Challenge #6 - Last addition 04/02/08

This past week just seemed to fly! Don't forget, you can always come back and do the older challenges and I'll get them added! The archive on the right will also show the last date that each challenge has had an addition to it so you can see if there's any new inspiration.

For this week, we're heading back in Making Memories history to the early "Details" era. Remember the excitement when the first Details line came out? All those metal embellishments we swooned over and collected. And then Details 2 came out. And we bought more metal. And more, lol! So this week, let's try to use some of them - the plaques, the eyelet charms, ribbon buckles, frames, corners, etc. The really old stuff, now, no fair cheating and using any of their newer products! If it's not that pewter color, it's not old enough! I know full well how much of this stuff I have hanging around...I'd be willing to bet I'm not the only one! I know a lot of it always seemed so heavy for a layout, but let me tell you, as I was pulling out some of this for the photo, I got pretty excited about using it on something altered though!!! Alright, ladies, let's see what you can do with these types of metal oldies but goodies!!!

Deb N mentioned in her blog that this is a 15 minute card! And gorgeous - I love how the metal frame doesn't even look the same when the center is covered with that flower!

Alana used lots of the older Making Memories metal products in this adorable two-page 6x6 layout! I LOVE how cute the little tags look peeking out from behind the photo!

Aimeslee made this adorable birthday card for this challenge. She used the really old frames to frame a metal diecut that she added her own color to - definitely a fun idea!

Published with a challenge item!

Wow - I totally forgot all about this!! I had a project picked up for the Layout Blueprints 2 book that is finally almost ready to release. I just went to the website to see the preview and my project is in the preview AND...I used Magic Mesh, lol! Even funnier - same color as I used on two of the items I did for the challenge a few weeks ago!

Anyone else getting any of our challenge products published yet? This is how we can bring them back, after all! :) Be sure to let us know if you do! I can always pull your projects from the blog for this too, if needed!

Challenge #5 - last addition 03/25/08

Well, we've been at it for a full month now - anyone making any headway in their stash yet? I have to admit, it's been a lot of fun playing with some of my older, forgotten products. Reaching back to the days when I first became a supply addict (does this count as a 12-step program?) and remembering why I love paper crafting!

One of my first addictions, personally, was punches. Oh but not just any punch, I had to have all the oddball shapes and specialty punches! Admit it, you have some too! The moose (hello, I've never seen a moose - I live in Central Illinois. We have cows), the baby buggy, the frog...you get the picture. I remember pre-ordering constantly to make sure I had the brand new ones when they first hit. There was a really good online store that I just can't remember the name of but she always had every punch under the sun and always had the new ones first. I was in awe, lol! And remember swapping punches? You'd stay up all night punching a thousand of those darned frogs (to get some use out of the punch, lol) and make up 20 little baggies, send them in and get 20 little baggies of various other punchies you'd never find a use for...yea. I recently came across my punchie collection and gave my son a BOX full of them - he's in heaven, lol! That's where this picture came from - I just grabbed a handful. I have a house full of extra kids and really wish I'd done this post last night when there wasn't so much commotion!



So this week let's pull some of those out. Some, like me, may need to "borrow" them back from their kids, but let's use those specialty shape punches. No fair using your squares and circles and flowers that are still commonly used (unless you're going to create...drumroll, please...punchart! Remember that?). Pull out your earliest punches and have some fun! Let's see who can use the funkiest old punches! Sharks and snails, anyone?

Deb N has created an adorable card using the tulip punch from EK - I'm pretty sure that was in the original set of Paper Shapers so this little cutie is super old! And Deb has managed to make it look so fresh and fun that I might have to go steal mine back from my kiddo...

Stef made this gorgeous wreath card with a Martha Stewart punch. Which I now must have. Darn it, Stef! I have the old fern punch though, which is close. It was actually originally sold through the Martha Stewart website, if I remember correctly! Years before she got into the scrapbook arena.

Aimeslee has two more ATC's for us this week...look! The frog I mentioned, lol! I am really starting to fall in love with ATC's now too - cute little creative expressions about basically a blurb of life! I REALLY have to try these! But first I need to go hunt down some lilac bushes to see if they're in bloom here yet - those are my favorite!!

Challenge #4 - last addition 03/20/08

Happy Friday, everyone! Just a quick note to be sure to go back and browse the earlier challenges - we've had some new additions to inspire you!

For this week, we're going to work with those bottlecaps! Several companies came out with decorated bottle caps back in "the day" - Li'l Davis Designs, EK Success, and let's not forget all the cute colored ones that Design Originals did! For those of you who have purged them from your scrapbooking stash...hey, it's a great excuse to go have a beer, right? I even found a tutorial here for making them digitally! And of course, they ARE still available!

Fair warning - if you dump them out like this, feline household members WILL be excited...I think mine took off with one or two.

I really had forgotten just how versatile these are until I was browsing around looking for info to link for inspiration. For the basics (in case you've forgotten), here are instructions for flattening them. Here is a great page on stamping on them. I love that they mention using a hammer to texturize them - anyone have a Tim Holtz hammer to test an update to that technique? Speaking of Tim, don't forget alcohol inks do spectacular things with bottle caps! Here is another page with ideas for using them - love the closure idea!

All right - let's see what you can all do!! Link me in the comments or in an email and I'll add them to the post for everyone's inspiration! Check back often to see what everyone else is doing to bring back bottle caps!

Pauline was the first to finish this challenge (welcome!) this week and look! Bonus points for using a zipper too! Very cute!

Here's an altered wood frame from me. I seem to have forgotten any technique I used to have for flattening these buggers but I think I should have probably been doing it on the floor instead of my table (I had a mat to protect the table but the bounce was too much, I think).

Aimeslee has some more ATC's for us this week! If you check her blog she also has pics of the process of squashing bottlecaps with the original Sizzix machine (with the sandwich "recipe" too!). I especially just LOVE the sunflower one with the sun stamped into the bottlecap!

Aimeslee also tested the Crop-A-Dile on her bottlecaps and not only did it work, but she found a USE for the bottlecaps in attaching ribbons to her card box to make a handle! How cute is that (not to mention inspiring since I'm playing with making Easter baskets at the moment, lol!)

Challenge #3 - last addition 3/13/08

Ok. I've been trying to type this up for 20 minutes to have it ready for the morning but got totally sucked into Celebrity Apprentice. LOL - sorry for the hijack but I was laughing so hard I actually cried. Did Omarosa seriously try to OUT Piers Morgan as her defense as to how he beat her soooo badly? Blogger needs an eye-rolling smiley to insert here! Too funny! Piers kissing Trace Adkins on the cheek was even funnier (even though Trace didn't get it at ALL, lol)!

Sorry - hijack over! On to the next challenge. Now I KNOW everyone can join in on this one! We're going to dig into those FIBERS next! Come on, I know I wasn't the only one who lived at Fibers By the Yard until I figured out they were just specialty yarns. Remember swapping fibers? You'd go out and buy a skein of eyelash yarn and cut up a yard for each person in the swap and STILL have 3/4 of a skein left... Now you can get that same yarn on clearance at Michael's and Hobby Lobby for about a dollar.



And no, this isn't my stash...this is an Ebay auction you missed, lol! Went for over $30 so someone out there is still using fibers, they just aren't that "must have" item they used to be and could be again if we can bring it back!

FBTY may be gone, but there IS still a similar online store around! Yikes - I still HAVE a few of their collections, lol! On the Fringe.

Here is a page they have with ways to use fibers. Hehe - and sketches that look like "I" drew them! I just knew I had talent! Still need that eyeroll smiley!

Here is another page about using fibers (aside from scarf-making, which I also dabbled in as a way to try to whittle down my stash...).

I was hunting around for links to share and somehow came across an oldie but a goodie that I had forgotten ALL about - anyone else remember the Provo Craft "Hug Club"? The origin of hybrid scrapping!!! Sigh - those were the days! How come I could print those off and use them over and over (now, I said I used them, not that it looked good...) and yet now the thought of hybrid just freezes me up completely? Sorry for yet another hijack, lol, but this just made me smile. I doubt enough people were ever into these enough that it would be a challenge (maybe a part of a challenge though, hmmm) but I wanted to reminisce and you guys actually GET that, lol!

So let's get out those fibers, ladies! We're coming up on Easter - maybe we could fall back on the old kids' craft of dipping them in a glue and water mix and covering a balloon with them to create yarn eggs...surely we could find some ways to embellish those further with all of our supplies...



Stef joined us this week and took care of two challenges at once with this adorable card! I know ribbon has replaced fibers as the "go to" item, but this combination of fibers reminds me why I always loved fibers better! Soft and pretty and more...organic, I guess is the word I'm looking for, than ribbon!



Deb N combined this challenge with a "kitty" challenge from another blog and ended up with a card that I think MY cat would love to play with, lol! I love the fibers with chipboard and even more hanging off of the metal tab! I just gotta say it again - ribbon just doesn't have the same appeal to me! Look how prettily the yarns cascade!



Aimeslee has REALLY been raiding her stash of fibers!! Tons of ATC's and cards with nice soft touches of fibers! And I'm just loving all the Irish themes for St. Patrick's Day!!

Challenge #2 - last addition 04/01/08

We're off to a great start! Don't forget to go back and check out all the ways Magic Mesh was used - it's a pretty timeless product and it really showed in how well it went with current products!

Our next challenge will be to incorporate slide mounts into a project. Again, I have to admit I have a seriously embarassing stash of these - plastic, cardboard, paper, printed (eek)...I even have a slide mount punch! So let's see what we can do with these babies!



I did a quick google search when I was looking for a picture to use (sorry, after being the only crazy lady with enough Magic Mesh to actually make the life-sized bust I joked about I'm not going to admit to how many slide mounts I have!). I came across a challenge at Creating Keepsakes that had some ideas. I had to laugh because some of the ideas showed the age of the article (yup, during the actual slide mount craze!) with the product used! Mesh, alphabet beads... Interestingly enough though, you'll also see early uses of transparencies too!

And another article from Scrapbooking 101 (dated August 2005) with some reminders on how to cover them in case we've forgotten!

And LOOK! I found a blog entry using the Dottie Ann Magic Mesh to cover a slide mount here - from last month!!!!! It's definitely time to be bringing these items back!!

When you're ready to share, simply leave a comment with a link or email me at michaelcsmommy@yahoo.com and I'll get it up as soon as I can. Also, don't forget to send me a link to your gallery or blog if you'd like to share!

It's never too late - everyone is ALWAYS welcome to hop in at any time and go back to previous challenges as well! So browse through every so often! I'll start changing the title of each post to include the last date I edited with a new addition so you can see easily if there's one you might want to go back and check out!

Ok. So Debbi made me feel bad - I just finally added my Mesh projects today and here she is already with the slide mount challenge done! What a cool idea to do an entire background using slide mounts with different coordinating papers! Way to be on top of things with new ideas!



Wow - I guess not as many people had slide mounts? Well, Deb N has chimed in with her project and this card is gorgeous! All kind of vintage goodies make that slide mount look like a million bucks there as a little frame for that vintage image! Ugh - although her gorgeous photography makes me feel soooo inadequate though, lol!




Aimeslee put together several ATC's using slide mounts that have been stamped and painted - how cute are these! The Paris one is my favorite - love the little polka dots!!!




And here's a super quick project of mine using the pre-printed slide mounts from Design Originals. Gotta love those five minute decorative projects! Candle holders are just too easy!

Deb N has sent in another 15 minute card for us! This turned out beautifully (I love the ribbons tied to the side of the slide!) and now I'm just jealous about the whole 15 minutes thing, lol! She does amazing things in just a quarter hour!

Well, we're halfway through the first challenge!

So far we have three players so scroll down on the challenge post to see what they've done with our old faithful Magic Mesh! I think I just might be falling back in love with it! Yeah, yeah, I know, I haven't finished my own challenge yet, lol! Almost done!

Also, I've added a link list on the righthand side to see more from those who play (I love finding something I love then going back to see what ELSE the creator comes up with!). I have linked to whatever I could find quickly, be it a blog or a gallery. If you would like something different as your link OR if you would prefer NOT to be linked, please let me know and I'll make the changes immediately. In the future, if you'd please all add to your email or comment whatever blog or gallery you'd like to share from yourself, I'd appreciate it!

Alright, ladies, now that we've got some inspiration, what can YOU come up with? Can't wait to see!! Keep checking back for more inspiration and to cheer each other on!

Challenge #1 - last addition 3/28/08

Everybody ready? By an overwhelming majority (lol, which was 7 votes), we're going to start our first challenge with Magic Mesh. Now Magic Mesh is still available so it's not an old, discontinued thing we just have hanging around. However, once upon a time, this was THE hot product around! We all went out and bought it in every color and collected it like it was going out of style...Oops! It went out of style!

Whether the cool kids are playing with it or not, Magic Mesh is still an extremely versatile product and adds great texture without bulk. Check out the link to the website - they have tons of ideas there, including a whole page on therapeutic uses! They've done their homework to find lots of uses for their product, now it's our turn.

Simply link to your project in the comment section or email it to me at michaelcsmommy@yahoo.com and I'll add them all to the main post for everyone to be inspired - don't forget to submit them for publication! At the very least, send your creation directly to Magic Mesh here - I'm sure they'd be thrilled to see new ideas with their product too! We're bringing Magic Mesh back this week!!! If you've used an interesting technique, please share how you did it too! Check back often to see inspiration from others taking the challenge. Since I'll be adding them to this post I don't know that the RSS feeds will let you know or not!

And yikes - someone please tell me I'm not the only one with this kind of a stash, lol! And take a picture to share so I don't feel so bad! And you thought I was kidding when I said I had a lot...and that I was doing this challenge for you...it's for me!

A note about the widget on the righthand side of the page! This is called a Blidget. If you click on "get this widget", you can take this feed pretty much anywhere - your blog, your Myspace, your Pageflakes (this is where I have a bunch - love this!) homepage, etc. When you click on it, it will walk you through where you want to put it - totally idiot proof, I promise! You can also change the color if you don't want the obnoxious orange to clash with your own page. Yea, I know, I'm turning into a blog geek but still can't figure out how to do a header, lol! I'm working on that, I promise!

Debbi T is our first challenge player finished! Look how great the red Magic Mesh pulls out the red from the photos (I totally bow down to your photography skills too!!) and really goes perfectly with all the linear aspects of this layout! Yay Debbi!

Here's Alana's take on the magic Mesh. Green mesh gives a whole different look to the leaves for the flowers in this layout! AND, she used some more mesh as part of her background - how cool does that look! And is her niece a doll or what! I swear, I had a "Jenny" doll when I was really young and she looks JUST like her!

Ha! I found a picture! I LOVED this doll when I was really little and every time I scroll past this layout I can't help but think of her! Sorry - hijack over, lol!

Karen used just tiny amounts to give lots of texture to a couple of layered page elements. It only take a touch to make an impact! Are we starting to remember what we loved about Magic Mesh? :) I heart this layout!

Lisa used another form of mesh as a great accent, bringing out the red from her son's shirt. It takes on a much softer look when it's not in perfect grid formation and goes great with the scallops and swirls. I love the layered patterned paper to the left of it too - way to use lots of product!!

Janet used Magic Mesh as journaling lines - how clever is that! I have a horrible tendency to slant my handwriting so I'm going to have to try this! Click on it for a closeup - cut that thin the MM ends up looking like little picket fencing too!

Aimslee has done two ATC's using the Dottie Ann Magic Mesh. Totally clever and the mesh looks completely fresh as a way to add texture to her "ground" in both. Used once with a grassy effect and one with snow!

Ok, and here's mine! Simple little harvest mini basket and this rust color was just perfect! I also used Twistart (similar to Twistel but not variegated and a little narrower).


And one more from me. This was a really inexpensive bracelet blank and I used the scraps from the project above (with all the colors I have, this just seemed to be the one screaming out "Pick ME, choose ME, love ME!"). Added a layer of glossy accents and then some Prima's with copper Scribbles as the centers. Project time - about 10 minutes. Drying time - about 2 hours.



Deb used some Dottie Ann Magic Mesh to give a gorgeous pop of color to this card. And look how well it goes with the stamp too!!


Aimeslee sent me two more ATC's (man I need to try these!) for this challenge! She's been a busy girl - check out challenges 2 and 3 for more - way to go for working into that stash!!!

Another one from me. A simple inexpensive votive holder, some Magic Mesh and strip of Zsiage paper and a few Prima's! Totally quick and easy!

Els sent in this darling card with a mesh background. I don't have a link to a gallery or blog for her yet but can't wait to see more from her!!