Wednesday extra from Tessa Buys

It's Wednesday and that means it's time for another extra!  This week's extra is a fantabulous tutorial from the wonderfully creative Tessa who not only makes the most beautiful flowers and embellishments in her online shop Precocious Paper, but has also come up with the most phenomenal way to display them - by making a yarn wreath. 

If you would like to have a go at making one of these little beauties ( I know I will be :-) )  you can view, print or download Tessa's tutorial here.

July Winner and our Studio Pick!

It's time to announce the winner for July as chosen by random.org!


Which makes the winner....Nat!

Congratulations! Email me at amanda@scrapbook-101.com with your details and I'll get your Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg paper pack sent out to you :)

Also, we have chosen a layout from all the July entries to feature as our Studio Pick!



We loved your sunny, happy layout, Jus! Here you can find the 'Studio Pick' badge for you to wear on your blog with pride!

Thanks to everyone who played along with us last month. It's so much fun to see everyone's interpretations of our challenges. I look forward to seeing what you create in August!

8th August Sunday Challenge

I hope that you've had a good week and been busy being messy with the mists and paint. Don't forget to show us what you've been up to using the link in the sidebar. We're being sponsored by Cosmo Cricket this month.

Today Amanda says;
This challenge is for those who fancy creating something a little different! I don't know about you, but I'm always on the lookout for inventive and pretty ways to store crafty items. Your challenge this week is to alter or create from scratch a pretty storage item for your craft space.

So get those thinking caps on and have a go :) If you're stuck for ideas, here is what the design team has been working on this week:

Amanda:

I used one of Cosmo Cricket's 'blackboard' memory boxes to create a storage place for some of the little vintage bits and pieces I want to keep to hand in my scrap space.

After trying unsuccessfully to cut a hole in some patterned paper to fit the window in the box, and several curse words later, I decided to outline the window with some gems. The colours of the Cosmo Nutmeg collection worked really well for vintage inspiration, and I used a picture from one of the paper sheets to back the cute window. Some bakers twine and a silk flower finished it off without going too over the top when I wanted it to be a functional box.

Anna: I decided my dull pen pot could really do with brightening up! I painted the edges of the pot in
bright pink, then I covered it with some Cosmo DeLovely paper and then cut out some flowers out of the other Delovely papers and used a border punch to add an edge to the top.

Fabi:

When I got Amanda's package I was so amazed. These 2 Cosmo collections are wonderful and I couldnt wait to work with them. We also received two very cute boxes. Ive choosen the smaller one and made a gift for my US roomate as a thank you gift. To add a little extra, ive stamped one flower with working stamp and layered another flower on the top. Then I've used a tiny rose to add as flower button.

Lisa:
I had a good think for this weeks challenge. I wanted to make something that could really improve my craft space. So I had a good look around my room and decided that my paints, mists and inks really needed a better organised space.

To start this I took this empty box and Cosmo Cricket 'Nutmeg' papers.



I took the metal piece off the front so it was flat. I completely spray misted inside and covered in the wood look papers. (I love these)

I now have somewhere to store my paints neatly.

So, thanks to this weeks challenge, this area of my studio has gone from looking like this.

To this : )

Nic:

When it comes to craft storage, I like items that allow me to see my stash as I am very much a 'use whats on my desk' type of scrapper. I love ribbon but don't use it enough so decided to make something I could place on my desk and which I could display some of my favourite pieces of ribbon upon.

I used the gorgeous cosmo cricket delovely papers to create a little bag and some circular ribbon spools. I strengthened the paper by painting it with paper mod podge and weighted the inside of the bag. I used three wooden skewers which I painted white - I've added a bottom row of spools with ribbon attached and the top without so you can see each full and empty, you could alter the length of the skewers depending upon how many spools you want to display. To finish I added a couple of embellishments to the front of the bag and a little tag. Hey presto, somewhere to store a few of my favourite ribbons.

Rebekah

I used the cosmo cricket photo box and the 'delovely' range to make a little storage house for my coloured pens. The roof is made from folded scraps and the little birdy is hanging from the flower by a thread. Materials: Cosmo cricket blackboard photo box and 'delovely' range

Sara: I have this little box that sits on my desk, that odds and ends are dropped into when my layout is finished. A random button, the left over staples, the last little bit of ribbon etc. I had previously just left it plain but saw this challenge as the perfect opportunity to spruce it up a bit. The papers and alphas are Cosmo Cricket, the flower, scalloped sticker and string are from my stash.

Sue: Simple Origami Boxes
I love making these boxes and use a lot of them in my scrap space as a temporary (and sometimes permanent) holder for the little pieces that I have. And I must admit, as a scrapper who loves details and not throwing away too much, I have LOADS of little pieces. Each box is made with a 12x12 sheet of patterned paper and holds loads of things - even my frequently used acrylic stamps.

They're handy for things you want to keep visible, on your table and within reach.

Will you make a box today?

Tessa:

I love sketches, but I realized that I had printed off sketches taking over my scrap room - in drawers, tucked between books, pinned to memo boards, etc. I decided that I would love a designated space (and one that wouldn't take up much space) to hold all of my favorite sketches. This little box is the perfect size to fill with index cards, on which I can easily draw the sketches, tape printed sketches, and note the source of each sketch. I can grab my box when I sit down to create and quickly flip through the cards for some instant inspiration. The container, alphas, and papers are by Cosmo Cricket, with a touch of October Afternoon (the stripes).

Valerie:
I don't know about you but if I can't see what I have, I will not use it. "Out of sight, out of mind" - that's what prompted me on this challenge. One area where I tend to ignore supply is in the ink department. I'm fairly new to the ink/technique world so I need a constant reminder of how pretty ink can be. So, with that in mind, I made myself an ink sample selector - designed to hang on a hook in plain sight of my seat at the desk:

I kept it simple and low profile since this is a tool I will be using a lot and the focus is on the ink color. This selector happens to be for Distress Ink, but I plan to make one for the other kinds of ink & paint I have, too. Here's an interior view:

To make the interior pages, I made a simple text box with the ink name and color in MS Word. I fit 5 boxes on an 8 1/2" x 11" page then printed them on white cardstock. Then I got to work coloring each one with my ink blending tool and a little bit of water splatter technique, just to keep it interesting. (It was great ink practice!) The album cover, cut from a piece of chipboard and covered with Cosmo Cricket "DeLovely" paper, is 6" x 2 1/4". The interior pages are 5 3/4" x 1 3/4".
You could customize this selector by putting your ink samples on your go-to cardstock colors. I tend to use a lot of light colors so I used white, but a kraft selector would be handy, too. I'll add it to my to-do list!

Materials: Patterned cardstock, die cut flower, numbers: Cosmo Cricket (DeLovely); cardstock: Close To My Heart; letter stickers: Making Memories; felt button: craft supply

We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Our sponsors again this month are Cosmo Cricket and in addition to being in with a chance of winning the monthly prize of a collection pack, by uploading your link to the side bar you could win two Cosmo Cricket Blackboard boxes (two sizes). Enjoy the challenge :)

Edited to add i.e. it's Amanda poking my nose in ;):

Winners are usually selected randomly for a monthly prize, and all August entries will be entered for the chance to win a Cosmo Nutmeg Collection. ALSO, because this week Cosmo Cricket have kindly sponsored us and our DT, I will be choosing a winner for this challenge! The most inventive and pretty creation will win the 2 blackboard boxes that Rebekah mentioned.

Plus, look out for more from Cosmo Cricket next week! I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to CC for their support - they have always been incredibly supportive of our endeavours here at The Studio :-) They're an amazing bunch of people!

Wednesday Extra from Rebekah Brumby

Our Wednesday extra this week is brought to you by the lovely and newly engaged Rebekah :-)

Rebekah has created not one, not two but three beautiful gifts that could be made and given as an engagement or wedding gift to the happy couple.
  


Rebekah said "It's well and truly wedding season! I don't know about you, but I like to give people a little something different even if I buy something off the wedding list too. Shabby chic is all the rage and I found a Gisella Graham heart, tag and twig heart that was crying out to be lifted. A little bit of chipboard, some crackle paint and some alphas and job done! Then there's some decorated letters for the initials of the happy couple or a decorated heart. All of them are in the colour scheme of the wedding or the colour of a room in their house. And of course these would work for a Birthday present too."

Cybercrop clues

As I mentioned, joining the design team for the cybercrop later this month there are some guest designers. We have Anna Bowkis , founder of Pencil lines, joining us with a challenge and Ania has a gorgeous project to share with you. Here's what she said about it:

A Taste of Summer

"Join me as I'll guide you through a few nifty tips which will make it so much easier for you to preserve your summer-pictures in a small format. Lovely transparencies, gorgeous tags and scraps lying on your table - everything will be utilized to create this minialbum. I promise, this will be fun! :)"

And she has used loads of yummy Elle's Studio stash. Check out the summer goodness over at the Elle's Studio blog!

The Studio Summer Cybercrop

Here at 'The Studio' we love a cybercrop. We also think that sometimes things quieten down in the scrapping world over the summer and we want to make sure the creative juices flow even this month. I'm terrible for losing my mojo in August, I don't know about you?! With that in mind we decided to host a cybercrop later this month and we'd love if you could join in and invite all your friends! So the date for your diary is;

21st August 2010

We will be bringing you hourly classes/challenges from the design team and from guest designers and we have some great prizes and money off stash for you along the way. And because it'll all be on the blog you can play along anytime, even if you're busy on 21st August itself. Look out for supply lists next week!!

Sunday Challenge: 1st August

Time to get your mists, inks and paint out for today's challenge. I've only starting using mists since I joined this DT because the girls are so good with them. And our new teamies seem to have a certian flair with them too! So no pressure ;)

Masking! Find something creative from around your home to use as a mask for misting, inking or painting on your layout.

Get a load of these LOs and don't forget to share yours using the sidebar link.

Andrea:
As soon as I saw this challenge, I knew that I wanted to re-create the looking of water/bubbles in some way. I think that I was able to do this by using different sizes of coins . . . I used some dimes, nickels and quarters as well as a light turquoise smooch spray and a dark sapphire blue glimmer mist! It was soo fun. I also added various rub-ons, thickers, prima flower centers, some pearl bling, and some clear pebble stickers. I also added some pearl glimmer mist to my two die cut butterflies! Thanks for looking! Anna:
I really enjoyed making this layout as I love getting messy with mists and paint! I have been saving a small pile of tags and labels from clothes and bags that I buy, to use in my scrapping and I thought this would be a great time to use them! I placed the tags on my background and sprayed two colours of mists, red and yellow, on them. I then added some paint splashes. I then used some of the real tags on it too, I love the fact that you can't really tell which ones are real! I didn't even use any patterned paper, just the background piece!

Fabi: I love mist, in all ways...and always looking for stuff i can use as templates. For this one, Ive made some littles flags of paper and used then as masks, the same with the arrow. Then used them all in the project.

The round with lots of dots effect, you'd never believe what it is...is one of those old household stuff you use to wash rice lol. Im not sure if you ever have them out of Brasil, anyway....this effect is from its bottom! Here a sneak (above) of my cute flower...mounted from a K&Company kit, several pieces of fabric so you can play and create yout own flower, and the detail of the round mist with the rice washer. This other sneak you can see better the cool effect. I have used 2 colours of glimmer mist, to reach this blue-green-yellowish look :)

This layout talks about one of my best friends in Brasil, Leticia, and how we are always talking about pareting advices, etc.

Now i wanna see what you all come up with! XX Fabi

Lisa:
Nic:

I really enjoyed this challenge as I love getting messy with paints, inks etc and lots of splattering went on for this LO! I made my own template from some punch offcuts left over from another project and sprayed several different glimmer mists and some smooch spritz very liberally!

Rebekah:

I used a knife to get the wave line splitting the page up. I couldn't fit it in the pizza box though so my desk is now mottled again :) The first of many engagment LOs!

Sara: When I first saw this challenge, I jumped up straight away to see what items I had around the house to create a mask with. We have a lot of these plastic baskets for storing various things (toys, scrap supplies etc.) and I thought it would be a great item to use as a mask.

I originally had just the basket masking down the side then I decided the other side was too open and had to add a few splotches and a masked corner on the photo.

Tessa:

I have these really great, self-adhesive circle masks by Heidi Swapp that I use all the time. A blog reader asked me once where I got them, and unfortunately she couldn't locate them for herself. So, I challenged myself to find a common, easily used circle mask. What did I come up with? A CD! It is heavy enough that it didn't blow around my page when I was spraying my mist, it is a great size, easy to clean afterwards, and easy to store. If you don't want the circle in the middle to be a part of your design, just cover it with a little masking tape. I made the "coffee cup rings" with a lid from a spray paint can dipped in mist.

Valerie: For this challenge I tried masking with many different items around the house – including tart tins, strainers, cookie cooling racks & seashells. Had no idea how much masking potential is in my kitchen! The item I though made the best impromptu masking tool, though, was a starfish. My collection of dried starfish & seashells typically live in a big decorative bowl on my dining room table but this one valiantly sacrificed his spot in the display to become a craft tool. Here’s my layout:

here's a detail of one of the starfish....

Materials: Cardstock: Bazzill (kraft); Patterned paper: The Girls Paperie; Stickers: Studio Calico, 7 Gypsies; Letters: Basic Grey; Mist: Tattered Angels (Apple & Marshmallow); Pen: American Crafts (Black), Marvy LePlume (Dark Grey #21); Punch: EK Success

I positioned the starfish in different locations and misted with a green spray ink. I dried it with a heat gun then outlined the shapes with a dark gray marker. In an attempt to imitate the look of sand I then added small dots with the grey marker all over the page. Then I went back and sprayed over the entire page with a white mist to tone down the green. The resulting base was perfect for some photos I had of my kids at our local beach.

Amanda

After misting all kinds of things on old newspapers I fell in love with the shape of this glass decorative bowl. My partner was a bit confused by the pile of rainbow-infused crockery in the sink ;)

I have had this photo of my birthday cake since last September, and seeing as my next birthday isn't far off I thought I'd better finally get my thoughts down about turning 30!