ABC Inspiration Challenge: Ltr F

Hello everyone! I had the most wonderful weekend of creating and laughing...it was so great and I feel like I got some fun projects done. I'm going to try to wrap them up and get them posted soon. It was so fun to be in full creative mode for a few days...something I really needed and I'm so thankful to all of those that helped me with the kids so that I could go. :)

I'm back in the swing of things...kids are all sick with the flu, working hard on kits for the SPARK event next weekend, working on things to sell at Spark and so much more! Busy busy! I did get my Letter 'F' card done of the ABC Inspiration Challenge though. It's quite simple...I wanted to put the word 'fall' on there since it is my most favorite time of year, but ended up going with a 'fall' theme and putting the word 'family' instead.

I took a page from a Jenni Bowlin mini album, added an old stamp that was from an older Autumn Leaves stamp set (the leaf border stamp), added some paper, some stamped leaves that were cut out and a stamped image. Simple.

I hope that you all had a great weekend. Anyone battling the flu at their house? I'm praying that I don't catch it - any tricks? I have way too much to do to be down with the flu right now. Yuckers!

ABC Inspiration Challenge: Letter E

Hi everyone! I am back into the swing of things and wanted to share my letter 'E' project for my ABC Inspiration project. I went through a small vintage dictionary that I have sitting on my desk to look for a letter 'E' letter that inspired me. I wrote down a ton of words but here are a few that I was inspired by:

Exciting    Engaging    Enlightening    Emerge    Essential    Esteem    Eternal     Eager    Extraordinary
Energy    Encourage    Express    Explore    Experiment    Exercise    Eclectic    Edify    Educate
Extravagance    Emulate    Endless    Enhance    Enough    Extremely

I told you there were a lot of them! I could of gone with a number of them, but in the end, I went with 'Emerge'. There are so many things on my to-do list and so many goals that I have for myself - I'm trying to 'emerge' and 'evolve' into a new 'era' for myself (how about that for 'e's LOL). As it sits on my ATC holder, it reminds me to have faith in myself, to go forward and to emerge into the person I want to be...to go after my goals...and I like that.

I love the stamps that Studio Calico creates and this ABC stamp is no expection. Check out this ATC stamp that they have too...I used it on one of my last ATC cards and have stamped it on about every single one since - I LOVE it! I stamped the ABC stamp with brilliance Pigment Ink from Tsukineko (loving these inks and have been buying a lot of then lately) in Pearlescent Thyme. The ink has a shine/pearl to it and I love the way that it looks.

I took a yellow thread and embroidered over one of the letter 'Ee's' to add attention to it. I die-cut the word Emerge and added a few stitches to it as well. This card was really simple, but I like it. Again, sorry, but I can't stop using this hot pink and yellow...I love these colors right now.

If you have a chance to make a card this week, be sure to share with me. I'd love to see! Thanks for stopping by!

ABC Inspiration Challenge: Letter D

This weeks 'ABC Inspiration Challenge' card was created with the letter 'D' in mind. I had a lot of different ideas come to me...I could probably make 5 cards for each letter each week! It's been so fun! I decided to go with a damask design and then I stamped 'delight' in 'the details' in the bottom right.

I die-cut the damask design with my Silhouette die-cutting machine...with an image from Quickutz in both green and yellow. I combined the two damask cut-outs on Melon Mambo pink cardstock from Stampin' Up! (my favorite color right now!). I used some label die-cuts (also from Quickutz) and stamped some images from Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday Stamps (this one and this one). I outlined over the 'delight' stamp with a silver gel pen since the silver pigment ink I used didn't show up to well. I then started coloring in dots on the damask and outlining some of the parts of it with the silver pen.

The ribbon is the Melon Mambo polka-dot ribbon which was ruffled and sewn to the page. I also used a small scallop border punch that I love from EK Success on a small strip of white cardstock that was tucked under the scalloped ribbon.

I love the brightness of this card...it makes me happy and looks so fun up on my ATC Carousel with all the other cards.

Some ideas for the letter D:

Design           Day              Desire

Decorate        Delight        Dream

Details           Dance

If you think of any more, please share in the comments! I'm sure there are lots more! :)

My original idea for my letter 'D' card, was to create a photo collage of decorated rooms that I had saved to my computer that I thought were inspirational. I love home decor...love to decorate, love to look at interiors and so forth. But, when I went to print the card, it just didn't look great (since all the images saved from the computer were of low resolution). So, I went to plan B, which is the card shown. I'll share my little photo collage here anyway - I know it's hard to see but it was fun to pull random decor photos and put them all together onto a card.

Have you started to do your own set of 'ABC' Inspired cards? I'm really loving this project! Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

ABC Inspiration Challenge: Bonus Project

Last week, I received this amazing ATC kit, Lollipop Guild, in the mail from Studio Calico. I love this kit! Everything in it is geared towards ATC cards. What is an ATC card? According to Wikipedia, an atc is:

Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards, or 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches (6cm X 9cm), small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets. The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland. Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc). The cards are usually traded or exchanged rather than sold.

My 'ABC Inspiration Challenge' is exactly this...miniature works of art. This Lollipop Guild kit is perfect for this project and I was excited to receive it and play with it. This weeks card is a bonus card...I just played with the kit contents instead of focusing on a letter for this weeks card. It's something extra and fun to add to my carousel of art projects.

I took the mini papers included in the kit and added some diecuts, tied the gem on with string, and sewed some ribbon onto the card. My favorite thing about the kit, is the exclusive, limited edition stamp from Studio Calico. Their stamps are amazing! I love them! I stamped the 'ATC' stamp on the back of the card (the right hand side of the stamp was left off - wanted the image to go off the page a bit). I wrote my info down in the card and added a star die-cut that was included in the kit.

I loved playing with this kit! If you want a fun kit that includes great colors and products that are just PERFECT for this 'ABC Challenge' project, jump over there and grab it before it is sold out. It's amazing!

I going to go play with this kit some more today! I am also working on a layout inspired by this color scheme...and using this awesome school alphabet stamp from Studio Calico on it as well. (The kit with the stamp is sold out  but the stamp will be up in their shop in 2 months...mark your calendars!) I will finish my layout and share it this week as well.

Have a wonderful Monday! :)

ABC Inspiration Challenge: Letter C

This week, the Letter 'C' was my focus for the ABC Inspiration Challenge.  As I thought about words or thoughts that were created by the letter 'c', I thought of two of my favorite things...creating and color. Color is one of the things I love most about creating...gathering different papers and embellishments, stamping with different colors...all to pull together a beautiful color scheme that is fresh, fun and inspiring!

For this card, I cut a  3 1/2" x 4 1/2" piece of Crushed Curry Cardstock. I stamped one of my most favorite stamps ever, this heart stamp from Paper Source with Versamark Ink, sprinkled clear embossing powder on it and then heat embossed it with a heat gun to melt the powder.

I die-cut the letter 'C' with my Cricut with this pink swiss dot embossed cardstock from Bazzill (another one of my staples in my room). I also typed 'create with color' on my printer and printed it on the same pink cardstock in a gray color.

On the white swiss dot cardstock, I stamped a Woodgrain Background stamp from Stampin' Up! with Crushed Curry Ink. I added it to the stamped background piece and sewed around the edge with pink thread.

I took a white flower (this pillar of flowers is a great thing to have on hand - love to stamp on them) and stamped it with Turquoise Chalk Ink and this polka dot stamp from American Crafts. I then added a large silver glitter brad (also new from American Crafts) to the middle of the flower.

I found this great new twill at Joanns and added a large strip across the middle, some yellow string and my journaling strip stapled on the edges. I added my flower and two smaller glitter brads. I folded over a 2" piece of the twill ribbon and sewed it to the card. Done! :)

It turned out really different than I had envisioned, but that is part of the creative process right?!

If you have a chance to play along and create your ABC Inspiration card, please post a link so that we can all check it out.

Thanks for coming by!

ABC Inspiration Challenge: Letter B

I am really enjoying the creative journey with these ABC Inspiration Challenge cards. Have you started to do your own collection yet? If not, I invite you to join along. Each Monday, I will post a new card/atc/etc. that is inspired by a letter of the alphabet. I will be playing with new techniques, visiting old ones and in general...having fun playing and being creative. I am really loving this smaller 'canvas' to work with...I have been so inspired!

This week, I created my project with the letter 'B' in mind. The first thing that I thought of was my two boys...brothers. So, my card focuses on them this week. (click on photo for larger view)

I printed two photos (one for front, one for back) that were each edited to have a bit of vintage/seventies look to them.

I took a piece of vintage ledger paper and stamped an amazing circle stamp from Collage Press with brown StazOn ink. I then stamped the 'blessing' stamp from an Ali Edwards/Technique Tuesday stamp set with an Adirondack 'Red Pepper' Paint Dauber from Ranger.

I took some aqua thread and sewed on top of the 'blessing' stamped image.

I printed some journaling words on kraft paper, cut them into small strips and added to the card.

On the bottom of the card, I added a small strip of kraft paper and brown paper that had been punched with a postage stamp border punch from EK Success.

On the back of the card is the other photo and the word 'life' stamped from another set from Ali Edwards/Technique Tuesday.

I wanted to keep this card fairly simple and vintage with the focus on the photographs.

My dear friend from 1548 Inspiration Ave. is doing this weekly challenge with me as well...so be sure to check out her blog every Monday for her ABC Inspiration Challenge project...she is amazing!

Have a wonderful Monday!

ABC Inspiration Challenge: Introduction & Ltr. A

One thing that keeps me scrapbooking is the opportunity for creative growth...exploring new techniques, new mediums, new ideas and inspirations...it always keeps me exciting and wanting to move forward. Many of my favorite layouts that I've ever created, are those that have multiple 'canvases' that I embellished in various ways. I love to push myself to try new things...to think 'outside the box' and discover what new ways I can use products and photos.

Unfortunately, I'm a huge perfectionist and my layouts take me a very long time to complete. So when I saw this Photo & ATC Vintage Carousel from 7Gypsies, I knew immediately that I had to get one! As I pondered what to put on the carousel, I thought it would be fun to start with some cards/atc's/photos/etc. inspired by the alphabet.

On each Monday, I will post my 'ABC Inspiration Challenge' piece. It may be a card, envelope, embellished photo, tag, atc...anything! Each piece will be inspired by a letter of the alphabet and will have a different technique or idea behind it. In the end, I hope to have a carousel filled with color, letters, words & monograms, photos and techniques that will inspire me for years to come.

Are you up for a fun challenge?

Each Monday, I will post my project here at BeCreative-Everyday.com. You can work on your letter that week and then post a link in the comments section on the Monday post so that we can all check out your work. If you participate, please stop by and check out everyone's links so that we can help support one another. I think this is going to be a neat project - a small 'canvas' that you can work on anytime through the week - simple or super detailed - it's up to you!



My project for today is all about the Letter A.

A = Art

This card has strips of ribbon and paper, some fun tags, stamping and a vintage alphabet card that I cut out the middle of the 'A', popped it up with pop-dots and put some yellow felt underneath for added texture. Add random buttons and sewing...done. :)

The Vintage Alphabet card I used on this piece is from a Vintage game called, Probe. I bought them on etsy and they seem to show up often, in different quantities & prices. I plan to use them on my projects - probably not every one - but some of them. If your interested in getting some, here are a few links to some I found on etsy. Here, here and here.

I hope that you will feel inspired to join the 'ABC Inspiration Challenge'. I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I'm loving the opportunity to work on smaller projects that inspire me. If you create your 'Letter A' project this week, be sure to link here in the comments section so we can all check it out!

Have a wonderful Monday!