April Flamingo Four

It's time for another Flamingo Four!  This month, three other designers and I worked with these products:

                   1) Pink Paislee 'Parisian Anthology' Corrugated Alphabet
                   2) Prima Raja Sequin
                   3) Maya Road Kraft Mini Calendar
                   4) Graphic 45 Metal Clothespin

This is my 7th time doing the Flamingo Four and I am definitely used to working with challenging items.  But my fellow designers and I agree that the metal clothespin in this month's Flamingo Four has been the most difficult item to date by far.  Let's see what everyone made using these tricky items!


Alicia's Take

I was really stumped on how to bring these items together (especially that clothes pin... man is that thing solid!)  But the sequin centers reminded me of the hand-beaded flowers that my husband's Aunt Carol made for my wedding bouquet, so I thought I would put together a little frame with our last name, and one of the little calendars with our anniversary circled to help my husband remember the important date.  I used some inks and colored the letters and arranged them on some cardstock to fit the frame.  I then added the sequin centers as accents to the letters and nestled that calendar in.  Because of the heft of the clothes pin, I just adhered it into the corner so the frame itself could help support it, with the sentiment "Remember" facing outward.

Ramona's Take

This set of items was extremely hard for me.  I knew I wanted to make something about how the months roll past so quickly, so I made a canvas with the months flying.  After going from dark to light, I needed to brighten it up, so threw on some purple Tattered Angels…still not bright enough…Tim Holtz Seeded Preserves Distress Paint….then some distress ink….nope…that did not do it.  I picked the brightest turquoise I could find, and using a stencil just started dabbing paint. Then I thought, "What if I outlined it with a black sharpie?"  That was the look I was trying to achieve in the first place.   I am thankful that Suzanne pushes us with the Flamingo Four… because this one did push me to my limits!

Here's a closer look:

How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
― Dr. Seuss

Erin's Take

My son Brandon is three, and three is hard.  I'm not sure why they call it the terrible twos since three is worse.  Brandon's life changed a lot at three: he got a new sister and Daddy is in Afghanistan.  That is a lot for a little guy to deal with... or, should I say for Mommy to deal with!

The picture was taken at a Chuck E. Cheese photo booth, and I thought it was just too cool to not do something with it.  I created this layout to remind me of how chaotic his life (and our whole family) is at age three.

I used all the supplies given to us, including the packaging.  Here you can see them in their final form up close.  I used the monthly cards and cut out letters to create the new words of his name and of his life.  I used the box, string, and alpha chipboard (in 2 ways) for background, texture, and for the word three.  The sequin gems were used for texture and the metal clip was used as an addition to the words to describe my son.

Cindy's Take

Right away, I knew that the clothespin would be the hardest item for me, so I did some experimentation.  If I put paper over it, could I do a rubbing and get a decent print of the engraved word?  Nope.  If I inked the clothespin and treated it like a stamp, would the word show?  Nope. What would happen if I took the clothespin apart? Hmmm....

While I mulled over possibilities with the clothespin, I got right to work with the rest of the supplies.  I decided that I was going to use the packaging from the alphabet as the base of my project.  The clear window would be perfect for a picture, so I printed out one of my new niece, Allison and inserted it behind the window.  The box would be ideal for holding those little momentos that don't fit in a photo album, like her hospital bracelet.  

Next, I chose one of the round calendar shapes, then punched a circle from black cardstock.  I selected an A from the corrugated letters, covered it with lavender ink, and then brushed gold ink over the top.  I pulled out two of the sequins.

When I layered them all together, it looked like this.  

 

Here's the finished project:

 

Did you notice the clothespin?  I ended up dividing the two halves and gluing them toward the bottom of the box.  With the weight cut in half, the pieces weren't too heavy for glue to hold.  

That wraps up another fun Flamingo Four! We'd love to see your take. If you make something using the same four supplies as our designers, send us a picture and we'll feature it here on the blog. To find the materials we used (and so much more!) visit the Flamingo Scraps store!