Challenge Me Wednesday!
Hey! Jenn here with some Challenge Me Wednesday Fun!
Over in the studio, this month’s challenge is to create
anything we want using some of the new Memory Works product that has been
released. I’ve watched each new email
come through with excitement and anticipation as I try to guess which lines
were chosen for this season. In fact, I’ve
actually hesitated about buying things as each new release has my wish list
growing. However, the Simple Stories
lines are so beautiful and so much fun to work with that they were a must in my
stash. I’ve made two little projects to
share using Simple Stories Take a Hike and Handmade Holiday.
First, an altered spiral notebook using Take a Hike
papers. I love the colors on these and
this little book will look great sitting on my kitchen counter throughout the
week. See, I’m a planner. I go crazy if I have to walk in from my day
job and decide, “What’s for dinner tonight?”
I have three adult sons living at home working their way through
college, my husband and myself. So for
years I’ve been menu planning on a weekly, sometimes bi-weekly basis so I can
shop and know I have what I need to cook a hearty meal for guys who work hard,
walk, bike, commute to and from work and school. It’s always been this way, I have six kids in
all, homeschooled four of them, worked and am active in my church. Planning is a must. Not that it has much to do with scrapbooking,
just that it is how our family does business.
I’ve used spiral notebooks for years for my planning, menus, recipes I
saw and want to try, notes, even the big events I’ve catered all go on the left
side of the page and the lists go on the right.
I save them so if I’m feeling rushed I can just refer back to previous
meals and pluck them out and put them into this week’s plan. I decided that this time around, I’d make my
spiral notebook a whole lot cuter, and then I wouldn’t feel the need to stash
it away out of site. It will look great
sitting on my counter as I refer back to it each night.
I started with this spiral bound book. It’s not bad looking, but I wanted it to
reflect me a little better.
I removed the spiral from the book, a tedious but necessary
step for a nicer finish. I covered the
front and back with papers, used my Crop-a-dile to punch the holes for the
spiral and then folded the paper over to the inside cover. I re-punched the holes because I wanted a
totally finished look.
The inside pocket
was easy to open up to line and cover when it was out of the spiral and I inked
the edges of the folder to take away the yellowish color of the pocket. I don’t coupon often as I shop discount
however I do use coupons occasionally. I
can also stash the store receipts in there.
I finished up by decorating the front a little with some leftover
embellishments from the August Memory Works Express kit, and twine. The alphas
are right from the Take a Hike line, and twine is My Mind’s Eye. I did coat the alphas with Glossy Accents
since this will be thrown around in my bag, car, shopping carts, etc and I don’t
want to lose the letters. A simple but
useful item.
Now, I could have stopped there but I’ve had this project
floating around in my head for awhile and I needed to make it. This Christmas Joy canvas was made using the
Handmade Holiday line.
I loved the old-fashioned feel of the papers and I went down
that path with this project. I started
with a basic 6”x9” canvas board from the craft store and a paper mache
gingerbread man from the impulse bins. I started by coloring the sides of the
gingerbread man with Distress Marker in Forest Moss. I tore up a small bit of paper and using
Ranger’s Glue and Seal I applied it to the man, collage style. I covered the entire piece with a light
coating as well.
I cut the 25 card from
the journaling tags and grabbed two of the acetate photo covers and cut out
Christmas from one. I die cut the holly
vine and leaves with a Sizzlets die, grabbed some red foil Thickers and some
buttons from my stash. I inked up the
edges of the canvas with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, the background card
stock and the 25 card also got the inking treatment. I inked the gingerbread man, vine and holly
leaves with Peeled Paint ink. I used Zip
Dry for everything but the gingerbread man, I applied him with Glossy
Accents. The hanging cord is Sugar and
Cream Twist yarn from the craft store.
It might not be obvious but the holly leaves are under the photo frame
and joy is on top. It adds some fun
dimension. I have officially completed
my first Christmas gift for the season.
I hope she likes it.
There is plenty of time to get your challenge projects
posted in the studio. You have until
September 30
th. Just grab
some of the new products and start playing.
Remember, at the end of the month a winner will be chosen to receive a
gift from the home office. So what are
you waiting for?
Jenn
