Theresa's second July post

I don't think this qualifies technically as a layout. It feels more like pictures with a little decoration. In any case, it was kit inspired. I *love* that deep orange two-toned card stock.

Rachel's July Results

Here is my humble offering for the month of July. Looking at what you three have created, I'm a bit embarrassed to post it, but I'm afraid the other layout I've been working on just isn't coming together and I'm going to have to table it for a while.

I loved the postcard paper so much I had to give it center stage (or off-center, as it were).
I printed my title and journaling directly onto the cardstock. I downloaded the font for the title from the Internet from a free site Marieke sent us a while back and I used Microsoft Word to format the arrangement of the title and journaling (using a text box). The sun border isn't perfect, as it was cut by hand, but I still like the way it came out. The journaling is very tied in with the embellishments, which isn't always the case. Sometimes they're just pretty things to add to a page, but this month they help tell the story.

Claudia's July Results

Aak! I'm nervous about posting for the first time. Thank you again for allowing me to join the club, it makes me so happy! Well, here it goes...

I loved this kit, and feel bad that I've only completed one 2-page layout. I have so much left to work with, and I am planning on one more project; for now, I'll post what I have completed so far. I loved the travel theme, but had some trouble figuring out what pictures to work with. So I am holding off on the tropical/international travel idea, and went with something closer to home.... visiting my brother and his wife, who live just outside of Tucson. I was inspired by the antique prints and embellishments (and a bit by my husband's new video game "Red Dead Redemption"). And I got a huge kick out of printing the pictures in sepia. I loved the browns and reds in the papers Rachel included in the kit, and I just added cream-colored paper for the titles and matting. By the way, I'd like to thank Rachel for teaching me how to ink paper edges... I did that a lot in this layout.

P.S. I'd appreciate any tips you may have on photographing layouts. I haven't done that before, and my pictures either came out crooked or with a glare from the flash off of the photos. And please let me know if I missed any of the club's guidelines... I'm trying!

Marieke's July Results

Well, I have to just say I was SOOO inspired by these materials. I loved them!!! I decided to make 3 layouts. I am not done with the third, but will just post these two for now and try to finish up the other one tomorrow.

As usual, these are for Kurt's albums. I am so glad I had not done the Hawaii layout yet. Yay!

I spent a LONG time on these. I customized a lot of the embellies, used my cheapy watercolors to make more patterned paper, broke out my Copics, and even used my sewing machine.















I made the hibiscus flowers using a tutorial found here. Mine don't look exactly the same, but close enough. I painted white cardstock pink with the watercolor paint, then used my Copics. I colored and added the q-tip head for the center (such a clever idea - I love it and would never have thought of that). For the leaves I took white card stock and a green stamp pad and just stamped directly onto the white cardstock, then used my white Sukura Souffle pen to add the veins.

I made the patterned paper behind the photos - the one with the squiggly lines - using my watercolors and stitched around the edges with red thread to make it a little less like kindergarten crafting hour (as T says). I also tried to cover it up with the photos and embellies since it was so messy. I mainly just wanted a paper to tie in all the colors. I loved that there were so many colors in this kit - it gave me the freedom to use as many of my markers as I wanted.

I hand-stitched the starfish to the black ribbon so it dangles and moves. For the title, I printed out an outline of the word Hawaii, colored it in, cut it out and added the white dots. I also watercolored the paper that the title sits on. It was supposed to be orange and blue. It's now peach and blue, but I like it.

















Again, I made a lot of the paper here using cream cardstock. I painted the main background paper and used copics for the bottom border. I used a black permanent marker to get that top border.

I personalized a lot of the embellies on this one. I colored the white flower yellow to better match, I added "The Sights" to the the postcard to use as a title and I added a blue strip (made by coloring white paper blue with my copics) with the words "The Punchbowl, Waikiki, Diamond Head and North Oahu" printed on it to the yellow circle tag. Again, lots of sewing.

I made the palm tree using some of the Kraft paper and some of the left over green stamped paper I'd made for the hibiscus leaves. I then circle punched some coconuts, shaded the edges, and then used foam tape to get a little dimension.

I used a portion of one of the quotes and came up with my own ending to it. It now reads "travel is more than the seeing of sights, while discovering new lands, you discover yourself". I'm pretty sure the part I came up with is some other quote I've come across before so it turned into a mix of the two quotes.

I had a little bit of black ribbon and so I added it here just to tie it all in some more. The mats were made by using white cardstock and coloring in the edges, the portion that would show.

Well, I have one left to finish and I'll post that one as soon as I get it done - probably tomorrow morning.

Again, I loved this kit and it was so nice and very inspiring to work with new materials.


Updated 7.9.2010:

Final Layout: Road Trip














Okay, so I cheated a little. I used blue printer paper. I swear I wouldn't have if I had a printer that used ink instead of toner. Toner doesn't stick to cardstock or vellum. It flakes off. And white printer paper just would not have worked here with the cream background. I apologize for cheating.

For the background of the journaling tag, I used the packaging the velvet flowers came in. The journaling reads:

Barb’s new car prompted this road trip.
Not only was New England painted in
glorious fall colors, but Kurt, Cyn
and Barb got to see amazing sights.
Along the way, they stopped to see
the House of Seven Gables, the USS
Constitution, and Fort Ticonderoga. The
three drove to Boston, MA, then north
into Maine, then west through the Maine
woods into New Hampshire. Finally, the
three made their last stop in New York to
visit Fort Ticonderoga.


I'm not sure I like the title, so I haven't permanently adhered it yet. I'm still deciding.

I cut the brown patterned paper mat into 4 strips to make borders. The vellum covers the seam on the bottom and if I stick with that title it will cover the seam on the top.

The only other thing I changed was the compass. It was originally layered with "Holland America Line" on it and it just didn't go, but I liked the compass part, so I separated them.

Okay...all finished for this month.

Theresa's July Results

I had a lot of fun with this kit. Thank you Rachel!

After all the crafting I've been doing in recent months, I have felt a little guilty for not working on my wedding album. Did I mention we were married in 2006? I saw the pretty papers and was inspired to do a layout with at least one of my wedding pictures.

The travel theme made me nostalgic for the time I spent in Bohol (a tropical Philippine paradise) with my parents. Turns out I had some photos printed during my trip that never made it to an album. Voila!

After I finished the layouts, I made some cards with items from the kit, but I used banned items and supplemented with other paper. I can post those if you want. Suffice to say, I had a lot of fun. :-) I can't wait to see what you ladies post!

Layout 1/4: Theresa getting ready for the wedding.

I think my favorite items in this whole kit were the little metal clip and black ribbon. I loved finding a way to put them into my wedding album.

Layout 2 and 3 of 4: paired piece with images from the Bohol Beach Club in the Philippines.

Layout 4/4: Anthony and Theresa in ROME! La Dolce Vita (or in other words: gelato per favore...)

[IMAGE TO BE ADDED SOON.]

July kit

1. Paper - 4 sheets (3 plain and 1 patterned, all 12 x 12)

plain: 2 Kraft & 1 red-orange textured

patterned: 1 post card



2. Additional Paper - (5 patterned, 2 8 x 8 & 3 4x 6, 5 paper accents)

Extra paper:

1 postage stamp (8 x 8)
2 floral (1 red 4 x 6 & 1 tropical 8 x 8)
1 beige with suns and 1 brown with crosses (both 4 x 6)


Paper accents:

2 post cards (one front, one back)
1 Aloha bingo card
1 orange Island Hotel hula girl oval
1 strip of three magenta blank ticket stubs


3. Ribbon

1 thin black sheer
1 brown rickrack
1 fat green


4. Brads and Bling

4 tarnished brads
4 silver brads
1 starfish and two silver stars
transparent sea shells
1 metal book plate

5. Embellishments

1 metal tag
6 travel-related embellishments (passport, "travel" tag, suitcase, "postage" tag, map and luggage tag)
6 sets of flip flops
4 cruise ship-related tags (anchor, life preserver, compass and cruise ship silhouette)
bundle of white, black and red flowers





6. Title

1 sheet of 35 small typewriter key chipboard letters



7. Quotes/Sentiments

3 quotes and one title printed on one sheet of vellum