Thursday, July 31, 2014

Dry Embossed Scrapbook Pages




Super simple double page layout to showcase four different photos
that were submitted for the Photo Of The Week in our local newspaper.


I used 12x12 Certainly Celery card stock from Stampin' Up!

A brass embossing template, stylus and light box were used to create the leaves;
all supplies were from Stampin' Up! 

The lines around the edge of the card stock were created with a stylus and
a scoring board. I scored the lines after I dry embossed the leaves.


The four photos aren't anything special, but they were sent in
to the newspaper to be considered for publication. 
I'm making a scrapbook of the photos I submitted.

One photo is of a HUGE spiderweb that went from at least 6 feet in the air
down to the ground. I did not want to see the size of the spider that made it!

Just below that photo is one of a grand daddy long legs spider 
on a hollyhock plant. There is also a tiny green bug of some sort that looks
like a leaf .

On the right half of the layout, the top photo is of our dry creek bed.
In 2012 our area was suffering from extreme heat and a drought.
The small creek that runs through our property was dry, 
in the 13 years we lived here we have never seen that happen.

The bottom photo is of the last cherry tomatoes of the season.
I thought it was kind of neat that there were three different tomatoes
all in a different stage (color) of ripening. 


I haven't done any journaling yet, I made do it on tags or
cut out a piece of card stock that is leaf shaped for fun. 
Then again, that would be a better idea for the fall photo
I have yet to scrap...... 

Monday, July 28, 2014

Fresh From The Garden Lunch



It may not look appetizing to many, but I thought it was quite yummy ! The rest of the family refused to even try any of it, saying the tomatoes didn't look right and they didn't like the idea of a "zucchini patty". More for me !

I have two friends that put in gardens this year so the delicious heirloom tomatoes came from one and the monstrous zucchini was from another. I made two loaves of zucchini bread and these patties from it.





Zucchini Patties (my notes in red)
Original recipe makes 12 patties
Directions
  1. In a medium bowl, combine the zucchini, eggs, onion, flour, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and salt. Stir well enough to distribute ingredients evenly.
  2. Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drop zucchini mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls, and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden.







Zucchini Bread-
Paula Deen Recipe
Total Time:
Total Time:
1 hr 10 min
Prep:
10 min
Cook:
1 hr

Yield:
2 loaves
Level:
Easy


Ingredients
  • 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 2 cups grated zucchini (squeeze out excess moisture)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Hope Faith Believe Trust - card












I received some bad news yesterday: an uncle of mine was diagnosed with lung cancer. This is the card I made for him last night, a tough one to come up with, to send him our love and support as he begins his fight next week.


The stamp set is an old retired hostess set from Stampin' Up!, Nature's Secret. I believe the card stock is Marigold Morning, Dusty Durango and Soft Suede. The image is stamped on Vanilla card stock with two colors of ink: first the stamp was inked up with Dusty Durango then I rolled the edges in Really Rust.

I stamped it again onto drafting type vellum, trimmed out the butterfly (extending the one wing that was not a complete image, tracing the edge of where I cut with a marker) and adhered it on top along the body section. The wings were gently pulled upwards. I made antennae with really thin craft wire.

The swing portion was hand made. I simply laid the wood mounted rubber stamp down on top of the card stock over the score mark to the left (2 1/4" from the left edge) and lightly traced with pencil around the top, bottom and right edge of the stamp. The wood mount was much larger than the image so it made enough room when traced to allow for extra layers of the stamped image like I wanted. I then used an Xacto knife and straight edge to cut the areas that were to swing (the right half of the square). The second score mark was 4" from the left edge.

Thanks for looking.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Zebra Butterfly Scrapbook Page


Am I crazy for staying indoors working on my scrapbook pages ??????
Weather like this is unheard of in July here !!!!!

 I need get out in the flower beds to do some weeding today....
and wash/vacuum my car, etc, etc, etc. 
That being said, I'll probably not have any new projects to share
the next few days. 










Probably too busy of a page to show off this lovely photo I took of a zebra butterfly in my flower garden.
This was the second photo I submitted to our local newspaper as consideration for photo of the week -
and it was my first of several to be printed in black and white as an "Honorable Mention" photo ! The photo print for the newspaper will be on it's own page that I will include a bit of journaling on. It will be a plain white piece of card stock, nothing fancy - well, maybe a couple of stamped or die cut butterflies ;)


I used a sketch from pagemaps.com.  I actually already scrapped this photo digitally in My Digital Studio using a black card stock base and minimal embellishments , but realized when going through my large print order from May, I never had it printed !

Nearly every item used on this page came from Stampin' Up!, some are now retired though. Once again, in looking at the photo on the computer I see a couple of things I'd like to change.

I hand drew then hand cut the butterfly stencil (should have been larger, not much shows with my larger photo and all the "stuff" on the page!) from some old drafting vellum. I sponged ink through it then pierced around the edges.

Various dies, punches, embossing folders, rubber stamps,shades of purple and orange card stocks.

Ruffled ribbon was created by wrinkling it as I adhered it to a scrap strip of card stock with super sticky double stick tape. You could also use a sewing machine to gather the ribbon first before sticking it down on your project.

Thin craft wire and seed beads for the butterfly bodies/antennae.

Here is the pagemaps.com sketch. I had a "duh" moment while writing this post: why hadn't I copied and pasted the sketches I've used on previous projects in case any of you that may read my post would like to use it yourself ?





Thanks for looking =)









Thursday, July 17, 2014

Lighthouse Scrapbook Page



WHOA! The colors are really bright in this photo ! I didn't think it looked so gaudy bright in real life....... 

Still working on pages for my Photo Of The Week submissions scrapbook (there were 42 photos I submitted, so I have many more to do still!). This page features a photo that was published in our local paper as an "honorable mention".

It's difficult to tell in the photo, but the Real Red background paper is textured. I stamped the Old World Map background stamp with Versamark ink on the Brilliant Blue card stock. I am going to doodle a line around the edge of it and the tag when I add my journaling

Photos are mounted on Basic Black card stock.

There is real stitching (look closely and you can see mis stitches!) down the left side.

Black 5/8" grosgrain ribbon below the flecked off white card stock journaling box.

Real Red eyelet on top of a small circle punch of Brilliant blue card stock at the top of the hand cut tag. 1/4" black grosgrain ribbon run through the eyelet.

The layout is based on a sketch I found at pagemaps.com



Thanks for looking =)

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Beach Simple Scrapbook Page










Another page for my Photo Of The Week submissions scrapbook album. This photo was taken at sunrise on Daytona Beach, Florida.

Not sure which I like better, if I even really like any of them................ I'm so indecisive!
I think the shell background paper is too busy. I added a layer of drafting vellum on one of them as I do not have real vellum in the right size; I think it's too white. I think the hand stamped/sponged photo mat takes away from the photo (if I had inks closer to the water and sand colors I may like it more if it blended better) ........... Another example as to why I don't scrapbook , I am never truly happy with my pages, always thinking afterwards "What was I thinking?!?? I NEED to redo that page!"

SUPPLIES:
Papers from an old Die Cuts With A View paper stack.

Stamp image of chair from Stampin' Up!, Along The Shore.

Various Stampin' Up! inks, sponges, hand torn paper masks to create the scene on Very Vanilla card stock

Thanks for looking =)

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Bigfoot Monster Truck Scrapbook Page & Tutorial




Another page for my Photo Of The Week entries scrapbook. Loosely based on a sketch for an 8 1/2 x 11 page found at pagemaps.com .

I had fun making the wheel and tire ! I've done this technique before, see another sample here.

Here are the steps to making a paper tire card or scrapbook page embellishment:

Decide how big you would like your tire and wheel to be (paper punches and dies work great for small sizes). Larger tires are easy enough to make even if you do not have a large circle cutter or scallop circle die and there are a couple of ways to do it.

The easiest is to trace a circle the size you want for your project. For the tire and wheel combo on this page, I traced the plastic lid to a container of powdered laundry additive. Dinner plates work great for really large circles !

After tracing the circle, carefully cut along the line (inside or outside will work, just be sure to follow the circular line) with a pair of large scallop scissors. You will then trim off the scallops with a pair of regular straight edge scissors, taking care to cut each evenly. You could trace another circle over the scallops if you have one the correct size, then cut along that line as a guide.

If you do not have a pair of large scallop edge scissors, you can still make a tire. Draw a circle to the size your project requires. Once the circle is cut out, carefully make notches with a pair of small scissors or use the corner of a small square paper punch. If you do this and are particular about spacing the notches evenly, you will want to mark along the edge of the circle where you want the notches to be before you start cutting/punching. This technique does not require the trimming off of scallops as you are notching the already "flat" outer edge of the circle/tire.

Now that the tire is cut and notched, cut out a piece of silver for the wheel in the center of the tire and embellish as desired. Get creative and cut the center portion into five spoke rims or of different color card stock, etc !

For finishing touches, use a white gel pen or paint to write on the tire. You could even brush on brown paint to make it look muddy if you want a tire for someone that likes to go four wheeling, play in the mud !

I used a white gel pen (Signo brand) to journal on my tire. At first I was only going to note the date on the tire, to resemble tire sizes, but realized I hadn't left much room to journal so I decided the tire would work well. I'm not too happy with the tag I made for the date though.

The wheel was made with circle Nestabilities dies, a screw image rubber stamp (I know, it isn't the correct item to hold on wheels, but with only a quick glance at the page, I was hoping it would look like lug nuts!!!) from an old stamp set by Stampin' Up! and circle paper punches.

The tire track paper is made by rolling the Tire Track Stampin' Around wheel from Stampin" Up! in Basic Black ink on Basic Gray card stock.

The FORD decorative paper was made by me in My Digital Studio.

The tan paper came from a Die Cuts With A View stack; I lightly rubbed dark gray ink over it.

I should have layered the photos on solid color card stock before adhering them to the page.......



Thanks for looking =)

Monday, July 14, 2014

Wax On, Wax Off Scrapbook Page


Pretty simple page to share the original photo I submitted and the printed in the newspaper
version of my "Honorable Mention" Photo Of The Week. Another one of my favorite photos from years ago.

I should have gotten brave enough to heat emboss the letters silver rather than just stamp them with silver Encore ink. I was afraid of getting stray bits of embossing powder everywhere on the Navy card stock base and making a huge mess.

I created the Ford oval paper in My Digital Studio then printed it out at home.

The long diamond plate silver card stock piece was created by running a piece of silver metallic card stock through the Darice embossing folder twice. I wish it was 12" long..............

The black and white checkered ribbon was the exact length, whew ! I believe it came on a gift set of some sort for one of the guys one Christmas and I have been saving it for the perfect project.   I need to straighten it out a bit , it is crooked in the photo.


Thanks for looking =)

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Marigold Girl Scrapbook Page





One of my all time favorite photos ! 
I submitted it for consideration as the
"Photo Of The Week" 
for our local newspaper
even though it was quite old.

It is a photo I will always cherish,
so glad to have snapped it back in the days before digital cameras !

I was thumbing through one of the many stacks of Die Cuts With A View
scrapbook paper pads I have (and have not used!) when this
paper jumped out at me, perfect for this photo.


I die cut the name out of Barely Banana card stock
from Stampin' Up! with my Cricut Create.
I NEED to get another font cartridge now
that I am using it finally! This font from the Don Juan cartridge
is going to get old, fast, ha , ha!

The marigold flowers were made by using a set
of scalloped circle dies from Cuttlebug, 
they are 4 varying sizes.
I cut them from Marigold Morning card stock.
I wrinkled and crinkled them, breaking the fibers
so I was able to tear the two layers apart, creating
a lighter paper than the thick card stock.
I then lightly inked Tangerine Tango on them.
They were stacked and glued together then smooshed 
some more, trying to replicate the look of a marigold.

The leaves were punched out of Lucky Limeade card stock
with a Martha Stewart punch.

The stems and base of the flowers were hand cut and formed.

They are quite bulky, but perfect for this photo.

The ribbon is a scrap from a grab bag I bought a long time ago
from a yard sale, no idea who the manufacturer is. 


Thanks for looking =) 


Thursday, July 10, 2014

Ford V. Chevy Scrapbook Page


A work in progress page 
to show off another Photo Of The Week entry.

The checkered flag paper is really heavy and glossy.
It has Lightning McQueen from "Cars" on the back.
It was expensive paper, but the only checkered paper
 I could find. I do not like the way it "waves"
on this page, it isn't oriented correctly for me. 
I really wanted plain black and white checkered paper,
even drove nearly an hour away to check Michael's 
to look for what I wanted with no luck . 

The "ribbon" of speedometers/flames was trimmed from
another piece of racing scrapbook paper. I'll show the simple
page I made with the rest of the paper in tomorrows post.

I'll make a "tag" with the date on it to stick under the paper clip
and hand write (ugh, I dislike my writing....) the journaling
on the "file folder" tag that I made with the 
envelope punch board from Stampin' Up!

I'll  print out the ADRL logo and 
attach it to the page somewhere, too -
just waiting for the ink cartridges
for my printer to arrive at some point today ! 

The layout is loosely based on a sketch from
pagemaps.com