It's Sketch Time!!

Here is a LO I did using a Becky Fleck sketch. Why not try your hand at using this sketch. You can find other great sketches at www.pagemaps.com

April Ideas by Chrissy Greenman

Spring Quotes

"The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year."
- Mark Twain

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
a cloud come over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March."
- Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time, 1926

"Keep your faith in all beautiful things;
in the sun when it is hidden,
in the Spring when it is gone."
- Roy R. Gilson

Spring Titles:

A bouquet of springtime
A dog-gone rainy day
And the hunt is on
April Showers
As fresh as springtime
Beauty in Bloom
Blossom
Clover all over
Flower Power
Hello Sunshine!
It’s a Spring Thing!
Nature’s Pallette
Puddle Jumping
Simply Spring
Spring Fever
Spring Flings and Easter Things
Spring has SPRUNG!
Spring, thy name is color
Take time to smell the flowers.
The grass is always greener
Tiptoe through the tulips

Important April Dates:
April 1st- April Fools’ Day
April 5th- Palm Sunday
April 10th- Good Friday
April 12th- Easter
April 22nd- Earth Day
April 24th- ArborDay

Member Spotlight

This month I had the privilege of interviewing one of our talented TTT members for the blog. Here is your chance to get to know more about Tammy!

Your TTT member name?

Sneakybacon. It actually stands for my last name--anyone care to take a guess?

Tell us a bit about yourself and your family (and pets?)

I'm a SAHM to my 3 children: Matthew age 5, Lauren age 4, and Catherine who's 18 months old. I married my high school sweetheart Grant almost 10 years ago, although we did take a 10 year hiatus from each other when we hit college! We lived in St. Louis for a long time, moved to North Carolina over 8 years ago. I miss my family a lot, but I sure do love living so close to the ocean. We have one cat named Bailey, but the kids have really been bugging us for a dog!

How did you get started in scrapbooking? How long have you been scrapbooking?

I did the glue photos in a scrapbook followed up with sticker-sneeze when I was younger. I started scrapbooking "for real" about 5 years ago after my son was born, started out with a couple of those page kits you get at the craft store and it has grown from there.

What is your favorite place to scrap?

Probably in my scrapbook room (I mean dining room), although I do like to go to manias at Archivers with some friends every once in a while, gotta have that girls night out!

What are your favorite scrapping snack and drink?

I love to have a Starbucks Mocha when I scrapbook. I don't usually have snack food when I'm scrapping, but when I do it's gotta be peanut M-n-M's.

What product(s) are you addicted to right now?

The question should be what I'm not addicted to! I have discovered Unity Stamps recently and am in love with them. Of course I've always had a paper addiction, I'm sure I have plenty of paper to last a lifetime. My favorite paper companies right now are Kaiser Craft, Bo Bunny and My Mind's Eye.

What inspires you creatively?

I get a lot of inspiration from sketches. My favorite site is probably Pagemaps, but I also get inspiration from 52 Sketches...52 Weeks, Got Sketch (which I learned about from TTT), and Triple the Sketch. The gallery here at TTT is absolutely amazing, and I have been known to scraplift a little!

What brought you to TTT?

I learned about TTT from one of those kit club posts at Two Peas in a Bucket. I lurked here for quite a while before I finally took the plunge last September and signed up for a membership. I have been so happy here, I just renewed last month!

What do you enjoy the most about TTT?

That's a hard one, because there really is so much to enjoy. Of course I love the kits, Monica does such an awesome job, but I also love the MB and the gallery.

What is on your scrappy wish list?

I would really love some organizational stuff (like cubes, desk, etc) to set up a really cute scrapbook space.

What is something about you that we may not know??

Before I was a SAHM, I was an RN. I worked in the Neonatal ICU, did pharmaceutical sales, but by far the coolest job I ever had was on the Neonatal/Pediatric Transport Team at a Children's Hospital, where I got to fly around in a helicopter or jet, and ride in an ambulance! Yes, I thought I was pretty cool!

Thank you Tammy for sharing a little bit about yourself and we look forward to seeing more of you on the board!

By Nathalie

Step-by-Step by Chrystal Riddell

Supplies:

- 4 sheets of cardstock with white or contrasting color core (I used Core'dinations)
- (1) 6 x 8, 5 x 7, or (2) 4 x 6 photos
- 2 journaling cards
-1 file folder
- alpha stickers for your title
-pigment ink

So have you ever wondered what to do with old photo calendars friends or family have made for you? When you get some time, get them out, keep the photos you want, and recycle the rest! I love this photo my dad included in a calendar for me from a trip he took in 2003. I had NO coordinating patterned paper, so I challenged myself to use cardstock only. Yes, this was scary for me, too! I tried to pick and place the colors to match the photo, blue for sky, orange-ish for the rocks, and brown for the ground. I chose to tear the paper for a rustic, natural feel.

1. Choose background sheet.
2. Cut a 6 x 12 piece for the top color, a 7 1/2 x 12 piece for the bottom color, and an 8 x 10 piece for the photo mat. I allowed my self an extra 1-2 inches for tearing, in case I messed up and needed to start over.
3. Tear edges, then ink. TIP: I sit at my dining table to do this because of the smooth flat edge. Hold down with left hand, lay paper on the table with about an inch hanging off, and slowly tear with right hand. Do not rip quickly, or you will rip your paper in half!
4. Adhere the top color first (mine is blue,) then layer the next piece (mine is orange)
5. Adhere your photo to your mat, then tear around to even it up as needed
6. Fill in journaling tag, adhere to outside of file folder, then adhere file folder, overlapping the top right-hand corner of your photo.
7. Use 2nd journaling card and stickers to create your title, then adhere this the bottom left-hand corner of your photo.

Altered Frame

If any on you are like me you have plenty of old frames laying around that you never use anymore. So dig through that stash and pull one out, preferably one that has a mat that you can alter or you can purchase a new one, and let’s get creative!

The First step is to paint your frame the color you like. Unfortunately my frame was black and I wanted it pink so it took me a few coats but it is doable. After my first few coats I added some Tim Holts Crackle paint over top to give it a cool vintage look. Once it is all dry lightly coat the entire frame in Mod Podge to seal it.


Then take the mat and cut a piece of patterned paper the right size. Cut a hole a little smaller than the opening and adhere it to the mat with a light coat of Mod Podge. Cut diagonal slits in the corners of the picture hole in your paper.


Lightly coat the inside of the paper with Mod Podge then carefully fold over the edges sealing of your picture opening and giving you nice clean edge. Then cut a piece of cardstock a little bigger than your opening and adhere it inside the opening. After this step I completely coated my entire project in Mod Podge to seal it.


Now it is time to embellish. For mine I added a strip of ribbon about an inch from the bottom of my mat. I attached it just with my tape runner and it seemed to stick quite well. On top of that I glued a Prima flower and added a title with American Crafts Thickers. I dressed them up with a little Shimmerz paint to give them a glittery shiny look.



I then added my picture inside the picture opening and placed the mat inside the frame. I had to get rid of the glass but that was okay with me. I then wanted to add something to the upper right hand corner so I dressed up a Maya road sheer butterfly with some Shimmerz paint and Kaiser Rhinestones and Glue dotted it in place.




I hope you try this at home. I would love to see your altered items!

TTT May Kits Sneak Peek

IT's THE 15th!!! THAT MEANS.... The new TTT kit sneak peeks are up!!

May kits Sneak Peek

There are three great kits being offered for May! Please send me an email letting me know which one you'd like. (info@transparenttouches.com) For more information about reserving your kit, please go here: http://www.transparenttouches.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9074

May kit #1: Teresa Collins: Documented mixed with a few other lines



For a full list of what is in this kit, click here: http://www.transparenttouches.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9580

May kit #2: Crate Paper: Orbit and Scenic Route: Garden Grove



For a full list of what is in this kit, click here: http://www.transparenttouches.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9581

May kit #3: Fancy Pants: Delight & MME Free Bird



For a full list of what is in this kit, click here: http://www.transparenttouches.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9582


There are also some add ons and sale items available too... you can view those by clicking the links above below the kit picture

What a Catch!

With our most recent TTT Crop, March Madness, there were so many great layouts in the TTT gallery! I am only sharing a few of them with you today but make sure to stop by the gallery yourself and check them out to see all the new wonderful creations by our members.

Pumpkin Patch by Stotgirl (Taryn)
I Especially like the brown title on the brown background and that scalloped edge is fabulous! (I would also like to mention that she did a great job with the Pagemaps sketch she used.)

Q&A by Nikkilove (Nik)
I love the way Nik chose to do her journaling and her choice of bright and fun papers maker her cute photo pop. The embellies add a nice movement to the page also. (Nik you also did a great job with the Pagemaps sketch too!)

U Spin me Right round Baby! by 1bizeemom
And Finally this layout just makes me smile! It almost looks like the kids are in a wahing machine! LOL! The bright colors add to fun and title is perfect.

Great job ladies! Thank you sharing your talents with us.

By Lindsey

Transparency Layouts from the TTT Design Team!

Transparent Tuesday!

Each month the TTT design team creates layouts, cards and other projects using TTT transparencies on them. They always do such a great job and it's great to see all the different ways that the transparencies can be used!! Here is what they created this month:


Layouts by Nathalie and Chrystal:








Layouts by Jen and Lindsey:









Layouts by Chrissy and Carrie:

April kit #1

It's Reveal day!

Carrie and Jen did a fabulous job this month creating layouts with the April kit #1. This kit combined papers from two My Mind's Eye's collections: Maggie May and Feeling Groovy. Remember, you can go to the TTT User gallery (http://www.transparenttouches.com/gallery/index.php?cat=46) to see all the kit reveals from each month and the TTT gallery (http://www.qbaroo.com/transparenttouchestags/index.cfm?galleryoid=0) also has an album for each DT member which showcases their layouts too. Happy scrapping everyone!

Carrie's creations:


Jen's creations:


Carrie's "Zoo Playtime" and Jen's "Queen in training" were inspired by this Pagemaps sketch:

April kit #2

It's reveal day!

Chrystal and Lindsey did a fabulous job this month creating layouts with the April kit #2 featuring the brand new Industrial Park line from Scrap Within Reach. Remember, you can go to the TTT User gallery (http://www.transparenttouches.com/gallery/index.php?cat=46) to see all the kit reveals from each month and the TTT Gallery (http://www.qbaroo.com/transparenttouchestags/index.cfm?galleryoid=0) where each DT member has a gallery showcasing their layouts with links to the products in the store. Happy scrapping everyone!

Chrystal's creations:
Lindsey's creations:


Chrystal's "Super heroes" and Lindsey's "Build-a-Bear" layouts were inspired by this Pagemaps sketch:

April kit #3

It's Reveal Day!!

Nathalie and Chrissy did a fabulous job this month creating layouts with the April kit #3. This kit combines papers from Bo Bunny Abbey Road and Kaiser Craft Cabbage Patch lines. Remember, you can go to the TTT User gallery (http://www.transparenttouches.com/gallery/index.php?cat=46) to see all the kit reveals from each month and the TTT gallery (http://www.qbaroo.com/transparenttouchestags/index.cfm?galleryoid=0) also has an album for each DT member which showcases their layouts too. Happy scrapping everyone!

Chrissy's creations:


Nathalie's creations:




Chrissy's "Happiness is you" and Nathalie's "Playful" pages have been inspired by the common DT sketch from Pagemaps: