"Last" of the LOVE projects

This is the "last" Love project from this year. Maybe if we think of it, that's wrong. It's not the last love project. It's probably the last I've made from a series related to St. Valentine's 2011... but it's not the last love project... because all my projects, no matter how simple or complicated, big or small, fast or no... are made with love... Make sure all you do in life is made with love. Whatever you do for living, whatever is that you have as a hobby, no matter what you do for someone else... make it with love. And you'll enjoy it more, and the results will be better.

I made this mini album for someone who wanted to send pictures of her sons to their sister, who is older and lives separately. It has to be simple and handy, and have room for her to place the pictures and finish playing a little bit with the project.

One of the pages had a message of love for the sister. This little metal plate from Portafolia, combined with the Scenic Route chipboard message, were perfect to communicate that.

Another page of the mini album had room for the pictures with a title to remind the sister about how good is life.

And this other one sent a brother hug... the plate is also from Portafolia. Look at the right page... there's a little envelope with tickets valid for different goodies.

What better goodies from brother to sister, than kiss, love and hug?

This other plage had flowers and hearts for the sister.

The nice "lace" shape in the background is a piece that I still had from a strip designed and cut by a friend (Gladys, my favorite Colombian girl), who gave it to me a while ago in an ocassion we were enjoying scrapbooking together. She probably doesn't even remember but I do.

The branch was stamped with an Autumn Leaves stamp, and then carefuly cut by the shape.

I cut chipboard and papers using the Cricut Expression machine. The heart shape was from Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, using the End Caps feature.

Hope you liked my mini album... Now, let me share with you the not so mini dog biscuit we gave to our dog Malbec last St Valentine's Day.

He was so obedient, that he did not even touch it until we told him so... How cute!

Then he smelled and smelled and tried to get it but it was difficult becaus this giant biscuit was flat and heavy.

He could use a little help to grab it from the floor...

Mmmmmmmmmmm....

This lovable dog deserves this and much more... We love him so much.

Thanks for visiting... This was posted with Love...

Still in Love

Are you still in love?

Well, this might be understood as if you still in love with your partner... husband... wife... after years..???? Good... answer that question to yourself. I personally believe love is a decision we make and it is also an unbelievable feeling that evolves along with that decision. You decide to love someone no matter the good, the bad, the pretty and the ugly. And there are different stages... through which that love evolves and you express your feelings and emotions... and also the love itself in different ways... Maybe the flowers you received before, now are not as expected as then, but you do receive everyday signs confirming the love is still alive... Right? Well.. I'm not therapist... just my way to define it.. hehehe...

But you know what?... I don't refer to that with my post title... I am talking about that it's still February, so I'm still posting "love" projects... hahahahaha.... what do you think? But I'm also still in love.

This double spread layout was made by a friend called Rebecca. She owns a scrapbooking store in Isabela, Puerto Rico. Her work is beautiful. She has a great ability to use so many different papers in one layout and really get to use most of the materials. You can get more information about the store HERE. She made this layout for a crop a couple of weeks ago.

Papers are from Making Memories' collection, Je t'adore. You'll love it. It's a very romantic design and at the same time not too "romantic" for those who doesn't like it to be over the "sweetness"... if you know what I mean...hehehe..

I'm sorry for not having the best pictures from her work, but I wanted to show you the original pages from which I made the scraplift. This is the left page, where she proposed to place a vertical photo and the text block she cut from one of the papers. The details of her work are amazing. She used different sized strips of patterned papers and placed as background and also used a punched border with little hearts. Each strip is distressed and inked. The detail flower was cut with a Cuttlebug machine (beautiful die and was very fun to do).

The right page continues the game of the patterned papers and has a big half heart, also from one of the dollies paper from the collection. She wisely positioned all these on dark cardstock so the design stands out. Don't you love it?

So, I am not very good scraplifting... Not because I don't have fun doing it, but because there's something about me that make me change it...

I tried to keep as much as possible from the original layout... and I was able to do it. I placed the patterned papers as exactly as I could...

For left page, I used a chipboard flourish I had from Fancy Pants, and the border punch I used was different (I confess I borrowed it from my friend Maribel... and it was new... I used it first... Thank you Maribel. You can see Maribel's out of world work HERE.).

However, I changed the orientation of the photo for a horizontal one (thinking of this photo I had from me and my husband... not only we are hugging but also the colors go very well with these papers). I also added other border in the bottom of the page (Martha Stweart's), and you'll noticed I did not place the text block in this page.

I positioned it in the right page and added another flower of those that I really had fun assembling.
A little heart was also added to the flower.

So with the title added and those other details, I ended up answering the question of the title with the text block that serves as journaling in the layout... What is love?

And, this is how the double page layout looks finished. I hope you liked it... and thank you Rebeca for such inspirational work that you always share with SB Friends group.

I will post another LOVE project next week... Keep loving everyday... don't miss the opportunity to be imperfect... Love is.

I {HEART} you!!!

Tomorrow it's St. Valentine's Day. I personally believe we should celebrate love everyday, but I also respect there is this one day, some people celebrate it at a different level. I do believe we should not measure love according to the size of the gift you will receive/give this day, if any gift should be given except for love itself. But again, it's nice to share chocolates and special messages with people you care about, and if this day will make some people express love better or be able to show a good side... let's make it happen.



Remember the crop party I had the other day, where we had an ATC swap? Well, we also had Party Favors' swaps... and there was all kind of party favors. It was great to see the different styles and personalities reflected on the party favors... well they also reflected the tools each of us had... some people really did achieved a super professional look in their work... This year, is for me to get some new tools (but again, this is another future post...hehehehe).



This is a top view of the party favors I created:







And this is a bottom view:









You can note is a rectangular box that is between two hearts. The hearts are glued to the front and back side of the box, and then tied to each other through the top side.


The heart party favor can stand because the bottom side of the two hearts support the box and serve as base.

I embelished the heart with another heart, lace ribbon, buttons and flowers.

All the party favors together, looked really cool, and I am sure my friends enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed the ones made for me... with love.

Happy St Valentine's Day... I hope you can celebrate love everyday, and take time to be imperfect while doing it.

I will be sharing more LOVE projects next time.

(cardstock: Bazzill; patterned paper: Basic Grey; flowers: Portafolia; stamp: Studio 112; miscellaneous: lace ribbon, buttons, fibers, ribbons, adhesives, paper punch)

ATC

Hello friends...

Do you know what an ATC is? I bet you do... You've probably made some as a scrapbooker or crafter... or maybe not?

ATCs are Artist Trading Cards... it's like a miniature work of art. People create them in a 2.5" x 3.5" card using any media possible... All is allowed, the only rule is the size. It's like a little canvas to paint, draw, stamp, cut, glue, alter, emboss, embelish, etc... Most people trade them and collect as little artworks.

I read that the ATC started when in 1997 a Swiss artist created 1200 cards by hand as part of an exhibit. At the end of the exhibit the artist invited others to create their own cards to trade for the ones exhibited. Since then, "swaps" are held around the World.

I made these ATCs for a swap:



I used a white base and painted the edges with blue ink. I wanted to add something different to my ATC and why not a heart hanging from the card? (I remember one of my first ATCs had a hole... I loved it!). So I punched two little hearts and attached a cord in the middle of them to create the hanging embelishment. I glued it to the base before I placed the other layer so it stays in the middle of the two papers.

The patterned paper to place in top was distressed and inked. I stamped a damask and embossed with embossing powder and a heating gun. I also stamped a sentiment and then placed the paper on the cardstock base.

I added a strip with color and a jewel in the middle. I hope the girls in the swap like this ATC... I can't wait to see the ones they've made.

ATCs are made to collect... It's rare someone sells them but is also possible, but they are called Art Card Editions or Originals (ACEO).

ATCs need to be identified in the back. Basically your name, date, title and number if it's part of a series, are the most common details. Because I value who made the card and recognize them as artworks, most of the ATCs I have, I collect them and have them in this binder:

... But ATCs could also be used as part of a card...

Or you can use them as journaling cards or additional elements for your Layouts...

I guess you could also use them as tags in gifts, or just as embelishments for your projects.

If you haven't done an ATC ever... I invite you to do so. You are going to like the process. At first it could be tricky if you don't work with such a small space... but then you'll like it (and it's easier than to work "inchies"... but that would be another post)...

Thanks for keep visiting my blogs and leaving your comments. Have a great life!

(card base: Strathmore, patterned paper: Memory Stor, stamps: TAC, Studio 112, bling: DGI; shaped border: K&Co; heart punch: Creative Memories; inks: Stazon, Color Box, Studio G; fiber: Portafolia; glitter cardstock: Colorbok; embossing powder: Ranger; heat gun: Coloriser; adhesives: Aleene's Tacky Glue, Scotch)