Spring is Coming!

... but not to Calgary, Alberta! It's been snowing here, and is still snowing. It's going to be a late spring! But for My Sheri Crafts challenge this week, I made a spring LO and a new idea to share.

The LO:



I'm beginning to try to use my stash in more creative ways, and so many of my LOs have my old alpha stickers on them and the Jolee embellishments. I still like using them, but haven't bought any in years! Time to use them up!







I love sewing on LOs:



Supplies:
Paper: SEI Poppy Paper pad
Embellishment: Ladybug by Jolee's by You
Alpha Stickers: Me & My Big Ideas "mambi minis"; Martha Stewart "Holly Alphabet"
Journal tag: Deja Views "Love journal sticker tablet"

And a quick tutorial:

I got these MS felt alphas after Christmas for super-cheap at Michael's, but I couldn't really think of how to use them. There's not enough to make a big title, and they seem pretty limiting. But, after a close look, I realized that I could probably slice the holly off them!



Using a sharp exacto knife, slide it under the holly and gently slice through the top layer of the underlying felt:



Here it is, next to an unchanged letter. Looks like it never had anything there!



And the completed title. I've very happy with the outcome! And, happy to use those letters in a different way!

Mardi Gras

Here's DD and her fabulous face paint, for Carnival. Fun days!







Paper: DCWV Street Lace
Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly edge punch
Cricut Hannah Montana cartridge (butterfly die cut)
Font: Grenouille ("Mardi"); Liorah BT ("Gras")

Hannah's Apples

Love this week's challenge, Organic, but usually when I'm eating it! A LO was a bit of a trick, so I made a page of my DD's tree:





Love the dimensionality of the embellishments!

Supplies:

Paper: DCWV Eco Stack
Martha Stewart stamps
Versamark and red embossing powder
Black Dew Drops
Letter stickers

My Sheri Crafts -- Celebrations

This LO is with pictures from a fabulous company Christmas Party in 2008. I love the paper, Me and My Big Ideas: Sugarplum, and the cuts are from Cricut Christmas solutions cartridge.

The whole Double Layout:


Left Side:


Right Side:


Journaling, done on vellum, dotted with a white marker, reindeer drawn by hand:


Santa's beard and eyebrows were done with the same paper, but flocked in Martha Stewart white flocking. Beautiful in person!


Now, make sure you check out My Sheri Crafts this week and enter the challenge!

My Sheri Crafts -- Bears!

My Sheri Crafts challenge this week is Teddy Bear themed. I found this old photo of me, and decided I'd make a cute little Teddy LO for my "All About Me" book:



November 1st I was able to download six free cricut cartridges for my Gypsy, and fortunately I only had one already. I was thrilled to gain the Christmas solutions cartridge, as I'd already wanted it but couldn't justify buying it since I already had Christmas Cheer and Winter Woodland. Here's my first cut from it, the teddy bear:



He's embossed with the A2 embossing folder, Textile Texture. I cut first, then used a cricut marker, then ran through my cuttlebug and chalked with Pebbles Chalk. Love that stuff, love the effect.



I'm forever a sucker for some of the MS punches, so this one got me last week. It's a new one, called Cherish. It's a PATP set, and it's beautiful! I'm sure it'll make it on to many of my LOs!



Supplies:
DVWC WB Gypsy Baby Stack
Martha Stewart Cherish Punch
Ribbon
Martha Stewart Antique Gold Glitter
Cuttlebug A2 embossing folder, Textile Texture
Pebbles Chalk

My Sheri Crafts -- Remembrance Day

This week's challenge on My Sheri Crafts is special: it's Remembrance Day (Veteran's Day for our American friends). My Uncle Stewart is a retired member of the British Armed Forces, and this is my favorite photo of him, on exercise sometime the 80's. Being so far away, I didn't grow up knowing him; but on visits to Northern Ireland as an adult, I have grown to appreciate what an amazing man he is.







Supplies:

Martha Stewart "Modern Garland" punch
Paper: DCWV "At Home" stack
Glossy Accents and Distress Stickles ("Broken China") on Uncle
Heritage cricut cartridge

Please check out the other inspirational projects atMy Sheri Crafts and enter yours!

Finally, I'd like to share this video with you. It was shown to my students on a field trip last week to the Calgary Military Museum. Please check out the Military Museum if you can. It's truly fabulous, and well worth a full days visit.



All Canadians who fall in the line of duty are repatriated through the base at Trenton, Ontario, and driven to Canada's chief coroner in Toronto. This has been the procession of the 152 men and women who have died in Afghanistan since 2002.

My Sheri Crafts -- Stitching Challenge and MS Doily Tutorial

This week's challenge at My Sheri Crafts is "Stitching"! I love using my sewing machine on LOs, but I got this fabulous package of stickers from my LSS a while ago, that are actually meant to be stitched. Fun, huh?



Here's an up close of one of the stickers, stitched with metallic thread:



And the finished LO:



Another fun detail was making the doily that partly mats the photo.I love my Martha Stewart punches, and I'm always looking for ways to use them on things in new ways. I've made circle doilies before (see here) but this one doesn't require cutting into the pattern and uses a corner punch!

How to make the doily, using a Martha Stewart corner punch:

You'll need a circle and a corner punch. Not all punches work equally well. I'd suggest punches that have a sloping entry/exit into the pattern, or just experimenting.



This circle was cut 7.25".



Start punching! I flip my punch over to see exactly where the punch will occur. Keep the design close to the edge.



Line up the next punch section. Your pattern repeats should overlap, but not get too close.



The result. The last punch may not line up exactly. Since this will be layered under a photo, it doesn't matter. If I was going to use it and have it all show, I would "hide" the not-perfect lining up bit with ribbon or a prima flower.



There's a little triangle bit left over from the punch.



The triangle bit can be left, or removed with an exacto knife.

Fun! I hope you like this technique. It's a great way to extend the use of those fabulous punches (and go get some more!!)

Make sure you hop over to My Sheri Crafts and enter your stitching project for a chance to win!

Duplo fun!

A simple LO, but a cute svg for the LO -- Duplo!





Supplies:

Duplo.svg (see below)
Martha Stewart Playground paper pad
Yellow ribbon

Life's Better in Glitter

Another DD layout -- this time, she got into some makeup glitter, and it went EVERYWHERE! On this design, I trimmed Hannah out, then put a gray cardstock shadow on her, and printed around the edge. The words were also "Type on a path" in SCAL2 (another tutorial I think I'll do, it's a handy little feature!) and underlined in gemstones. Of course, no page about glitter can be complete with glitter, so the word was Stickled.






Supplies:
DCWV Pocket Full of Posies cardstock; coloured cardstock
MS Floral Lace border punch
Flower sticker
Gemstones
Stickles
Font: Corbel (although Arial is a close match too)

My First Birthday

This is me, on my first birthday! The original photo came out of a magnetic book, and is in bad shape, but I managed to get it into useable shape, I think. However, This page needed to keep it simple, and so I decided to use my MS punches and make a pretty little border. Love those punches! Here's the result:



Supplies: Fonts: LA Headlights BTN (my, birthday) and Vivaldi (First)
Paper: ? from my stash
Martha Stewart punch and flocking
Atg and xyron sticker maker
ribbon
Prima flowers


1. Create lace doily frame using Martha Stewart Doily Lace edge punch using strips of paper 1.25" wide. The picture in the sample is 6.5" x 7" and required two 1.5" x 12" strips of paper.


2. Punch strips with selected punch.


3. Cut into punched strip to first dot.


4. Make a gentle curve in the border, tucking each section of tabs behind the next tab.


5. Lay down a layer of adhesive at the edge of the back of the photo.


7. Starting at an inconspicuous spot, gently bend around the photo, Match the joint if necessary.



8. If unable to completely match beginning and end, use embellishment to cover this area.


9. Cut title, then use adhesive to apply flocking. Shake loose, then adhere to page.


10. Adhere photo to page. Embellish.

I hope you found that helpful! There's a few punches that this works especially well with, mostly the ones that are scalloped edged. Try some out, and let me know how it works!

Thanks for commenting, and linking back to me if you try this out. I'd love to see what you make!