Online Crop : April 27- May 6 2012

In honour of National Scrapbook Day, May 5th, the TSF design team is hosting an online crop. Each of the ladies, along with Joanne and Carolyn, have issued a technique-based challenge to encourage you to try something new or maybe to revisit something you haven't done in awhile. My challenge may be distressing to those who like everything neat and tidy however you will need to get out those files and inks cause it's time to DISTRESS! I have always loved the look of distressing on layouts and cards, I love the texture it gives. I pulled out my arsenal of distress tools and went to town on this layout featuring My Mind's Eye's Miss. Caroline collection:

I started with a distressed wood pattern paper which make fantastic backgrounds!

The idea to literally rip holes in my paper came to me as I was looking at the layout. I had all the pennants and photo adhered already but wanted to add something more. I took out a file with a pointy end and just started notching out the paper. I rolled it back, inked it then added a small piece of paper underneath.

I used some old Heidi Grace chipboard letters
that were totally the wrong colour so I sanded off the top and used a marker to add the right colour.

I used a distressing tool to rough up the edges

I even used a file on the edge of my photo, one of my favourite distressing techniques!

I hope you willl join in on my challenge and distress a layout or card!!

1) Projects MUST appear in the correct section of the GALLERY and FORUM to be eligible
2) You can only use ONE project to satisfy ONE challenge
3) Projects MUST be newly created to qualify for winning goodies!

April 13 Friendzy Friday-Microbeads

Recently TSF received a shipment of microbeads from American Crafts. I was intrigued by these teeny, tiny beads and wondered what you could do with them.

They come in a wide array of bright colours and some neutrals.

I had taken a shaker card class designed by Joanne and we used some beads as filler for the cards


but I thought there has to be a use for these in scrapbooking too as I am not a prolific card maker. So here is what I came up with. You will need liquid glue, glue dots or a Xyron sticker maker (which I do not have any longer as my boys have adopted it) and some sort of tray to catch the beads. Embossing trays work well.

After getting these supplies together I started looking at my stash to see what could be embellished with these wee little beads. Diecuts, plain chipboard, adhesive chipboard you don't like anymore but have sticky backs etc are all fair game.

Glue dots allow you to add polka dot beads anywhere you like

A liquid adhesive, like 3n1, allows the beads to stay pliable

and you can squish them into small spaces

Any self-adhesive shapes work great. Just flip them over and sprinkle with beads

Add beads to trees and as butterfly bodies




What I discovered is these beads are tons of fun to add some texture to just about anything. I started with blue and green but think how pretty the silver ones would be on snow layouts or the bright red ones on balloon diecuts. The options are truly endless.

These beads are in stock now!

Sketch Challenge April 11

Here I am again with another sketch designed by me. I chose a summer layout to turn into a sketch as I am not very happy with that bit of white stuff that was flying around yesterday!

So here is my simple pencil sketch enhanced using Picasa and Picnik (both FREE Google programs that I will be telling you all about in a 3 part series in June!)

Here is the layout my sketch is derived from.

I hope you enjoy playing along and encourage you to upload your creations to the TSF gallery.

Have you noticed all the buds on the trees? This is my favourite time of year when everything is just about to burst out into green so this week's Scrappy Challenge is to use a tree on a card or layout. I have used trees many, many times and this past weekend at the retreat I created another one of my boys climbing a tree in Waterloo Park.

The tree paper and diecut tree are from Kaisercraft.

I stitched around the tree top and added a few dew drops.

I hope you can find the time to participate in the challenge and don't forget to upload it to the TSF gallery