Getting spooky for the latest Cut It Up Challenge!

Hi all!

Ahhh Friday.  I am hoping to get some fall decorating done around here - you know before fall is OVER.  I can't get to the bins by myself so Kevin was finally able to help me last weekend but our week just flew by without us ever touching it!  So we just tripped over the bins all week instead.  I LOVE pumpkins - all sorts of pumpkins and pumpkin type decor.  I already have too many and still had ideas for more!

We have a few Halloween items to put out too but I like to keep it mostly Fall so it can all stay out longer.  Thankfully we got Pezza's Halloween costume back in September because a neighbor was telling me they have been very difficult to find already.  Equally difficult to find already - current release Halloween scrapbook papers.  Today is the new Cut It Up Challenge reveal and our theme is Halloween.  I went to get the new Doodlebug papers I saw at CHA - sold out.  ACK!!!!!  SO disapointed!  Hopefully I can still find some online for this years Halloween pics but for last year's that I scrapped for this challenge I had to scrounge around in my stash.  I was very unhappy BUT I ended up liking the layout after all so I am going to let it go!  Hahhahah!  But as soon as I am done typing this I am getting my order in over at A Cherry On Top!

So yes our challenge was to do something with a Halloween or Dia De Los Muertos theme AND use a die cut of course! Last year Pezza was a cat - I know big surprise!

So how ridiculous is my daughter?  Look at those poses!  Sheesh.  Anyway  I used some SVG cut files from My Scrap Chick and cut them on my Black Cat Cutter.  We just got Boo'ed today so I may need to go back over to the site and grab some of her Halloween treat bag toppers!

Each of the little characters is so cute!  I inked all of my edges with my Tsukineko inks - love them!  My ghostie's bubbling brew got some stickled bubbles too!

I used my Peachy Keen face stamps for the faces.  Unless I cut my characters out really large messing with the teeny facial feature cuts drives me batty!

Just had to add the cute little haunted mansion!

 

I just had to throw in this cute little kitty digi from Louby Lou!  1. it's a cute kitty, 2. I don't color nearly enough anymore and 3. Louby Lou is our sponsor for the challenge this go 'round!  As usual she is colored with colored pencils - Faber Castell Polychromos this time I believe it was.  now do you see that cute little sparkly green embellie in the corner?  Anyone here remember those?  I carried them in my online store.  I am on a mission to get rid of my inventory and finally take the store website down as it is costly to continue to maintain.  So GO OVER THERE and pick out a few colors for yourself!

I discovered a fun and easy little trick in Photoshop I have been playing with and wanted to share it with all of you.  An easy way to add a title or single word piece to your layout is to put it on your photo.  I made my date into a little frame.  Here's how:

1. Open a new blank photoshop file.  Size it as big as your picture - in this case 4 x 6.
2. Choose your shape tool - pick your rectangle and then specify the size by clicking on the little arrow so the drop down menu appears.  You can see it below just under the word Window. 

3.  Choose fixed size and then put your measurements in - in this case I put 3.75 x 5.75 and made it white since I wanted my frame white.  Click on your blank page and the shape will appear.

4.  Now we are going to do the same thing but this time make it slightly smaller - I did the next one 3.5 x 5.5 and made it black,  Click on your page and it will appear.

5.  Now move them so that the second one is perfectly spaced inside the first one - the white edges are your frame.  Merge the two layers

6.  Choose your magic wand tool and click on the inner shape - it will be highlighted by the "marching ants."  Now choose your eraser and erase the whole thing - only the inner shape will get erased.  Click again to get rid of the marching ants.

7.  Choose your type tool, pick a font and make it the same color as your frame, type what you want.  Position it on your frame the way you want it.

8.  Choose your eraser, make sure to select the layer with the frame, erase the portion of the frame that appears behind your font.  Merge layers.

9. Now you can drag your frame onto your picture!

Now come join us on the Cut It Up Challenge blog and check out the rest of the Design Team's projects and then submit yours for the challenge!  You could win a $5 gift certificate to Louby Lou's Digital Delights!

So what do you think of the layout?  How about the frame tutorial?  Let me know!

new cmc challenge and a free digi!

hello and happy monday!  ok so probably not happy about monday but hopefully you're all happy anyway! 

i am very excited today.  i am sitting in my new work space in my family room - a bigger space.  why?  BECAUSE WE HAVE NO MORE TOY AREAS ON THE MAIN FLOOR OF THE HOUSE!!!  that's right.  no more toys.  i spent more than 12 hours straight yesterday clearing ALL of pezza's toys from the main floor, brought them down to the basement, sorted, organized, threw away and set aside for consignment.  i have been wanting to do this for months and finally yesterday i just bit the bullet and did it.  i filled up one gigantic contractor size trash bag with crap to throw away and set aside a few things to donate.  the rest of the toys are set up so it is now easy for her to find what she wants to play with rather than everything being mixed up in a huge jumble of crazy.  the next consignment sale is in the spring and between now and then whatever she doesn't touch for several months straight will quietly disappear into the consign pile.  i have to do this very stealth - like as she is a hoarder in the making.  she cannot throw away anything!  i have to sneak the freakin grocery receipts into the trash because she becomes attached to them on the way to the car.  it is a little disturbing.  i see an appearance on an episode of Hoarders in our future...

today a new mixed media challenge kicks off over on Color Me Creative and i hope lots of folks will join us! 

Our challenge is to use a stamped of digi image in your mixed media piece AAAAAAANNND we have prizes!

Here is my page from my art journal:

I drew the girl myself - the digi is below for anyone who would like to download it.  She is printed on copy paper and colored with prisma pencils.  while copy paper is not the ideal surface for colored pencil artwork i like it for mixed media pieces because it is so thin that it blends right into the the background without noticeable edges.  unfortunately i had a bit of an unexpected occurrence here - you can see the green in her face.  when the matte medium i used to glue her to the page touched the Silks paint beneath it re-wet the paint which then soaked through my thin paper a bit.  not sure on a fix yet BUT something I will keep in mind in the future!

The page itself uses a variety of techniques and mediums and is one of the pages I teach in my Art Journaling class on CMC.

so what about the prizes???  this month our prize package is a $20 gift certificate to Paper Temptress AND a $15 gift certificate for digi images from Guylou's Inimitability!!!!

and of course as promised here is the little girl for you to download:

let me know if you have trouble downloading her!  if you use her i would love to see - come back here and post a link for me!

art journal page and a freebie

hello awesome readers!

here's hoping for a more productive day for me!  hollyn had a good time meeting her principal last night - she is very nice.  of course pezza also made the rounds of all the tables herself meeting and getting to know everyone like she was running for office as usual.  even the asst. principal commented it was like she was running for office and i told him that is what hubby and i have been saying about her for years.  she is certainly not an introvert :P

i have another class project for you today - remember you can sign up for class over on Color Me Creative!

 i LOVE the quote and it is something i need to try harder to remember on a daily basis.  as for the piece itself it was alot of fun to make and has SO many yummy things included in it!

you may recognize the tulips from a previous post - i scanned it into my computer and turned it into a digi which y'all are free to download if you would like!

if you want to know the how's behind the piece we talk ALL about it in class!  i will leave y'all with a pezza bit.  last night i sent her to her room for being ugly to me.  as she was stomping off she asked how long she had to stay in there.  i said until she decided to stop being ugly to me to which she replied that will happen when you start doing everything my way.  um yea that ain't happenin' missy.  so she disappears for awhile, collects herself and reappears on the scene in disguise:

she said her name was ella.  love this kid - so glad she isn't boring!