A New Design Team

I'm excited to announce that I'm on a new challenge blog's design team. It is called Love to Scrap and it will host challenges twice a month, starting on the first and third Mondays each month. The emphasis will be on using rubber stamps and digital stamps on any project - layouts, altered items and cards. 

The first challenge will begin next Monday, March 4th at 9 A.M. I'll be posting my sample project then and I hope you'll take a peek at the blog and enter the challenge too. For now, you can meet the whole design team here, or visit their personal blogs below.

Leslie (our fearless leader)

Angelique

Cathy

Connie

Karen

Mari

Michelle (that's me)

Tina

Valerie

Valou

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,

Working on Fabric: Embellishing a Dress

Since my last post was about my nephew, I didn't want his lil' sister to feel left out. This is my one year old niece, Zemira. She came by to visit my new Schipperke puppy, Lulu. 

I had given her a party dress for Christmas and my sister was telling me Zemira really liked it because it had lots of red jewels sewn around the collar. She was even holding up the dress and admiring herself in the mirror. I didn't know fashion started that early. It got me thinking that if I took a plain dress and added a few items, it'd be like embellishing an altered item. I decided to try and embellish a dress, even though I don't usually work with fabrics. 

I went to the mall and bought her this pink ballerina dress from Cotton on Kids. I'm sure she'd like it as is, but thought she might like it even more with a few finishing touches. 

I looked through my scrapbooking supplies and challenged myself to only what I had on hand instead of going to a fabric store. I found some Imaginisce Fashion Flowers. I took three of them and layered them. There was even a pink tulle flower that exactly matched the pink tulle skirt. 

I added a flower center which was previously purchased from the floral section of the craft store. I sewed the flower onto the dress using my embroidery floss. 

I also found a vial of clear seed beads in my stash. I strung 7 beads at a time on my needle and floss and then sewed it along the neckline for a little ruffled effect. 

Here's the altered dress using just the materials found in my scrappy supplies. Who knew paper crafting supplies could translate into fashion? This took about an hour to complete. Hopefully my niece will like this dress. 

 Thanks for stoppin' by,

Look What I Can Do! Scrapping with a 5 Year Old

His Interests
My 5 year old nephew had the flu so I babysat him for a week until his fever rescinded. So amidst the sword fighting, Transformers, paper airplanes, naps and reading of books with 3 letter short vowel sounds, I snuck in some scrapbooking and card making for him.

Re-enacting the final battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan on rocks in lava, dressing up as a knight king

My Interests

I remember reading a blog post on Sketch Support, which has since closed, where the designers used sketches and had their kids make layouts or cards. I thought I'd try the same technique with him. I had him look through an Allison Davis sketch book, and he picked out this 5 photo sketch. 

He chose 5 photos from one of my digital files and I printed them out in the various sizes. He chose his background and matting papers. Here he is positioning his photos. 

He used a tape runner for the first time and was wondering why the glue wasn't wet. The only thing I did was trim the two blue rectangles for him. 

He chose his own embellishments and adhered everything onto the background page himself. We used Best Creation's Loops and Scoops collection. I had won that collection but never used it and it was a perfect all inclusive pack which matched the amusement park theme of the photos.

He wrote, "I had a fun day" on the journaling tag and I added the location and date.

That was Isaiah's first layout and it took about an hour including choosing and printing the photos. After we showed his mom, she wanted him to make a Valentine's Day card for his kindergarten teacher. 

The next day, we worked on a card using Sketches for Cardmaking. Here is the sketch with the completed card. We used Basic Grey's Blush collection. I gave him an assortment of A2 sized cardstock and he chose the pink. He looked through the Blush 6 x 6 pack and chose the flower patterned paper. I asked what complementary cardstock did he want for the vertical strip and he said brown. I asked what color ribbon and he said white. Lastly I had a kit of Valentine embellishments and he picked out the finishing decorations. He had no problem choosing what he wanted. 

Here he is adding on the embellishments while dressed as a king that day. We also added a lollipop on the envelope for a finishing touch, as that is his favorite candy. 

After we showed his mom the Valentine, she hinted that she wanted one also. So the next day, Isaiah picked out this card sketch. 

He said his mom's favorite color was blue so he picked the blue cardstock background. For the patterned papers we used My Mind's Eye six by six Happy Day collection. He chose the hexagons which I told him were very trendy.  I asked him if he knew what hexagons were. He said no, only octagons. 

He used a T Square ruler to draw the line on which he adhered all the buttons. He also used a paper trimmer for the first time to cut the patterned papers. He liked choosing the buttons from my stash. He also wanted to add one extra pink one as the focal point.

The inside sentiment reads, "You are the best Mom in the world Isaiah."

The cards were a lot quicker, about 20 minutes each. If you pick out a collection or kit for the materials, then it isn't too overwhelming for the child. If you use a sketch, then they have a starting off point and can deviate from there. It was pretty fun and now he understands a bit more of what I do. 

Thanks so much for stoppin' by,