Sweet baby... er... toddler Grace Letter

As our friends have been having children, I've been using Provocraft wood letters to make monogram wall art that documents the statistics of their births. Well, this might be the LATEST baby gift ever (Grace turned TWO in April). Who knew that finding fairly plain green paper would be so difficult!?

Supplies: Wood letter - Provocraft (now discontinued); Flowers, Chipboard -Maya Road; Tags - Fiskars Punch; Metal "G" - Bazzill; Lace doilies - Martha Stewart/EK Success; Rub-ons - Doodlebug; Letter stickers - October Afternoon; Paint - Making Memories, Ranger

Fortunately, I had plenty of Maya Road goodness to dress up that green paper.

Inspiration Station: Adding texture with ribbons and pearls

I love pleating ribbon to add texture on my pages, but I like the idea of adding the pearls for some extra dimension.

Inspiration Station: Button Bouquets

When a creative drought hits hard, one of my favorite ways to restart and rev-up my creative juices is to hit a few junk stores. Here's a photo to help you too.

Feeling inspired yet?

Tools on Tuesdays: Letterpress Tips and Tricks

I've recently fallen in love with Letterpress. I love the look. I love the texture. And those of you who know me, know I also love the clean & simple, graphic nature of it.

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you get your own letterpress look (even without a letterpress set up).

Papers
-You can use thick watercolor paper with stamp ink impressions.
-Can also use cardstock and textured cardstock work as well, but impressions aren't as deep.

Tools
Stampin' Up Plates

• Use with Craft Ink for a good, clean impression.
• Classic Inks won't stick to the plate evenly so if you want a distressed look, go with these.

If you're using Stampin' Up plates in a Big Shot:

• Using the letterpress template with a set of new cutting plates works best
• Put it on the multi-purpose platform, Tab 1
• To make your "sandwich"
• Lay the letterpress face up on top of one cutting plate and ink it. Then move of those to lay on the top of Tab 1.
• Adhere your paper to the other cutting plate, then flip that over and layer on top of the letterpress plate.

If you're using the Lifestyle Crafts (QuicKutz) Letterpress system

• Instead of using the sticky sheets that Letterpress sells to hold the plates, run them through a Xyron with a non-permanenet cartridge installed.
• A little ink goes a long way
• If you'd like a better brayer, go with a speedball instead.
• Run the letterpress through a big shot as is. No need to add shims or cutting plates.

Inspiration Station: Cool Color Scheme of Blue-Green-Tan

My scrapbooking creativity tends to be inspired by the everyday. Today, it was a color scheme I noticed as I stepped out of the shower ......aren't you glad I was behind the camera?! ;)

A layout in the ClubCK Blog Highlight

Today I was surprised to learn that the Club CK blog featured one of my layouts.

Scrapbooking inspiration February 7, 2011

It's the heritage layout that won a red ribbon in the 2009 state fair so some of you "faithful" blog followers will already be familiar with it.

But here's something you haven't seen yet... the finished page in its frame, displayed on a buffet where I can enjoy it as I walk into my scraproom.



Have you seen the new Maya Road Sneaks?!

*Drool*

Ok, so it's no secret that I'm a bit of -who are we kidding here? - a full-fledged Maya Road junkie. And just when I think I have all the Maya Road goodness I could ever need, they totally blow me away with more product just begging to be used on my projects -or carefully hoarded in my stash. You know... whatever :)

Here are a few of my favorites, but check out the Maya Road blog for all of their newest releases.

You know I can't resist a little grid action...

Wouldn't these be perfect for heritage or wedding layouts?

And aren't the zipper trims totally rockin' on this chipboad album?

 Not to mention the super cool flowers you can make with them too!