Theresa's February results...

This month was strange for me. I got stuck in two different patterns. At the beginning of the project I could not get away from making cards out of scalloped circles. At that point I put all of the materials away for a couple of weeks and then tried to finish up this past weekend. When I started again, I made the layout I wanted to make from the beginning. One catch though: I could not get away from green everything. Since I love green, I figure that's OK. :-)

Layout (1/1)

This is a picture that was taken of Anth and I right after he proposed.... in Italy! It was such a wonderful day. I am not sure if you can see the gondola shape under the vellum. The tone on tone didn't work out as well as I wanted it to. I think it looks better in real life. I also notice that my layouts are relatively simple.

Card Set (1,2,3,4 / 12)

Who can resist a valentine?

(This one is blank inside.)

This one was custom for a friend of mine.

Card Set (5,6,7 / 12)

Here is the inside of each card:

Card, Special (8 / 12)

I made this valentine just for Anth. :-)

Card Set (9, 10 / 12)

A couple of simple "Happy Birthday" cards.

(blank)

Here is the inside:

Card Set (11, 12 / 12)

And to say thanks. (Both are blank inside.)

(I made the pink envelope from some of the kit paper.)

Marieke's February Results

Layout

So I have been building this layout since we went to Borders back at the beginning of January and I flipped through some magazines, spotting some really neat ideas (the hanging hearts and the scalloped photo mat). I cobbled those and some other ideas together - a sort of Frankenstein layout, if you will. I like the way it turned out. I really LOVE the polka dots. That turned out much better than I had envisioned. The only thing I would change is I would move the larger photo closer to the center a little bit, but it's hard to get it just right with so much going on here.

The polka dots are done with a stencil I created by punching a circle in some of the leftover light green cardstock and using white ink. (I feel like I may have "cheated" a little here because it says we can use ink pads for distressing or shading. My use of an ink pad here doesn't exactly fit either of those, but I really wanted to try it and felt the technique fit the spirit of the rules - that we use things all of use can do and that don't require unique or special tools. I apologize if you feel I cheated.) I suppose I could have avoided this feeling by just cutting a bunch of the same size circles out of white card stock and gluing them on, but I wanted to try this technique.

The lettering was done like last time. I printed out the letters on paper, then cut them out, then traced them onto the hot pink paper. I actually had to do that twice because I chose light pink and light green the first time around and did not think they stood out enough.



The scalloped mat was created by punching out a zillion circles, pasting them around a piece of paper the same size as the photo, then hand tracing and cutting. I decided to distress the edges and after that didn't seem like enough, I outlined it in hot pink.

I knew Spencer's office walls were painted green and I love the color of this shirt. He was sweet enough to volunteer to be my model so we went to his office and took a bunch of different photos. I really liked how the photos turned out, but when we developed them, they came out darker than I would have liked. I really need my own photo printer...

Below you can see the photos look much nicer than in the layout.

(If you look closely, you'll see we put the Two Peas in a Bucket homepage on his computer screen. ;-p)



Cards

So I had a TON of ideas, but settled on these. I wanted to try out something different than last month. I wanted to challenge myself more. Some I like better than others. I like how the three stitched flowers came out. That one turned out the best in my opinion. I wish the lamb's back legs were set at an angle pointing down so she looked more grounded. I saw the flourish card in a magazine. It should have stayed there. I don't like how it turned out at all. And the dragonfly looked much better in my mind than in reality. Oh, well, you can't win them all.















So I really like this one. I love how the stitches are stems on the front and "hang" the hearts on the inside. I saw the heart shaped leaves in a magazine and knew this would be perfect for this month's color scheme.
















This is going to be Hanna's Valentine. The lamb turned out better than I had hoped, for my first time making one, but I do wish I had angled the legs downward so she didn't appear to be floating. I colored white cardstock black in order to make her nose and hooves. I used pink ink to shade the ears and cheeks. The bottom border I made using pens and white card stock - which was actually made for the layout but I decided against including it there and used it here instead.
















I liked the simplicity of this design and the color scheme but it just doesn't look as spectacular as I had hoped.












I originally posted a close-up of the card as it was in the group photo. But, I hated the wing placement so I decided to move the wings up. You can see in the group photo they were further down his body. This is much better. A slight adjustment is just what was needed.

February Kit

This month's colors:
Main: Light Green, Olive Green, Light Pink, Hot Pink
Accent: (none)
Neutrals: White

1. Paper - 4 12x12 Sheets (2 plain, 2 patterned)

























2. Additional Paper Items - 3 sheets of patterned paper (2 4x6 & 1 5x7) and 1 sheet of 8.5 x 11 sheet of pink paper (could also be used to print quotes)














3. Ribbon - 2 fat (striped organza and hot pink organza) and 2 thin (stitched pink and pale green)














4. Brads & Anchors - 4 green brads and 4 pink anchors













5. Bling - 9 gemstones (3 light pink, 3 pale green, 3 hot pink)












6. Embellishments - 6 die cuts: 2 different shapes - 3 identical of each type (hearts and squares), 1 floss stitch template (heart) + floss in coordinating colors (pink and green) + needle, 1 Other Embellishment (hot pink sequin puff heart)
























7. Titles - 2 (1 "My Love" and 1 "You" - both are Cricut cut-outs)









8. Phrases - 1 saying on pink sheet of paper and 2 Valentine sentiments

Posting on 2/7?

Hi Ladies!

Is anyone posting on 2/7? How is the convention going?

-Theresa

Rachel's Basic Grey layout

As you know, for my birthday, my dear friend Claudia signed us up for a scrapbooking class, where we made a two page layout using a new product line from Basic Grey. This was the first time I've ever taken a scrapbooking class and the first time I've ever worked with Basic Grey.

Now these photos really are bad (forgive me). Here is the layout:



I like to try something new every time I complete a layout (which isn't hard because there is a very long list of things I want to try and I'm a relative amateur). This time, I tried incorporating hidden journaling with the use of a file folder. See below:




















As you can see, I had a few extra photos I wanted to add but didn't want to overclutter the layout any more than I already have. I thought this was the perfect solution.

Claudia and I had a ball. She actually taught me how to use my paper trimmer properly (don't ask) and I showed her how to distress edges.

If I learned anything from taking the class, it's that I'm very slow, and I'm not good at replicating the sample. I found myself making lots of variations, and scrapping (excuse the pun) certain elements all together in favor of my own crazy ideas. I also learned that I need to practice the art of "pen" stitching (though something tells me Hanna really isn't going to care).

Wait, a scrapbooker who isn't a perfectionist?

Hear me roar.

Theresa's recent cards (non-kit)

These are some cards I made recently. The wedding one is the only one I really like. Sorry for the low picture quality. I must recruit A. to take my pictures from now on...

For a friend's wedding.

A quick birthday card. I've noticed a trend where the more intricate the envelope is (sitting under the card) - the more simple the card becomes.

A couple of general cards (for my mom to use).

This one is also for my mom to use. Inside she wrote out a quote from a book she's reading. It's a TY card for someone at her church.

This is just playing. I tried these stamps for the first time - and distressing paper for the first time too. I have silver paper lining the card inside (to write on) and the envelope is silver too.

Theresa's 2010 Card

Here's Theresa's 2010 Card. I thought it was very cute. My favorite part is the swinging 2010 and how it moves freely. I also like these colors together. (I thought about blurring the part of the photo showing the message written inside but decided to just leave it since it wasn't too personal. If you want me to blur it, I can edit this post. Please let me know.)

Change in Rules?

So the only rules I can think of to maybe change are the rules regarding tools. I like having to stick with only the materials that come in the kit, but I was wondering how you both felt about changing the rules slightly to allow for usage of any tools? I know I wanted to reach for my border punches a zillion times. Maybe we could all consider how it would change things and whether those changes would be acceptable.

I've considered it some and here's how I feel: The intent of the club is to see what we can make with the same materials...well, tools don't really impact it that much. So we use punches, dies, or cutting machines. Big deal. My flower and title might have looked more professional and my layout may have changed slightly - I probably would have used a border punch and perhaps a die or two - that's about it. I knew the basic form my layout was going to take, regardless of tools. I knew what my cards were going to look like, too. It was neat to be reminded that, yes, you can do a lot without tools, but is that a reason to revert back to the stone age of scrapbooking? On the other hand, I liked being challenged by not being able to reach for my old stand-bys right away. It forced me to think a little. But, I'm not sure if what I gained in creativity made up for the lack of ease in using tools. What do you guys think?

Should we relax the rules on the usage of tools? Or do boundaries encourage your creativity and we should keep them?

Thank You!

Thank you to both of you for participating (nay, embracing) this crazy idea of mine. I can't believe what we've created. Everything is so unique and wonderful. And I love how both of you have inspired me to go beyond my normal boundaries. I can't wait for next month's results.

As long as we're all interested, I'd be happy to finish out the year. If you want to add a kit, T, that'd be great, just let me know if you want a particular month Aug - Dec. If not, I have no problem finishing them up since I was going to anyway.