New Year New You Webster's Pages October Calendar Pages

The following are the instructions for creating the October calendar pages for the Webster's Pages® "New Year New You" calendar class held at The Paper Forest Scrapbook Boutique in Washington, Illinois.

Page Left

Use the green print on the reverse side of the Webster's Pages® New Year New You "bucket print" paper as the page background.

Approximately 1/3 of the way from the top of the page, attach a piece of Karen Foster Design ® "Pastel Pink Scrapper's Floss" to the background paper for your banner. (I taped the two ends onto the back side of the background paper. Give the floss enough slack for a gentle, natural curve.)

Apply adhesive onto the back of the October calendar and mat it onto a piece of "Pinkini". Set aside.

Using your Sizzix® Big Shot® and the smallest banner from Stampin' Up!® banner framelet collection, cut two banners from "Pinkini". Using the next larger size banner, cut two banners that match the background paper. Using the next larger size banner, cut two banners from "Pinkini".  Layer the banners one on top of the other as shown.  Attach the banners to the bottom side of the matted October calendar as shown. Apply adhesive to the right, left, and bottom of the matted calendar, but leave the top of the calendar free from adhesive. This will create a pocket for you to add journaling notes and/or photos. Center this piece in the middle of the pink twine.

From "Pinkini", die cut a doily using a mini doily die from My Favorite Things®. Fold it in half and attach as shown.

Punch out eight pennants with Stampin' Up!® pennant punch by EK Success®. I used SU "Old Olive" for 4 pennants;  Bazzill® "Pinkini" for 2 pennants; and Webster's Pages® floral print for 2 pennants.  Apply a mini Glue Dot® to the back of each pennant and adhere on top of the pink twine as shown.

Page Right

















Use Bazzill® "Pinkini" as the background for this page.

Punch out 3 butterflies using Bazzill® "Pinkini"; 3 butterflies using Bazzill® "Pollen"; and 2 butterflies using blue SU that matches your label. Run all the butterflies through your Xyron®. Remove the clear cover but leave the butterflies on the waxed paper. Apply "Icicle" Stickles™ by Ranger to the butterflies and allow to dry.

As shown, cut apart the quote "Life is a journey that gives you the liberty to draw your own map and choose your own route." Run all these pieces through your Xyron®. Adhere the word "life" to the label punched from blue card stock.  (It is Stampin' Up!®, but I don't know the name.) Mat the words "is" and "a" on some of the green paper that remains after you cut apart your quote. Set the words aside.

Use the clouds die from My Favorite Things to cut out three white clouds. Use a sponge dauber to ink the clouds with ColorBox® "True Blue" pigment ink. (You may want to practice on a scrap piece of paper to determine the right amount of ink and pressure to use to achieve the look you want on your clouds). Apply a small amount of the Stickles™ on the clouds and swirl it around with your finger.  Set aside and allow to dry.

Cut a piece of blue card stock (that matches your label and butterflies) to 5.5"wide x 5.75" high. Using the tree and leaf stamps from Stampin' Up!® "Season of Friendship" stamp set, stamp a tree onto the blue card stock that matches your blue label and butterflies. Use SU "Baked Brown Sugar" ink for the tree trunk and SU "Pear Pizzazz" ink for the leaves. You may stamp as many or as few leaves as you like. The fullness of your tree is up to you. (Just know that more leaves will result in more work a little later!) Place your tree on top of the Sizzix® "Frame, Oval Scallop" die. Be sure to position your paper at an angle so that your tree will fit inside the oval shape. (You should not be able to see any of the design showing on the parts of the die that are not covered by paper.) Run through your Sizzix® Big Shot®. It is okay to have some leaves or part of the tree trunk on your scalloped frame; this is not a mistake. Apply adhesive to the back of the oval and attach it flat against the upper right portion of the "Pinkini" background, as shown. (Be sure to leave space for the scalloped frame!) Apply pop dots on the back side of the scalloped frame and then place it around the tree in the oval. Use the "Icicle" Stickles™ on the leaves of the tree. Be sure to apply Stickles™ to the leaves on the frame, too. Allow to dry.

When all of your pieces are dry, assemble the page as shown.

Day 338: Dreamweaver Cameo Silhouette Embossed on The Big Shot

Today I used a core'dinations "white wash" collection paper with a black core and a Dreamweaver brass cameo stencil to create the cameo silhouette below.  I cut it out using the ovals die by Sizzix and my Big Shot. I embossed the image before I cut it out, so I accidentally cut off some of the design on the right side.  I will probably just save it and use it in a collage where I can hide the mistake under another image. I used a thick emery board to sand off the white wash to show the black core of the paper.  I wanted to use black because traditionally a silhouette is a black image on a white background, but I think this would be pretty in a variety of the core'dinations colored papers.

If you would like to emboss using your Dreamweaver stencils and your Big Shot, check out the site I used to find out how to make the "sandwich" for my Big Shot.

Day 320: Little Yellow Bicycle Acorn Hollow Cards

I created these two cards for The Paper Forest Scrapbook Boutique with products from Little Yellow Bicycle's Acorn Hollow line of products, a leaf punch from EK Success, and my Big Shot and dies from Sizzix.

Day 310: Organizing Big Shot Supplies

Tonight I organized my Big Shot dies, cutting plates, extra die cuts, embossing folders, etc.  At first I kept everything together in one big container, but as I have accumulated more supplies, it was not working.  Tonight I put my 12" dies and cutting plates in a big basket.  I put all of my regular size dies in a storage container with the names of each die facing up so it is easier for me to find what I am looking for.  I put all of my extra die cut shapes in another storage container, but separated them by type of die cut (i.e., circles, or label, etc.). Often I have the negative image of a die remaining, or maybe I cut something out in one color and decide it doesn't look right for whatever I am working on; then I have a die that I need to save to use on something different.

Working on getting these tools better organized will definitely help me to work more effectively the next time I want to make something with them, so I feel like it was time well spent to organize this area of my scrapbook and card-making room.

Day 302: One Moment in Time Gears Card Part 1

I need some men's cards for upcoming birthdays.  I started out with intentions of making an entirely different card, but when I was looking for an embossing folder to use as a background, I came upon this Tim Holtz gears embossing folder, and changed my mind completely!  I used kraft cardstock by Recollections (Michael's), ran it through my Sizzix Big Shot machine, then used a Ranger silver paint dauber and  Ranger chocolate distress ink to highlight the embossed areas.  I got enough backgrounds done to make 8 embossed card bases, but will need to finish working on these tomorrow.

Day 267: Penguin Card

Today I made this cute birthday card for a little girl whose birthday party theme is penguins. The party hat and "top note" dies are from Sizzix.  Punches from EK Success were used to make all the punched shapes.  All card stock by Stampin' Up!

Day 260: Stamp a Stack

Tonight I attended Stamp a Stack at a Stampin' Up! dealer's house.  We made 6 different cards. Actually, I just stamped or ran things through the Big Shot by Sizzix because I forgot tonight was the first night for Survivor!  I will put them together another time!

Day 256: Precious Moments Chapel

When we first started dating, my husband's grandmother really wanted my husband to bring me to the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri. We both loved it so much, we got married at the Wedding Chapel there. (For those who have never been there, these are two different chapels.  The Wedding Chapel, sadly, is no longer available for use.) I decided I wanted a page in my Faith Book about her wish. I also wanted to add a page about our wedding at the  Precious Moments Wedding Chapel. Since the Precious Moments colors tend to be very pastel in nature, I chose papers from a line by Tim Coffey as my backgrounds. I fussy cut some flowers and an oval from one paper and used pop dots to add dimension to a duplicate paper for a page for our wedding photo.  I arranged my photos on the page about my husband's grandmother and cut out letters from the "Curlie Girlie" alphabet dies on my Big Shot machine for the title.  ("Curlie Girlie" dies and Big Shot by Sizzix) I will work more on these tomorrow.

Day 224: Watercolor with Re-Inkers

I was inspired by a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers to use my Stampin Up! re-inkers on watercolor paper that I embossed.  I used the roses embossing folder from SU and ran it through my Big Shot 3 or 4 times so the embossing would be deep. I think this is a really pretty look.  I may have to make a whole bouquet of these roses!

Day 204: Zebra, Zebra, Zebra

My daughter had her photos taken in this zebra-patterned dress, and I knew this zebra print paper by Recollections would be the perfect background page.  I used "pacific point" and "basic black" card stock from Stampin' Up! to mat the photo.  I made flowers using my Big Shot and a Sizzix flower die.  The leaves were some that I had punched from scrap paper while on a trip (see Day 145).  I used silver glitter brads from Stampin' Up! to add a little more glitter to the page.  The photo collage was made at Sears Portrait Studios, and the zebra print in the background of the collage is actually my daughter's dress!  How fun is that!!

Day 174: Sheer Ribbon Flower

I didn't have too much time today, and I didn't have a chance last night, so I only made one attempt to create a flower from sheer ribbon using a die and my Big Shot.  I found it a bit harder to do than the satin ribbon.  It definitely frayed more and I really like the look of the satin ribbon flowers better.

Day 130: Beautiful

Tonight I worked on a page for my daughter, which I titled "Beautiful".  The papers I used were by Anna Griffin.  I added a "beautiful" rub on from Daisy D's. I also put a few pearls in my daughter's hair.  I added a small green butterfly on the rose to cover up a boo-boo I made while adding the rub-on. I put lace on either side of the photo.  I used my Sizzix Big Shot die cut machine and the roses die from Lifestyle Crafts to cut a length of  floral material to make fabric roses.  I used some old pearl buttons for the centers.  I used my Big Shot and a leaf die from Stampin' Up! to cut the leaves out of green fabric.

Day 114: A Visit With Santa Page: Day 2

After a weekend away, I finally got back home and back to my son's scrapbook page.  I cut a title from Santa words paper by October Afternoon.  I used the Curlie Girlie alphabet die set by Sizzix and my Big Shot machine to cut the letters for the first part of the title, "A Visit With".  I ran the letters through my Xyron and attached them to Cherry Cobbler card stock from Stampin' Up.  I used a "Santa" crystal embellishment from Me and My Big Eyes to finish my title.  In order to further decorate the page, I added a Santa metal sign embellishment by Tim Coffey and tied a scrap of ribbon to it.  I also added a Santa scene from Jolee's, and even wrote my son's name in the "nice" column.

Day 107: Lovely as a Tree Sympathy Card

Unfortunately, the husband of my friend and Stampin' Up! demonstrator died, so I needed to make her a sympathy card.  One of her favorite Stampin' Up! stamp sets is Lovely as a Tree, so I decided to use one of the images from that stamp set on the front of the card.  I used a paper that gradually changed tones from Anna Griffin as the background for the tree image and for the background for the inside sentiment.  I heat embossed the image of the trees using VersaMark and clear embossing powder from Stampin' Up. The sentiment "Remembering with you the life of someone dear." is from Repeat Impressions, and was stamped with Old Olive ink from Stampin' Up!.  I used one of the labels from Cuttlebug's Fanciful Labels Embossing Folder Plus and my Sizzix Big Shot machine to make the label for the sentiment.  I added gold brads to the label, highlighted the raised parts of the label with Old Olive ink from Stampin' Up!,  and ran a sheer green ribbon behind the label to dress up the front of the card.  I layered the stamped image and the label on top of a striped paper from a Stampin' Up! designer paper collection, and then layered all of that onto a piece of  Stampin' Up! Old Olive card stock. On the inside of the card, I stamped a sentiment from Great Impressions: "What a beautiful difference a single life made." I then die cut and embossed two more labels on Old Olive card stock from Stampin' Up! to frame out the sentiment on the inside of the card.

Day 2: Playing with Plastic

I just love all the clear little embellishments that are on the market place for scrapbookers or stampers to use. But, I don't want to have to pay the price. So, whenever one of the kids gets a toy, I take all the clear acetate plastic out of the box and save it. Today, I finally took the time to see what I could make with this free-to-me material.

I got out my Sizzix Big Shot machine and tried out sizzlits, embosslits, Bigz dies, and my embossing folders. I also got out some punches to see what I could to do with those.

I tried the sizzlits first because I have some snowflakes that I thought would be pretty on a card or scrapbook page. The snowflakes embossed well, but they didn't cut out. I tried running them through the Big Shot, then backing them out, running them through, and backing them out again, but that still didn't work. I ended up cutting them out by hand. It was a little time consuming, but I still like the look.

The embosslits embossed and cut out nicely, so that was a winner! The Bigz dies also cut out well; another winner! I tried a snowflake embossing folder; I think this will make for a nice layering piece on a card. I also dug through my punch drawer and tried out some punches. Also a success!

I had fun playing with plastic today, and if you haven't tried it yet, you should. I think it will really expand your range of embellishments for cards and scrapbook pages.