June Contest Winner!

This month's winner of the $30 store credit is ...

Leslie Langdon!

Leslie submitted two beautiful layouts (both using Up the Street kits)

I just adore Leslie's style and look forward to checking her blog every time she posts one of her new creations.
Congratulations Leslie!

Mayne Island from Michelle Clement

I just knew that Michelle would do something unique with the July kit. Feast your eyes on her first layout ...
If you've ever seen Michelle's work before, you'll know that walnut ink and stitching are two techniques she manages to use on almost everything she does ...

And at first I thought she had typed up journaling, but what I can now see is that she trimmed lines from one of the October Afternoon patterned papers. So wonderful ...

I love that she's used the Basic Grey micro mono stickers, not as a title or journaling, but more as an embellishment ...

Beautiful little details trimmed from patterned paper and tucked in amongst the layers ...

Crumpled and inky and distressed and stapled and stitched. I adore every little bit :)

Thanks Michelle!

Last day ..

... to get your entries in for the June contest. You have until midnight tonight to link to this post with your layout.
I'll be back with a winner tomorrow.
Have a great day!

Guest Designing for July ...

I was beside myself when Michelle Clement agreed to work with the July kit! Small confession ... I sometimes open her blog just to listen to her playlist ... it gives me the smilies :) Due to some timing issues, I haven't been able to upload any of her projects to the gallery just yet.
This time of year seems to be crazy busy for everyone. Check back in a few days for Michelle's work!
Michelle Clement is a 25 year old Animator/Aftereffects Artist by day, living a step away from the beach in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She needs to cut some paper on the daily - it becomes vital after doing it for 13 years! She is a quiet-but-chatty girl who thrives on a good indie film, wears skull shirts and steel gray nailpolish, and would kill for a daily year-round gingerbread latte. She has a big crush on bright colors, monsters, Tim Burton, knitting, handmade goodies, doilies, vintage needlepoint, moustaches, old books, and Edward Gorey, and can't live without acrylic paint, embroidery thread, her sewing machine, Stazon, and walnut ink. She's excited to be design-teaming for Sassafras Lass and her little paper company, Bubbly Shnooks, this year - and is also super-happy to be contributing to Crate Paper & Bella Blvd in early 2010, as well. In the past, she has been published in Creating Keepsakes & Papercrafts magazines, and has also designed for Pink Paislee, Fancy Pants Designs, Red Velvet Kit Club, and Kenner Road, among others. Alongside scrapbooking and her day job, she also likes to indulge in fun crafty things like illustrating, embroidering, printmaking, art-journalling, and book-binding - but it's her top choice to settle in for some messy creating with Regina Spektor playing and a good cup of coffee - because scrapbooking is her favorite! You can find her personal blog, Scissor Quirk, right here: http://www.michelleclement.typepad.com/blog

July Kits Available Now!

Happy Sunday everyone! I just wanted to let you know that the July kits are now up in the store and ready to ship.
July's Main kit ... "Homespun Appeal" ...
Patterned papers from the October Afternoon Thrift Shop line, Jenni Bowlin Homespun, Basic Grey and Cosmo Cricket ...
An eclectic group of embellishments from Basic Grey, K&Company, 7 Gypsies, American Crafts, Imaginisce ...

Prima, Tim Holtz, Jenni Bowlin, Maya Road ...

and Pink Paislee Press-ons ...

With Ranger Distress Crackle paint in your choice of Old Paper or Black Soot ...

Extra cardstock packs ...

July's Add-on "Thrifty Business" contains the remaining papers from the October Afternoon Thrift Shop line. So although this kit has quite a different feel from the main kit, it is a wonderful companion kit. All of the embellishments work perfectly with the papers in the main kit.I may have developed an unhealthy obsession with the Maya Road kraft envelopes ...

Also available are the 8x8 paper pads of Thrift Shop and Fly a Kit. All of the designs from the lines in a smaller scale. Wonderful for cards and mini albums ...

And I still have one of the stamp sets left ...

I will be taking the kids camping on the 1st, so any orders I receive over the next few days will go out before or on the 1st. After the 1st, I will be home only sporadically until the 9th.

If you have any questions about the kits, please contact me at upthestreet@isp.ca.

Have a great Sunday!

July kits ...

I sent out an e-mail yesterday to those of you who have purchased kits in the past, but I have a feeling that it's lost in cyber space somewhere. If you should have received the early purchase option and didn't, please e-mail me at upthestreet@isp.ca and I will resend it.

Another peek and decorative tape in the store

Here's another quick peek at the July kit (available June 27th) ...
I also have added some decorative tapes to the store.
Tim Holtz ...

And Pink Paislee ...

I haven't had time to do anything with them yet, but I think they will be a new favorite :)

"So Lovely" Layouts

I've been playing a bit more over the last few days with the June add-on kit "So Lovely" (still one available in the store).
Still working on Jenn & Andy's wedding photos from two years ago. I love this photo of them taking their first dance together as a married couple. My favorite photos are always the candid ones that are captured after a day filled with posing and smiling.
I kept this layout very simple. The gorgeous Prima mulberry paper needs no further embellishment with the stitched flowers and sequin trim along the bottom.

I stamped with the Tim Holtz Fabulous Flourish stamp, Versamark ink and white embossing powder on the backside of the Prima patterned paper and then cut out the image. The white wasn't showing up enough for my liking so I gave the image a light misting of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Riptide. Before it dried, I wiped the wet mist from the embossed image.

I added strips from the Hambly transparency (included in the main kit) to the top and bottom of the grouping.

The mulberry paper is quite flimsy, so I added a strip of thin cardboard to the bottom back of the layout for a little extra stability.

This quick little layout uses the Creative Imaginations Real Wood.

The small brown bag that comes with the kit packaging provides a matte for my photos.

A little bit of machine stitching to pull out the red from the Girls Paperie paper banner along the bottom of the grouping.

Love this alphabet font from the Creative Imaginations Beloved stickers.

A DIY from Jeremy Kroes

I'm the first to admit that I don't follow fashion. I stock up on a fresh supply of plain white tee's from Eddie Bauer in the spring and call it good.
But I love seeing someone translate gorgeous fashion and fashion photography into artwork or, in this case, scrapbook art.
Jeremy Kroes took time away from his trip preparations (he is on his way to India for a month!) to share this DIY with us ...
Hi friends! I am back again with the March kit and a little inside look at my process from inspiration to the completion of a layout. I get inspiration for my scrap pages from just about anywhere. In fact, I am often asked where I find inspiration, and I always answer "Where don't I find inspiration?" ;)Recently I was looking through the new, F&W 2010 lookbook for one of my favourite (Canadian!!) designers - Ashley Rowe. I was so amazed by her new collection and I just know you will be too. Take a look at some of her designs:

I spent so long looking at these designs. Her design aesthetic is so similar to mine and even after getting off the site my mind was still buzzing about the designs. Finally I decided I had to recreate the look. I am going to share how I did it with you so you can too!Supplies: Cardstock (any colour) acrylic paint (any color) newspaper (this is a messy technique) paint brushes & water.I started by laying out my newspaper and setting up a make-shift easel made out of cans to stand up my cardstock.

If you look at Ashley's designs, the black splatters have drip marks from applying the paint while the garment is hanging vertically. I wanted to achieve this same look by standing up my cardstock. Now for the fun (and easy) part. You want to choose your cardstock and paint colours. I went with the a simple black and white because I loved the visual contrast it gave - but you can choose any colour combination you want.Stand your cardstock up against your easel (or cans in my case) and then 'fling' your paint at your cardstock. It is literally as simple as that. You can fling as much or as little as you want. Just go crazy and don't think too much about it. If you've never flung paint before, or haven't since elementary school, you'll quickly find out it is very therapeutic. Make sure you have a few sheets of cardstock so you can try a few different times and see what you like best.

In order to get a good splatter you can do one of two things. Acrylic paint on its own, unless it is a very thin consistency (some brands are) will not splatter very easily.You can go out and buy a stringing medium to add to mix with your paint which will help the paint to string out when you throw it at your cardstock and produce a similar effect that Ashley achieves on her garments. This is the technique I used. I used clear tar gel by Golden with this paint in ivory black. Or you can just water down your paint with water until you reach a good consistency to throw at your cardstock. With this, I would suggest adding a bit of water, trying to 'fling' your paint at your cardstock, and adjusting by adding more water or paint. I also tried this technique without the can easel and it worked just as well.

So after coming up with a few designs on my cardstock I brought out my leftovers from the March Kit to finish up the layout and here is the finished product:

Since the background is so busy I wanted to keep the rest of the page pretty minimal. I used a sticker from Studio Calico, some FabRips behind the cassette overlay, some blue scrap from the Cosmo Cricket elements page and some of my own chipboard letters. Super easy and I'm very happy with the way it came out.Please go and try this technique and if you do link me up here in the comments. I would love to see what you all come up with. And like I said, just let yourself go and experiment with this technique and I guarantee you'll be surprised with a) how easy it is and b) the things you come up with.

How much fun is that? I just want to go play. Think how much fun your kids would have with something like this ... lay paper out on the lawn and let them have at it.

Thank you so much Jeremy :) You never fail to bring it. Have a wonderful trip. I can't wait to hear about your adventures.

Be sure to follow Jeremy's blog for updates on his trip.

Cards, cards, cards

Feast your eyes on all the cards made with the June kit.

Starting off with Julia's ...
A great "shabby chic" card using inks and paints to alter the flower and envelope.

Jill's card uses a few supplies from the add-on and a sweet little rub-on phrase from Melissa Frances (a great alternative to a stamped sentiment) ...

I love the Jillibean Soup cardstock as the base ...

Jill's second card also uses items from the add-on. What a great idea to cut out the banners from the patterned paper to create a sun.

With so many patterned papers featuring banners this season, it's a great way to get extra mileage from your scraps.
Edited to add ... Jill's second card had been Removed For Publication :)

I wanted to try something new with this card. Floral arrangements are always so striking when all of one variety and colour of flower is used, so I thought I'd use the same idea for the background of my card ...

I used the doily stamp from the October Afternoon Thrift Shop set with clear embossing ink and clear embossing powder on the backside of the Basic Grey patterned paper. As a nice surprise, when heat embossed, the stamped image takes on several different colours.

The sentiment is stamped on kraft cardstock and then attached to the ribbon such that only the scalloped edges show on the top and bottom. I added in some Jenni Bowlin pearl accents that have been floating around in my stash for awhile.

The problem of finding an envelope for this big, fat card is solved by using the little brown bags that come with your kit embellishments.
I used the Hero Arts Flourish Design Block stamp on the lower portion of the front of the bag. Clear embossing ink is applied to the stamp and the bag laid on top. I used my fingers to smoosh the bag onto the stamp so that the image would be slightly distressed once the clear embossing powder was applied and heat set. If you wanted a more crisp image, you would use a brayer rather than your fingers to stamp your image.

The top edge of the bag is folded over twice and a strip of Hambly transparency attached such that it slightly overhangs the fold.

Obviously, this isn't a card that would be sent through the mail, but given in person.

My second card takes advantage of the beautiful Websters patterned paper. I tried adding a few embellishments , but all it really needed was a title and a bit of a crystal flourish.

I added Diamond Glaze over the letters to bring them out a bit.

The inside is finished to hold a gift card or money.

I had a background stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms that was so similar to the brown patterned paper that i just had to use it to embellish the top of the envelope.

I again used one of the brown bags as my envelope. A little more simple this time. The top is just folded over and bound with a piece of trim.

Rather than affixing the trim to the envelope, I measured to find the length that would slip on fairly easily without being sloppy and stitched the ends together. A big blob of glue on the back of the flower both attaches the flower to the trim and holds in the stray bits from the ends of the trim. Allow to dry before slipping back over the bag.

So that should give you a few new ideas for summery and wedding cards. Also, a great way to use packaging for envelopes.

I've started adding a few sneak peeks of the July kit to the website but there will be many more to follow once I've had time to play.

And I can't wait to reveal July's designers. I'm so excited to see what they do with these kits :)