Currently… | May 2013

31 Friday May 2013

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Currently...

listening: to Molly sing her kindergarten concert songs – her favourite is Cha Cha Cha!

eating: fruit salads with yogurt for most breakfasts – yummy!

drinking: water and wine, mostly Moscato these days

wondering: when my new shoes will arrive. I ordered metallic ones online and I’m itching to get them!

wearing: crop pants & sandals as often as possible

feeling: overwhelmed this week – lots happening and it’s all in different directions!

weather: overcast and cool lately – come back spring!

watching: So You Think You Can Dance & still working my way through The Facts of Life. Also saw Epic the other day – loved it!

reading: nothing, it’s sad…

wanting: warm weather

needing: my mojo to come back – I’m not feeling very inspired right now.

thinking: about Index Card a Day (ICAD) – it starts tomorrow and I can’t wait!

enjoying: watching Molly in her kindergarten concert and year-end celebration this morning – it was so much fun!

wishing: I wasn’t quite so busy this week – it’s the last few days my brother and his girlfriend will be here from BC and I’m going to miss the fun! That being said, I can’t wait to finish my quilt and teach the library drawer class next week!

YLA2013 | May class, part 2

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, ScrapBook

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Mixed Media Layout, The Crafter's Workshop, Yearlong Album, YLA2013

Sorry it’s so late – today had some unexpected happenings and news – but here is the second finished LO from this past Sunday’s class.

With this one, I layered a couple of mist colours and let them drip, plus I spattered shimmer mist to create sparkly water drops. I also smeared modeling paste over the stencil in such a way that most of the words/paste picked up colour and blended into the background. I did this on purpose so that the word “happy” stood out in white on the photo itself.

Finally, I layered stickers, paper scraps, circles, and stamps under the picture.

Lots of colour and movement here – perfect for a busy four-year-old boy!

YLA2013 | May class, part 1

28 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, ScrapBook, Techniques, Yearlong Album

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Mixed Media Layout, Yearlong Album, YLA2013

This past Sunday was another Yearlong Album class and we played with gesso, Dylusions Ink Spray, and modeling paste.

It was fun to see how much the gesso could change not only the look of the background page but also how it reacted to and played with inks.

I also showed how fun certain mists are when they interact with molding paste:

Mine was very subtle but I love how the paste picks up the mist colour as it dries! And look at the shimmery spots – Luminarte Radiant Rain mist is *so* shiny!

Of course, to finish it all off I used lots of layers of tissue, book print, stickers, stamping, and buttons – love the dimension!

I’ll be back tomorrow with the second page – I started it in the class as a demo of sorts so even the class peeps haven’t seen this one completed yet!

if you believe you can…

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by Sara in Art Journal

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Art Journal

This Art Journal page didn’t turn out as planned however, since I didn’t have a real set plan in mind anyway I guess that was to be expected!

I started by just spraying some new mist colours and then layering stencils over. Then I went to a new project.

I came back and misted the “if you believe” stencil but it didn’t stand out like I wanted it to so I traced the words with my Sakura blue Stardust pen. Still no good. So I left it again.

This time when I came back I used Golden Light Molding Paste over the stencil and that did the trick! Until I wanted a punch of black and got overspray on the molding paste. Sigh. But the dimension is still cool.

I just threw my hands up at this point and called it done – let’s move on already!

I do love the sentiment though:

Even if this is a hot mess, it was a fun hot mess to make!

Things on Thursday…

23 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Sara in Things on Thursday...

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Big Picture Classes, ICAD, Things on Thursday

1. I’m sure most of you have heard of/seen this video about Zach Sobiech. Even if you’ve already watched it, it’s worth another view.

2. Donna Downey is up to 30,000 Facebook fans and so, as a thank you, she has done a free mixed media video. Of course it’s awesome, so go take advantage and enjoy!

3. I just signed up for this Big Picture Classes workshop taught by Claudine Hellmuth. I love BPC (their classes and workshop are great) and I love Claudine Hellmuth (such a fun style) so I’m really looking forward to this class!

4. Another year, another ICAD (Index Card a Day)! Last year I managed to get 52 of the 61 done – this year I’m determined to do them all plus the ones I missed last year! I love this challenge, it’s a great way to play with new product, learn new techniques and just have fun. Plus, the Flickr group is incredible!

5. Jennifer at Simple Scrapper has just announced a great new summer class – and it’s FREE!

Plus, when you sign up for this 4×6 mini album class, you get videos on how to put it all together and complete it this summer, and the option to get Jennifer’s Summer Stories Toolbox of digital stamps and brushes. Let me just say – get the toolbox!

Don’t you love the font choices?!?

Drawer of Memories

22 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, Techniques

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7 Gypsies Library Drawer, Class, Mixed media

I’m teaching a class tomorrow night (UPDATE: We’ve had to move the class night to June 4 so you still have time to sign up!) and I think this is going to be one of my favourite projects yet!

I’m calling it the Drawer of Memories:

We’ll be using the 7 Gypsies Library drawer with monthly dividers plus adding additional 4×6 tabs and cards. Everyone will go home with a beautiful drawer ready to fill with pictures and snippets of journaling plus I’ll be sending along the .pdf of journaling cards so you can add to it for several years!

The main part of the drawer that we’ll be working on are the seasonal dividers:

Each one uses a different technique and product so if you’re looking to learn more about the supplies you already own or if you want to try some new ones before you buy, this is the class for you.

Luminarte Radiant Rain Mist

Dylusions Ink Spray and Heidi Swapp ColorShine

Distress Stain & Multimedium

Luminarte Primary Elements

Although the original idea was to use this drawer to write a single journal line each night and continue that for several years, I can really see it being a different type of mini album.

The first year of your baby’s life? Your first married year maybe? Or a way to document a first or last year of school? A few words, a bunch of pictures and you have the perfect display piece for family and friends to look through.

The ideas for this drawer really are endless and I’m so excited to see what you are all going to do with them!

Hope to see some of you at class – it’s going to be a memorable one!

You Make me Happy…

16 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Sara in Family, ScrapBook

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Amy Tangerine, Scrapbook Layout

Another LO from the Paperie retreat last month. With this one I wanted to use the Capture stitching templates from Amy Tangerine and my sparkly floss. It was a perfect combo for the sun and cloud design!

I had these pics of Molly and Gabe coming home from my neighbour’s house that I knew had to make it on a LO at some point and they seemed to work well with the patterned paper I had and the stitching I wanted to do.

I love how the glitter thread turned out!

And the wording on the patterned paper was perfect, it was exactly right for these photos – I popped up the main one to help it stand out:

A simple but fun one, the stitching and thread added a bit of something special to keep it from being too dull and flat while the patterned paper helped to ground the photos. And of course, I had to add a little stamping to the top left and bottom right corners – I tried to leave those corners empty but I think it’s beyond me, that’s definitely my calling card these days!

Look at me, look at me, look at me now!

14 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, ScrapBook

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7 Gypsies, Classes, Scrapbook Layout

While at the Paperie retreat last month I managed to do a bunch of LO’s – way more than I usually do. Some were already started (from the KP weekend) so just need pics to be finished off, some were demos (showing the Primary Elements) that I wanted to complete, and others were from scratch.

This one is from the exclusive retreat kit that the Paperie sold – they did a scrapbook kit and a card kit (yes, they’re starting a bimonthly card kit!) and the stuff in both was awesome!

The scrapbook kit had 12×12 paper that could be cut into tags and, while I always love that type of paper, I find that I use one or two tags and that’s it. This time I was determined to use the whole sheet. So it became my background!

For a bit of colour contrast, I rolled the edges of the paper I used to mat and ground my photos because the “B” side was a good pop to the “A” side pattern. And the Prima alpha stickers that came in the kit? Fabulous! They’re a mistable fabric resist that I just had to colour with the new Dylusions Ink Spray.

I also used the same colour, Calypso Teal, for the letters in the title.

A bit of a crazy LO but the fun wonkiness seemed to fit with the crazy Gabe pictures!

I’m hoping to get a sneak peek or two out in the next day or so of an upcoming class. This is going to be a great ongoing project, but all the work is done for you! It’s a 7 Gypsies Library Drawer and we’ll fill it with written and photo memories. The nice thing? You can do it for a year, or three, or just one special event! Sign up, I promise you won’t regret it! Plus we’ll be playing with the new Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs, Luminarte Primary Elements, and Radiant Rain Shimmering Mists! Make sure you follow me on twitter and instagram so you get the peeks as soon as I post them!

P.S. By request, I’m going right now to upload Ella pictures to Flickr!

12 on Thirteen | May 2013

14 Tuesday May 2013

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12 on Twelve

Yeah, so my anal retentive nature just wouldn’t let me do a 6 on 12 that only had pics from a small portion of the day. So here’s the 12 pics that I took yesterday to make up for it!

1. my monthly selfie

2. a Mother’s Day flower from Miss I when she came

3. Ella

4. birthday cake “baking” in the sand crab

5. “Stop taking my picture!”

6. chalk everywhere

7. homemade potato chips with smoked sea salt

8. walking Molly to school

9. Uncle Graham helping with the Lego building

10. swimming lessons

11. new sunglasses for Gabe

12. Rosie

I’ll be back later with a “real” post so you don’t have two 12on12’s back to back!

12 on Twelve (sort of) | May 2013

13 Monday May 2013

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12 on Twelve

So I completely blanked yesterday and thought it was the 11th. All day. Until about midnight.

So I don’t have a 12 on Twelve for May – but I do have 6! It doesn’t cover the whole day, only a tiny little portion, but I’m going with it. If I feel like it during today I might do my twelve but for now, I’m letting six be ok for this month!