design each moment

Layered Mosaics

This week I wanted to work with several mosaics and color blocked patterned paper.

I started with a sheet of Topaz 12x12 grid paper.  I took several sheets of My Mind's Eye paper from the same collection and cut them into blocks of coordinating color. 

I liked the masculine vibe of the plaid paper so I used 2 strips of that.  My strips are 3 2/8" x 11 1/8" and the smaller one is 1" x 11 1/8".  Now I have a custom color blocked background for my spread.  There are many possibilities of different sized strips that would make a very cool background. 

From here I wanted to use some RTC grids in white to create a title block and a mini framed out and hung mosiac.

I used a 4x4 RTC grid paper square for my title block.  I then matted it on coordinating patterned paper with some white paint edging.  "GOLF" is stamped and inked.

For my heron mosaic, I used 4x6 RTC grid paper.

I added ribbon as a hanger and then hung it off a K&Co. fabric brad.  The sun shaped journaling tag is also K&Co.

I corner rounded my photos to add softness to a fairly linear spread.  That also influenced my decision to add a circular journaling tag.

Journaling around the edges of the spread added some texture to the layout.

So there you have my take on mosaic layering.  See you next week!

Sandi Keene

Hey Cupcake!

 

Who doesn't love cupcakes? I, love to make cupcakes and these are calorie free! Tami has designed this new set of stamps called Create-a-Cupcake and they are so versatile. I'm going to show you a few ways to use this stamp set. All I can say is, that once you start stamping the images you will have so much fun making various cupcakes. You won't want to stop!

First, you are going to want to make a mask of your stamp. You will need one for each image you want to stamp over. Stamp the cupcake image in black on a sticky note with the icing at the sticky edge. I cut the icing out of the image and also cut a second whole image. With the sticky part being at the top it will stay in place when you stamp over it.

 

Any time you want to have an image in the foreground you will stamp that image first, mask it off and then stamp over that image.

 

Stamp flower outline image in black ink on white paper.

 

Using flower mask, cover image.

 

Stamp cupcake body then leaf outline twice over flower mask.

 

Remove mask, stamp icing and solid flower images in your choice of ink colors.

 

Mask off cupcake and stamp heart sprinkles onto icing.

 

Remove the mask and you have a decorated cupcake. If you want an image on the top of the cupcake, you will ink the stamp then with a paper towel or wipe remove the ink where you want the image to sit. Ink image for decoration and stamp. Be sure to make a mask for that image as well.

 

You can also stamp an image on pattern paper and cut it apart to make a cupcake. In this example I use Basic Grey paper.

 

I used glitter glue to accent the sprinkles already printed on the paper. Cut out the icing, adhere with pop dots and mount on card front. Now it doesn't get any easier then that!

Have fun with this stamp set, you will use it time and time again.

Enjoy!

Janine

 

Fireworks

My husband is a huge baseball fan. He has been since he was a little boy cheering on his beloved NY Yankees and playing Little League.  When opening night for our local baseball team arrived, he was ready with his stadium chair and peanuts.

Opening night promised the "best fireworks display in the history of this stadium".  That's a pretty bold statement as they feature wonderful small town America fireworks displays.  I sent Joe armed with his camera while I stayed home with a sick son.

He came home with fireworks photos.  It is very difficult to get great fireworks photos with the lighting issue and the "did I get it?" timing issue especially with a small point and shoot camera.  Sometimes you come away thinking that you captured the majesty of the moment but the photos just don't live up to the picture in your memory.  This happened to my husband.  I took the photos and was determined to make a mosaic that more closely lived up to his experience.

Here is what I had to work with.

I pulled out a sheet of 8.5 x 11 black Mosaic Grid Paper and got to work.

I started at the bottom of the sheet and built my way up the grid paper keeping in mind size and location of each "blast".  I tried to balance the desire to fill the page with the realism of a fireworks display. 

Here is my end result.  Better!

(Digital label by Jessica Sprague/Live Designs)

Have a great week!  See you next Monday.

Sandi Keene

NEW - "Camera Shy" Kit

 

What scrapbooker/family photographer doesn't love a kit that is all about the photos?

The newest kit "Camera Shy" debuting this month is just that.  It is loaded with spots for photos, has a cool lens style focal mat and my personal favorite - FILMSTRIPS. 

They make a great single subject border or could be filled with 12 little random spots of fun. You choose.

Close-up left page. Don't  you love that leaf with an "eye hole" we found on the sidewalk? Had to have some fun with that. I think my sister looks like a lion in that shot.

 

Right hand close up and my turn with the leaf.

The circular mat on this page was perfect for this window reflection shot. I take reflection shots frequently because I get to be in the photo as well as my hard working little camera.  If you look closely you can see a display case at the bottom of this photo - gelato - yum!

 

This spot on the left hand side of the spread was just screaming for some fun embellies. I inked some naked chipboard, added some Prima flowers and a brad. 

 

When I saw these colorful bricks underfoot I knew that I had to take a photo.  All that great color and texture was going to be a great background for my title which I created in Photoshop Elements.  Love it!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my take on this new kit. See you next week!

Sandi Keene

Camera Shy INTRODUCTORY PRICE $6.95 (reg 9.95) on snapncrop.com. Now through April 30th.

Clearly Sunset

 

I really enjoy the added dimension of clear pages.  I like them all - acrylic pages, overlays, and transparencies.  I love how you can see the elements below through the pages and can plan your pages to take advantage of the "peek a boo" design.

My dilemma was how do you use a clear page with the mosaic ON it, not under it.  I was literally awake one night trying to figure out how to do it. I decided that the easiest way was to lay the clear page on top of the grid paper and look through the page to the grid lines. When you are finished you have a mosaic floating on the page.  COOL!

I want to try that sometime BUT that is not what I did... Stay with me here.  What I realized is that if you have a printed design on the clear page, you have to work on the underside or you will cover the design.  Hmm - not quite as easy as I thought.

So, I started with my 8 x8 transparency page with a design on the front.

This is from the Crush line - Teresa Collins. 

 

And this sunset photo.  I used a sheet of the Vellum Mosaic Grid Paper to preserve a transparent flavor.

 

I decided that I wanted my mosiac to take up 4 squares by 4 squares to best fit into this unprinted area down at the bottom. I definitely wanted some of those flourishes to extend over my photo.

I cut my photo into 1 inch squares discarding a large portion of the black midsection.

 

Nobody was even going to know that was part of the original photo as it looked better without it. Another wonderful advantage of mosaics - you can remove unwanted areas.

 

I trimmed the vellum grid paper down to 1/8" around the edges.

Now it was time to adhere it to the clear page without the adhesive showing.  I took advantage of the black flourishes and added glue dots behind them on three of the corners and used some vellum glue dots on the lower right corner where there was no flourish.

Now I wanted to create the page that would go behind this in a mini album. I wanted a background that would enhance the photo and take advantage of the space behind the mosaic that would fit a journaling block.

I started with a sheet of Basic Grey paper and painted on some additional colors to match the colors in my photo in a scratchy, textured way.  I added a journaling block from Bo Bunny.

 

 I stamped and drew some additional flourishes so they would show from behind the grid paper to the front page.  I stamped a diamond shaped embellishment that would be hidden by a circle embellishment on the clear page.

And this is how the two pages look together...

Now it is ready for placing in an mini album bound with book rings.  Mosaic + clear pages = YES!

See you next week!

Sandi Keene