Coordinates Collections

Monday's Challenge: No Stone Unturned

Happy Monday!  Let's start the week off right with a fun and *easy* challenge, shall we?  I've got a prize to give away!

Thanks to Kim and Marielle for the awesome crop. You have until midnight on Tuesday to post your projects, so there's still time to participate (and win!)

One of my favorite things about crops (besides the challenges, prizes, and games...) is that the gallery gets packed with inspiration!  So, your challenge this week is to spend some time browsing the gallery - and leaving comments on your favorite layouts!

The rules:

• Go to the Gallery and leave comments on at least 15 crop projects.
• Leave a comment on this blog post, or reply to the Monday's Challenge thread on the message board letting me know you completed the challenge.
• Those of you who've already commented on everything in the gallery... lol. You can leave a comment to enter the contest as well.
• Comment here and let us know you've left some love.  You can also reply to the Monday's Challenge thread on the CC Message Board.  Comment or reply by midnight on February 6th to be entered to win a prize from CC! Winner will be announced on February 7th on the CC Blog and will have 14 days to email Jamie@coordinatescollections.com to claim her prize.



 

 

 

Did you give up on your December Daily album?

I don't know about you, but I didn't even get started on this year's (well, last year's) December Daily album.  When I saw the mini album show up in the Amish Quilt kit, I knew it would be a perfect format for a quick December album.  Now, Amish Quilt may not look like a "Christmas" kit to you, but with black and white photos, the reds, blues, and yellows give it a vintage/classic Christmas look (in my opinion!).  

I used lots of the pieces of the Cosmo Cricket chipboard (add on - - sold out), the Cosmo Cricket stickers in the kit, the American Crafts stitched Thickers in Crimson (add on, on the cover only), the Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type stickers in the kit, and the Basic Gray Curio micro mini alphabet (add on).

Super quick, super easy, and it relieves the guilt of not having done a true December Daily - trust me!

(This project wasn't ready for the kit reveal at the beginning of the month because I used up too many of the album pages in other projects.  I knew I had ordered another one, so I waited until I had enough pages for my pictures.  And, um, at 82% off, for $1, I might order some more.   Not to enable, but the Flirty album that's going to be in the February kit... also only $1.)

Lisa's Friday Find

I love looking through the gallery and finding inspiration through our members' eyes.  This week I found this beautiful layout created by ScrapMomof2:

She used all of the gorgeous papers from January's Amish Quilt kit, and don't you love her flowers?  The detailing on the petals just really caught my eye!  Kudos to punching out the letters from the Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 paper... I love the title that they created!

 

Details, details.

Sometimes I have trouble being "done" with a layout. This is one of those. I just really enjoyed adding detail after detail, especially stitching - both by hand and with my poor, overworked sewing machine - because I just kept thinking that I needed a few more stitches...

I love to use strip journaling  - it just adds more detail to the layout and neutral contrast to the tiny (my favorite kind!) patterns. Sometimes I stitch the journaling strips on, too, but not this time. I also like to stitch across the title letters, but I didn't because I enjoy the lines on the background piece, and I didn't want to compete with them.

I used red thread because it just seemed to "pop" on the green alpha stickers.

See the red scalloped edge? It doesn't just jump out at you, but it's another fun detail - and I added some sparkle to those half circles. I know I could have added so much to the bingo card, but it wanted to stay "basic," and I couldn't argue. I guess I do know when to quit, after all! (smile)

I had so much fun with this card! I hand cut all of the strips so they would be unique and imperfect, then I adhered them in a grid. I hand cut all of the flower pieces, lightly inked everything, and adhered all of the layers with foam adhesive. Some details I did not add, but would love to see are lime green machine stitching across the alphas and hand stitching with embroidery thread around each flower layer - maybe something to plan for a car trip when someone else is driving and I need a stitching project to work on...

 

Sweet Treats

I know some people think Valentine's Day is a purely commercial holiday conceived by florists, gift shops and corporate card designers to squeeze a little more money out of consumers' wallets. But not me. I've always been a fan of Valentine's Day. Not because I expect to receive a big bouquet of roses delivered to my door or a gigantic box of Godiva chocolates. Though I certainly wouldn't turn either one of those things away, the thing I enjoy about Valentine's Day is that it encourages people to express love (and even appreciation) in very overt and tangible ways. And for those of us who like to make things, Valentine's Day is a perfect time to create something fun and special for the people we love.

I found this little bucket container in my scraproom (I think it might have had flowers in it at one point) and thought it would make a perfect candy container. I started pulling out supplies to decorate it and realized that a 12" border sticker (this one is from the Imaginisce Animal Crackers collection) was the perfect length to wrap around the center.

To give it some dimension, I made an accordian flower (with a border punched edge) and topped it with a Jillibean Soup journaling sprout, along with some BasicGrey Curio alphabet stickers and a canvas sticker. I added a ribbon around the bottom and tied a few on one of the handles with a die-cut ticket that I wrote on.

I added a few die-cuts to the top of the bucket to finish it off, then I filled it up with some colorful jelly beans that were a perfect match for the colors in the papers.

Because I made this little project with extras that were lying around my scraproom, the only real expense was the jelly beans. Very little investment for a treat that will bring a big smile to a friend's face on Valentine's Day! 

Share the love, everyone!

Challenge Winner & a little peek of things to come

Happy Tuesday everyone!  First I'd like to announce the winner of last Monday's challenge...congrats to  ggutierrez224!  Don't forget to email jamie@coordinatescollections.com by February 1st to claim your prize.

Now today I'm suppose to show you something "creative" and usually I can get a little something extra whipped up to share, but this month has been a little hectic.  I had the week of my surgery where I was pretty much out of commission and then I've been busy trying to finish up my regular DT projects before I leave for CHA on Friday.  So my "creative" post has turned in to a sneak peek for the "Blue Skies" kit.

This kit has some fun papers from American Crafts & Echo Park and as for embellishments...Glimmer Mist, corrugated shapes from Jillibean Soup, Thickers, buttons and some acrylic shapes from Maya Road sheer mini -albums. (Hope I didn't forget to mention anything...but trust me it's all good and leads to some fun scrapping)

Those sheer minialbum pages...so versatile!

Can you see what I did with it here?  It involves using some mist too. :wink:

Then on this layout I used the same shape in another way and used another shape in a different way.

Then on this next layout I used the glimmer mist to color some paper...

See that red circle...it's just white paper sprayed with the mist, then I cut into the shape I wanted.

Well that's all I'm going to show you for now...you'll have to wait until the 5th for the full reveal and to see the rest of my projects.  Have a great day.

Monday's Challenge: Spread the Word

This weekend is the Coordinates Collections Winter Crop! Are you SO excited??  If you are, then this challenge will be easy for you.  All you have to do is tell your friends - then tell me you told them - and you'll be entered in this week's random drawing for a fun prize from CC.

Invite your friends to participate in the crop this weekend - January 28-30 in the CC Cyber Crop forum.  Share via Facebook, post on your blog, send an email, call, or Tweet.  Get the word out, because the more, the merrier!

Comment here and let us know you're spreading the word.  You can also reply to the Monday's Challenge thread on the CC Message Board.  Comment or reply by midnight on January 30th to be entered to win a prize from CC! Winner will be announced on February 1st on the CC Blog and will have 14 days to email Jamie@coordinatescollections.com to claim her prize.

 

 

Name the March Kits!

I cannot wait for spring as the winters where I live are just so cold and miserable.  These fun March kits are just screaming 'spring'....enjoy!

Post your name suggestions here on the Blog by Thursday, January 27 at midnight MST.  One lucky person will receive a fun gift from CC if their kit name suggestions are selected! 

March kits will be available for preorder and kit selection in the CC Store on Tuesday, February 1st by 6 pm MST.  (The time has been delayed from 10 am as I will be returning from CHA the previous night and need time to get everything ready to post.)

KIT 1 includes paper from the new Echo Park Little Girl and American Crafts Dear Lizzy Enchanted lines; cardstock from Bazzill; and embellishments that include Maya Road medallion flowers, American Crafts fabric salutations thickers, Dear Lizzy tags, mix tape, fabric brads and 3 dimensional stickers.

 

KIT 2 includes paper from the Fancy Pants It's Your Day and Jillibean Soup Pasta Fagioli lines; cardstock from Bazzill; and embellishments that include new Maya Road grosgrain pleat ribbon, red wood bingo pieces and a chipboard album, new paint dabber and mini die cut circle lable from Jenni Bowlin, and sugar picks from Jillibean Soup.

There will also be ADDONS for both kits.  March Addons will be available for pre-order on February 1.  The cardstock, paper and embellishments are sold separately, and the pictures below only show a few of the paper and embellishments offered for each kit.

Kit 1 addons:

 

 

 

Kit 2 Addons:

 

 

 

 

January Blog Hop Challenge Winner and Blog Spotlight

A big thank you to all of you who participated in our January Blog Hop Challenge! We hope you enjoyed creating with circles;I sure enjoyed looking at everyone's projects! It's always fun to see how everyone interprets the challenges.

This month's randomly selected winner is... Adele!

Isn't her layout absolutely stunning?! I just love the darling photos and the grey and red color combo is simply divine! Please check out Adele's posting for more details. Congrats Adele, you did a fabulous job, remember to contact Jamie at Jamie@coordinatescollections.com  within 7 days to claim your prize!

I also wanted to invite you to check out Mayra's blog, In My Spare Time Craft, to see some beautiful and inspiring projects and layouts. Congrats to you too Mayra, your blog is beautiful!!!!!!!

That's all from me today ladies! Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 
 

 

Friday's Fab Find & Fun with Accents

Friday is finally here. After a long weekend, it sure did take some time to arrive! I went on a gallery hunt for this week's Friday's Fab Find and selected an "oldie but goodie" layout from LeahC. Be sure to check her gallery out because it's stunning and filled with creative ideas! Here's one that really stands out for me — maybe because we're having a tough winter here in NY and I crave hot cocoa just about every day!

First off, the photo alone is a work of art. I love the focal point in contrast to the yellows and oranges of the background. And I'm always a fan of clustering embellishments (I never seem to pull it off too well myself, so I'll be taking some cues from Leah!). And you gotta love the distressing of the paper edge and folding of the journaling spot. Nice work Leah!

So last week I spent two days at a crop. I especially love winter crops. It's a great way to get out of the house yet still feel cozy and relaxed somewhere (which makes CC's end-of-month crop even better — no need to venture out in bad weather!). I got lots done — even finished my 2008 Christmas pics! Here's a glimpse of what I accomplished.

One of the things that I had fun with at my crop was taking the time to make some custom-made accents. So let me share my ideas!

First up -- distressing circle accents. Using a distressing wheel tool (I think I got mine from CC years ago!), I went along the edges of both circles here and roughed them up (a scissors would do the trick, too). I then added a pop dot and some Ranger Stickles to create dimension.

Next up is some fun with fiber (remember that?!), Prima pearls (one of my fave CC products), and my Cricut. I made a tree with a shadow on the Cricut and then wrapped around fiber as garland and added the pearls as a finishing touch. I think this was my favorite creation from the weekend.

Finally — glimmer list. I sprayed this pretty close to my tag because I wanted the red clumps to show up. I also added more Ranger Stickles to my snowflakes.

Be sure to share your own custom-made accents over in the Coordinates Collections Tutorial forum!