design each moment

RTC Sneak Peek

Hi, this is Janine Blackwelder. I am 'filling in' for Sandi's Mosaic Monday this week.

I’ll be sharing with you a new grid paper called Mosaic Moments RTC (Ready to Cut) Grid paper. It comes in two different configurations, and in three standard colors each Black, White and Ivory. There will also be a limited edition in Brick. (You can see more detail about the Mosaic Moments RTC line on Tami's blog.)

 

The first configurations has six 4x6 grids per page and the second has nine 4x4 grids per page. They are Ready to Cut and can be used on cards, mini albums, picture frames and just about anything you can think of.

 

This week I created a mini album with one sheet of the 4x6 grid paper. With a few score lines and one simple cuts you too can create this project in an afternoon.

 

I’m going to show you the scoring and cutting on a White 4x6 RTC grid paper then finish the project with the Brick 4x6 RTC grid paper.

 

       

Here you can see that I have scored on the four inch and eight inch lines, then rotated the grid paper and scored on the six inch line. I then cut two of the 4x6 grids on the six inch score line and left one scored. This is the only cut you need to make to create this mini album.

Now on to folding, adding the front and back covers then adhere the pages together. You will need to make crisp folds with a bone folder.

 

 

 

In the next photo you will see where I applied the adhesive.

You will need two 4 ½ x 6 pieces of paper for the covers and two 4x6 pieces of paper for the inside unless you use card-stock or double-sided paper. Score on the 4 1/2 side, 1/2 from the left side for the front and 1/2 from the right for the back cover. Be sure to check that your pattern paper is in the correct position if it has words or a specific direction it needs to be facing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I left the tops of my pages open to accommodate tags for journaling or more photos.

You will now adhere the 4x6 papers, one to the front inside and one to the back inside.

To make the spine cover you will need a 3 ¼ x 6 piece of coordinating paper, ribbon or other spine embellishments. Score on the 3 ¼ side at 1 ½ and the 1 ¾.

 

  

Now that the album is assembled you will need to decorate the inside covers and pages. I used the Clearly Love Seals stamp set to carry out the Love theme for this project.

 

I'll be sneaking around and taking photos of my son and husband over the next few weeks before Valentine's Day arrives to add to these cute mini albums.

 

 

 

 

Front view of tags.

  

Back view of tags.  

 

I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peek of new papers coming your way.

Supplies used: Mosaic Moments RTC Grid Paper, Clearly Love Seals stamps, McGill punches, Tsukineko Ink, Making Memories mini heart brads and photo corners, Cloud9Design Be Loved pattern paper by Fiskars, and ribbon.

Enjoy!

Janine

Last Minute...

   

Can you believe the date? Christmas is just around the corner. It is time for that last minute push where you tie up all those loose ends and finish checking off the lists.

I have mentioned before that Art Deco Cornerstones are my favorite.  I like to keep several of them on hand. They are perfect little picture frames.  Love that!

 

I printed out pictures of my family and popped them into the cornerstones.  This one of a beloved family pet keeps the memories alive even though Kenzie is no longer with us. I love this picture of her lying in the front yard watching the snow come down.  I just added some rick rack tied thru the notch at the top of the Cornerstone and instant ornament.

 

I printed pictures (2 1/8" x 2 1/8"), popped them into the cornerstones and then joined them with jump rings to add a family photo hanging ornament trio to our tree.  What a cute gift this would make and it would fit inside a Christmas card for mailing! I can also imagine it tied as a package topper. And for your Christmas table, tie the photo to a napkin ring for photo place cards.

Quick and easy!

I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season.  I will be taking next Monday off as I spend time with my family celebrating.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Sandi Keene

Vintage Joy Banner

 

I love banners. I have one on my studio door that says "Create" and a Christmas one that says "Be Merry". My sister, Steffani, suggested I do a mosaic banner.  Hey, great idea!  I wanted to make it simple to reproduce so I did all the math for you.  It is very easy and festive.

 

Gather a piece of mosaic grid paper.  I really like Tropical for Christmas. It goes great with Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket and others. Now choose 3 patterned papers that make you happy and coordinate.  Set them aside for a minute while we make a template. 

 

Cut a rectangle 5 4/8" x 6 5/8" out  of cardstock.  We need to mark the center of the top for the point of the triangle. Measure in 2 6/8" and make a large dot.  All math and measuring are done. Told ya it was easy.

 

Draw a straight line from the bottom corner to the dot as pictured. Now the other side.  Cut on the lines you drew and you have your template. 

 

Hang onto this template when you are finished for future banners.  Or make more banners as gifts! Use your scrap paper and we are talking super economical.

 

Now, back to our grid paper.  We are going to use 6 rows of the paper to create our triangles.  This picture stinks but I think you get the idea.

 

These are three papers that spoke to me.  Basic Grey Dasher.

 

We need a total of 60 1" squares.  I did 20 of each paper.  I cut a 2" x 12" strip off each paper and cut it into 1" squares.  That gives you 24 squares to choose 20 from.  Put them on randomly. (Unless you are like me and can't do random to save your life in which case do your best or ask a child to help choose the next space.)

 

Repeat with second paper.

 

And the third.  Looking good!

 

Now place your template onto the left hand corner of the grid paper lining up the top of the triangle and the top of the patterned paper as pictured.

 

Cut out the triangle by either tracing the template and cutting with scissors or use your metal ruler as a straight edge along the edge of the template and cut with your exacto knife.  It will take two passes with the exacto to cut through both layers so cut, don't move ruler and cut again. 

Move template over to right corner and repeat.

 

Move to the center section which is just slightly too big.  Cut.

 

Now you have your three triangles.

For letters I typed up giant letters in MS Word, printed them off, used that as a template on patterned paper and cut them out with scissors.  You could use chipboard, monogram stickers, stamp letters or whatever you like.

 

"A project without flourishes and inking is like cake without frosting." Embellish as you choose.

 

I joined my letters with red ribbon and staples. (I doubled the ribbon because that made me happy.) I think eyelets would be a good option. Sewing would be good too. 

 

Now comes the hard part. Decide where to put it.  As soon as you put it in one spot, you will think,  "Wait! How about over here?  Oh no! That looks great too.  But that door could use something. Oh, if I had a mantle..."  Consider yourself warned.

And finally you will decide on a spot and start thinking about making "just one more!"

Happy Crafting!

Sandi Keene

Christmas Goodies

 

Tami has just introduced two new Page Kits.  

 

I picked "Christmas Goodies".

Here is my finished project. 

 

Left hand page - I decided to change out the top border and make a space for a title which I created in Photoshop (title) and then hand stamped all the candy goodness. (The title bar is 6 5/8" x 2 1/8" or 6.625" x 2.125"for Photoshop/MS Word).

 

Right hand page.

 

I added a dimensional candy cane (Me and My Big Ideas) to the journaling block. 

I found these Martha Stewart stamps at my WalMart and deemed them perfect for this kit.  I have also seen them at Michael's. I used the peppermints, gum drops, sentiment and the snowflakes.  They add just the right touch to finish off my layout.

See you next week!

Sandi Keene

Snow Day!

 

This months theme is all about snow. I love snow just as much as any kid ever could and more. I couldn't believe my eyes when I woke up on this January morning. My son was just as surprised as I was at the amount of snow we had received while we slept through the night. We knew it was coming but we had no idea how much we would actually get. 

I created this two-page layout with photos from the winter snow storm of 2004. I'm working more with 8x8 then 12x12 these days. I altered a Blue 12x12 Mosaic page to create my layout then layered it onto the white 8x8 page from my album.

  

   

I love using the Mosaic Moments Grid Paper for color-blocking my layouts. I just modify a 12x12 page a bit to fit the 8x8 pages and they are fast and easy to put together. It also makes scanning pages a breeze because there is no stitching involved.

I used the NEW Clearly Calender stamp set to create the title and the Clearly Winter stamp set to create a border around the white 8x8 album page, and on the Lt. Grape paper tiles.

I then added a little bit of color to the Mr. Snow Cornerstone with scraps of paper behind his hat, a brown marker on his arm and a bit of glitter on his hat.

I make all of the Christmas cards I send each year. With so many papers to choose from you can make just about any theme card when you go through your stash. You only need a few scraps and before you know it you have just created a beautiful handmade card from the heart.

Here is an example of a quick and easy card I made using pattern paper scraps, paper tiles, Clearly Snow stamp set and a Snowflake Cornerstone. I stamped snowflakes with Versamark ink on the Lt. Aqua paper tiles then added a red square behind the snowflake cornerstone, mounted it on a slightly larger white square and embellished it with a rhinestone in the center then adhered it to the card front with pop dots. I also used my scallop scissors to create a border to ground the Cornerstone.

  

Supplies used: Mosaic Moments Snowflake Cornerstone and Clearly Winter stamps, Paper Tiles, McGill punches Retro Words, Keyhole Plates, scallop scissors, Versamark ink, Rhinestones, pop dots, Flurries & Frost pattern paper by Deja Views.

Janine 

The Gift of Moments

 

Mosaics made from photos of a special event or an ordinary day are a priceless gift.

 

And shhhh - they are CHEAP! I made this for under $3.00 framed. 

 

I started with 5 photos, 1 piece of 8.5 x 11 Mosaic grid paper (black), a scrap of white cardstock, an embellie from my stash (this is a Striplet which I offset so the white background shows like a mat) and an 8.5 x 11 Document (also called Certificate) Frame from Dollar Tree. Yes, it was $1.00. I had a great gift for my husband of a father/son afternoon at the beach. 

The real time-saver is that you could do a family mosaic, mass produce it and have gifts for all the grandmas and aunts in the family.  Use my pattern* and the thinking is done for you or come up with your own design.  Simple, meaningful and very inexpensive!

* My pattern:

Photo 1: 4x6 photo matted on 4 3/8" x 6 5/8" mat (cardstock or Paper Tile)

Photo 2 & 3: cut 1' squares and use your favorites

Photo 4 & 5: 3 2/8" x 3 2/8"

(measurements always given in 1/8ths to match the markings on the mat - rather than reducing fractions to 1/4 etc. )

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful! And now... Happy December! 

See you next week-

Sandi Keene