Friday, October 31, 2008

a banner day

or rather...a HEADER day. i've been wanting a new one.
i was thinking it'd be autumn or winter themed, but apparently i'm (still) completely obsessed with making little scenes which have trees and clouds and little deers in them. so that's what i did instead. ah well...season, schmeason!

(patterned paper: basic grey, love elsie, doodlebug, michaels + vintage ledger paper & pages from an old russian language book; gems: k&co; inks: colorbox; pen: zigwriter)

having said that, please accept my heartiest wishes for a treat-full, trick-less,
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

and *now* i know why people get addicted to ATC's!!!

i mean, i had already cottoned on to the fact that they're fun to MAKE...i had only made a *couple* (plus a few inchies) until now...but really, how could a small space in which to practice free-form collage NOT be fun??!

...but...
it turns out that the reeeeeeaalllllllllllllly good part is THE SWAP!!!


(my apologies to everyone who's already immersed in this world...i realize that what i'm saying right now is the equivalent of, "i went to a chocolate shop...and all the chocolates were SO PRETTY...and they SMELLED terrific...and then i discovered that YOU CAN EAT THEM, too!!!!!!!!!!" sorry. but yeah. i am this excited!)

what happened was this: over the summer, i admired some very cool ATC's made by my lovely blogging friend amy, and she asked if i would like to participate in a swap she was arranging. then she sent me off to make ten 2.5" x 3.5" card, which i did, and they looked a bit like this:


(materials: ranger glossy black cardstock; heidi swapp ghost butterflies; prima flowers; making memories brads; mambi rhinestones; creative imaginations rub-ons; bengali newspaper; pics from a bollywood film magazine; colorbox inks)


i call them "bollywood butterflies". they do not look very much like the picture that was in my head...which bothered me quite a lot when they were first completed...but they've grown on me a bit since then. in retrospect, i gather one is meant to make all of one's swap cards the same. this would certainly be quicker & even a bit easier...IF...one had enough multiples of everything used in the first card. which i didn't. so i went with a general theme, style, and type of look. (if this is a serious faux pas, amy was kind enough not to mention it!)

so i packed them up and sent 'em off and then... (probably only *I* do stuff like this) ...i sort of forgot about them! i mean, i am used to working to a deadline...and the deadlines they keep a-coming...and i sort of just got immersed in the next thing, if you know what i mean?

until last week, when my package arrived, and inside were alllllllllllllllll of these
amazing
tiny
masterpieces!!!!!!!!!!!


(credits L to R, from top: Dani Johnston, Colleen Vasconcellos, Vee Jennings, Nathalie Kalbach, Amy Kyle-Percy, Wendy Erman, Annie Copenhaver, Stacey Fike, me, Kathleen Haberstroh)

many thanks to amy for arranging said event (& inviting me!) and to all who participated; i hope you had as much fun as i did!!!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

happy wednesday, darlings!

i hope the first half of this week has brought your share of amusement and chuckles...but if not...please share one of mine:

from i has a hot dog, canine companion site to i can has cheezburger.

Monday, October 27, 2008

round robin

i don't know when i purchased this set of memories complete concentric circle stickers, but it was a while ago, and as of this weekend i had never used any of them.

(if you've never seen them, the largest is about 9" across and each ring is a separate sticker; cool, no?)

every so often i would pull them out thinking they might be good for this or that...and then decide they were not quite right...and regretfully put them away again. usually they were just a little too big for whatever i was doing, but too cool to cut up & thus waste their cool circularity.

mostly, i guess, the problem was that i just don't make round cards...or rather...i didn't make round cards
until NOW!!!

(round sticker: memories complete; bird & branch chipboards: maya road; flowers: prima; leaves: paper source; tiny gems given to me by the lovely & generous terrie bailey (thanks, terrie!); letter stickers: making memories; inks: colorbox; pen: zigwriter; foam tape: 3m; all else--geographical map of the moon, ginourmous dogwood flower, ledger & sheet music--from my vast collection of vintage weirdness)

now of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion about any creation; in fact it's even been suggested that all judgement of art is necessarily entirely subjective. so of course you are 100% entitled to think whatever you like about the weird little ditty above...BUT...if you don't like it, be a sport and lie to me, ok? because i am really really enamoured of this particular card! and now, having said all of that, i guess i just have one question left to ask:

does anyone know where i can get a
ROUND ENVELOPE?!?!!
:)

Saturday, October 25, 2008

operation 38: FALL

two paper adventure pages in ONE WEEK?!?!!!!?

uh huh.
(i'm onna roll!)

the prompt for this one was "FALL". i had some very sensible & lovely foliage pics from when we were up in the adirondacks recently, and i intended to use one of those. but then i happened upon this one, from our anniversary weekend at the shore, and it made me laugh as much as it did when we were actually there, and kidding about the fact that this year fall was going to be so mighty that even the PLASTIC PALM TREES would turn a lovely orange.

so i used it instead! :)

(patterned paper: scrapbook wizard; chipboard letters: heidi swapp; photopaper: kodak; dymo labeller; american crafts pens, colorbox inks)

once again i have used very few embellishments... (but i PROMISE they have not been stolen, miss kristie!) ...it's not that i didn't WANT to embellish...it's not that i didn't TRY to embellish...it's just that when your color scheme is neon orange & sky blue...and your size is 5x7"...there is really only so much YOU CAN DO!!! so i settled for outlining everything in sight! (& i quite like how it turned out!)

Friday, October 24, 2008

some days the mailman REALLY likes me

and she* brings me stuff like this awesome card from my lovely blogging friend yin (who is also an attorney!)

we swapped! she wanted the little "are we there yet" card i made for the CAARDVARKS scoring challenge**; i craved this one from the office supplies challenge--isn't it cool?! but wait, there's more:

yin made me a special pack of goodies, as well! i especially love those mini file folders...not to mention the clipart!!!

not to be outdone, my lovely antipodean cardmaking friend kristie (who is also an ancient historian***) sent me some entirely fabulous postcards for my collection...and speaking of FABULOUSNESS, wouldja look at the card that came with them?!

i suppose today it will be back to bills and catalogs, which is probably just as well...i think i'm going to be needing a slightly bigger bulletin board!!! :)


*our mailman is a woman. i know, i know, we're supposed to call them postal carriers now, but mostly, i just call her melanie.

**the current CAARDVARKS challenge is monograms and runs until 11-3-08!

***actually she's a young (well...youngISH; well...younger than ME anyway!) historian, whose field of study is ancient times.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

operation 37: CHOOSE

once again i have fallen woefully behind on my paper adventure pages. isn't it sad that when it comes to a time crunch we tend to prioritize things intended for others, and put off those which are "just" (& what a giveaway that word is!) for us? i'm not worried though, because i know they'll get done, eventually. why, wouldja look at that--here's one now:


(software: broderbund printshop; fonts: guilty & adler; images from lion brand yarn)

the prompt for this one is CHOOSE. since we are utterly obsessed with the forthcoming election...and since my friend gill had just sent me a link to these hilarious & wonderful crocheted presidental candidate finger puppets...i thought it would be cool to document something that has absorbed us throughout most of this year.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

oh dear

recently, it came to my attention that either i *TOTALLY SPACED* on several birthdays at the beginning of october...OR...and i think you'll agree this is much more likely...some of my friends have been moving their birthdays around from year to year just to mess with me!!! but since they are otherwise such lovely people, i forgive them!!! :)

fortunately, i've discovered that my favorite set of paper piecings make for a PERFECT "belated birthday" theme! see:

(patterned paper & cardstock: basic grey, urban lily, making memories, my mind's eye & pages from a japanese workbook; letter stickers: doodlebug; flowers & leaves: prima; stick on gems & pears: kaiser; inks: colorbox; foam tape: 3m; in retrospect, i wish that i had placed the flowers at the lower left slightly further away from the edge, as i feel like they are drawing the eye away from the deer & off the card...but other than that, i am quite happy with this!)

the slightly washed-out-looking photo (sorry--the light in my house is dodgy at best & i was in a hurry) shows the card i made for the lovely miss june, and then thoughtfully mailed a week after her birthday in order to prolong the celebration--thoughtful of me, no??! (sorry june!!!!!)

Monday, October 20, 2008

take a letter, mr. jones*

any letter, of your choice! that's right...the new CAARDVARKS challenge features monograms, initials, or any prominent use of a letter or letters. you have until midnight, november third, to complete this mission. need some inspiration? check out the magnificent design team cards in the gallery!

in the meantime, here are my cards. but first, a shocking true confession: the top card is based on a lovely card sketch i saw about two weeks ago on someone's blog, which i very very STUPIDLY forgot to bookmark! (it featured basic grey's urban prairie papers and a sweet little monkey, and it was absolutely adorable!) so if it looks familiar to anyone, pleeeeeeease accept my thanks...not to mention my apology for lack of credit...and let me know who you are so i can correct that!

(patterned paper: ki, basic grey, gcd; cardstock: bazzill; chipboard monogram letter (used as template): basic grey; cardstock stickers: karen foster; eyelets: making memories; other: foam tape, colorbox inks)

my second card came out of NOWHERE: i had the idea of "g thanks"...plus i was dying to use a few new purchases... (the sweet little bird stamp & some maya road chipboard trees) ...and i had seen a tree made from little circles on the SIStv website... (again, stupidly, i didn't bookmark it & of course now i can't find it!) ...in any case i sat down with those ideas in my head--but no idea how i'd combine them--and about 20 minutes later i had the whole card done. dontcha just LOVE IT when that happens??!

(patterned paper: basic grey, love elsie, making memories, k&co, paper co, creative imaginations, crafty secrets, vintage ledger paper, part of an old greeting card; diecut letter: basic grey; chipboard tree trunk: maya road; bird stamp: imaginisce; other: colorbox inks, zig & sharpie pens,psx embossing ink & powder, dymo labeller, foam tape, ek success circle punches)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

*this was the name of a truly horrifying (& i mean that in the nicest way possible!) early 1980's british comedy program starring john inman and rula lenska. i think there were *maybe* six episodes. the concept was...and you'd better sit down b/c this is truly REVOLUTIONARY... *she* was the high-powered executive and HE was her devoted & efficient secretary!!! hahahaHAHAhaHAha!!! can you IMAGINE?!?!?!!! :) here is a clip from you tube, which gives you the general idea:


Sunday, October 19, 2008

WARNING: here be shameless braggin'!!!

guess what?!?! ok, you'll never guess, so i'll just tell you: i made the FAB FIVE over at 2 sketches 4 you!!! and it was for a GUY CARD! you know, this one, from last week?!

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you kazan and laura! not to mention congratulations to the other FAB FOUR (pam, wiebine, jill & carina) and the prize winner, jackie!!! (just to be named in such a group is totally awesome!!!)
♥THANK YOU!!!♥

Saturday, October 18, 2008

3BT...to go!

one of the best bits of this whole "online community" thingie is how very interactive it all is! for example, a few years ago i discovered a fabulous blog called three beautiful things...and i was so inspired by it that last summer i started my own 3BT journals*...for which i thanked the inventor of said idea, the lovely clare grant...and then she came along and admired my papery versions...and then... (eventually...b/c as we know, i don't work FAST!) ...i got to make one for *her*!!!

how cool is THAT?!?!!
(hint: it is very very cool indeed!!!)

wanna see it?
(excellent...'cause i'm gonna show you!)

here's the cover. clare's favorite colors are blue and grey. i went with blue and silver...which is quite a lot like grey...but sparklier...because as you know, in the laurniverse...
sparklier=better!!!

(products used on cover: patterned paper: my mind's eye, cosmo cricket; clipart birdie: anahata katkin; flowers: prima; brads & sparkly stickers: making memories; gems: mambi; chipboard numeral: heidi swapp; rub-on letters: jenni bowlin; flocked letters: k&co; inks: colorbox; other: chipboard, acyrillic paint, diamond glaze, stickles glitter glue, foam tape, book ring; interior pages are made from scraps of plain & patterned cardstock cut down to 4x6"; some pages incorporate maps, old dictionary pages, game cards, and other bits from my vast collection of vintage weirdness!)

and now, a few pages. most of them are blank, but i would not be *ME* if i didn't decorate a few, right?! here's a dot-to-dot dinosaur:

(yes i know, it's gonna be hard to fit 3 beautiful things on here, but he was just TOO FUN to resist; plus, the back is blank!)

a map of england, just in case clare ever needs to know how the population was distributed in her country before the industrial revolution:

and of course all of the journals i make MUST include a page with cakes on:

and here's a sprawly photo, to sum up:

and there you have it: a book which i hope reflects not only how much fun i had making it, but also the huge amounts of respect and gratitude i feel towards its recipient!

thank you clare, for sharing your wonderful idea, and reminding me that there are *ALWAYS* beautiful things to be found, if only i will take the time to look for them!!!


*i have talked about this year-long adventure A LOT already; to access those posts, g'head & click the "3BT" label thingie right below this message!

Friday, October 17, 2008

seeing stars

i've said it before and i'll no doubt say it again, but in the meantime lemme say it now:

GUY CARDS ARE HARDER THAN GIRL CARDS!!!!!


this one took two nights to make! granted, they were weeknights...but still...i started off with the entire concept (stars-n-swooshes) pre-chosen supplies (geometric patterns from several older basic grey lines) AND kazan's fabulous sketch 11 from 2sketches4you!!!



so this shoulda been a "gimme" right?! yeah, that's what i thought too...turns out...not so much. ah well, the good news is: i got there in the end AND in time for my card to be submitted as part of the official 2S4U gallery!

(patterned paper: basic grey, sei, ki, making memories; chipboard stars & flourish (used as template): basic grey; chipboard letters: heidi swapp; other: foam tape, colorbox inks, zigwriter pen)

the bad news is: i need about four more "guy cards" in the next month or so!

(yikes)

Thursday, October 16, 2008

say it with cheezburgerz

this has been quite a challenging* week for a number of reasons, the greatest of which being that lovely husband jeff has been in harrisburg, pennsylvania since sunday. thankfully, he is scheduled to return this evening. i could write several paragraphs on why this is a truly wonderful thing, and how happy i am about it, or i could just show you THIS:


...which sums it up rather nicely, i think!

speaking of cheezburgerz...my lovely blogging friend yin sent me this cool article about the popularity of lolcats and viral internet memes generally, which you might enjoy reading. i know i did! (thanks, yin!) :)

*by which, of course, i mean "bloody buggery bastard of a"; a phrase which a wholesome & ladylike blogger like myself would politely bury in the teeny tiny print of a footnote**

**you're welcome ♥

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

do *NOT* read this book

(the girl with the dragon tattoo by stieg larsson; the mystery-thriller equivalent of black tar heroin)

IF
you have anything else which absolutely positively needs to get done this week


OR
you need more than a couple of hours sleep per night


BECAUSE
it is seriously SERRRRRRRRRIOUSLY addictive and you will stay up until stupid o'clock--or even half-past stupid--each night; and you will take any excuse to drop what you are supposed to be doing in favor of reading

JUST
A
FEW
MORE
PAGES
pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!


(and then it will be over really really quickly and you will wish you had read it slower!)

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

let the countdown begin!


exactly one month from today

(that'd be november 14th)

the new bond film

*QUANTUM OF SOLACE*

comes out

(in the usa that is; those jammy so-and-so's in the uk get it two weeks earlier; the only date i CANNOT find is the supposedly original worldwide release date of november 007th...pity about that...)


can i get a
WAHEY??!?!?

Sunday, October 12, 2008

...sketchy...

EXTRA sketchy, that is!

as usual, i was totally impressed and inspired by this week's challenge at 2 sketches 4 you...and i planned use it to make an anniversary card for my cousin tom and his wife...UNTIL...i saw the extra "bonus" sketch by 2S4U design team member carla peicheff :


it's got scallops...and swirls...and space for an artisan label...how *ME* is that?!? (hint: it is very very me indeed!) see:

(patterned paper: basic grey, 3 bugs in a rug, vintage ledger; chipboard artisan label & butterfly brad: autumn leaves; diecut felt: queen & co; cardstock swirl: basic grey; cardstock heart: heidi grace; sequins: doodlebug; letter stickers: basic grey, making memories; other: foam tape, colorbox inks, scrap of ribbon)

i took the precaution of printing this baby out, since i have the feeling that i will want to use it again...at this rate, my inspiration binder is going to need a "volume two"!!! :)

Saturday, October 11, 2008

an *UNEMBELLISHED* card!

ok, ok, i know what you're thinking. you're thinking,

"who are you and what have you done with lauren??!"

frankly i'm surprised too. it's not like i didn't *WANT* to embellish this baby: i tried loads of eyelets, several types of brad, a little bit of ribbon, and even some bling. but this was just one of those cards that resisted all of my blandishments. so finally i gave up, and let it go nekkid:



(illustration from a vintage childen's book; sassafrass patterned paper; heidi swapp photo corners; bazzill inks; tangerine font printed on avery clear labels)


on the plus side...for once i have a card that fits into a standard sized envelope; it just goes to show you there's a first time for *EVERYTHING* right?! :)

Friday, October 10, 2008

will the REAL 'fishull tuna 'spector please stand up!

not too long ago, the lovely, generous & ingenious soul known as stephanie severin sent me a little care package. in it i found:

an awesome frank sinatra rubber stamp...an unbelievably cool smilyn' stef original art card...a set of funky jolee's compound stickers...and a challenge: find a way to use the latter in a greeting card!

i don't know why, but me being me, pretty much the minute i saw that little suit of clothes and read stef's note i thought, "well of course i would dress a *CAT* up in those, a la 'pinky & the brain' and i have him try to be something official...like a cheezburger inspector mebbe"

so that's what i did:


(jolee's wool suit, vintage ledger paper, images cut from magazines & books, rub-on letters: making memories, doodlebug, autumn leaves, ki)

all in all, i am pretty happy with the result, which of course i sent right back to miss stephanie!!! but i was slightly surprised by lovely husband jeff's reaction, which was at first super-positive and then suddenly got a bit squirmy...which puzzled me...so i asked, "what's wrong? do you think it's TOO silly? or it looks too cobbled together? or WHAT?" to which he replied, "oh no, it's hilarious and it looks great...it's just........" by which time i am innerly freaking out thinking i have suffered a small stroke, written everything backwards & upside down, and somehow not realized it! "it's just *WHAT*?!?!" i asked...to which my husband gently and earnestly replied, "well, that's not a tuna...that's a CATFISH!!!"

so if you were wondering about that too, let me make this perfectly clear: NO, as a matter of fact i *can't* tell the difference between a tuna and a catfish; and for artistic purposes i am still unconvinced that matters. of course, if i had ARTISTIC PORPOISES, i wouldn't need the tuna 'spector!!!!!!!!

hahaHAhaHAHAHAha!

sorry. i'll get m'coat.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

scrappy do

...and glittery, too! :)
here's a little card made entirely from scraps and leftover bits...dontcha just love it when you can use up instead of CLEAN UP?!
(patterned paper: my mind's eye, vintage ledger paper & time card; tag: heidi grace; flowers: prima; brads & glittery swirls & star: making memories; rub-on letters: lil davis; other: colorbox ink, foam tape, stickles, sakura glitter pens)

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

a multi-platform approach towards the aquisition of cheezburgers


A. the direct method
(to which lovely husband jeff inclines)


B. the indirect method
(my own choice)

(images from i can has cheezburger, obviously; to which--equally obviously--i am still entirely addicted!)


happy wednesday, darlings!

Monday, October 6, 2008

she scores AGAIN!

ok, so yesterday we discovered the beautiful precision with which you can score and fold using the scor-it board…but if you’re like me, you’re a multi-tasker, and you want your TOOLS to be, too. so i’m guessing you wanna know, "what else can it do??" well, it sure does EMBOSS* nicely! ok, so you can only make straight lines…but you can line them up at 1/16” apart, so there’s a lot of scope there.

for example, how 'bout embossing the texture on plaid patterned paper?

(cardstock: basic grey; patterned paper & diecute flower: my mind's eye; florals: prima; brad: making memories; ribbon: queen & co; rub-ons: creative imaginations; ink: colorbox)

or perhaps you'd prefer to make an overlapping frame on a card base, and highlight the petals on a pre-made diecut flower:

(patterned paper: basic grey; diecut flower: my mind’s eye; brad & eyelets: making memories; other: color box inks, foam tape)

speaking of frames, a simple embossed channel would be a nice way to set off a line of inchies, wouldn't it? (you could also make a whole grid of them...or even highlight just one...)


(patterned paper: basic grey, k&co, paper company; rub-ons: hambly, scenic route; sticker: 7 gypsies; flower: prima; gem: mambi; ink: colorbox; chalk: pebbles; foam tape: 3m)

finally, i made some notched spaces in which to place sunburst rays of patterned paper, and then fashioned some nested 3-D stars as a centerpiece:

(patterned paper: basic grey; chipboard stars (used as templates): fancy pants; brad: making memories; other: color box inks, pebbles ink, foam tape)

of course, you needn't stop there: how about over-and-under-lapping grid designs on a solid background? how about lattices covered with tiny prima flowers? how about raised faux stitching effects around (or within) a design? how about texturizing other geometric patterned papers? how about emphasizing details in an entire bouquet of flower petals and leaves?? how about making a raised grid for mosaic effects?

and if that isn't enough for you, why not check out the design team's ideas?! there's a whole gallery full of scor-it goodness for your delight--ENJOY!

*i'm sure there are papercrafters who can photograph embossed paper items and make them look as cool as they do in real life...but alas...i am not of their number. even with the best lighting my household provides, the camera on macro mode, and all scoring highlighted with a bit of chalk or ink or both...my photos don't really do these babies justice. they look--and feel!--much more fab irl! you're just gonna have to trust me on this! :)

Sunday, October 5, 2008

she shoots, she SCORES!!!!!!!!!

happy caardvarks challenge day, everybody!


this time we have a special gallery to show you, since every member of the caardvarks’ design team was the lucky recipient (thank you, thank you) of a scor-it board! we were given the compact version, the scor-it mini, which measures 6x9” and is absolutely ideal for making A-2* cards.

since i rarely buy pre-made blanks, i generally score & fold my own cards using a self-healing mat and the non-sharp side of my exacto knife. i measure to my desired length, mark each side lightly in pencil, line up the marks with a metal ruler, and draw the reversed knife across my paper a few times; then i fold & burnish…and then…i neaten up the edges on my guillotine trimmer. (because somehow, mysteriously, they're always just a TEENY bit out of square.)


now it’s not like i've been laying about in despair, moaning, "oh woe is me--scoring and folding cards is such a tedious, multi-stepped procedure!" in fact, i never thought about it, until i tried out this handy dandy tool, and discovered it's got ONLY ONE STEP: you place your paper on the scor-it board at your desired measurement and run the notched tool along the raised metal bar. period. the end. you get perfect pressure, perfect depth AND…most importantly to me…you get a perfectly square edge EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. (niiiiiiiiiiiiiice!)

i decided to make an accordion-fold booklet for nephew matthew’s first birthday**. i like accordion books: they’re easy & flexible…you can fit a lot in…and they stand up by themselves for display purposes...all of which makes them AWESOME for gifts. in fact the only thing i don’t particularly like about accordion books is ALL THE MEASURING…but…with the scor-it...there is no measuring! i cut a couple of sheets of 12x18” paper in half and scored them every four inches using the built-in guide. the whole operation took approximately 30 seconds.


one thing that’s a interesting about the scor-it is that the side of your paper which is face up on your board actually becomes *THE INSIDE* of the fold… (this is so that the little raised ridge that occurs gets hidden; to me the ridge is not at all unsightly, as you will see from tomorrow’s tutorial…but the scor-it folks recommend always working on the OPPOSITE side!) …ok, so in an accordion scenario, this means you need to *flip* your cardstock for each successive fold. had i been MEASURING, this would be quel drag, since i’d have to re-align board, ruler & cardstock between every fold. but on the scor-it you’ve got a nice flat edge to line up on, and the built-in ruler means that your panels will all be precisely the same size. there is even a little metal stop/attachment thingie you can use if you’re going to make the same fold a whole bunch of times; which would be excellent for xmas cards or other bulk items. (as i write this it occurs to me that you could also use the ruler feature to make graduated accordions, in which each panel gets bigger as the card goes on; i am going to have to investigate this in a future project!)


in this case, i wanted to incorporate 8 photos plus front & back covers, which meant i’d need 10 panels total. since i wanted each to be 4x6” that meant i needed to join a few sheets of scored paper together to make my finished booklet. which brings me to the other thing i used to dislike about accordion-fold booklets: if you have to join more than one sheet, and you don’t get every fold absolutely, completely, 100% square…when you go to overlap panels they are going to look wonky. i no longer dislike this, because every panel of every sheet of every section you make on the scor-it IS immediately and effortlessly compatible. and you know what that means: less time engineering and more time embellishing!


the concept was to give young matthew some birthday “do’s and don’ts” illustrating each with a photo of one of the nieces, taken on various birthdays. the pictures incorporate A LOT of colors…which meant i could either covert them all to b&w OR use a selection of multi-hued papers, each with a healthy dose of white to tie them together visually. (to this end, i also left a small white border around each photo and around each panel of patterned paper, inked all edges in black & printed every text box in the same bold black font on a stark white ground.) unusually for me, i went very light on the decorations; there was already SO MUCH going on here, plus i wanted the pictures/caption combos to be the stars of the show.

A simple ribbon tie and a few birthday themed embellies for the front and back covers and VOILA: a fun booklet that was a big hit at our the little guy's party!!!


panels L to R read, "DO: let people know it's your birthday" "DON'T: blow out all the candles yourself" "DO: examine your cake thoroughly" "DON'T: ask grown-ups their real age"

panels L to R read, "DO: enjoy evey treat to its fullest" "DON'T: miss even a little bit of ice cream" "DO: make some noise" "DON'T: wear the hat!!!"

TOMORROW: sure it folds like a dream, but what else does the scor-it do??! (don’t worry, i have some ideas for you!)

(products in birthday booklet: patterned paper: chirstina cole, dcwv, ki, sei, basic grey, junkitz; ribbon: making memories; chipboard star: heidi swapp; gems: k&co; fonts: brando, nip & tuck; ink: color box)


*if you don't consistently work with small card sizes, i think you will prefer the full-sized scor-it board which measures 12x12" and provides greater flexibility!


**you were wondering at the time why there was NO CARD to go with that present, now weren't you?!

Friday, October 3, 2008

apparently, some of my art journal pages are going to be digital!

like this one, for example:

which you can't really read b/c of the overlapping text...but i LOVE the overlapping text...so i'm keeping it! (for the record, it says, "chipmunks fear me, humans love me, amma tolerates me......i am thor")

of course even now that you know what it says, it still doesn't make sense unless you know that thor is the new cat of our friends in the adirondacks; and that to celebrate his official adoption, he spent most of last week presenting his hosts with a series of live but understandably wigged out chipmunks by day, and curling puppy-like on their laps by night; and that amma is the household's senior cat, who is frankly not completely convinced an auxilliary cat was necessary...particularly one who happens to be a human-appeasing, chipmunk-catching, lap-sitting brown-noser!

so then WHY am i showing this page?! well, for one thing, it's been a slow art-week folks, what with trying to catch up after vacation; for another, i spent an absolutely absurd amount of time* fiddling about in photoshop** despite using this excellent set of directions from art tea life*** and it just seemed a shame not to have something to show for all that. plus, i really do like this photo and how the page turned out. so there.

dead scientific, this blogging lark, innit?!

*hey june: remember when you were wondering if anyone else ever spends a whole bunch of time they don't have on unnecessary, tangential projects when they really really need to be accomplishing their actual work?! well the answer to that is, "nope. it's just you." hahahaha! (not)

**because, esentially, i don't fully understand the concept of "layers" and "opacity levels" and assaying photoshop without understanding layers and opacity levels is like optimistically deciding to become a professional musician without knowing anything about "notes" or "rhythm". of course, i bought a perfectly good photoshop book to learn exactly that sort of thing...like a year ago...it's on the shelf above my desk within reach even as we speak...but am i reaching for it? of course not. instead, i am sitting here bemoaning the fact that i don't really understand layers and opacity levels. so much more constructive! :)

***an absolutely stellar blog if you enjoy making or looking at traditional paper and/or digital collage!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

why i wish i were better at titles

because SOMETIMES the title makes all the difference, a point proven admirably by this recent(ish) entry from overheard in new york*:

And Almost As Stupid As Hot Aaron

Girl #1: I hooked up with Aaron on Friday. It was weird.

Girl #2: Hot Aaron or stupid Aaron?

Girl #1: Stupid Aaron.

Girl #2: Oh, my god, he is so hot.

--MAC Cosmetics, Spring Street

*which i will remind you is a decidedly adult, occasionally x-rated, often tasteless, nearly always devastatingly hilarious website i read at least a few times a week.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

sam you made the pants too long

or in this case
*i* made the card too small!

you see...there were these cool chipboard brackets...big ones...i painted 'em pink...and they looked gooooooooood.

but somehow, in between the laying out and measuring and the layering and the cutting...somehow...there turned out to be *not quite* enough room to fit everything on. i'm not sure how it happened...but i'm thinkin' the paper must have shrunk...yeah, that was probably it.

i thought about re-cutting it, but i was kind of short on time, so i decided it was pretty cute even without the brackets.
see?

(patterned paper: sei, scrapbook wizard; chipboard letters: heidi swapp, k&co, target, pressed petals; chipboard crown: maya road; chipboard flowers: disney; stickers: sandylion, mrs. grossman, hello kitty; velvet stickers: making memories; rub-ons: basic grey; other: delta acryllic paint, colorbox ink, zig pen,

anybody need an oversized pair of hot pink painted chipboard brackets??!