19 Tuesday Nov 2013
Posted in Classes, Mixed Media, Yearlong Album
Tags
I promised the students in my YLA2013 class that I would post all the LO’s we’ve done so far. Except for the most recent class (October LO – UTEE resist) they are all now posted on my Flickr account, in the Yearlong Album 2013 set.
July – happy boy
And class peeps, just drop me a line if you have any questions!
S.
04 Monday Nov 2013
Posted in Mixed Media, Yearlong Album
A couple of weeks ago we had another Yearlong Album class and made the September LO’s – and had some fun with Ranger Distress paint!
The first LO uses warm colours of paint and Distress Ink that matched perfectly with one of Molly’s dresses:
Layers and layers of colour and different mediums, plus some shimmery wood veneer and stickers for dimension:
The second LO has the same techniques, done in a slightly different way, and uses some cooler colours:
Love the look of water flicked over Distress Ink; it gives such great texture and interest:
And of course, I needed some fun embellies!
Once again, it was incredible to see what the class came up with as they used the techniques and made them fit with their own style. There were some amazing pages being turned out for sure!
Some ideas are starting to come together for next year’s class and I’m getting excited at the new direction. That being said, I’m also excited to bring back some of the older things from past classes that worked as well. The new Yearlong Album is going to be a fun mix!
S.
07 Monday Oct 2013
Posted in Classes, Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Yearlong Album
I taught another session of the Year Long Album a week or so ago and we made our August LO’s. These might be among my favourites ever!
We broke out the Twinkling H2O’s, everyone got new stencils and some fun wood veneer, and we played with crayons – it was a good day!
The first LO used a gel medium resist under the photo:
After spraying our confetti with a bunch of mist colours, we added those for a little extra dimension:
A few flicks of contrasting Twinks and the base was done:
The second one used crayons for a more subtle (or more vibrant, depending on the brand of crayon used) resist:
The crayon I used above gave more of a colour difference while the one I demoed in class was a true resist:
Again, we misted and added confetti, this time in a less random pattern:
And, with the extra flicks of Twinks, it was finished:
They’re pretty simple but the techniques can be used for super cool backgrounds and the shimmer of the Twinks just adds to the awesomeness – have I mentioned my love for Twinks? 😉
It’s already October which means I’m thinking about next year’s class and sign ups will be coming sooner than later. We always have the best bunch of people, a ton of fun, and great products so if you’re interested in knowing more or signing up, call the Paperie and get put on the list!
S.
03 Thursday Oct 2013
Posted in Mixed Media
A couple of weekends ago I attended a day long crop that was a fund-raiser for the Sunshine Foundation. It was loads of fun, we had great food, and there was an awesome silent auction.
A day or two before I went, my friend Karen blogged about how she was doing a puzzle swap. I thought it was the funnest idea ever so I promptly ran out and bought a puzzle.
Kelly
At the crop, I distributed the pieces with one rule – have them back to me by the end of the day. Not thinking about it, I never specified up or down or sideways so the pieces all came back every which way! Luckily, I like that randomness so it worked out ok.
Meshell (with input from Meghan)
The pieces came in sporadically through the day – one came in less than an hour after I gave them out and the last came back right at the bitter end.
But they all came back – and even without names on them, I think I could tell you who did each one!
Heather
That’s what I like most about this puzzle – it’s really my friends’ personalities and styles up there on a puzzle piece.
Mabel
There’s a lot of glitter and bling.
Bonnie
There’s some mixed media and some basic papercrafting.
Norine
There’s paint, and glue, and molding paste.
There are some amazing quotes.
Peggy
And some simple, but perfect, sentiments.
Christine
And there are fun ideas on little pieces of wood.
Rae Lynn
Most of all, there are all my friends, up on my wall.
I love it! Thank you guys, it’s the perfect art piece for my crafting space.
S.
26 Thursday Sep 2013
Posted in Mixed Media, Week in the Life
Tags
Every year, Ali Edwards does a weeklong, pretty intense project she calls Week in the Life. I took part last year and loved it.
This year The Paperie decided to get involved and some of the designers, instructors, and even the store owners took part. We had an information session where people could sign up to get daily email blasts with tips, tricks, photo prompts, and encouragement to keep going, and this Saturday we’ll be having an all day crop to get our albums put together.
Before that takes place, I thought I’d share my album cover and tell you what I’ve done with my pictures, in case you still needed to get yours printed!
As with most of the others designers involved, my initial concept has changed. Not surprising given the amount of photos I took each day! I am sticking with a little mixed media content and divided page protectors in a Simple Stories 6×8 Sn@p album – the orange one.
To be honest, when I altered the back of the album a couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t sold; I even considered getting a new one and leaving the chipboard cover as is.
I did like the large camera stamp and colours though:
So I did the front cover and suddenly it all seemed to fall into place:
I love the textures of the Distress Paint and Mist, layered with Modeling Paste:
The colours were chosen based on the Simple Stories Basics papers I’m using and I think this album is now going to work perfectly!
My photos are mainly 3×4 with a few 4×6 each day and there’s one 6×8 enlargement per day as well. My one complaint? The 6×8 page protectors are waaaaay bigger than 6×8 so I’m going to have to mount the photos on backer paper – I hate how they slide all over the place.
My smaller photos are all edited the same way: in Photoshop Elements 11 I resized each picture and then added text with the time and a short line about what was happening.
My daily sheets will fill in the gaps and tell extra stories and all I’m planning to do on Saturday is add embellishments. All the photos are cropped and added to the page protectors already (this takes longer than you may think so if you can get this part done ahead of time it’s a great time saver for the crop!)
I’m stoked about Saturday and can’t wait to see what everyone is doing – I love how different this project can turn out! I already know the designers have different albums and sizes, plus Wendy will be doing hers in her PL album so there will be tons of inspiration this weekend for whatever style of WITL you’re scrapping!
I’m hoping to catch five minutes and have my final September Card Kit post up tomorrow with the mini album – be sure to stop back then for a look!
S.
12 Thursday Sep 2013
Posted in Card Kit, Mixed Media, ScrapBook
Today I’m sharing the two portrait LO’s I did with the September card kit. True to form, I did 4 – 8.5×11 LO’s and a mini album, plus a bonus 6×8 LO that I’ll share later (it has 9 photos on it!).
This was the first LO I made with the kit:
I love this pic of Gabe – everywhere we go, he wants Lion to tag along by riding on his backpack. It’s definitely a shot in time of Gabe and what he likes!
The kit is full of vintage looking Farmhouse Paper Company papers and they have the best bits and pieces for embellishing – I couldn’t resist using the balloon and postcard to reinforce the travel theme. Plus, I love a little cluster of goodies!
The second LO showcases a new and exciting skill Molly learned this summer – blowing bubbles!
She was so proud of herself and insisted I take a picture…
every. time! It really was a big deal. 🙂
As per usual, I added hidden journaling:
And I created a focal area by smearing molding paste through a stencil down the centre of the page, then layering the title over that:
I love these papers and discovered the best way to add pictures was by editing the colour on my photos. The papers are such muted colours that the photos were clashing with the papers – adding a slight sepia tone made all the difference and now they look like they belong with the papers.
There may be one or two kits left at the Paperie and trust me, between the exclusive Farmhouse product and the awesome stamp set, this is one to pick up!
S.
03 Tuesday Sep 2013
Posted in Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Simple Scrapper
It’s the first Tuesday in September and that means I’m showing you all the DT LO’s I made for Simple Scrapper this month!
You’ve already seen this one:
It’s inspired by one of the September Story Starters – if you want to get more info on the exclusive sketch and see the detail shots, check it out here. That will also tell you about Paper Issues; Simple Scrapper is the sponsor for this month’s Issue and there are some great prizes to be won!
My second LO for the month isn’t really a LO at all – it’s a full calendar. I’ve been looking after this sweet boy for three years and Friday was his last day coming here. Every Christmas I make a calendar for the parents but I’ve started this one early, with the help of a September Premium Members Sketch!
I love how Jennifer’s templates can even work for non-layout pieces and mixed media!
Plus, it’s easily switched up for portrait and landscape photos.
Aimee and Arielle are also posting their LO’s today so be sure to check them out and while you’re at it, leave them a little love! Then come back here for the list of the whole team (on the right over there!) and check out the work they have posted on their blogs and in their 2Peas Galleries.
I promise to post the last of my July Paperie Card Kit in the next day or so; be sure look out for that – it’s a super sweet mini album! And on Friday, I’ll start sharing the September Card Kit, it’s awesome!
S.
The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.
28 Wednesday Aug 2013
Posted in Art Journal, Mixed Media
I was playing in my Art Journal this morning, trying out gelatos (fun times!) and making a watery mess. Usually, once my background is done, I’m stuck.
Not so this morning, my friends!
I went to work on a face. And she was going really well…
Then, I messed up the mouth. And in trying to erase it a little, all the paper tore off. Now, let’s be honest here; if I was the patient type (I’m not) and if I had waited for the background to dry properly (I didn’t) I would have had some nice, dry cardstock to work on and none of this would have happened.
If trying to fix the mess of the mouth and torn paper, I destroyed her nose. Sigh. Seriously world? Come on already!
So I threw up my hands, grabbed a tag I had made, and stuck it over her mouth and nose. Problem solved! 🙂
A Donna Downey stamp, a line of journaling under that, and a bit of Payne’s Grey Golden paint (totally in love) over a stencil and I called it fixed and done!
Oh, and since I ripped her face apart, I gave her a fancy hair piece to kind of make up for it – do you like her golden feather? 🙂
I had an interesting conversation with a friend the other day and she said she didn’t like colourful backgrounds behind faces – she couldn’t get past the non-flesh colour. Making this I completely realized that what I like is the unusual colours, I don’t want flesh colour – I like the interest the background work gives the face. What do you all think? Do you prefer the norm or the oddball colouring?
I did make a double background so hopefully, when I go to work on the next page, the wet factor shouldn’t be an issue!
S.
24 Wednesday Jul 2013
Posted in Card Kit, Mixed Media, ScrapBook
Sorry for the delay in posting the remainder of my card kit LO’s but we’ve been having warm and sunny weather – as I mentioned before, I’m taking full advantage of the few short weeks we get!
Today I’m showing you one of the two portrait orientation LO’s I made with the kit. I’ll be back later with the other (and a quick step by step on how it came together), and the mini album. On Tuesday I’m going to be posting my Simple Scrapper DT LO’s for August – one of those uses the scraps I had left in the kit. Between my work and Wendy’s, you’re getting a ton of inspiration for this month’s kit; I hope you were lucky enough to snag one!
I did a gel transfer technique to get a circle of arrows on the background (thanks Cathie!) and then messy stitched around it with red metallic thread:
I used one of my very favourite punches to make tags across the top of the page:
For the title, I stamped a speech balloon, cut a strip from patterned paper, and used a Jillibean Soup label, all layered up on the photo:
I love the colours (the Simple Stories paper pad in the kit is fabulous!) and how this one turned out – it was so much fun to make!
A little birdie told me there were one or two kits left at The Paperie so if you don’t have one yet, go get it – the stamp set alone makes this one a must-have!
I hope you’re all enjoying your summer as much as I am and getting some great pics – I have lots of beach and sand photos to scrap soon!
S.
04 Thursday Jul 2013
Posted in Mixed Media
Tags
….under the sea.
One of my favourite projects from the April Paperie Retreat – actually, one of my favourite projects ever – was a canvas I did just as we were gearing down to go home. I had the base done, had demoed on it for previous canvas classes, and it needed to be finished.
I painted the base texture with Silks and Primary Elements with no idea of where I was heading. Once the colour was on all I could see was the ocean.
So I stole a bit of moss from Tina, an old compass transparency from Cathie, stuck on a bit of cheesecloth (a personal texture making fave!) and played around with Dyan Reaveley’s Ruby Rainbow set to make myself a mermaid in the sea.
Ruby has crazy hair in the stamp set so I cut it off, moved it all around, then painted it, and some cheesecloth, with Orange Peel Twinks. And made her hair even a bit more crazy than before!
Her tail is a shimmery bit of awesomeness made possible by Primary Elements mixed into Old Silver Inka Gold. I then etched the scales with a pencil. It’s hard to photograph but the colour starts pink and fades into purple – it’s just gorgeous:
I printed the words on some Martha Stewart Avery labels (love those kraft self-adhesive labels for quotes like this!) and stuck them down:
I wish you could all see this in person because the shimmer and dimension and texture and subtle colour variation is fab! Yes, I’m patting my own back! 🙂
I hope you like her as much as I do, she sits on the wall over my computer where I can enjoy her everyday:
I’m offline for a few days now; I have a very special wedding to attend this weekend (the card and hopefully some pics to come next week) and then fingers are crossed for a day at the cabin on the Sands. I also have ICAD’s to catch up on, some special guest blog posts to write, and an exciting scrapbook project to dive into. I’ll be back when I can come up for air!
S.
sarathings 