Journal52 Week 3

Finally... week three is complete for my art journal entry.  The prompt was "You make me smile".   Oddly it had me stumped.  So much makes me smile... the list is endless and the "You's" are too.   I just started pulling out items that made me smile...surprise.. my tags, my stamps, inks and papers... working and playing with layers became the focus again.  But this time with technique.  Stencils, texture paste, paper....

 

I also pulled out some old and new stamps.  The watch and keys was a total impulse buy out at Cat's but so glad I did... and some new Dyan Reaveley Dylusions word stamps I bought on a very recent excursion with my bestie.  

Last, pulled out my metal and odds and ends... I covered this Ornate Plate from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology line with my Distress paints (Picket Fence and Tarnished Brass) and mounted over a faux negative I found somewhere.. LOVED

I made an attempt to journal directly on the page and hate it... so I'll go back to my journaling on the back of the page.  Okay time to get out of here, week 4 prompt has been up a while and I need to get started..

Thanks for stopping by!  Your thoughts and kind words are always appreciated!

Post Christmas Crafting

Not all my cards and gifts made it into the mail in time for Christmas delivery this year... (and last year and.. shhh you get the idea.)  I had a few card stragglers and then the "What do I get my nephews?"   So, I procrastinated and tarried.  Then the solution was dropped in my lap.  Problem solved.

But I wanted to do something fun too... then I remembered a sweet little mini-tag/envelope album class I took in October at Cat's Creations taught by friend Sandy Trefger.  But I wanted something a tad bigger than the coin envelopes we used... so I Google templates and found a coin envelope template and re-sized it to my liking. Then I got to work!

The coin envelopes create these adorable little pockets in which to tuck little things.  I used some 7Gypsies tabs..after I altered them of course.  On the first one, I created another little pocket!!

This will flip open and I'll put my sentiment/note there. 

 

These mini albums are so much fun, so many opportunities to use the fabulous little scraps and left over kit pieces.  Don't be worried about having too much dimension, unless you're mailing them as cards...not me.. padded envelopes will be their means of packaging!

 This is the back of the mini-album... it's not quite done yet..more building and adding to go.  But I should finish it... I still have a few more mini's to create!  I'm so grateful my family knows I'm a "flake" or consistently late.  Believe it not it's on my list of things to improve on for 2014.  Wish me luck!  :D

Double Vow

Ah June.. a time of weddings and love.   This month is full of wonderful inspiration and challenges that will help us incorporate these lovely themes!  To kick of the month of June, CSI has given us some wonderfully romantic colors and evidence to play with!

My evidence includes the following:
Lace:  I used bits of vintage lace that I colored with my distress stains and mists.  I also used my lace border punch on some Heidi Swapp paper.
Chevrons:  I've never been a fan of these, but I really wanted to incorporate these in to my layout.  I wanted to step OUTSIDE my comfort zone.  That's when I realized my paper punch would be perfect to create these chevrons! 
Flowers:  Some fabulous Petaloo flowers
Distressing:  I distressed by tearing paper, inking, using my distress tool.  An added bonus, covering manilla with a coat of white acrylic paint and then running thru my Big Shot with an embossing folder.  The paint cracked and split!
Jewels: Some added sparkle to the photo frame
Wood: Using a wood grain embossing folder by Tim Holtz
Heart: Used my heart movers and shakers die by Tim Holtz

Gold: I took a Clear Scraps acrylic frame, dabbed some black Staz-On the back and then daubed some metallic Distress Paint on.  I was shooting for a gold but got more of an antique brass look.

Testimony:
I documented a wedding.  Actually a dual wedding.  This photo is of my great aunt & uncle and my grandmother & grandfather.  Both brothers, both sisters... marrying on the same day.

 

The little cards are tucked under the first place card.  Each contain information regarding my family.  Full names, dates and etc.  These pages will go into my Genealogy family album and I want to stick with the fact format.  As for a story?  I sadly don't have one.  I don't know why my grandparents and their siblings decided to marry together on the same day.  Convenience? Finance?  Timing?  I don't know.  And sadly this generation of family are quickly passing out of life before these questions can be answered.

My supplies include:
Heidi Swapp Vintage Chic paper
Dies & embossing folder by Tim Holtz
Stamps by Prima & Stampers Anonymous
Inks, Stains & Paints by Tim Holtz/Ranger
Frame by Clear Scraps
Washi Tape by Recollections
Flowers by Petaloo

So there it is!  Get on over to CSI for all the details and pull out those photo's and start scrapping! 

LBM Page 1

Well, I needed some creative time to myself this week.  No challenges, no sketches.. free scrap.  At least I thought I was free scrapping.  But in retrospect, a challenge did "stick" in the back of my head.  A site called Colorful Creations, a fun little site with all kinds of inspiration for all venues for scrapping creativity.  This was a White + 1 Challenge.   My layout doesn't fall into the 12x12 category but this is definitely a Link w/ Love situation.  Thank you for the inspiration!

But keeping to MY personal challenge, using up the junk/tidbits/ scraps and clutter I have on my desk and this bucket of scraps..this is my first page.  I painted the grunge page w/ white gesso, I loved the coverage.  You can speed the drying by using your heat gun and it's okay if you make it bubble, but don't let it catch fire.  After that, using my newest acquisition, a fun rubber stamp from Impression Obsession,and an olive green chalk ink pad, I stamped directly on the grunge. YES,  it's BRICKS!  Love!  After I randomly "doodled" around various bricks with a green marker.  I had some scraps of this white corrugated paper I had picked up from my LSS, that and a little wood banner from Prima.  But it wasn't green enough, so I thought I could darken w/ my Distress Stain.. that didn't seem to work so well.  BUT then I went back over with White Distress Stain and BOOM.  It looked great.  Unfortunately, I covered up the cool inspiration word, but I had some rub on quotes in the bucket.   I took a TH hardware piece, embossed it in white.  A little tip I picked up from Tammy Tutterow.  Lastly, I had a bit of left over Dusty Attic, that was covered with metal tape and then colored green with TH Alcohol Inks.

Thanks for peeking in.  So WHAT are YOU creating today? 

#162 Circa 1941

Well turns out the color challenge is the same colors used for the DT Call at the other site. So hmmmm what to do? AH I'll head over to  Creative Scrappers  and see what their challenge is.  It's pretty darn cute.  I love diamonds and I had to give this a whirl.

Sweet and simple.  And FAST.  Okay, it's a little wonky but I'll fix the border before sliding it into the album sleeve.  I stuck to the actual sketch for the most part.  I did also challenge myself by using scraps from my scrap drawer.  So what you're seeing is some scraps from G45 (red stripes & very old Christmas), Some vintage Daisy D, Bo Bunny, Bazzil and TH Grunge .  I used three border punches and layered all three to create one wide border. 

 And lastly.. I just did a wee bit of journaling at the top.  This is my great grandmother Vena Gilman.  This was taken at Horseshoe Skyline, Colorado on July 4, 1941  Pretty darn cool I though... 

 

This was a satisfying little bit of scrapping.  But the Big Weekend is before us and there's plenty to be done before we can relax and enjoy it.  You all have a great weekend, and a SAFE weekend.  Keep those burn bans in mind when blowing up your fireworks, make sure you have your designated driver and have a HAPPY 4th of July America!!