Green Horned Unicorn

Pixel to Paper - Reversed

This week, I'm changing things up a bit and doing a reversal on the Pixel to Paper concept. Instead of using digital design to inspire my paper scrapping, I'm using my a paper layout to inspire my digital designs.

My paper layout highlights an Instagram I shared on Twitter a few weeks ago. This particular photograph documents an event that has been three years in the making – Shawna and Baxter cuddling together! I always knew they’d be pals, I just had no idea it would take this long for them to snuggle up with one another. 

PRODUCT CREDITS: Patterned Papers [October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Fancy Pants, Cosmo Cricket] + Label Sticker [Paper Source] + Buttons [October Afternoon, vintage findings] + Mists [October Afternoon, Studio Calico] + Felt Blooms [Green Horned Unicorn]

The photo was taken one afternoon while I was lounging on the sofa. Baxter likes to lay on my legs when I’m all stretched out. So does Shawna. When Shawna beat Baxter to the punch on this particular day, B was not about to be outdone. He promptly walked up and wedged himself against the dog. I think he was actually hoping she’d move. But, she was equally as stubborn, so there they sat, side-by-side. Regardless of how it went down, I’m so excited that they actually CUDDLED! 

Next up, is my digital layout which, as you can see, is heavily based upon my paper layout. Even the colors of the papers and elements are quite similar.

PRODUCT CREDITS: Patterned Papers + Elements [Biografitti, One Little Bird & Paislee Press - Epic Collaboration] + Frame [Anna Aspnes]

The photograph was taken during Molly and Greg’s Rehearsal Dinner back in November. I love how Nate and Caden are both rocking the spikey-messy hairdos while wearing almost matching shirts. It was too cute of a photo op to pass up!

I’ve noticed I’ve really been into the more muted blue, orange, green color pallet as of lately. It’s so fall like, yet I find myself sitting here in February, very drawn to it. What is your current color obsession?

GHU52: Felt Coasters Using Fabric & Ribbon Scraps

More than likely, many of you have bins overflowing with excess craft supplies. Pretty paper scraps, fabric scraps, ribbons and more, that you just can seem to part ways with. I'm quilty of hoarding all of these supplies and more. For my next GHU52 project, I decided to target one of my many scrap fabric bins and my scrap ribbon jar.

In search of project inspiration on Pinterest, I came across these lovely magnets by Tara Anderson, which are made from paper scraps. Intrigued by the randomness of the pieced pattern, I decided to create something similar – only in coaster form, using fabric and ribbon scraps.

TOOLS & MATERIALS | The Tool & Material list for this project is pretty short and simple - much of it you may have on-hand.

Material List:

• Fabric & Ribbon scraps
• Fabric Tack (optional) I used Dritz Spray Adhesive
• Sewing Machine and various thread colors
• Stiffened Felt
• Circle die or a circle template between 3-4 inches in size (an old coaster would be the perfect template)
• Scissors
• Pinking Shears (optional)

STEP ONE | Cut a square from the stiffened felt, slightly larger than the circle size you plan on using.

STEP TWO | Gather scrap fabrics and ribbons and begin to layer into an random pattern. I found that I like to lay my pattern out before I started to sew the pieces into place, but if you’re feeling wild and crazy you can just build your pattern as you go. As I compiled my patterns, I randomly trimmed and shaped fabric scraps, often times using pinking shears to add an interesting touch.

STEP THREE | One-by-one, spray each fabric strip with fabric tack, place onto the felt and sew into place. Continue to layer and stitch each fabric strip until you have covered your piece of felt. Your sewing can be messy or neat. You can use all one color thread, or you can vary the colors with each fabric strip. The choice is yours!

STEP FOUR | From your finished piece, die cut a circle (I used a Spellbinders die in my Sizzex Big Shot). If you don’t have a die cut machine, you can use a circle template and scissors. I tried both methods and prefered the clean edges the die cut provided.

STEP FIVE | Cut an additional circle of the same size from the stiffened felt. This piece will be used as backing to add additional support and to cover the stitching on the fabric covered felt. Spray fabric tack onto the felt circle and adhere to the back of the fabric covered felt circle.

STEP SIX | Sew around the edge of the stacked circles to hold into place. On some coasters I chose to sew just one row, on others I decided to sew two rows. 

STEP SEVEN | Pour a drink and enjoy!

PROJECT NOTES & ADDITONAL OPTIONS | As with any project, there are a hundred and one ways you could go about making felt and fabric coasters. Here are a few things I learned and ideas to make this project your own:

• If you prefer, you can start with a circle as opposed to a square, and trim the excess fabrics off as you layer and stitch. I found I preferred the look of the coasters that were die cut from the square piece. The edges were cleaner and I really liked the look of the stitching that goes clear to the edge.
• Spray tack is optional, but I found it very helpful in holding the small (often wrinkly) scrap fabric strips into place while I sewed them into place.
• For additional support (and extra protection to your tabletops), add sticky-backed cork to the bottom of the finished coaster.

I'd love to hear what you think about the coasters and I'd also love to hear about any fun project you've made using fabric and ribbon scraps. Thanks for stopping by!

The Green Horned Unicorn Project 52 (GHU52) is a personal challenge to create, photograph & post 52 craft projects in 2012. You can read more about in this post.

Pixel to Paper

For this week's Pixel to Paper, I'm focusing on the felines. I adore my furkids and love to give their cute, fuzzy mugs lots of prime real estate on my layouts. Again this week, I have two brand new pages to share!

My digital layout, Cool Cat, was originally created for Photoshop Friday: Convert A Photo To Black & White at jessicasprague.com, which was released on February 3. 

Product Credits: Patterned Papers, Candy Candy & Elements {Cosmo Cricket available at jessicasprague.com} + Typewriter Lettering {Sahlin Studios} + Paint Splatters {Paislee Press, Kitty Designs}

Journaling reads: 

Baxter cat, you win the title for coolest cat - hands down. Your laid back personality and endless curiosity always lead to entertaining moments. Whether it's your excitement about a new box, napping in a bag, the kitty rolls you do outside, your persistent ploys to get a treat , or just snuggling up on our laps while we work, we love every moment we have with you. You're soft, you're handsome, you're sweet, you're funny and you're a perfectly cool cat. ~Sept 2011

Using my Cool Cat layout as inspiration, I set out to create a paper layout. Since I focused on Baxter in the original page, I decided it was Bugsy's turn to shine with this bright and colorful layout, titled Purrfect.

Product Credits: Patterned Papers, Fabric Paper, Stickers & Thickers {American Crafts} + Cardstock {Bazzil} + Mists {Ranger, Studio Calico} + Pen {Smash}

Journaling reads:

Bugsy, you are fuzzy, sassy, smart, soft, demanding, protective, full of attitude and utterly purrfect!

I'm very happy with the way both layouts turned out. I love the bright pops of color and the fun scattered elements and, of course, the paint splatters!

Thank you for taking a moment to stop by my blog. Have a wonderful week :)

You can find more Pixel to Paper inspiration by clicking here. If you create a page based off of the inspiration provided, please feel free to leave me a link - I'd love to see your work!

Sunday Scrapbook Update

It's Sunday and I thought I'd take some time to share a few more of the layouts (both digital and traditional) I have created so far this year.

First up, is a layout titled DBacks and is actually a page I intended to scrap last year, but forgot all about. When I was cleaning out my studio a few weeks ago, I came across these photos and the ticket stub sitting in a file folder, along with some of the October Afternoon Rocket Age collection. I have no idea what my original plan was for the page, so I started from scratch and came up with this page.

Product Credits: Patterned Papers & Miscellany Pack {October Afternoon - Rocket Age} + Mists {October Afternoon & Studio Calico} + Thickers {American Crafts}

Next, I have two digital pages, both featuring manufactuers more commonly known in the paper scrapbooking arena. Both Jenni Bowlin and KI Memories have teamed up with jessicasprague.com to offer their wonderful projects in digi form!

Product Credits: Patterned Paper & Journaling Card {Jenni Bowlin} + Flower & Kraft Paper {Paislee Press}

This layout features a few Hipstamatic prints from last Valentine's Day (2011) that I finally got around to scrapping. You might recall my story of receiving duplicate bouquets.  

Product Credits: Patterned Papers & Elements {KI Memories - Pop Culture} + Typewriter Keys {Echo Park}

My last layout highlights the only photograph of Nate and I from my sister's wedding. ONE. That's it. I don't know how it happened, but this is all we got. Taken on my iPhone with bad lighting. At least we got one, right? 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Thank you for taking time to stop by :)

Frequency Change Approved: An Exploration of Aviation Photography

For those who may be unfamiliar with the term, "frequency change approved" is a phrase used by Air Traffic Controllers, granting an aircraft permission to switch radio frequencies. It’s also the name of a blog Nate started last year. While he hasn’t been active on the blog much in recently, I really like the name - so I stole it. Now before you get upset, I stole the name to use on a project - a project I was creating for him!

For his main gift this year, I created a photo book, using imagery Nate captured throughout 2011. I may have mentioned it before, but Nate is an aspiring aviation photographer. He’s relatively new to it & doesn’t have any fancy equipment, yet many of his photos can hang in the mix against those with more experience and more expensive cameras and lenses. Yes, my boyfriend awesome :)

The official name of the book is, “Frequency Change Approved: An Exploration of Aviation Photography”. I love this book. Even if I had not made it, I’d want to buy a copy. But then again, I’m a total aviation nerd.

This project was one of my best as far as trickery and deception go. I actually worked on this at night, often with Nate nearby. I sneakily downloaded many of the photos from his Flickr account and then nonchalantly asked him for larger images of some of photos, telling him I was going to create art projects for our walls (which I do intend to do, so it wasn't a complete lie!).

There were so many images that I ended up spending hours sorting them into categories and rating them in Bridge. The 4 and 5 star winners went into the book (sorry 3 stars, there just wasn’t enough space). Sorting the images and deciding how to group them in the book was by far the hardest part. Once I had that down, I uploaded them and began to fill up page after page.

I created the book using Blurb's Bookify software and was very satisfied with the program. I'm not a fan of downloading one-off software onto my computer, but something that works as easily as this is well worth it. It saved me a lot of time (as opposed to working online) and worked pretty much flawlessly through the entire process.

Here are a few of the finished pages:

I must say, when the printed copy arrived in the mail, I squealed with joy - the book was perfect! From the semi-gloss cover to the upgraded luster paper, it was exactly what I expected (which if you know me at all, you know I set the bar really high). In fact, I was so satisfied with the quality that I’m going to order my Holiday Memories 2011 album through Blurb as well.

If you'd like to look through the full-version of the book (I'd highly suggest it!) you can view it here on Blurb or via the slideshow below.

Frequency Change Approved by Photographed by Nathan Hennessy | Make Your Own Book

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at Nate's present (and letting me brag just a little bit)!

Pixel to Paper

It's that time of the week again. Time for another installment of Pixel to Paper. This week, instead of using a previously posted digital layout as my inspiration, I have two brand new pages to share!

PIXEL | First is the digital layout titled, "Amore" which I created using this sketch from Studio Calico. Product Credits: Patterned Papers {In the Making Design - Flirt - BRAND NEW} + Journaling Card {In the Making Design - Flirt} + Lettering (recolored) {Sahlin Studios} + Flower & Ribbon {Paislee Press} + Software {Photoshop CS5 + Totally Rad Labs} 

The photograph was taken by my mom during our Christmas trip to Nebraska. The day after Christmas was so beautiful that we did an impromptu family photo session with those of us who were hanging outside. You'll be seeing more layouts featuring those family photots soon!

TO PAPER | From my digital layout, I created this paper page titled "Special Bond":

Product Credits: Patterned Papers {Crate} + Thickers {American Crafts} + Ribbon/Lace/Buttons {Unknown} + Mists {Studio Calico, October Afternoon} + Twine {Doodlebug} (some of the papers were part of a lovely Scrapbook Circle kit I won from Diana's blog this past fall)

 

I love this sweet photo of Bugsy & Baxter nuzzling their heads together. They're sister and brother and have been through a lot together. It's sweet to see that after all these years they still are the best of friends and partners in crime.  

I had a fun and productive craft night last evening with some of my favorite creative friends. I finished three more paper pages to add to my growing total for 2012. Look for a post on those and another GHU52 project very soon!

You can find more Pixel to Paper inspiration by clicking here. If you create a page based off of the inspiration provided, please feel free to leave me a link - I'd love to see your work!

GHU52: Valentine's Day Felt Heart Garland

For my next GHU52 project, I decided to get into the lovey-dovey spirit of Valentine's Day. While I'm not the biggest fan of the holiday, I thought a few cute little decorations might be nice to brighten things up. Inspired by my ever growing bin of scrap felt, I decided to make a garland to line the mantel of our fireplace. 

The supply list for this project was quite short, and made entirely from items I had on hand (you know how I love that!). Even if you were to purchase the items, this is still a project you can create for under $5 and less than two hours of your time. Here is what I used:

• Felt of various colors
• Scissors
• Baker's twine (mine was by Doodlebug)
• Needle

I pulled the pink, white, grey and red scraps from my bin and got to work cutting hearts of various sizes. I wanted my finished piece to have a handmade feel so I freehand cut each heart so no two would be alike.Once my hearts were cut I let them sit a few days to determine how I wanted to join them. Initially, I was going to machine stitch them, as I have on previous garlands. But, I wanted something different, so I turned to Pinterest (of course!) to help me out. After a little browsing my browsing, I found this project from the Oopsey Daisy blog. The hand stitching stole my heart. So, away I stitched.   
And finally, ended up with this pretty garland. I love the way the reds in the garland play off the red in the hoop art and poster. It really adds a pop of color to the neutral colors on the wall and tile. The texture of the felt also lends some warmth to the area.

I'm so delighted with the results, I think I just might whip up another Valentine's Day project! Do you decorate your home for Valentine's Day?

The Green Horned Unicorn Project 52 (GHU52) is a personal challenge to create, photograph & post 52 craft projects in 2012. You can read more about in this post.