Core'dinations Design Team Call

Ask me what my favorite cardstock is...Go ahead, ask!  Well, that's easy!  I really LOVE Core'dinations Cardstock!  I love that it comes in a TON of colors!  I love that it textured!  But most of all, I LOVE THE COLOR CORE!  I can tear this paper and see a coordinating color inside.  I can also emboss and sand it too (or just sand, for a distressed look).  And I can't forget my most favorite thing to do with Core'dinations papers is to cut them in my Silhouette Cameo digital die cut machine.  All of their beautiful papers cut like butter in the Silhouette!

All these reasons came to mind when I saw that Core'dinations is having a Design Team Call!  I was recently chosen to be a part of the Craft Warehouse Design Team and I think that being a part of the Core'dinations team would be the perfect match for me.  I use Core'dinations papers on almost all my scrapbook layouts and papercrafting projects.  I can't imagine a project that wouldn't look a little nicer with some textured cardstock that has a fun colored core!

So, here I go...Core'dinations asked to see three projects featuring their amazing papers.  These projects are  some that I think show you lots of options for using Core'dinations papers and ones I think you'll enjoy seeing.  As always, I use a lot of color in my projects, along with some fun cuts from my Silhouette.  I hope you like them!

For this layout, the kids jumping in the pool reminded me of a clothesline.

I found the Loads of Fun die cut shape from Samantha Walker and altered it to fit my vision.

I added the flower & number 12 to the shirts and then I wanted to find a fun girls' swimsuit for

my clothesline, I found the Bikini by Sarah Bailey.  It was perfect with the addition of tiny holes for polka dots.  I love the way the Silhouette Cameo cuts such intricate shapes into the

Core'dinations papers!  Next, I used some tiny sanding tools to add a little texture to

my die cuts.  Distressing my little clothes lets you see the coordinating color inside the textured

cardstock and gives this layout that extra 'something'! 

Here are some close ups of this fun summer layout:

Next, I want to share a card I made this week with my favorite collection from Core'dinations,

the Vintage Collection.  I LOVE the Vintage Collection because you can see both colors of the paper in the texture without tearing or embossing it!  The Vintage papers give every layout an added color and texture without me doing a thing! My most favorite of all the hundreds of Core'dinations papers is Kisses from the Vintage Collection.  Kisses is the most perfect red for all my projects and, of course, its texture and colors give my projects and added depth I can't get with any other cardstock.

But back to my project!

I found this rainbow quote and the design of this card just popped right into my mind.

I used my Silhouette Software to design my own rainbow.

(I can explain how I did this, just let me know if you're interested in a post on it in the comments!)

I cut the entire rainbow out of each of the six yummy sheets of Core'dinations Vintage Collection papers.

Then I chose one of each color (in different sizes) and laid them together on my embossing folder.

This one is from Lifestyle Crafts.

After embossing the pieces, I used a sander to sand over the textured sections.  In this photo, the red and purple pieces have been completely sanded, while the blue piece has only been sanded on the right half.

You can see how much the design 'jumps' out of the Core'dinations papers when they are sanded

to reveal the inside core color of the paper.

I found this banner in my Silhouette library.  I used a Silhouette Sketch Pen and my own handwriting font to print the quote onto my banner.  Then, I cut the center of the banner.  The paper for the center of the banner is from the Core'dinations Whitewash Collection, and is called Washboard.

I cut the ends of the banner from metallic gold paper to symbolize the gold at the end of the rainbow.

I was very happy with the way the Silhouette Sketch Pens worked perfectly with the textured

Core'dinations paper!

For my last project, I want to share a double page spread layout I created to showcase

my daughter's birthday photos.

On this layout, I tore and sanded to reveal the coordinating bright colors inside the cardstock.

I love the way this paper adds just a little extra flair to my page!

 Here are some close ups of the Core'dinations papers at work!

I hope you enjoyed my projects featuring Core'dinations papers!

I also want to let you know that I'm in the middle of redesigning by blog and moving it over to juliechats.com

All of this should be finished by next week!

Stop over and LIKE my Facebook page for last minute details in case this site is down and 

the new on isn't quite ready yet!

Family Love Layout - Layout of the Week

This week I'm sharing another layout I created Plus Corp's CHA booth at the Winter 2014 show.  When I saw the new Vintage Camera Decorative Roller Stamp from Plus Corp., I almost jumped up & down!  I LOVE anything with a camera on it!  I immediately knew which paper I wanted to combine with this awesome stamp.  The Camera Bag paper from October Afternoon's Travel Girl collection was the PERFECT paper to complement the camera stamp.  Once I had the stamp and my paper, I headed to Whimzee's Scrapbook Studio (the LSS where I work here in Beaverton, Oregon).  I knew that we would have some great solids to coordinate for my layout.

When I first started planning this layout, I didn't know which photo I would use, only that I just HAD to make a layout with this super cute camera stamp.  I started to consider photos and realized that we had just had our family photos taken right before our Disneyland trip.  I have a friend who is an AMAZING photographer and a teacher too (in her spare time...ha ha!)  If you're in the Portland-Vancouver area, please consider her for your family and senior photos! Check out her website Stacy Major Photography.

I decided to use my shiny silver metallic paper as the background and layer gray and aqua on top of it.  I mounted my photo on a black matte and placed it on a horizontal strip of gray textured paper.  Next, I rolled my Decorative Roller Stamp with its cute cameras across a piece of textured white cardstock from American Crafts.  I really like the vintage look the textured cardstock gives to this stamp.  What would normally be a solid black impression is distressed using textured paper.  I worked at getting the stamp straight by laying my paper down next to a ruler and making every effort to roll my stamp perfectly along the ruler.  I think it took about three tries to create a camera strip to my liking.  And, just in case you have one of the Decorative Roller Stamps from Plus Corp. and are unhappy with the impressions you get at first, be sure to grab a piece of printer paper and roll the stamp around until your image is clear and perfect.  The images on the stamps I used did not come out perfectly on the first try.  Some black ink was printed in between the cameras and other images on the other stamps I used for my projects.  After rolling them around on printer paper a few times, the images began to come out perfectly clear with no black ink in between. To create a focal point, I used a vertical strip of the camera paper behind my photo, tearing and distressing its edges by rolling them back & forth between my fingers.  

Even though we are wearing gray and white in our photos, I decided to print my photo in black & white for this layout.  I really love the look of black and white and it looked perfect with the palette of aqua, gray and silver I chose to go with my October Afternoon paper.  I used my SMASH date stamp next to my photo, so we'll remember when we had this fun family photo shoot.  After stacking and adhering my papers, I used my sewing machine to machine stitch aqua, gray and white thread in a combination of zig zag and straight stitches.  I like the effect the stitching adds to my project, it coordinates with the vintage look of my camera stamps stamped on textured paper.  It also contrasts with the shiny silver paper and bold sans serif  Bebas font I used for my title.  Last summer, it seemed like everyone on the internet was hashtag (#) crazy, so I thought it would be fun to use one of the hashtags I use on Instagram as my title.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the title.  #familylove is a hashtag I try to use on all my family photos, so I will be able to easily find them when I want to share them.

For embellishments, I chose a couple groupings of sequins and one tiny wood veneer camera from Studio Calico.  I painted this camera just like the cameras I used in my Wood Veneer Camera Shadow Box blog post.  I used pewter mist from Luminarte as paint, read about it in my shadow box post.

This was another fun chance to create with a brand new product.  I have some more projects created for Plus Corp.'s booth at CHA and I'll share them soon!  In case you missed last week's post, I shared my Disney Carsland Layout using another new roller stamp from Plus Corp and 2014 winter release stamps from Technique Tuesday.

Sharing this project over at 

The Link Party Palooza!

So much fun over there, be sure to stop by & check out all the great St. Patrick's Day & Easter theme projects!

"Say Cheese" Disney Carsland Layout - Layout of the Week

A few months ago, I was asked to create some layouts by Plus Corp. for the Winter 2014 CHA show.  I was really excited to have a chance to work with Plus Corp's brand new Decorative Roller Stamps and Decorative Tapes.  The stamps I used were so new, I had one of the only sets in the US to play with!  Fun Fun!  With 12 roller stamps and 12 decorative tapes to choose from, I just had to grab some recent photos and use my imagination to create some super fun projects.  My very favorite project is this layout featuring a photo of our family with Lightning McQueen.  Our August trip to Disneyland and California Adventure was AMAZING!  And I was SO happy that I purchased the Disney Photo Pass CD full of our trip photos.  Knowing ahead of time that I would probably want to buy the CD, I was sure to have our photo taken by the Disney photographers every chance we got!  I love the CD and all of our photos, but I do wish that there were more photographers and photographers with every character we met.  It was strange that our photos with Mickey & Minnie in Toon Town had to be taken on our cameras.  It would have been nice to have professional ones with these characters.  But, all in all, I was very impressed with the quality of the photos and excited at the opportunity to reprint my photos many times, in any size I want!

This photo is from our very first day in the theme parks.  My little guy, Jake, has always been obsessed with the Cars movies and their characters, so of course, Lightning McQueen was at the top of his list of characters to meet.  To this day, he still tells everyone who will listen that Lightning McQueen lives in Disneyland and that he met him!  Such a fun memory!  We had just about every photo shot with our whole family and then again with just the kids.  I wanted as much versatility as I could get for my projects later.

For this layout, I looked to the photo for my color palette.  Bright red, electric yellow and black are classic Disney colors and help me show off Lightning too!  Putting them on a white background helps them jump off the page!  Textured white cardstock from American Crafts is my go-to white paper, it's a perfectly bright white and cuts like butter on my Silhouette Cameo.  To give my white background a more custom look, I used a paint brush to splatter acrylic paint onto the paper.  The black & yellow paints are regular acrylic from Kaisercraft, but the red is DecoArt Ultra Gloss Acrylic Enamel (usually used for painting glass).  I love how the red splotches are SO shiny!  I looked through my stash and the local scrapbook store where I work to come up with supplies for my layout.  Polka dots always make me think of Minnie and Disney, so I choose some polka dot elements in my color palette and grabbed my Mickey outline punch and Disney castle punch (I bought those years ago in Disneyland).

I arranged my elements on the page and balanced them out with another little cluster down in the bottom right corner with a little tag & some washi and a castle.

The new black honeycomb roller stamp from Plus Corp. was the perfect thing to mimic tire treads going across my page.  I used colored pencil to few in a few hexagons here & there.

For my title, I used the brand new "Say Cheese" stamp set from Technique Tuesday.  I stamped "cheese" with Versamark ink and embossed it in glossy red.  I used a couple of the hashtag word stamps from the set around my page, stamping them onto tags I cut on my Silhouette Cameo.  I inked the top tag in red before stamping it to help it stand out from my page.

This is one of my favorite layouts ever!  It was fun working with the new roller stamps from Plus Corp., along with the 2014 "Say Cheese" stamp set from Technique Tuesday too!  Stay tuned to this blog next when I share another Plus Corp. CHA sample!

December Daily 2013 with the Heidi Swapp Believe Memory File Album Days 6-15

As always, for me, creativity is messy!

I got to work catching up on my December Daily today.  I have all the photos edited and uploaded and most are printed.  All but a couple journal cards are written on.  Pretty good, since I'll be sharing my 2012 December Daily soon (just finished it in December 2013).  So, you see why I'm so happy with how much I have done this year!  I keep my supplies in a couple little bins and a ziplock bag.  I chose everything to match my Believe collection from Heidi Swapp...red, lime-ish green, black, white, and some gold & silver thrown in for good measure...stamps, ink, ribbon, twine, stickers, washi, whatever I could find in those colors went into the little containers or baggie.  Then I knew it wouldn't be too difficult to throw together a few pages when I had time.  Of course, my time didn't free up until the second week in January.  But, I think that's how it is for a lot of us.  We're so busy with family, friends, parties, making gifts, cleaning house, etc. during the holidays that these projects can easily get tossed into that box of 1/2 finished projects.  I did really try to keep up on the photos this year though, so at least I'd have the photos to go by when the time came around.  So, here's what I have for days 6-15. I get to work on the rest and be back to share soon!

I'm continuing to use the cute little countdown cards that Heidi posted FREE on her blog this year as overlays, printed on vellum, topping my Technique Tuesday Story cards. I love seeing all the Christmas prettiness on my pages before seeing the handwritten cards. And maybe people will have to stop & look around a bit before they find the journaling.

I added a cute little word grain tag to this one! And I love the die cut, so my photo from Day 7 can peek through.

The 7th was a fun day! My daughter, Delaney, teaches a monthly kids class at the scrapbook store where I work, here in Beaverton, Oregon. She has a great time! Then after, we snuck out for some Christmas shopping & lunch, just us girls.

I added some sequins and silver ink to give this page a little flair. I attach my sequins with mini glue dots. Wet glue might work too, but I design these pages quickly & move on to the next...no time for glue to dry.

I'm having fun using Heidi's little ephemera pack in this album!  It's SO nice to have all my embellishments ready & waiting in a little baggy! I poured all the ephemera into a baggy and separated the black number stars, just so it's easier to find the number I need for each page without going through the entire bag!

What goes with December more than a blinking Rudolph nose...

Or a neon green wig!?

For the main embellishment on this page, I used one of Heidi's Freebie tags I had printed from last year. I trimmed it and adhered it to my very favorite red...Kisses from the Vintage Collection by Core'dinations. Then I left a little border and trimmed around the tag. Kisses matches tons of reds from many designers and adds just the right amount of texture to my projects even without sanding or tearing it.

We had the tiniest dusting of snow late at night on the ninety...it just so happens that was the week Delaney's dance studio was holding secret practices until 10pm every night for flash mob at Zoo Lights Saturday night. So, she had to make a barely visible snow angel in the driveway before going to bed with her clothes on inside out while praying for a snow day!

This cute little tag in the middle of the book was perfect for a little pile of ephemera & embellishments!

For the back of the tag, I chose a little vellum sentiment and a couple puffy silver stars. The stars are from a yard of trim I bought at a local fabric store. (Mill End, if you're looking in the Portland area.)

I was super excited about this bracket page with the little window for Day 10.

Since I hadn't used any garden type twine yet, I added some here in a little pile, under my acrylic "joy" piece from the ephemera pack. I think it's a little unexpected to mix such a slick, shiny, clear piece with a tangled pile of twine...that's why I LOVE it!

When you open the little flap, you find some fun photos & my journaling card with its Countdown topper for Day 10.

Day 11 has a fun little stack of photos...a selfie...trying to get myself in my albums...a photo of our backyard on this cold, icy and SUNNY day! Plus, a shot of my Christmas mantel.  Each day I'm including photos from the #heidiholidayfotofind. This is a little photo scavenger hunt, where we had a different theme each day and posted our photos on Instagram everyday. Today's clue was #wrapping paper. This year, I covered the frames on the wall above my mantel with kraft wrapping paper. I borrowed this idea from a friend who's a Super Star decorator!

On the next little tag, I added some really old ribbon and a little piece of ephemera.

I ALWAYS keep ribbon. Ribbon from packages, gifts, store packaging...anywhere really. I have two wire farm baskets on the wall above my desk in my studio. I just toss whatever I find in there & dig around whenever a project comes up. I almost always have a ribbon that will work for my project!

On the backside of the little tag, I placed my journal card & overlay.

Somehow I only had a couple photos for this day...and my kid are perfect examples of the Heidi foto find...#naughtyornice. You'll see I'm using a lot of washi in this album. This is a concerted effort to use some of those rolls I've been collecting.

This page has some stamps from the Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards December Daily collection from 2012 and also some of her new flair, just for Christ.

In addition to the Ali stamps, I have a cute little tags from Chic Tags here too!

Just a little tip...that tag is covering a stamp that didn't come out perfectly the first time! Don't forget, you're tiny tags are perfect for occasions like this! Don't forget...there are no mistakes, just opportunities to improve your project! 

Such a busy day...our 5 store tour, Passport to Creativity's holiday party was on the 14th and I had to leave early to get Delaney and some of her friends to the zoo in time for the flash mob proposal they were dancing in! Oh and Dave took Jake to watch a Duck basketball game at the arose Garden, the rode Max & got to see the tree at Pioneer Square too!

I used a super festive digi scrap kit from The Daily Digi's November collection to create this flier that was also printed as a poster.

I stamped some solid red Target washi with black Stayz On ink and some little stars from the 2013 Project Life class at Studio Calico.

For a change of pace, I hung this photo off the edge, just so you'd see the kids faces as you looked at a few pages before this one. I added a little green tab with ribbon & my trusty stapler.

Small projects like this are some of my favorites!

I love the feeling of accomplishment I feel when I actually FINISH a project!

So, don't just look at this album as exclusively for December.

You could put together a small album for all sorts of occasions...trips, anniversaries, birthdays, family, friends. The possibilities are endless, just be sure to limit your color palette and gather just a few embellishments in that palette and you're ready to add them to a small album, along with a few sheets of coordinating paper.

Until next time, don't forget to #makeityourown!