During our stamp retreat, Heather offered us a sketch challenge. I looked through the stamps I had with me and decided to do something with my pirate set. I had bought it to scrapbook a pirate murder mystery party I had last year, but hadn't used it yet. Here's what I came up with. BTW, I drew a lot of the images on the map because the stamps were simply too big for what I wanted on this card. You can't tell from the pic, but an extra touch was adding metallic gold to the treasure chest and the hook.
Recipe:
CS: White, Brown from Penelope collection
Papers: scrap of tan for map
Stamps: from the Pirates set by TAC
Inks: Palette Ink - Burnt Umber, Noir
Other: Gold leafing pen, Watercolor pencils, Pop dots, stipple brush, Tombow blending pen
I spent a wonderful weekend in Salina KS at a Winter Angel Gathering. Avis, Heather, and Lori had lots of wonderful projects for us, I got to catch up with some of my stamping friends, and I had lots of quality stamping time. The main thing I tackled this weekend was the wedding photos. I just got the last of them last week (in fact picked them up on the way to the retreat). Now I've had quite the quandary with what to do with the wedding photos. I'm a scrapbooker, but I figured I would get really perfectionistic about wedding photos and with the vast quantity, it would simply take forever to scrapbook them all. I think for the bulk of my photos, I'm going to order one of those professional printed photo books. Should be fun to design, yet won't take forever. However, I couldn't stand the thought of not scrapbooking any of the photos. So I decided to create an 8 x 8 album with a page for each person involved in the wedding. I figured out the general theme, paper, colors, etc. and completed 4 pages so far (except for the journaling)....
I realized the Penelope SWIC collection matched my fall wedding colors oh so well, but alas, all I had left was a sheet of tags. Luckily, my friend Kim had an extra Sydney Circle album kit and I bought it from her to use on my pages. I'm so thrifty, that I often use the little scraps no one else would bother with. Kim noticed this and punched out all the elements from her other Sydney kit and gave me the remaining scraps. Examples of how I use scraps: I stamped the F in the first pic on a scrap and cut out. I didn't use a full circle behind the pic of my dad and I; I plotted and cut out just the little sliver I needed....Incidentally, I love the pic on the lower right of my dad and I. The photographer had set up a first viewing for the groom. James had his back turned and this shot was taken as he turned around and saw me for the first time. I obviously wasn't watching my dad's face, but it's nice to see such an expression of joy there.
And I like this pic of my mom, taken from between 2 of the bridesmaids (you can see their green and burgundy dresses on the edge of the photo).
The pic of James and his mom wasn't necessarily the most flattering for either of them. But I liked how they have their hands entwined (they have a very close relationship). SO I highlighted this part of the photo by punching it out with a circle punch, putting a pop dot and coordinating paper under it. I also stamped the Queen and labeled it Queen of Harts because my MIL truly is the queen of the family (and Hart is our last name).
As I got these pages put together, I decided they needed a little extra pop. I borrowed Kim's gold leafing pen (she was such a good resource this weekend) and outlined a lot of the elements....I love the pic of my FIL praying with my own Dad in the background. They both offered prayers during our wedding which was very special to us. My friends laughed at me because if you look at my page from the back (see pic), you can see I cut out a rectangle of CS that would be behind a pic anyway. I then used that on the coordinating page. It makes your papers go farther. When you're doing a theme album, whether it's wedding, or baby, it goes so much faster if you have a color scheme and general layout picked out. The rest of my pages should be a breeze. I'll share them as I get them done. It's going to be a busy week, so not promising anything soon. Recipe:
Papers:
CS: From Penelope coordinating papers (TAC) also scraps of Burgundy from unknown source
Stamps: AlphaGrunge (TAC) and Renaissance (TAC)
Inks: Noir Palette, Clear Embossing Ink
Other: Gold leafing pen, Clear EP, Watercolor palette in metallics, Green and gold ribbon
My studio resides in my basement, which at one point was an unfinished, dingy area. It's been an ongoing project to beautify and make it more of a creative retreat than just a corner of the dingy basement. I looked for a before pic so you could see just how far this place has come, but couldn' t find one. When hubby moved in, we had to move the guest room down here as well, so you'll see the bed in the background.
On this bookshelf, I keep the stuff I use most. I have several of the 3-drawer, $5 Walmart do-dads and here's the categories I have in them:
Tools: Adhesives, Misc Tools (stamp cleaner, brayer, etc), and Cutting tools
Color: Inkpads, Favorite Coloring Media (pastels, colored pencils) and another drawer of coloring media
Embellishments: Hardware, Paper embellishments, and ?(I forget at the moment what the last drawer is)
Projects: Scraps of patterned paper; Current projects (cards and such I've recently created); and Do-overs (images I've stamped and done nothing with or cardfronts that I will eventually turn into cards to give away)
On the top shelf there's another organizer for Scrapbook stuff: Finished scrapbook pages (sometimes I create them but they don't really go in an album, so they live here)Photos to be filed, Memorobilia (ticket stubs, etc I want to scrapbook)
So what else do I keep on the bookshelf?
Top row: I have several boxes of photos, but just keep the most current one or two on these shelves; Small baskets with current stamp sets in CD cases; a smaller 3-drawer organizer for things like gel pens, CS already cut to card size;
Middle row: in black photo boxes, I keep ribbon on rolls, and loose ribbon. In the green basket, I keep punches (I don't have a huge collection,but the ones I have are too big for the drawers).
Bottom row: A basket with new stamp sets waiting to be cut out, or put into CD cases,a basket to stash stuff that needs to be put away, and a tray to slide projects in process out of the way.
So I guess I was really on a color coordinating kick when I did these containers about a year ago. Before, they were functional but industrial looking. I used TAC's Sands of Time scrapbooking paper to beautify them and hide the contents. Then I used the big alphabet letters to label them. I may be weird, but it makes me happy to live in a coordinated, beautiful room.
I painted this old bookcase, the paper keeper on the table, and the corner cabinets a friend gave me. In the cabinets I keep misc. stuff like things to be altered and embossing powder (I like to keep them in plastic tubs so I can just dip my paper in and shake off). In this paper holder, I keep 12 x 12 paper sorted by color. (I keep the TAC current sets together in my paper taker under the table). You'll notice my little TV/CD player. I got that for $6 at the 1/2 of 1/2 store. I sometimes listen to audio books or music CDs when I work. The narrow silver shelf on the left is a bathroom organizer I bought years ago and re-purposed. I keep lesser - used items here: envelopes, notecards, older photos, wider ribbon, paints, etc. To the left of that I have a CD tower with older stamp sets.
You're probably wondering why I still have a Christmas tree up. It's actually my wizard of Oz tree with my favorite Oz ornaments. I have a little theme going with the ruby slipper, OZ birdhouse and Oz character cows on the bookshelf. I haven't yet hung any pics downstairs, so there's more decorating to be done. Oh yes, and I like to keep a yummy smelling candle on the candle warmer.
This is one of my favorite organizing tools. My friend Niki gave it to me several years ago and it's been invaluable for organizing my papers. On the bottom row, I keep 8 1/2 x 11 paper organized by color family. Directly above, I keep scraps. The top row is for things like packages of paper I haven't opened,alphabet stamp sets, catalogs, TAC's 8x8 and 9X9 scrapbook collections, scrap paper, vellum, etc. You may wonder why I have this turned on it's side. I simply can reach more stuff and can flip through the papers in each section easier than if they were stacked in a pile.
Before the transformation, the walls were dingy dark paneling. I used drywall mud to texture right over the paneling and painted them this celery green and a few of the other walls a robin's egg blue (I didn't get that area completely clean and tidy). If I had taken another pic to the right, you'd see a glider and klik-klak (sorta like a futon/couch), a bathroom, and an area where I keep my fine art stuff. I do enjoy having the TV/DVD player down there. It's nice to "watch" movies while I create. Of course I normally get comedies or light hearted movies, since I am mostly listening and not watching. I made the white armoire with the shutter doors for my living room in Wichita. It didn't work in this house, so it's perfect for my studio. Inside, I have all my gift wrap, bags, ribbon, tissue paper organized (for the time being).
And here's my favorite little stamping buddy, Rajah. Since the dogs don't come downstairs often (without coaxing anyway), he finds this a quiet retreat as well.
So anyway, that's my studio....as clean as it gets, too. It's been buried for the last 6 months, so it's so nice to have it re-emerge! Come on over sometime, there's plenty of room for friends!
I just posted a kids craft on my other blog and shared a trick for cutting out shamrocks quickly and easily. It occurred to me that this could be something useful in my card-making and scrapping. So click here to see the tutorial (and here if you're interested in a quick craft for kids). My disclaimer is that it was just a quick tutorial so no cutesy paper or professional results - just cut one out of a piece of junk mail - and it's blue at that!
I joined a new online community for Angel Stampers called Paper Wings and found another challenge. Here is the inspiration piece.....
And here is my card:
I painted the rose with the Pearl-ex watercolor palette. I have to admit I have always had a weakess for metallics. I'm not a pastel girl at all. These rich colors and metallic accents are more my thing. Metallics don't always photograph well, but take my word for it, this looks opulent in real life.
Recipe:
CS: Brown and Tan CS
Papers: from the Reese Collection (TAC)
Stamps:The Renaissance and Fancy Swirls(TAC)
Ink: Brilliance: Galaxy Gold and Versamark Pad
Other: Ribbon, Gold Embossing Powder, Black Embossing Powder, Pearl-Express Watercolor Palette (Pearlescent & Metallic), Pop dots
And here's the other card inspired by one of Heather's sketches. I bought this Love and Laughter stamp set to use on my wedding invitations. I'm just now getting around to using them in other ways. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I stamped the "Love and Laughter" words on the background of the card. I'll have to play around with the best place to take photos.
Recipe:
CS: Miss Moxie CS coordinates (plus a green scrap) (TAC)
Papers: from the Miss Moxie Collection (TAC)
Stamps: Love and Laughter set (TAC)
Ink: Palette Moulin Rouge, Chartreuse
Other: Ribbon, circle punches in 3 sizes, red mini brad
If you're like me and took a break from stamping, sometimes it's hard to get the ideas rolling so freely and readily. In those instances, it's good to blog hop and get inspired. If you need a jumping off point, a card sketch is a good place to start. I found 2 card sketches on Heather's blog that I wanted to play around with.....
I just ordered some CS and paper from the Miss Moxie collection and wanted to play with it (I did add the green from my scrap pile. I don't usually work a lot with warm colors (especially orange) but I think the colors in the Miss Moxie palette go quite nicely together. After stamping the bird, I felt like there was too great an expanse of white, so I used my stamp pads directly on the paper to give it a more distressed feel.
Recipe:
CS: Miss Moxie CS coordinates (plus a green scrap) (TAC)
Papers: from the Miss Moxie Collection (TAC)
Stamps: Birdcage, sentiment from the Natural Hope stamp set (all TAC)
Ink: Palette: Moulin Rouge, Lamour Red, Chartreuse, and Paris Lights
Other: Ribbon, Mini brads
I bought this set out of the new Serendipity Magalogue and couldn't wait to play with it. I wasn't sure about coloring this birdcage so I went with paper piecing instead. If you're not familiar, this is what you do: Stamp birdcage on tan CS. Also stamp birdcage on patterned paper and on light plum. Cut out the areas you would like in pattern and in plum and glue to original image on the tan CS. I really like this technique when I'm using a stamp featuring a character or animal in clothing. It's so easy to give them designer clothing.
Recipe:
CS: Juliette CS coordinates in 2 shades of plum and tan (TAC)
Papers: from the Juliette Soar with it Collection (TAC)
Stamps: Birdcage
Ink: Palette Noir and Versamagic eggplant
Other: Ribbon, circle punch
I have to admit that this stamp set didn't appeal to me at first. But when I was perusing the catalog preparing for my big 1/2 price order during the January sale, I took a second look and decided this would be a great set, especially for sending cards of encouragement to my Christian friends. There are just so many occassions one of these stamps would work for.
Recipe:
CS: Tan, pink
Papers: from the Catelynne collection (TAC)
Stamps sets: Blessed With (TAC)
Inks: Versamagic jumbo java
Other: Ribbon, popdot
Here's something simple. Used the Uptown Girl Wing It Collection to add an easy background, colored my image with colored pencil and marker, and Voila! Very Easy. One tip: When preparing to color your images, pick your paper first so you can match the colors. As you can see, my flamingo pinks are different based on the papers.
Recipe:
CS: White, black
Papers: From the Uptown Girl Wing it Collection (TAC)
Stamps: Happy Day (TAC)
Ink: Palette ink noir
Other: colored pencil, Tombow markers
Now to take it up a notch....(though still pretty easy).
Recipe:
CS: White
Papers: From the Catelynne Collection (TAC)
Stamps: Happy Day (TAC)
Ink: Palette ink noir
Other: ribbon, colored pencil
