudine Hellmuth Studio to brush over top.   I also, used a few scrappy strips of Wren paper to make a little bundle tied with twine to mimic the weeds.

Above, I used a few vintage buttons, layering one over a sticker from the Grey Skinny Alphas sheet.  I also, layered a bit of Wren paper over a JBS Plain Chipboard Star and sanded the edges.

I thought the message on this fortune was the the perfect journaling for this layout!

And now for a CALVINBALL update! – I can’t count this layout, because I finished it right before Calvinball started, but I have never posted it or put it in any of my galleries so, I’m thinking I should be allowed to take 1 pt. for using 5 JBS products and I think it deserves another pt. for using a Jenni Bowlin layout as inspiration!!  Also, I’m taking a pt. for tackling technology, on my last post it was the first time I took an image from another blog, with Ashley’s help.  Thanks Ashley!  Plus a 1/2 pt. for this post!

• Calvinscraps:  5
• Calvinblog:  4
• Calvinbonus:  20
• CalivnTOTAL:  29

Liebster Blog Award

I was just nominated for a Liebster Award by Ashley at  Things That Shine!  Thanks so much Ashley!!  How fun and awesome of you!

Now it is my turn to nominate some of my favorite blogs:

• Kristin at Altered States Studio
• Katie at Scissors, Spatulas and Sneakers
• Sarah at Hearts and Needles
• Lori at The Scrapyard
• Lydia at  A Little Rough the Around Edges

Here are the rules:

THE AWARD

This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion.  Once you’ve been nominated, you award it to blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers, to encourage new visitors to visit these new blogs.

ACCEPTANCE

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog, post the award onto your blog, give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know that you have given them the Liebster Award.

Now lets play ball!  Calvinball that is! — I’m taking 1 bonus point for my Scattergories layout, 1/2 pt. for and 8×8 layout, and 1 pt. for this post (I actually blogged two days in a row, WOW!).

• Calvinscraps:  5
• Calvinblog:   3 1/2
• Clavinbonus:  17
• Calvintotal:  25 1/2  YAY!

“Feathery Goodness”

Pinch me…please!!  I just won an amazing feathery Give-away from Ashley Calder and Scrapbook Update.  Ashley just finished a beautiful and informative article series entitled Trending: Feathers at Scrapbook Update and I am the extremely lucky winner of the amazing feathery Give-away!!  Oh, I already said that!!!  It’s just that I am so excited…. as a big fan of  feathers, I was drooling over the prize when I first saw it.  If you haven’t gotten the chance to read and view Ashley’s amazing article, please click here to get you started on the first of five installments.  Besides showing the newest feathery products in the industry, she shares some of her lovely layouts full of “feathery goodness”.

And now, without further ado…the prize:

Amazing right!!!  But, I’ve saved the best for last!  The Give-away includes handmade creations from Ashley Calder and the Things That Shine.  Swoon!!!

The beauty astounds!!  I’d love to frame these, but I vow to use them for their intended scrappy purpose.  And below, some detail shots to show the “detail” Ashley puts into her work.

I can’t thank you enough Ashley and Scrapbook Update!!!  I am extremely grateful for this delightful prize!  To see more feathery loveliness visit Ashley’s blog, Things that Shine.

And now for a Calvinball Update…I’m adding 1 weekly point for cleaning my scrappy space between projects and a 1/2 point for today’s post!

• Calvinscraps:  4 1/2
• Calvinblog:  2 1/2
• Calvinbonus:  16
• Calvintotal:  23!!!!

GoLf NuT

Here is my latest layout I created with the awesome Feburary 2013 Papercrafting Kit from JBS Mercantile.  This is my first month getting the kit and I am so glad I decided to subscribe.  I am having so much fun playing with the new Modern Mercantile line and all the other new JBS goodies from winter CHA.  This was my first time working with the coredinations cardstock, too.  I thought sanding around the edges really gave my layout the look of being “on the green”.

I hand cut this banner, faux stitched it with a brown marker and distressed the edges.  I applied the rub-on  Printer’s Block Alphas to the vintage gang tags.  When I first saw those gang tags, I knew they would be perfect for a banner!

I created this cluster of embellishments to “note” that we were waiting for my son’s golf lessons to start.  He always likes to play in the golf carts and yay, I had my camera with me on this day!  The “lesson” JBS flatback and one of my son’s golf tees are the perfect items to tell the story of this layout.  I also included some machine stitching around the journal card and to attach the patterned strip of paper at the bottom.

Now…for a  Calvinball update.

Today, I’m adding 1 point for scrapping and or blogging with a cold (I just made this one up Doris.) and 1/2 point for this blog post!

• Calvinscraps: 3 1/2
• Calvinblog:  2
• Calvinbonus:  13
• TOTAL: 18 1/2

A UFO and a mini-album kit!

Okay, now for some public scheming as per Doris Sander…

I unearthed this UFO circa 2007.  It is an 8×8 album that I envisioned holding my son’s annual photos with Santa.  I planned on decorating the front and proudly displaying it each Christmas season.  As you can see the cover is still in its orignal state and there are only but a few pages done.

I have gathered the supplies from my stash, I have some JBS Christmas goodies on the way and I am looking foward to earning some Calvinball points with this UFO.  I will show this album in the near future with its readiness for Christmas 2013!!!

Mini-album kit!!!  I have one of those on the way too!  Quicker scrapping…more Calvinball points.  The kit I ordered is baby themed and although my son is 10 years old I am super excited to get this kit.  I took soooo many pictures of my son when he is a baby and there is soooo many pictures still unscrapped.  I’m looking forward to putting together this little display mini album of my son at seven months, which was MARCH 2003.  And again I have plans to display it every year at this time-I love that!! 

I have 13 1/2 Calvinball points so far:

• Calvinball Newbie: 1
• Scrapping past bedtime: 1
• Scrapping with chocolate: 2
• Scrapping while performing domestic duties: 1
• Scrappy shopping: 1+2 (extra pt. for shopping at JBS)
• Trying a new technique: 1
• Calvinblogging: 1 1/2 (it’s been more than 24 hrs. since my last post)
• Linking to other Calvinball players or the Calvinball thread: 2
• Public scheming: 1

Check out Lori’s blog for more Calvinball fun!!!

Scattergories and Calvinball

Say what?

We are playing Scattergories over at JBS Mercantile Forum!  Basically you get a letter and everything in your layout must begin with that letter.   The game runs until March 16th and there is a prize involved…yay!  Click here for more details and join in on the fun.  I created this layout, THE BIG RED BARN,  for the letter “R”.

Here is my Scattergories Supply List: 

• RUBY Slipper Bazzill Basic cardstock
• RED barn photo
• RECTANGLES of  Modern Mercantile patterned paper
• RED acrylic paint
• RECORDED journal card including my own poetry!!
• RED/black dotted labels
• RIBBON
• RED tissue paper trim
• RED doily flower
• ROOSTER flatback
• RUB-ON Printer’s Block alphas
• RED pearl flowers
• RED chalk ink
• RED markers
• RED thread
• RUSTY paper clip

Sometimes when I’m working on my layouts I take a few reference photos.   Usually I delete them, but these got uploaded to my computer so I decided to share them as a peak into my process.

Getting my compostion down and deciding where to put my stencil.

Arranging and positioning my fair ribbon before it is all glued together and put into place.  For details and instructions to make this fair ribbon click here to a previous post.

Placing my fair ribbon, rub-on alphas and poetry.  As you can see I work on a BasicGrey magnetic cutting mat.  It is the perfect work surface for me, as I am always arranging and rearraring before I glue anything down.   Also,  I usually work is small chunks of time and this way I know everything will stay in place until I get back to it.  Love those magnets!!! 

As you can tell, I really got into Scattergories and now yes…it’s time for Calvinball!!  This is another wonderful, but I have to say, wacky game going on for the entire month of March at JBS Mercantile Forum.  The main idea, I think, is to get as much scrapping done as possible, but you can earn points along the way for things like eating chocolate while you scrap, scheming in public, and scrappy shopping.  We only just started and it is loads of fun and as Doris say’s it will “confuse and delight.”  So click here for the official unofficial rules and join in on all the fun!!!  As of today I have 6 points…oh, plus 1.  You get a point for Calvinblogging!