Graduation card with Louise

Good morning, Quick Quotes readers. I'm up on the Quick Quotes blog today with a tri-fold graduation card I made for my son. He will be graduating from middle school this year.  This card is made from the reverse sides of several papers in the new Secret Garden collection. The moment I saw these chevron patterns, I knew they would be perfect for my teenage sons. I love collections like this where the colors and patterns can be used for both masculine and feminine projects.

All the sentiments and sayings on this card come from the Farmhouse 500 paper. Many of the sayings on this paper are perfect for 8th grade graduation and the colors matched well with the Secret Garden papers. I cut out more sayings than I ended up using, figuring I will save the rest for a Graduation scrapbook page.

• I chose a card size of 5 inches high by 6 1/2 inches wide since this size fits well in envelopes. To make the tri fold card base, I cut two 5 inch strips from generic white cardstock and scored them at 6 1/2 inches. 
• I trimmed the flaps unevenly so the left flap is 4 1/2 inches and the right flap is 3 1/2 inches. 
• Next, I cut pieces of the chevron patterns from the back of Secret Gardens 105 (blue) and 102 (red) to fit the various faces of the card.
• The blue card face shown below is cut from Secret Garden 105 with a strip from Secret Garden 100. I fussy cut the pennant around the pattern of the chevron paper. This is a very easy way to cut a balanced pennant shape. 
• I decided to mat a couple of sayings in the blue from leftover pieces of Secret Garden 105 that were sitting on my table. 
• Next I moved all the pieces around until I decided on an arrangement. I inked around the outside edges of all the papers the card with Deep Sea PowderPuff Chalk ink. The sayings are edged with PowderPuff chalk ink in either Cactus or Deep Sea. 
• I added a small piece of white cardstock (with Deep Sea ink around the edges) where we can hand write a personal message later. 

Here is the inside of the card:

Finally I had to decide which saying to put on the front. I used a clear block to hold the card closed and looked at it with each of my 2 options. I preferred the look of the orange saying, but in the end I decided that the blue one "You were made for amazing things" was what I actually wanted to say. I added a scrap of white cardstock behind the flap to make it a bit stronger. 

Quick Quotes Products:
Secret Garden 100, 102, 105 (Coming soon)
Farmhouse 500
PowderPuff Chalk inks: Deep Sea, Cactus

Other products:
Generic white cardstock

Thanks for stopping by!
~Louise

Secret Garden with Louise

Happy Friday the 13th Quick Quotes readers. I'm up on the Quick Quotes blog today with the  new Secret Garden collection. This collection has beautiful bright colors with bold floral patterns. The reverse sides of the papers have more subtle prints including chevrons and solids. These papers are perfect for a wide range of Spring and Summer themes, but I chose to use them for a scrapbook layout about Chinese food.

My children have a variety of food allergies and have never been able to have Chinese food until last week at this funky little place we found over Spring break.  Of course, they loved it. I thought the bright colors in the Secret collection went perfectly with the restaurant paint job and my Mom's shirt.

The Secret Garden 100 and 105 papers have the same floral pattern with different background colors. I stitched them together with the patterns matching up, but chose to fussy cut around one flower so it wouldn't have a seam through it.

The flowers at the bottom were fussy cut from the unused sections of the white paper. The subtle pattern on the bottom is from the reverse of Secret Garden 104 and the horizontal stripe (which matches my Mom's shirt perfectly) is from Secret Garden 103.

The quotes are from the Adventure Awaits and Farmhouse collections. The quotes and photos are adhered with raised foam to help them stand out. All edges are inked with PowderPuff Chalk Inks.

Quick Quotes Products:
Secret Garden 100, 103, 104, and 105 (Coming Soon)
PowderPuff Chalk Inks: Buttercup, Key Largo, Lipstick, Navy, and Peach Tree
Adventure Awaits Quotes and Phrases
Farmhouse 500

Other Products:
white cardstock
thread
enamel accents from Wendy Vecchi

Thanks for stopping by!
~Louise

Spring Snow with Louise

Hello! This is Louise hosting the Quick Quotes blog today with the new Spring Showers collection. I was very excited to use this collection to scrap photos of Spring flowers that started popping through when we were hit with four winter storms during March. Luckily, the colors in this beautiful collection are also perfect for snow photos.

I chose Spring Showers 103 paper for the background because the colors are perfect for snow. The wood-grain layered over it is from the reverse of Spring Showers 102.  I think the vertical grain in the wood emphasizes the falling snow in the photos. The wood-grain is trimmed on the left with a strip cut from Spring Showers 101. This paper is a multi-color stripe, but I just cut the strip from the color I wanted, the greenish-blue. The edges of these papers are all inked with Powderpuff chalk ink in Deep Sea.

The snow-flakes were die-cut from the reverse sides  of Spring Showers 100 and 105. I inked the edges both manually and with my blending tool, using Bermuda PowderPuff Chalk ink for Spring Showers 100 and Key Largo for 105.

To finish the snowflakes, I covered them in clear adhesive and sprinkled some loose glitter on top. 

Here's a close-up of the snowflakes over the stripe and wood-grain papers. 

The title is die-cut from the same 2 papers as the snow-flakes.

I hope I've inspired you to use the beautiful Spring Showers collection for many different seasons.

Quick Quotes Products:
Spring Showers : 100, 101, 102, 103, and 105 (Coming soon)
PowderPuff Chalk Inks: Bermuda, Deep Sea, Key Largo

Other Products:
Metal dies from Quickutz and Spellbinders
Loose glitter
White cardstock
Blending tool from Ranger

Thanks for stopping by!
~Louise