Sketch Challenge

It's my turn to post a layout challenge at TSF. I have chosen a great sketch from PageMaps. It's an oldie, but a goodie! I love the layers and the emphasis on one large photo.



Here's my layout. I used BG papers, some Prima flowers, chipboard letters by Bisous and mini alpha stickers by MLS. I followed the sketch pretty closely, except I used strip journalling instead of a block of text. I didn't even rotate the sketch. A first for me! This is the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. We had the most lovely high tea experience there!

Thanks for peeking!

Accordian Flowers

Accordian flowers are becoming really popular. They look fabulous on pages and cards but can be a bit tricky to make. Here's a quick tutorial.




You'll need some paper, double sided medium to heavy weight patterned paper works best. You could certainly do it with card stock as well. You also need a scoring tool, a hot glue gun (very important), and an extra scrap of paper. I used an edge punch as well for added interest.

Determine the diameter of the finished flower you desire. You need to cut a strip of paper 12 inches in length and half the width of your finished flower. I wanted a 2 inch flower, so I cut a 1 inch strip. I also punched one of the long edges of my strip with a fancy border punch for added interest in my finished flower.




Next you need to score your strip at 1/4 inch intervals all along the length of the strip. Since my strip was already punched in scallops at 1/4 inch intervals, I simply scored between the scallops. Easy peasy!









Then pleat along the scored lines and you should then end up with an accordian strip like this.

Next, plug in your glue gun and wait for it to get nice and hot. Punch or hand cut a circle slightly smaller than your finished flower from scrap paper. Fold your strip around so the narrow ends meet with the patterned edge facing out. Hot glue these edges together, creating a circle.

Working quickly, gather the edges of your circle together so they all meet in the middle to form a flat flower. Place plenty of hot glue onto your punched scrap circle and press your flower into the glue, holding until set. If glue seeps through the middle that is fine, as you will hide this with your finishing embellishments. Hot glue is really key here. Any other adhesive I have tried will eventually fail and cause your flower to "pop" out of its flat shape.

Here's my finished flower. I topped it with a wooden flower and brad.

And here it is on my layout! It really adds nice dimension.

Give these a try! They are fun and worth the little bit of fuss.

Superbowl Crop!

This past weekend TSF hosted an online crop. The theme was the superbowl and there were a bunch of wonderful challenges.

For Avril's food challenge (because the Superbowl is all about the food), I made this layout of our high tea experience at the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. Spectacular views and the most amazing food! What an indulgence!

Christa chose "brackets" for her challenge because they look like goal posts! I crafted this layout of herons both in Florida and at home. I used a big rub on bracket from American Crafts to frame my journalling.

For Shelby's challenge to use jersey numbers, I crafted this layout "10 Days in Heaven" showing the sunrise at our condo. Ahhhhhh...

For Carolyn's "stars"challenge I crafted these fun dimensional stars for this layout featuring photos of the Atlantis hotel on Palm Jumeriah in Dubai.

For Joanne's "team colours" challenge I chose the Packers and used green, yellow and white for this layout of our day tour of Dubai.

For Dee's "be the ball" challenge we had to use brown, texture and stitching. This layout shows us being "lounge lizards" in lounges in airports last March in Buffalo and Chicago! There was a big storm that day so we had lots of delays. Those lounges really came in handy.

And finally, my challenge was to showcase "sunny" layouts in honour of Texas hosting the Superbowl. Of course they had record cold and snow but who was to know! I made this colourful layout of that hot day we spent in the cathedral towns around Frankfurt on our way home from Dubai.

It was a great weekend of scrapbooking on the TSF forum. Lots of participants, wonderful creations, great laughs and warm encouragement. Check out the forum for more upcoming events! And congratulations to all the winners!