Coordinates Collections

Another Use for Your Mask

First off, I get to announce that the winner of last week's Monday Challenge is Heaney!  Be sure to email jamie@coordinatescollections.com or PM Jamie with your address.

I hope that everyone had a chance to participate in the Blog Hop!  I really had to push myself to put some sparkle on there.  You wouldn't think that sparkle would be so hard for someone with three girls...

Today, I want to show you what I did (and what I learned) with the mask that came in the Vintage Attic kit.  Many of you got to play along with last week's masking challenge, but I wanted to show you that you can also use your mask like a stamp using mist for ink.

 

The technique is pretty simple:  

First, I used the mask as a guide to figure out where I wanted to place it with reference to my photo and made a mental note.

Lay your mask on a craft sheet or in a cardboard box or wherever you mist and spray away, getting a good, heavy but even coverage.

Lay the wet side down, and use your fingernail to press along the entire mask.

So, this one came out ... kind of splotchy.  

So I repeated the process and tried to lay the mask back exactly where it was.  I got pretty close, but by this point, I also had mist all over my fingers, so there are smudge marks from me rubbing my nail along the mask (and ink on my fingers 3 days later).  

It didn't quite turn out like I had imagined - I wanted some more definition on the image.  But I was going for a slightly shabby look, so I decided I'm ok with it.

I think a BIG part of my issue was that I had to use the "back" side of the mask.  If you feel them, there's a smooth side and a less smooth side.  When I stamped the images below, you'll notice that they are both using the smooth side (so the image is reversed).  I didn't realize that when I planned this layout, and cut out the pp behind the photo to use on other LOs.  So I was kind of committed.  :)

I did some experimenting later, and got the best results on smooth paper or cardstock.  I also got a more defined image with a more "watery" mist like the Tattered Angels (red) than I did with the more "pigment-y" mist like the Studio Calico (brown).

 

You can see the difference more clearly in this one section of the curve that should have a scalloped edge (on the left in the pics below). You can see the scallops with the Tattered Angels, but with the Studio Calico, you can't.  (There ARE places where I got decent definition with the Studio Calico, but I would say it's hit or miss.)

I hope this gives you something else to try out with you mask!  

Monday's Challenge - One-line Journaling

Hey peeps!  Hope everyone had a WONDERFUL weekend.  We all know that December is a bit, um, HECTIC, right? It's a busy month, between the holidays, and parties, and school programs, and end of year deadlines, and WHEW! I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

So I've decided to take it easy on ya'll.  Super easy.  Easy-peasy.

This month, the journaling challenge is all about fast journaling.  One-line journaling, to be more specific.  Yep, you heard me.  As much as I ramble on and on about how important journaling is and stories and yada yada yada, I’m admitting that sometimes one line is all you need. That's right, the girl who first asked you to write a big story, who is a journaling fanatic, is now telling you to throw all that out the window. Sometimes simpler is better.

But whoa! Hold up. Just because we're doing a fast and dirty version of journaling doesn’t mean this isn’t going to challenge you!  (I did, after all, put the word “challenge” right in the title.)  The difficulty with one-line journaling is actually putting everything you want to say in just one line.  I know that last line sounds ridiculous, which totally proves my point!  (Confused yet?  Me too.)

So let’s break it down.  I use one-line journaling for a variety of reasons.  Maybe I don’t have much room on my layout.  Or maybe I think that one line does a better job than a whole paragraph in that particular instance.  Or maybe I’m just pressed for time/lazy.  Hey, it happens!

The really cool thing about one-line journaling is that it opens you up to a bunch of cool options creatively.

Use journaling spots.  I admit, when I first started scrapping, I looked at some of the cute little journaling spots + stickers available, and immediately thought, jeesh, how much journaling am I going to get on that teeny thing? The answer is, not a whole lot.  Which in this case, is a good thing.

Those spots are PERFECT for our one-line journaling.  In this next layout, I used one of the little stickers included in the Crate Paper "phrase stickers" for my journaling.  It doesn't leave me a lot of room, but then, I didn't have a lot to say.  For once ;)

It just seemed like a great little place to hold my thoughts about my son's *ahem* enthusiasm when it comes to playing.

Use tiny alphas.  Oh, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these things.  The Tiny Type Alphas from Cosmo Cricket are in the store (and included in the Amish Quilt kit next month, if you're getting that one!).  I'm pretty sure I have every color now.  They are just so adorable.

And when your journaling is limited to one line, you can easily use these alphas for your journaling!  Such a cute addition to a layout.  In my "Hey Ma" layout, I used some Tiny Type alphas to put Henry's expression into words.  Clearly, he is SO OVER our little photo session.  Using the alphas draws attention to my journaling, and lets me do fun things like go seamlessly from my photo to my patterned paper to my cardstock, something I really couldn't have done with just a pen.

Plus, the little bitty alpha stickers are fun.  So much fun.  As in, I've used them on almost half of my recent layouts.  I'm a bit obsessed.

Now, let's talk a bit about some places to find your one-line journaling. That's right. You don't have to come up with this stuff all on your own. Borrow. Steal. Copy. No one's judging you. Certainly not me, as you'll see :)

Use a status update. You know all those little Facebook and Twitter updates where you've been diligently tracking the finer points of your life? Solid gold, baby. Here's a fun recent one of mine (and I'm using the term "fun" pretty loosely here):

    "So, I totally tripped and fell today on the sidewalk outside of the pub, in front of my co-workers + boss. Embarrassing." Nov 19th

Wouldn't that make a great layout about how generally clutzy I am? Seriously, I run into things at LEAST three times a day.  AND your updates are already date-stamped for you, which saves you the time of having to look up what day so-and-so got her braces put on, so long as you updated.

In this layout about my first 5K, I just used three different Twitter updates as my journaling, all housed on their own little journaling spot.  (See? Journaling spots! Told ya!)

Yes, I am a bit of a nerd. I tweeted immediately before and after my race. But really, the only thing faster than one-line journaling is one-line journaling that's already written.

Use a quote.  Yes, you could use a famous quote. I've done it before. But how about we dig a little deeper. Or less deep, depending on how you look at it. I went back to Facebook again, but this time I scrolled through my mom's page for a suitable quote.

**Slight sidenote. As part of the generation that was in college when Facebook came out, back when you had to have a ".edu" email to join, it used to totally freak me out that my MOM has a FACEBOOK account. I'm cool with it now though. Whew, thanks for letting me get that off my chest!***

So, I found this quote from my mom about how my son Henry is the cherry on top of a three-scoop sundae (the three scoops, I'm assuming, are my two sisters + me). A little, um, cheesy, but now you can see that it does indeed run in the family :)

Also, I really wanted to use that "Family" chipboard piece from Crate Paper, so I needed a family quote/pic.

I just copied her status update, dated it, and proceeded to throw stuff on my layout. Fun, right? I barely even had to THINK. My MOM wrote my journaling FOR me.  Perfect for a busy month.  And yes, my mom loved it. She teared up.

Use song lyrics.  I loved this picture of me + my hubby. And to be honest, I didn't know what words could really do it justice. So I stole borrowed words from someone else.  Thanks, Alan Jackson. "Red on a Rose" was our wedding song.

So simple.  Love it.

And before I win the prize for longest blog post EVER (ironic, considering the topic), let's get to the good stuff.  This week's challenge!

Create a layout featuring one-line (or two, I promise to look the other way!) journaling.  Feel free to use one of the ideas here, or share your own thoughts on one-line journaling. 

The rules:

--the project does not need to use a CC Monthly Kit
--the project must be uploaded to the 'Monday's Challenge' category in the CC Gallery
--put the name of the challenge in your title ("One-Line Journaling")
--post a link of that project from the CC Gallery into the thread for that challenge on the Message Board
--the challenge will be due by midnight MST December 26, 2010, and the random winner announced on the CC Blog December 28, 2010.

Good luck! 

 

P.S. Blog Hop entries are due today!!

Lisa's December Project Videos! **UPDATED**

Welcome everyone!  This is my favorite time of the month (well.. except for the reveal videos *wink*) - when I can show you everything I've been working on with the gorgeous kits that are shipping your way! First up is one of my all-time favorites:  Frosty Porch

Don't let all that aqua and teal fool you...there is a TON of COLOR in this kit!  Wait until you see my mini-album: {disclaimer: I talked about my messy scrap area, what's with my messy hair?!? I've got a rogue piece on the back of my head that is shining as bright as a Christmas star in my video - HA!}

 

 

The second kit this month is Vintage Attic:

What a stunner this is... just WAIT until you try the wood veneer products and the new Prima Masks!

 

 

stacey's creative post.

Coordinates Collections is giving a $25 Gift Certificate on Day 5 of Somewhat Simple's 12 Giveaways of Christmas!  Head over to Somewhat Simple for your chance to win!

Happy Saturday-Before-Christmas! You know what that means, don't you? One week. Seven days until Christmas. I'm just saying.

It's my day to share a tiny bit of something creative...did you know that the CC store has the Echo Park "Life Is Good" collection kit? It's in the section for the Project Calendar Collections add-ons. I used it to make this layout about my baby boy:

 

I used my tiny heart punch and a small circle punch, but everything else is in the kit. Happy creating!

 

Friday Fab Find + Crate Giveaway Winner!

Happy Friday!  Woo-hoo!  I love Fridays.  I can just taste the weekend stretching out in front of me - laundry, cleaning, wrapping presents . . . wait, maybe I'd rather be at work.

Man, how about we move onto the fun stuff?  First, I get to announce the winner of a Frosty Porch kit from the Crate Paper kit giveaway!!  Congrats to TRACY SARRA!!  Tracy, please email jamie@coordinatescollections.com with your mailing address, and she'll get your kit sent out to you.

More fun stuff!  Every week we select a "Fab Find" from the CC Gallery.  This week, I selected this fun project by ScrapMomof2 (Carol).

I really liked how she made a simple card just using strips of paper, then tied all those papers together with the fun zig-zag stitching.  Congrats, Carol!  Let's leave her some love.

Make sure you're uploading your scrappy projects to the gallery - next week could be you!

Product Spotlight: Studio Calico Wood Veneer embellishments

Good Morning Scrappers! 
Here in the northeast, it is bitter cold with more snow coming. Good scrapping weather, if you ask me!

If I were going to sit and scrap today, I'd be working with this month's gorgeous Vintage Attic kit. Not only is it packed with lovely vintage papers from Crate Paper and Basic Grey, but it has some very cool embellishment to work with it!  

So, let me tell you about the Studio Calico Wood Veneer products. The kit includes a set of alphabets. They are self adhesive, and come on a 6 x12 sheet, with multiples of commonly used letters. The font is a good all purpose one, with upper and lower case of each letter included. The wood veneer frames (available as an add-on), have 2 sets of nested 6x6 inch frames. Both products can be misted, inked, or painted to match your project.

 Stacey showed us that you can even stitch through them!

 
Kimberly used the letters as they came, a blonde wood. I love the effect of the mixed cases in her title:

Since the frames offer so many per package, you can feel free to use more than one on your projects.   Sarah used both the frames and the letters on this page. Love how she used the frames to call attention to her photos:

 
 And in this beauty, Cara used the frames as a design element, framing not only the picture, but her title as well. Cara inked and misted her title letters to support her theme.

 

I also found this cool tutorial on the Creating Keepsakes blog for using the frames to create photo ornaments. 
So as you can see, the wood adds an interesting texture and dimension your projects. They are versatile, offering you the opportunity to get creative with adding color or letting the natural wood show through.  So quick, get your order in and get scrapping!

 

 

Lisa's January Previews!

Well, it's not technically January 1st yet, so I can still use this same ol' pic.  I do have a new one coming! :) I'm thrilled to show you the preview videos for the January kits:  Sleigh Ride & Amish Quilt

 

 

These kits feature some HOT lines from Fancy Pants Hot Chocolate, Echo Park Wintertime and Bo Bunny Midnight Frost - and then Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 and MME Lush!  Don't forget your add-ons, in fact, add them to your list for Santa and send him a link to the CC Store  for Christmas morning! hee hee... or should I say... HO HO HO!

Jen's Frosty Porch Projects

Happy Tuesday to you all!  Can you believe there's only 11 more days until Christmas...I still have to wrap all my presents and I hope to get some holiday baking done this weekend.  Before I show you my projects I need to announce last weeks challenge winner.  Congrats to Jesica aka Yeyioasis!  Don't forget to contact Jamie@coordinatescollection so she can get your prize out to you.

I was so happy to get the "Frosty Porch" kit this month...I was SO in love with the "Snow Day" collectionj from Crate Paper (I have a thing for cute little snowmen and those colors were SO me!)

 

First up is a home decor item I made as a gift for a friend.

BELIEVE

I started out by tracing & cutting the bracket shape out of a piece of cardboard.  I then covered the cardboard with the Basic Grey "pomegranate" paper from the kit and misted this with "marshmallow" glimmer mist by Tattered Angels.  It added a nice sheen and softened the paper a bit.  From the add on pattern paper I cut a piece of the "flakes" and using my corner rounder & round binding edge punch I trimmed the edges.  From the kit I used the snowflake rubons...I placed them on the turquoise cardstock, then hand cut so they could be used as embellishments.  The chipboard swirls are from my stash (BoBunny I think) they were painted and then sprinkled with glitter.  To me they represnt winter wind and I mounted the snowflakes on them so they appear to "blow" across my layout.  From the addons I used some Crate Paper chipboard, Jillibean journaling sprouts, Cosmo Tiny Types, and some Basic Grey Mini-Mono stickers (in white) that I used a combo of red ink and burnt red glimmer mist on.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

First I need to apologize for my pictures...I had some bad lighting and the colors are not represented accurately.  This is such much better looking IRL colorwise.  Anyway the colors in these papers were such fun bright colors and when I was looking for pictures to scrap...these pictures just screamed to be scrapped with this kit!  This went together fairly fast...I cut a piece of the diecut paper to go along the bottom holding my title and a few acccents and then I used half of the Basic Grey "Blizzard" to hold my pictures and journaling spot.  Across the middle I layered some pieces of pattern papper cut into scallops and pleated.  I accented the layout with pieces of chipboard from the addon, some Prima pom-pom trim, and some Jillibean journaling sprouts.  From my stash I added the label sticker for my journaling and some Pink Paislee whimsy stickers in brown for part of my title.

SNOW ANGELS

I had to get some of these cute snowmen onto a page!  Here I cut a few from the pattern paper and used one of the Basic Grey Woolies included in the kit.  The "woolie" that I had didn't exactly coordinate with my layout so I altered her a bit.  First I removed the hat she had on and made a new one out of some papers from the kit and a rhinestone from my stash.  Then I got the bright idea to add "wings", this pair came from the Crate chipboard sheet from the "School Spirit" collection.  To add a bit of contrast between my "white" pictures and the cardstock I painted hot pink acrylic paint around the edges of the pictures and to tie it all together I then painted the edge of the cardstock.  I used more of the snowflake rubons from the kit and added a piece of the Prima "pom-pom " trim...my little "snowballs".  For my title I used the Basic Grey Micro Mono stickers.

GIFT CARDS

Lastly I threw together some little gift cards out of some of the scraps laying around my desk.  Each rectangle was stitched onto the cardstock (adding a little texture) and then I either placed a chipboard accent or a cut paper accent to the center.  Easy peasy!

 

 

 

 

Monday's Challenge: Deck the Halls

  Happy Monday, again! Less than two weeks until Christmas... I hope everyone is enjoying the season.  It's nearly 70* here in Bangalore and the only thing Christmasy I've seen is the red and green construction paper chain I made with my three year old.  Hopefully this challenge will ensure that your home is a bit more ready for the holiday!

This week's Monday's Challenge is to create something for the holidays - whether it be Christmas, Hannukah, or just the Winter Season.  It doesn't have to be fancy - a simple ornament or card will do - but it DOES have to incorporate the awesome faux stitching technique DT member Marielle shared a few weeks ago.

One lucky challenge participant will win a prize! Post your project in the Monday's Challenge section of the Gallery, and comment on this blog post with a link to your project to be entered in the drawing.  You may also enter by replying to the Monday's Challenge thread on the message board with a link to your project.  Challenge ends Sunday, December 19, 11:59 PM.  Winner will be announced on the CC blog on Tuesday, December 21.  Winner will have two weeks to claim her prize.

December Blog Hop

This post will remain at the top of the blog until Dec. 20th.  Please scroll down to see the daily posts!

Hello crafty friends! Are you all ready for this month’s blog hop challenge? Ooooo, I know you’re going to like this one!

Make It Sparkle!

Nothing makes the elements in your projects stand out like a little sparkle and shine! Weather you choose Dazzling Diamonds, Diamond Dust, Glimmer Mist, Perfect Pearls or good old fashion glitter, we just want you have fun with it!

 
 
I chose to use the Frosty Porch kit to create this sparkly LO.  I made my own die cut paper using my Cricut and framed it with the pearlescent cardstock included in the kit using the technique I shared previously in our tutorials forum. I also edged all of the papers with white paint (dry brush technique) and sprayed them with Glacier Glimmer Mist. It's hard to see in the photo but the paper is very glimmery!

 
 
To add more sparkle, I covered the alphas with Glossy Accents then sprinkled two layers of Martha Stewart tinsel glitter.

 
 Now it's your turn!

1. Create a layout with some sparkle on it.
2. Post your layout on your personal blog or in the CC Gallery. The title of your post should be “Coordinates Collections December Blog Hop.”
3. Come back here and use Mister Linky at the end of this post to add the URL link to your layout.  Remember in order to qualify for the prize, you must post your project by 11pm EST December 20^th. Be sure to link to your actual Blog Hop project POST, not just to your blog.
4. During the week, visit the blogs/galleries then head to the CC Blog Hop forum! Take some time to praise your fellow scrappers, discuss anything new you might have learned and provide each other with valuable feedback.

A lucky participant will be randomly selected to win a $25 Gift Certificate to the CC Store! The winning layout will be posted on the CC Blog on December 22.  Have fun everyone! Can't wait to see your sparkly creations!!