Cape Cod Meets Serenity on the Hop

You have arrived at a stop on the hop. We started out at Club Scrap Creates, just in case you're lost!

Cape Cod is one of my favorites, but I say that about every kit because it's impossible for me to be objective. I realize this and have come to accept it.

I stumbled upon this nifty card structure designed by Susie Prendergast and illustrated by Penny Wessenauer, and I've had it on my "things to try someday" pile. Well, today was "some" day!





The basic supply list:
5.5x12 Serenity Light Blue
5.5x12 Serenity Dark Blue
5.5x8.5 folded Come Sail Away Dark Blue card
8.5x11 Serenity Yellow Plain

You will also need the following:
Bone Folder, Craft Knife and Cutting Mat, Adhesive, Faber-Castell Big Brush Markers, Scorel-Pal, and those amazing Cape Cod Unmounted Stamps (Borders & Backgrounds, FontArt, Greeting and Collection)

Here is a peek at the cutting/folding diagram you can find via the link. It may take a few minutes to sort it all out, but it's worth the effort.

My best advice is to arrange the papers on your work surface exactly as shown in the diagram and follow the slit-cutting indicators carefully. (I had to piece one of the sections back together with tape!)

I love how the card flattens completely, so you can easily drop it into a standard envelope and send it off to Operation Write Home!

For the inside of the card, I stamped the awesome Father's Day sentiment from the UM Greetings plate. I love that one! (I think I just completed the card I'll give my dad!)

Hope you like! Thanks for stopping!

Your next stop on the hop is across the globe in the Netherlands at Hetty Sanders' place called Craft Chaos.

Fondly,
Tricia

OWH Sketch #B-10

Welcome to the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Weekend Blog Hop! I want to offer a special shout out to military families who have foregone the blessing of being together this weekend. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

Crazy thing. I printed the OWH bonus sketches and selected #B-10 for my cards/formula of the day. (Thus, the super-fancy title of today's blog entry.) After completing my cards, I walked over to Kay Williamson's desk and saw a handful of 1x4" paper strips. Would you BELIEVE that of the 170+ sketches available, we chose the SAME one? Hello? It's a pretty great sketch! Keep that in mind when you hop to Kay's Keepsakes to see our different interpretations!

Before I get further, be sure to leave a comment for some blog candy! (Details below.)

Let's get started with our formula. I chose five different papers and a few rubber stamps from the Club Scrap Cape Cod collection.

1. Trim each 8.5x11 paper horizontally at 5.5". Score one 5.5x8.5 horizontally at 4.25" and fold to create the card base.
2. Cut the other 5.5x8.5 horizontally at 8.25, 6.25 and 4". Trim the 4x5.5 horizontally at 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1".
3. Trim the 2.25x5.5 horizontally at 3.25".
4. Cut the 2x5.5 horizontally at 5 and 3".

Note: You will have a .5x4 strip, 2.25" square and 2" square that will not be used on your finished cards. How 'bout using the nesting squares and anchoring strip on another set of four cards? (Heavens, I dislike wasting beautiful paper. Can you tell?)

Once you've sorted all of the pieces into piles by size, place the card bases onto your work surface and arrange the components according to the sketch, alternating the colors.

I wanted to create a cohesive stamped background with my nifty Cape Cod images, so I came up with a way to stamp all five strips in one move with one image.

Place a piece of painter's tape horizontally on a Desk Blotter, sticky side up. The printed grid helps with alignment. Secure the tape with a small piece on each end.

Temporarily place the five 1" pieces side by side across the strip of tape.

Stamp with an image, remove the strips from the tape, and adhere to the card base in the same order.

Nifty, right?

So, check out the fun cards after final assembly . . .

Will you give this formula a try? Just take it step by step if you're new to this type of thing. You'll love it!

Leave a comment below, and I'll enter your name into a drawing to receive this gorgeous sheet of unmounted Cape Cod images from Club Scrap! Good luck, and have an awesome weekend.

Tricia

Update: Laurie, comment #43, was the lucky winner of the blog candy this month. Congratulations!

Efficient Scrapbooking

Welcome to another awesome Club Scrap Creates blog hop!

One of my favorite things to do is to find something fun to listen to watch on Netflix, cue it up on my laptop, don my wireless bluetooth headphones, pour a glass of red wine, and scrapbook. I always stand up while I'm scrapbooking. Do you do that?

But sometimes I get myself all set up, and nothing happens. Like, "Okaaaaaay. I'm ready!" Nothing.

That was today.

Enter: The Layout Card. That super-handy, efficient lifesaver that rescues me from the dreaded "staring zone."

I browsed and downloaded the Bold Blooms layout card from August, 2012. (Normally this is available to Club Scrap members only, but I really want you all to see how it worked out and give you the opportunity to try it, too!) I thought it would be a good one for the Cape Cod collection that I absolutely must use immediately.

This is my approach:

1. Study the distribution of papers on the layout sketch.

2. Look at what you have on hand and imagine those papers being on the pages.

3. Assign colors to each paper; be flexible. I just write it in with a pencil, and make changes as needed.

4. Trim the papers according to the detailed cutting instructions. Note: I rarely look at the sketches during this process, but simply follow the written steps. Put all of the pieces on a big, beautiful pile.

5. Assemble the puzzle; be flexible. Once you've decided on your arrangement, adhere the pieces. 

For this particular layout design, I used a ruler to help maintain a margin of .5" on all four sides of the collaged section. That worked swell.

6. Add photos; be flexible. I ended up rotating the pages, eliminating and changing elements, swapping the right side with the left side, etc. The point here is that the layout card got me started!

Sip, sip. What should I do next? I'm on a roll!

Meanwhile, you're hopping along to see what my favorite Dutch crafter, Hetty Sanders, is up to at Craft Chaos.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!
Tricia

Spring Chorus Gift Envelope

Glad to have you hop by!

I've been a busy gal this month with lots of filming, editing, instruction-writing, and more. We just wrapped up the Spring Chorus edition of the Scrap Rap where we featured a fun handmade notecard holder out of a sheet of 8.5x11 paper. (See page 14.)

The holder is thick enough to store a set of four A2 envelopes and notecards. Use the gorgeous papers in the Club Stamp Spring Chorus collection to make a few beautiful sets! Dust off your 8x8 Grid Ruler, cuz you'll need it!

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.



I'm also excited to announce the winner of last month's blog candy from comment #37 . . . Karen Ladd! Congratulations! We have contacted you privately with your gift certificate for $15 to do a little shopping at clubscrap.com!

Leave a comment below to put your name in the hat for next month's prize!

Hoppers, you're off to the super-creative CS member Hetty Sanders at Craft Chaos. Thanks for checking in!

Karen Wyngaard	http://clubscrapcreates.blogspot.com
Pat Huntoon	http://www.patstamps.blogspot.com
Julie Heyer	www.capecodscrapper.blogspot.com
Ron Perry	http://randomdoorways.blogspot.com/
Roni Johnson	http://inkstainswithroni.blogspot.com
Deb Charlesworth	http://liftbridge.blogspot.com/
Deb Weller	http://debduzscrappin.blogspot.com/
Jill Pechauer	http://jmp1022.blogspot.com/
Tricia Morris	http://theefficientcrafter.blogspot.com
Hetty Sanders	http://craftchaos.blogspot.com
Kay Williamson	http://kayskeepsakes.blogspot.com
Cathy Gray	http://cathyjgray.typepad.com/the_artful_gamut/
Anne Marie Healey	http://artfullybalanced.blogspot.com
Anne Hunter	http://crzymomstidbits.blogspot.com/
Shona Gibson	shonascraps.blogspot.com
Jen Rodgers	http://scraphappysistersink.blogspot.com/
Debby Hernandez	http://masculineinspirationsinpapercrafts.blogspot.com/

Gotta Wear Shades Bookshelves Blog Hop

Welcome back to the Blog Hop! I'm so glad you're here!

I adore the image of the spectacles on the Bookshelves unmounted rubber stamp sheet, and since I feel pretty comfortable with a craft knife, I thought I'd kick around a few ideas.

Some of the stamp sentiments we used this month really tickle my funny bone. I found myself giggling as I was making these cards! Giggling is healthy. That's why my future's so bright, I've gotta wear shades. And I wear my sunglasses at night, too. Just sayin'.

Here's how it goes:

1. Stamp those cute specs onto a card panel with Mahogany ink. Use a craft knife to remove the lenses. TIP: rotate the paper as you cut so that you're always holding the knife comfortably.

2. Tape a pre-cut piece of mirror paper to the back of the stamped paper. We even have some available if you need it!

3. Stamp the UM book image (from the Borders & Backgrounds sheet) and trim it from the paper. Fold it in half along the spine, and bend the pages between your thumb and a bone folder to curve them a bit. It really adds some nice shape to the card!

4. Add stamped sentiments and nest the panels onto mattes and cards. Giggle a little. They say it's good for you! My card bases were made with the 8.5x11 papers from the Bookshelves Club Stamp assortment.

Just in case it's hard to see, these are the quotes I used:

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

"Never judge a book by its movie."

"Book lovers never go to bed alone."

"Nothing beats curling up with a good book when there's housework waiting."

"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."

Good times, I tell you. Good times,
Tricia

Oh, I almost forgot. Our winner from last month's hop was Shelly Schmidt, Comment #33. She won a $15 gift certificate to do some shopping at Club Scrap.

Leave a comment below to be entered into next month's prize drawing!

Then, hop along and enjoy! Your next stop is with the fabulous Hetty Sanders at Craft Chaos.

Up, Up and Away Club Scrap Blog Hop!

Well, well . . . seems that my blogging focus has been over at Club Scrap Creates these days! Had to dust off the cobwebs over here. Just so 'ya know, I'm still crafting efficiently!

Special thanks to my favorite crafty Dutch pal, Hetty Sanders, for helping us launch the blog hop.

Without further ado, I've had a prototype of this project on my desk since the end of December. Cute, isn't it?

I thought it might be fun to do with the Up, Up and Away Unmounted FontArt.

You could make this in a pinch if you were desperate for a last-minute gift. I always seem to be in that situation. You?

So, easy steps. I'm not even going to sketch this out for you. You'll be fine. But I've got a couple of good assembly tips for 'ya.

1. Start with a 12x12" sheet of Up, Up & Away printed paper. Hold it on edge to determine the grain direction. Which way does it dip the deepest?

Can you see it? The paper is more, um, "dippy" in the first photo. After rotating the paper and holding it on a neighboring edge, it's more stiff and straight.

Drop the paper into the trimmer with the dip running left to right. Trim at 5.5". So, that's a really verbose way of saying, "Trim a 12x12 to 5.5x12." You can get two out of each 12x12 by trimming at 11 and 5.5".  (The technical name for this cut would be grain short.)

2. Use your favorite tool to score the paper vertically at 1/2, 1-3/4, 3 and 4-1/4". Score horizontally at 1.5 and 10.5".

3. It will be difficult to see the score lines if you're using a printed paper. Make a pencil mark to indicate the location of the intersecting score lines to that you can see where to place stamped images.

4. Mount that awesome border stamp onto a CS Grid Ruler. Check to make sure it's properly aligned and stamp within a marked area with Fuchsia ink.

5. If you're still in the mood, keep stamping! I added a second border stamped in Lagoon ink, and some balloons in Orchid ink. No need to stamp onto the 1/2" scored area. It will be tucked away.

6. Ready for some freestyle cutting? Use a scissors to remove the two 1/2 x 1-1/2" corners created by the intersecting score lines. Then cut along the three remaining long score lines from the outside edges to the intersecting score. This will create three tabs.

7. Next, snip away about half of the first and third tabs on each side.

9. Punch a hole into the four remaining long tabs.

10. Place the paper right side up on your work surface, and add a strip of adhesive to the narrow 1/2" flap along the outer edge.

11. Rather than try to form the box at this point, simply turn the paper over and fold up the 1/2" tab with the adhesive exposed. Then, simply fold the paper in half so that the edges line up.

12. Form the shape of the box.

13. Tuck in the short tabs. Squeeze together the long tabs.

14. This was the part where I thought it would be more efficient to just punch both holes at the same time at this stage of the game rather than back at step 9. And efficiency is what I'm all about. Except this time the efficiency is hindsight. So I took a fake picture of the step that never occurred.

15. Close the tabs with a ribbon. Or a twist tie. Or whatever else you can think of. But first, put something fun inside.

Leave a comment below with an idea of what you might put inside this adorable little box, and I'll enter your name in a drawing to get a prize sent to you! The space inside the box is roughly 1.25" square by 9" long. I have lots of ideas, but I'm curious to know what you'd do!!!

Thanks for hopping along with us. Your next stop is at Craft Chaos!

http://craftchaos.blogspot.com

Up, Up & Away!
Tricia