Breaking the Rules: Cottage Greetings

I am in love with the new kits that Stampin' Up is offering. Today I've been playing around with the Cottage Greeting kit. It comes with enough supplies to make 15 card (5 of each design).

Cottage Greeting Kit

 After I made one of each card, I decided to get a little creative and "break the rules" and turned the card kit into a two page scrapbook layout. I wish Stampin' Up would make full 12 x 12 or even 8-1/2 x 11" sheet of these card bases. They are gorgeous!

Side by Side

Believe it or not I only use 4 cards to create this page, and I have little scraps that I could use to make banners with! I haven't added any embellishments YET...

Here are some larger pictures.

1st Page

The squares are various sizes, that will fit photos ranging from 4" to 4-3/4" squares. The large photo mat will fit a 4x6" photo.

2nd page

In my next class we will be using the Cottage Greeting Kit and Stamp Set to create one of each card and a two page layout. Leave a comment if you would like to join us.

Product List:

Cottage Greetings Card Kit [138377] $16.00	Stampin' Trimmer [126889] $30.00	Whisper White 12" X 12" Card Stock [124302] $6.00
Delightful Dijon 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [138338] $7.00	Mint Macaron 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [138337] $7.00

Bohemian Hop

Welcome to this month's Jacksonville Starz Blog Hop. You may be just starting the hop or you have hopped over from Beka's Blog. Either way, Welcome! This month we have a sketch challenge designed by Amanda.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I just love the new Bohemian Designer Series Paper that is now available at my online store! I used the scraps left over from that previous card to create this card.

I must apologize for the bad pictures. I must have taken a half a dozen pictures and had a terrible time getting the camera to focus. I think it is because of the big flower and bad lighting. I used the Celebrate Today stamp set for the greeting. I like the effect that the 2 different colors in the greeting add to the card, and this stamp set make it easy to do because each word is a separate stamp.

I created the big flower with layering different colored paper (Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, Bohemian DSP, Delightful Dijon) I curled each layer with my bone folder.

Well, thank you for joining the hop this month. Please don't forget to leave a comment before you hop on over to Maria's Blog.

Just in case you missed any of the other Jacksonville Staz Blog, here is the full line up:

Amanda Sevall
Beka Laing 
Cari Verschueren - You are Here!
Maria Willis
Rose Ann Marr

Product List

Bohemian Designer Series Paper [138446] $11.00	Bohemian 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock Assortment Pack [139003] $7.00	1/4" Circle Handheld Punch [134364] $8.95
Fun Flower Punch [133785] $16.95	Pansy Punch [130698] $15.95	Petite Petals Punch [133322] $12.95

ATC: 4 Elements

Recently I've hosted a 4 part series of ATC swaps on the 4 Elements - Earth, Wind, Water, & Fire. I thought I'd share some of the ATC's that I made for this swap. In case you do not know what ATC's are, they are Artist Trading Cards. ATC's have been around a really long time. In fact, they are credited as the first Business Cards. Back in the 1800's artists would give out small samples of their work with their contact information on the back, in the hopes of employment. It became somewhat popular in the craft world in 1997 in Switzerland and even more so now-a-days all over the world. ATC's have only one requirement, and that is their measurement must be 2-1/2 x 3-1/2". Other than that, anything goes.

The first ATC in my series was Earth. Earth makes me think of dirt and metal, so that was my inspiration for this ATC. First I tore out the "earth" page from an old dictionary, which is designated for crafting purposes. I crumpled up the paper and distressed the creases with ink. Next, I  used a die to cut out the gears. Sorry, I can't remember the brand of the die, it wasn't a popular brand. I got it from a local specialty store called "A Small Cleverness". I cut the gears out from the die, and placed each pieces where I wanted them. The center of the gears are some stickers I found at JoAnn's. Then I used some epoxy alphabet stickers to spell out "earth".  Last, I used some Walnut Distress Paint and "muddied" up the edges.

The Second in the series was Wind, but I completely and totally forgot to take a picture of that ATC. :(

The third was Water. First, I sponged watercolor paper with some Pool Party and Bermuda Bay ink. Then I stamped one of the images from the Water Effects 2 set by Designs by Ryn, using Pacific Point ink. I used a White Jelly Roll pen to accentuate the lighting. And last, I used Crystal Effects to give it the wet look. 

The last in the series was Fire. I am in no way trained in the art of drawing! I had to do some research on how to draw flames before even attempting to draw this. Either way, I'm rather pleased at how this turned out. After drawing the flames on watercolor paper with pencil, I outlined using my Copic Multi-liner. Then I colored in the flames using my copics R27, YR04, Y13, and I can't remember the lightest color. Last, I went over the flames with Crystal Effects. I'm addicted to this stuff!!! I should have used some