GCD Studios: November 2011

11.30.2011

Please welcome...

Please welcome todays Guest designer...

Anita Recksiedler

I have been a fan of Anita's cards for some time and after meeting her in person at last years Scrapfest... I just love her! She is so delightfully fun and amazingly talented.

Thanks Anita for sharing your beautiful work using the Nov Kit of the month.

11.26.2011

Get those fall photos scrapped :)

Today I have a fun and colorful layout to share with you about our trip to the pumpkin patch this year! For my title I knew the Great Outdoors woodgrain letters would work perfectly with my theme.

Using my circle cutter, I cut a variety of sizes of circles from the right side of my page, then used the negative space to add patterned paper behind. I stitched around some of the circles and used my paper piercer on the others. Brads from the Great Outdoors collection were perfect for my layout too.

Here's the finished layout! I love the orange/brown/green color scheme, it's perfect for fall. I hope you get the chance to sit down soon and scrapbook those fall memories before the snow starts flying! :)

11.25.2011

A beautiful fall combo

I love Thanksgiving. The season. The food. The family. And when I was working on a Thanksgiving themed project to share with you today, with this lovely photo as inspiration...

.....I'll admit, the cardmaker in me was so tempted to make some simple little 'thank you' cards. But I decided to do something a little different, something I felt captured the 'Thanks' in 'Thanksgiving' a little better. ;)
Meet a boring old journal I had gathering dust in storage....

And now meet redecorated journal!

I felt a gratitude journal would be perfect, especially for me, since I have SO much to be thankful for and don't always take the time to really appreciate it.

A yummy little candy dot tops of this ribbon that can easily be slipped off...

Opening up...

To reveal a nice, thick little book to write all those nice things down. ;)

I think you should give it a try - find some old journal or book in your house, or a journal at a dollar store, redecorate, and write down all those things in life you're grateful for. :)

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Blog: bearydocardsinc.blogspot.com

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She Seeks
Trail Blazer
Lanterns
Ponderosa
Woodgrain Alphabet Chipboard Stickers
Cabochons
Die Cut Borders
Glitter Candy Dots

11.24.2011

A Cute Tree Idea

I was inspired by this tree that I found on Pinterest, and decided to make one for my family for this holiday season. I thought it would make a great yearly tradition.

Supplies include:

Elementary My Dear by GCD papers
The Great Outdoors Woodgrain Alpha from GCD

Oh lama!

Hello there! I have a rather um.....unique fall decor project to share today, a harvest llama. How does one come up with the idea to make a harvest llama? Well let's just say that our fearless leader here at GCD Studios, a certain Heidi Sonboul has quite the sense of humor :)

I'm not one to shy away from a challenge though and I went to work creating a harvest llama that I would be proud to display with my fall decor.

Here's how I made him.

1. Cut one left and one right facing llama from both lightweight chipboard and patterned paper.

2. Adhere the patterned paper llamas to the chipboard.

3. Cut a 2x7" strip of cardstock ( this will become the center piece that turns you llama into a box) Score 1/4" from each edge on the long sides and again 2" from each short side.

4. Fold all sides up like so.

5. Adhere to one side of llama.

6. Adhere second side of llama, making sure to line each side up.

7. Decorate and fill however you like!

Supplies:
Chipboard: (Colorbok), Patterned Paper: (8x8 Soul food Pad), Die Cut borders: (Soul Food), Floral Brads, Die cut doily) (Sweet Surrender) GCD Studios, corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers, Other: White Hemp Cord. Size: 6.5"x9.5"

I filled mine with wheat sprigs purchased at the craft store, but you could fill him with dried flowers, nuts, candies, etc., just about anything that won't destroy paper. He could be used as a centerpiece, but I'll probably add him to an autumn display I have on one of my bookcases.

I embellished him with rolled roses and one of my chrysanthemum type flowers (tutorial here) as well as a few flower brads and a die cut doily from the Sweet Surrender collection.

The patterned papers and die cut trim I used were from the Soul Food Collection.

If want to make one of these yourself, or maybe you're just a llama fan I thought I'd share the pattern I created.

Click to open, right click to save.

Hope you enjoyed my harvest llama, have a great day!

Oh my apples!

I just love the colors of fall... don't you? But here in the South where I live, there aren't as many colors outside as I'd like to see, so we've got to find other ways to celebrate the season. I saw something similiar to this project on Pinterest, and thought of a fun way to decorate with an apple theme. I first used an apple punch to punch out apples from all different patterned papers in Melody Ross' Soul Food line.

Next, I took the glass out of an 8x10 frame and used the cardboard inside the frame to trace and cut out a piece of the correct size from a foam board.

I cut it out, then cut out a piece of burlap type fabric that was bigger around than the foam piece.

I ironed the fabric piece to make sure all of the wrinkles were gone, then used a stapler to staple it down on all sides of the back, pulling it as I went to make sure there would be no wrinkles in the front.

I then used a ruler and a pencil to line up the apples and attached them with foam dots to give them dimension. Finally, I stamped down the letters to the word "thankful", as it's what I truly want this and every other season to be about.

Supplies Used:
patterned paper - GCD Studios
frame - Michaels
punch - Martha Stewart
fabric, foam board - Joanns
ink - Stazon
stamps - October Afternoon

11.23.2011

And I made this little squirrel

I love the movie Up! My favorite part is the talking dog, especially how earnest and dedicated he was...until he thought he saw a squirrel.

Since I'm a high school teacher, this story is perfect for me to use in the classroom. Any time I see the students off task, I say, "Squirrel!" They know I'm pointing out their distracted attention and get back to work, after a little laughter.

This was especially helpful in my AP English class last year, a class I truly loved to teach. What a good natured bunch of kids who worked so very hard with such good humor! To remember the good year and all the times I said "Squirrel!" to them, I made this page:

And I made this little squirrel:

GCD Studios' Elementary, My Dear worked perfectly on this page to set off the blue shirts in the photo. And the perfect paper for squirrel-making is Trail Blazer from The Great Outdoors:

To make the squirrel, I used these punches and scissors:

And this ink, floss, and brad:

Plus some googly eyes. (I always love when I get a chance to add some googly eyes to my pages.)

Don't hold back if you want to add an image to your page but don't have the image on hand; rather than going shopping, paper piece the exact accent you want!

The giving acorn

To help celebrate Thanksgiving this month, I thought that it would be fun to create a new tradition with my family. I decided to make a table decor project that my family could use to help share what they are thankful for.

The giving acorn:

The project is a paper acorn stuffed with leaves. Each family member takes a leaf and writes down what they are thankful for. Then we take turns reading them during dinner.

To create the acorn, I found a photo of an acorn on the internet, printed it out, and used it to make a template.

I cut two acorns out of pattern paper and glued the edges the sides and bottom together. I kept the embellishments simple, by just inking the edges and adding a swirl pattern that I fussy cut out of pattern paper, and buttons. I used my Slice to cut out different sized (and shaped) leaves.

Here is a photo of the acorn with the leaves:

I used papers from
Donna Salazar's antiquities collection
and buttons from the Sweet Surrender collection.
I hope that this project inspires you to create a new tradition with your family.

my blog

11.22.2011

A little pop of coral pink

Hi there, ready for a beauuuutiful inspiration pic?

Isn't that dreamy? We just love the creamy greys and browns and that little pop of coral pink is just perfect! Today we have 3 more designers to share their gorgeous work and up first is

I made a couple cards with this piece of inspiration, and the first is pretty literal. It's easy to see where I got the idea for the grey background, the layered papers, the clips, buttons and bit of ribbon. They all came right out of this photo.

Supplies:
Cardstock: (ivory, kraft) The Paper Co., Patterned Papers: (Trail Blazer from the Great Outdoors collection, Girlie girl from the Material Girls Collection, Soul Vine from the Soul Food collection) Lace cut Paper: (The Little Lovebirds from the Sweet Surrender collection) Embellishments: (Buttons from the Sweet Surrender collection, Rectangle Glass Paperclips from the Soul Food collection) GCD Studios, Seambinding: Scrappinkris on etsy, Twill: Paper Smooches Natural collection, Corner Rounder: We R Memory Keepers
Size: 5.5"x4.25"

I added the flowers from the Material Girl collection and lace from the Sweet Surrender collection to add just a touch more girlie to it it.

The clip from the Soul Food collection was the perfect way to add a sentiment.

Next I decided to use the colors from the inspiration to represent fall.

Supplies:
Cardstock: (ivory) The Paper Co., Patterned Papers: (Cougar, Kiss & Makeup from the Material Girls Collection; She Seeks, Soulfield from the Soul Food collection, Time for Tea from the Antiquities collection) Embellishments: (Buttons from the Sweet Surrender collection) GCD Studios, Stamp: ( Studios AE, Give Thanks by Ali Edwards) Technique Tuesday, Ink: ColorBox, Dies: (circle Nestabilities, Leaves Shapeabilities) Spellbinders, (Quilled Flower) Cuttlebug

Size: 5"x5"

Die cut leaves using papers from the Soul Food collection and flowers quilled from Material Girl papers do the job nicely.

Next up we have....

When I think of Thanksgiving, I also think of taking time to write down what I'm currently thankful for about the members of my family. These pictures of my daughter so describe her little personality and interests right now, and I love how the Materials Girls collection, along with a few Fun House embellishments, helped me create a layout that included that list I wanted for her. I used the rub-ons to wind the list around the photos.