Elle's Studio: Creating Art For Your Studio

I love color. I love rainbows. I love everything about them and anything that is arranged in rainbow-order. It's kind of an obsession of mine and something I have enjoyed for as long as I can remember. This past week, I have gone through literally everything in my studio. As I was searching through all of my awesome Elle's Studio goodies, I was struck by the fact that I have never created a rainbow-inspired art piece. How is that possible, right? I see lots of inspirational quotes and am constantly pining them, so it was time to finally create something already. This is what I came up with.

It is not difficult to create something like this for yourself. The process is a little time consuming, but fun nonetheless, and great to do while catching up on some Netflix. In my case, I was watching Gilmore Girls. :-)

The first thing you need to do is to trace the opening for your frame onto a piece of white cardstock. You then measure the opening and figure out how tall each letter grouping (or row) needs to be to fit inside the opening.

Next, take some of your favorite Elle's Studio papers and journal cards and cut strips to size. My paper stripes were cut to 1.5 inches and .75 inches tall for a 13 x 19 inch frame/ mat with an 8 x 10 opening for a photo (or in this case a project.)

Then you just sit down and get comfortable for awhile and hand cut all of your letters. It took me a couple of hours, but I was streaming Netflix and enjoying the process. You could always use a die cutting machine like the Silhouette, or even steel rule dies if you prefer an exact look with the letters.

After cutting out all of the letters. I lightly adhered everything to my white cardstock using a tape runner. Then I stitched everything down very slowly with my sewing machine.

I added a few Elle's Studio wood veneer, cork, and stickers, and a bow from my stash, and I was done.

I really love how this art piece turned out and it makes me smile every time I walk by my studio. I hope today's post inspired you to create something you will love as well. Happy Creating!

Products/ Tools Needed:

• Scissors
• Pencil
• Ruler
• White Cardstock
• Frame
• Patterned paper (or journaling cards)
• Embellishments
• Adhesive
• Sewing machine (or needle and thread)

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you all have a great weekend.

xoxox

Toni

Creating a Stamped Background for a Layout

Today I have a layout to share with you that is all about stamping. If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you have probably caught on that I am a huge fan of Studio Calico. I subscribe to their monthly Scrapbook and Project Life kit. I love that they come up with really fun exclusive items every month, and this month was no exception. I was so excited to find foam stamps and paint in this kit and immediately tried to come up with something fun I could create with them. 

What I am sharing with you today could be adapted for any stamps and acrylic paint you have really, just find a pattern that you love and that you want to use repeatedly. If you are curious about the foam stamps or paint that was included in the June Hello Hello Scrapbook Kit.  You can see an image of the Scrapbook Kit and stamps HERE if you are curious. :-) *I am not compensated by Studio Calico for this post, I just really love their products and customer service, and highly recommend them. *

The Hello Hello Scrapbook Kit came with a gorgeous yellow and blue acrylic paint. I started by stamping all of the yellow circles, then I stamped the blue, and lastly I combined the two colors and stamped green circles. I cleaned the foam stamp in between each color change by just running it under my kitchen faucet and wiping it down carefully with a rag. It worked brilliantly and I managed to make three backgrounds. I picked the one I liked best for the layout, and am saving the rest for another project.

Once the stamped background was dry ( I waited overnight,) I cut down my 8.5 x 11 piece of white stamped cardstock to 8 x 10.5 inches. This was to leave room for a patterned paper border for the background. I adhered the white stamped cardstock to my yellow patterned paper sized 8.5 x 11 inches. I then added a circular matted photo (approximately three inches) and began journaling around the circles using my favorite American Crafts Precision Pen in black. The journaling is all about life lessons I want to remind my daughter about. If you click on the image below you can see the journaling in a larger (and hopefully easier to read format.) I also stamped the title "always remember" at the top and bottom of the layout using Versafine Ink in Onyx Black.

I stepped away from the layout for awhile to do some laundry, and then came back and had so much fun adding embellishments to this layout. I first added the butterflies, to break up the linear quality to this layout. I then placed various wood veneer, buttons, puffy stickers, and a Geotag around the layout until I found an arrangement I liked. I use a lot of visual triangles in my designs. If you look closely you will see that the wood butterflies make a visual triangle (as do the puffy gold hearts, the puffy red stars and veneer starts, and what not.) This really makes your eye go around the page and notice all of the little details.

My last finishing touch was to stamp the expression I love you repeatedly in the bottom right corner. I used Versafine Onyx Black ink and an October Afternoon Roller Stamp.

I appreciate you being here and stopping by life, scrapbook, repeat. I hope you liked reading about how I put this layout together. It was a lot of fun to make, and a great excuse to get messy with stamping.

Let's talk stamping today. Anyone else trying any new stamping techniques or doing something out of the ordinary? I would love to hear about some of your favorite stamping techniques. What are you loving lately? What are you finding difficult about stamping? Let's chat.

Until next time,

xoxox

Toni

Paper Bakery Umbrella Rain Projects and Tutorial

Happy Sunday! The past week has been crazy busy around here. I have been working on some house projects, lots of painting, planning, and organizing. I have a blog post to share with you today showing you all 5 projects I made with the Paper Bakery Umbrella Rain Scrapbook and Project 365 Kits. I have a 30-minute layout tutorial at the end of the post as well, and I hope you find it helpful and like my projects.

I loved the bright colors in the kits this month, the exclusive stencils, flair buttons, and the chipboard clouds by October Afternoon. I also really enjoyed using the digital cut files that came with my subscription. Did you know that if you subscribe to Paper Bakery that you get either free cut files or printables every single month with membership? I loved the cut files this month, and really put the butterfly one to good use in the layout below.

Spring Love

I started this layout by using the butterfly cut file from my Paper Bakery membership and created a canvas using nine identically sized butterflies in my Silhouette software. I then cut them out onto white card stock using my Silhouette Cameo. I then adhered the cut out cardstock on top of the colorful patterned paper and stitched around the sides. I added journaling there as well, some mist drops, and some Elle’s Studio Everyday Moments Bits and Pieces from the Scrapbook Kit. I also included a doily, twine, and shipping tag from my stash. The salmon floral washi tape is from the Paper Bakery shop. I adhered this washi tape onto some scrap white cardstock and punched it out using a butterfly punch from my studio. The last finishing touch was to add the “Spring Love “flair button from the Scrapbook Kit.

Why Emily is my BFF

This layout put the October Afternoon chipboard clouds from the main Scrapbook Kit to great use. I started with taking two pieces of the patterned paper from the kit and stitching them together with my sewing machine. Next, I matted my photo using various pieces of patterned paper and adhered the exclusive wood veneer frame on top of the photo. I then used the clouds to document eight things my daughter loves about her best friend. I used the Multi Heart Epoxy Sticker Sheet from the shop (one for each cloud.) These are the cutest stickers ever! I also added in some hand stitching using some yellow embroidery floss from my stash.

Week 35: Pocket Page

This pocket page began by picking out two of my favorite cards from the Umbrella Rain Capture 365 Kit. These cards went really well with some photos of my kids from their first day of school in 2012. I then used the butterfly stencil in the scrapbook kit and a light yellow ink dauber from my stash to add yellow butterflies to some white cardstock from my stash. I really like how my custom stenciled cards coordinate with the colorful journal cards included in the kit. I used letter stickers from both the Capture 365 and Scrapbook Kit on this pocket page and the veneer stars from the Capture 365 Kit worked so well as bullet points within my journaling. The sequins, turtle paper clip, and epoxy heart sticker are from the Paper Bakery shop.

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor Card

This card was made using the gorgeous heart patterned paper from the Umbrella Rain Scrapbook Kit and THIS amazing exclusive stamp from the Paper Bakery shop. The cardstock and button are from my stash, but don’t they just go perfectly with that Elle’s Studio heart paper? I just love it so much and that sentiment makes me just want to read The Hunger Games series all over again. This card will be sent to a friend that loved the series almost as much as I did. Almost.

Thanks Card

This card uses the awesome arrow paper from Webster’s Pages as well as a Thank you cut file I found on the Silhouette Online library. I used a scallop punch and machine stitching on this layout as well. The sequins are from the Paper Bakery shop.

My last project to share with you today is a layout I made in under 30 minutes (about 27 to be exact and I even have a tutorial for you to show you how I did it.)

Hello High School layout and tutorial

1. I started with this awesome piece of Elle’s Studio paper from the Scrapbook Kit. I cut it down to j 8 inches x 10.5 inches and distressed the paper by wrinkling it up and adding brown distress ink to the edges. I adhered it to a piece of 8.5 x 11 inch cardstock from my stash.

2. Next, I stitched around the edges of the white patterned paper using my sewing machine.

3. I cut some of the other patterned papers from the kit into various sized rectangles and also used the Elle’s Studio journaling card from the Everyday Moments Bits and Pieces pack in the Capture 365 Kit. I inked the edges using distress ink and rearranged these layers until I liked how they looked. I cut out the bottom of the banners using my craft knife. I like how they hang over the photograph.

4. Next I adhered letter stickers from the Scrapbook Kit and a wood veneer arrow from the Cature 365 Kit directly to the photo. I also used some more journaling bits from the Elle’s Studio Everyday Moments Bits and Pieces. I used my date stamp and some ink on one of the journaling spots.

5. My finishing steps were to add some hand journaling, sequins, wood veneer, and a really funflair button to the layout. My very last touch was to sprinkle some gold mist across the layout in an overall diagonal fashion.

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate you being here at life, scrapbook, repeat. Have a great rest of the weekend.

xoxox

Toni

Project Life 2014: Week 5

Today I am back with another Project Life Tuesday post, and yes I am still loving this project. I have week 5 to share with you today, and week 6 is almost finished as well. I am on a roll peeps...on a Project Life roll.

This week, I had fun with some digital stamps and making a collage in Photoshop Elements. I will explain my collage process at the bottom of this post with a step-by-step tutorial.

Week 5: January 27th-February 2nd

How to make a collage in Photoshop Elements:

1. Find photos you want to use for your collage. I found four horizontal (landscape) Seahawks photos courtesy of Google Images, opened up the photos and saved them to my desktop.

2. Open Photoshop Elements and open all of the photos saved to your desktop into this application.
3. Open up a new File> Blank File, and size this document Width: 6 Inches, Height: 4 Inches

4. Crop all four photos to Width: 3 Inches, Height: 2 Inches.
5. Drag and place all four 3 x 2 photos onto the 6 x 4 inch document.
6. Save the collage and merge layers.

7. Add a digital stamp.

8. Save collage with digital stamp
9. Print out 4 x 6 inch collage.

I hope you enjoyed that short and simple tutorial. I love using Google Images to help fill in current events. I am using this tool a lot more this year, and am really loving the results. My family and I are huge Seahawks fans, and this collage helped to capture our excitement of the Superbowl. Next week I will show you how I used Google Images and Photoshop to capture the Olympics. I am loving the Sochi games, and am so glad I found a way to capture some of my favorite highlights.

Let's talk digital elements in Project Life today. Are you a fan? What sort of digital elements are you including in your Project Life pages? What kinds of digital elements would you like to learn more about? If you are unsure if you would use this tool on a regular basis, you can always download a free  30-day trial for Adobe Photoshop and try it out. That is exactly what I did 1.5 years ago, and I am never going back. I really enjoy using Photoshop to edit photos, crop, resize, and also to add all kinds of fun digital stamps, make collages, and even to use digital templates from time to time. I used Ali Edwards and Studio Calico digital stamps for this layout and I highly recommend both. *I have linked up my Project Life pages over at The Mom Creative. This is a great place to go to find lots and lots of Project Life inspiration each and every Tuesday.*

Thank you for stopping by today, I will be back tomorrow with a fun layout to share with you, and if you follow me on Instagram you will recognize this color inspiration photo. I ended up switching out one of the colors, but really like how this layout turned out, I can't wait to share it with you.

I will also be back on Thursday for another installment of Crafty Organization Thursday, this week we will be looking at how we organize cards. I will show you my personal organizational method and point out a few others I have seen via the web.

I hope to see y'all back later this week, and until then...

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Christmas Cards Using Crate Paper, Basic Grey, Webster's Pages, and Stamps by Ali Edwards

Today I am sharing my Christmas cards with all of you. These are very quick cards to put together, and the end result turned out very cute and unique. I hope this little tutorial might help some of you that still want to make homemade Christmas cards. This technique could also easily be applied to any kind of card really.

Being completely honest, I felt a lot of pressure this year with regards to putting together my Christmas cards. December had already begun, and my cards were not made yet. Normally I have the cards finished before December, so I felt like I needed to downgrade my emboss-everything on the cards plan and come up with something much simpler. Keep it simple should be my new model, because I seriously LOVE these quick and adorable cards.

To save some time and money, I decided that I would only use things I already had. I started by pulling together some supplies, mostly 6 x 6 Christmas paper pads, assorted buttons and small embellishments that coordinate, a stamp set, and also my veneer star stash and gold embossing powder. I had already decided to use Kraft cardstock and envelopes this year so I got those ready as well.

Basic Grey 25th and Pine

Alison Kreft It's Christmas for Webster's Pages

Crate Paper Bundled Up

 Crate Paper Sleigh Ride

Ali Edward's "Twinkle On" stamp set, sold through Technique Tuesday

I also used gold embossing powder on some of my wood veneer. *Make sure you have a lint roller nearby. This is my go-to tool for quick glitter or embossing powder clean up.*

1. I started with a basic A2 card trimmed down to 5 1/2" x 4 1/4 inches made out of Kraft cardstock. 
2. I then cut my 6 x 6 papers down to 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" and adhered them to the card front. *I only adhered the bottom half, so that I could add the embellishment and sentiment before the whole thing was glued down permanently.*
3. I cut out vellum into 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" and tore those freehand on all four sides. 
4. After all of the vellum was torn, I stamped one of two sentiments onto the vellum "Keep Calm and Twinkle On" or "Keep Calm and Be Merry" using Black StayzOn ink.
   
   
   
5. I gave the images all a chance to dry (probably an hour or so.) I didn't want to accidentally smear these adorable sentiments and risk having to redo them all.
6. I then began attaching the sentiment to the front of the cards along with a small embellishment using a staple. This worked very well to keep both the embellishment and the stamped vellum attached to the patterned paper.
   
   
   
7. Next you have to glue the top part of the patterned paper to the card front. *Make sure everything is adhered very well.*
   
   
   
8. Fill out the inside of your card to the lucky recipient
9. The last step is to address your card, put the card in the envelope (and family photo or Christmas letter if you are including one,) and of course you should embellish the back of your envelope. I like to use stamps and washi tape.

 I ended up with 56 cards in total. Most have a veneer embellishment adhered to the front, but I also used buttons and chipboard pieces that I had left over from these collections.

*For the buttons and chipboard pieces, I first tied twine through them and adhered them onto the front of the card using glue dots.*

I really like how all of the cards are similar, yet each is unique and special. In fact, every single card is different.  I could not pick a favorite and might have taken 10 pictures of the finished cards. I decided on two different group shots to post for you, and just placed cards in front that were in different color combinations.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I loved having you here at life, scrapbook, repeat. I hope this tutorial will be helpful to you. I will be back tomorrow with December Daily Part 6: December 10th and 11th. I hope to see you then. In the meantime, do you have all of your cards finished and mailed? Did you make homemade cards this year, or purchase cards? Are you doing an online greeting instead of just forgoing the whole tradition? I would love to hear your thoughts….to card or not to card?

Happy Thursday and Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

December Daily Organization: Part 2: Album Cover and the Cutest Christmas Collection Ever!!!

It's Christmas Tiiiiiiiimmmmmeeeee!

Hello friends and to those of you new to this blog, welcome, thank you for being here. If you cannot tell, I am just a little excited that we are now officially into the Christmas Season. It is incredibly chilly in the normally warm North Carolina, and I have broken out my warm sweaters, wool socks, and flannel pajama bottoms. Despite the cold and impending winter, I love Christmas and have been holed up in my studio staying warm, drinking hot cocoa, listening to holiday music, and having all kinds of fun with pretty paper.

In my last December Daily post I showed you how I was organizing all of my December crafting supplies. You can find that post HERE. I have really been utilizing these scrapbooking goodies the last month for layouts, cards, making an extensive mini book for a Christmas gift, and some work in my 2012 December Daily album. I have a lot of December goodness to share with you next month. Now that I have wrapped up quite a few of those projects, I am going to show you my December Daily album cover and the supplies I gathered specifically for this project. I have quite a few Christmas scrapbooking supplies, they are a serious weakness of mine and even though I already had more than enough, I found a paper collection this year that just pulled at my heart strings so much so, that I designed the entire color scheme around it.

Selecting Products for December Daily:

Crate Paper's Bundled Up Collection is just so gorgeous. I saw it at Archiver's and just stared and stared and stared. The colors and adorable paper just called to me and I knew I had picked my color scheme for this year.

 These are the supplies I ended up ordering through Two Peas in a Bucket, as well as a few 12 x 12 papers.

 

I am also mixing in some already owned supplies in this color scheme, but I will share those in more detail another day. With the pink, green, aqua, mint, and gold color scheme in mind, and some ribbon and yarn from my stash, I came up with this cover.

Putting the Album Together

Ribbon and Yarn

• This was a fairly simple cover. I started with some yarn from my stash that I wrapped around and around the album, going around the inside. I then tied it off really tight on the inside of the album and trimmed the ends. Next, I wrapped the gold ribbon around once and tied it off and trimmed the ends into a "V." The last fabric items I included was a bit of red polka dot ribbon left over from last Christmas. This was also wrapped around the album, tied off on the front, and I trimmed these ends with a slight diagonal cut. 

Title Grouping

• I started with a pinked circle die cut from Studio Calico's 2012 December Daily Kit. I hot glued this down to the album, being careful not to burn my fingers.
• I then cut a piece of text paper from the Bundled Up 6 x 6 paper pad into a banner shape on one end. I added the "2013" Red Notebook Thickers on top and very carefully hand stitched a line running across these elements. This further reinforces the thickets and will ensure that they don't fall off over time. 
• Next I layered the "Merry Christmas" die cut form the Bundled Up Ephemera Pack on top of the pinked circle. This was hot glued down.
• the last step was to hot glue the 2013 banner cluster on top of both the pinked circle and the Merry Christmas label.

I really like how this turned out and am super excited to start working on my pages. I have already been taking some photos for December Daily and think I am going to start my album on November 29th this year. We purchased our tree today and are doing more decorating tomorrow, so I am just going with it and having so much fun, soaking it all in. Christmas is my families favorite holiday, and it is just so magical around here. 

I hope you found some inspiration from this post. I have been reading so many great December Daily posts lately and thought I would share these links below.

December Daily Organization using items already on hand.

• Geralyn Sy:  Supplies and Organization

December Daily Cover and Base Page Ideas can be found…

• Jennifer Chapin she shows the building of her kit and a video of supplies she chose
• Nicole Reeves December Daily cover and base pages
• Melissa Stinson: Base pages part one for Journal Your Christmas

Journal Your Christmas Information and Sign-Up

• Found HERE at Shimelle.com

Completed December Daily Albums

• Jennifer Chapin December Daily 2012
• Geralyn Sy December Daily 2012 HERE and HERE and HERE

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend friends and fellow crafters, I will be back next week with the start of my December Daily album, Project Life, and lots more holiday-related goodness. How is your holiday crafting coming along? Anyone already send out Christmas cards? I am still making them, but I did get a family photo today so I am calling it a win and going with it. Until next time...

xoxox

Toni

Project Life: My Step by Step Process

Step One: Memorabilia (5 minutes)

I keep all of my memorabilia in a letter tray that I purchased at Target. Every week I pull out my letter tray from it's place on my bookcase, bring it to my desk, and decide what memorabilia I am going to use.

I can then discard any unused items. For this week, I am not using the receipt for the Post Office, but the other three items are being saved. The certificate will go in my daughter's scrapbook and the movie ticket stubs and Paper Camellia label is going in this Project Life spread.

Step Two: Import Photos to Project Life Folder: (5 minutes)

I import all of the possible photos for my Project Life spread into the folder for that Project Life week. There is generally 2-3 times more photos than I need, but that's okay. Once I look at them together in Photoshop Elements I can generally pick out my favorites relatively quickly.

*I have a Mac desktop computer and my SLR photos are regularly uploaded to I-photo. My i-phone photos are uploaded automatically using i-cloud.

Step Three: Select Photos, Resize, and Edit (20-30 minutes)

Editing is my least favorite part of Project Life. I love editing photos, but sometimes doing 10-15 in a row is a daunting task. I just try to stick to a few edits per photo. I have Photoshop Elements and find it a very helpful software program for a non-professional photographer. It is a great value and I do not plan on upgrading to the full version of Photoshop anytime soon.

A great time saving tip is to stick to only a few different sizes when printing photos for Project Life. I generally stick with 4 x 6 inch, 2.9 x 3.9 inch, and 4 x 4. Once in a while I will use a 2.5 x 2.5, but not very often. Less sizes = less time figuring out what size to print.

Step Four: Open Up a Blank File (1 minute)

Place all photos onto a blank file in Photoshop Elements. *I am sure other editing software have similar features, but unfortunately I am only familiar with Photoshop Elements. I size the blank file 24 inches wide by 12 inches tall, just like a typical two-page Project Life spread. I almost exclusively use Design A Becky Higgins Project Life protectors sold through Amazon. I love that the 4 x 6 pockets are a true 4 x 6 and that the small pockets are almost 3 x 4 inches.

*I started doing this so that I could "see" what my layout would look like BEFORE printing. It works so well for me. I use to constantly have to reprint and resize photos and I would print a lot for photos I never used. What a waste of time and money. I hardly ever have to reprint now, just for the occasional coffee or Diet Coke spill or ink mishap.

Step Five: Place Photos Onto Blank File (5-10 minutes)

I move the photos around until I like the arrangement. I know that sounds awfully vague, but it is difficult to guess what others look for when arranging photos. However, I can tell you what I do, and what works for me. I hope this will be useful for you as well.

• Balance: I want both sides to seem to weigh the same when you look at them…for example. I want the blank spaces for journaling and non-photo elements to be spaced throughout the spread, and not in just one area.

       In this Project Life spread the blank spaces are spaced throughout the spread

• Color: I generally pick 2-3 colors from the pictures that week and use them to find journaling cards, embellishments, and to help guide the layout. 

In this Project Life spread you see red elements, blue, and darker/ wood tones on both sides 

of the page and in different areas; top of page, middle of page, and bottom of page.

• Visual Triangles: Love these. A visual triangle is useful to help guide whomever looks at your scrapbook around the page, or Project Life spread in this case. I have highlighted a variety of visual triangles for you in this Project Life spread below…be warned my drawing with the pencil tool in Photoshop is kind of hilarious.

 Visual Triangle of dark elements

 Visual Triangle of natural elements

 Visual Triangle of light blue

 Visual Triangle of people, yes including Katniss

Visual Triangle of red

Step Six: Print Photos and Gather Supplies (10 minutes)

I print at home as well as at my local Archivers. I think it is cheaper to print at Archivers, but it just depends if I am going there already. I probably print at home for Project Life about 60% of the time. Supplies are gathered based on the color scheme, memorabilia, and any other elements I want to use.

Step Seven: Assembly (30-60 minutes)

This is my favorite part. If I can do all of my journaling and embellishing in one sitting it goes much faster, if I break it up over different points in time it usually takes twice as long. Either way, I love this part.

So In Review, my process:

1. Memorabilia (5 minutes)
2. Import Photos to Project Life Folder (5 minutes)
3. Select Photos, Resize, and Edit (20 minutes)
4. Open Up a Blank File (1 minute)
5. Place Photos Onto Blank File (5-10 minutes)
6. Print Photos and Gather Supplies (10 minutes)
7. Assembly (30-60 minutes)

     *Total Time Spent: Anywhere from approx. 1hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes. This is the average time it has took me to complete each of the above steps in my Project Life spreads the past six weeks.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, I appreciate you being here and I hope this step-by-step Project Life tutorial was helpful to you and that you learned something new along the way. If you have any questions about my Project Life process please do not hesitate to ask. I would be happy to help anyway I can. I am really hoping to hear about your Project Life process or see your pages. If you link me to a recent Project Life spread or other crafty endeavor, I would love to leave you a comment.

I will be back tomorrow to share this completed Project Life spread and later this week I will be sharing a Christmas mini album using Basic Grey's 25th and Pine Collection. I hope to see you back soon.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni