American Crafts Studio Blog: Soho Garden Guest Designer: Cathy Pascual

A big round of applause for the winner of the Soho Garden line, Kelly Oblak (please email me at acstudioblog@gmail.com to claim your prize!):

The Guest Designer for Soho Garden Week is Cathy Pascual!

Short bio: Cathy, designer and owner of Catshy Crafts, is a crafter at heart, memory keeper for life, and lover of handmade and DIY. Through her hand-crafted goods, photography, and paper and digital scrapbooking, she loves to celebrate the everyday and the special days of her life. She lives in a 1959 red rambler in the rainy Pacific Northwest with her indie game developer husband, two darling daughters, and calico cat.

How did you get started scrapbooking? I have always held on to bits of paper and ephemera, torn out magazine pages, and journaled from a young age. But it wasn't until I got married that I started taking photos more seriously. When I had kids, I became a full-blown scrapbooker, buying my first supplies from Lisa Bearnson on QVC!

What is your favorite American Crafts product? I love the patterned paper from American Crafts! It is graphic and colorful and so versatile.

ZARA LOVES ART by Cathy Pascual

I created my pinwheel flowers using a scoring tool and the centers of each flower were made by layering scalloped shapes I punched from the AC textured cardstock and then hand-sewed with a button. To keep the photos grouped and anchored together, I added two ribbons across the bottom as well as added bits of color around the edges.

Supplies: Greenwich Village Paper (35838) - Soho Garden, West Broadway Paper (35839) - Soho Garden, High Line Park Paper (35831) - Soho Garden, Lafayette Paper (35833) - Soho Garden, Soho Garden Stickers (42273) - Remarks, Soho Garden Alpha Stickers Red (42269) - Remarks, Soho Garden Alpha Stickers Teal (42270) - Remarks, Soho Garden Ribbon Card (84929) - Ribbon

HELLO TINY DANVER by Cathy Pascual

I loved the black and white floral paper and wanted to use it as my background paper so I tried to bring the flowers to life by layering with the dimensional flowers and sticker. I also used this space on my page to add atitle so all the focus is in the center of the layout along with the photos. To anchor my photos I used photo corners and fabric strips.

Supplies: High Line Park Paper (35831) - Soho Garden, Lafayette Paper (35833) - Soho Garden , Tribeca Paper (35836) - Soho Garden, Soho Garden Cardstock Stickers (42273) - Remarks, Soho Garden Alpha Stickers Teal (42270) - Remarks, Gramercy Park Paper (35829) - Soho Garden, Grande Street Paper (35830) - Soho Garden, Bellerose (85609) - Flower Shoppe Molded Paper Flowers, Soho Garden Fabric Stickers Bleeker Street (42272) - Remarks, Soho Garden Layered Embellishments (85606) - Details, Soho Garden Layered Chipboard Stickers (42271) - Remarks

YOU ARE TEA-RIFIC by Cathy Pascual

I loved the packaging that the ribbon came in so I decided to make a card by layering the back with cardstock and adding another teacup dimensional sticker on top. I then layered on green cardstock which opens up as well so there is lots of room to write inside.

Supplies: Orchard Street Paper (35828) - Soho Garden, High Line Park Paper (35831) - Soho Garden, Greenwich Village Paper (35838) - Soho Garden, Soho Garden Cardstock Stickers (42273) - Remarks, Soho Garden Alpha Stickers Green (42270) - Remarks, Soho Garden Alpha Stickers Red (42269) - Remarks, Soho Garden Layered Embellishments (85606) - Details, Soho Garden Ribbon Card (84929) - Ribbon

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE by Cathy Pascual

I wanted most of the focus to be on the enlarged photo so I followed the natural line of my daughter's line of sight and made a beautiful bouquet of flowers in the corner to house my title and journaling. I noticed that my daughter had a "bow" motif going on - on her shirt, in her hair, even a bow/ribbon on her balloon so I repeated that motif in my embellishments - the grosgrain ribbon and the embellishment on the top reminds me of a bow.

Supplies: Orchard Street Paper (35828) - Soho Garden, Soho Garden Cardstock Stickers (42273) - Remarks, Soho Garden Alpha Stickers Green (42270) - Remarks, Bellerose (85609) - Flower Shoppe Molded Paper Flowers, Soho Garden Fabric Stickers Bleeker Street (42272) - Remarks, Soho Garden Layered Embellishments (85606) - Details, Soho Garden Layered Chipboard Stickers (42271) - Remarks, Soho Garden Ribbon Card (84929) - Ribbon, Garden District (59164) - Stamps, Greenwich Village Paper (35838) - Soho Garden, Black (62600) - Stamp Marker

LIFE IS GOOD by Cathy Pascual

Repeating the flower motif, I used lots of different types of flowers: pinwheel flower, floral paper, stamped paper, and the flower tag.

Supplies: Gramercy Park Paper (35829) - Soho Garden, Orchard Street Paper (35828) - Soho Garden, Greenwich Village Paper (35838) - Soho Garden, Soho Garden Decorative Layered Tags (85607) - Bits, Soho Garden Ribbon Card (84929) - Ribbon

EMBROIDERY HOOP ART & FLOWERS by Cathy Pascual

For my Etsy shop, Catshy Crafts, I make embroidery hoop art using felt and linen. When I recently saw a tutorial on how to use paper in an embroidery hoop I knew I had to try it! These embroidery hoops are not only decorative (they are meant to be displayed as a grouping along with the flowers) but can be functional as well. The ribbon is not totally glued down to the paper so that the photo may be taken out and a new one put in. I could also put a sweet note or journaling card in the "note to self" hoop art.

Supplies: Orchard Street Paper (35828) - Soho Garden, Nolita Paper (35835) - Soho Garden, Greenwich Village Paper (35838) - Soho Garden, Canal Street Paper (35837) - Soho Garden, Soho Garden Cardstock Stickers (42273) - Remarks, Soho Garden Ribbon Card (84929) - Ribbon, Soho Garden Flower Shoppe Molded Paper Flowers (85609) - Bellerose, Soho Garden Layered Chipboard Stickers (42271) - Remarks

Visit Cathy's blog, etsy shop, Pinterest, and Twitter to find out more about her!