Halloween Sign - K and Company - Create for Less Blog Post

One of my favorite ways to decorate my home for various holidays is to decorate precut wooden signs. The sign I decorated here came in white, but these also come in black. Since they aren’t raw wood, it saves the step of having to paint them. If you find a raw wooden sign though don’t be frightened! A quick paint job and you are ready to decorate.

I used:
K&Co Grand Adhesions Stickers

K&Co Halloween Mat Pad

Black Ink such as Clearsnap

Therm O’ Web Super Tape

Wooden Sign

For this project I reached for one of the Halloween Mat Pads by K&Co, they were the perfect size (4.75″ x 6.75″) as I didn’t waste a lot of paper when tracing. The mat pads have two sided papers – one printed, one solid – and all papers coordinate together. On my sign I varied between patterns and solids. Decide which paper you want to use, trace the letter with a pencil and cut out. This sign had some areas I couldn’t trace very well so on those areas I put the paper over the sign and pressed around the edges to find where I should trace. Since I was planning to shabby this up, I wasn’t worried about pencil lines. If you don’t want to erase the lines and aren’t going shabby, flip the sign over and trace on the back side of the paper before cutting out.

After tracing and cutting out the letters (you may need to do a little trimming), it’s time to crinkle your paper. If you don’t want such a rough looking crinkle you can spray with water first or even iron some of the wrinkles out. You then take your ink pad to the wrinkles and add ink to the edges and wrinkles. I also rubbed my ink pad around the edges of the letters on my sign so everything would blend into the bright white sign better. To adhere I recommend an extra sturdy tape such as Therm O’ Web Super Tape. I then added some of the coordinating Grand Adhesions Halloween Stickers to the sign.

You can often find these word signs on clearance after the holidays or sometimes even before if they are damaged. This sign had a couple chips in the letters and I easily covered them up with paper and some ink. The next time you see a wooden wood sign at a store, get out your scrapbooking supplies and decorate!

I Love Pink!

I've never considered myself a girly girl, but when it comes to papercrafts I love bright pink! I used to dress my daughter in this color a lot, but now that she is 7 she is starting to rebel! The Bazzill cardstock already had the embossed shiny pink dots. I used almost every scrap, although my daughter nabbed a bit for her school Valentine's box. I was nice and shared :-)

I also used Kaisercraft Allsorts paper and pearls, an EK Success felt butterfly and a sentiment sticker from SRM - Thinking of You collection.

This cute little monkey is from K and Company, ribbon is The Paper Studio and the sentiment stickers are from SRM - Thinking of You collection. I love that they are clear and easily blend right into your project!

Additionals on this project are Fancy Pants paper (Frosted Collection) and rubon, Kaisercraft pearls, Making Memories mini alpha stickers and a Martha Stewart border punch.

The rubon sentiment is from American Crafts and the green border is Little Yellow Bicycle. The pearls are Basic Grey.

I am sorry if I blinded anyone, but couldn't help myself the other day when I was crafting. And PS. I love the singer Pink too!

Easy Breezy Layout - Scrap Within Reach Emerson Collection

This is my daughter Emma and her daddy - first time without the training wheels! I've had these pictures printed for awhile and I thought the colors in the pictures went well with the Emerson line. These pictures must be about 2 years old as she hasn't had long hair since preschool - she is growing up so fast...sniff...sniff.... (The training wheels did not stay off long, she got tired of crashing! They did officially come off a few months ago).

Papers: Scrap Within Reach - Emerson
Stickers: K and Company
Glitter: Martha Stewart (red), Treehouse Studio (pink, orange) - used glue pen to outline the flowers and added glitter for some sparkle.
Size: 12x12

I May Have Gotten A Little Crazy With The Mini Alphas.....

*This will be featured in an upcoming issue of Scrapbooking and Beyond*

You think? LOL.

This was my first acrylic page I've ever made. Also my first pictureless layout. Now I need advice on how to photograph the darn thing! I took some pictures with and without paper in the background. The papers are from Scrap Within Reach's The Cottage line, acrylic page is from Clear Scraps XL Deco pack, chipboard flowers, butterflies and gems are K and Company, My Mind's Eye rubon sentiment that says "We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing," American Crafts Thickers and a WHOLE bunch of Making Memories mini alphas. Towards the end I had to get creative with a couple of the blue ones as I've used them a ton and am mostly down to the weird letters. It's amazing what a black pen can change a letter into! (You can click on the pictures to read everything better).

This got a BOB (Best of Blogosphere) mention over at Card of the Week - yeah!

Love 2-4-6-8 Box

I had a little time tonight so I grabbed the papers at the top of the pile and this is what I came up with. I had bought some K and Company Smitten a month or so ago. A lot of it is glittered (my weakness) so I just had to have. The big heart is glittered but it is hard to see from the picture. I also used some Me and My Big Ideas bling, a Fancy Pants button and some ribbon from who knows where! This quick and easy 2-4-6-8 template can be found at 3D Designs Challenge blog. I haven't had much time to participate over there much lately, but I have used this template in the past and the challenge this week was to use any of their previous templates. My first attempt even got picked up for a future Paper Crafts issue!

I made this downstairs on the coffee table as my scrap room is even messier than usual as I'm in the process of packing most of it up. They have started on our addition and any day now the house dude is going to tell me he needs to cut thru my scrap room wall. Long story short...my room is stuffed...so it's not like I can say give me 5 minutes and I'm ready. I'm trying to leave essentials out and for the next couple of months digging into various boxes and scrapping at the coffee table. (I wanted to put tissue paper or filler in this love box, but alas it's already boxed up) But I must be patient as my new scrap oasis awaits! It's sad...but I lay awake at night thinking about my new room. A room I can actually walk around in and gasp...maybe even be able to find things when I need them!

Recent Paper Crafts Pubs

Sorry for the lack of recent posts. I'm blaming it on - this seems to be the craziest time of the year for the fam (both kids' bdays, lots of extra curicular activity overlap and reality TV season has started up again!) Also I swear our computer hates me! I was excited to have 3 cards featured in Card Creations Volume 6. This card even got the head spot in the Congratulation section. I also have one featured in Thank You and the Photo card section.
I had this Girl tag featured in their recent Holiday Cards and More Volume 3. I loved both of these magazines and honestly can't say which issue I like better!!

Smattering of Cards

Staying up way too late again tonight, but wanted to get a few more cards posted. Still have a few more left that I made recently to post, but that's for another day. On all of these cards the papers are from the September Are You Kitting Me kit. Also had another card with a bunch of Are You Kitting Me goodies, but it will be in the May/June issue of Paper Crafts :-) On this card paper is 3 Bugs In a Rug, rubon is Rusty Pickle, pearls are Mark Richards and some kraft cardstock.
Paper is the back side of the green 3 Bugs In A Rug paper, Archiver's cardstock, K and Company heart, Hambly transparency and Making Memories ABC stickers.
I used a sketch from a fun new site called Rough Draft Sketches. It could be used for either a layout or a card. Papers are Daisy Bucket, Laura Ashley and Bo Bunny, K and Co felt, Making Memories chipboard sentiments, some Paper Studio bling and an EK Success cupcake.

This was also made for a sketch call at Paper Crafts. It's a mini at 3x3 1/2. Daisy Bucket papers, Making Memories brads and ABC Doodlebug rubons.

2 Sketches 4 You - Kazan #6

*Pic has been updated*

I apologize for the poor lighting on this. The bling is pink in person! I was hoping to get taken before it got dark, but we headed to Lowe's to shop for house remodel stuff. It's official we're adding on! I think my new scrap room location is changing, but I will still have way more room than I do now. I'm taking over my 2 kids' bedrooms once they move into the addition. I joke and say I'll have the store (supply) area and the crop area. We may combine the two rooms, but that would be a future project. What I'm the happiest about is that Miss E will now be able to have plenty of room to scrap with mommy. I could be mean and claim the new addition and even have more space, but I wouldn't do that to my kids. The hubby maybe? but the kids I'll behave myself :-)

Anyway, here is my card for this week's sketch. I used Reminisce Flirt paper, Doodlebug glitter cardstock, K and Company Smitten felt embellie, Creative Imaginations felt ribbon and Paper Studio bling. Size is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. I'll post a better pic tomorrow!

Scrapbook & Cards Today - Allison Cope Sketch

On their 7/28 blog post, Allison Cope shared a layout sketch. Sorry I can't seem to get a way to link it up right to the sketch. Anyway, I changed it into a card sketch. I used K and Company Berry Sweet papers and stickers, Clearsnap Ice Jade ink and Doodlebug ABC stickers. Size is 5 x 7. Really happy with the way this one turned out!

2 Sketches For You Cards

*This card will be featured in the February 2010 issue of Crafts N' Things*

I used K and Company Berry Sweet papers and sticker (owl), Paper Studio bling, Making Memories ABC stickers, chipboard heart from???, Making Memories green paint and Doodlebug glitter. I made the circle using the Coluzzle. Size is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.


I used Making Memories Noteworthy papers, Paper Studio gems and American Crafts Chipboard letters. Size is 4x8.

Whale Done Card - Melissa Phillips Sketch Challenge/Lime Tart

(click on picture for better view)

I made this for a sketch challenge at Melissa Phillips' blog. I stalk her blog quite regularly. The stuff she makes is just amazing! I love the way she layers things and pays attention to the smallest detail. When I try to layer embellishments or try something shabby chic, it just turns into a disaster! Be sure to stop by for some great inspiration!

Size of the card is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. I used Bazzill cardstock, paper and sticker is once again from K and Company's Berry Sweet line, ABC rubons and glitter cardstock are Doodlebug, Brads are Paper Studio, ink is Clearsnap and the oval/square stamp is from Apple Blossom Studio. I won this stamp along with some others from her blog and they rock! I like that they are a bigger size and also take ink great. I'm planning to use on more projects so be sure to check back for more stamp stuff!

2 Sketches 4 You - Laura #4

I dug into my K and Company Berry Sweet again. I just can't seem to stay out of it. I just love the bright colors! At least I'm not hoarding and actually using :-)

This ended being kind of a "mini-card." It's about 3x4 1/2. In addition to the Berry Sweet papers and pink felt ribbon, I added some Paper Studio gems, Imaginesce brads, Amercian Crafts ABC's and Creative Cafe felt ribbon. I kept pretty true to the sketch this week. Can you tell I like pink??

CPS Sketch #72

Finally finding a little time to do this week's sketch. This week has just been nuts with househunting (I think we've decided to stay where we are :-), tball games, TaeKwenDo, school open house and school starting Wednesday. Also went to Balloons and Toons (the kickoff to the hot air balloon season in our town). Anyhoo, I struggled a little - I think because I started with the flower die cuts and then had trouble finding things to go with them. The die cuts and fabric brad are from K and Company, flower playing card is Fancy Pants, metal flower from Paper Studio, rubons from Scrapworks, green cardstock from Archiver's and kraft cardstock from DMD. I inked everything with Clearsnap Chestnut Roan. I cut the middle flower in half to give it a different look and also pop dotted behind it and curled the edges a bit. The sentiment says Thank You For All You Do (in case it's too small to read). Size of the card is 8 1/2 x 4.

Emma's Paperie Sketch

I was originally interested in this blog/online store because of the name :-), but I have found it a great place for inspiration. I saw they had posted a sketch and decided to give it a go. I ended up flipping the sketch on it's side. I used Berry Sweet paper and flowers and a Die Cuts with a View chipboard sentiment that matched really well I thought. I also used Creative Cafe felt ribbon, inked everything with Clearsnap Chesnut Roan and added a couple Doodlebug gems. It is a smaller card at around 3 x 4 1/2.

CPS Sketch #71

This card feature bright colors which I love. I'm trying to get outside this box and do more muted colors as well (see some of my next cards for this). I used a Paperbilities (DMD) 5x7 white cardstock base (love these use them alot!), Berry Sweet paper, a Hambly screen print, Doodlebug gems and Die Cuts With a View sticker. Size of the card is 5x7. This weeks sketch can be found here.

ETA: This was picked as a Reader's Spotlight :-)

This will also be featured in the December 2008 issue of Cards Magazine!