Some Ric-Rac love.

Happy Halloween! I'm keeping the festivities down to homework and eating candy today (Still hoping to carve a pumpkin soon, though!), but I thought I would share a card that I made last night. My crafty buddy Paulina was looking to make room in her stash for some new goodies, so I bought a couple of things I've been wanting for a while. (She still has more things for sale here... Check it out!) One of the things was this ric-rac PTI die. Love it! When this challenge for Everything But the Kitchen Sink went up last night, I knew exactly what to do with it. Here's the challenge graphic:

And here's my card:

 Isn't this color combo gorgeous?

 Close-up of the yummy colors of aqua and teal used. All are Papertrey except for the darkest- that's Stampin' Up.

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Aqua Mist, Blueberry Sky, Spring Rain, Hawaiian Shores, White), Colormates (Grey), and Stampin' Up! (Bermuda Bay), Ric-Rac Die- Papertrey Ink, Stamps- Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames #7), White Pen- Signo Uni-ball, Embossing Powder- Ranger, Embossing Ink- Tsukineko (Versamark).

Hope you have a happy and safe Halloween! Be back tomorrow with another Video Tutorial Monday. Have to go film it now. :)

Love.
Brit

Halloween Weekend and a New Layout.

Instead of going out tonight to more Halloween parties, I'm feeling much more up to staying home and watching football. Last night was a little too crazy for my liking. Haha. My roommates are tired, too. I am super happy right now, though, because I just booked a flight to go home for Thanksgiving. It's a five hour drive from my University back to home for me, so getting a flight for 100 dollars round trip is an amazing thing for me! Especially since, this way, I won't have to spend Sunday, the 28th, (which just happens to be my birthday. hehe) in the car for 5 hours. Woot! I thought I would stop by to share a Halloween card and another layout that I made this week. Love both of these!

Here's the halloween card.  I was itching to use some orange glitter, so here's what I came up with:

I embossed the bats with black embossing powder and then colored them in with T6 and T9 grey copics to give them some depth.

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Kraft and Vintage Cream), Stamps- Lawn Fawn (Heebie Jeebies), Markers- Copic (T6 and T9), Embossing Ink- Tsukineko (Versamark), Embossing Powder- Ranger, Glitter- EK Success, Scortape- Papertrey Ink.

Next, here's yet another layout using On the Easel from Studio Calico. You can still grab it, and it'll even ship out with the kits this month if you wish!

Supplies: Cardstock- Kit- On the Easel (Studio Calico), Bazzill (Kraft) and Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream), Black Marker- Copic, Letters- American Crafts (Thickers), Ribbon and Buttons- Papertrey Ink, Thread- DMC, Corner Rounder- WRMK.

I'm off to go daydream about seeing my furbabies again and spending time with my family for a whole week. Can you tell I'm excited?! Okay. Go make pretty things now! You are all amazing. ;)

Love.
Brit

It's a weekend full of celebrations.

My boss's daughter-in-law just gave birth to my boss's first grandchild! Little Benjamin was born on October 27th, weighed 9 lbs 7 oz and was 21 3/4" long. What a joyous occasion for my boss's family! This was definitely a card-worthy event. Not having to make many baby cards since I'm in college and none of my friends are even close to having children yet, I pulled out my only stamp set I own with a baby-themed sentiment- Wonderfully Whimsical from Papertrey Ink. With Sophie's Sentiments from Lawn Fawn and The Sky is the Limit cloud stamp from Studio Calico, here's what I came up with:

 I used Copics to color in the houses and then cut them out. I adhered them to the back of the piece of Simply Chartreuse cardstock hills and then adhered it to the vintage cream paper that I had stamped and masked off the clouds on before applying Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress ink. I love how this card turned out!

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Simply Chartreuse, Kraft, and Vintage Cream), Stamps- Papertrey Ink (Wonderfully Whimsical), Studio Calico (Sky is the Limit Set from May 2010 add-on) and Lawn Fawn (Sophie's Sentiments), Ink- Tsukineko (Memento Black) and Ranger (Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass and Broken China), Markers- Copic.

Alright, off to go prep for the first night of Halloween festivities. Tonight, Matt and I are going out to some costume parties dressed as football players- he's going to be a Viking, and I'm going to be a Packer. The layout for tonight is going to be a-dor-able :)

Much love! What are you or your kids planning on being for halloween? I need ideas for tomorrow night still. Hehe.

Love.
Brit

Thinking Inking: Week 4.

I've told you about ten thousand times I love this Thinking Inking: Holiday class over at Two Peas, so I'll just let the cards that I made for Week 4 just stand for themselves. :)

Project 1 - Paint Resist

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream and Kraft), Stamps- Hero Arts (CG102 Antique Brocade) and Papertrey Ink (Year of Flowers: Roses), Ink- Ranger (Distress Ink in Stormy Sky, Broken China, and Tumbled Glass) and Hero Arts (Cerulean Chalk Ink), Paint- Ranger.

Project 2 - Faux Texture

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream and Ripe Avacado), Stamps- Hero Arts (CG140 Poppy Background) and Lawn Fawn (Sophie's Sentiments), Ink- Tsukineko (Gold) and Ranger (Crushed Olive), Paint- Ranger.

Project 3 - Letterpress

 Can I just say that I LOVE this technique? Why didn't I try this sooner? If you haven't yet, try this the next time you sit down to make a card. It looks soooo pretty.

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream and Kraft), Stamps- Lawn Fawn (Frosties), Embossing Folder- Sizzix (Tim Holtz Texture Fade), Ink- Tsukineko (Gold), Paint- Ranger.

So hop on over to Two Peas and watch Jen's video for this week if you haven't already. You won't regret it, promise. :)

Love.
Brit

It's time to get crafty. :)

Today's a crafty day for me so I'll have pretty things to share with you for the next couple of days. I have some things in the works right now that I'm ridiculously excited for, but you're going to have to wait to hear about those. Hehe. I have a couple layouts to share, but first I'd like to remind you that today is release day over at Studio Calico!

Isn't the main kit lovely? I also got the Santa Cruz add-on at the subscriber pre-order. This month is going to be soooo much fun to scrap with. I also picked up a few goodies; I can't wait to play. The DT gallery go up and the kits go on sale to non-subscribers at midnight ET. I can't wait to see all of what the DT's cooked up this month. They're all geniuses, I tell ya.

Here are two more layouts I made using the On the Easel kit. It's my favorite ever.

 These alphas are from the Elk Lake add-on from August. Love them!

 I cut out different pieces of the die cut paper from the On the Easel kit as accents. I love the intricate look of the paper!

 This tape is from PrettyTape, and I added Peeled Paint distress ink to make the colors match perfectly.

 These fab letters are from Jenni Bowlin Studios. They were the perfect finishing touch for the date.

 Supplies: Kits- Studio Calico (On the Easel and Elk Lake), Cardstock- Kraft, Brown Pen- ZIG, Circle Punch- EK Success, Nestabilities- Spellbinders (Circle Large), Button- Papertrey Ink, Thread- DMC, Border Punch- Scalloped Sentiment, Ink- Ranger (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive, Shabby Shutters), Letter Stickers- Jenni Bowlin Studios, Washi Tape- PrettyTape on Etsy.

This next layout is about all of the "strange" things (to me!) that I encountered in Australia. I want to have a mini page next to it in my scrapbook explaining all of the things, but I don't have that part written up yet. I'll update that when I get it finished.

 This is using a lot of the SC paper from September. It's soooo beautiful.

Supplies: Kit- Studio Calico (On the Easel), Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream) and Bazzill (Kraft), "weird" letters- My Mind's Eye (Summer Camp Kit), Thickers- American Crafts ("different"), "not","just" and numbers- October Afternoon, Border Punch- Scalloped Sentiment, Black Marker- Copic, Corner Rounder- WRMK, Ink- Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters, Antique Linen, and Vintage Photo), Circle Punch- EK Success.

Off to go create some pretty things with goodies I haven't used yet. I'm excited! I'm just finishing watching Rocky Horror Picture Show in an effort to understand the Glee episode from last night. And uh... jury's still out on that one. I know why I didn't get to watch this until I was in college now. Haha.

Thanks for all the love. Love you all just as much. :)

Love.
Brit

P.S.- I'm editing this to add the journaling page that I made tonight to go with the Not Weird, Just Different layout. Here's how it sits in my scrapbook:

It's just a 5.5" by 11" page in a page protector that has been altered to fit. Therefore you can lift it to see the whole layout unobstructed. :)

And look below to see the full journaling text. It's a long one, but it contains a lot of memories from my trip. :) Feel free to skip past it if you don't feel like reading it!

I knew Australia was going to be different, but I didn’t really understand what culture shock was until I went through it. From talking to Sara on Skype and hearing stories of random things that happened throughout her day, I understood that things were different in Australia- people say different phrases than Americans do, they drive on the left side of the street, and they have amazingly interesting accents. The photographs on this page represent some of the “not weird, but different” (as Sara’s orientation leader would say) things that I got to know about Australia.

1. “Keep Left”: I didn’t know how hard this really would be. My entire life as an American, I was taught that you always walked on the right side of the sidewalk, drove on the right side of the road, and rode on the right escalator. Everything is upside-down in Australia. I had no idea how difficult it would be to ignore my instinct to walk on the right side. I almost ran into so many unsuspecting people and almost walked up the wrong escalator so many times. It was so funny any awkward at the same time.

2. American clothing: The first time Sara and I went shopping, I got a really nice couple of compliments on my American Eagle t-shirt that I bought for about 15 dollars in the states. After walking through a couple of American clothing stores, however, I knew why. My shirt would’ve cost about a hundred dollars there! We saw some crazy prices, like $150 dollars for an Aeropostale sweatshirt or $185 for a pair of Lee jeans that you could easily find for $25 in the US. Crazy! The nice part about clothing there was that they were going into winter, so all of their summer clothing was on clearance. I bought a hole bunch of cute summer shirts on clearance because I was headed back home where it was soon to be summer. Lovely!

3. Vegemite: an Australian staple that one of Sara’s roommates ate every morning on toast, this was my first time to try it. And my last. It’s salty and a weird color. I was happy to try it, but next time I’ll be happy to pass.

4. Koalas: When we went to the zoo, I got to see a lot of animals for the first time next to little kids who had seen these “exotic” animals many times before. I must’ve looked so ridiculous freaking out about petting a kangaroo for the first time. “Look! Oh my gosh! It’s really a kangaroo!”

5. The plants and animals in general were not only “weird”, but mesmerizing. Growing up with my mom having a beautiful garden, I’ve always looked around at plants. It was a wonderful experience to see plants from the other side of the globe, like this huge aloe-like tree. These were all over, along with all other sorts of amusing trees. And don’t even get me started on the birds. The “mer” birds and the “robot” birds were my personal favorites. They have so much more personality than our boring American birds.

6. Colourful Australia: spelling adjectives with a “u” in them was something I got used to very quickly. When I got home, I felt like everyone was spelling it wrong. I also am now able to fully tell the difference between Australian and British accents and can imitate both relatively well. (Okay... so not that well, but way better than I could before.)

The feeling towards Americans in general that I felt from the people there was surprisingly welcoming. Since most of the movies they watch are American, they’re very familiar with our accent, and I was told on several separate occasions that I “sound exactly like a movie star!” It’s crazy to think that people there were just as interested in me being an American as I was in them being Australian or British. We seemed to run into a lot of British people there. One Brit asked me if I could spare a piece of gum, and when I gave it to her, she said “ohhhh! Is this some crazy American gum?!” It totally made my night.

There were moments when an Australian person and I would just plainly not be able to communicate. It’s crazy that we were both speaking “correct” English, but Sara had to translate for us on more than a couple of occasions. There was one incident while ordering pizza with an automated system where it simply would not understand my American accent. Sara, Adam, and I had to call about three times before we finally got it right. We were laughing so hard we were crying. 

Watching television was also a unique experience. The rules on censorship are much more lenient there; no swear words are beeped out like they are in the states. It was refreshing to watch reality shows and not have to listen to the incessant beeping; it’s almost as if bleeping it out adds extra attention to the fact that they’re saying something “wrong”. The morning shows were also hilarious. Australians tend to have a lot more of an awkward sense of humor, so oftentimes they would say awkward things or do something really strange on the morning news and brush it of as if it weren’t a big deal. I, on the other hand, was incredibly amused. 

And don’t even get me started about the guys. Accents. Surfers. Accents. Always plaid shirts when then go out. Sigh... Well, it was very nice talking to them. And looking at them. And using our accents as conversation starters. No big deal. :)

Australia was a life-altering and amazing experience. I didn’t realize there would be so many differences until I was the foreigner. My adventure definitely gave me a whole new outlook on how Americans look to other countries, and what a foreigner feels like when they come to visit our country. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will truly always remember.

New, Pretty Things.

I can not tell you how absolutely thrilled I am with what I've been creating lately. I've had so much fun playing and expanding my boundaries of what I thought I could do. Maybe it's just because I've been in a weird mood lately, or because of the meloncholy weather, but I hope this creative burst never ends. I'm in love with creating, and I never want that love to end. Maybe it's all the new things I've been buying lately... Spending money is good for the soul. Thank goodness for having a job, or I'd be in some serious trouble! Haha.

New Things


I made a quick video of opening my Papertrey Ink order that I just got yesterday. Something went a little wonky with the shipping notice system, so it totally surprised me when it arrived. Oh, the joy! Here's the video. (Sorry- I did it on my macbook, so the image is reversed. I was too lazy to get out my tripod!) Watch it over at youtube here.

One of my Two Peas orders also came in the past couple days, and in my possession are two of these little beauties in Apple Jack and Atmosphere. I can't stop spraying things!

New To Me Things

When Eyedea passed away last week, my boyfriend was really upset; Eyedea was his favorite rapper. Never having listened to him before, I thought I would just listen to see why Matt thought he was so amazing. Let me tell you... I'm in love. He's a freaking genius. I've been known to like rappers every so often (Eminem is one of my favorite artists in general), so this isn't completely out of left field. If you have the slightest interest in rap, I really encourage you to listen to this album (E & A by Eyedea & Abilities) in particular. His lyrics aren't degrading towards women at all, and he keeps the swearing to a minimum in favor of deep lyrics about the battles of everyday life and living with others in the world.

A New Studio Calico Layout


I said I was going to share some layouts I made last week today, but I guess I lied. Instead, I want to share this one I made last night for the Sunday Sketch challenge on the SC blog. I was a little excited to use my Mister Hueys :) Check it out:

 I love cascading embellishments. And misting. I heart this macro shot, too. :)

 No layout of mine would be complete without stitching. Period. Hehe.

Supplies: Kit- Studio Calico (On the Easel and Still Life), Cardstock- Bazzill (Kraft) and Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream), Ink- Ranger (Spun Sugar Distress Ink), Font- Century, Punches- Stampin' Up! (Hearts and Stars) and Martha Stewart (Butterfly), Gems and Pearls- Hero Arts (Hero Hues in Blush), White Pen- Signo, Mister- Studio Calico (Apple Jack Mister Huey), Thread- DMC.

What's new in your life this week? Thanks for stopping by, you lovely, lovely ladies!

Love.
Brit

Video Tutorial Monday #7 - Watercoloring with Different Mediums

Hello, and welcome to another week with a Monday Video Tutorial. I'm having so much fun doing these... I hope you're enjoying them as much as I do making them! The technique this week is something I've been dabbling around all week with: watercolor. After listening to a paperclipping roundtable show where C.D. Muckosky recommended them, I added these 16-color Oval Prang Watercolors to my cart on amazon. (I'm linking to the Blick Art Materials page because they have better pictures, but feel free to do a google search for them.) You can get a set for easily under 10 dollars, and they're so easy to use. In the video, I show you how to do the same technique with chalk inks and distress inks (dye inks) as well, so you can try this project this week. But seriously, the watercolors would make a great stocking stuffer. I highly recommend them. :) 

 The beautiful watercolored butterfly:

 Blingage!

Here's the video. (Watch over at youtube & make sure to subscribe.)

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Kraft), Patterened Paper- My Mind's Eye, Journaling Card- Jenny Bowlin, Butterfly Stickers- Jenny Bowlin, Ink- Ranger (Barn Door Distress Ink) and Hero Arts (Punch Hero Hues Chalk Ink), Embossing Ink- Tsukineko (Versamark), Embossing Powder- Ranger, Stamps- Hero Arts (CL383) and Studio Calico (Natalee Alphabet), Bling- K & Co., Distressing Tool- Heidi Swapp.

By the way, how fabulous is that alpha? It just came in on Saturday from Two Peas, and I'm absolutely in love. I'm a total sucker for slab serif fonts; they're just so classic and neutral. I apologize in advance if I use it on everything from here on out. The price is unbelievable, too- 12.99 for a high-quality stamp set. Awesome.

Thank you for stoping by again! Leave a comment if you have anything you'd like me to do a video on next week. I'd love to take requests. Check back in tomorrow for some more Studio Calico layouts. Can't wait to share!

Love.

Brit

On the Easel Love.

I've said it a few times before and I'll say it over and over again... I love the September Studio Calico Kit. I have the main kit and Still Life, and the two combined are all of my favorite colors and textures. I love it so much, in fact, that it's inspired me to make more layouts in the past week and a half than I have probably over the last six months. So I wanted to share. A lot. So much so that I'll break my layouts up into a post today and then another one on Tuesday (after all, tomorrow is video tutorial Monday... can't miss that!). So let me know what you think, and hopefully I'll be able to continue to scrap this much in the coming months. This upcoming kit (revealed on Wednesday for subscribers!) looks like it might even be better than On the Easel. I die. :)

This first one is about when I was in Australia (the subject of pretty much all my scrapbooking lately... I'm getting close to done) and we went out to the bars on a weekend night. This was a challenge to myself to use the frames from the Maya Road windows included in the kit, and I really like how it turned out.

 I covered the frames in Shabby Shutters Distress ink + Glitter + more ink after the glitter dried.

Stitching... everywhere. It added such a finishing touch. 

Here's the back of the layout. Lots of love went into this one :) 

Supplies: Kit- Studio Calico (On the Easel), Thread- DMC, Buttons- Papertrey Ink (Lemon Tart), Ink- Ranger (Antique Linen and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink), Glitter- Martha Stewart, Corner Rounder- WRMK, Title Letters- American Crafts Thickers, Black Marker- Copic.

I needed a way to showcase a lot of pictures I had of my favorite pieces at the Art Gallery of NSW, so I decided to do an intro page and then follow it with a divided page protector for the extras. I love, love, love this SC paper:

I did some machine stitching on this layout... This may be the first time I've tried it on a layout before, and it's SO EASY. If I wouldn't have run out of thread (seriously? Who runs out of thread? Not one spool in the whole house...), I would have stitched everything else on for the rest of the week.

 Supplies: Kit- Studio Calico (On the Easel), Cardstock- Bazzill (Kraft), Page Protector- American Crafts, Marker- Copic, Staples- Ranger (Tiny Attacher), Corner Rounder- WRMK.

This next layout is all about the beloved polaroid stamp that came with the main kit. I loveeee.

 Supplies- Kits- Studio Calico (Still Life and On the Easel), Border Punch- Fiskars, Ink- Tsukineko, Cardstock- Bazzill (Kraft) and Papertrey Ink (Pinks- Raspberry Fizz, Berry Sorbet, and Sweet Blush).

Oh, quickly I wanted to share pictures from the rally I went to yesterday (for the democratic candidate for governor of Minnesota). The goal was to see Obama speak. We succeeded. :)

 My friend, Shishira, and me waiting in line with my roommates. The line was MILES long. Pure insanity.

 My roommates + Shishira + me. :) Left to right: Greg, Sara, Jake, Shishira, Joe, and me.

 There were SO many people there. We were about halfway back and incredibly far from the stage.

 This is right when Obama came out... look at all those cameras!

 Obama's speech was great. It was so cool to see the president of the United States in person. Definitely something I'll tell my kids about someday in the future.

So was standing in line for four hours and watching other speeches pressed against other people for an additional three worth it to see our president speak? The overwhelming consensus around campus: absolutely.

That's all I have to share today, but I'll be back with my tutorial tomorrow (like every week) and more layouts on Tuesday. I'm off to go get a bit of homework done and play with my brand new Mister Huey mists from Studio Calico that I just got from Two Peas. So many possibilities!

Have a great Sunday! It's a huge rival game tonight between the Packers and the Vikings, pitting friends, classmates, and couples against one another in a battle to the death. Let's just hope the Packers win, or I'm going to get some serious crap from the boyfriend for the next couple weeks. (Remind me why I'm dating a Vikings fan again?!) Go pack go! :)

Love.
Brit