September Blog Hop

Hey Crafters!  It’s time for our monthly blog hop!  If you came here from Amanda’s page, you are in the right place!  Keep reading to find out how you can win a prize from Crafty Neighbor.

In case you haven’t noticed, there are a few changes this time around!  First and foremost, you might have noticed that we did not start the hop on the 15^th.  This month’s hop will be a bit shorter and will run from the 20^th through the 30^th, with the prize winner being posted on the 1^st (so be sure to come back to see if you won our prize drawing!)  The other big change this month is our new name.  We are now called the Creative Crafters Blog Hop.  Thanks to Amanda Woodward for coming up with the new name, and thanks to Laura for designing this month’s logo.

This month’s theme was “Make a Wish”, and I dug up these pictures of my son, Steven, when he turned 14 (wasn’t he cute?).  I really wanted to go for a loud and happy page, so I mixed a bunch of bright colors and I used an assortment of patterned papers to roll up some 3-D candles.  The flames were made with the tiny ornament from Stampin’ Up’s “Merry Minis” punch pack.  I got the idea for the “make a wish” background from the card pictured here.  I simply made a word document and played with the font and alignment until I got it to look how I wanted.

The real challenge on this page was creating the black and white chevron paper.  I used Heidi Swapp’s “Mistables” with black Memento ink.  If you haven’t used these before, they are pre-embossed white cardstock designed to be sprayed with “Color Shine” or other similar links to create custom patterned papers.  I wanted the look of crisp black and white, but I didn’t have a black spray ink, so I decided to try my hand at sponging on the ink instead.  I had to experiment with a couple of different kinds of ink to get it to work.  I started with Ranger’s “Archival Ink, but it had a purple tint and it did not wipe off the resist areas.  Stampin’ Up’s Basic Black ink had a similar purple tint.  My Tim Holtz “Black Soot” distress ink was all dried up, so I couldn’t try that one.  I wound up using Memento ink with an ink-blending tool.  It gave great coverage and most of the ink wiped off the resist areas with a paper towel.  I went back over it with a baby wipe to get the last bit.  Conclusion:  sponged inks will work in a pinch, but they don’t give the crisp inked look and easy cleanup of the spray inks.

I hope you liked my layout for this month’s hop.  Post a comment below and tell me your biggest scrapbook wish for a chance to win a scrapbook grab bag valued at over $25.  And before time runs out, please go check out the other blogs in our hop for a chance to win even more prizes.  Your next stop is Connie Creates 2 by Connie Walsh.  Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget to come back on October 1^st when we announce the winners!