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Friday, November 28, 2008

Rustic Trails Layout (2nd)


Lynn Maternowski contributed this layout. [[Thanks!]]
I LOVE how Lynn used the Rustic Trails gingham design paper on this layout. (The blue plaid on the left-hand side.) She cut it into (3) 12x1 strips and (7) 3x1 strips and wove them together. Addind a couple of brads here and there made a great compliment to the torn and distressed matting cardstocks that she used on this layout.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Rustic Trails Layout

This layout was contributed by Lynn Maternowski. [[Thanks!]]

Lynn used the Rustic Trails paper to highlight her photos and it workded perfectly! Don't lose your chance to get this great paper! It is retiring as of January 1!

She added brads and chocolate Waxy Flax over the title as light, manly touches to complete the look.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Life Delights Layouts

This double layout was contributed by Lisa Navarre. [[Thanks!]]

I LOVE how the design paper was used as the actual background paper instead of using cardstock. It isn't as thick, but since the pages go into page protectors, it works just great! Also, don't miss the Just Blooms "Pinks" that embellish this page. Lisa used one large white and one smaller pink flower. She cut each in half, stacked them, and put a sparkle as the center. This paper was just MADE for this type of layout!



Saturday, November 22, 2008

Halloween Artwork

Special thanks to Juanelle Mendez for these great spooky cards and layouts. The layout is highlighted by the CTMH stamp set, "Creepy Cobwebs."














Friday, November 21, 2008

10-from-1 Cards

While this is a fun way to get kids involved in stamping, there really is a right way to do it in order to get a balanced, well-designed page. Star with the largest stamp you plan to use. Stamp them in triangles around the page. Look at the first picture. Notice how the maple leaves in the top right quadrant form a triangle? The bottom three form another triangle, but they aren't exactly the same. If you stamp them all just alike (with equa-distance and similar angles between them) you'll end up with a page that is TOO designed. It will look too patterned and not random enough. Make sure to stamp right off the edge of the paper as well (have scratch paper underneath) to give your paper a look of continuity.

Once you add your large items, fill in with smaller images and tighter triangles. Be sure to rotate your stamp when you make the impressions so they don't all look alike. If you don't have markedly large stamps, you can still get a great look with the smaller stamps. You can stop at this point, and have a loosely stamped page. Just make sure you have enough of the paper stamped so that every small section you will cut (not less than 1x1 inches) has at least part of 1 or 2 images. If you have too much blank space on the paper, it will not work for this project.

In my opinion, the more the merrier! I love the way the paper looks when I fill it entirely with different images. The less white paper that shows through, the better I like it. It also means I don't have to worry about how or where I cut my paper since all of it is designed.





Once I decorate my paper, I cut it along with 2 coordinating cardstocks to design the cards. I used the CTMH Originals Card Confidence program to design the cards and I change them everytime I make them. Often by the time I get to the 9th or 10th card, I have to get a little creative and adapt the design I want to whatever paper I have left. All of the blank places that you see on these cards were filled with sentiment stamps or artwork (mostly sentiments). I also added brads, ribbon, and some "Just Blooms" leaves to the final cards. Usually I use Cranberry, Autumn Terra Cotta, Garden Green, and Desert Sand with my Autumn cards, but I thought it might be fun to try them with some non-traditional colors. I like the way they turned out, but I do prefer the richer colors that I normally use.