A Mother's Special Meal layout *Inspired By Stamping*

Hello friends. Today I would like to share with you a layout I created using the fabulous Vintage Rose stamp set and some of the beautiful papers from the Vintage Floral pad from Inspired by Stamping. 

A mother's special meal layout

 

I love the soft feel of the paper pad and beautiful images on the vintage roses stamp set that I decided to combine them to document photos I took of my Mother's day special breakfast. Every year my hubby and kids prepare our breakfast for Mother's day and although it's not fancy or made with one of a kind ingredients, it still is special to me. You know why? Because I didn't have to make it! I love it when I get a break from the kitchen. Don't you?

I noticed that vellum is making a big comeback in our industry so I decided to use that "trend" in this page. I stamped my beautiful vintage rose image on vellum and then used my colored pencils to bring them to life. I love the soft effect of the vellum against the background papers.

I stacked some of the papers on one side of my page to make them stand out better. I also used this side to hold my title and journaling. Sometimes subtle papers are just the perfect backdrop for handwritten journaling, just like what I did with here with the pink dot paper.

I also used the Fancy Labels 2 Die in this page. It helped me emphasize this beautiful quote on my layout. The quote is part of the Vintage Rose stamp set.

A few flowers and trim finished the look.

To view more inspiration from the Inspired by Stamping team, please click here.

Hope you enjoyed my project share today.

Till next time,
Grace

Square altered frame *Epiphany Crafts*

Hello friends. I'm  here to share with you how I took the latest assignment from Epiphany Crafts of creating a “square” themed project literally and surprised even myself at how super easy it was to alter a thrift store find frame.

Supplies Used:

Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Tool Square 25 SST-38

Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Accessories Bubble Caps Square 25 SSA-40

Frame- Thrift store find

Cardstock- WorldWin

Pattern papers- She Art, Pink Paislee

Rubon- She Art, Pink Paislee

Quote- Essence, Ruby Rock It

Paint- Green tea, Americana

Thread- Coats and Clark

Sewing Machine- Kenmore

Adhesives- Thermoweb, Hampton Arts

Instructions:

1. If the glass in your frame cannot be detached from your frame (like mine), cover the glass part with washi tape. Sand the frame and paint with desired color.  Put at least three coatings to totally cover the black frame. Set aside to dry

2. While waiting for the frame to dry. Prepare the art that will go in the center of the frame. Punch out square papers from the She Arts paper pack. Add bubble stickers to each one to create the 3D accents. 

3. Measure the inside of the frame and cut a cardstock to fit that measurement. Cut out the quote from a Ruby Rock It paper. Mat with white cardstock and place in the middle of the cardstock. Create a 1” grid around the quote with a pencil and ruler. 

4. Using the grid that you’ve created, add machine stitching to the paper. NOTE: I only wanted the sewn grid to go around my quote and fit 20 square accents so I didn’t add stitching anything after that. Erase the grid marks.

5.  Add doily rubons on three different parts of the cardstock.

6. Adhere the quote using foam adhesive. Add the square bubble accents around the quote using some dot adhesive. Adhere the cardstock permanently to the frame using a glue gun. 

And here's the finished project again....

What about you? What do you picture creating with a "square" assignment?

Make sure you check out this project and other inspirations from the Epiphany Crafts team here.

Till next time,
Grace

Scrapbooking with Ipod photos

Happy Friday. Lately I've been thinking about how to use the photos that I've taken with my Ipod touch in my scrapbook pages. I know that since they have a small file size that when I print it out, it has to be smaller than a 4x6 so it won't look pixel-y. After some trial and error, I found that a 2x2 or 2x 2 1/2 size was the perfect fit for them. Here are two layouts that I made recently that features some of my Ipod photos...

Food and Fun

Having my images small has it's advantages. Since I had a lot of photos for our Father's day celebration last year, I was able to fit all of them in a 12x12 layout because of the image size. 

I did notice that the quality of the images is not the best. Some of them lack the quality that even when I try to "fix" them up in Photoshop, it just doesn't work. But I'm ok with that. My philosophy has always been that it's better to have "not so good looking images but captures the moment" than "pictures that are aesthetically spot on but doesn't really tell the story."

I made my own Polaroid frame by cutting out a square inside this paper, rounding the corners and adding stitching on the inside frame.

The Two of Us

Having small photos also allows me to make some pattern paper shine on my page. With this layout, I used a grid design and cut out papers to create a quilt like background. I then matted my two photos with white cardstock and then adhered them with foam dots to make them stand out against the busy background.

I used my Cameo to create part of my title and the hearts. I love having perfectly shaped images cut out from my die cut machine. That was something I never really got from the Cricut.

To make the yellow die cut letters stand out better, I highlighted it with black pen.

So now it's your turn. What have you done with your phone photos? Send me a link so I can check it out. I love gathering inspiration from fellow crafters.

Note: Most of the products used on both layouts are from Lily Bee Design.

Have a great weekend.

Till next time,
Grace

Some pictures from our January

Hello friends. I have noticed that this blog is being bombarded my crafty projects. It's not a bad thing but I'm sure the family (near and far) would like to see what we've been up to. So today I've decided to share a sampling of the photos that I've taken in the month of January. This is not all of them and to be honest, I've already missed a few days, making it seem like Project 365 for this year is another failure. But I'm not going to dwell on the negative and instead share you what's been "photo" worthy in our home as this time...

January equals new beginning/start for me so in the beginning of this month I photographed a random but "regular" thing that happens in this house...changing out of toothbrushes.

I was craving some burgers a few weeks ago and happened to score a pack of turkey burger patties on clearance at our local grocery store so I made some turkey burgers for dinner complete with homemade hamburger bun, turkey bacon and other yummy goodness!

Marcus lost a tooth earlier this month as well. It happened while he was flossing and the tooth just fell out! You can just imagine how excited he was to go to sleep that night so he can get his "prize" from the tooth fairy.

Just before school started up again, we had some good snowy days. The kids found some slopes in our backyard where they can use their sleds and have a little "snowy" fun. I love the expressions on their faces!

Another thing we did to "pass the time" during winter break was to play board games. On this particular night we played Sorry. :)

Another food photo. Lately I've been experimenting in the kitchen, trying to use up leftover items or things that we've had in the pantry for a while. Tonight I made my own dimsum soup using some potstickers purchased at Costco, bokchoy and ramen noodles. The family loved it and that means I need to write down the recipe so I can make it again.

I got a deep fryer for Christmas so we tried to make some homemade french fries this month. It turned out good but of course, there's room for improvement. I'm still searching for a good beginner's recipe for donuts. That's what I want to use my deep fryer for next. Any suggestions?

And finally a pic of me working hard at my homework. It's back to school for me as well and I'm excited to learn more about families in the two classes I'm taking this semester.

So there you have it. A little glimpse of how our January is shaping up to be. I have a lot more stories to tell but for now, this is all I can share. :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Handmade layout *Epiphany Crafts and Chic Tags*

Hi there friends. Today I’m sharing what I did with the fun products from Chic tags alongside some of my “go to” accents from Epiphany Crafts.

Instructions:

1. Build your page by layering Chic Tags papers and cardstock. Create the honeycomb paper from the die cut machine. 

2. Once papers and photos are adhered, you can start adding accents and embellishments. Create some handmade brads and bubble stickers using the Epiphany Crafts tools and bubble stickers. Thread some twine to the buttons you’ve created with the EC tool and stickers for a finished look. 

3. You can even use the packaging as part of your accent like what I did here as I created a round bubble sticker with one of the tag packaging. 

4. Another way you can personalize your bubble sticker is to transfer them on white cardstock and then punch out the accent with the Round 14 tool and adding bubble sticker with it. 

5. Add a vellum piece behind the title to make it stand out better against the busy honeycomb paper.

6. Handwrite your journaling.

7. Add rubon arrows on the top left corner and adhere all elements using dot and foam adhesives. 

here's another look at the finished layout....

Supplies Used:

Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Tool Round 14 SST-02

Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Accessories Bubble Caps Round 14 SSA-08

Epiphany Crafts Button Studio Accessories Buttons Round 14 BSA-10

Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Accessories Bubble Caps Star 25 SSA-43

Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Tool Star 25 SST-41

Epiphany Crafts Brad maker

Cardstock- WorldWin Papers

Pattern papers, rubons and die cuts- Chic Tags

Letter stickers- Thickers, American Crafts

Vellum- WorldWin Papers

Pen- Millenium, Zig

Die cut machine- Cameo, Silhouette

Twine- The Twinery

Adhesives- Thermoweb, Xyron, SEI

Make sure to stop by the Epiphany Crafts blog for more inspiring projects with Chic Tags.

Till next time,

Grace

Inspired By Stamping January Release cards

Hi there friends. I am super excited to share with you two cards that I've created with the January Stamp release from Inspired By Stamping.

I love you because...you are kind and caring

With this card I used the sweet and soft colors of the Spring Lilacs paper as my background. For the flower accent (Vintage Rose stamp set) I stamped it on vellum and then added color BEHIND the image. I decided to do that because incase it needed sometime to dry, it wouldn't smear as I work on the other elements of the card.

For the sentiment, I heat embossed the first part with white embossing powder and then stamped the rest with black ink on one of the Spring Lilacs paper. To finish off the card, I used some twine and button.

I love you because...you inspire me

I had so much fun with this card. I used many elements from the January release. Can you see them all? For started I used the Spring Lilacs paper as background and even as the paper where I stamped my images on. I used the I love you because stamp set for my sentiment, the beautiful Tickets stamp (inked in three different colors) and then the sweet butterfly image which is part of the Spring Lilac stamp set. I love how layering them over each other gave great depth and interest in my card.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. 

Till next time,

Grace

Card showcase - January

Did you catch my newest video and project share? You can scroll down to the previous post or click here. 

And because I can never let go of scraps, I created some cards from the leftovers of my "kit" after creating my five layouts. Here they are...

Happy Birthday

I wanted to finally use the ice cream cones stickers from the Dear Lizzy sticker sheet that I had out and made this birthday card. The colorful papers worked out well for the theme.

Take a journey, find yourself 

I thought that the bike paper and the sentiment went well together. I also layered two stickers (the round scallop one and the glittery sticker over it) plus added the twine on the bottom for some texture.

You make my heart sing

I wanted to incorporate the leftover butterfly die cut sheet so I placed that first and then layered it with the heart transparency so you can still see the butterflies without making the background too boring.

So there you have it...three cards created with scraps and leftover parts of sticker and die cut sheets. It just shows you that you can stretch your products with just a few tricks and a lot of inspiration.

Till next time,
Grace