Here's my second project for today's anniversary party at Papertrey Ink. Maile Belles is one of my favorite designers and I'm thrilled she'll be designing stamps as well as projects for Papertrey this year.
All products by Papertrey Ink except the gems from my stash. Cardstock: Select White & Enchanted Evening; Patterned paper: Bitty Dots; Dies: Limitless Layers and small rickrack; Copic markers.
Papertrey Ink's at it again today with great challenges. Today nine designers created tags that could be downloaded, printed, and used to create a project. My first project is a notepad which I need for an upcoming blog giveaway.
All products by Papertrey unless noted. Tag designed by Ali Miles; Cardstock: Spring Moss, Select White; Stamps: It's Official, Mat Stack Collection #3; Dies: Limitless Layers; Button: New Leaf; Copic markers; Patterned paper: DeLovely (Cosmo Cricket); DMC floss
It's Papertrey Ink's 4th anniversary, and in typical Papertrey style they've started celebrating big-time! You can check out the details of the contest here. Despite the odds against winning this fabulous prize package, I knew I'd find it interesting to go back through the year (February to February) and look at what I created with Papertrey products. I found several I like more than others. This, this (the first card), this, and this. But I finally decided on this thank-you card that I created for all my Christmas thank-you notes. I love the simplicity of it, and the colors. And it uses one of my favorite stamp sets, Love Lives Here, that was released in the last year. Details are here.
I really need motivation to take photos on a daily basis. I've started Project 365 twice and made it to about June before I gave it up. It's much easier for me if I have a prompt of some kind, some kind of muse to keep me focused. Recently I came upon Project 64: Out of the Box which began just five weeks ago, so catching up wasn't much of a problem, although you can join the group anytime and just start where they are. Here's the explanation for the project, taken from the website.
We are calling this photographic journey Project64: Out of the Box. We are a group of 6 ladies and one official color selector (my hubby) planning on taking a 64 week journey through a box of crayons. We are hoping to take the crayons out of the box for a little inspiration in our photographic work! Each week we will be assigned a color, chosen at random from a box of 64 count crayola crayons. We will then take our color inspiration and search for it in the world around us! You'd be surprised by the colors you miss when you're not looking! The goal of the project is to challenge us creatively, making us think outside the box, and to hopefully slow down a little bit and notice the world around us! Of course accomplishing a 64 week goal is fun too!
I just happened to have a brand new box of 64 crayons in my craft closet.
Here are the first five colors for the project.
Week 1 was Yellow Green. There's not much in my house that's yellow green, but while I was holding the crayon I looked up on my bookshelf and found Bill Bryson's "Dictionary for Writers and Editors." It's almost a perfect match.
Week 2 was Carnation Pink. I've had these tulips on my table for nearly a week. Another perfect match–even though they're not carnations.
Week 3 was Chesnut. This basket holds my 8X8 pads of paper.
Last week's search was for Robin's Egg Blue. I didn't think there'd be much of that around here either, but was delighted to find some twine I just received from The Twinery that was Robin's Egg Blue.
As it turns out, I didn't need to leave my studio to find any of these colors!
This week's color is gray, and I'll post it next week when the link goes up at Project 64. One of the things I think I'll enjoy about these challenges is another chance to put the 60mm macro lens to use.
Rinda threw down a challenge earlier this month to create an art journal, book, or some method of keeping a record of your progress with your One Little Word. My word for 2011 is FINISH, and I am well aware that having some method of accountabilty helps me in any endeavor. Typically I made a book or a layout to document my One Little Word, but I've never done a monthly accounting. I've decided to join her, and created a tag book to record my progress.
I had a set of chipboard tags from The Paper Source that I purchased for a project that was never finished. (Hah, thus my word for 2011!) I decided this was a perfect format for this project. I painted the tags with Making Memories Manila paint, and distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Walnut Stain ink. Then I chose some papers for the project. I decided to stick with Papertrey Ink papers since their colors remain consistent from one paper collection to the next. I chose a kraft cardstock and shades of brown, kraft, & cream with a bit of green mixed in for the patterned papers.
My second decision was to utilize my stamp collection rather than letter stickers. For the cover I stamped Papertrey's Fillable Frame #9 and the word "finish" with the Fresh Alphabet. The 2011 came from Calendar Basics which I used to stamp all of the months as well as the little star detail (more about that later.) The tab and hanging tag are both from Basic Grey.
There are seven tags total. I'll journal for each month on one side. For the back of the cover I typed up a list of projects I'd like to finish this year, cut them in strips and distressed the edges. Do I think I can complete all 12 projects? Probably not, but I think the list will help keep me focused this year. You can see one star next to JYC 2010 because I have finished that project. As I complete each project, a small star will be added next to the title.
For the journaling I've decided to use Papertrey's Spiral Notebook Page die and paper from their Library Ledger collection. It seems to be just the right size, and I'm trying to streamline this project as much as possible so it doesn't become an unfinished project in the end. I also decided to change the color of my ink whenever I use the word "finish" as a way to accent the accomplishments. You can see I chose to add a comment about another activity as well as my papercraft projects.
I found the perfect spot to display the tag book—on my table under my printer's drawer that holds many of my wooden stamps. I'll see it every day and will have a visual reminder of my focus for 2011. Thanks, Rinda! I'm not sure I would have done this without your prompting, and I'm glad I did.
I'm linking this post to Creative Every Day.
I have two challenges to share today. The first is the Moxie Fab Bright and Bold Color challenge. I'd like to get all of the color challenges completed by the end of the month if I can.Here are the colors:
And here's my card:
I had these white flowers left over from another project and decided they'd be perfect for the card. Everything is from Papertrey Ink except for the two orange buttons.
One of my goals this year is to develop a daily practice of taking photos. I'm not trying to do a Project 365 since I've failed twice at that already. I've joined Darcy's Flickr group for Project 52, and I'm planning on playing along at Darcy's Sweet Shot Tuesday when I can. Here's my favorite shot from last week. Tracy's growing some Christmas cactus under lights in the basement. When they bloom, he brings them upstairs for us to enjoy. I'm trying to learn to use my new macro lens, so this was a good subject.
Our niece, Alyssa, just had a baby girl. I used the new Clean & Simple Sketch 123 as a starting place for the card. I had thought might also meet the monochromatic pink challenge on Moxie Fab, but decided my pink was too bright and the patterned paper probably disqualified it.
Here's the sketch:
And the card for Alyssa:
Cardstock: BoBunny Dotted & pink from scrap drawer; patterned paper: Happy Spots & Bitty Dots (Papertrey Ink); Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings; ribbon: Paper Source
There's still time to leave a comment here if you're interested in reading The Book of Inspiration. I'll be back tonight with the winner of the next Pass the Book recipient.
I needed to get several cards made for upcoming birthdays and decided I'd try the CASE Study challenge again for one of them. Frankly, I found this one very challenging. The two circles really caused me pause, and perhaps I should have gone with other elements of the card to case. Nonetheless, here is the card to case:
You don't really have to case the layout, but that's what I chose to do. I'm not unhappy with the result, but it isn't one of my favorites. I tried a lot of different things, paper flowers, felt flowers . . . but couldn't seem to come up with anything that seemed to be balanced until I went with stamped images.
Cardstock: Pure Poppy (Papertrey); Patterned paper and cardstock border stickers: Circa 1934 (Cosmo Cricket); Stamps: Giga Guidelines, Guidelines two, Round and About Sentiments (Papertrey); Circle punches, plain and scalloped, ribbon (Michaels)
Although I haven't participated in as many challenges this year, the Caardvarks challenge site was always one of my favorites. They've posted their final challenge to create a monochromatic card. I needed an anniversary card at the end of the month and think this fits the bill:
Cardstock: Shimmer cardstock; Patterned Paper: Wisteria (Basic Grey); Heart punch (EK Success) and corner rounder (Creative Memories); Silk ribbon (Papertrey Ink)
I wasn't sure I'd have a project ready for this blog hop, but the last afternoon before we left for California I managed to get a tag created. Here's this month's challenge:
TAG TIME
Recently the design team and I put together a variety of holiday tags that are perfect to keep on hand for quick wrap options. Now it's your turn to inspire us and the rest of the Papertrey community! Design a holiday tag or two using all of your favorite goodies and share it with all of us! We will all have plenty of inspiration to create a large stash and try to get ahead of the hustle and bustle of the season!
Here's my contribution to the hop:
I had this pretty red box from Talbots in my cupboard and tied a Pure Poppy Swiss Dotted ribbon around it. That dictated the colors for my tag. I started by die cutting a Tag Sale 1 die with Select White cardstock. Then I die cut a piece of Pure Poppy felt with a Limitless Layers die. I stamped on of my favorite images from the 2008 Holiday Tag set on Pure Poppy cardstock and embossed it with white embossing powder. I created the black cardstock frame but using two circle punches one inside the other. To finish off the tag, I gathered another piece of Pure Poppy Swiss Dotted ribbon and adhered it with Scor-Tape. Now I just need to find the right gift to put inside the box!
This is my second post for today, so be sure to scroll down for Thanksgiving wishes!
I've been following along with this challenge site for a few weeks now, but this is the first time I've played along. Here's the card to case by Heather Pulvirenti:
I loved the ruffled ribbons along the bottom, and stayed with the general orientation and layout of her card, but used one of my Zva Creative designs that I won several months ago for the focal image. I made the flower by tightly winding the ribbon and attaching it to a punched cardstock circle. The card will soon be off to good friends of ours who will be celebrating their anniversary next weekend.
Cardstock: Green textured (unknown), Fine Linen and Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); Ribbon (from stash); Stamp (Hero Arts); Scalloped Oval Nestability (Spellbinders)
I've only played along with Sunday Creative once before, although I enjoy going through all the wonderful entries each week. This week's prompt was "nostalgia," and I had the perfect object to photograph. Just a week or so ago, I found a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera at an antique shop in Corning. This is the fourth vintage camera I've picked up, but this one is the first that has any meaning to me. My very first camera was a Kodak Brownie. How I wish I still had it! The first roll of film I ever remember taking was of Niagara Falls on a family trip. It was black & white film (of course) and even as a kid, I was dismayed when the film was developed to discover that nearly all the photographs looked exactly the same. It was many years before I learned to vary the composition of a subject. So here's a look at my cute "new" Brownie, although regular blog readers will recognize it from yesterday's post on ISO.
Once again I played around with some textures in PSE. I used Kim Klassen's Light Paper 4 at Soft Light, then Cinnamon at Soft Light, and finally decreased the saturation to -32.
Today's post for 31 Days to a Better Photo dealt with shutter speed. It seems to me from my reading that most people understand shutter speed before they understand aperture. I had the opposite experience. Before I started shooting in manual this year, I almost always shot in aperture priority. Occasionally I would play with shutter speed, usually while shooting water in a fountain or a waterfall, but I rarely got what I hoped for. After today's exercises I feel more comfortable with shutter speed, and know that one of the problems I've always had in the past is not using a tripod.
I've been planning a post about my new studio for a while, but have had trouble getting the shots I wanted, primarily because of the lights in the studio. Although this room has more light than my last one, our house is generally dark, and we need artificial light most of the time. Today I put the camera on the tripod, and practiced two techniques (in addition to changing shutter speed) that I picked up on Kent Weakley's blog: depressing the shutter button with almost no movement with your index finger, and using the self-timer set at 2 seconds. Although I got good results with both, I much prefer the self-timer. So here are the photos from the shutter speed experiment.
Shutter speed 1/125
Shutter speed 1/30
Shutter speed 1/8
Shutter speed 0.4
The best of the lot is #3, and I would never be able to get a sharp picuture hand holding the camera at that speed. Although the last photo is very washed out, it has an artsy feel to it that I don't mind. These photos show the main work space in my new studio. The corner desk actually divides the room into two area. The TV in the corner in on a wooden stand Tracy made years ago to hold my wooden stamps. The shelves hold paper, supplies, notebooks, embellishments, alphas, and paper pads. Using lots of baskets maximizes the space there.
This room also has a built-in desk. I gathered all my books from around the house and brought them all into the studio so I have a shelf of books about scrapbooking/cardmaking, a shelf for photography, writing, computer manuals, and a few favorites. I also have room to display some photos and special treasures I've picked up in our travels. My sewing machine has been set up in this room for over a year. The drawers now house all of my sewing supplies as well as some office supplies.
At the same end of the room is a reading and die cutting station. I've had my Cuttlebug and dies in this room for nearly a year as well, but I purchased a lateral file that matches my desk to create a die cutting table. My Slice sits on top, and the Cuttlebug, dies, impression plates, and embossing folders are on the open shelves. In the file drawers are all my paper scraps filed by color, alpha stickers, and some patterned papers. In the corner is my wonderful red chair from LL Bean that folds out to create a single bed if needed.
Behind my desk and between the door to the room and the closed door is my fold-up table from IKEA. It was one of the best $19 I ever spent. It's mounted to be counter height so if I want to stand to put together a layout I can, but it doesn't take up much room when collapsed against the wall. Above it is a printer's drawer I refinished a year or so ago where I house most of my wooden sentiment stamps. The table isn't centered under it because I wanted to be able to open the closet door when it's up. I now have an Ott clamp light for the table, and keep it up most of the time.
Really, I can't believe I fought this move for so long. I absolutely love everything about it. It's so easy to find everything, and very quick to put away the terrible mess I always make when creating. The best part is that both Tracy and Matt come in here to visit much more frequently now. It really is a very inviting place.
It's been the second day where everything I do seems to take twice as long as I allotted. I needed a wedding card, so I did get one card made during World Card Making Day. This fits the Caardvarks Clean & Simple Challenge as well.
Supplies: Cardstock: from stash; Dies: Diamond Impression Plate
(PTI); Scrap-Mart Exclusive Square/Oval Nestability; Pearls: Zva
Creative; ribbon: Midori; Stamp: Delightful Dahlias (PTI)
Today for my photography project, I set up my new tripod and ball head. I think I'll enjoy using it. I ended up getting the lighter of two tripods I considered, giving up some stability. I know myself well enough to know I'm not going to want to haul a heavy tripod out in the field. I also got out the neutral density filter and figured out how to get it on the camera. Friday we're planning a little photography road trip so I can put some of this into practice.
I also spent too much time this morning reading photography tips and watching videos on Kent Weakley's Blog. It is definitely worth checking out. His explanations are clear and his photography is wonderful. I particularly liked a series of five videos on getting sharper focus. I'll be trying all of them soon, and the tips are good for any camera. Another great post was the Top 5 Reasons for Getting the Shot Now. Great practical advice here.
Here's another card for the Moxie Fab Off-Set Scallop Challenge as well as for the Papertrey Pixies September challenge. As usual, I'm getting this in just under the wire for the second challenge! Pat's inspiration piece was an ad from a Macy's catalog. It was truly a challenge; so much going on here.
Pat identified six Papertrey colors she saw in the ad: white, kraft, Ocean Tides, Terracotta Tile, Orange Zest, and Plum Pudding. There are, of course, florals, diamonds, and repeated patterns as well. I finally decided to go with just the colors. They aren't ones I would typically put together, but I incorporated all of them and am pleased with the outcome.
I started with a Kraft base, used the Woodgrain Impression Plate, and coated it with the Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink. The image, colored with Prisma colored pencils, and sentiment are from the Friendship Jar Fall Fillers. The cork tag came in one of my Scrapbook Circle kits. and the border punch is an EK Success punch. The purple twill from my stash is a bit more purple IRL.