Snow One Like You

This is the first of of my January Table Classes which I will be teaching at a private residence this evening. This adorable snow couple is from SparkleNSprinkle's Stamp Set 515 Snow One Like You. We will color with the brush tip of our Copic  markers unless otherwise indicated.  I used the following markers: B00, B02, B04, C1, E55, R21, R22, R24, R81, R85, YR 04, YR07, YR24 and the colorless blender. I also used Memento Tuxedo Black to stamp the snow couple, Summer Sky to stamp the snowflakes, and Nautical Blue to stamp the sentiment and to edge the surfaces. I die cut Circle 1 (smallest) of Spellbinders S2-125 Classic Scalloped Circles Small for my  sentiment. 

Before we begin coloring, prepare your image by coloring with the colorless blender.

1.  Shade edges with Copic Marker C1 to enhance shape. Then brush shadows to ground snow people.

2. Apply a base coat of B00 on the scarf, hat and mittens. This photo does not show the scarf totally colored; it should be. See sample in step 4.

3.   Flick B02 along cap edge and scarf stripes. Circular shape on mittens.

4.  Blend cap edge with B00.

  5.    Add B04 to edges of scarf, cap and mittens. Blend with B00. Repeat as needed.

7.      Color with YR04 on the carrot noses.

8.       Shade carrot with YR07.

9. Color R21 on the poinsettia leaves to create a base coat.

10.   Flick R22 from center of flower outer edge, one petal at a time.

11.   Flick R24 from center of flowers out.

12.   Blend with R21.

13.   Color center poinsettia with YR24.

14.   Color stems with YG25

15.   Color snow girl's hat, bow, scarf and pocket with R81.

16.  Shade hat, bow and pocket with R85.

17.   Blend all three with R81.

18.   Repeat steps 16 and 17 as needed.

19.   Color R21 base coat on birds and candy cane stripes.

20.   Accent with R24.

21.   Blend with R21

22.   Color stick arms with E55.

23.   Shade candy cane and stick arms with C1

24.   Color Eyes with B04.Then Random stamp snowflakes with Memento 604 Summer Sky Dye Ink.

To finished the card I rounded the corners on the images and an A2 card which I cut from blue Bazzill cardstock from my cache. After edging the cardstock and the image base with Memento Nautical Blue, I applied Stickles' Diamond Dust glitter glue to the centers and tips of the snowflakes. I cut white cardstock with small, scalloped circle die and stamped it with the sentiment.I edged the scallop with Memento Nautical Blue and adhered it to the card front with foam dots.

Of Course You Love Me!

I had a lot of fun putting this Art Impressions card set together. This is the Tina Set #4512 and we have some in stock in our store. I used The Paper Cut Front Stair Step Card for my base, Love My Tape Read Heart Border Washi Tape for my border, and the following Copic Markers: YR20 Yellowish Shade; YR 24 Pale Sepia, R81 Rose Pink; R83 Rose Mist; R24 Prawn; R27 Cadmium Red; Y28 Lionet Gold; B32 Pale Blue; and Spica 11 Gold. I have the product available in our store and should have them posted in our scrappigators shopping cart by the end of this week. Feel free to email me at dcookwrites@cookworkshop.com for more information.

Project Life Organizers

 I'm totally excited about Project Life -- so much so that I've signed up for two Big Picture classes and one Studio Calico one. During the last quarter of 2013, I acquired multiple core kits, some mini kits and several theme kits. Before I knew it, I was overwhelmed with product.

I tried several storage solutions and one of the best seemed to keep them in Iris photo boxes. It got them out of sight, but they were not accessible. I didn't have a clue about what I had in the boxes.

Finally, I found the solution during a shopping trip at my local WalMart store. The timing was perfect. I purchased two three-compartment organizers (Mainstays Model# MS12-016-250-10). These clear, heavy plastic trays measure 13.88"L x 11.88"W x 4"H and will fit in drawers or on top of other tables or furniture. Since I'm more likely to use something I can see, I first placed them on top of a cart next to my work table. But that wasn't close enough. Now, my two bins -- one for 3x4 cards and one for 4x6 -- share space on my 6'x30" work table. Each bin cost $6.94 -- a bargain at any price. I separated the 3”x4” cards by theme or topic. I created my dividers with cardstock cut 3" x 4.5". For the moment, the 4”x5” cards are separated by core kit name or theme.

Positioning the trays onto the work table has worked very well. The thing I like best is that I can grab a journaling card and jot down anecdotes when life happens, with or without photos.

Parker's Hidden Gift

I always ask my daughter-in-law about appropriate gifts for our grandchildren. The two little ones (ages 2 and 5) are pretty easy to buy for, but our 13 year old grandson continues to be a mystery. This year Parker wanted money so he could by a pair of $250 sneakers that his parents refused to purchase. So I decided to create a Sn@p scrapbook with the money tucked inside somewhere. I used a Simple Stories 2-ring notebook to create his 2013 scrapbook.

 I love the way the cover turned out after I painted it with a Viva Décor’s 3-D Stamp Paint. I used Carmine Red Metallic as a base coat and then added a light coat of Black as a second layer. I then added some washi tape from my stash to cover the point where the black cloth binding meets the naked chipboard.

 

 I used these images as a cover page to Parker’s Sn@p book. I actually cut out one of the Parker images and attached him with foam dots.

 

  I dropped in photos and appropriate sentiment cards to capture these candid photo moments

 

 This photo set was taken on June 30^th in the family’s new home in a different part of their Montclair development.

 

 On the left, Parker was demonstrating his athletic prowess. I left room for him to share his thoughts. On the right and below are images from our field trip to the National Aquarium in Washington, DC.

 

Then we stopped at Johnny Rocket for dinner. It was the first time Dave and I had been there, but it is one of Parker’s favorites. As I recall, it was located at the Metro Train Station.

 

Much to Parker’s surprise, he got to pay for everyone’s meal with his brand new pre-paid credit card.

In the photo on the right, Parker is just about ready to leave for his first day of Junior High School.

 

These last pages are from Parker’s first football game.  This is where I stopped because I simply ran out of time. When we see him this weekend, I may give him so more pages that will take his journey to the end of the year.

 

The “hidden gift” was money I put in the bottom 4”x6” pocket for him to add to his shoe fund. Unfortunately, my photoshop elements wouldn’t let me crop/edit the photo because of the money inside. He had to look through the whole book to get to the “prize” at the end.

A Sn@p for Great Grandma Cook

The good news is that almost ready for Thanksgiving. The bad news is that Thanksgiving was last month.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, I stumbled across “Sn@p” – a Simple Stories pocket scrapbooking program that seemed to merge the best of Becky Higgins’ Project Life program and and EK Success’ Smash books. From there, I quantum leaped into the perfect Christmas gift for my mother-in-law, children and grandchildren. So, I ordered my Sn@p products and launched head-first into the project. Since my 98-year-old mother-in-law lives in Oregon, I started her project first. Since my husband visited her in September, I started her photo album with our daughter’s move into her new home at the end of September.  Then the unthinkable happened. On Friday, December 13, 2013 my mother-in-law fell down some steps and cracked her head. Our youngest son, Nathan, and my husband flew out to see her on Sunday, December 15^th.  I quickly finished the album so he could take it with him. While her body is healing, she is not. She’s grown weary of living.

I hope to have our Snap and Project Life inventory posted on our website (www.scrappigators.com) shopping cart by the end of the month/year.

David and Nathan returned home on Saturday, December 21^st. We’re getting daily updates from David’s sister about her status and are keeping her in prayer.

David was able to give her the album on Wednesday, the 18^th. This first page chronicles our daughter’s move into her first home. I have an arrow punch and had planned on writing notes on them. I created my “Instagram” style photos using my Microsoft Publisher program.

Leslie's new home story continues on the next two pages. Since I do not store my Project Life cards by collection, I cannot tell you which set these come from. I've gotten in the habit of creating several of these photo cards every time I transfer pictures into the file.

October turned out to be an interesting month. Our daughter-in-law met her sister in Chicago and took some incredibly interesting shots with her camera phone. I had to add these to the mix as well as our grandbaby girl napping on Daddy’s chest.

Since they live about 2 ½ hours away from us, we try to see our grandchildren at least once a month. I had lots of fun with these “Morgan” photos and enjoyed “smashing” them into the project as cut-outs.

Since Morgan likes to hang around Grandma more than Brayden, she tends to get more photos taken . . . or maybe it’s because she’s 2 . . . almost three. The background paper on these two pages is actually yellow cardstock that I stamped with journaling circles.

Brayden and Grandpa Cook managed to make their way into the next two pages. Brayden is “creating” with Play Dough.

We closed out the month with Parker’s first football game. He’s number 81 . . . This is junior high or middle school sports, so their season is a bit shorter than high school.  I used the Project Life “Football” themed cards on these pages. I also used them in Parker’s Sn@p book, my PL 2013 Scrapbook and I still have a few cards left.

My mother-in-law’s birthday was also in October, so I included pictures from her birthday celebration. It seemed fitting at the time.

Morgan was having way too much fun playing “tickle bug” with Grandpa. She would run between us, pause for her “get ready, get set, go” pose and then be off to battle the giant tickle bug.

David took these pictures with his cell phone camera. Do you see the rose? That’s actually an Elizabeth Craft outline sticker that I placed on the outside of the plastic page protector. I finish the effect, colored it with Copic markers. It works, don’t you think?

These last pages are also from David’s camera. As they came in, I put them in the “Instagram” format. As my husband texted me the photos, I processed them for my pocket protectors. This made the Sn@p projects go so much easier.

The left hand pages finish up David’s babysitting gig. The right represents moments from Thanksgiving dinner.  Below completes the holiday weekend at Nate & Cindy’s for dessert.

I hope that your Christmas was Merry and Bright.

Christmas Wishes

It's hard to believe that my last posting was almost two months ago! Since then, we've vended at three (or four) weekend events and two day-crops. I'm now in major make-up mode.

In keeping with the season, I created this make-and-take featuring Elizabeth Craft dies and stickers, Darice embossing folders, Scor-Tape and Copic markers.

First, I cut a 3.75" piece off Elizabeth Craft's SS 0102 White Iris Shimmer Sheet and embossed it on my Grand Callibur using Darice's snow flakes embossing folder. I then placed a strip of .25" Scor-Tape along the bottom quarter of the shimmer sheet. After removing the top cover of the tape, I placed ribbon from my stash along the tape trail and secured the ends on the back of the mylar. I then added more adhesive to theback of the Mylar and centered it on the A-2 card cover.

To make the tree, I cut a 2.5" x 11.5" piece of cardstock and placed it on the sticky side of a 2.5" wide piece of score-tape. I cut it off the roll and placed the five elements of Elizabeth Craft's EC 755 - Five-Part Pine metal die face down on the top of the Scor-tape piece. I ran those five elements through my Grand Calibur. Once cut, I removed the blue waxy tops from the adhesive and added glitter to them using SparkleNSprinkle's semitransparent Sparkling Snow glitter. I finger burnished the glitter, pushing it into the adhesive and then colored each piece of the tree with Copic G29 - Pine Tree Green marker. In my original sample, I colored the entire tree in green. In this one, I left the tips white/clear to accentuate each section of the tree. This was the sample I started in my make-and-take and that I quickly finished at home

I attached vertical strips of the .25" Scor Tape to the back of each tree element and layered them accordingly. I cut a 1" strip off my transfer tape and picked up either Merry Christmas or Christmas Wishes stickers using EC 351G - Merry Christmas (Gold) or EC 376G - Christmas Wishes (Gold), depending on availability. I positioned the sentiment on the Myylar, pressed it into position and removed the transfer sheet from the card front.

The results, a finished card! Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to you.