After yesterday's post, I decided to share a version of a post that originally appeared on my blog in July 2007 (almost ten years ago - wow!). I edited it a bit for clarity and relevance. Also, many of the websites I referenced in the original article are long gone. I think you might find it interesting thinking about how to ride that ripple from inspiration to finished project. When I first started scrapbooking, I had a lot of trouble using sketches as the basis for layouts. I couldn’t understand why people were so hot to trot for them. Every... Read more →

As you know, every other Wednesday, Altered Pencil Lines debuts a set of very cool non-scrapbooking projects inspired by scrapbooking sketches. In case you missed it, here is my project from two weeks ago: The background is painted with acrylic paints. The flower is patterned paper, covered with a thin coat of gesso, outlined with a black marker, colored with colored pencils, and then silhouette cut. (From a technique by Emine Pala found here.) The words are all vinyl stickers from Staples (friend to the city gal without a scrapbooking store). During the in-between weeks, Altered Pencil Lines features an... Read more →

A new week of fabulous stuff from the amazing girls at Altered Pencil Lines! This week, my project was based on a wonderful technique by Emine Pala. You can find her tutorial here: Serendipity Scrapbooks. Don't forget to check out the Altered Pencil Lines blog for some inspiration! Read more →

Check out the blog for this week's installment of fabulous creations! I had originally wanted to sew something, but my machine is in the shop for a tune up. So, I used my embellisher (needle felting machine) to make a sunglass case. If you like felting, there's also a darling felt bag that Anam made for this week's challenge. All of it can be seen here. Later! Read more →

What is an altered item? As an adjective, dictionary.com defines the word "altered" as: "Changed in form or character without becoming something else." As a verb, the word is defined as: "To change or make different; modify." In the scrapping world, it has become an absolute "must" to be able to alter items. Some common examples include: clipboards decorated with patterned paper and scrapbooking embellishments, clock faces covered with patterned paper, and boxes of all sizes covered in patterned paper and decorated with all manner of embellishments. Most Design Teams require you to submit at least one altered item per... Read more →

I wanted to let you know that Craft Critique is holding a contest with a big goodie giveaway! We're looking for celebration-related projects. All you have to do is e-mail a photo or scan to [email protected]. You can find more information here. Also, new projects from the Altered Pencil Lines team are up! And, on Wednesday, an article I wrote on how to use a scrapbooking sketch to inspire altered items will appear. I hope you'll check it out! Read more →

This is going to be a truly miscellaneous post. I've got a lot of little things to share. GETTING HOME I'm back from Milwaukee and the Bead & Button Show a day late. After waiting in the airport and the plane for 6 hours, they cancelled my flight. I trundled off to a charming airport hotel for the evening and flew back to NYC this morning. As disgruntled as I am about being delayed, the good news is I didn't have anything scheduled for today that I missed. So, I've decided that I'm lucky. (Especially because the people in front... Read more →

The first group of projects for the Altered Pencil Lines challenge is up! Here is an image of my sketchbook where I figured out what I was going to do: You can see the inspiration sketch on the left and my designs (and sewing math) on the right. Here's a bigger image of the final product: The purse is all cotton, with a cotton lining (I even put in two pockets -- one for a cell phone and one for whatever else). It closes by tying a beautiful silk ribbon. The large placard, which says "If at first you don't... Read more →