Post on Inspired by Family

Hi everyone! I'd love it if you'd stop by Inspired By Family Magazine to check out my article on making three different Halloween cards using the same MME Blackbird stamp set (and while you're there check out the top three comfort desserts posted by Leslie from The Cozy Little Kitchen ... I need to make that apple cake with the homemade caramel icing!) 

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Papertrey September Blog Hop Challenge

Legos are huge in our house (more specifically, our basement) and we usually end up giving them as birthday presents to our sons' friends. With the Papertrey Blog Hop coming up at the same time as we are giving a very dear 9-year-old boy his Lego birthday present, I thought it would be a good opportunity to spend a little more time than usual on the wrapping.
 

  On accident, a paper I embossed with dots was lying next to the wrapped present ... perfect Lego pattern! So I changed direction (the band and die cut dots were originally going to be felt, as suggested in the challenge) and used the embossed paper as a band around the two presents.

The "happy birthday" message is secured by two white paper Legos.

Raiding our box of red Legos, I came up with enough flat bricks to fashion into a "C" for birthday boy Connor. Just in case, I ran this by the head Lego manager (my husband) to make sure I wasn't giving away hard to find bricks. He wanted to know why I didn't pick a more common color like black or gray to use. "Well those colors don't go with the present," I responded. Priorities! 

I'm hoping the birthday boy will be surprised to see real Legos on top of his present.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used: 
stamps:  PTI outlines alphabets, PTI think big favorites
impression plates: Cuttlebug dots
dies:  PTI circles
other:  Spectrum Noir markers, Legos

Little Frank

Here's a sneak peek at a Frankenstein card I made as part of a set for an upcoming article on Inspired by Family Magazine. I'm posting this one now since the Color Q challenge is expiring shortly! I substituted the color flesh for saffron.

Thanks for looking!
- Kelly

Reflected Sentiment

What a fun technique! Betsy Veldman shows us how to make a reflected sentiment using nothing but our regular stamps and acetate on this week's Make It Monday. The technique is meant to use a sentiment, but I can see this reflection technique being useful with any sort of image too.

I was happy with the embossing on the cap of the acorn, and the half circle punched out to hold the string in place.

Also thought it would be fun to join in on the CASual Friday Fall Fun challenge!

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used:stamps:  PTI Think Big Favorites
impression plates: PTI Stripes, Cuttlebug folder

dies:  Cricut Art Nouveau cartridge
ink: Color Box Burnt Sienna
other:  string, hole punch

Sympathy Card

Here's a 3D card, inspired by the CASology challenge to use white on your card, and by Tracey McNeely's idea to make a sympathy card (I always struggle with those, even more than "guy cards"!)

To get the layered hills, I flipped the die cut for the layer in front and cut off the house. Since I wanted to add texture to the hill in the front layer, but not the trees, I just die cut another hill and this time cut the trees and the house off. It didn't line up exactly so I was going to do another one, but then I ended up liking how it was a little off. More dimension : )
 

For the middle layer, I just cut it a little longer, folded tabs on each side, and glued it to the sides. If you'd like to make one of these, I'd highly recommend to glue it when the card is flat, and then open it up. That way you know for sure it will fold properly and won't have any strange lumps from things not lining up exactly.

Here it is folded flat for mailing in an envelope.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used:
impression plates: PTI Stripes 
dies:  Memory Box Landscape 
paper: The Paper Company Hammered Silver

Happy Halloween Witch

 

Given the deadline coming up shortly for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge to use black and white plus one color, I'm posting a sneak peek at an article I wrote for Inspired by Family Magazine. Stay tuned for the rest of the article using other stamps in this Blackbird set by My Mind's Eye.

Thanks for looking!
-Kelly

A Month In Photos [August 2012]

Here are the details of our August:

• doing a cannonball off the pier's diving board at Aunt Joyce's cottage on Lake Geneva,
• being at the Cubs vs Cardinals baseball game at the Great American Stadium in Cincinnati (dressed in White Sox jerseys to root against the Cubs),
• feeding dozens of sting rays at the fabulous Columbus Zoo,
• road trips, road trips, road trips ... we are never home this summer! many trips to both grandparents' house for fishing and playing outside,
• playing with the cousins at Woodsmoke. although we don't see all of them, it is still the highlight of Logan's summer according to his recent school project,
• finding an indication of how long this covered bridge from the guide book has been closed, and
• purchasing a new backpack (the morning before school starts!) for Jackson's first year of preschool.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Rebecca at Simple as That has posted a free template for you to create your own Month in Photos and is hosting a link party for everyone to share their progress. 

eeek!

I always admire people who use nontraditional colors for holiday cards, so I thought I'd try it myself with the color palette at the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week. 

Although it isn't too much of a stretch to get "witch" out of these colors, I probably wouldn't have used them together if it wasn't part of the challenge (especially the evergreen, I would have just made the hat and boots black, and how "not fun" is that?)

 

I've also had the Moxie Fab World challenges in my head from their new handbook:

If you haven't gotten a chance to check them out, I would highly recommend it. I felt like I was going back to school just like my kids this week! Really basic lessons/reminders you can apply to everyday card making. 

 

I started out using the focal point challenge and drawing the spiderweb in the background to call attention to the witch (the focal point) in the center of the card. Please excuse the messy web, I was just playing around to see how it would look with the intention of redoing it later, but then I changed direction slightly ...

and made the web off center using the principles in the asymmetry challenge. To balance it a little I added the spider. Once the spider got on the card, I thought it would be kind of funny/ironic to have the witch scared of it, so that's where the "eeek" came from. Originally I was just going to use a "Trick or Treat" sentiment underneath.

Then the lessons from the movement challenge came to me and I wanted to incorporate these too. So, I colored a streak in her hair and restamped/tilted the spider body. Here's the movement I was trying for:

 

1. start at the wide, white, witch eyes;
2. from the eye, follow the purple streak in her hair, the purple arm, and the point on the frame across the line of the spider web;
3. stop at the dotted line going down, and follow it to the spider;
4. follow the spider's eyes across to the witch's reaction upon seeing it, "eeek!"
5. done. loop is completed, eyes can rest : )

  So, did that work? I like having the spider body look back at the witch instead of up and off the top of the card. I knew that principle from so many years of scrapbooking (not having pictures of people looking off the page) but somehow I totally forgot about that when card designing. It was fun doing a mini makeover on my witch card using the Moxie Fab Challenges!

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Supplies used:
stamps: My Mind's Eye Blackbird Stamps, PSX alpha
dies:  PTI Fillable Frames
ink: Spectrum Noir Markers