Handmade Cards: Quilted Stars

A while ago I saw some cards that used this Square Lattice embossing to create a quilted look.  Last week I was looking at the most recent create blog challenge gallery and loved that first card with the triangle-pieced stars.  I couldn't wait to put the two ideas together in these two cards!

I made the triangles by punching squares using a Square Punch and then cutting the squares in half.  The papers were just scraps of patterned paper that hat been languishing (some for years!) in my paper scraps.  The old ones were not particularly loved papers.  Some were kindly handed down to me by a friend moving overseas.  None of them really go together, but the embossing still makes them pretty and ties the whole look together!  

To make the design I arranged my scraps how I wanted them first.  You can see that in one card I arranged the colors randomly and in the other I used yellows in the center, pinks next, then greens on the outside.  I like both looks.  I put adhesive on my background paper in approximately the right spots, then moved my design onto the adhesive.  In some places there wasn't enough adhesive to keep a triangle down and I had to add some liquid glue under one side.  In other places adhesive was showing with nothing glued to in and I had to remove it. 

Side note: Do you have one of these adhesive removal tools?  They are sooo handy!  Just rub the sticky off!  

Then I took the entire design and embossed it through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  This is a 5x7" card so I had to run the white piece through twice to cover the entire surface.  Of course, this folder is such a regular pattern that it was easy to line it up correctly the second time.  One thing I'm still working on is trying not to get a flattened out area just beyond the overlap - if anyone has any tips on this I would love to hear them!

No time to craft?

Hey everyone!!  Been wanting to make some stuff but regular life keeps getting in the way?  Wish you could just set aside some time to create?  You would but the kids would interrupt you every ten minutes?  ("Ten minutes?!" you say, "try every 30 seconds!!") 

Well, I am so excited to be attending a crafting retreat at the end of June!  It is Cheryl's Rockin' Retreat and it is an entire weekend to create, chat, relax, learn or any combination thereof!  It's going to be awesome!  If you can be in the Central Texas area, how about joining us?  

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I'm even teaching an optional class and so are several other people:  Bits and Pieces: Designing to Use Your Scraps $10

Are all those pretty paper scraps landing in the trash bin?  Use them instead! 

We will make three projects while learning to use the little bits and pieces we normally throw away.  We'll also learn a basic system for organizing scraps so they are easy to save and use. 

Even if you have no idea how to start designing something to use your scraps, this fun class is for you!

Handmade Card: Baby Dear

Here is a pretty little baby girl card to share! I made this for a friend who was going to a baby naming celebration - I was so thrilled she was taking it in person rather than mailing it because that meant I could add some thick embellishments!  I love that pink rose - it is so shimmery and pretty but it was languishing in my embellishment stash since it was too thick to mail on a standard card.

 I love an occasional chance to go girly!

Scrapbook Layout: Ninja & Shark

I might be a little off-season with this layout, but I have really been wanting to use these awesome photos taken by our friend Brian Dewey at Halloween!  He's a talented professional photographer and also part of our kids' carpool so it was really exciting when he offered to take Halloween photos of the kids at a neighborhood party.  The images are so different than what I could manage with only the available lighting and my point and shoot flash, that even though I don't normally do a Halloween layout, I wanted to this time. Doesn't Zack's intensity about his costume show through the picture?

I was glad to use it as a chance to capture how their ages and personalities showed in their costume experiences, so it wrote on die-cut Top Notes*, one for each boy.  I wanted a spooky but elegant look without using pre-made Halloween products (since I don't do a lot of Halloween scrapbooking, I didn't want to buy any custom product with spiders or what-have-you.  Also, I just like the less Halloween-specific feel).  I choose black background paper and a dark brown transparent overlay made by Slice/Making Memories (I can't find a link to the transparency sheets so maybe they don't make them anymore).  I intentionally left a strip of the transparency without any backing.  I plan to do another layout to back it with that will coordinate with that spot, but I don't know exactly what- wish me luck! 

The title is done with Thickers in felt - I love how they feel!  You can feel the texture even through a page protector.  Then I added black, die-cut leaves and black, hand-cut branches.  Branches are not hard to hand cut, especially when they are supposed to look bare and spooky!  I got the idea for the row of paper flag/pennant pieces at the bottom of the pictures from somewhere else but I can't find it (not for lack of trying!) so thank you to a nameless inspiration!  To finish it off I stamped the bird from the Stampin' Up! Notably Ornate* set, embossed it and cut it out.  That bird can look pretty or spooky!  Or maybe both!

*If you use the links above my friend and fabulous Stampin' Up demonstrator, Cheryl, will benefit, but so will you since you'll get the preferred pricing by checking out through a demonstrator!