Sweet Kitty | JustNick Studio Design Team

Well hello everyone, and welcome to spring!  Isn't it all a bit surreal?  So much is going on in the world right now, and now we are all globally learning a whole new vocabulary and way of life due to the COVID-19 virus:  social distancing, coronavirus, disinfectant wipes, N95 masks, PPE (personal protective equipment), and more.  It can be overwhelming and anxiety-producing for sure.  But one thing I do know is that in this environment, art, crafting, and pretty things can help us distract ourselves and stay calmer.  To that end, I have a layout to share from earlier this month with my sweet kitty, Oreo.  Take a look:

Sweet Kitty 

Isn't his little face just the cutest??  I used American Crafts Dear Lizzy "She's Magic" collection with a new JustNick Studio cut file called "Floral Umbrella".  I'd love for you to head over to the JustNick Studio blog for a more detailed look.

Be well, stay safe...much love and chocolate to all.

Majken 

 

Love Layout with Lovely Day

Well hello there crafty friends!  I hope you are having a lovely July in your neck of the woods.  The family and I just got back from a getaway in Boulder, Colorado.  We had many adventures, and now I'm so tired that I need a day off - ha!  I haven't printed out or had the chance to scrap anything from our week in Colorado, but I thought I'd share a layout from a vacation hubby and I took in 2008.  Take a look:

 I used the Scrapbook & Cards Today sketch here.

I love the Dear Lizzy Lovely Day collection!!  The colors are just...muah!  I printed my black and white photos in a grid using the Pic Stitch app, then printed it out as a 4x4 photo.  

Next I cut the Just Nick Studio cut file "Love Actually" from white textured cardstock.  But instead of doing white-on-white, I decided to lightly brush the cut files with CTMH Juniper ink using my ClarityStamp Stencil Brushes.  They are fun to use (you can see how I used them on this layout as well), and you don't need a lot of ink or pressure to see a subtle effect.  My strips got darker as they go down the page.  Here's a close up.

  
Here's a quick look at my journaling strips.  I used the KG Only Human font, and I matched the blue from the collection for my font color easily with a tip I've shared before.

How fun is that gold foil "love" ephemera piece?  I also find it fun to do a diagonal piece along the edges - I think it gives some extra interest to a square layout.  And I love to sew on my layouts - this one has stitching along the inside edge of the white cardstock. Enamel dots are also great to use!

I hope you have had some down time this summer (or whatever season it may be in your area!).  Don't forget to document those fun times!

Have a great week (make sure it includes chocolate ;) ),
Majken

{Live Today} Creative Scrappers Sketch 305 with Lovely Day

Hello out there scrappy friends-

Today I'm up on the Creative Scrappers blog kicking off the Design Team's take on sketch 305 for April.  Our sponsor is The Cut Shoppe, and I had so much fun using two of Ashley's cut files!  I used Oodles of Doodles for the spiral circles and Spring Fling for the flowers at the bottom.  It's a fun and whimsical sketch, and I decided to use Dear Lizzy Lovely Day - it's so pretty and colorful!  I cannot get enough of that blue floral paper (full disclosure, I had to order more of it!).  Here's my layout.

 After deciding on photos of my daughter when she was two, I planned out the sizes I wanted to print.  Then I planned the paper square sizes and circle sizes.  Next I cut those spiral circles using my Cameo and adhered everything to textured white cardstock that I had spattered with two colors of ink.  Finally I sewed inside and outside each square as well as in the spiral circle.  So fun!

After adhering the photos, it was easy to put the chipboard title, some enamel dots and stickers, and some journaling strips.

 The chipboard hearts and flowers are so lovely!  I felt the bottom needed an anchor, so I cut a thin strip of the blue floral paper and stitched across.  And then I cut 3 flowers out from the Spring Fling cut file set and "planted" them in the strip.

And here is the sketch.

So come play with this fun sketch, and link up on the Creative Scrappers blog and Instagram using hashtags:  #creatingwithsketches and #CSsketch305 and tagging @creativescrappers.  

Thanks for visiting with me today!  Have a fun week - and make sure you enjoy some chocolate, too.

xoxo,
Majken

You're So Fabulous Card - Scrapbook & Cards Today sketch

Hello everyone-

I wanted to pop in and share a card today.  Fun fact: my crafting journey started with making Christmas cards after I bought some Hero Art stamps in the late 1980s!

I used some new papers from Dear Lizzy Lovely Day collection, the DIY party tab punch from We R Memory Keepers that I won from Scrapbook & Cards Today, and "You're so" stamp and "fabulous" die cut from"You're So" by Reverse Confetti.

That white foil paper on the right gives me all the heart eyes!

I used the February sketch from Scrapbook & Cards Today.

I hope this inspires you to use some scraps to create a card for someone in your life!

Have a great day,
Majken

PixScan Tutorial - Cutting out Stamped Images {Hello Friend Cards}

Hey there everyone-

I'm back with another PixScan tutorial to show you how easy it is to cut out stamped images.  If you are just getting started with your PixScan mat, I have a PixScan calibration tutorial that may help you.  And I recently created a layout showing how you can digitally fussycut images out of patterned paper.  Today's tutorial is similar but can be applied to stamped images so that you can quickly and easily cut multiple images...which is very handy if you are mass-producing cards.  For today, I wanted to create a set of fun cards to send to friends.  

Note:  I use a Silhouette Cameo in my tutorials.  Materials listed at the end, but if you like the paper, I also used it in this layout.  It's such a pretty collection, and it pops when combined with black and gold!

The first thing I did was stamp my words out on white cardstock, and placed the cardstock onto the PixScan mat.  Take a photo of the mat - make sure you are as straight as possible and that you get the full mat in the photo so you capture the registration marks.  Save the photo to your computer and import the photo into the Silhouette software.

Here's what mine looked like:

The next thing to do is to trace the outer edges of the image(s).

Next, copy the traced images onto a new file so that you can work with them.

To create an edge around your image, do an offset.  I used an offset of 0.05".  

The next step is to clean up the offset points.  Sometimes you have outliers or need to smooth out curves.

The next step is to remove the inside traces off the cutting area, leaving the offset images in the cutting area.

Select the offset image and copy it, pasting it back onto the original file with the PixScan image.  Zoom in on the image to make sure you have the stamped parts in the center of the offsets.

The final step is to send the file to be cut on your machine.  Make sure you have not moved the paper on the PixScan mat between the time you took your photo and the time you will be cutting because the cuts depend on exact placement on the PixScan mat.

This technique will be great for Christmas cards!

For the "friend" and "birthday" banner pieces, I stamped using Black Stazon ink on watercolor paper that I brushed with coordinating colors to the collection.

Card 1 with close-up:

  

Card 2:

Card 3:

Tip: to get more out of your specialty papers, use paper punches to punch out areas that will be hidden.  The vellum circle in the card above was punched from the piece that my photos are matted on in this layout.  The photos hide the cut-out circle!

 Card 4:

Card 5:

If you use your PixScan mat for cutting out stamped images, I'd love for you to share them with me.  Thanks for stopping by!  

Majken

Materials:

• Paper, vellum, and puffy stickers:  Dear Lizzy Documentary collection
• Stamps:  Close To My Heart "Hello, Life" stamp sets (September 2015 special)
• Die cuts:  Lawn Fawn "Stitched Party Banners" (cards 1,2, & 5); Technique Tuesday "Pocket of Love" (card 5); Sizzix Lori Whitlock "Hello Life" (card 4)
• Inks:  Stazon (Black); Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Spiced Marmalade, Spun Sugar, Mustard Seed)
• Other:  gold thread; American Crafts Peony Ribbon

Good Times | My Scraps & More sketch 116 reveal

Welcome back, my scrappy friends!  Today is reveal day for My Scraps & More sketch 116. It's a sketch with a great angled pattern, and I wanted to capture a lunch I got to enjoy with my mom recently as she returned from her 50th high school reunion.  Yes, 50 years! She had so much fun, which made me happy.  Because the drive is so long, she stopped to stay with us for a a couple of nights before heading the rest of the way home, and we got to go out for a girls' lunch!

I used the Dear Lizzy Documentary collection from the My Scraps & More store.  I wanted the colors to really pop, so I started with a base of American Crafts black textured cardstock.  Then I chose a few papers to cut angled strips in varying widths.  After adhering them to my base, I sewed gold thread alongside most of the strips.  I am loving the gold sewing (here's some on another layout and some cards.  I think I'll leave the gold thread in my machine for awhile longer!)

Once I had the strips down, I matted my photos and then adhered them to a piece of the gold foil star vellum - it's sooo pretty!  I love how the #beauty circle is above my pretty mom.  :)

I used some Amy Tan Rise & Shine gold phrase Thickers to create my "good times" title.  (I have also used the same title on this layout and the Thickers on this layout!)

Then instead of journaling on the right bottom side, I opted to put mine in the lighter circle on the bottom left.

Some gold mist splatters and a few puffy stickers from the collection and the layout came together!  Here is Jessy Christopher's fun sketch below...and go check out her layout as well as the other designers' takes on it!  Then go grab some chocolate and do a little shopping from My Scraps & More store and link up for your chance at the Oct. prize! 

  
Have a super weekend!

Majken

Summer Kickoff Layout

Happy weekend everyone!  I'm participating in the My Scraps & More April Sketchathon - they had a sketch a day all month long!  I wanted to do even more (where does the time go??), but I have a third MSAM Sketchathon layout to share with you today (sketch #6).  Almost a year ago to celebrate Memorial Day, we went to Splashway, a local water park.  We had so much fun with the kids and my daughter's friend who joined us.  I'm looking forward to summer!  Here's my take on the sketch.

I had three photos that I wanted to capture which fits the sketch nicely:

And the twist is to use one of the words/phrases that were given.  I chose "right now", which you can see on the bottom right of the photo area.

The first thing I noticed when I pulled the photos together were the colors.  Such nice, summery colors!  The paper I gravitated to was the Dear Lizzy Day Dreamer.  I used "Dodge Ball" as the main area behind the photos.  I decided to bring in more black...so that is my main "canvas".  I also decided on a MME Now & Then "Izzy, Smile Bloom" because the green matched so nicely...and I felt the smaller polka dots complemented the large circles on the Dear Lizzy paper.

I trimmed the MME paper slightly and then stitched a thin line as a border, creating zig zag stitching around the top left and bottom right corners.

I created the border underneath the photos by trimming the scallops in the Dear Lizzy Day Dreamer "Flying Kites" paper and a thin strip of black cardstock.  I cut six chevrons from the back side of the Dear Lizzy paper and stitched in black through the border.

For the title area, I used black Fancy Pants alpha letters for "summer" and used my Cameo to cut out "kickoff".  Strips of the scallop negative and the Dodge ball paper were used to frame the title and provide a base for the journal spot.

To finish the layout, I punched confetti from the Dodge ball paper, used a corner of the same paper in the bottom right to anchor, and used stickers to spell "FUN" on the top left.

I hope your weekend is fabulous and full of scrappy time...and chocolate, of course!

Enjoy,
Majken

Scrapping Our Stash - Practical Scrappers Blog Hop {Giveaway!}

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers "Scrap Your Stash" blog hop.  You probably arrived from the blog of talented Alison Day.  Please enjoy my layout and then scroll down for a chance to win a GIVEAWAY! -- I'll also tell you where to hop to next.

This cool blog hop is all about using up our scrapbooking stash.  Which is AWESOME because I have collected enough paper to start a small store!  It's kind of neat, but also overwhelming because I want to buy all the new, cool collections.  

I am participating in the My Scraps & More April Sketchathon (so many sketches, so little time!) so today I used Sketch #8 created by Audrey Yeager.  With it was an additional challenge to use a 3x4 or 4x6 pocket-type card.  Here is my take on the sketch:

Here's the sketch:

I have been wanting to use a specific sheet of the American Crafts Dear Lizzy Day Dreamer collection ("Flying Kites" paper) for awhile.  I love the hearts on it, and it immediately came to mind when I saw this sketch.  I started with a base of textured white cardstock and splattered some gray paint on it.  Next I cut a large heart in Indian Corn Blue cardstock and a slightly smaller heart in vellum.  I layered them, trimmed the parts that were beyond the edge of the page, and stitched around the edges of both (leaving the trimmed side bare to include a hidden journal tag which I'll show you shortly).  

I layered my photo using some October Afternoon Sidewalks collection ("Paper Marbles" paper) and AC Amy Tan "Yes, Please" collection ("Commit" paper) as well as more ICB and white cardstock.  I distressed a couple of the pieces, and then I included a small embellishment cluster on the right bottom of the photo area.  (Presley's chubby cheeks make me smile *every* time!)

Next I fussycut some of the hearts from the Flying Kites paper to line up along the left of my photo.  I purposely left a couple of them inverted like they were in the paper, and then I stitched down the middle.

Next I cut two banners, layered them, and stitched a few times horizontally:

Finally, I created the title area using a 3x4 pocket card left over from a previous Scrapbook Circle kit.  Adding a small piece of the "Flying Kites" paper and the "Paper Marbles" paper, I stitched several times vertically along the edge and then adhered my title on top -- I stamped "forever" and cut "my girl" using my Cameo.  A few blue rhinestones were added at the end, too!

Here's my journal tag using another 3x4 pocket-type card with a pull-out tab made from bending some gray polka dot washi tape over the edge:

I hope you will share this if you were inspired by my rendition of the sketch.  :)  

Giveaway!

I'm giving away one $15 e-gift certificate to the My Scraps & More online store!

All you have to do is:

1. Become a new member of my blog with Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin AND
2. Leave a comment on this blog post 

You have until Monday, April 28, 2014 at 9am CT to enter for your chance to win. International entries are welcome. I will randomly choose one lucky winner and announce it here on my blog on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Thanks so much for visiting!

Now head over to your next stop on the list, Cheryl Wegener Freet.

The full blog hop list if you'd like to start at the beginning.

Practical Scrappers http://practicalscrappers.blogspot.com 
Jennifer Haggerty http://livethemoment-jen.blogspot.com
Audrey Yeager http://audreysreflection.blogspot.com/
Lee-Anne Thornton http://lee-annelovethejourney.blogspot.com
Suzanna Lee http://lifestrivialities.typepad.com/
Monica Bradford http://scrapinspired.com
Brenda Ragsdale:  http://granddivasscrappyplace.blogspot.com/
Nicole Laha http://www.shezigzags.blogspot.com
Susie Bentz  http://mytime2play.blogspot.com/
Wendy Coffman: www.stampingrules.com
Erin Morehouse: http://girlpaperscissors.blogspot.com
Bobbi Smith: http://vintagemusedesigns.blogspot.com/
Wendi Robinson: http://scrappydayinparadise.blogspot.com/
Lisa Peeples: http://www.snappinandscrappin.blogspot.com/
Alison Day: http://alisondaydesigns.com/

***YOU ARE HERE*** Majken Pullin:  http://chocoscrapaholic.blogspot.com/  ***YOU ARE HERE***

Cheryl Wegener Freet http://patchesandscraps.blogspot.com
Laura Cox:  http://scrapaddict4life.blogspot.com/
Christine Meyer: http://scrappingwithchristine.blogspot.com
Kerri Yarus: http://kerrikr8tions.blogspot.com