Winner of the Sew a Frame {challenge #3}

This layout by Shannon Taylor was selected as the winner for Sew a Frame {challenge #3}

She did a beautiful job of creating a frame that complimented the picture, the colors and the overall design. It is a layout that you gives you so much to look at, but is elegant and and adorable.

Also, if you look really closely, you will notice that in her handstitching, she tucked cute little beads between each of the stitches, a detail that has inspired me to try something new, thanks Shannon!

Congrats to Shannon, and thanks to all of you who played, we really appreciate you!!

B-

Challenge 4 - Designer Layouts

What a fun challenge, Ali. Here are the Method Playground Designers' glass bead and glaze layouts.

First, we have Becky's take on the challenge. She used the micro beads that came in a multi-pack from ArtAccentz. You can see that she made the bulk of her layout with a transparency.


Second, we have Alicia's take. Alicia used Queen and Company Felt Fusion (she cut fall leaves pieces apart) and applied Diamond Glaze in some of the openings and layered with red glass beads. She also made the wing on her clear bird out of the beads. * Her Tip....Use a paper piercer to apply and/or straighten the beads.

Next, we have Deborah's layout. Deb printed the parentheses from photoshop and placed the paper underneath a transparency scrap, using the paper as a guide for the glue. She ended up cutting the shape out, leaving a wide margin, before adhering to the page.

Last, we have Jennifer's (my) layout. I decided to use clear glass beads on painted yellow chipboard to add to the theme of the sandy layout. I did not have diamond glaze, so I gave it a shot with mod podge. Patterned papers and chipboard are all from Studio Calico's October kit.

ALTERNATIVE TO GLAZE: I did one more layout (why quit when you are having fun?). This time, I decided to see what else glass beads would stick to. I painted the swirls on the paper and then immediately dumped green glass beads on the wet paint.

Now it's your turn! Remember.... there are lots of ways to play, even if you do not have glass beads or diamond glaze. Why not use larger beads or a different adhesive? I used mod podge on my "Lessons" layout and paint on my "Faces" Layout.

Let's see what you have!

FYI: Ali also found a place where you can order a free sample of Diamond Glaze: http://www.diamondglaze.com/sample.html

Ali's Challenge 4 - Beads and Glaze

From Ali:

This week's challenge is to play with Diamond Glaze + glass beads.For many of you, as it was for me, this may be your first time experimenting with either Diamond Glaze and/or glass beads. I was attending a stamping show recently and picked up the beads as something cool I knew I wanted to try down the road.Since I grabbed a little jar of black glass beads I figured a Halloween project would be the perfect chance to play.

For Halloween this year I am going to put together an acrylic mini- book. This one is from Picture It/Page Frame and here's a list on online stores carrying this brand: http://www.scrapbookframe.com/ stores/online.shtml.The cover consists of a large web rub-on from Hambly, an intricate sticker from Narratives, the glass beads + Diamond Glaze combo on the bottom, and chipboard letters from Heidi Swapp.



Here's a close up look at what the glass beads + Diamond Glaze looks like when dry. Notice the lumps + bumps? It doesn't have to be this way, but I was ok with the result. A combination of my first time experimenting and not really caring if it was imperfect and lumpy and bumpy (also goes along with Halloween even more).

Here's a look at what you need to play: glass beads + Diamond Glaze (or some other dimensional adhesive - I also use Ranger's Glossy Accents).

Hard to totally see in this photo but these are literally little glass beads (rather than a fine powder such as glitter).

Here's an example of how you go about adhering the beads to your background. The blue sheet here is a piece of acrylic (with the backing left on the bottom so you could see where I was working). If you are wondering who makes acrylic sheets like this the company is called Grafix and they call the product: Plastic Craft Sheet.

Start out by defining the area you want your beads to adhere too. One of the cool things about Diamond Glaze (or Glossy Accents) is that you can actually set the area you want the adhesive to cover and it won't bleed (unless you pick it up and move it around).

Here's my defined area. On the album itself I adhered the rub on first and then used that as a guide for the bottom section. The thin tip is great for letting out just the right amount.

Here is the area filled in with Diamond Glaze. You can use your fingers to move it around and fill in the entire area.


Here is where I remembered that you shouldn't pick it up and tilt it - you can see now that my first example went outside the lines. Round two :).


After defining your area dump the glass beads directly onto the Diamond Glaze. Here I did just a sprinkling as an example but on the album I used a whole lot more to achieve the super thick layer I was after.Now let it sit (this is always the hardest part for me). It takes a bit for it to dry - I actually just put mine aside and let it sit over night. Now it is super solid.








Note from Jennifer: Stay tuned... the "regular" designers will post layouts on Wednesday morning. There is some fun stuff in there, so come on back!

It's Ali Edwards!

Come back on Monday and see what she has in store for us. It's a doozy, folks. AND, she is providing a copy of her book, Life Artist, as the RAK.

(Don't forget... you still have plenty of time to complete layout #3 as well)

First Guest Designer next week!

Ok, gals... hold on to your hats. We have a BIG guest host presenting our challenge next week, so be sure to stop by often and find out who she is. I'll reveal in the next couple days.

In the meantime, how about a couple hints...
(1) She lives west of the Mississippi
(2) She has one child

Any guesses???

Ok... here is another clue...
She has her own newsletter

Happy Method {between} Monday!!!

Just wanted to give everyone a little nudge to share their projects!
We have some wonderful submissions, but it would be really fun to see some more!
Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
B-

Challenge 2 Slideshow and Winner!

Thanks to everyone who participated in this challenge! You guys rock! You used household objects like curlers, screws, and potato mashers to yourselves - fingerprints and handprints. And a special shout-out to Karen, a digi-scrapper who did her very first paper layout! Whew... this was hard. There were so many fantastic layouts this week.

First, here are all the layouts:

And the winner is........

Emily Pitts!!!!!

Emily really outdid herself by stamping her background paper with a screw and a water bottle. It looks fabulous. So Emily, send us your addy so we can get your Studio Calico kit to you!

Sew are you ready for Challenge #3?

Sew cute!

Sew fun!

Sew easy!

Sew a frame!

Frames on a page help the eye distinguish areas of interest. Sewing creates these inexpensively, in any color you wish and in any style you can imagine!

I went a little crazy with the process, but I had a blast doing it! My first layer was clear, so I wanted to show the edge, so I hand stitched around the outside edge of the Hambly overlay.

The next layer of Basic Grey couldn't be glued down easily so it was sewn underneath the overlay so the chandelier was over the top. Next the Scenic Route layer was zig-zag stitched over the the chandlier and the Jenni Bowlin ledger was stitched over the top of that. Last of all I hand stitched the picture on with the pink DMC floss so that it would create a visual balance with the color of the chandelier and did the title and journaling work in the white space created by the stitched frames, creating visual columns in the project. A lot of sewing, but I saved a ton of money on adhesive, LOL!

Jen used sewing to create movement in the frame. It helps tell the story, and it is a beautiful feature in the layout as well by serving as a fantastic embellishment that brings a substantial amount of pop into the projects otherwise soothing colors, Sew fun!!!!

Deb selected a background paper that mimics the look of sewing, and her frame has the same straight stitch echoed in the design. And how clever is it that she is addressing her love for kids clothes from Gymboree, a company that is known for their darling stitching and attention to details, with similar accents, the tags from the clothes, and that pop of red hand stitching!

Sew...

your challenge is to sew a frame. Any kind of frame anywhere on your project. Journaling, photos or embellishments, sew a frame for them!

This is a great challenge for those who digi or do fusion projects, there are tons of stitched kits out there, I would love to see those projects as well, so please share!

Link your project in the comments and let us see what you have sewn!

There will be goodies for those who play, so play early and play often!

B-

Last Day for Challenge 2!

Post your creations to our Challenge 2 thread by midnight tonight to be eligible for the generous RAK donated by Studio Calico!