Create for a birthday...

Birthdays are popping up all over this month.  Now, if only spring was popping up all over.  I created this treat jar for a co-worker and it allowed me to play with lots of supplies for lots of reasons.

First, I am the hostess for the March challenge over at Scrap It Girl.  Easy-peasy...just show us a birthday creation...card, page layout, poster, treat jar, home decor, whatever.  You could win the fun prize pack, seen HERE.

Second, I did some production packing for Bella Blvd and received a truck load of fun items.  I used patterned paper from the new Lucky Stars, Freestyle, and Molly collections, and you can spy some washi tape, alpha stickers, Family Forever Candid Cards, etc.  I mixed and matched and just wanted this to be a bright, party explosion.

Third, we are celebrating March Madness this month over at the blog for Chicagoland Scrapbooker.  We all tend to go a little "mad" over something in our craftiness.  Me--it's distressed edges.  I think roughing up the edges of paper just gives the right amount of dimension and texture.  I tend to like my page paper projects flat so they can slide into an envelope or page protector easily.  Distressing the edges gives some "pop" without anything popping and falling out and making my cards undeliverable and my albums too wonky.

So, what are you crafting while you wait for spring to show up?

~Kelly

Be pushed out of your comfort zone...

  Papers are a mish-mash of Bella Blvd., My Mind's Eye, Close to My Heart, and others



Over at Chicagoland Scrapbooker, we (the design team) were given the assignment to scrap with a color you find difficult to work with.  Now, I would never say I "hate" orange, after all, I do love my Fiskars/Fiskateers, but I find orange really difficult to infuse into my scrapbooking layouts. 

I find it bright, overpowering, and difficult to coordinate with other colors--I can't even get different shades of orange to complement each other!

Here are my tips for working with orange...

• Use a neutral to tone it down.  In this layout of "the silliest witch", I  have used black to keep the orange from overpowering the layout and the photo.
• Take your cue from the holidays.  Halloween and Autumn photos give you a starting point for orange---use it.
• Play off a bit of orange that is present in your photo.  In the photo on my layout, her orange t-shirt peeking out from under her cape is all I needed to permit the orange layout to happen.  If she was wearing a yellow or green t-shirt, I just don't think I would have chosen an orange background paper for this layout.

 

Now, it's your turn.  What is the color you love to hate?  Create a layout with the color you find difficult to work with and link it in the comments at the Chicagoland Scrapbooker post, found here, or post it on the Chicagoland Scrapbooker Facebook page.  You have until April 5th (noon, CST).  We are pushing you out of your comfort zone...do you accept the challenge?

 

~Kelly

Pinecones for the Tree

Even if the gift inside the box is store-bought, having a little home-made topper can make a good present, extra-special. These pinecone ornaments are just perfect for that. I learned to make them ages ago, and decided to add a few new ones to my collection this year.  For the ornament above, I used paper from Bella Blvd.'s new Winter Wonder collection, called Ski Slopes.

To make your own, you will need...

-a small styrofoam egg

-pins

-paper (or ribbon) cut into 1" wide strips, then cut into 1 1/2" long 

 pieces. You will use about six, 1 inch strips.

-ribbon

-tacky glue

Fold the rectangles of paper to a point (not true triangles), as seen in the photo. Place each folded paper onto the egg, pinning at the two top corners. 

 

The key to getting the pinecone shape started, is to pin 3 of the folded rectangles so their bottom points meet at the bottom of the egg (you can see this in the picture below). Then, you just keep going around pinning the pieces at each corner, covering the pins of the row underneath as you go. 

 Once you get to the top, slide the pins under the fold (see below).

 

Loop some ribbon on a pin (I used a pearl-topped headpin for this), making your first loop a big one so you can use it for hanging on the tree.  Dip the pin in some tacky glue before sticking it into the top of the pinecone.

Here are a few I made with ribbon. They are hanging on the tree, just ready and waiting if I need to attach them to the top of a package.

I hope you have all of your shopping done and can take some time to sit back and relish in some holiday memories as they happen.  Make sure you get some photos too!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Pumpkinspiration

I'm a guest over at www.bugaboominimrme.blogspot.com today!  It is PUMPKINSPIRATION time!  There are paper crafts, home decor, Halloween and Fall decorations, and more, more, more.  She even lets you take a peak at her Pumpkin Pinterest board!  Here is a sneak peak at my creation...