Marieke's December Results

So, I feel like celebrating. I am finished with every kit this year. It feels like an accomplishment, I must say.

The last half of this year has been hard for me because I feel so constrained by the no tools rule - it sort of took the fun out of it for me. Don't get me wrong, that rule served it's purpose when we first started out and didn't all have the same kinds of tools, but it feels like it has outlasted it's usefulness. Maybe it's just me.

So, with that said, it should come as no surprise that I am very much looking forward to the freedom we will have in the new year. I think Claudia's challenges sound great and I already have an idea for January. It's time to ring in the new year.

This month, I made a few cards. Nothing fancy.


I think my favorite is the little guy. I used a strip of glittered flourish I cut off the larger patterned paper and added the bird that came with the angel embellishment. The "Peace" sticker seemed to go with it since the script was cursive-looking and since the bird was a dove it seemed to fit right into the theme.

Rachel's December Results

Christmas cards seemed like the obvious choice this month, what with all of the adorable embellishments and coordinating papers. But I had my heart set on scrapping last year's Christmas photos, so that is what I did. With a card thrown in for good measure, of course.

I kept the layouts very simple, in order to keep the focus on the photos. I decided to cut the "Joy" 12x12 paper into two 6x6 strips to use as side borders for my photo block. This was a good exercise for me, too in my quest to get more comfortable with white space. I added the felt holly embellishment to disguise my shoddy cropping work. I'm starting to remember why I like to crop my photos in Picasa before I have them developed, but this month I played it old school.

In the second layout, I wanted to record the way the house is decorated for Christmas. For the title, I violated the "Season's greetings" embellishment to get the "Season" I needed for my title. Note to self: don't take the picture until after the gel pen has had time to dry. Oh, well. You get the idea.

I had a lot of fun with this card. The blue and white really jumped out at me as this is one of my favorite color schemes for Christmas. Maybe it's the whole winter wonderland thing, or the fact that it's a new take on the standard red and green. I just think it's a beautiful combination, and I was thrilled that Marieke included these pieces in the kit. I had fun using the leftover strips from trimming the cardstock to create a faux-snowflake. Or star or what have you. Anyway, I like it.

December Kit

1. Paper

2 - 12 x 12 plain - lime green and kelly green
2 - 12 x 12 patterned - joy and ornaments



Miscellaneous Paper

white glitter cardstock
plain red
red plaid
dark green holly
light green holly
plain blue
lime green
snowflake embossed white



2. Ribbon, Brads and Bling

Ribbon:
thin white
thin green
red polka dot

Bling:
red rhinestones
green rhinestones


Brads:
4 silver
4 red



3. Embellishments

Holly Stickers
3D Snowflake Stickers
3D Angel
3D Sleigh
Felt Holly and Berries (cut using a sizzix die)






4. Titles and Sentiments

Where to Buy Your T-Shirts

So there are several t-shirt design companies out there where you can upload your graphics and they print the shirt for you.

Among them are:

www.cafepress.com
www.zazzle.com
www.customink.com

My intention was to create a store front with various styles of t-shirts for you guys to choose from, but honestly setting up a store front is much more complicated than I anticipated.

So, I've created a basic t-shirt at Custom Ink. Before going over there, please note that the back image has been centered though it does not appear that way - their t-shirt photos is slightly off center of their template. Here is the link: http://www.customink.com/designs/ormvtshirt/fnz0-000g-hygb/hotlink?pc=HL-46120&cm_mmc=hotlink-_-2-_-Body_txt-_-button1

To edit size and color:

1. Click on the orange checkout button

2. Click on the round button with the t-shirts on it to swap the item

3. A color palette will come up and you can choose a different color t-shirt (once you've chosen a color, click "get quote" to change the sizing and to get the final price.

OR

4. You can click on the link that says, "different product" which is under the orange bar that reads, "Swap Item". There you will be able to scroll through all of the t-shirt choices. Be aware that some have minimum purchase quantities.

I think cafe press and zazzle may be a few dollars cheaper and they have more design styles (v-neck, women's fit, etc.) so you may want to go over there. I will email everyone the files you will need to create you own t-shirt. It's very easy to upload them and work the t-shirt design editor.

Also, you may find a cheaper alternative to anything I've listed. If so, please let us know. I think spending $20 to $28 dollars on a t-shirt is a bit extreme, myself. But, it is custom made, so I see why they charge that much.

T-Shirt Design

So it took a few tutorials on youtube, but I think I was able to create what I was imagining:

Front Logo (small on upper left side of t-shirt)


And the back:


What do you guys think?

If it looks good, I just need to figure out how to add it to Cafe Press, which I may tackle tomorrow.

More Cards inspired by the September and January Kits

I thought I would share some cards I made using scraps from the September kit (as well as a few embellishments I picked up on the cheap at Big Lots). Okay, and a border punch, so more cheating. You know, for someone who was such a goody-two-shoes in high school (I think I hear the sound of Claudia chortling at me using the past tense), I have been really bad of late. Apologies. I am particularly proud of the card on the right, considering what an awkwardly shaped scrap that was, leftover from cutting out circles.

Here is a closer look at each card:

And, just for fun, here is one using more leftovers from the January kit, AKA The Kit That Keeps on Giving:

Rachel's November Results

So this month I went a little crazy and dove head first into a technique that I have always admired from a distance: collage. In the process, I have discovered that I could use a course on adhesive - no matter what I do, I seem to have a lot of trouble choosing the right one and in this project in particular it was seriously frustrating. But I digress.

The city skyline image is actually from a vintage postcard of Cologne (found through a quick Google Images search) which I printed onto vellum and cut out. (I then outlined it using one of those Souffle pens Marieke is always raving about and which I finally broke down and bought). I also incorporated another piece of vellum (onto which I printed a handwritten message in German, also from an old postcard image downloaded from the Internet) to use as a background for the pieces I tore from the page from the antique book included in the November kit. I chopped up the quote from the kit with scissors, but not before I used a silver ink pad to change the color because I didn't like the look of the clean white (I would have preferred walnut ink to give it more of a vintage look, but I worked with what I had). I used clear photo corners to adhere the original photos of my grandmother, just in case I need to remove them in the future. I know that working with copies is often suggested, but I like the look of the originals, especially the quality of the paper they were printed on and the decorative edges. In retrospect, I probably should have practiced using the Souffle pens on scratch paper rather than on the actual layout, but I actually like the way it came out using the stencils. Adhering vellum seems to be the bane of my existence: if you like the look of the city skyline, consider it a happy accident - I probably couldn't do it again if I tried. But again, I kind of like how it turned out. Maybe that's the thing about collage - there really are no "mistakes."

Ladies and gentlemen, I may have found my medium!

Theresa's November 2010 Results

One layout, so far...

I managed to catch up with ORMV projects at the 2011 CU retreat. I have been wanting to do a layout of my parents and me as a baby for a while, and when I saw the November kit... I knew that was where it was going to happen.

I love the soft, vintage feel of the color palette and the family theme. I will probably make more items with this kit, but I wanted to post what I have for now.

Claudia's November Results

I apologize for posting so late, but I am slowly catching up. I think I burned out on my marathon October pages, and combined with 4 trips up to the Bay Area in 2 months, plus the holidays in general, I had to take a scrapbooking vacation. And now I am back to it... Here is a 2-page 12x12 layout using November's supplies. I have to say, I loved the colors and prints in this kit. I was a little afraid to start a project with the kit; there was so much potential for beautiful work (as proven by the previous posts), I didn't want to fall short. As for this layout, it is a little unfinished. I plan on journaling, or at the very least dating the pictures, in the lower half of the pages, but I'm not sure how I'll do that yet. I used gold acrylic paint with the stencil to make the background. I was not patient and did not follow Marieke's sage advice on how to use the stencil, but I have convinced myself the the blurred edges were intentional. I made the title in MS Word, with clipart I downloaded from their website. My favorite little detail does not stand out in the overall shots of the pages, so I included a close-up of the french knots I learned to make with the embroidery string, that I put below the lavendar brads. The paper tore a bit (not too obvious on the pages themselves, but definitely noticeable in the close-up), so I will have to practice and research the technique. Since I don't have a sewing machine, I think I'll try incorporating embroidery in my pages... Who knows, it might turn into a new hobby.

Marieke's November Results

So, I'm not sure what I am going to use this layout for so I've included several options.

Either, I'll use it for Kurt's album:






Or I may save it for myself. I'm not sure yet.


I plan on putting the date in the round purple sun-looking thing and journaling in the tags when I finally make up my mind.

I stitched the golden ribbon into ruffles and stitched on top of the photo corner and the leaf. I cut the letters and the hearts out of the vintage page. I painted some bubble wrap with green paint, left the bubble wrap face-up on the counter, then placed my paper over it and pressed down. Then I distressed the edges a little. I used a 12 x 12 white paper as my base, cut a strip off the brown paper and put it at the bottom so that it looked like the brown was a solid 12 x 12 paper. (I was inspired by Claudia's trickery with paper - especially the pumpkin paper in last month's layouts.) Then I laid down the paisley paper. I still had a gap, so I added a strip of purple cardstock and put the plaid ribbon over it.

I think that's about it.

November Kit

1. Paper

12 x 12:

Patterned: Brown paisley and Purple floral

Plain: 2 Beige and 1 Purple




6 X 12:

1 Brown

1 Tan



Other:

Mats -
1 embossed green
4 plain



1 sheet from an old book




2. Ribbon & Brads

Ribbon-
1 green stitched
1 purple/gold plaid
1 gold sheer

Brads-
4 purple
4 brass




3. Bling and Embellishments

2 eyelets - 1 purple & 1 brass (feel free to use a crop-a-dile to set them)

1 leaf charm

1 key charm

3 rhinestone flowers - various golds and browns

2 Pieces of Floss - green & cream

1 tag

1 vellum envelope with leaf on it

1 key tag

10 stamped vintage images

1 set of 2 stencil sheets

1 sponge dobber










4. Titles, Sentiments, Quotes and Phrases

1 set of Family themed rub-ons
1 sheet of quotes

Some Ideas for the Hosted Months of 2011

I started to write this in the comment box as a reply but it got a little long.

Claudia asked if I had any ideas about what to do for the other two months:

Yep, I sure do.

Here are some ideas, but please feel free to get creative and come up with your own. The idea is to give the rest of the group (and yourself, of course) a challenge that seems fun and interesting to you. Then we get to use whatever tools we want to complete the challenge. Some of the materials we use may be restricted to certain colors or we may be required to include a specific item depending upon what the host decides (see below for examples), but we will be free to use whatever tools we want (cricut, border punches, cuttlebug, etc.) to create our projects.

For the ORMV classic kit months, we'd stick to the rules we currently have since I think Rachel really likes them and since it won't feel so constrained since we'll be able to use whatever tools we want 2/3 of the year.

So here are some challenges you could pose to the group or you can create your own:

Song Title

Have everyone use a title from a song as the title to their layout.

Another twist to this would be to require a specific word or type of word in the song title:

Use “Wild” in the title:

Real Wild Child

Born To Be Wild

Ride The Wild Wind

The Wild Side

Wild One

Wild Thing

Use an emotion in the title:

Love is All You Need

Happy Ending

Sad Eyes

Use a color in the title:

Lady in Red

Big Yellow Taxi

Brown Eyed Girl

Red Red Wine

Etc.

Unused, Unloved

For this one, the host has each of us go through our own stash and pick an embellie or sheet of paper or a mix of things we hate or that are outdated. (Haven't we all had those moments where we wondered, "What was I thinking when I bought this?") Next, we could take a photo/s of what we’ve chosen before we use it. Then we make a craft with it challenging ourselves to make something ugly beautiful. I think the key is setting this up early so that when you get to the month, you're really challenged and not just reaching for something you suddenly have an idea for.

A twist on this is to be more specific.

Use an ugly sheet of paper

Use an outdated sticker

Use an ugly alphabet

Etc.

Ugly Made Pretty (or Pretty Ugly)

A different version of the one above, for this one the host picks an embellishment or sheet of paper at a store that is ugly, buys 4 and sends the others what they've chosen. (For this idea it's more like, "What were they thinking when they made this? Who on earth approved this idea?") We could cap it at $3 to $5 per item. (But I was thinking even cheaper, like $1 at Dollartree or Big Lots. They have some pretty ugly, cheap things.) It'd be kinda like a white elephant crafting club, where you open the item, grimace and start thinking about how it can be used in a new or fresh way to make it interesting or pretty.

My Precious (Must-Have Embellie)

Sort of the reverse of the one above. For this one, I thought we could all use the same beautiful embellie or paper and see how each of us uses it differently. We've all had that moment in the store where you see something you simply must have then you go home and don't know what to do with it. This would be a fun way to see how others use what you have fallen in-love with. We could do it so that the person who has that month heads to Michael's or Joann's, buys one of something that seems to be plentiful and lets us know what they've chosen by posting a pic so that we can go get it or they can buy 4 and send us each one. We could cap it at $5 per item. I like the idea of having each of us buy our own so that the host could save on shipping, but really, it would be up to the host to decide.

Half-Baked

For this one, we start a layout and send it to someone else (the host gets to pick who gets who) to add the finishing touches – imagine those scenes in movies where people get together and start a story and each person adds the next sentence. (Okay, so I can't think of a single movie where that actually happened, but you know what I mean.) That’s the idea behind this one. I start it and you surprise me with how you finish it, using your own supplies or ones I package up and send to you - again this would be up to the host.

You Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours

Sort of a twist on the one above, this one is where you simply send your photos to one of the other members and they will do the entire layout. This is great for that group of photos where you just can't figure out how to arrange them - well, let someone else worry about it. Again, the host gets to choose who gets who.

Making a List, Checking it Twice

For this one you make a list-themed layout.

There are lots of variations for this:

The top ten things you love about your spouse or child

The top ten things you want to do before you die (Bucket List)

If I had a million dollars, I would buy…(truly fantasy-based stuff for you and you alone – we all want world peace and a fully-funded retirement account, but what fun frivolous big-ticket items would you buy for yourself if you had the money – #1 on my list would be a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette convertible in pink and white – it’s soooo cute. :-)

Your morning routine

Your top ten proudest (or stupidest or most memorable) moments

The ten things you regret the most or are happiest you finished/did

Activities you love

Favorite movies/TV shows (this is a fun one because your taste does change over time and it becomes a snapshot of right now)

Favorite foods

Favorite music or Most meaningful songs

Favorite places

Favorite famous people

The people you admire the most

The top ten people you’d like to meet one day

The top ten things on your to-do list this moment, right now, today (another fun snapshot-of-my-life type of layout)

Take a Spin on the Color Wheel

So for this challenge, the host would choose three colors to use in a layout, which we all try to stick to religiously. They should be distinct colors, not just red, blue, green. For example, they should be: Deep Red, Navy, and Olive Green or Rust Red, Hot Turquoise, Lime Green.

Then either post photo blocks of the color, photos that are predominantly that color (see below), or a snapshot of a color wheel.

Here’s my favorite color wheel. It took me a few moments to figure it out, but once I did, it was super fun to play with.

http://colorschemedesigner.com/

Photo Inspiration

So I came across this neat idea where a woman posts a photo to her blog and people use it as the inspiration for a card (we could do any papercraft – layouts, cards, etc.).

Here's one of her challenges (I hope you'll see what I mean):

Sparkle's Challenge 4

To see some of the other cards that were made using this photo as inspiration, click on the blog links in lime green below the Mr. Linky Note

Photo Assignment

The host decides on a specific photo task and we do a layout around that.

Some ideas:

What you’re going to eat for dinner tonight

Your scrap space

Your bedroom

Your favorite place outside the home

Your favorite building in your city (I love old buildings.)

Your favorite outfit

A pic of your make-up case and everything inside of it

A shot that includes every item in your purse

Your favorite restaurant

Your loved ones – although we all do a lot of those already

Your most beloved possession - an actual possession, not your loved ones (although I definitely own Spencer…as he owns me.) :-)

Scraplift

The host will post a photo of a layout she loves (you can do a google search, go to an online gallery like Two Peas, or steal one from a magazine website) and we’ll all use the basic layout design to create our own version.

Or do a google search for “scrapbook layout sketch” and you’ll find plenty of photos of sketches for layouts. Pick one you like and we’ll all use it as a map for our layout.

Other Ideas

Really, though, you could do anything. Here are just some random other ideas:

Scrapbook a mistake photo - one that's out of focus, one where the subject is cropped strangely, or one where you captured your thumb, too, etc.

Use at least 3 papers or embellishments that contain stripes.

Create a layout capturing your average weekly activities.

Scrapbook a picture of distant relatives from 2 or 3 generations ago.

Create a layout using a photo from your childhood.

Scrapbook a secret, a quirky part of your personality, or a weird habit you have.

Etc.

The idea is just to create a challenge and see how each of us interpret it.

So those are some ideas, but I am sure with the creativity in this group, many more abound. Have fun!

Theresa's October Results

Layout (4 pages): Steve Skalle

I was quite ambivalent when I started to look through the October kit. I was giddy because there were so many possibilities! Conversely, I was also a bit confounded because I had *no* idea what to do with any of it. The main reason is that I didn't have much in the way of Halloween inspired photos to scrap. None, in recent memory. From this - and a fortuitous trip to BL - the idea of Steve Skalle was born. Did I mention recently developing a crush on the show "Bones"? Ah well - that was part of it too, I suppose.

We carried Steve all around with us the week prior to and of Anthony's birthday. He got jiggy at Anthony's birthday party and hitched a ride all the way to South Lake Tahoe for Halloween weekend. It's a shame he didn't get into the Rock Sugar concert. What I've shown here are the antics that arrived with Steve - giving Anthony and I some of the most unforgettable photo moments this side of 30. In these 4 layouts I was challenged to stretch that 24 inches of black spider border to the full 32 outside inches of the project. Not my favorite end result this year - but I so do enjoy those pictures. :-)

Pages 1 and 2

Pages 3 and 4

Card (1/1)

I couldn't stop with the layout because there are so many more nifty elements in the October kit! Instead, I went ahead and made a birthday card for a good friend. I know it's unconventional - but so is she (so I hope it's a hit!).