Challenge Inspiration: Caroli & Sandi!

This is my last challenge as designer for The Paper Variety *sighs* It's been such a great experience, I learned lots and had the opportunity of working with these awesome ladies. Thank you for creating this space Abby and Suz! :)

Sooo, I wanted to make something really special as a final project. The instruction was to make anything but a layout or a card, (that means out of my comfort zone) and the first thing that came to my mind was this idea I had since long but never seem to find the time to carry it out. I altered a canvas with a picture of our little girl as a present for my fiancé.

The design is quite simple; I misted the canvas in two colors and then added few hexagons and some random stuff layered on the top. Some lettering and voilá. I really enjoyed making this project, actually I'm working in another canvas with a pic of my finacé, this one will be for me :)  You can see more closeups and details if this project in my blog, hopefully you'll get inspired to participate with us in this new challenge!

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My hubby and I recently took a wonderful trip to the Florida Keys and I decided to make a Smash book to document the memories.  The awesome thing about Smash books is all the writing, doodling and little souvenirs you can include.  I am really having fun completing this book.

Here I added the corrugated cup holder from Panera Bread which was our first stop as we headed out of town.  Check out my blog, Slightly Off Center for more photos.

This is my last post as a DT member of The Paper Variety (sob!).  I have served 2 consecutive terms and this DT has been a big part of my life for nearly a year.  It has been one of the most positive experiences I have ever had.  Suzanne and Abby are wonderful to work with and I have made friends and been unbelievably inspired along the way.  Thank you Abby and Suzanne for giving me the opportunity to serve.

Tutorial: Alcohol inks & water by Sandi!

Hi everyone, Sandi from Slightly Off Center here with a pretty cool tutorial on a new way to use alcohol inks.  I saw this on You Tube and it is sooo easy and produces such pretty results that I wanted to share it with you.

First of all you need:

A plastic tub of cool tap water, a selection of alcohol inks, a craft mat (or in my case since I don't own one yet, I used wax paper) and some paper......I used some manilla shipping tags.

Add some drops of alcohol ink to the water in a random pattern:

Then I took my tag and slipped the whole thing in the water and pulled it out.  Both sides will receive a beautiful, colorful random pattern of ink.

Let your paper or tag dry on wax paper or a craft mat and use it on a project.  Here is my tag used on a birthday I recently made for my baby sister:

Thanks for following along and I look forward to seeing your creations using this quick and easy technique!

Challenge Inspiration: Sandi & Caroli!

I love working with Diana Fisher's sketches and this one was no exception.  I used a brand new picture from our recent trip to the Florida Keys along with Bella Blvd.'s Sunshine and Happiness collection.  The journaling was done on my vintage typewriter and I incorporated some phrases from the BB collection along with it.

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I love sketches and this one was really fun to make.
I used pics of my man and our little girl assembling a house for our crazy dog few days before she arrived to our home. My littl girl was just one year old but she was so excited and helped Daddy a lot in so they can have the house ready on time! The result was quite good, as for the reaction our Hachiko.

I used kraft cardboard as base and all the decorated papers are from the Tail Waggers & Cat Naps collection of Bella Blvd. I also used few Thickers to add the lettering. I was inspired enough to use my sewing machine, wow! 

If you want to see more closeups you can take a look at my blog, hope you get inspired too and participate with us in this challenge!

Challenge Inspiration: Sandi & Caroli!

I love hitting thrift stores and yard sales.  Recently I ran across a bunch of vintage sewing patterns at my local thrift store for 25 cents apiece.  I bought a few (should have bought them all) and I used some of the tissue paper sewing patterns to make these flowers for my memo clips made with vintage clothespins (also a thrift store find).  The paper, although it is delicate holds up well to inking and misting.  I misted the flower on the right. The paper is so pretty and ruffles easily.  I just love the vintage shabby look these flowers have.  The butterflies on the middle flower are courtesy of my friend April Walker.

Head on over to my blog -- Slightly Off Center -- where I have a giveaway for an extra vintage sewing pattern and some vintage clothespins.  I will also throw in a few extra scrapping goodies for the winner! You have until May 14th to enter.

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I really enjoyed this challenge because I do love flowers, I think they are a great addition to any layout, specially handmande ones. 

I used some pics of our national holidays last year. My little girl had several activities on her kindergarten and she had to attend wearing one of our typical dresses, this is a Huasa dress. She chose the color of her dress herself, she just loves bright colors, just like me ♥♥

All the papers are from Pebbles' Fresh Goods collection. Pink letter are from My Little Shoebox, kraft ones are also from Fresh Goods and tiny teal ones are from October Arfteroon.

I added the flowery detail in the banner at the top. I put 3 rolled flowers I cut with the Cricut and a SVG file from Lettering Delights. 


If you want to see more closeups of my layout you can take a look to my blog, hope you participate with us in this flower challenge :)

Tutorial: Puffy clouds by Sandi!

Hey there....Sandi from Slightly Off Center with another one of my quick and easy tutorials.  This time I am making some puffy clouds.....just in time for your spring and upcoming summer layouts.

First off you will need 2 identical cloud shaped die cuts, a needle, some embroidery floss and a couple of cotton balls.

Next, put the two die cut clouds together and just do a blanket stitch 2/3 of the way around the clouds leaving enough of an opening to stuff your cloud with cotton balls.

After stuffing your cloud and making sure to get it uniformly puffy, finish your blanket stitching.  I usually just cut off the embroidery floss on the back and tape down the loose edge on the back of my project.

The finished product:

Isn't it cute?  I used it on a card for a friend....I love the texture!  This is one card that will definitely need a padded envelope for mailing! 

Wouldn't a bunch of these puffy clouds look adorable on a spring/summer layout? 

Challenge Inspiration: Caroli & Sandi!

With such a bunch of talented ladies here at The Paper Variety I had a lot of options for scraplifting :)

I finally chose the tutorial Sara made for creating misting masks with the Cricutand the  tutorial Kate made for printing on tags. I also scraplifted the fabulous layout made by Kate, I loved how she placed the paper and the whole concept with lots of embellishments and tiny details.

I used paper and stickers from Echo Park's Litter Girl collection, Thickers from American Crafts, some rhinestones, fair tickets and my Dymo labeller. 

The pic is from the birthday N°3 of my little girl. She is such a huge fan of Minnie Mouse and when she saw that Minnie came to her birthday party she got petrified! but just for few seconds, and then she just hugged Minnie and danced with her during the whole party, telling her all the time "Minnie, I love you"  ♥_♥  awwwww!!). If you want to see more closeups you can take a look to my blog, thanks for your visit and don't forget to participate in this cool challenge!!

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I absolutely LOVED Suzanne's center step card she recently made. You can see it HERE.  While her tutorial was well done and looked easy enough I am usually very intimidated to attempt a project like this.  But I followed Suzanne's instructions and what do ya know?  I did it!  Even my husband was impressed.  There is soooo much inspiration here at The Paper Variety...I am anxious to see your projects from where we have inspired YOU!

Challenge Inspiration: Sandi & Caroli!

The stamps from Paper and Such are so awesome ....it was hard for me to choose which set I wanted to work with.  Finally I choose the mini sentiments in the Bitty Love set.  They are the perfect set to make encouragement cards to slip in a lunch bag or backpack.  In my case I will be sending these to my grandsons at the end of the school year to congratulate them on a job well done.  I also loved the idea of embellishing the envelopes to match the cards....I will definitely be doing more of that in the future.

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This challenge definitively forced me to move away from my confort zone. I'm not a card person, I never know what to put on a card, maybe because I need to have a picture to focus, I'm not really sure...  Ayway, that's the good thing about challenges, you got to explore new things :)

I was lucky enough to receive the Swirly Trees stamp set from Paper and Such, so I  made some Christmas cards. The desing is very simple, but I liked how it came out. I used papers from Pebbles's Welcome Christmas collection, and of course the nice tree stamp. I decorated the tree with some rhinestones, and also aded a sentiment from the same set. I loved the result, so I will be making some more with the different desings of trees of the set,.

You can see some closeups of my card on my blog, and don't forget to play along with us in this card challenge! Thanks for your visit :)

Tutorial: Fan-fold butterfly by Sandi!

Hey everyone, Sandi here from Slightly Off Center with a quick and easy embellishment for your springtime projects.  Awhile back I shared a tutorial on making fanfold flowers and recently I saw a tutorial posted by Nancy Keslin on the Ideas for Scrapbooks blog on making fanfold butterflies.  Here is my take on it:

First, gather some supplies: Scoring board, a good strong quick glue (I LOVE Tombow's Mono Adhesive shown here), 2 squares that measure 2.5 x 2.5 inches and some pearl embellishments.

Line the square up diagonally and score every 1/4 inch.

Do this to both squares and accordian fold on the score lines.  Then glue the edges together and allow the glue to set up.

Pinch the middle together and add some glue to the back of the butterfly to hold it together in a butterfly shape. Add pearls for the body.

Add your butterfly to your spring themed project:

Challenge Inspiration: Sandi & Caroli!

My grandson Jacob is ten years old and that is such a great age.  I decided to document his favorite things at this age for my layout.  It was fun interviewing him for this project.  His first answer for his favorite movie was "Soylent Green"....SOYLENT GREEN? Really?  I think he had just watched it with his grandpa and I remember that was one of my ex-husband's favorite movies (he loves sci-fi).  Anyway an hour later, Jake texts me and says that actually he forgot -- his favorite movie is Wimpy Kid -- Rodrick Rules.  Now that is more like it.  I still am shaking my head over the Soylent Green answer.

I love participating in the Scrapfit challenge this time...next to The Paper Variety they are one of my favorite challenge blogs around.  Their fun and inspirational challenges keep my creative juices flowing.  I hope you will link up a project with this challenge....it is a two for one special!!

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I did love this challenge! The Paper Variety and Scrap FIT are my 2 fav challenge sites, and the sketch was just lovely :) 

This time I used these pics of my little girl playing with her favorite thing in the world PLAY-DOH! She simply love it! She has a ton (not kidding) of cans and sets to play with, everybody know that this is the perfect gift ever for her, actually the tittle of this layout is "5 reasons for loving play-doh".

I used papers from My Little Shoebox, mainly from the Imaginary Friends collection. The turquoise typos are from October Afternoon, the pink big letters are MLS, the yellow ones are Thickers from American Crafts and the turqoise letters were cut with the cricut and Scal, the font is Gentle Readhead.

I tried to use lot of dimension and little details on this layout. I love the Imaginary Friends collection, I thought it was perfect for these pics :)  You can see some more details of this layout in my blog, hopefully you will get inspired to play along in this double challenge :)

Challenge Inspiration: Caroli & Sandi!

I loved this Tic-Tac-Toe challenge, there were a lot of possibilities! I chose Include stitching + Create a layout + Include a die cut, and here is how it came out.

I used a pic of my little one on a cold rainy day last year. She loves to watch the rain through the window and that day I felt specially adventurer and we both went out to a walk in the rain wearing our coats, rain boots and umbrellas.  Needless to say we got wet till the bones, but we had so much fun, I love to share this silly thing with my little girl.

I used kraft paper as base and all the decorated paper are from the collection Daydreams of American Crafts. I also stitched a frame using my Sew Easy. For the title I used a chipboard alphabet of My Little Shoebox, Thickers of Chap collection of American Crafts, and I cut the big letters with my Cricut and Scal, the font is Cooper Black.

The big deal about this layout is that for the first time I used some paper piecing! Believe it or not, I've always admired all those cute paper piecing project but never made some myself, this is my debut and I LOVED it. It is a lot of work and I am lazy, so it was double work for me, but it totally worth it. In this case I used some cutting files from Lettering Delights for cutting the boots and umbrella. You can see some closeups of this on my blog, hopefully it will inspire you to participate with us in this challenge :) Thank for your visit!

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Hi ya'll....Sandi here from Slightly Off Center and have I ever told you that I LOVE Tic-Tac-Toe challenges?  Well I DO!  This time I took the row right through the middle -- to create a card with a spring theme and use 2 border punches.  I just love the way Abby accomplishes all her layering on her cards so when creating this card I decided to channel my "inner Abby" and I am pleased with the result!  I love using journaling cards and stamping the sentiment right on it.  This journaling card is from a spring time collection of Echo Park from I think last year and the sentiment is from Stampin' Up.