Crisp and Fun Fall Projects From the F4 Team

Every month when I look at the F4 projects I think, "Oh! That's cool, I would have done this or that. Hmmm..I could have done that but put this this on it". It's a lot like watching a game show at home and getting all the answers right, but when you actually get onto the show, your brain goes somewhere else.

These are the materials our beloved flock leader gave us to create with this month:

• A 12x12 piece of double sided  paper,
• A chipboard truck,
• A glittery pumpkin,
• A price tag embellishment.

I am always amazed at what everyone comes up with. Here are the ideas from four of our flock members. Enjoy, and I hope we were able to inspire you as well.

GENIE'S PROJECT :

My 10-year-old daughter's best friend actually gave me this idea. Holding the little pumpkin, she said "You should make a little fall centerpiece!" The idea stuck with me, but I wasn't sure how to incorporate the truck chipboard. Suddenly, inspiration hit. It'll be a pumpkin truck, and I'll fill it full of candy!

It took some trimming and re-trimming, but I finally got a little box made to attach to the truck, using the backing from an old paper stack. I used the truck as a model to cut wheels so it could stand up, and then made a strip to fit the length of the truck. I measured 2" on each side of the "body," scored the corners and then 1/4" in from the sides to make tabs to attach to the truck. I cut a bottom the same way, and then taped and glued it in. I covered my little truck in paper, doodled the window, door, and bumpers, and added a few buttons for wheels and lights. Finally, I thought the 5 cent flair was the perfect finishing touch, attached to a Popsicle stick on the back of the truck.

 RAMONA'S PROJECT :

"Wow!" was all I could say when I saw this month's Flamingo 4 products. Yes, I started out in one direction, but ended up going another.That's what I love about doing F4 projects. You end up creating things with items you would never think about putting together. I am into altering things and junkin' it up a bit, so I made a tag. I'm really happy about how it turned out.

I used my Cameo to make the quote, cut my pumpkin in half so it would fit the length of the truck, and yes, I did jack the truck up a bit. LOL! I used Cream Seam Binding , Vintage Photo Distress Stain, and Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Spiced Marmalade for the bow on the tag. Follow the links below to locate these fab products to add to your next creative project !

Claudine Hellmuth Mediums   http://flamingoscraps.com/product/claudine-hellmuth-studio-kit-mediums/

Heidi Swapp Color Shine http://flamingoscraps.com/product/heidi-swapp-color-shine-georgia-peach/

Seam Binding - Cream  http://flamingoscraps.com/product/seam-binding-cream/



KATHLEEN'S PROJECT :

Every year, when we visit our local pumpkin patch, I always complain that I don't have a frame to put the best photo into and display during the fall season. This challenge was just the answer! I had a cheap unfinished wooden frame that I paid less than $1.00 for in my stash, so the transformation began. I covered the frame with the paper in the kit and TRIED to make the truck look realistic with multiple fall colors of Tim Holtz paints. I cut my pumpkin in half to be able to have two. We've been bringing my grandson to the pumpkin patch since he was six months old, so we established "Pete's Pumpkins" for that year.  I used my chalkboard and gel pens for the writing on the truck. The "Fall" title is from my stash and the sign post is nothing more than a painted toothpick. The orange paper in the photo slot is actually the reverse side of the plaid paper, and it will make a perfect mat for my photo.

Being a true scrapper, I hate to toss out scraps, so I used some of my leftovers to make a group invitation to put onto a bulletin board. I reversed my truck and repainted it, and used one of the pumpkin halves from my frame temporarily. The Trick or Treat bag and the bats are made from paper punches using the reverse side of the plaid paper. My date and journal tag are from my FlamingoScraps Warehouse box.

 

                                                                                                                 

 DONNA'S PROJECT:

                                  

Recipe Mini Album Cover
I first cut my recycled card board (orange packaging) to 5 x 7. It was not perfectly covered. Leaving the bare white core showing, I inked the white portions with TH distress inks, Spiced Marmalade and Peeled Paint, distressed the edges and inked again with with Peeled Paint, then sprayed with Apple Glimmer Mist. 

Next, my patterned paper was cut to 4.5 x 6.5. I distressed the edges and inked with the Peeled Paint ink, again sprayed with the Apple Glimmer Mist and layered over the orange chip board base. I traced the chip board truck onto the orange packaging, layering it behind to add dimension to the Maya Road truck piece.

I painted the bare truck chipboard first with Wild Honey, then around the edges with Spiced Marmalade, allowing each to dry first. I then inked the edges with Spiced Marmalade. In order to use the pumpkin on my cover so it was not just one round piece, I first cut it in half and adhered the flat back to the cover. I took the remaining half and cut that in half, giving me two pieces, which I glued together to resemble a pumpkin pie.

Using the Maya Road stick pins, I inserted the large green as a stem for my pumpkin (I had to trim the pin down with wire cutters, as it was too long for the pumpkin). I added three flowers flower stick pins to the bed of the pick up truck for added interest. The recipe book is bound together using two book rings, allowing me to open and add pages as I collect my pumpkin recipes

The final addition was adding the 45 cent self adhesive price button. 

MAYA ROAD FLOWER TRINKET PINS  http://flamingoscraps.com/product/maya-road-flower-trinket-pins-pearl/

PAINTS, MISTS, AND MEDIUMS  http://flamingoscraps.com/product-category/inks-mists-mediums/

Well, that's it for another Fabulous Flamingo Four! It just goes to show that you can create wonderful projects using minimal supplies. Join us next month when Melissa, Erin, and Luanne, and Cheryl with get creative with four more mystery items from our Great and Wonderful Flock Leader. Just a reminder, all of the newest and yummiest of CHA products are now in the store from Cosmo Cricket,  Fancy Pants,   as well as the  Basic Grey 25th and Pine. So many new items I can't list them all here!!

Be sure to tune in to Ustream for another great tutorial from our very own Tonya Gibbs, on October 8th, at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/gibbst.  Broadcasts are the first Monday of each month at 8:30 p.m. EDT.

August Flamingo Four

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

                                        1) Fancy Pants rub-ons

                                        2) Maya Road Vintage Trinkets

                                        3) miscellaneous empty box

                                        4) two chess pieces

Abigail's Take

I took the red handle off of the clear plastic box and replaced it with a piece of twine. I wanted it to be more of a shadow box. I used some Pink Paislee Secret Crush paper to make backgrounds for the shadow box. I used the rub-ons to decorate the paper, added the flower and then the chess pieces.

Erin's Take

We always get the oddest items for our Flamingo 4 projects, which is so much fun.  I never know what I am going to create until I let the objects sit and marinate for awhile.  I knew I wanted to do something with the box as a hidden object inside it, then it hit me, the chess pieces are the hidden items. I played with the beaded flowers and bam - pull them apart and you got wings.  This got me thinking of the Disney movie Fantasia on the scene with all the mythological creatures, and in it were the Pegasus mom and dad with the babies.  Dad is a black winged horse and mom is a white winged horse (the babies are all different colors of blue, pink, yellow, etc).  I envision the box as their secret love nest, the hidden romance of good and evil, light and dark, or something like that.  So this is our glimpse of the mythological hidden romance.

I pulled apart one of the beaded flowers and placed 2 petals on the white chess piece as "wings" and then placed the remainder of the flower on the black chessmen for his wings. They are nestled in a "bed of grass" which is Maya Road trim.

All around the box I used the rub-ons to decorate the love nest.  I overlapped and surrounded all sides of the box with the flowers, vines, and dots from the rub-on pack.

After taking off the red handle, I used wire to secure hold the front of the box open and then used Zip-Dry glue to glue the hinges in place so the box would stay in a permanent open position so it appears that we are peaking into the box.  I then removed the wire once the glue dried.

Alicia's Take

The chess pieces really presented a challenge for me this month!  I started out by coating the entire inside of the box with Staz-On ink in Teal Blue and let it dry.  Then I put a rub-on accent across the bottom of the lid of the box and around the sides.  I knew I wanted to adhere the Maya Road flower to the lid of the box, but I needed to figure out what to do with the chess pieces.  I decided to use them as "stamps" to stamp the circle images in Gesso on to the box. After they dried, I colored them with Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Sweet Cherry.

Here is a look at the back side of the box.

Now I have a little box to house some of my sequins when I travel to crops.

Cindy's Take

When I begin a Flamingo Four project, I try to focus on the most difficult item(s) first.  Rub-ons and flowers could go on anything... layouts, cards, tags, altered items, etc.  But an empty box and chess pieces can't, so I decided to start with those.  As I played around with them, I realized that the chess pieces fit perfectly in the box.  Hmm.. what if I filled the box with all sorts of game-related items?  

By happy coincidence, I had a deck of miniature playing cards sitting 2 feet away on my desk, so I pulled out the 4 aces and put them in the box.  The fit was perfect.  I added some poker chips, dice, and Scrabble tiles until the box was stuffed.  

On to the rub-ons.  One of them said "Play," which was perfect for my theme.  I transferred it on the box, then added a few white dots to draw attention to the word.  

Finally, the sequin flowers.  After experimenting for awhile, I took apart the flowers and put the sequins in the bottom of the box along with some additional gold sequins.  They provided a great bed for all the items to sit in and helped give the box a more finished look.  

Here's my project:

 

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!

July Flamingo Four

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

 

                               1) Pink Paislee Mistables patterned paper
                               2) Pink Paislee Mistables die cut card
                               3) Empty Maya Road spool
                               4) Pink Paislee "Nantucket" wood shapes


Erin's Take

This past April I got both of my boys a scooter and they LOVED them.  In the pictures you can see my boys, Morgan in front in orange and Brandon in the back, scooting down the sidewalk in front of our house as I sit in the front yard grass with Catherine enjoying a beautiful spring day.

I used the resist paper as my background, adding in orange and teal mist to pop out the colors.  Then I layered the cut-off tops of the trim reel (painted with gesso and misted orange) along with some of the wooden parts and the journaling tag under the pictures with a few added flowers.  I used the wooden words and arrow and misted them in the same teal color to match the paper.  I then wrote the journaling on the same teal color in cardstock to bring it all together.  The journaling says "Bruised hands, scraped knees, falling off, running into stuff, the wind in this face, laughter, and endless moments of fun with their first scooters.  They played until the heat of Texas summer set in, then they moved to scooting indoors in our hallways.  What fun these scooters have been in 2013."

Ramona's Take

This month’s supplies really stumped me.  After throwing several ideas around I decided on a old film canister.  First, I applied gesso to the spool and then painted it black.  I cut the filmstrip on the Silhouette.  I added 24 black and white pictures, sized 2 inches.  Over the photos I put pieces of sheet protector (also cut to 2 inches) and applied with score tape before adding the photos so it would actually look like film itself.

Here is a picture of the film canister closed with magnets.   I used the wood pieces from Pink Paislee to close it up.

Here is how the film rolls out of the canister to reveal the photos.  This could easily taken 48 pictures, but I wanted to save the back to add my other nephew Chase’s pictures to it.

This picture shows the fourth item from the Flamingo Four kit, the journaling card.

This shows the canister open from the top.  You just pull the filmstrip out and then have to roll it back up when done looking at the pictures.

Other products I used not included in the kit are: black cardstock, Tim Holtz Distress Paint Honey Mustard, sheet protectors, Dot Magnets and washi tape.


Melissa's Take

I spray painted the spool silver to start, and drilled holes into the saucer part of the spool. From there, I strung beading twine to create the hanging portion of the mobile and then glued the same twine, wrapped up the middle of the spool. I inked the resist tag and paper with Prima chalk inks in beachy colors. Then, I glued the tag over the wrapped twine in the middle and affixed the "explore" portion of the wood embellishment, along with the wooden star and some regular miniature seashells. Next, I colored all of the wood pieces with the same colors of Prima chalk inks and tied them to the twine, at the bottom. They needed more weight, so I took complimentary colored beach glass, wrapped it in twine and glued it above each of the wooden pieces. For the paper, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut seashells, glued them back-to-back, and tied them to the remaining two twine strings. To space out the twine a bit more, I took heavy gauge beading wire and made a woven circle with it. 

Cindy's Take

When I saw these four items, the old Sesame Street song ran through my head: "One of these things is not like the others...."  Clearly, the tricky items this month would be the empty spool. I set it aside.  I dug through my extra photos looking for something summery and beachy.  I found a picture from 2010 of my husband and our son holding hands at the beach.  Perfect!  

I picked a sea star from the wood shapes and sprayed it with the last of my Clam Bake Glimmer Mist from the November Flamingo Four.  The color and the shimmer were just what I'd hoped for.  While it was drying, I used my hands to smear gesso on the patterned paper, then wiped it with a sandy brown paint and let it dry.  Next, I mixed light blue paint with some glittery paint and dipped the end of the spool in the mixture and stamped it onto the paper repeatedly.  It turned out exactly as I'd envisioned!  I tore the die cut card and layered it with a scrap of dark blue vellum and some grayish handmade (by someone else) paper and put the photo on top.   

After adhering everything, the final step was to add a title and an additional embellishment.  I found a Mrs. Grossman's "love" sticker and inked it to match the sea star, then paired it with a Scenic Route rub-on.  I added a second Scenic Route rub-on, a heart, to the left of the photo.

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!

June Flamingo Four

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

                                1) wood frame- Sheffield Custom Frames

                                2) snowflake stencil- Tattered Angels

                                3) dimensional quotes- miscellaneous

                                4) cupcake topper- miscellaneous

Melissa's Take

I'm not going to lie! This Flamingo 4 was a challenge for me. I started off with the frame, and painted it with gesso as a base, and then misted it with Primrose Color Shine. Then I took some modeling paste and tinted it with Georgia Peach Color Shine and used the mask to lay down the modeling paste. 

Next, I played with the cupcake topper and decided I liked the color, the texture, but not the stick or the clip for it, so I took it apart! From there, I decided it made a nice backer on the frame and gave it a great burst of color, so I used some glue dots to stick it to the back. I decided that I would feature one of the dimensional quotes, so I cut a small piece of chipboard, painted it with gesso and then sprayed it Primrose to match the frame. Once it dried, I attached it to the cupcake topper and then stuck the quote over it. For added interest, I attached a few flowers.

Abigail's Take

The first thing I did was to paint the frame with Tim Holtz Distress Paint. I used the Walnut Stain and let it dry completely. Then I used the Weathered Wood to go over the surface, but avoiding the nooks and crannies. Lastly I used the Snowflake stencil from Tattered Angels and misted over the frame with a light blue. I then I used some Pink Paislee Secret Crush paper to make a background.

I could have put the paper closer to the front, but I wanted to make kind of a shadow box effect.

I love the slight hint of a pattern created with the stencil and the faux vintage effect of the layering of the paint. 

Alicia's Take

For this month's Flamingo Four, I decided to create a frame with a bit of a "textured" look to it.  I painted the frame with a base coat of yellow paint, and let it dry.  Then I used the snowflake mask across the face of the frame and applied the pink paint to it.  After that layer dried, it was a bit too bright for me, so I watered down some apricot colored paint and did a light coat across the whole thing, then followed that up with a watered down whitewash coat as well.  Once I had it toned down, I decided to cut the stick off of the paper flower and adhered the "Life is in Bloom" saying to the front.  I adhered that to the frame and tucked the "Beautiful" metal embellishment behind the flower to create a little cluster in the bottom corner.  Now, all I need to do is find the right picture to put in it!

Cindy's Take

Last time, I struggled with incorporating the very heavy metal clothespin into my project.  This month, it was the cupcake topper that really challenged me.  That and the fact that none of my quotes had any of the same colors as the topper.  Then there's the stencil.  A snowflake stencil would be easy for a winter project, but there are no winter colors in any of the other items... and besides, this is June!  

As I played around with the frame, I realized that the opening was the perfect size to hold a gift card.  I popped a Baskin-Robbins gift card into the frame, then noticed that the pink of their logo matched one of the dimensional quotes I needed to use.  I cut down the quote from "Enjoy your life" to just "Enjoy" and started playing around.  What if I used the blue of the logo to paint the frame, then used just part of the snowflake stencil to stamp in pink?  That would have more of a summery tropical feel instead of a wintry snowflake feel.  It took awhile to mix the perfect shade of pink and to decide what part of the stencil to use as a stamp, but with three items used, the project was definitely coming together.

But what about the green and orange cupcake topper that was nearly as large as the frame?  It just wasn't working.  Eventually, I tore it apart.  I used the chipboard hook end and painted it the same blue as the frame and attached it as a hanger.  I cut the tiny bit of green tissue paper from the orange and used it as an accent color.  Here's the finished project:

When the gift card is removed, the recipient can use it as a frame.

 

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!

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!