This is me album title page

I have spent the last couple of days working on my Studio Calico "This is Me" album. I created a new title page because I wasn't feeling the other one.  Here it is in all its glory: 

I used a ton of different techniques on this layout.  The first and foremost is that I used a pencil to draw lines on a plain white sheet of cardstock.  I then used Close to My Heart's Liquid Glass to adhere the sequins in a line.  The sequins are from Cartwrights.  They are so affordable and shipping was super fast.  I will totally be ordering from them again.

After I had glued all the sequins down I realized the background was super busy and was going to distract from the picture.  I used strips of velum to tone down the bright and shininess of the sequins in horizontal bands.  I had a couple of sequins pop off the page so to make sure they stuck, I used my sewing machine to sew them down.  It was my first time sewing on paper for reals so it was an adventure to say the least.  I just used a regular old needle that came in the machine and used thread that I last used to sew my son's patches on his karate uniform.  I love the look!  I need to sew more and try zig-zag.

The polaroid frame is from Recollections and I first used Galaxy Gold ink on the edges.  I wanted some more substantial metal feel to it so I used gold embossing powder on the outside edge and Stampendous's Stardust embossing powder on the inside edge. 

I used a glassine envelope to create a pocket for my journaling.  I created a tag out of so very heavy duty black shiny cardstock I picked up at a craft store long ago, no brand noted on it.  I used my typewriter to type up something that I will call a mission statement for my album and added 3 sequins on white cardstock.  The little metal tab is an old CTMH embellishment called a tiny tab.  I added a sequin on it to tie it in to the rest of the page.


I created a little grouping of embellishments on the left corner of the photo by adding a SC badge and Heidi Swapp arrow.  The title is a wood veneer alpha that was an exclusive in last month's Roundabout scrapbook kit from Studio Calico.

I had alot of fun working on this page.  It really wound up my enthusiasm for creating more traditional layouts.  Hopefully you will see more from me!

Fail Card

My best friend, Lee, has a birthday tomorrow.  I, being the cardmaker, decided to make a card for him.  I spent several days thinking about what I wanted to do.  I recently got a beautiful stampset called Shining Star and wanted to use it.  The central image is a Star with swirls and patterns on it.  I was inspired by another card I saw on the CTMH Consultants Bulletin Board using the image.

How can you go wrong with a such a beautiful main image?  Apparently many ways.  My first attempts at stamping the image used a technique called Rock and Roll.  What you do is ink your stamp first with a light color and then roll additional darker colors around the edge of your stamp to give a gradual color change.  FAIL!!!  I had chosen colors that didn't blend that well and there was a very distinct transistion between colors.  Did I go back and re-evaluate my color choices?  Nah!  Try a different technique.

My next attempt at the star was to try paper piercing.  If you don't know paper piecing is where you stamp an image several times in different colors and then cut out the parts of the image in each color you would like to use.  You then "piece" the image back together.  After doing so, I thought it was kinda boring and not very dynamic.  Did I go back and re-evaluate my color choices?  Nah! 

My solution was to add bling in the form of Stickles!  I added the stickles on each of the colored pieces and set them aside.

My next part of the design phase was to attempt to figure out what to do for the background of the card.  When I originally chose the colors for the card, I wanted something masculine so I looked through my paper packs and chose Stardust because it is very manly/boyish.  The blue color is Moonstruck which is in Stardust.  The other two CTMH colors, Sunny Yellow and Clover Meadow, are not.  Looking through the six B&T paper options in Stardust, none of them really fit my fancy so I set the paperpack aside and went looking elsewhere. 

Next stop was my non-CTMH cardstock.  I have been hanging on to some Color Coredinations cardstock for quite a while.  It is only 6x6" but it is colored cardstock with a core that is usually a lighter coordinating color.  I looked through that and chose two colors that I thought matched my card.  Mind you it was about 2am now.  With such lovely colored cores, I needed to distress these sheets.  The first one I crumpled up and then sanded.  The second, a nice dark blue, I scored in a star pattern and also sanded.  After that I was done for the night and put everything away.

A day later I grabbed my materials and went to assemble the card.  The blue distressed cardstock didn't really match so that went into the scrap bin for use later on.  Because I have just recently purchased a heat gun and embossing powder I wanted to use it.  My next attempts at greatness included using the smaller stars from the stampset, randomly stamping with them and then embossing with an awesome iridescent silver powder. 

I think I just ran out of steam after that.  I had problems embossing with the embossing ink I had purchased for Michael's.  It was dry straight out of the package and wouldn't work.  I ended up using White Daisy pigment ink instead.  I have never embossed before and I am unsure if I applied enough heat too.  I quickly slapped the card together using the Celebrate sentiment from the stampset and then asked my husband's opinion.  His comment?  It would look better on colored cardstock.  How right he is.  All in all, I am very disappointed in this card.  The colors aren't gelling together.  The different techniques used do not give it a cohesive look and there is just too much white space.  Back to the drawing board for me. 

Have you ever had this happen to you?