10th July - Layout Challenge

Todays challenge is 'How do you like to spend your summer days? Not the big trips but those lazy summer days...'
Hope you've been enjoying some lovely sunny days where you are this summer!

 Anna

There's nothing like sitting and relaxing while having an ice cream on a warm sunny day!

Heather

Lazy summer days for us can mean just hanging at the house or in the pool but this particular day, we hit the beach for a little surf and sand.  We had a great time filling buckets with sand, making sandcastles, burying each other in the sand and just playing in the waves.

Lisa

This is what I love about the summer.
The 'no planning'.
Just being able to just go out because it's a lovely evening.

Nadia

We would love to know how you spent your lazy summer days so please link your creations up!

Wednesday Extra: Smash Book by Irini

This is my version of a smash journal!!

I was sent this beautiful Birthday card this year

inside the card were 2 pockets full of tag and images for journalling

So I wanted to put this card to good use...

and this is what I did!

I cut the card in half 

and then cut 2 pieces of chipboard slightly larger than the card

Then I painted the chipboard red

Once they dried I placed the the front and the back of the cards on the chipboard

and made holes with  the bind it all

Then I cut up some random pattern paper

and cut holes with the bind it all

found my favourite marker and glue pen

Then I added the wires with the Bind it All

added some ribbon, flowers and butterflies...

 Now I am ready to journal!!!

Sunday Card Challenge

Happy July everyone! It's that time again - time for a Studio card challenge! This week Amanda challenged us to make an invitation...timely since there is so much going on this time of year. So many reasons to invite people over! So, without further ado - let's see what the design team created with this challenge (you're not going to be disappointed ;)

Valerie

Since invitations are usually made in quantities, I made something that could be easily reproduced and put together 'assembly line' style. For my summer invite, which could be used for a pool party or barbecue, I used a Polaroid frame and journal lines stamp. The sun was cut with a digital die cutter and the sentiment was printed on my home printer.

Brenda

Brenda's take is a summery barbecue invite.

Natalie

Anyone for tea?

I love getting together with my friends to catch up over a cuppa. We are having a very cold winter here in Australia and there is nothing better than a hot cup of tea/coffee, a yummy slice of cake and a chat with a friend on a cold winters day! You are all welcome :).

Rossella

Rossella made this adorable birthday party invitation.

If I received a handmade invitation like one of these, I would be pretty excited to attend. How about you?
So now it's your turn. Let's see your take on the invitation challenge. Link up your cards in the brand new July link area!

Wednesday Extra: Altered Embroidery Hoop by Tessa

Hello! Are you into embroidery? I failed miserably at it as a young teenager, and gave up with little hope of ever successfully taking it up again.  However, I love the look of an embroidery hoop and the texture of embroidery floss.  I decided to take my own approach to a hoop with my scrapbooking supplies, including embellishments and stamps.

My supplies:
Embroidery Hoop
Embroidery Floss
Muslin
Ribbon (My Mind's Eye)
Flowers (Studio Calico)
Birdcage Stamp (My Mind's Eye)
Doily Banner Stamp (Maya Road)
Small Alpha Stamps (Personal Stamp Exchange)
Large Alpha Stamps (Inkadinkado)
Cursive Alpha Stamps (Studio Calico)
Staz-on Ink in Black
Acrylic Block
Mist (Tattered Angels, Studio Calico)
Stick Pins (Maya Road)
Leaves (coming soon to my Etsy shop)
Buttons (Jenni Bowlin)
Doily (SEI)

First, I added my muslin fabric to the hoop.  In the future I would like to try something a little bit thicker (you can see my black thread showing through from the back in the right light), but I love the look of muslin. I sprayed mist in a few different colors to add some depth to my background and let it dry.

Next, I laid out my embellishments so that I would know where to stamp.  Happy with my design, I cleared the hoop and got to stamping.  I placed a small book (Goodnight Moon - one of my little man's favorites!) under the hoop for a hard stamping surface. As you can see, I wasn't too fussy about lining up my text, but you could use a ruler and pencil to draw guidelines if you'd like.

I used a hot glue gun to adhere my embellishments and added a few little "birds" here and there with embroidery floss. I also added punctuation to my text with the thread.

I love the idea of the embroidery hoop acting like a small, round canvas.  I'm sure I'll be making many more of these! Have you tried one? Link me up in the comments - I'd love to take a look.  Thanks for stopping by! Tessa

26th July - Layout Challenge

Hi Everyone, hope this finds you well and ready to get creating for this layout challenge!

This weeks challenge is to 'Create a page about something you dislike about your job. Whether you're a full-time mother or employed by somebody else, what is the thing that drives you nuts?  Come on, everyone has something!'

Unfortunately I've had flu this week and I've been really poorly so I haven't managed to make a layout for this week so I will leave you with the other lovely DT members takes on this challenge.

Heather

This week's challenge was just that - a BIG challenge for me.  I could have chosen to do a layout about my job as VP of Marketing for a small business but I really didn't want to do a lot focusing on what I hate about that job.  I thought about doing it on Mt. Laundry and how it seems impossible to reach the top of that mountain. I could have chosen my absolute detest for cleaning bathrooms but to tell you the truth my hubby steps in and does all the things I hate to do around the house (he's such a great man!). Instead I chose to focus on my job as mommy because it's the most important one to me.  I can't say there is anything I hate about it so I am focusing on the demands of it being a 24/7 job and how I would typically complain about it if it were any other job.

Lisa

I have a love/hate relationship with running my business. I love working for myself and from home but the hours are very tiring. I can never close the door on work. There's always something that needs to be done.

Nadia

This layout is based on the tough decisions I had to make when trying to decide whether to go back to work or stay at home with the kids. I was indeed at a crossroads, because I love my work, I had studied for so many years and of course the financial factor weighed in as well. Ultimately, the need and desire to stay with the kids won over and even when I went back to work recently I only work 2 days. I could not see my self as a career woman any more..not without sacrificing my emotional attachment with my children. I wanted this more than anything. I did not want to be a stranger to my kids or for someone else to raise my children. So this in the end, made the choice easy. I have included some hidden journalling at the top right about my feelings.

 

Hope these layouts have inspired you to get you feelings down on a page for this challenge, if you do create something we would love to see it so please link it up.

Wednesday Extra: Pinned by Nic Booth

I spent last weekend in York - a city which has lots of gorgeous little crafty shops, quite a few of which were selling hand made pin cushions.  My collection of pins is ever growing and I thought one of these cushions would do a great job of storing them safely.  Although the pin cushions in the shops were really cute and I was very tempted to buy one, my crafty brain wouldn't let me and was thinking to itself, I could make something similar at a fraction of the cost!  So instead, I purchased an offcut of material and got my needle out of it's case to make my own pin cushion:

The supplies I used were:

offcut of material

green felt

Scalloped nestability die

Sizzix flower and alpha dies

Big shot die cutting machine

white and green thread

bazzill sewing template

button

I began by cutting out my material for the base using a scalloped nestability die.  I also cut a slightly smaller scallop frame from felt.  I used the same material to die cut the flowers, rolled them up and stitched to secure their shape.

I attached the felt scallop by stitching a running stitch around it to the front of my cushion and also stitched on the flowers.  I used a bazill stitching template to hand sew the swirls in white thread.  I used an alpha die to cut my letters and again stitched them on to the front using running stitch.

I then handstitched around the outside, leaving a small gap so I could stuff the inside of the cushion.  I used a mixture of small felt scraps and cotton wool for my stuffing.  I then sewed the remainder of the border and my pin cushion was finished.  

Quick and simple to make but also an effective (and pretty) way to store my pins :-)

Thanks for looking

Nic :-)

Sunday Card Challenge

Hi Everyone! This week at The Studio we've got a fun card challenge - with a sketch from our very own Fabi:

Here's what our design team came up with for this challenge...

Valerie

These letters were cut from a patterned paper to make the word 'summer'. Since the sentiment was very wide I decided to let it dictate the shape of the card - a long, narrow rectangle.

Fabi

I love to make cards in advance and keep them for special ocasions, friends, bdays, etc. So the sketch just came as a perfect mojo to create one more for my "any occasion" card stash. I have used some paper scraps to create the flowers.

Natalie

My son started Kindergarten this year and that means CONSTANT birthday parties!! I have had to spread my wings in the cardmaking department and try my hand at cards that will appeal to five year old boys...not middle aged women :). This is an awesome sketch that can be interpreted any way!!!

Now it's your turn! We'd love to see what you could do with the sketch too - so link up your projects on the sidebar.

Have a great week!