KittyKard Interruptus

As we tried to go about our day today - Louis - the inspiration for the KittyKards logo - just had to claim his share of the down time. Here, Bill is trying to read The New Yorker magazine.

Tonight, I actually went through the trouble of taking out my crafting supplies to make a card - see below. When I got up to get something, I turned around, and look who claimed his spot in my work area!! But he is sooo cute!!

I did manage to create these cards... not too bad if I do say so myself. My mom (studiobeecreations.blogspot.com) suggested the ribbon embellishment. Such a smart lady!

The photo corners are 2 of 3 on one Quickutz die. The striped paper I found on sale when one store was getting rid of the last of its Chatterbox. I tore the edge to distress it and used distressing ink for further effect. The swirley border is from Stampin Up. The paper frames I cut using my paper cutter and corner rounder. The circle and images I created from a Quickutz die and matching stamp set.

Come back soon for another scrapbook page entry and thank you!

Music and Scrapbook Pages - Part 13 - Pops on Bernstein

This page I made shortly after receiving the most excellent corner rounder from Creative Memories. All of the sudden I found that just about everything should have rounded corners!!

The off-set pictures of the top-billed performers I clipped from the 2nd program will always get at these events. I used very low pop dots for the pics. I wanted to color up the embellishments on this page, so I chose the green card stock for the narrative piece. The font is actually my handwriting made into a font - a birthday gift from my husband so I could "write" in any color and any font size. Very cool!

I also used green distressing ink on the Boston Pops logo piece and the program sheets to tie in the green.

To sparkle it up, I placed small dots of stickles on the program pages. Bernstein's name is spelled out in these really cool stickers - I actually broke down and used some alphabet letters - a huge step for me!

The music note is stamped and embossed in black. The rest of the performers pics - also from the program - are laid out in no particular order, but in more even spaces rather than scattered.

Bill's talents return for the next posting for a page on a more intimate musical performance.

Music and Scrapbook Pages - Part 12 - Salute to Oscar and Tony

This was a great program - a Boston Pops Salute to Oscar and Tony (as in the awards for film and stage). Once I picked the paper, it really informed how I would decorate the page.

I used brown ink to distress the program pages and make them pop - almost framing them. I also carefully cut some gold sheen paper to shadow and frame the program sheets. I cut the pictures of the two singers and framed them with ribbon and string using brads for one and plastic embellishment notes for the other as "photo corners". I also used Quickutz dies cuts from the left over gold paper almost mimicking the whimsical Boston Pops logo.

The G clef border on the right side of the page was sent to me by my mom and helps add some continuity to the black notes and G clef used on the corners of the one photo.

Picking fonts to use for each page can be a very particular process. I chose what I thought was a fairly elegant and still fun font to write the narrative for this page. But, there was already so much of the white paper with shiny, gold musical staff lines and notes covered by embellishment and decoration, I didn't what the narrative to also cover the paper. So, I printed it on some sticker paper, even choosing red and blue font color for Stars and Stripes Forever.

Remember that sheet music vellum from the Gershwin page (last entry)? I used a remnant of that to additionally embellish the space behind the tickets.

With the next page, I finally discover Stickles!

Music and Scrapbook Pages - Part 11 - Waxing Rhapsodic

This page was all Bill. He loves Gershwin's music - especially Rhapsody in Blue. When we found out The Boston Pops was to perform an all Gershwin program - including Rhapsody - we knew we had to go. He started very simply with a sheet of darker blue paper.

Did I say ALL Bill? Well, I did suggest the sticker. And I did have to cut out this oboe he printed from an image he found online. Boy was that tedious!

The musical notes are Quickutz die cuts from small gift boxes Bill salvaged from some junk at work. He had thought I would find them useful for some creative project. He used them up for this page. Great recycler!

The picture of Gershwin he found either online or from the second program. But a great pic! The vellum with sheet music helped to fill in the blank space - and we use the left overs again later on one or two other pages.

The metal accents complete the page by reminding us of Gershwin and his piano. What a genius he was - and too young (only 38) when he died! Think what else he could have created.

For the next page - time to sing and "salute".

Music and Scrapbook Pages - Part 10 - Going Baroque, Again!

This was an afternoon performance we tried to squeeze into a Sunday before I went off to the part-time job I held at the time. We ended up leaving at the intermission because the program changed. The only time so far we've been disappointed by a Handel and Haydn performance.

I had these great metal musical note accents and had to use them. This was a departure for me to place embellishments over the tickets. I also wanted to do something different with the border around the program page. The ribbon coordinated beautifully, and I used the brads to finish and bring together the metal touches on the page.

I used distressing ink around the two printed embellishments to help them pop from the page. It's impossible to remember everything about an event, but I like to include some journaling comment if something different happened.

Warning: The next page will make you feel "blue".

Music and Scrapbook Pages - Part 9 - Going Baroque

Our first Handel and Haydn society event was Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Embellishments were minimally employed here with still beautiful effect. The number "5" was printed, from Word, onto clear label paper. Oh how we love label paper! I rarely buy stickers anymore because there is so much we can make on our own.

Bill found this pic online and, using Word, printed it out with a frame he created.

The Quickutz die-cut notes were cut from one paint chip sample from the local hardware store. How handy THESE are! Of course, the clear photo corners are used to hold the program on the page.

The tickets were tucked behind the program to complete the page. A great way to fill space.

More ways to go "Baroque" in the next posting.

Music and Scrapbook Pages - Part 8 - Spam a LOT!

This two-pager was done by the real Monty Python fan in our place - Bill! And what fun he had in it's creation. There was just too much to say with only one page. And he wanted something to visually tie them together. He had me free hand the wave cut on the gold-embossed paper. I think the effect just pops from the pages. He cut some images from the second program (always the one that gets bent - the good one makes it on the page). Others he found online.

Of course, we have to have the we sat here illustration - this one's just not a flashy as others we've done.

At the finale, they sprayed the whole theatre with these 2-inch circles of round confetti. I HAD to pick them up and INSIST they have a place on the page. Bill used Word to create the little narrative bubble about Ted Kennedy singing back stage with the cast.

He also used Word to create a text box over this image of a Monty Python foot. Notice how he changed the color of the font depending on where the letters landed over the image. And what an appropriate image to use considering what we had to witness!

You'll go "Baroque" on the next two entries.

Music and Scrapbook Pages - Part 7 - Pops goes Soundheim!

I was a huge Sondheim fan before I ever knew he was the genius behind West Side Story! And this performance of the Boston Pops Orchestra and the singers shown here was phenomenal. They performed selections from various Sondheim pieces including West Side Story and Into the Woods.

Symphony Hall only had enough programs to give one to each party. So, rather than include the entire program mounted on photo corners, I cut mine up to create this page.

I used scissors with a decorative edge on two sides of the cover and placed the cover on a coordinating solid. The program pages themselves I placed on the left side of this page using brown ink on the edges to make it pop from the blush-colored musical background.

The pictures I also cut from the program and framed them with solid yellow squares.

A very simple page, I used just a couple of stickers. The final touch was the ribbon with staff lines and musical notes attached to the page with orange brads.



No need to adjust your computer filters for the next posting. This is "spam" you will love.

Music and Scrapbook Pages - Part 6 - Romantics in the Park

Sometimes you think of an event and know JUST the paper you want to use. So it was with this outdoor, evening, FREE, classical music concert. This page was Bill's creation. The only stumble was when we discovered the paper in the foreground was not exactly 12 x 12. Fortunately, we had some other grass-colored paper to frame out the edges for a complete 12 x 12 finish. I didn't want to waste a whole sheet just to compensate, though. I cut out a 10 x 10 sheet from the center of the 12 x 12 backing to use for something later.



I had a not-so-great digital camera plug-in for my PDA and took a couple pics of the orchestra and evening. Again, the photo corners were used to hold the program in place on the page.







And, we did get rained out. We had eaten a nice dinner picnic on the Boston Common through sunset. I think the orchestra managed to get through one complete piece, then the thunder and lightning (an oddity for Boston) threatened much rain. They played one movement from a different piece, and we all skedaddled! Bill used a text box in Word to create the "We got rained out!" embellishment.



He also found the lightning bolt pic online. I used some silver "carbon paper" to create the rain on the picture. Lucky for us, to complete the effect, we had a rain cloud sticker.

For the CD cover pic, Bill scanned it and cropped the image into Word and placed over a colored background for a framed effect. This is something he's very good at.

The next page takes us from the grass "Into the Woods".

Music and Scrapbook Pages - Part 5 - Spacey as Darin

I l-o-v-e Kevin Spacey! He is a fantastic actor - do you know he went to high school with Val Kilmer and Mare Winningham? - and when I discovered he actually had a voice, I was hooked! I first heard him sing That Old Black Magic on the soundtrack for the film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I was impressed.
Then came the release of the Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea. I know some critics panned the movie, but I bought it hook, line, and sinker! I got the soundtrack and a Bobby Darin CD to make the comparison. Just astounding!
I am a sucker for guys who can sing and act AND look good on screen - like Jesse L. Martin and this guy!

I happened to be looking online one day and found out about this 13-city concert tour. I bought the tickets, called Bill, and told him we were going.

Spacey sang with a small band of a dozen or so. He didn't try to be Bobby Darin - just sing Bobby Darin songs. Since I didn't feel I could do justice to the event with my own words, I copied an article from the local paper and snuck in a picture from the same concert into a Word text box. I also separately printed a color-copy of the same picture to pop up from the text.

This is the first page where I used uncoordinating paper - the bright orange stripes over the black and gold swirly music theme. I used a pair of scissors with a designer edge to soften the brightness of the orange.

From the concert itself, I cut out a piece of the bright pink flyer to use as an embellishment. Again we created our "We sat here" embellishment. Not orchestra seats, but near the front of the balcony anyway.


With so much already going on with the papers themselves, I did not want to go overboard with the embellishments. I added one heat-set embossed image in gold and another in glitter. But the glitter image was so subtle, I offset it with a matching 1/8 note die cut.

Stay "tuned" for the next page for a lesson in rainy day preparedness.