Method Playground: Felt

It's time for another challenge over on the Playground. This week, Miwako is asking us to play with felt. I used some felt and fabric to create this cutie owl embellishment for my page. The pattern for him came from a sewing project calendar I picked up to help with my 20-ten resolution to sew more. You can find the pattern here.
So fly on over to Method Playground and link up your felt creations.

A Noteworthy Moment

I created this page on a whim. Didn't really want to make any more of a mess in my stUdio than was already there after a day of painting (I'll share that later). So I went digi with this one. I downloaded this kit from the Daily Digi the other night, and have wanted to play around with the Paislee Press stuff (love her style!). The kit with this sketch from Page Maps was the perfect marriage. I simplified the sketch a bit by ditching the mat and opting for a doodley border instead. And I used Liz's super cool TTV (through the viewfinder) frame on my pics. Haven't played with the digi stuff much recently {I'm more of a paper and glue, touchy-feely get messy (and make a mess) kind of girl}, but I have to say I kind of enjoyed the easy manipulation of the papers and elements (undo, undo, UNDO), and my stUdio looks not a bit messier than when I began this LO!

A note about the Daily Digi kit: it features collections from 7 fantastic designers and is only $5! It's like getting 7 kits for less than the price of one. An amazing deal that I was thrilled to snatch up. I think it's only good until the end of this month, so hurry over there and get your's soon!

2010: a year of p o s s i b i l i t i e s

I am of the mindset that you have the entire month of January to wish someone a Happy New Year. So, Happy New Year!

This year I am following Ali Edwards' lead and have chosen a word for 2010:

possibilities

And here is a LO I created to honor my word. I will hang this in my stUdio as a year-long reminder of the possibilities that this year holds. Because this year is like no other I have ever lived, and unlike any other I will ever live. This is the year of Possibilities!

I created this LO with a sketch from Pagemaps. And it's made entirely with fabulous papers from Marks Paper Company.

Upcycling

Here's a little collection of bits of this and that from my rainbow jars.
I love these jars to store pieces of ephemera: tickets, tags off clothing, felt and fabric flowers, ribbon and fabric scraps, samples from the home improvement store. Very handy for when you need a punch of color on a project.


Don't forget to hop yourself over to Method Playground and play along wth our challenge to Go Green! (there's still time to link up your entry and be in the running for a camera strap slipcover).

Girly Invitation

Working on some girly invitations for a client. Love when I can go all-out girly on a project. The party is a mock sleepover with a Hannah Montana theme. She actually gave me the sample with this very cool fold (keep reading for the how-to) and I paired it with some giry-girl paper from DCWV (Pocket Full of Posies) and my favorite die cut butterfly from SU!

a close-up of the rhinestone-studded butterfly

the card open

Here's how:

1. Cut an 8 1/2" square from patterned paper.
2. Score at 4 1/4" on each side.
3. Score from corner to corner on one side.
4. Score a line across one corner connecting two of the scores from the 4 1/4" scores (parallel to the diagonal score made in step 3). Confused yet? Here's a little visual help:
5. Crease along all folds and fold as shown making a 4 1/4" square.
6. Mount onto a 4 3/4" square of solid cardstock.
7. Embellish as desired.

stUdio

I was so inspired by Jen Jockisch's LO on pg. 100 of the Feb issue of CK. I loved her colorful blocks of paper and the stitching (sorry I can't find a link online to share with you). Then I had a brainstorm to use fabric and canvas to create the same look. I am in love with this whole process. It's nothing new, Donna Downey has created a whole line of products based on this idea, and there are loads of paper companies turning their lines into fabric. Don't get me wrong, I love putting glue to paper, but there is something altogether therapeutic about sending strips of fabric through the whir of the sewing machine. Double sided tape just doesn't have the pizzazz of a zigzag stitch and glue has nothing on the holding power of needle and thread for those hard to fasten trims and pom-pom fringe. Yeah, I'm hooked!

ATC's

Working on these little ATC's for asm's swap and came across a little bit of inspiration at Ronda's blog. I love a challenge, and a small 2.5x3.5 inch piece of art once a week--yeah, I can handle that {I think!}.
So I have a week to catch up on, but I am so on board with this. How about you? Are you in?

First Layouts of 2010

I played along with a few challenges to jump start my scrapbooking for 2010.

The first is for Capture These Sketches:

And this one is for Pencil Lines:

Method Playground: Go Green!

I am the host of this week's challenge over at the Playground: upcycle something on your layout or project. There are lots of possibilities for this one: packaging materials, junk mail, newspapers, magazines, boxes, styrofoam, old books, catalogues. If it's destined for the trash (or recycle bin), use it on your project and post a link to it in the comments at Method Playground. Be sure to check out the amazing artwork created by the design team.

Here are my layouts:

I placed drops of alcohol ink onto the packaging from some Basic Grey magnetic snaps. After it dried, I doodled some swirls with a Sharpie pen and adhered it to my page.

The large bracket on this LO is cut from a Panera Bread coffee cozy--love the texture on these. And the tree is made from a scrap of cellophane packaging from a pack of stickers. Here's how:

1. stamp with Versamark ink onto the cellophane.
2. swirl gently with a brush dipped in metallic pigment powders (I used sparkle gold Pearl-X powders)
3. spray with a fixative like Krylon Workable Fixatif
4. adhere to LO with a brad or staple

I also never toss the background sheets to stickers. The negative spaces can be fussy cut, or used as a mask for painting or misting (just be sure to lessen the adhesive by sticking it to some fabric a few times--learned this the hard way!). And pages of old, torn books make great material to punch and die cut.

Be sure to play along with us. You have until Monday, January 25th to link up your project in the comments at Method Playground for a chance to win a camera strap sewn by me.