August Flamingo Four

It's time for August's Flamingo Four!  This month, three other designers and I worked with these four items:

                                              1) Fancy Pants rub-ons

                                              2) Maya Road Vintage Trinkets

                                              3) miscellaneous empty box

                                              4) two chess pieces

When I begin a Flamingo Four project, I try to focus on the most difficult item(s) first.  Rub-ons and flowers could go on anything... layouts, cards, tags, altered items, etc.  But an empty box and chess pieces can't, so I decided to start with those.  As I played around with them, I realized that the chess pieces fit perfectly in the box.  Hmm.. what if I filled the box with all sorts of game-related items?  

By happy coincidence, I had a deck of miniature playing cards sitting 2 feet away on my desk, so I pulled out the 4 aces and put them in the box.  The fit was perfect.  I added some poker chips, dice, and Scrabble tiles until the box was stuffed.  

On to the rub-ons.  One of them said "Play," which was perfect for my theme.  I transferred it on the box, then added a few white dots to draw attention to the word.  

Finally, the sequin flowers.  After experimenting for awhile, I took apart the flowers and put the sequins in the bottom of the box along with some additional gold sequins.  They provided a great bed for all the items to sit in and helped give the box a more finished look.  

Here's my project:

 

To see what the other three designers made, head over to Flamingo Scraps!

This project was my last with Flamingo Scraps.  When I applied for their very first Guest Design Team in 2010 (a 4-month term), I never dreamed that I'd be with them for three full years!  It's been a lot of fun and I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've had and the wonderful people I've met.  I'm ready to move on to new challenges and wish everyone at Flamingo Scraps nothing but the best.

July Flamingo Four

It's time for July's Flamingo Four!  This month, three other designers and I worked with these items:

 

                                    1) Pink Paislee Mistables patterned paper
                                    2) Pink Paislee Mistables die cut card
                                    3) empty Maya Road spool
                                    4) Pink Paislee "Nantucket" wood shapes

When I saw these four items, the old Sesame Street song ran through my head: "One of these things is not like the others...."  Clearly, the tricky items this month would be the empty spool. I set it aside.  I dug through my extra photos looking for something summery and beachy.  I found a picture from 2010 of Steve and Trevor holding hands at the beach.  Perfect!  

I picked a sea star from the wood shapes and sprayed it with the last of my Clam Bake Glimmer Mist.  The color and the shimmer were just what I'd hoped for.  While it was drying, I used my hands to smear gesso on the patterned paper, then wiped it with a sandy brown paint and let it dry.  Next, I mixed light blue paint with some glittery paint and dipped the end of the spool in the mixture and stamped it onto the paper repeatedly.  It turned out exactly as I'd envisioned!  I tore the die cut card and layered it with a scrap of dark blue vellum and some greyish handmade (by someone else) paper and put the photo on top.   

After adhering everything, the final step was to add a title and an additional embellishment.  I found a Mrs. Grossman's "love" sticker and inked it to match the sea star, then paired it with a Scenic Route rub-on.  I added a second Scenic Route rub-on, a heart, to the left of the photo, even with Steve and Trevor holding hands.  I really like the completed layout.  It's totally different than what I would usually make, yet it is definitely me.  And bonus that it came together so quickly and easily!

Want to see what the other designers made?  Head over to Flamingo Scraps to check it out!  As always, it's so fun to see how incredibly different four projects made from the same four supplies can be!

June Flamingo Four

It's time for another Flamingo Four!  This month, three other designers and I worked with these four items:

                                   1) wood frame- Sheffield Custom Frames

                                   2) snowflake stencil- Tattered Angels

                                   3) dimensional quotes- miscellaneous

                                   4) cupcake topper- miscellaneous

Last month, I struggled with incorporating a very heavy metal clothespin into my project.  This month, it was the cupcake topper that really challenged me.  That and the fact that none of my quotes had any of the same colors as the topper.  Then there's the stencil.  A snowflake stencil would be easy for a winter project, but there are no winter colors in any of the other items... and besides, this is June!  

As I played around with the frame, I realized that the opening was the perfect size to hold a gift card.  I popped a Baskin-Robbins gift card into the frame, then noticed that the pink of their logo matched one of the dimensional quotes I needed to use.  I cut down the quote from "Enjoy your life" to just "Enjoy" and started playing around.  What if I used the blue of the logo to paint the frame, then used just part of the snowflake stencil to stamp in pink?  That would have more of a summery tropical feel instead of a wintery snowflake feel.  It took awhile to mix the perfect shade of pink and to decide what part of the stencil to use as a stamp, but with three items used, the project was definitely coming together.

But what about the green and orange cupcake topper that was nearly as large as the frame?  It just wasn't working.  Eventually, I tore it apart.  I used the chipboard hook end and painted it the same blue as the frame and attached it as a hanger.  I cut the tiny bit of green tissue paper from the orange and used it as an accent color.  Here's the finished project:

When the gift card is removed, the recipient can use it as a frame.

 

I'm not crazy about this project, but it really pushed me creatively which is always a lot of fun.  I haven't stamped with stencils in ages; that's a technique I need to use again.  To see what the other designers made, head over to Flamingo Scraps.  As usual, the projects are all very different from one another!

Happy Birthday Suzanne!

Today I'm joining the rest of the Flamingo Scraps Design Team in wishing Suzanne a very happy birthday!  Each of us made a card using Flamingo Scraps supplies.

Do you recognize the supplies I used?  They're leftovers from the six months I've been the Flamingo Four Coordinator!  Here's a rundown:

• November Flamingo Four:  I used the Clam Bake Glimmer Mist to give some color and shine to the paper that holds the sentiment.

• December Flamingo Four:  A little grey paint transformed the Maya Road chipboard frame into a resting place for the initial.

• January Flamingo Four: The only item still left from January was the sparkly Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue button.  It adds fun shine to the card.

• February Flamingo Four: The base of the card is Heidi Swapp "Vintage Chic" patterned paper.  There's a subtle ledger print on the B-side, which provided nice, straight guidelines for writing my message on the inside.

• March Flamingo Four: The yellow and striped papers are Pink Paislee's "Indigo Bleu."  I love the colors and subtle patterns.

• April Flamingo Four:  The S is from Pink Paislee's 'Parisian Anthology' Corrugated Alphabet.  This was only the second letter I've used from the package, so expect to see these pop up plenty of times in the future!

I had so much fun challenging myself to use up the leftovers! It was tempting to skip a month (I'm looking at you, January button...) but in the end I think the card shows a perfect marriage of Flamingo Scraps products and my style.

April Flamingo Four

It's time for another Flamingo Four!  This month, three other designers and I worked with these products:

                   1) Pink Paislee 'Parisian Anthology' Corrugated Alphabet
                   2) Prima Raja Sequin
                   3) Maya Road Kraft Mini Calendar
                   4) Graphic 45 Metal Clothespin

This is my 7th time doing the Flamingo Four and I am definitely used to working with challenging items.  But my fellow designers and I agree that the metal clothespin in this month's Flamingo Four has been the most difficult item to date by far.  It is extremely heavy... much too heavy for most of the common uses of clothespins.  The fact that it has a word printed on it means you pretty much have to use it horizontally.  Quite a challenge!

I experimented with the clothespin.  If I put paper over it, could I do a rubbing and get a decent print of the engraved word?  Nope.  If I inked the clothespin and treated it like a stamp, would the word show?  Nope.  What would happen if I took the clothespin apart? Hmmm....

While I mulled over possibilities with the clothespin, I got right to work with the rest of the supplies.  I decided that I was going to use the packaging from the alphabet as the base of my project.  The clear window would be perfect for a picture, so I printed out one of my new niece, Allison and inserted it behind the window.  The box would be ideal for holding those little momentos that don't fit in a photo album, like her hospital bracelet.  

Next, I chose one of the round calendar shapes, then punched a circle from black cardstock.  I selected an A from the corrugated letters, covered it with lavender ink, and then brushed gold ink over the top.  I pulled out two of the sequins.

When I layered them all together, it looked like this.  

 

Here's the finished project:

 

Did you notice the clothespin?  I ended up dividing the two halves and gluing them toward the bottom of the box.  With the weight cut in half, the pieces weren't too heavy for glue to hold.  

To see what the other three designers made with these four items (and how they dealt with that crazy clothespin), head over to Flamingo Scraps.  It's always so fun to see how four people can use the same products with such different results!

March Flamingo Four

It's time for another Flamingo Four!  This month, three other designers and I worked with these products:

          1)  4x4 canvas

          2)  6x6 paper pad - Pink Paislee "Indigo Bleu"

          3)  Wendy Vecchi Art Parts - Pocket Watch

          4)  Maya Road Acrylic People keychain

As usual, there were some tricky components in this set of items!  The 4x4 canvas makes a natural base, but its small size means that it would be very difficult to fit the other items onto it.  But a solution came to me quickly this time.  I love when that happens!  

I cut a yellow piece of the paper to just under 4x4 then dug through my stamps.  I found a Fiskars "enjoy..." stamp and a Scenic Route "TODAY" and stamped them together on the upper left hand corner of the paper.  I used matte Mod Podge to attach the paper to the canvas. While I was waiting for that to dry, I painted the pocket watch black.

 

I took apart the keychain and selected the woman.  I peeled the protective film off the acrylic, then put the acrylic back on the chain for a future use.  I put spray adhesive all over the protective film and pressed it to a sheet of type paper.  Then I fussy-cut out the shape.  I pulled out two different prints - a blue for her dress and yellow floral for her hair.  I cut the hair by using a scallop circle punch, then shifting the shape and punching the other side.

 

I layered these together and let them dry.  Then I used the Mod Podge to add a few more shapes to the canvas.  When that was dry, I turned the canvas over and attached the pocket watch.

 

Here's my finished project.  Enjoy today - an important reminder for us all.  

 

To see what the other three designers made, head over to Flamingo Scraps.  It's always so fun to see how four people can use four products with such different results!

February Flamingo Four

It's time for another Flamingo Four!  This month, three other designers and I worked with these products:

           1.  Heidi Swapp patterned paper - "Vintage Chic"

           2.  Webster's Pages Push Pins

           3.  Glitz Design stamps - "Vintage Blue"

           4.  a domino

As usual, I was stumped when I first saw the 4 items.  The paper would be easy, as would the stamps.  The domino would be tougher, as it violates my "no lumps on layouts" policy.  The stick pins were lumpy too.  So a layout was out.  

I wasn't especially inspired by the 5 of the domino (we're a family of 3, Trevor is 6, married 8 years... no 5's come to mind), but the smooth and empty back seemed like the perfect place for a sentiment.  Would a rub-on stick to a domino?  I was nervous to try, as I only had the one domino.  And I hadn't decided what my final project would be, so I couldn't select a sentiment yet.  

Maybe the stick pin would provide inspiration.  As I was playing around with it, I noticed that the decorative head nestled nicely with the domino.  Hmm... could I remove the flower part from the pin part?  Yes!  Piece of cake.  At this point, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

Back in my ballroom dance days (which I will blog about eventually), I kept framed pictures of me with all my partners in all our various costumes on the wall of my office.  They were all in gold frames.  When I married Steve and we moved into this house, I put my dance pics into an album, which resulted in dozens of empty gold frames.  Over the years, I've found uses for most of them, but there are still a few empties.  I used one of the smaller frames to make this: 

(Glass + shiny metal = nearly impossible to photograph well.) 

I started by choosing a rub-on for the domino.  It went on perfectly!  Yea!  I used the dotted paper as a background, added a photo of Steve and me to the left of center, then created a cluster of papers and the stamped image on the right hand side.  Finally, I nested the flower to the domino and glued the domino to the outside of the frame.  Here's a closer look:

 

To see what the other three designers made, head over to Flamingo Scraps.  It's always so fun to see how four people can use four products in such different ways.

January Flamingo Four

Ready for another Flamingo Four?  This month, three other designers and I each worked with these products:

       1. Graphic 45 patterned paper - "Well Groomed"

       2. Tim Holtz Giant Tag

       3. Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue buttons

       4. pearl trim

The first thing I did when I saw the supplies was to turn the patterned paper over and check out the B-side, as the A-side is totally not my style.  Fortunately, the B-side is!  I could definitely use the patterned paper and the tag on a scrapbook layout.

But what about the buttons and the trim?  The buttons are really chunky and I don't like putting bulky items like those on scrapbook pages.  So I started thinking about cards. Hmm... what to make?  

Inspiration struck.  I cut into the paper (always a little scary when you only have one piece and you HAVE to use it for an assignment), did some folding, added a button, and accented with Stickles.  Then I headed out into the garage, where I put on the shop glasses, grabbed a hammer, and started pounding on the pearl trim.

I removed about 1/4 of the beads on each end of the trim, headed back to the craftroom, and glued everything together.  When I was done, I had this:

 

The "purse" is fully lined... with the scraps left over from December's Flamingo Four!  

 

And when you pull out the tag... it's holding a gift card.

 

Curious about what the other designers made?  Head on over to Flamingo Scraps to see their projects.  As usual, my project is COMPLETELY different from what the other designers created! 

December Flamingo Four

Ready for another Flamingo Four?  This month, three other members of the Flamingo Scraps Design Team and I each received the following four items:

        1.  Patterned paper from Crate Paper's Portrait collection

        2.  Maya Road chipboard frames

        3.  A Jenni Bowlin card

        4.  A letter made from MDF

When I opened my box, I immediately starting thinking of my friends and family. Is there anyone, ANYONE, on my gift-giving list whose name starts with H that would inspire my project? Nope. Rats! 

A little behind-the-scenes info. In my job as Flamingo Four coordinator, I schedule the designers, set deadlines, and write the final post, but I don't have any input whatsoever into the four items we use each month. When my package arrives, it's as much of a surprise to me as it is to the other three. I was chatting with one of the other designers after receiving our packages and learned that she didn't have an H. Nor did she have a "Fly" card. Turns out we all had different letters and different cards, each assigned randomly. Well, it turns out that the other letters would have been so much easier for me. Double rats!   

My ever-so-helpful family helped me brainstorm H-words. Helicopter? Hernia? Hamburger? Maybe hippo, hand grenade or horticulture? Trevor, inspired by the "Fly" card, drew a picture of a hot air balloon holding up an H where the basket would be. Somehow, that did the trick. I had my idea. I ran up to the craftroom, dug through my alphabet collection, and came up with this:    

 

Steve cut down the background board for me while I painted each of the letters a chocolate brown. While those were drying, I added a quick whitewash to the background board. I trimmed the Crate Paper to frame my piece, then punched out circles to back the O and to use as holly berries. I trimmed down the "Fly" card so that the girl's body formed a Y.  

I imagined this hanging at our front door, so I used multiple coats of Outdoor Mod Podge to glue and seal each element. See how shiny?  

 

I'm really happy with how this turned out. Want to see what the other three designers did with the same four items (except easier letters than H)? Head to Flamingo Scraps to check out their projects!

November Flamingo Four

I've been designing and blogging for Flamingo Scraps for over two years now and it's been a blast!  Recently, I was promoted to become their "Flamingo Four" coordinator.  Each month, three other members of the Design Team and I each receive four products.  This month, we received the following items:

 

1. Glimmer Mist (Clam Bake)
2. assorted wood veneers  
3. lacy trim
4. an empty Maya Road tin

I thought about what I wanted to store in the tin and let my design go from there. Trevor needed a place to store the flattened pennies that he's recently started collecting; the tin was just the right size.  

The next step was figuring out how to cover up the brand name and slogan on the tin.  What would stick to the metal of the tin AND cover up the words without interfering with the closure of the tin?  Washi tape!  I layered torn bits of washi tape and it worked beautifully. 

 

Because Trevor's pennies are from our travels, I decided to back the opening with a map.  I found a 10-year old map of the western US that I haven't used in years and probably will never use again.  

I cut out the section of California where we live and attached it to the opening.  I chose the heart veneer and misted it with the Glimmer Mist.  Then I cut apart the trim and misted that.

When the mist was dry, I attached the trim and then added the heart.  

The tip of the heart points to where we live. 

 

Want to see what the other designers made?  Head over to Flamingo Scraps to check it out! It's amazing how different the four projects are, considering that we all used the same supplies!

June Flamingo Four

Each month, Flamingo Scraps presents the "Flamingo Four"- a challenge where four designers use four identical sets of products to create something.  It's always fascinating to see how incredibly different the end results are!

I first participated back in September when I was on the Flamingo Scraps Guest Design Team.  Back then, they featured five designers and five products.  I really struggled to use products that were outside my comfort zone.  You can see what each of us made here:  September Flamingo Five. 

I was really anxious for my Flamingo Four package to show up.  Would I like all four items?  Would they be as challenging as last time?  Would I have an idea right away?  I opened the package and found this:

I really liked the black glittery ribbon and the Prima embellishments.  The patterned papers were OK, but more vintage and busy than I prefer.  I took a deep breath and turned the papers over, hoping as hard as I could that they were two-sided.  

YES!  Not only were they two-sided, but I absolutely LOVED the reverse of the papers.  Now these are totally me!

I had so many ideas!  I decided to alter an unfinished wooden box that I had laying around, then create a coordinating card.  I started by painting the box black (actually "Licorice").  I painted right over the gold hinges.  Then I added a coat of Folk Art's Black Extreme Glitter.  Here's what the box looked like when I was done painting:

I cut the two Prima papers to fit in the center area and attached the ribbon across the top.  I used about a dozen coats of Mod Podge to seal it.  Finally, I used one of the Prima embellishments on top.  I whipped up a coordinating card.

Here's a closer look at the box:

I'm really happy with how it turned out!  I still have quite a bit of the paper, ribbon and embellishments left, so I'll definitely whip up a bunch more cards- stay tuned for those!