Green Horned Unicorn

Pixel to Paper

Welcome to another edtion of Pixel to Paper!

This week, I used a digital page I created about Baxter as my inspiration (see above). The original post including a full version of the layout + product credits can be viewed here. This is my paper page, created from the digital inspiration:

PRODUCT CREDITS: Patterned Papers & Stickers: Amy Tangerine {American Crafts} + Felt Flower: Green Horned Unicorn + Mist: Mr. Huey + Paint: Kaiser Craft + Letter Stickers: Authentique + Trims: Unknown

This is a photograph of my mom & me, taken the day after Christmas in Nebraska. It was surpisingly 54-degrees, hence the lack of snow and shivering (I don't ever remember a Chrismas that warm in the 27 years I lived there). Nate took the photo using our new Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, which he gave me as an early Christmas gift. I love the low aperature settings and the nice bokeh effect. I edited the photo using Totally Rad Lab - another wonderful Christmas gift from Nate!

In the paper version, I replicated many of the same page elements as the original including the borders on the left, the cluster of papers and the white mist. I also added some machine stitching, which is present in nearly every paper layout I create. I just love the extra texture and interest it adds to a page.

Thanks for stopping by!

You can find more Pixel to Paper inspriation 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!

Craft: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

I came across the Craft: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 a few weeks ago on the Craft blog and was intrigued by the questions. They were thought provoking and interesting. So I set out to answer them, learning a little about myself in the process! Here are the answers I came up with.

 One Project You Are Particularly Proud Of | My Recycled Magazine Frame

I created the project as a challenge to myself to use my stacks and stacks of magazines for something good. Not only did the frame turn out well, it was the first project of mine to ever be published in a magazine (Simply Handmade April/May 2011). How fitting that a project made from magazines be published in a magazine!

Two Mistakes You've Made in the Past | While I’ve certainly made many mistakes, these are the two I’ve learned the most from and, at the same time, need to work on improving more so than any.

1. Over-committing & setting unrealistic deadlines for myself. There are simply too many ideas running amuck in my head. Too many things I want to explore, try out and accomplish. I set my sights high, usually unrealistically high, and often find myself overwhelmed and even stressed because of the expectations I set for myself. In recent months, I’ve forced myself to cut back and slow down in a lot of areas, including my creative endeavors. While this is a difficult thing to do, I’m much more at peace which, surprisingly in the end, allows me to be even more creative. Who knew?
2. Being a perfectionist. That darn perfectionist in me just won’t stop rearing its ugly head. It’s one of those traits that can be both my best and worst, often at the same time. Because of it, I strive do always do my best in everything, which is usually a good thing. Unfortunately, even when I’ve done my best, I have a hard time accepting that. When I complete a project I always find myself looking back and finding flaws - little details that could be better. I have to work very hard to accept things for what they are, and see the beauty in the imperfection.

Three Things That Make Your Work Unique | We all like to think we’re unique and many of us are lucky enough to be told our work is unique. Even with that, it’s difficult to narrow down the traits and characteristics that truly make your work “your own”. After questioning a few people and looking through my blog, this is what I came up with.

  

1. Use of bright, bold colors. No matter what type of craft I’m creating, I tend to lean toward bright, bold colors. Many of the compliments I receive regarding my projects are directed toward my choice and use of color.
2. Avoiding “trends”. While trends certainly make their way into my work, or at least influence it, I strive to stick with my personal style and create pieces that are more “timeless” as opposed to “trendy”.
3. Keep it simple. For the most part, my style is somewhat simple. When you look at my work, it may not appear to be that way at first glance, because the simple designs are brought to life with color and small details.

Four Tools You Love to Use | While I’m not certain all of these qualify as “tools”, these are my favorite “go to” items in my craft studio.

1. My Macbook. While it’s nearly four years old, and my digital files long ago filled it’s poor memory to the brim (and overflowed to an external hard drive), this has been the best computer I’ve ever owned - hands down. I use it daily to make digital creations, edit photos and search for inspiration. I couldn’t live without it.
2. Adobe CS5 Design Suite. I couldn’t do what I do without Photoshop and Illustrator. Love, love, love.
3. Hot Glue Gun. Seriously, what can’t hot glue hold together?  
4. Scissors, rotary cutters and paper trimmers. I probably own at least 10 pairs of scissors, each with its own unique use. I have two handheld rotary cutters (one always has a straight blade the other a scallop) and six different paper cutters. I’m almost embarrassed to admit I own that many cutting tools!

Five Inspirations | It’s very hard to narrow my choices down to just five, because in reality, inspiration is everywhere and the sources for it are endless.

1. Pinterest. What a wondrous site it is! I know I have been guilty of getting lost there for hours upon end.
2. Blogs. I subscribe to hundreds of blogs through Google Reader. I start each day with a cup of tea and a screen full of inspiration.
3. Color & pattern. Just a glance at a wonderful pallet or pretty pattern can ignite my creative fire. I love to peruse fabric stores, scrapbook stores, clothing stores and home design stores for inspiration.
4. Magazines. From crafts to food to design, I find inspiration by simply flipping the pages of a magazine. You never know when a project, article, or even an ad will trigger your creativity.
5. The world around me. There is inspiration in everything, you just have to know where to look. 

And that is the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 of my crafting life! Hopefully you learned a little bit about me too! Thanks for stopping by :)

30 Day Photo Challenge >> Wrap-up and an Album

Ah, the good old 30 Day Photo Challenge. I imagine since I only posted up through day 26, some of you may suspect I didn't complete it. Well, guess what? Your suspicions are wrong! I actually completed the challenge on-time, however, it was during my internet hiatus, and while I was in Duluth, so I didn't get the chance to post the final photos. Not ony did I complete the challenge, I also created a book to showcase the photos. First, here's a look at the photos:

DAY 27: AFTER DARK | A bonfire in the fire pit at Steve and Jeanie’s house after a fun Saturday spent on the lake and eating at Gordy’s.

DAY 28: DAILY ROUTINE | Spending time on the internet, reading blogs and searching for inspiration is a daily must for me!

DAY 29: PURCHASED | Salt Water Taffy. Yum!

DAY 30: IN MOTION | Me - jumping like a fool next to Pike Lake.

As I mentioned a while back – my goal at the end of the challenge was to create a book to house the photos and photo notes. Using the same template I designed to showcase the photos here on the blog, I created a soft-cover, 5x7 book at Shutterfly. Using their custom path, I uploaded all my individual files and quickly compiled them into an adorable little book. 

Click here to view this photo book larger

In addition to the photos, I added a few more informational pages to the beginning and end of the book. The first page highlights a list of the daily photo challenges. The next 30 pages are the photos I captured. After the photos, I included  a page which details the challenge and why I participated. The last four pages are a photo legend - which includes details about each photograph. This way, years down the road, I’ll remember the details of the little bits of life I captured throughout the month.

It really was a fun little project and certainly something I'd like to do again. In fact, I'm compiling a list of my own promts to turn into another challenge which I'm considering hosting here on my blog sometime this fall. Sounds fun, right? Any takers? :)

What a Girl Loves - Mellow Yellow

Friday is almost here and after the longest short week EVER (seriously, why do shortened work weeks seem to take longer than normal ones?), I've determined that it's time to inject a little cheerfulness into the week. What better way to get cheery, than to infuse a little yellow into the day? 

So, to liven things up, here are a few lovely, yellow finds - fresh from the pages of Etsy!

As shown, left to right, top to bottom:

• Lace and Linen Dress by Mr. Racoon's Empire
• Smile Pillow by Honey Pie Designs 
• Hello May by Ashley G
• Daisies of Summer by Slippin Southern
• Crosstown Bag by Virginia Clara
• Mini Chevron Cake Stand by Aedriel Originals

As a long time lover of the color yellow, no one is happier than me to watch the yellow color trend of 2010 continue throughout 2011. I secretly hopes it carries into 2012. I sort of hope the chevrons do too :)

Hope your weekend is cheery!

End of Summer Blog Break & 30 Day Photo Challenge >> Days 23-26

You read it right – I’m taking an end of summer break! Every now and then, I feel that it's important to unplug and take some time for myself to regroup and recharge. So, I'm taking a self-imposed break from the internet and blogging (scary, right?!). I may still sneak in some online time, but for the most part I'll be spending the next week or so away from the internet focusing on a few special projects.

I'll return after Labor Day with a new blog series, new craft related posts, updates to my 30-Day Photo Challenge, and of course, lots of scrapping goodness! In the meantime, feel free to take a stroll through the archives of the most popular content here at Green Horned Unicorn by clicking on the links below:

• What a Girl Loves
• I Made This!
• General Scrapbooking Archives
• Digital Archives 

And because I can't leave you without a little inspration of sorts - I thought I'd share with you the  most recent installment of the 30 Day Photo Challenge - Days 23- 26.

DAY 23: SUNSET | A view across the street as taken from our front yard.

DAY 24: A SMILE | Just me and a smile :)


DAY 25: SUNFLARE | A view of Pike Lake, MN at sunset during an evening cocktail cruise on the pontoon boat with Nate, his dad and Jeanie. 


DAY 26: SOMETHING OLD | An amazing old 1950s Cross Craft restored by Nate's dad. It's a beauty!

And, with that, I'm signing off! See you in September :)

30 Day Photo Challenge >> Days 18-22

Here is another installment of the 30-Day Photo Challenge! Only one more week to go :)

DAY 18: IN MY BAG | Not much! I carry a big bag, but this is all your normally find it. I mean really, what more does a girl need besides a debit card, lip balm, a notebook and a phone? :)

 DAY 19: WHERE I SLEPT | Our partially made bed.

 DAY 20: WHAT I READ | I read magazines! A lot of them in fact. I think I subscribe to around 10.

DAY 21: PRETTY PATTERN | Love this pattern on a piece of Sassafras cardstock from the Ellie's Tale line.

DAY 22: TREES | Some pretty sunflare shining through the fronds of a pineapple palm which lines a wall in our neighborhood.

The 30 Day Photo Challenge is hosted by Oh So Lovely. A collection of my photos from the 30 Day Challenge can be found here.

Budding Artist

This weekend I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to scrap with some of my favorite ladies - Amber, Lisa and Robin. I always look forward to creating with these ladies - they're always so inspirational and supportive.

In the 6 hours I was there, I managed to almost finish one page and get a good start on the second (both pages were missing items I had left at home and needed some machine stitching). While two not-quite-complete pages may not sound like much, that's some kind of miracle for me! I'm such a slow scrapper and even slower when I'm chatting and eating Cafe Rio!

I sayed up till 2am finishing up this page:

ARTIST | This little painted up lady is my niece Kylee. Among many interests, Kylee loves to create. She scrapbooks with her mom, draws and colors pictures, and when she visits Aunt Toni and Uncle Nate, she becomes a mini Picasso. I set up shop in the eat-in area of our kitchen (which has no table). I throw a vinyl tablecloth on the ground and let her go to town! I have a special box of supplies I keep just for her visits.

I love that one of the first things she asks to do when she gets here is paint! From the looks of the mess, she creates in the same manner her Aunt does - although I don't usually get quite that much paint on my face! I wish I had captured photos of her hands and feet as well...the were even more painty than her face!

I wrapped the second page up this afternoon:

OH WHAT A SIGHT | While my sister, niece and nephew were here, we took a day trip to the Grand Canyon - there will be plenty more pages and details on the trip over the next few weeks. These are two of my favorite snapshots of Nate and me.

If you're wondering why you're seeing so many pages using Sassafras lately, it's because A) They're one of my favorite manufacturers, and B) I'm forcing myself to use up my current stash before I buy anything new!

What creative things did you do this weekend? I'd love to hear!

30 Day Photo Challenge >> Days 13-17

I'm checking in today with Days 13-16 of the 30 Day Photo Challenge. Over half-way through and I'm still feeling inspired to take a photograph each day! Part of that inspiration comes from the fact that I've selected a format for the final album to house all of my photos.

I've decided to go digital (shocking, right?). Part of the reason is because I was lucky enough to have Shutterfly send me a nice gift certificate earlier this year that I've been waiting to use. I also thought a simple digital format made way more sense than printing and assembling an album for this type of project.

I decided on a 5x7 soft cover album, which will be oriented portrait style. I created my own template in Photoshop, which I will save and upload to the album using Shutterfly's custom set-up. The remainder of the photos I share on the blog will be placed into the template and be displayed as they will be in the book.

As you can see, I chose a neutral yellow and grey theme and selected just two papers - which I'll alternate throughout the book. The color on the text bar on each page, is color picked from the photo to help compliment the photograph and the background paper.

 DAY 13: FROM A DISTANCE | Anyone else have Bette Midler running though their heads? If you didn't, I bet you do now! Sorry about that. This is the shot of the always amazing Grand Canyon - photos can never do it justice. I'm in awe every time I see it, although the view from helicopter ride Missy and I took during our last visit is hard to top.

DAY 14: FLOWERS | Living in the desert, there aren't a lot of flowers - especially in the summer. So imagine how happy I was when I went to photograph the lone yellow flower on my vine and found a lovely little butterfly feeding on it? This is one of my favorite challenge photos so far. Love it.

DAY 15: MY SHOES | My favorite shoe purchase of the summer. I got them on sale at Nine West in Alexandria, along with another adorable pair of flat, black sandals. They're cute, oh-so-comfy and can be worn for work or play. What more can you ask of a shoe?

DAY 16: WHAT I ATE | When I'm too lazy to bake, I turn to Pepperidge Farms for their Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. This was actually my dessert as I forgot to photograph the tacos we had for dinner. 


DAY 17: ON THE SHELF | This is a close up of the large shelf in my studio. It's filled to the brim with supplies, tools, albums and books.

Lastly, on a completely unrelated note - I was browsing through some of my regular blogs today when I stumbled across THIS! Imagine my surprise and delight to see my Wine Country mini featured not only in a CK magazine, but on the blog as well. So cool! Sorry for the horn tooting, but sometimes you just have to!

The 30 Day Photo Challenge is hosted by Oh So Lovely. A collection of my photos from the 30 Day Challenge can be found here.

30 Day Photo Challenge >> Days 8-12

The weekend has arrived...ALMOST! I'm working from the comfort of my home today - sitting on the sofa in our bedroom, listening to my niece and nephew splashing outside in the pool, just beyond the doors beside me. They, along with my sister Missy, arrived earlier this week and are staying until Monday. It's been so fun having them here. Their creative little minds are always going. I've loved the fact that they look forward to visits here so they can paint & make art with my supplies and build Legos and play iPad games with Nate. Oh yeah, then there is the pool... :) 

Today, I have another installment of the 30 Day Photo Challenge to share with you - Days 8-12. Almost half way there already and I'm still really enjoying the process. I know I've mentioned it, but I love the creativity it evokes as I try to plan a photo to fit the prompt.

Day 8: Technology | What can I say, I'm an Apple girl, living in an Apple world. If you saw the rest of the Apple products in our household you'd understand what I mean.


Day 9: Faceless Self-Portrait | It took me a while to come up with a concept for this. Should I photograph my feet? Myself from the shoulders down? I couldn't decide. Then I walked outside. Meet faceless me.


Day 10: Something I Made | I know I just featured this page in my last post here, but it was the most recent thing I made, therefore perfect for the prompt.


Day 11: Something Fun | BASEBALL! My sister, niece, nephew, Nate and myself all went to the Dbacks vs. Astros game last night. A huge comeback win put the Dbacks a whole game up in the NL West! Go Dbacks, go!


Day 12: Close-Up | Our Bugsy girl. I'm completely shocked she let me hold the phone so close to her face. Maybe she's finally getting over her phobia of being on film.

The 30 Day Photo Challenge is hosted by Oh So Lovely. A collection of my photos from the 30 Day Challenge can be found here.

30 Day Photo Challenge >> Days 5-7

Happy Sunday! How is your weekend? Mine has been particularly refreshing. I've been a busy bee, working away in the studio. The best thing is, it's been on nothing in particular - no assignments or deadlines, just things I want to work on.

After having practically ZERO creativity for the past month, I was slapped by the creative stick (which feels pretty good...ha!). The past few days have produced FOUR paper scrapbook pages and one card (and two digital layouts). That's more traditional pages than I've made ALL YEAR. And a card? Seriously, who am I?? Once I dig my way out of the mess I created in the studio, I'll snap some photos and show you what I've been up to. 

Until then, I have a few more days of the 30 Day Photo Challenge to share. I've been loving this project! It's fun to think of what to photograph for the prompt and it what creative way I can do it.

Day 5: Someone I Love | I think this one is obvious, Nate! I love this photo of him deep in thought, studying up on electrical circuitry (no reason, just because he wants to!). This is what I often see when I turn my chair around and look across the studio - Nate concentrating and working intently at his computer. I love that we share a studio and can both work together on our creative endeavors - no matter how different they are.

Day 6: Childhood Memory | I made a trip to the North Scottsdale Farmers Market Saturday morning. My haul yielded me heirloom tomatoes, an eggplant, leeks, jalapenos and sweet corn (all for under $7). The farm-fresh veggies reminded me of the huge gardens both my parents and grandparents had. I remember fresh onions, tomatoes, eggplants, sweet corn and more - which we ate during the warm Midwest summers. So good!


Day 7: Something New | This is a photo of a new breakfast bake I whipped up this morning. Our cupboard are often bare by Sundays, so I'm always forced to be creative and think up new ways to use what's on hand. Today, I threw together a new breakfast bake consisting of dried bread, leeks, spinach, turkey sausage, shredded parmesan, mozzarella, eggs and spices (and probably a few other things I forgot about). It turned out to be quite delicious and certainly something I would make again!

The 30 Day Photo Challenge is hosted by Oh So Lovely. A collection of my photos from the 30 Day Challenge can be found here.