Use it or Lose it: Leftover Letter Stickers

I love letter stickers and I have a huge collection. Who doesn't, right? And if you're anything like me, you probably have lots of packs of leftover letters.

So, what do I do with those leftover letters? Usually I alter them to be the letter I need. This works really well with sans serif fonts.

First, I layout the title and fill in the missing letters with substitutes that I think I can alter. Like this...



Then with a few snips, Q's become O's and T's become L's and O's become U's. And voila!



I also like to use multiples of the same letter in words like "hmmmm..." or "argghhh" like I did here in my December Daily.



These tips are my go-to-solutions for using up letter stickers but I've found some pretty fantastic ideas that I wanted to share, too. I haven't tried them yet but they're definitely on my to-try list. 

1. This blog post by Ashli Oliver (Little Purple Maibox). You must see how Ashli uses every letter in a pack of Thickers. It's genius! I'm definitely going to do this.
2. I love how Donna Downey uses letter stickers in her Collage Monday series especially this one and this one.
3. And here's another one. Uppercase D's as ladybug bodies? Uppercase B's as butterfly wings? So smart! And there's also a tutorial for turning letterstickers into flowers.

So, here are a few ideas for getting those leftover letter stickers out of your stash and onto your pages. Do you have a favorite trick or tip that I missed? If yes, then please share it in the comments.  You never can have too many good ideas, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

Cathie

Art Journal Calendar

Did you see Alisa Burke's post about her handmade planner/calendar? I was so inspired and I don't even use day planners. I love Alisha's style and I really love how she brings her art into her life like this and this.

So, the idea of bringing my art into my life stuck with me and when I realized that I didn't have a calendar for 2013, I decided to make my own. So, that's what I'm doing. I'm making art journal pages  a month at a time (instead of using art journal pages I've already made or making them all at once) and at the end of the year, I'm going to have a complete calendar which I'll probably bind into a book. Because I am the kind of person who keeps used calendars. I have some dating back to high school. (And yet I can't do Project Life - go figure.)

So, here's what I made for January.



Each page is 9x12". This gives me lots of room for artful play on top and nice big squares for my calendar on the bottom.

Here's a closeup of the top...



And here's the date part...



In keeping with the spirit of art journaling, I went free-hand - oh. yes. I. did. I used a pencil and traced out a basic calendar shape and then roughly traced over it with 0.3 Pigma Micron pen by Sakura. (These pens are the best and are a must have, by the way.)

It's funny how one little page can make me so happy but it does.  So, that's one of my new projects for this year. I'm going to make me a calendar and share my art journaling with my family all at the same time.  And I encourage you to join in. Make your own calendar. You can use pages you've already made or cards, or scrapbook layouts, or tags. Or you can make something totally new. Whatever your art, get it out into your life and enjoy it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cathie

Mini Twine Wreath Tutorial

I mentioned yesterday that I would share a tutorial for the mini twine wreath I used on the cover of my December Daily.



They're really quick and easy to make. If you're not careful, you'll be swimming in little wreaths in no time!

All you need is twine, green spray mist, shimmer spray mist and a strong liquid adhesive. I used Ranger's Adirondack Color Wash in Meadow for color and Studio Calico Shine for a little hint of shimmer. I also used Ranger's Glossy Accents to hold it all together. It super strong and dries clear!



Let's get started. I wrapped the twine 4 times around my fingers.



Then I took the end of the twine... 



 ...and wrapped it around all the strands of twine. This is important because this is how the wreath is going to keep its shape.



Finally, I tied a knot and trimmed the ends.



Here's what it looks like.



Now it's time for some color! You can use whatever color you want but I wanted mine to look like evergreen boughs so I went with green.  I gave it 5-6 spritzes of Meadow mist and then a couple of spritzes of SC Shine.



Then I set it aside to dry.



And while waiting, I tied a twine bow.



When the wreath was dry, I attached the bow with Glossy Accents. (You can dry your wreath with a heat gun to speed up the process. It's smelly but works just fine.)



Yes, it really is that easy.  They look great on cards and you can put them on almost anything - tag, present, tree...

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and feel inspired to make some mini twine wreaths of your own.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cathie

Christmas Card Calamity

Yeah, "calamity" is a good word to describe my attempt to make 60 Christmas cards in one week. It didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. I made 15 cards made which is ok but I need some more.  Here's what I have so far...





The house and sentiment are from the Hero Arts Sending Holiday Cheer set. I colored it with my Inktense Watercolor Pencils. They are wonderful. I know I'm going to use them lots! And the tree is from an old Hero Arts set. I don't think it's available anymore. I stamped it with Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Seed Packet green paint.



To be honest, my heart just isn't' into "making" the cards this year but I'm going to keep plugging along. I do like sending cards, I'm just not sure I like making them. Maybe it's time to think about buying some. Maybe.

Anyway, this all started because I'm trying to use up some old Christmas supplies. This week, my plan is to make a couple of garlands to decorate the beams in my living room and kitchen.



Yeah, I'm nuts. I know. I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cathie

Anatomy of a Scrapbooking Class: Pie Charts and Starbursts

Thursday night, I taught a class at The Paperie called "Pie Charts and Starbursts" which was inspired by this page. 



Once I realized how easy it is to make a pie chart and how great they look on a page, I was hooked.  The  technique of drawing a simple shape and then dividing the shape into sections is easy and can be used over and over but have a different look everytime.

Here's the layout I made for class.



The technique is the same but I changed the basic shape from a rectangle to a circle and used papers from the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection for this page. I doubt anyone would know this page was inspired by the "He's my Guy" layout above but it is!

The other layout I made for class was this starburst page.



Again, it's a very easy technique. I simply followed the lines of the grid paper to create the sketch for my starburst and then cut out sections until I had the frame of my starburst.  Then I filled in each section with some pattern paper from the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection.  Or you can take a single sheet of pattern paper and use it as a background, like I did for this page...



And if you keep the sections you cut away, you can use them as a mask and with a little spray, make a page like this...



So, there you have it. Two techniques that you can use over and over again in many different ways. I hope you enjoyed my take on the popular starburst and pie chart techniques.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cathie

What do you put your washi on?

I'm guessing that if you have any washi at all you've put it on your scrapbook pages and cards.
That's the most common place for my washi tapes.  I love to use it to add layers of detail to my projects, like this page...



or this one from my Week in the Life album.



But washi tape is a multi-tasker and can do much much more than add layers and color to your layouts and cards. I recently wrote a tutorial for my LSS where I transformed a plain old bamboo skewer into a colorful stick.  You can read the post here and here's a look at my project.



...and here's a closeup of the bamboo skewers - all gussied up!



Last week, when I picked up 3 new rolls of washi tape, I thought of some fun ways to use them to prettify some blah, bland things I use everyday. 

First, I added some oomph to a dollar store note book with some strips of washi tape and some letter stickers.

The book originally looked like this....



I love these little books and have a bunch of them but it's impossible to tell them apart.  Well, it used to be but not anymore...



And check out the back of my iPhone!



I didn't tape directly on my phone, I have a protective skin on the back so I left it on and added the tape to that. I could make as many of these as my little heart desired. Maybe even make them seasonal....how fun would that be?

So, there are two quick and fun ideas to help you get your washi tapes off the roll and into your life. After all, washi is way more fun when you're using it, don't you think?

Wondering what else you can do with your washi stash? Here are some more ideas...

1. Check out this lovely mini book tutorial by my friend, Sara on her blog, Sarathings.
2. Here's a how-to-make washi tape barrettes from The Zen of Making.
3. And, finally, some adorable washi picture frames by The 36th Avenue.

Thanks for stopping by!

zove

Cathie