Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Add-on Week, Part 3

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The projects today really stretch the sketch. Seriously, they literally stretch it across the whole page. Creating a word collage like the larger ones shown below makes this sketch a breeze. Because of the larger space you have more options from your alphabet stash and you should have no problem fitting it all in the same margins. Plus it takes this sketch from a fun element to a super "wow" piece without any extra work.  

Add-on Sketch #2


You can download and print this sketch by clicking on the add-on sketches link found under the "printable sketches" tab on the right sidebar.


"All Boy" by Shari Thurman
Supply list - Pattern paper: Jillibean Soup; Cardstock: Core'dinations ColorCore and Stampin' Up; Ink: Colorbox Chalk Ink; Adhesive: Thermo-web 3D; Cricut: various cartridges; Punches; EK Success and Creative Memories; Brads: JoAnns; Pen: Sakura Gelly Roll (white)

I love this word collage sketch. What an amazing element to add to all kinds of projects. I decided to use my Cricut and Design Studio to create my collage. I used this design element as the title for my one page layout.

The collage measures roughly 5" x 11 1/2". I cut "All Boy" a second time with navy blue cardstock and attached it to the collage.


Next I added faux stitching to the edges with a white pen to make the title stand out and embellished the "o" with layered stars, a circle and a star brad. Then I matted the collage on cardstock and layered pattern paper and punched notebook paper border to the side and added white faux stitching.


I triple matted the 4 x 6 photo, embellished, added the photo strip, and finished with journaling strips at the bottom.

Journaling reads: "I pray that God continues to place people in your life that will appreciate and love you for who you are. You're an amazing little boy. 9/10"

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"Paris" by Suzanna Lee

SuppliesCardstock: Bazzill and The Paper Co; Patterned paper: SEI and 7Gypsies; Journal Spots: 7Gypsies and Studio Calico; Die Cut: Sizzix; Brads: BasicGrey; Stamps: Autumn Leaves; Acrylic: Maya Road; Die Cuts: The Girls Paperie and K&Co; Rub On: My Minds Eye; Stickers: 7 Gypsies;
Misc: tag, airplane charm


Variation: I could not for the life of me figure out how to get the fonts to run vertically so I stuck with horizontal fonts of all different shapes and sizes. They are a fun summary of all the things that we did while we were in Paris.

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Bonus Download

 
 You can find this color version of the sketch by clicking on the add-on sketches link found under the "printable sketches" tab on the right sidebar. (It's right below Add-on Sketch #2)


"Love" by Allison Davis
Supplies - Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye; Birds: Maya Road; Embroidery floss: DMC

For this layout the color printout serves as both my title and a patterned paper. Have you ever ran into a theme that you can't find papers to fit? You could easily make your own custom patterns with words and the best part is that since you are making it yourself, you can fit it to your theme.

To make the collage larger, I opened the downloaded PDF in Photoshop and re-sized it to 6" x 12". The way I re-sized it was by clicking on the crop tool and entering in a custom size (6 x 12). When I "cropped" the word collage it enlarged it to 6" x 12".  I'm no whiz when it comes to Photoshop so I'm not sure if there is a better way. This worked just fine for me. 

I highlighted the word "love" with a big heart frame since I wanted that to be my title. Even though most of the other words are partially covered by the heart you can still see enough to know what they say.

Along the bottom of my pictures I added a layered row of hearts in different patterns and sizes.


I added some detail by hand stitching on some of the hearts. One of the things I love about hand stitching is that it can take a plain piece, cut from paper, and by adding a simple stitched border make it stand out.

On the top right I added a few more hearts, my journaling, and two little birds.


12 comments:

Just Sew Sue said...

I pictured the sketh as a die cut border so am intereested to see how that has worked. Well done.

Crystal said...

Great job. I love the first layout! SO cute! I will be lifting that one!

dawn said...

I love them all. The colors on the first one match his shirt, love how you did that and the fun words. Second layout is so cool with the different tags/envelope and goodies on it, love the title just like that. Allison anything you make in pink is always going to be sweet, love all the hearts and that you stitched on them. Thank you so much for having a word week theme and hope you will do it again, maybe every season.

p.s. my mom came over and showed me about sewing and hand stitching so going to try it, need patience for it.

Erica Marshall said...

These are great! I love the layout Allison! One question..when you hand stitch such small pieces how do you keep them from tearing? Great job ladies!

Allison Davis said...

Getting too close to the edges can make it tear a lot easier and the weight of the paper can make a big difference too. If you are stitching on thinner paper you have to be really careful with it. The size of the needle you use can also cause tearing. I use a fairly small one. :)

Anonymous said...

I am so inspired by all of this! Thank you so kindly - working on a page right now...

dawn said...

I was going to ask you the same question Allison, it seems like those hearts would be hard to hold on sew on. Do you sometimes tear or mess up the stitch? I'm going to practice on circles today I think, something simple.

Allison Davis said...

Circles would be a good start. I haven't ever really had problems with tearing. :)

Lisa G. said...

Love them all. The "All Boy" sure stands out, wonderful! The hearts stitched are so neat, sure makes them stand out alright! Great work everyone!

mustangkayla said...

More great layouts! I especially Amy's two pager!

Carolyn Wolff said...

Awesome designs. I just love this sketch.

Christina Hoffman said...

Oh I really like all of them.