Hello again,

Today I have a really cool sketch to share with you from Pencil Lines.  I don’t know why, but I have only ever used a sketch once or twice before. They really are such a great tool to get your creative juices flowing!

The sketch I chose is very clean and simple, with lots of room to add your own creativity.

Here’s my take on the sketch.

For this layout I used the Fascinating collection along with some Vintage Moon Press-ons. I also used the die-cut edge of the Outside-The-Box patterned paper from the Office Lingo collection.

I cut leaves and a flower from the Irresistible patterned paper,  then folded and scrunched the leaves, before gluing them to the layout, for some dimension.

The number Press-ons were applied to the patterned paper, then paint was added to highlight the numbers.

Since, I was trying to keep the page simple, I decided to hide my journaling, underneath my main picture.

The journaling reads;

Today you came running into my room, jumped onto the bed and asked me to guess what you were dressed up as.  I went through the usual list, a clown, a diva, a rock star etc. Each time I would get the response “No” and a little giggle.  Turns out you were dressed up as “Jaiden in a red wig!”  Ha! – Now why didn’t I think of that…. Silly Jaidy Cakes!!!

Enjoying your weekend!

I decided to focus on hand stitching for the Thursday Trends this week.  Now I know hand stitching is not new, but you can’t look in a scrapbooking gallery today without seeing it on at least a few different projects.  For those of you that know me, this is one of my ABSOLUTE favorite techniques (besides machine stitching).  You can find some sort of stitching on probably 99% of my projects.

For my hand stitching project today, I made a fun little bucket of flowers.  There is not a ton of stitching involved, which makes it perfect for beginners and advanced stitchers alike.   You will see that a little bit can definitely add a lot.  You get color and texture- two for the price of one.  The main tools you will need for hand stitching are a needle, some embroidery thread, a paper piercer, and a craft mat.

For the flowers,  I placed a felt flower on the craft mat and pierced holes in each of the petals and one in the center with my paper piercer.  I then pulled the threaded needle up through the center from the underside and down through one of the petal holes, repeating this for each of the other petals.  When I finished I knotted the thread ends on the underside of the flower.

For the flower leaves and sentiment button, I pierced holes in the chipboard and added a few stitches, starting from the underside and working my way around and knotting the ends on the back side.

Products used – Enchanting paper:  Pleasant, Delightful, Wonderful Enchanting embellishments: Brads, Alphabet Stickers, Sticker Book, Chipboard Elements Fascinating embellishments:  Chipboard Elements Fetching embellishments:  Brads Office Lingo paper:  Outside the Box

I hope my project tempts you to try this fun technique, if you haven’t already.  You may just start doing it on all of your future projects. 

Thanks so much and have a great rest of the week!

A couple of weeks ago, I made these delicious homemade energy bars and every one seemed to love them, so I decided to come up with a way to hand out the recipe with a sampler of the yummy, nutty bars.

I used a few papers from the Enchanting line, as well as the Bewitching paper from the Fascinating line to create this little card.

I put three of the little bars in a cellophane bag purchased from my local craft store in the candy making section.  I made a backing for the treat bag using the Wonderful paper from the Enchanting line and the Bewitching paper.  I folded over the top of the bag, and layered it and the paper backing between two of the chipboard shapes, adhering each layer to one another. I added a strip of paper, a rub on, and some chipboard alphas for embellishments.

After I had my treat bag ready, I made a simple card with a stitched pocket on the inside.  I used stickers and a rub on to create a label on the pocket and stuck in the recipe card that I made using white cardstock and more patterned paper.  After the card was made, I punched two holes through the chipboard on the treat bag as well as the card and tied on the treat bag with a small piece of ribbon.

I made a few of these to give to the people that had loved the bars so that they could have another little taste of the bars and the recipe to save for their own.