design each moment

RTC Easter Basket

 

Easter will be here next week. This months project features RTC Grid paper and three stamp sets, Clearly Spring, Clearly Easter and TypeStacks All Season. You can make these cute baskets for any occasion; Teachers gifts, Mother's Day, Graduation, Baby Showers and the list goes on.

   

Let's start by scoring at 4" and 8" rotate your paper and score again on the 4" and 8". You should have four score line creating nine 4x4 squares.

 

Now, cut only opposite sides, up to the middle score line. You will make four 4" cuts. Next you will bring two opposite corners together to form the basket on each side. With a 1" punch and pattern paper punch out 10 squares and adhere them to the outer grid. The inside will be covered by the remaining 4x4 grid. Also you can use cardstock and a decorative punch to create border to line the inside of the basket.

 

Next fold the remaining 4x4 grid to finish the basket. Cut a 2x11 piece of cardstock, fold in half lenght wise to create the handle. Attach with brads if you want it to move or glue in place to keep it stationary. 

   

Now the fun part begins when you decorate the four sides of the basket with various colors of Paper Tiles and stamps.

   

 

I had so much fun making this basket, I'm going to post more on my personal blog

Page Two

 

I have been showing you fun and creative one page mosaic spreads. After you have finished that one page masterpiece, what if you want a double page spread? It is important to have an arsenal of "Page Two" ideas that support your focal page but does not overwhelm or distract from it.  These pages are nominated for Best Supporting Page.

One of my "Go To" - ideas is this pinwheel style. It easily and quickly goes together with just a few items.

 

You need 4 mats (or Paper Tiles) cut 4 3/8 x 6 5/8 and one square cut 2 1/8 x 2 1/8.  I like my photo mats to match and the center to contrast.  This takes 2 sheets of the same paper for the mats and one square cut or punched from scraps.

 

This Marvy punch is 2 1/8" square and is a great tool for quick mosaic 2 x 2 squares. I use it all the time.

Now all you need is 2 horizontal photos and 2 vertical photos. Pop them in and it looks like this:

 

The center square can be used for so many things. The first thing that comes to mind is journaling or a date. Or...

 

another photo...

 

a Cornerstone

Typestack clear stamps...

or...flowers, rub-ons, stickers, a quote, a poem... or you could (gasp) leave it just paper.

I hope this helps address the two page spread question.

Happy Spring! See you next week.

Sandi Keene

Color Inspiration: Black & White

 

I love black and white photos.  They have an artistic flair that color photos just can't produce.

I started with three photos.

 

Joe and I celebrated our 25th anniversary in the Pocono Mountains of PA. We combined it with dropping off our youngest at camp.  We spent 5 days exploring the sights of PA. This was one of Joe's favorite days because we were in the woods.

I wanted to combine these three photos to make a montage reminder of our day spent hiking together. These three photos are not taken in the exact same spot but I like them together creating a new landscape that is a symbol of our day rather than the actual landscape.

I started with 12 x 12 white Mosaic Grid paper.  I began by cutting Joe out in a 2 1/8 x 5 4/8 rectangle that I started one row over from the edge of the grid.

 

Then I cut everything else in 1 x 1 inch squares and blended the photos together.

I used DCWV's new La Creme Stack (available at Michael's and JoAnn's along with many online sites) for my black, white and ivory color scheme.  The upper (and lighter strip) is 2 1/8 x 11 1/8 while the bottom (journaling) strip is 3 2/8 x 11 1/8.

I used white chipboard letters from my stash along with journaling in white pen to finish the page off.

 

I trimmed 2/8" off the edges of the grid paper and adhered it to a solid black patterned paper also from La Creme for those black edges that I love.

Enjoy and see you next week!

Sandi Keene

Seaside Kit

 

Tami has introduced a new Page Kit - Seaside. Naturally, this Florida girl was all over that!

 

I had photos that I had just taken of a special day with a friend at the beach that are very meaningful to me.  Seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Here is my take on the kit:

 

Click to enlarge

I love sea glass and these colors remind me of that. Starting with that in mind, I ran for my ink bucket and pulled out 2 Color Box Chalk Inks in Prussian Blue and Blue Iris and started there.

I also knew that the kit colors were perfect for a new collection in my stash - K&Co.'s Blue Awning.  

Armed with ink and the collection, I was ready to document this beach day.

Here is a close up of each page.

 

 

I inked all the paper tiles except for the photo mats.

 

I even added ink to the cornerstones and backgrounds. 

 

I set the poem block aside to use on another project and created a journaling block in Word.  Added chipboard buttons and more of the Blue Awning paper.

 

Photos by Barbara Moore and Sandi Keene.

So much fun! Hope you enjoyed my take on this kit.

See you next week.

Sandi Keene

 

 

Mosaic Three Ways

  

First, I would like to thank Janine for covering for me while I was out recovering from gallbladder surgery. Janine's Spring Tin last Monday is gorgeous. I want one!

Tami and Janine, thank you for all the get well wishes.  It is so good to be back in my art studio.  I would walk by it and look longingly at the papers and tools and think, "soon, very soon".  I miss it when I can't be creative.  It is so much a part of me. 

While I was getting my strength back, my husband, Joe, took me to Sugar Mill Gardens here in town to walk along the trails and photograph the flowers coming back into bloom and recovering from the winter frosts we have had.  I took it as a metaphor for my situation.

So, armed with a stack of photos of "perfectly beautiful" nature, I was ready to create.  Insert cheering!  I knew that I wanted to finish the concept that I started with my last beach 3-D mosaic that I never got to really complete because by then I was already sick.

I started with a traditional mosaic on white 8.5 x 11 grid paper turned horizontally.

 

The center "Garden Plaque" is created using My Mind's Eye Bohemia patterned paper, inked chipboard letters from an old kit in my stash, Prima flowers, and a button from my stash.

I used Juicy Words TypeStack Clear Stamps for my "perfectly" and "beautiful" side strip stamped on the same Bohemia paper.

   

And you get this:

 

 

Creating this traditional mosaic ready for framing or your album:

 

For Mosaic #2, I removed all the brightly colored flower pictures and the center garden plaque and used dimensional adhesive to pop these layers up.

 

So now I have a 3-D mosaic.  I love this look.  The layers give it dimension and the flowers just literally pop off the page.

 

Photographing dimension it very difficult.  This gives you an idea of the dimension. I wish I could email you the real thing so you could see it.

 

Mosaic #3 is taking this dimensional piece and adding it to a 12 x12 layout.  Now you have this:

 

Can I say I LOVE this?!

I adhered the mosaic to a sheet of Basic Grey Boxer "Henley" paper.  Added a MME Bohemia acetate butterfly that I added bling to...

 

and a Making Memories Noteworthy journaling notebook sheet.

 

Simple. 

A Garden mosaic done three ways - each wonderful in their own way.  Which one is your favorite?

See you next week-

Sandi Keene

Gift of Thanks

 

Today, I will show you the cards I made to go in the Altered Tin that was featured in this post.

 

I made three each of two thank you cards and put them in the tin, included postage and a pen for the recipient. This makes a great gift as well a keepsake tin once the cards have been sent.

 

Start with a 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 piece of cardstock, scor at 4 inches, use a corner rounder on the two corners then fold. Next cut a 4 x 4 1/4 piece of green cardstock, round two corners and adhered to the card front. Using a 4x4 Ivory RTC Grid paper trim 1/4 off the top and bottom only, round two corners and adhered it to the green cardstock. Choose coordinating pattern papers, cut one piece 1 x 3 1/4  ink edges with blue ink and adhere to the bottom row on the RTC Grid. Then with a 1" paper punch, punch six squares from various papers, ink edges and adhere to remaining squares. Stamp with alphabet stamps and word stamp, embellish with rhinestones and ribbon.   

This one will have you thinking out side of the box for sure. The card base and cardstock are the same as the card above. The RTC is trimmed 1/4 on the sides and top only. The fun part is with the stamps. You will see in the first square I used the flower stamp from the Clearly Spring Clear Stamp set.

  

 Ink the back of the stamp instead of the front. By doing so you will create a shadow image.

 

 

Use a light green ink for the background then reverse the stamp and inked the flower image in black, position stamp over the shadow image and stamp. 

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed this months project. Post a comment and let me know what you like the most.

Enjoy!

Janine