Di Hickman: February 2007

Card Sketch Feb #4

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Another Wednesday!!! Another sketch!!! As you'll see this week I decided to change things up a little! I sent the sketch out early to a few people to get samples and see what they came up with! Just something I'd been thinking about and then someone suggested in last weeks feedback and well I decided to give it a go! Again its another square one this week, loving this shape lately. With this one I decided to leave off the sentiment to see what the girls came up with. As you'll see we all decided to put the sentiment on the circle. I also think the bottom right would be a great place to add a sentiment. If you'd like to provide samples and be a "sketch go 2 girl" then email me and I'll send you some details!
The newsletter will be going out later today with the digital template download link for the card.

Digital Card by Di Hickman
Supplies: Kim Hill Simple Pleasures Paper kit (CG essentials)

Card by Libby Mac Neilly

Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock; Crate Paper "Cowboy Collection"; Autumn Leaves
Journaling Stamps; Printworks ink; Autumn Leaves/ Foofala Buttons;
Quickutz Vixen Font

Card by Robin Blankenship
Supplies - PP - CBX Igloo Papers CS - Bazzil; Flowers - Prima
letters - cricut basecamp;

Card by Lucy Chesna

Supplies Used: Fancy pants bundled up pp; Prima Flowers; MM bling brad;
Technique Tuesday "Happy Birthday" stamp; Colorbox chestnut brown inking

Card by Linda Flinders
Supplies: DCWV cardstock + pp; Target Metal Tag; Prima flowers;

Thanks to Libby, Robin, Lucy and Linda for providing samples for this weeks Sketch! You all did a great job!

warning....

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

edit:- my "love letters" project from yesterday was published on the craft: blog!

blog redesign happening in the next 24 hours! Links may be broken or generally lacking! If something doesn't work or link properly please let me know! I hope its a smooth transition to the new template. Blogger seems to be a little slow this afternoon so I may be pushing my luck to get it done before the sketch upload tomorrow!

I still need to make a new banner header thingy but I've been totally wrapped up with other stuff time has gotten away from me and if I don't get this new template up now I'm never gonna! Working on blog stuff, newsletter and sketch stuff, Design Team assignments and general creating!

Coming soon - new card sketch tomorrow, newsletter is being emailed out tomorrow, changes on the blog;

Coming in March I'll be reviewing UHU adhesive, Heather Ann Designs, 3 bugs in a rug, and Fiskars acrylic stamps; I'll have an article on the Masking technique and much more!

Love letters

Monday, February 26, 2007

I made this project a few weeks ago, just now getting chance to upload it. Its a mini book made from envelopes. This is a great project for those letters from a loved one, family, or a close friend. Its also a great project for kids! My project contains 5 envelopes and the way in which I made it I can add more should I want to! Its also worth noting that there are NO HOLES punched in the actual envlope. I got around this by adhering a folded cardstock "hinge" to each envelope and using that for the binding. Instructions are below, any questions feel free to email me

Supplies: crate paper - pp and alpha; maya road- ribbon, ghost flower;
glitter; DCWV cardstock; chipboard; envelopes; buttons; UHU adhesive

You can use any size envelopes. I chose the long envelopes as that's what my letters were already in. This would work great with any size though! Just attached the hinges and allow for the extra 1"binding on the cover!

Have fun!

The best laid plans...

Sunday, February 25, 2007

always happens when you plan something don't you find? We didn't have any FIRM plans this weekend but riding was something we'd hoped to do. Wasn't to be. The weather didn't co-operate. Saturday was spent shopping, and doing DT stuff.Today we planned on riding cos we didn't go yesterday and the weather was blah, chilly and overcast with chance of rain. So instead we decided to clean to pool! How exciting huh? The pool right now is a lovely green color which is ok cos its way too cold to be swimming in the unheated pool right now. We're starting to think we need a new filter :( not good.
In other news I got my first assignment from one heart... one mind :) can't wait to get started on that!

catch you all tomorrow! hope you had a great weekend!

Review: NitWit Collections

Saturday, February 24, 2007

This months sponsor at Treasures to Scrap is Nitwit Collections they have a HUGE range of products from kits, partial kits, embellishments, templates and including some freebies! We were allowed to choose our kit, always prefer that rather than getting given a specific kit, and I chose Joyous Interruptus priced at $5.99

This kit contains

11 backgrounds
6 gold brads (pause, play, rec, rew, stop, and a blank)
6 push buttons (mute, pause, play, push, rewind, stop)
4 transparent word stickers to put under the push buttons
1 word art sticker (transparent background so it can be layered on top of papers)
7 stitched ribbons (floral, gold, green, plaid, red, red floral, stripes)
2 flower images (one plain, one sticker)
1 paintchip

I loved the linen effect on the papers! Totally textured! And the colors just popped! The collection of elements were fun too. I think maybe this is geared more towards pages with kids but honestly I picked this kit only because I loved the colors and flower paper! Its a kit where I think the solid papers alone are worth buying the kit for! Here are a few projects I did with the Joyous Interruptus kit:

Supplies: nitwit collections joyous interruptus kit;
misty cato template;

Supplies: nitwit collections joyous interruptus kit;frame - digital scrapbook place;
alphas - Kim Hill; flower - mirranda reinhardt; doodling - my own;
Sketch by La Tonya Boike;

Supplies: nitwit collections joyous interruptus kit;
stitching by Di Hickman; template - Di Hickman

Supplies: nitwit collections joyous interruptus kit;
eyelets, wordart + teplate - Di Hickman;

This kit as you can see can be quite versatile! Love the flower paper and the flower "stickers". The textures on the papers though is just devine, if your like me texture on the digi papers is a must! I like that a paint chip is included, makes color matching for text etc much easier.

NitWit Collections do some great kits for all occassions, go check them out!

Feedback so far!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Well it sounds like you all want more of everything I suggested so far! So I'm gonna work on making things Bigger and Better! I've been thinking for a while of stuff I want to do and now I have more time to do it! I've been asked to write articles, and I have done a couple, but now I really want to get into writing and giving YOU the readers what you want! I have reviews planned and hope to do one a week. Shirley suggested having a certain topic each day/date which I thought was GREAT! Something I will try and schedule for sure

Grambie - in answer to your questions I either make an envelope to fit or I buy them premade. DCWV does some cool square evelopes! I have some great envelope templates from one heart... one mind their templates ROCK! I prefer these cos you get several sizes on the templates which is more value for money!

I am feeling ok now by the way! I had a couple of bruises on my leg from falling off the bike but nothing major, just little ones. And with that I'm posting a couple of pics from last Sundays ride!

Me riding down the mountain trail!

View from the mountain of the reservoir.

Card Sketch Feb #3

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Another Wednesday another card sketch! I went square this week! Been on a little square trend lately, dunno what thats about but I guess this would work rectangular too!

The weekly newsletter is going out later with the digital card template download link - look for it in your email today! If you want to be on the "list" then shoot me an email and I'll get the newsletter sent out to you asap!!!

As always here is my card for this one! Supplies: pp - scenic route; cardstock - DCWV; stamp - fiskars; buttons - K&Co; flower - dollar store; gold vellum; ink; I made this one for a friend . I just LOVE this scenic route paper. The stamps are new. I got a set at Joanns when we popped in at the weekend. Loving acrylic stamps too lately.

And speaking of the newsletter and the blog, what do YOU want to see here? More sketches? Reviews? Articles? how to's? tutorials? More info on me falling off my bike? I'm taking suggestions, asking for feedback, so let me know! email me!

Product Review - Piggy Tales!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love circles, bright geometric patterns and dots. So when Piggy Tales came onto the scene in January 2006 it was like they were made just for me! When I found out they were this months sponsor at Treasures to Scrap I was overjoyed! I'd already used some of their lines and couldn't wait to get my hands on more! I received the frog prince collection, which was perfect for a project I had planned: starting a book of Bob (like a book of me, but for my husband).

I had a blast with the Piggy Tales products! I already had some of the little boy blue collection left over so I used some of that too. One thing I love about their products is the double sided paper! Love having the solid color on the reverse! Great for that accent color! Also at CHA one of their staff mentioned that their new lines: Hansel; Gretel; Jack & Jill the embellishment tag sheet is now ALSO double sided! Definately loving that! What a great idea! They addressed the one problem I had with their product! Cos lets face it 8/10 times the embellishments are the wrong color, and they now give us TWO options! Ok on with some layouts and cards using Piggy Tales.

Supplies: Piggy Tales - Frog prince collection; 3 bugs in a rug - alpha stickers

Supplies: Piggy Tales - Frog prince collection; autumn leaves & Daisy Hill stamps

Supplies: Piggy Tales - little boy blue collection; Joanns rub on

Supplies: Piggy Tales - Frog prince collection; Joanns stamp

Supplies: Piggy Tales - Frog prince collection; Joanns stamp; bazzill button

As you can see I had plenty of fun this month making projects with Piggy Tales products! For more projects using Piggy Tales products check out the Piggy Tales website or the Treasures To Scrap Piggy Tales Gallery. Thanks Piggy Tales for a great product!!!

So tired!!!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Those that read the blog know I don't post much personal stuff but well I planned on doing a product review today but I am so dang tired! Today we went off-roading to Rowher Flats. I haven't been out on the bike since 7th January, and I was quite surprised to find that I wasn't rusty at all. We did the usual run between staging areas and then a short green run back to the parking lot for lunch. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! After lunch Bob took me back up the mountain trail (my first real biking accomplishment on the 7th Jan). Didn't do too badly, fell off on the way up cos the bike got stuck in a rut! I managed to get myself sorted though. Bob then wanted to go further, against my better judgment I agreed. We went another ways along to see the reservoir. It was awesome, the views were outstanding! Bob took some pics (scrapping those soon!), and we headed back. Well I was done! Completely out of condition for biking now, and at one point my arms just gave in on a rough patch and I slid and fell (again). I had another near miss too. Totally enjoyable day, great to get out in the mountains and forget about everything, but damn I am tired!

Layout Sketch - February

Thursday, February 15, 2007

I said I'd be doing layout sketches and here is Februarys! Not sure yet how often the layout sketches will be, but it'll be at LEAST monthly! Maybe more. Guess you'll have to stay tuned! Februarys sketch features two areas either for photo's or journalling, you could switch them out depending on how much you had to say or how big your pic is. I'd love to see your layouts so link me up either in the comments or send me an email. The digital template is available to those on my newsletter mailing list, which was emailed out yesterday. If you want to receive these weekly newsletter updates with the template links then again Email me and I'll hook you up with the weekly newsletter!

This is a layout the template is based on, featuring our friends Chris and Alicia. The digital supplies are all made by me! Its my latest kit called "hugs & kisses" available at Imagine Create Scrap. Its packed full of stuff! Including patterned papers, ribbons, brushes, embellishments and much more! All for only $4.00!!!

Card Sketch Feb #2

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Another Wednesday another card sketch! This weeks card sketch is a great jumping point for many cards! It features three tags on the right hand side, with ribbon. The rest is up to you! Imagine the possibilities with this one! As always the sketch is here, if you want to receive the link to the digital template download then Email me and I'll put you on the mailing list.

As always I'd LOVE to see cards made with this sketch (digital or paper), so link me up to your creations in the comments below, or Email me. I've started picking a few of my favorites and posting them here on my blog (with permission). So hook me up to your creations.

This weeks sketch and my cards:

Supplies: Piggy Tales = papers, tags; stamp = joanns; ribbon = misc

Digital card Supplies: nitwit collections = Joyous interuptions kit
fonts = monotype corsiva & arial

Coming tomorrow - A layout sketch! The weekly newsletter goes out today with the digital download links for this card, and for tomorrows layout sketch!

Enjoy!

Sketch favorites from 7th Feb

Well lots of cards were made so gonna hook you up with a couple of pics and some links! Everyone did an awesome job of making the sketch their own! Had some paper cards and some digital, nice mix! I think what struck me about this card was the versatility of it! I've seen valentine, feminine and masculine to friends, thank you and much more! Ok on with my picks!

First up is a valentine card from Celeste Brodnik! Love the colors in the papers (reminds me of my latest digital kit - more on that tomorow!). Also the heart on the button is a great accent! Loved this card!

Next up is a card from Tracy Madsen! What a great shabby/vintage feel to this one with the soft colors and distressing! I think this card really caught my eye due to the lack of a sentiment. It made me realise how great this card would be to produce ahead of time and then just add a sentiment as needed! Definately a light bulb moment with this one! Great card Tracy

Finally this card is from Linda Flinders. She went with spring colors for a friends card. As you can see Linda chose to use patterned paper for the backgroun (as opposed to the two cards above) and it makes the card look totally different. Just simple changes to the sketch can totally make it your own! Great job!

I think you can see how versatile this sketch really is. Each of the cards above has the same design but each artist took the sketch and made it their own! Looking for more ideas? Well check out these cards:- Sassette made FIVE cards with this sketch, loving the valentine one in the top left corner! Megan rocked the digi cards, loving the butterfly on this one; Trish took the sketch and made it her own! love the die cut words;

great job everyone! More favorites next week!

Where did today go?

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Today was quite productive! I got 3 cards made, a digital layout, zipped and uploaded my digital templates ready for downloading tomorrow, and I worked on the weekly newsletter! I've been researching all kinds of things newsletter and ezine recently and deciding where I want to go with the blog, newsletter etc. I have lots of plans! I want the blog and newsletter to go hand in hand, with the digital downloads only available to those on the newsletter mailing list (one of the perks!). Right now I'm designing the newsletter (those that received the last few will agree that currently its dreadful!). So this afternoon I spent some time coding a new format for it, yes me! I know html dontcha know! Don't get me wrong its a been about 2 years since I coded anything but its like riding a bike, after the initial cursing... anyway look for the newly redesigned newsletter tomorrow! It has the weekly card sketch, with digital template download; a layout sketch (again with digital template download), challenge information; and more!

btw - this post was supposed to be a "how-to" article on my latest altered project but my html coding got addicting and I ran out of time, had to go get dinner ready! Look for my how to on my envelope book coming soon!

Ready Set Create! Dec/Jan Edition (part 3)

Monday, February 12, 2007

So here we have the final installment of Ready Set Create Dec/Jan edition - cards! As regular blog readers will know I LOVE making cards. Whether I set out to specifically make cards or its just an afterthought after a layout I just get a great sense of satisfaction giving handmade cards. I submitted a lot of my cards to this issue as I had a few on hand with November/December birthdays and events plus making cards in preparation for Christmas, and Jen picked everything up for the Dec/Jan issue! For those thinking about doing the weekly card sketches my friend Robin (who needs to update her blog!) had one of her cards from the weekly sketches picked up for this issue of RSC too, along with a few other projects! Congrats Robin!

Patterned Paper: christina cole; Cardstock: dcwv; ribbon: offray; Adhesives: duck adhesive; Embellishments: brad+ rubons -MM; Other: ink - darice

Supplies - Patterned Paper: Urban Lily + Gin X; Cardstock: DCWV; Adhesives: UHU; Embellishments: brad/queen + co; tag - unknown; Other: rubons = DCWV; stickers = american crafts

Supplies - Patterned Paper: scenic route; Cardstock: DCWV; Adhesives: UHU; Flower - misc; Other: stickers = DCWV; Ink - Tim Holtz

Supplies - Patterned Paper: chloes closet; Cardstock: bazzill; ribbon: offray; Adhesives: duck adhesive; Embellishments: charm - joanns; Other: flower - dollar store

Supplies - Patterned Paper: dcwv; Cardstock: dcwv; ribbon: offray; Adhesives: duck adhesive; Embellishments: tag - target

Supplies - Patterned Paper: DCWV; Cardstock: DCWV; Ribbons: offray; Adhesives: 3L; Embellishments: snowflake (target)

Supplies - Patterned Paper: DCWV; Cardstock: DCWV; Ribbons: offray; Adhesives: 3L; Embellishments: snowflake (target)

Supplies - Patterned Paper: none; Cardstock: DMD; Ribbons: joanns; Adhesives:3L; Embellishments: brads MM

Supplies - Patterned Paper: DCWV; Cardstock:DCWV; Ribbons: offray; Adhesives: scotch; duck tape runner; Embellishments: tree button unknown; Other: tag office supply store

Supplies - Patterned Paper: dcwv; Cardstock: dcwv; ribbon: offray; Adhesives: duck adhesive; Embellishments: tag - target; Other: corner rounder

Supplies - Patterned Paper: flair; Cardstock: bazzill; Adhesives: duck adhesive; Embellishments: tag - target; Other: rub-on - scrapease

Supplies - Patterned Paper: DCWV; Cardstock:DCWV; Ribbons: offray; Adhesives: scotch; duck tape runner; Embellishments: tree button; unknown;Other: tag office supply store

February Design Team news...

Saturday, February 10, 2007

I thought I'd take todays post to give you a heads up! Firstly Treasures to Scrap February newsletter is out so check it out! Treasures to Scrap is having another great competition for the Guest Design Team position for March!

Here we go gals.. this month is going to be HOT HOT HOT!!!!! we are gonna show some lovin all month long with challenges, chats, comments and more all month long.

Keep track of you own points and link your layouts and projects back to the thread in which the original challenge has been given to qualify.

Have fun and LIVE, LAUGH, and LOVE!!!!

1st place winner will be our GDT for the month of March and also recieve a GC to TTS Store for $50

2nd place winner will recieve a GC to TTS store for $15

3rd place winner will recieve a GC to TTS store for $10

all projects must be new to the web to qualify...

Tons of challenges to spark your creative mojo, including sketches, templates, layouts challenges, chats and more! Misty Cato has another great digital template for us this month! Gotta say we have stuff going on ALL MONTH LONG! So come join in the fun!

The new February kits from Imagine Create Scrap are available! Kimber offered 2 kits this month , both featuring Chatterbox papers. You can either go with the cool blues of the igloo kit, or the seasonal heartfelt fun of the Love Shack papers. Each one comes packed with paper, cardstock, and embellishments and is a steal at just $20 each! Go order yours!

As I mentioned in previous post this week Crafty Keepsakes will be closing soon and we're ending with a BANG! Angela is putting everything on sale! The prices are at ROCK BOTTOM! I know I am gonna be buying lots of stuff cos I loved Angela's kits! So go get your supplies at the low low prices!

Scrapstreet February Ezine came out this month, with lots of great layouts and projects! Love that the ezine is monthly and so we get tons of new eye candy each month! One thing I think that sets Scrapstreet above all other ezines is they give you a free digital kit each month! This months kit is Lavendar Love by Dora and Spink! A beautiful kit full of soft purples and cremes which really POP with the black papers and embellishments.

What am I doing? Well aside from taking part in the above I'm cleaning, purging and re-organizing my scraproom! Also updating my submissions folder. Big changes happened for me in January and my little 6x6 submissions folder is bursting at the seams with information. So I'm upgrading to a letter size binder. Been printing off information yesterday and today. I definately need to get more page protectors soon! On the plus side tidying up I've found a TON of stuff I bought to alter! I also rediscovered some items I'd forgotten about. A workmate of Bobs brought in some old tins, and wooden boxes etc so I want to do projects with those too! The room doesn't look THAT bad for saying I'm tidying up, so must be doing something right! I really need a better storage system for my alterables though! They are taking over...

More CHA stuff

Friday, February 9, 2007

These were projects displayed at the Srappy Chick booth 543. Scrappy Chick debuted at CHA as a new manufacturer as well as an Ezine as they now have their own line of papers! My friend Nancy already blogged about her projects on display! Love the wall hanging! Way to go Nancy! I got to meet Lynette, Kara and Heidi at the Scrappy Chick booth which was great to finally put faces to names! The following projects were chosen to be in the "best of 2006" edition of Scrappy Chick.

I love this layout! One of my favorites for sure. All the photos were taken when I got my new camera, and when I got my white sharpie! Simple, elegant and striking! Love the pops of color against the black!

This layout is of my mother in law, Sandra. And yes she loves to garden. I submitted this initially for the 'textured cardstock" call in Fall. Love the K&Co textured cardstock. It has a floral detailed embossing on it. And chipboard alpha's... Yum! I can never get enough of those!

The above project was for the winter edition calls. I had a big altering phase at the end of 2006. This particular project was a DVD or CD case. Love little projects like this, almost instant results!

I'm still wading through CHA brochures, noting down ideas, and getting things organised. Yesterday I worked on the blog a little, nothing you can see yet, but I just wanted a few changes to the layout of the blog which seem impossible sometimes! I also want to work on a header for the blog too, maybe today! River finally seems to be getting better, she's back to normal eating now. I have more projects to share this month including: cards from Ready Set Create Dec/Jan edition; Crafty Keepsakes projects; product review of Piggy Tales and projects; digital review of Nitwit collections and projects; more card sketches; a layout sketch for next week (I decided to do these mid month) and more!

Ready Set Create! Dec/Jan Edition (part 2)

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Here is part 2 of 3! Today is layout day! I had 4 layouts in the Dec/Jan edition of Ready Set Create, along with the 3 altered projects, and 12 cards. The cards will be coming later in the month, but some regular blog readers will recognise anyway ;) So the catergories for this edition were 4x6 multi photo layouts, layouts with stamping and snow/winter layouts.

"Barkyday": I remember when I made this, it was for a sketch challenge at an online site. Loved the layout. And *shock* it was my first time using ki products. For those that don't know this layout features BOTH my dalmatians Sky and River. Everyone always thinks its the same dog, if you look at the photo's you can see the pic in the top right the face patch is reversed! Thats River, the other two pics are Sky. Supplies:KI - papers and alphas; DCWV - textured cardstock; tabs - office supply; date stamp - joanns; dog stamps - leisure arts thinkable inkables;sketch - amy howe (basic grey feb newsletter)

"Graumans":- Its a multi photo page! The pic folds out revealing more photos and journalling. Supplies:- Patterned Paper - none made it myself by stamping on cardstock; Cardstock - DCWV; Adhesives - 3L; Embellishments - lifes journey brads ; stamps - all night media

"On Hold" was a rejection layout from a book call, but I put it to one side in my "available for publishing folder" and RSC picked it up! Patterned Paper: DCWV + christina cole; Cardstock: DCWV; Adhesives: UHU + duck; Embellishments: foam stamps - MM; brads - MM; rub-ons - MM; dymo labeller Other: stamped onto a transparancy

"Ski Trip" Patterned Paper - DCWV; Cardstock - DCWV; Other - rubons MM; technique: - stitching; Sketch - Becky Higgins

Cards from Dec/Jan Ready Set Create coming soon!

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)