Design Team Day with Lisa

Hello and welcome to another Design Team Day! Today, Lisa has a great layout to share with us. Here's a little sneak peek:

It looks like she's mixing it up a little this month, so head on over and see the entire project here.  And remember, if Lisa inspires you to shop with me, be sure to click on the link that says "Lisa's My Creative Endeavors sent me!"

Bon Voyage Mojo Monday!

OK, so technically Mojo Monday isn't going anywhere. I just decided to combine this weeks sketch with the Bon Voyage challenge over at Heart2Heart this week.  And this is what happened:

I thought this would make a nice card for someone going on a cruise - maybe a honeymoon? Or a birthday card for someone who likes to cruise, or maybe even a Navy man. At any rate, I really like the way it turned out!

I used papers from both the Tommy and Surf's Up paper packs from CTMH, some twine, and a favorite retired stamp set called Horizon.  I also got to try out my new Perfect Layers tools - they sent me a set to try and I fell in LOVE!

I have to admit that I was skeptical of the usefulness when I first saw them, but I was converted with my first use. I really like to add mats to my images, or a nice border like around the lighter pattern above, to help set it of from the background.  But I always have trouble getting things lined up evenly all the way around, especially these super skinny 1/16" borders. And I hate for things to be less than perfect!

If you're interested, this is how easy the ruler tools are to use:

Step 1: adhere your image (or paper) to the cardstock you want as your mat.

Step 2: Choose your border size, catch the appropriate lip on the edge of your image, and trim using the tool and X-acto knife. (There are markings for both right and left-hand use.)

Step 3: Rotate the image and repeat for the remaining sides, until you have a perfectly matted image.

The Perfect Layers tools come in a set of three, so you can create borders from 1/16" all the way up to 1". And they have even given me a code so you can get 5% off your entire order. You can visit the site here to see more details on the tools, and if you order just enter the code LoriB5% to get 5% off your order.

Here's a closeup of the matted paper on my card:

And finally, here's a closeup of my image, popped up on foam tape over the twine:

I used the same X-acto knife to cut a slit in the card fold to run the twine around the entire card front a couple of times. I used some direct-to-paper ink on the edges of all the papers except the one I matted. I wanted the extra definition between it and the light paper behind it, so the mat made more sense.

I'd love to hear what you think of today's card. And if you decide to play along at H2H or Mojo Monday be sure to let me know so I can come see your take on things!

Celebrate Liberty with Mojo Monday

This week is a special Mojo Monday challenge - it's #300!! That means they are having 30 prize winners for this week, so be sure to get over there and enter your card for a chance to win! I've made a couple of cards already, and I thought I would share this patriotic one today:

 I really enjoyed making this card; it was a lot of fun! My background paper was the right colors, but not really patriotic theme; I figured since most of it would be covered up the theme didn't matter.  After much thought on how to stamp the fireworks (because they're all one stamp), I decided to ink up the stamp with Honey ink, then ink one end in Cranberry and the other in Outdoor Denim.

I also made my sentiment a banner, and I adhered the center using a mini glue dot, and each end using a foam square, so it looks like it's waving in the wind.

All products for this card are form Close To My Heart, including the Home of the Brave stamp set, which is only available until July 31, and the Tommy paper pack.

Thanks for checking out my card today - I'd love to hear what you think!

Album Title Page - Pinwheel Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to another Stamp of the Month blog hop! If you have arrived here from Lalia Harris' blog, or if you are just starting out, you are in the right place.  When we're done here, we'll hop along to Wendy Coffman's blog.  This month we are featuring Pinwheel, a set of 10 fun stamps perfect for any day! I am already envisioning birthday cards, as well as scrapbook layouts for Spring or Summer fun, the 4th of July, and more...  For today, I decided to create a title page for our 2012 scrapbook.

I rarely create single page layouts, but of course they are necessary for the first and last pages in an album! I find these pages perfect for random pictures and when I  have just a couple of pictures.  Because I so rarely scrap a single page, I used a layout sketch from Make It From Your Heart volume 1 to create my page. I rotated the sketch to work with my main photo and changed it up a little bit.  I didn't need journaling, so I placed my pinwheels in that area, and moved the title over to the right to  balance things out a bit.

My background paper is from Tommy and my photo mat is a pattern from Surf's Up matted on Cranberry cardstock.  The yellows are not identical, but they are close enough to work really well together. I substituted Washi Tape for the paper strip called for in the sketch. I like how the background pattern kind of shows through it a bit to make them work together better.

I stamped the pinwheel "sticks" in Slate to match the Washi Tape.  This stamp set does coordinate with the Artiste Cricut cartridge, but I chose to cut mine by hand since I was just doing a few.  After stamping and cutting, I curled all of ends around the "wrong" end of my quilling tool so they roll forward and look more realistic. I layered the pieces with 3-D Foam Tape in between the layers for more dimension.  I finished the pinwheels off by adding a dark blue Epoxy Bubble to the center of each one.

For the title, I cut numbers from both the Art Philosophy (0, 2) and Artiste (2, 1) cartridges from Outdoor Denim at 1 1/2". (Yes, they are cut at the same size, producing different size numbers.) I also cut a 1 1/2" circle to stamp the "Let's Celebrate" image in Honey.  I stamped it again in Cranberry and trimmed out the word "Celebrate" to layer on top of the circle using 3-D Foam Tape.

All supplies used are from Close To My Heart:

• Pinwheel, May Stamp of the Month
• Tommy paper pack
• Surf's Up paper pack
• Washi Tape, Slate
• Green & Blue Epoxy Bubbles
• 3-D Foam Tape
• Artiste and Art Philosophy Cricut cartridges
• Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Slate, Cranberry, Honey, and Outdoor Denim
• Micro-tip Scissors
• Quilling Tool
• Sponge Daubers (to ink edges of Cranberry mat, circle in title, and numbers in title)
• Edge Distressor (to distress main photo mat)

I hope you enjoyed my project today - I'd love if you take a minute to leave a comment.  Now let's hop over to Wendy Coffman's blog and see what fun project she has for us this month!