DIY Father's Day Photo Gifts

I'm a happy girl when DIY translates to photos-and-computer-skillz.  So, these projects were wonderful for me...and, with any luck, will be wonderfully received by the daddy's in my life! Click to enlarge...

First, for the Grandpas, I made these composite photos of all the offspring.  They had a riot with this!  I bought the MDF letters at Hobby Lobby for less than $2 each...and I only needed one P, A, O, and Y, since all the pictures are taken separately.  Honestly, that's the beauty of this project: only one child to coax a good expression out of for each photo!

I work in Photoshop Elements, but you can use any editing software to compile your photos.  You can just line-'em-up like I did for the PAPA project, or be fancy and use scrapbook products like the POPPY project.  I did one of each, because fitting five photos across made them too narrow to read properly.

The frames came from Walmart for $3 a piece (they're designed for two matted 4x6s, so the full opening is roughly 5x12).  Costco did my printing, as usual...$1.50 each.  Cut, frame, wrap, done.  Brilliant.

For Hubs, I downloaded this subway art that I found on Pinterest.  I covered over a section in the middle with square photos of him with each of the babies in the hospital on the day of their birth.  It's really a sweet personalization, and I'm thrilled with the way it turned out.

The download is sized for 11x14 (amazing!), but I chose to print at 8x10 so it can go on his desk if he wants.  Plus, that size frame is less expensive, right?  So, $4 for the frame and another buck-and-a-half to print.  Because, he almost never wears ties...

I can't wait to give these out tomorrow (or later in the week when I see my Dad).  I hope you have a fantastic Father's Day...love all you Dads!

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Hot Pink Faux Hawk

Yesterday was Pup's official birthday, and for a present, big bro #2 did this:

Faux Hawk digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits: Neon Love by Yellow Butterfly; Sketch: The Instinctive Scrapper; Fonts: Underwood Champion, You Are Loved

I was digging through my stash for a different kit and ran across this neon stuff, and I couldn't resist immediately scrapping these pictures!  And, bonus, I got to use another of my Pinterest-inspired sketches for it!

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Dear Ole Dad

I was happy to guest CT for a new kit called "Dear Ole Dad" that Nibbles Skribbles has released at Digital Scrapbooking Studio, just in time for Father's Day.

It's an adorable kit with a great mix of light and dark colors, perfect for all the men in your life (both young and old)!  It was the *perfect* collection for these old pics of Pup on Daddy's shoulders...just look at how their blue eyes shine!

On Daddy's Shoulders digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Digital Kit: Dear Ole Dad by Nibbles Skribbles; Sketch: The Instinctive Scrapper; Fonts: Grant's Ghosts, Underwood Champion

Click over and pick it up today!

P.S.  I finally got a chance with this layout to use one of my own Pinterest-Inspired Sketches!  Check it out!

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The Angry Birds Party

Birthday parties are kind of a big deal at our house.  Not big as in lots of people come over...but big as in each kids gets to plan their own theme and menu and decorations.  With five kids on board now, birthdays are one way we try to make sure that they each get something special, just for them.

Son #2 had his big friend party this year (see "Fiesta!"), so we decided to combine his family party with Pup's.  Fortunately, Pup was totally in favor of it...because they both wanted Angry Birds.  Easy enough!

Balloon Angry Birds bombed balloon King Pigs in a cardboard fort in the entryway, and flew on black streamer garlands above the dining table!  They were made using the fabulous printables here.  I used 9" balloons for my characters, so I shrunk the templates by half; they're definitely made for larger sized balloons.  The pieces are stuck on with double-sided tape.  These were a *huge* hit with the boys...in fact, they want to make another batch for a craft day later this summer!

We ended up with a morning party, so we had breakfast casseroles (golden eggs, anyone?), pancake-dipped apple slices, blackberries and raspberries, and blueberry butterscotch coffee"cup"cakes for dessert.  I made the toppers by printing out two sets of these, and hot-gluing them back-to-back with a toothpick in the middle.  Mild warning: these toppers aren't super high resolution and printed fairly blurry.  By this point in the party prep, though, I decided not to care... ;)  There are several different versions of toppers on Pinterest that you could investigate, though.

I still haven't found the magic camera settings to make indoor shots in our new house look good, so I don't have any pictures of the present-madness to share...but I did use this invitation template to make a gift certificate for Son #2 to go to soccer camp this summer.  The original has the red Angry Bird in flight, but I changed it to the soccer ball...'cause I'm theme-y like that!  That blog has a link to the Angry Birds typeface, or you can get to it from here.

Since this was just our family party, we didn't need games or favors...but we had a pretty great time, anyway!

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DIY Teacher Gifts, Part 4

Yesterday was the last day of school, and Son #1 brought his gift to his teacher.  She loves jewelry, especially chunky pieces...#1 observed both of these things about her, and immediately decided on this bracelet when browsing my DIY Pinterest board.

#1 further observed that her favorite color is purple, so we chose this violet, blue and pink batik.  The smallest length I could buy was 1/8 yard, so it cost something like fifty cents...and I only used a quarter of the piece before I decided the flower was big enough.  I used the same rolling-and-gluing technique the tutorial describes, and it's super easy.

To attach the bracelet (which I found for $2 at Meijer), I glued three beads to the underside of the flower.  Then I sewed some tiny stitches between the outside beads to secure really secure it.  It's hard to see clearly, but that's why I've so thoughtfully added the arrow to the picture... ;)

The finished product is pretty cute.  #1 clearly enjoys it (hahaha!), and he said his teacher was very happy with it.  She asked him how he knew that purple was her favorite, and he said, "I've seen you wear it more than once."

Some girl is gonna luck out with this one as a husband someday!

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Two *More* Men in the House

At least one is inanimate.  He's a ceramic frog.  That lives in a glass bowl with a free goldfish that Son #2 won at school yesterday.  And then spent $14 on supplies for.

I know they say that there's no such thing as a free cat.  Same apparently applies to goldfish.

But #2 is completely enamored with this whole set-up, because, finally, he has a pet all of his own.  And, as long as he flushes it himself when the time comes, I'm totally up for it!

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to Frazier the fish...

...and Ali the bullfrog!

The boys decided to name the fish after Joe Frazier, the boxer, so we had to be all theme-y and name the frog after one, too!  Turns out to be a good match, because it seems that Ali has already lost an eye overnight...

These two are bound for greatness, I tell you!  At least for a month.  That's #2's goal for how long he can keep this fish alive...  I'll tell you how it goes.

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DIY Teacher Gifts, Part 3 (and a freebie!)

Son #2 and his third grade teacher kinda bonded over their mutual love of coffee with French Vanilla creamer. It started the morning that I made new inserts for the kids' travel mugs so they could take coffee or cocoa on their chilly walk to school.  (His is the Dog Whisperer one...)

It was natural, then, that he wanted to give her something coffee-related as her appreciation gift.  So, when he spotted this on Pinterest, the search was over.  Click pictures to enlarge...

This packaging is a riot.  Just ask for a cup, lid and straw from the barista when you buy your gift card.  Easy peasy!  I had it all put together last night and was printing the tag when Hubs came home from a meeting and asked when I had gone out for coffee...it looks that *awesome*!

The inspiration instructions say to stuff the bottom with brown tissue paper.  Well, I didn't have any of that; but I have stacks of scrapbooking paper, including this *awesome* (that's #2's favorite word, after all) brown sheet with sort of a subtle mottled print.  Looks exactly like iced coffee!  I tinkered around a bit and finally came up with a template to cut out and insert into the cup.

I used a piece of scotch tape to keep it rolled just right.  Then, just pop in your gift card and top off with some white tissue paper and the lid.  This is a perfect chance to use some leftover tissue, because it looks *awesome* no matter how wrinkled it is.  Full disclosure: I think I used a piece that was packaging from #2's brand new tennis shoes!

I tied on the tag by running some embroidery floss right through the tag and straw with a needle. It seemed nicer than just taping it on somewhere...I'm a little silly like that.

He pretty much loved it ("That's *awesome*, Mom!").  And, to make it *awesome-r* yet, I've made printable templates for both the cup insert and the tag!  WOOT!

(That's *my* favorite word!)

        

 Just click the image to download!  Enjoy!

You may also like: DIY Teacher Gifts, Part 1 and Part 2!

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DIY Teacher Gifts, Part 2

Banana decided, predictably, to give her Kindergarten teacher flowers as an end-of-the-year gift.  And she wanted her to have them early so she can set them on her desk for a while...so, she's taking them in tomorrow, a week before school actually closes.

Like Pup (DIY Teacher Gifts, Part 1), she chose her gift from this fantastic, comprehensive list we found on Pinterest.  This blog has dozens of great ideas, and she chose the colored pencil flower vase (number 13 on the list).  You can click the photos to enlarge...

This project is wonderfully simple.  I used a small coffee can and hot glued colored pencils to it.  I expected to get the pencils from the dollar store, but ended up with regular #2 pencils that had colored barrels from Walmart, instead.  I needed two 24-count boxes of the colored variety at $1.12 each and one smaller package of the standard yellow pencils at less than fifty cents.

The inspiration project had the pencils arranged on a diagonal, but it worked better for us to go vertical because the pencils were unsharpened.  Frankly, I like it better this way...I like not having the pointy tops!  I had originally bought yellow ruler-print ribbon for this, but Banana fell in love with this pre-tied red grosgrain from my ribbon stash.  And, since it is *her* gift...I obliged, and used the ruler stuff on Pup's projects instead.

The bloom tag comes from the same pin, farther down the list at #29.  As usual, I couldn't leave well enough alone and ended up altering it slightly to include Banana's name.  The download comes in three colors, too, so it will match any flowers you choose!  We just cut it out and stuck it to the ribbon with a pop-dot so it will come off later for her teacher.

A recycled salsa jar was a perfect snug fit to hold the flowers, and she's good to go!

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Be on the SC Design Team!

Scrapbook Challenges is having our semi-annual Design Team call!  All the information is available here at the SC blog.  You have until June 16 to fill out the online application form and do a layout based on this sketch:

It's a super-versatile sketch.  I went the clean-and-simple route with this one...

Happiness digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Digital Kit: Cherish Mini Kit by Megan Turnridge; Digital Elements: Autumnal Elements by Erica Coombs; Word Art:  Meadowlark Word Art Mini by One Little Bird; Overlay: Weathered Overlays 2 by Celeste Knight; Sketch: Brynn Marie for Scrapbook Challenges; Font: I Love Derwin

This is definitely a team you want to be part of!  I've been here for about 18 months, and I love it.  It's a wonderful, encouraging group of scrappers and the pace is enough to keep me inspired but let me live my life, too!  If you've ever considered being part of a design team, I highly recommend filling out the application today!

Good luck!

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Hone Your Instincts: Creating a Double-Page Background

I've been doing a lot more double-page layouts lately. We've been offering them every week with the sketches at Scrapbook Challenges, and my quarterly sketch design gig at Scrap n' Art Magazine has me constantly thinking in two-page terms also.

I have kind of a digi pet-peeve about double-page spreads, though...I hate it when the beautiful edge treatments of my background paper form an awkward stripe down the center of my page!  I want the final effect to be that I added that treatment around my completed layout, not that I used two sheets of paper that already had it done.  Know what I mean?

So, here's my technique to create a seamless background for your two-page digi layouts... I'm using PSE7 for this tutorial, but the basic steps will be the same in any program that uses layers.

Step 1:  Place your background paper and slide it all the way to one side of your canvas.  Duplicate the layer, and slide it to the other side.  See how the blue line formed where the sprayed edge treatment meets in the middle?  I don't like that...

Step 2:  Duplicate the paper one more time, and place it in the middle of the canvas.  Now move this layer below the first two so you see the center line again.  It'll look like this:

Step 3:  Select your eraser tool.  Pick out a nice big brush.  I've used a 200 pixel soft round brush because I like the way it blends and doesn't leave behind hard lines.

Step 4:  Select one of your top layers and simply erase the center line.  Your very bottom layer will show through, filling the void and creating a seamless background.  Select your other top layer and repeat.  Take special care erasing at the top and bottom so the edge treatment blends nicely with the bottom layer.  Now it looks like you intentionally treated the edges of a double-page layout, rather than sliding together two single sheets.  I think it's much sleeker.

Step 5:  Select all three layers of the background paper and merge them into a single layer.  This will make your layer palette less confusing as you build the rest of your layout.

Soccer Star digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Digital Kits: Let's Go Mini by Robyn Meierotto, Kitschy Hearts by Akizo; Frames: Old Vintage Paper Frames II by Maybemej; Sketch: 297 by Scrapbook Challenges; Fonts: Carbon Type, I Love Derwin

And a couple more examples from my archives...see how the edge treatment goes around the whole layout and not down the center?

Evan Rocks digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Digital Kit: Birthday Boy by Faith True; Sketch: 281 by Scrapbook Challenges; Font: Baby Boston

EPIC digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Blue and Orange Papers, Mask: Crazy Kit by SAS Designs; Grid Paper: Sea Wonders Kit by Isabel Mendez; Brush: Arrows by Lucaliverti; Brush: Dynamic Stitching Brushes by Amanda Sok; Sketch: Katherine Hanson; Font: Joyful Juliana

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CK and Me

I loved this page from Maggie Holmes in the May/June 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine, so I whipped up my own little scraplift of it... and CK put it on their blog this morning!  Woot!

Football Star by Maggie Holmes, May/June 2012 Creating Keepsakes page 72.

First Smile digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Digital Kit: Spring Freebie by Just Jaimee; Banners: Tied Up Banners by Kitty Designs; Fonts: Missed Your Exit, My Own Topher, Underwood Champion

Thanks, CK!

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DIY Teacher Gifts, Part 1

This article has moved to our new website.  Please visit

Hobnail House

for the full content.  Thank you!

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SC Sketch Round-Up

It's time for another rousing rendition of Scrapbook Challenges Sketch Round-Up!  Which really only means that I haven't posted any sketches in a while, and I need to appease my guilt about it!  As always, sketches are linked to the SC forums and you can click to enlarge... So, here goes!

Sketch 291

 Direction digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Digital Papers: Be Unique by Karen Funk; Word Art: balancinghome.com; Embellishments: Direction Elements by Robyn Meierotto; Clipping Masks: Cut It Out by Robyn Meierotto; Brad: Simply Boyish by Karen Funk; Sketch: 291 by Scrapbook Challenges; Font: Lithos Pro

Sketch 293 Double

Waterboys digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Digital Kit: Sports-Football by Sahlin Studio; Sketch: 293 by Scrapbook Challenges; Font: Underwood Champion

Sketch 294

Cozy Together digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Digital Kits: Yesterday's Jam by One Story Down, iNSD 2012 Collab by MScraps; Clipping Mask: Cut It Out by Robyn Meierotto; Sketch: 294 by Scrapbook Challenges; Font: Courtney Dorkling

Sketch 295

Six Candles digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Lined Paper: Line It Up by Amy Martin; Patterned Papers: DayGlo by Shannon Hegarty; Elements, Alpha: Hoppy Birthday Collab by The Lilypad; Sketch: 295 by Scrapbook Challenges; Font: Traveling Typewriter

Sketch 296 Double

You're My Happiness digital scrapbooking layout by Chanell Rigterink Credits Digital Kit: Retrospect by Design House Digitals; Kraft Paper: Whiteout Papers by Audrey Neal; Journal Cards: Favorite Things 2 by Gennifer Bursett; Sketch: 296 by Scrapbook Challenges; Fonts: Gill Sans MT Condensed, Carbon Type

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