Birthday Cupcake

One of my good friends recently had a birthday, and I whipped up this card to honor her special day. I based it on a layout by Mariana Grigsby in this recent Embellish Magazine challenge post. And here's an added bonus:  I'm offering a little prize if you can figure out my layout mistake. While this isn't the best quality photo since I had to use my phone rather than my digital SLR, you should still be able to see the whoopsy if you look closely. (You can click the photo to enlarge.) You have until Saturday at noon CST to post your answer. I'll select a Random.Derek winner from the correct answers. Good luck!

Cardstock/Paper: SU - choc. chip; pixie pink; tempting turquoise; glorious green, more mustard; watercolor paper; Sizzix - shantung texture, silver
Stamps: SU - Crazy for Cupcakes; PTI - Around & About Sentiments
Ink: SO - timber brown
Misc: Bazzill - micro brads; MM - stitched grossgrain; Sizzix Texturz - #20 (Birthdays), SU Backgrounds #1; machine stitching; ScorTape; pop dots

The Court Goes to School: Day 3

Today we're looking at the right-hand page of the photo collage of last year's volunteers. I kept the two-page design very simple. That keeps the focus on the photos of all of those happy kids and mentors.

The stitching is a little better on this side of the layout, but the thread tension gave me some trouble in a few places. So many things to learn!

Supplies used: SU - tangerine tango cardstock; lt. red cardstock; DCWV - the Grade School stack; misc. cardstock globe; corner rounder; pop dots; black pen; Singer Pixie; orange thread; Adobe Elements 6; CoffeeShop Rounded Corners Storyboard Set 5; Font - LDJ Noodge

The Court Goes to School: Day 2

While the office I am scrapping for has not taken tons of photos or retained lots of memorabilia from their volunteer project, there are still plenty of good representations of the work they are doing at the school. For instance, last year, the school counselor took photos of some of the volunteers with their mentees, which made an excellent collage for last year's tutoring work.

Supplies used: SU - tangerine tango cardstock; lt. red cardstock; DCWV - the Grade School stack; misc. cardstock computer; corner rounder; pop dots; black pen; Singer Pixie; orange thread; Adobe Elements 6; CoffeeShop Rounded Corners Storyboard Set 5

NOTE: My scanner and I are not getting along at the moment, so this is not the best scan and thus not the best digital panoramic stitching. But hopefully you get the idea, despite having part of the edge page elements cut off.

I also experimented with machine stitching as a border. I have not had my sewing machine very long and have never been good with one to begin with. Straight lines aren't my strongest suit! But I think the imperfections work in the context of subject matter and thus I did not scrap the layout and start over but embraced the layout - imperfections & all.

The Court Goes to School

I've been hired to complete an album for a business. This particular office has adopted a school as a group volunteer project. They've been documenting bits & pieces of their work since they began, so the scrapbook has come together very easily. For the next several days, we'll look at what's in the book thus far. Today, we start with the title page.

Supplies used: black cardstock; white cardstock; DCWV - the Grade School stack; Singer Pixie; white thread; pop dots; Adobe Photoshop Elements 6; Frame - Sande Krieger A Little Pizzazz Funky Frame; Font - Scrap Kids

20+ Days of Cards: Day 21

When the holidays are all over, it's time to thank everyone who made them special. I came up with three designs for the thank-you cards this year - all inspired by the dies themselves. This first one screamed for something beyond paper, so I thought it would be fun to use felt. I really like how the texture of the felt gave the design added dimension and depth.

Base: Michaels pre-scored card
Misc: Sizzix - Holly & Berries; brown pen; white pen; brown machine stitching

20+ Days of Cards: Day 11

The first time I saw this set of Papertrey stamps, I knew I had to have them. They're so versatile. And who doesn't love to receive flowers?! Once again, Dawn's color combo came to the rescue, and I borrowed the layout from this card in the PTI design gallery.

Cardstock/Paper: SU - always artichoke, pink passion, certainly celery; cream; watercolor paper
Ink: VF - onyx
Stamps: PTI - Autumn Abundance
Misc: SU - watercolor pencils, blender pen; MM - ribbon; Sizzix - Texturz #17; pop dots; Zips; sewing machine