"How Do I Love Thee" - a collage

Here's the collage I was telling you a little about yesterday!

(If you want to know a little bit more about the FANASTIC-K SILLY tool I used yesterday, click here to see the full post on the Altered Pages blog!)

(image from AP "Young Lovers I" collage sheet)

I used a 12x12 panel board "canvas" to collage various papers (most from my stash, but a couple from the Glitz collections), paint, modeling paste (for texture), & ink.

 

 I LOVED working on this panel board (Michaels for like $15 w/o a coupon!) for collaging because it's HARD instead of soft like an actual canvas!! It made adhering the papers so much easier! Not to mention that when I stamped, the ENTIRE image would imprint & not just in the area that's the firmest! (I am thinking of getting a couple more & turning them around to use the INSIDE like a shadow box!!)

I like to collage, but sometimes I find it rather intimidating! You really just have to let go & not worry about where the paper, paints & inks land! You can always cover up what you don't like!! (Although, the pink "LOVE blob" was a mistake, but it's growing on me!) 

How about you? Do you find collaging easy or hard?

I would love to hear about it & what techniques you use to get the look you want!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sophisticated Wedding Ensemble with Creative Cuts & More

Welcome to the Baby and Bridal August Blog Hop for Creative Cuts & More You are in for a GREAT treat! Our Designers are very excited to share some beautiful Bridal and Baby shower, wedding or gift ideas with you. These wonderful ideas are PERFECT for your special celebrations!

Don't forget on the NEW website have over 100 NEW Die Cuts AND a NEW section called GREAT DEALS!

Once you are finished HOPPING along the Blog Hop, you will have an opportunity to win one of the WONDERFUL

two tier cake's in your choice of a smooth or textured cardstock. You can see some ideas with the cake HERE and HERE

You will find the instructions for ways to win this wonderful prize at the end of this post...

Hopefully you are joining us from Pamela Smerker's beautiful blog! If not, you'll want to hop from the beginning at the Die Cut Diva blog so you don't miss any of the amazing creations we all have in store for you!!

If for some reason one of the links is broken along the Hop do not worry, HOP back over to Die Cut Diva where you will find the complete list of all our bloggers!

Ok, let's get started, shall we??
I had the pleasure of attending my brother-in-law's wedding recently, so I had great inspiration to work on this ensemble for you today! 

The color sort-of ties in with the album I did for all the pictures I knew I'd be taking of my daughter as a flower girl in her first wedding (http://www.gallery.creativecutsandmore.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1075), but I may decide to put the album up for SALE in our Etsy Store.
I kept it really simple & sophisticated by using all cream papers in the ensemble with the album cover & the chairs covered in the "Quartz" metallic papers to add some glimmer.

EVERYONE loves cake at weddings, so why not have these adorable favor boxes out for your guests?!! I had great fun working with the Large Cake Slice Boxes here! First, I stamped the 2 outside ones randomly with a Tim Holtz swirlly stamp & embossed them in a glittery black (hard to see here).

 Then I stamped the center slice with a little more uniform - just along the middle - & embossed it too.

 I assembled all the slices using the Killer Red Tacky Tape & tied a black bow on the back of just the center slice. I made the flower from roughly cutting circles in different sizes, crumpled them, then added a little Flocking to give even more dimension (hard to see here).

 My thoughts were to alternate this center slice between the others when assembling the entire cake of favors. If you purchase the entire Lage Cake Box Set you get 12 of these adorable boxes! They'd be a wonderful centerpiece for a Bridal Shower or Luncheon too!


Next, I worked on the place cards with these ADORABLE little chairs (inevitably, these are also FAVOR BOXES!)

Again, I stamped the center bottom half of the chair with a TPC Studios Fleur de Leis & embossed it with the same glittery black for the decoration on the front. Once assembled with the Killer Red Tacky Tape, I thought the Bride & Groom deserved a little bling on their cards, so I stamped a little crown, embossed it & added the rhinestones! I simply tied a bow & attached it to the back of the chair to add a little interest from behind! Aren't they fun!


Lastly, I worked with the 6x6 Scallop Album Wrap Cover & 6x6 Album Cover to create this little album.

I glued a couple of pieces of the ribbon to the scalloped edge & made 3 more smaller, flocked flowers for the bottom of the flap.

On the interior cover (cut from chipboard & covered in a smooth cream cardstock), I used another Tim Holtz stamp (can you tell I'm an addict?!) - the stamped/embossed "Frame" is actually underneath a popped Small Vintage Label with "LOVE" stamped/embossed on it.

 For the pages inside, I ordered a pack of the smooth cream cardstock from CC&M, cut them to size along the top, but then used my tearing tool to tear the right edges. Then I embossed every other page with the glittery black.

There are 16 pages, including the inside of the front & back covers.
I then placed a simple picture with black adhesive photo corners on the first page to give an idea of how simple I envision the photos to be placed in this book.


I really loved working with all of this & I think I might even re-do some old wedding stuff of mine when I have a minute with some of the great albums at CC&M!!!
Thanks for looking!

Here's how to enter to win the beautiful 2-tier Cake Set
RETURN to the Die Cut Diva site then:

(A) Leave a comment on the DIE CUT DIVA post. (This is limited to one per person unless you meet the criteria of B, C, and/or D below.)

(B) Leave one extra comment if you've posted a link to the Die Cut Diva blog candy on your own blog. Make sure to include a link to your specific post in your comment.

(C) Leave one extra comment if you become one of the Die Cut Diva blog followers. See the right-hand navigation column to follow us.

(D) Leave one extra comment if you click over to our new page on Facebook and become a fan of Die Cut Diva.

(E) Leave one extra comment by commenting on ALL of our talented Designers in our Blog Hop!

(F) Leave one extra comment by another chance to win subscribe to mailing list at www.creativecutsandmore.com

Your chance to enter to win will have a deadline of Sunday, August 15th at midnight! We will announce the winner on Monday, August 16th.

Next you will want to hop on over to Steph Zerbe blog for some more ideas!!

Have fun!!!

Livin' the Life you Love!

Becky here again!

I just finished my first layout for the

More Paper Than Shoes  

Scrapbooking Creative Team!

The subject was "Love Life" & the challenge was to create a layout using patterned papers & cardstock & a phrase about Love & Life - pretty simple for our 1st project!

My inspiration was this photo of Nick & Maggie walking on the beach in Maui & the realization that had I not met Nick, I probably wouldn't have traveled so much in the last 12 years, nor would we have this wonderful daughter to share our travels with! Most of our travel has been just the two of us, but Maggie's been to Maui 3x now & we can't wait to share more of the world with her!!!

I used a 12x12 sheet of patterned paper for the background from The Shabby Green Door "On the Wings of a Dream" collection - this one is the backside of "Postcard," available in our Etsy shop! I cut the notebook paper & the birdcage from a piece of "Day Dream," also from SGD. 

I enlarged the photo of my husband & daughter walking on the beach to a 5x7 & added the text "Live the Life you Love" in PSE. I then printed a contact sheet of all the other travel photos in black & white. Matted the tiny pix in a blue cardstock from an 8x8 DCWV Brights stack & arranged them accordingly. Then I punched the notebook page & a piece of the blue with my "notebook" edged punch from EK & layered them to the side.

I added some of the Tim Holtz tattered flowers I had made for the "Shabby Dreams" box (to be posted on Tuesday, 7/27) with various brads from my stash. The postage stamps & buttons are from Making Memories & the tiny paper clip is from Tim Holtz.

Hope you like it!

I am going to buy one of those 12x12 frames for it & hang it near all our travel albums!

Thanks for looking!