YLA2013 | Album Cover

19 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, Techniques, Yearlong Album

Tags

Album cover, Luminarte, Mixed media, Ronda Palazzari, Silks, Stencil, The Crafter's Workshop, Yearlong Album, YLA2013

This may be one of my favourite projects ever. The colours, the texture, the dimension, the shine and, hello! That stencil.

Seriously people, that stencil may be my favourite of all time, maybe even edging out the Pomegranate one. Yes, it’s that good. It’s so good that I could even say I’m in love with Ronda Palazzari for designing it and Jamie at The Crafter’s Workshop for making it. I love it so much that I made sure everyone in my Yearlong class got the 12×12 one as well.

Moving along, this lovely project also happens to be the album cover we are making for the Yearlong 2013 class. Obviously, as it is a mixed media album no one will have the exact same cover but I’ll be teaching all the techniques I used and showing how I got that awesome texture (hint: teabags may have been involved!).

I also used modeling paste which made the hearts pop:

And gave fabulous dimension to the spine:

The paints I used were Luminarte Silks to give it that awesome shimmer and shine:

And for those who don’t have Silks yet (I stress the word yet, they are a necessity!) I’m working on a way to use your regular acrylics and make them into a faux shimmer glaze. If it works, I’ll do a tutorial some Tuesday soon.

If you can’t already see the reason I love the Confetti stencil, here’s why:

It’s like paint spatters, and blobs of molding paste, and quirky hearts all thrown together with great, but still imperfect, border to tie it all together.

And here’s a closeup of the front so you can really see how it all came together:

The back is very similar, but the paints blended a little differently. Plus, I still think I’m going to add a small camera stamp and my signature:

I had truly planned to do an album title and some decoration but I couldn’t bear to cover this up so… I guess we’ll have to go with Happy as an album title! 🙂

I’ll be back next week with the LO for this month, so look out for that later and keep an eye on Instagram (#YLA2013) for sneaks of it!

KP Weekend!

18 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in Cards, Classes, Techniques

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Distress Ink, distress paint, Distress Stain, Dyan Reaveley, Dylusions Ink Spray, Gesso, Kelly Purkey, Perfect Pearls, Ranger, Stencils, The Crafter's Workshop, Tim Holtz, tissue wrap

This past weekend, The Paperie hosted Kelly Purkey and we all had an awesome time!

Krista and I were lucky enough to share the teaching floor with her and do classes so there were lots of different styles and projects for participants to make. Kelly taught a LO class, plus a mini album from scratch. Krista did a completed Dear Lizzy Daybook mini and I did a tag technique workshop. Since I don’t have any pictures on LO’s or in albums yet, I’ll show you the tags I taught and be back another time with the other goodies!

First of all we played with Dylusions Ink Spray and gesso, plus the Tim Holtz Easter Blueprints stamps (CMS144):

I love the texture the gesso provides!

Then we used Distress Ink and Perfect Pearls powder to make a great background that we layered with the Vintage Things Blueprints set (CMS152):

Hello, Perfect Pearls and silver gel pen:

We did a soft background using Distress Stains, the Sewing Room Sizzix Bigz die, and some tissue wrap:

Love the dimension the tissue wrap adds:

Finally, we all played with the brand new Distress Paints! We marbleized, stenciled, and painted:

And added some amazing mirrored sheet letters to finish it off! Unfortunately, I only have this one cell phone picture of this tag but I’ll update with better pics tomorrow when I get my tag back.

It was a bit hairy at the end of class, trying to get them all done but all in all, I think we pulled it off and everyone liked their tags – whew! Plus, they all got to take home a new Distress Paint and a 6×6 Crafter’s Workshop stencil of their choice, pretty sweet!

The weekend as a whole, starting Friday night with a wine & cheese, leading into classes all day Saturday and then a crop, ending with another full class day on Sunday, was fabulous! I think everyone was pretty tired by the time it finished but it was worth every moment. Plus, we got to get a jumping picture with Kelly at Signal Hill in front of Cabot Tower – the icing on top of a very good weekend, even if we did freeze our faces off to get it!

12 on Twelve | March 2013

13 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in 12 on Twelve, Family

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

12 on Twelve, Nikkor, Nikon

I decided to take out my neglected 50mm lens yesterday and use it for all my pics – I had forgotten how much I love that lens! It’s actually the reason I have a decent camera. I came home from a scrapping retreat and told D that I wanted to take pics that were sharp but blurry. Luckily, he actually knew what I meant and handed over his old Nikon with this lens. Now that I’ve put it back on the camera, it may be a while before I take it off again!

1. My regular selfie.

2. Miss M actually wanting her pic taken at breakfast.

3. Reading on the Story Sofa.

4. Playing in the snow (who else wants to eat up that sweet face?)

5. Being silly in the snow.

6. Sliding in Tricia’s yard – she has the best hill and the best slide!

7. Reading while waiting for her ride to school.

8. “Take a picture of this face, Mama!” (not so sweet this time but still chewable)

9. Everyone left early so Mr. G and I walked to pick Miss M up at school.

10. “Mama, this is a fabulous surprise!”

11. He knows the letters to his name now and types them into everything (the writing thing however, no interest!)

12. Kitting for my class this weekend during Kelly Purkey’s visit!

I actually had too many pictures this time around – that lens is awesome! – so I think there will be some LO’s in my future!

No Journey is too Great…

11 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in Art Journal, Mixed Media

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Art Journal, Dylusions, Dylusions Ink Sprays, Ranger, Stamper's Anonymous, Tim Holtz

I mentioned quite a while ago that I planned to start art journaling. And I did plan to start, really.

But it never happened.

Until recently! I finally opened up my Dylusions journal and put some stuff on the page. I have three or four started now but here’s my first one:

I love the bright colours – the Dylusions Ink Sprays are amazing!

This is actually the second take on this page, the first one was a mess of some stars that didn’t work out the way I had envisioned so I covered it up and went for it again. I still kept the stars:

But I added my beloved Tim Holtz car and Dylusions leaves:

And a great quote:

Plus some Dylusions stencils, metallic paint, and a bit of white gel pen.

I really like how it ended up, and am loving the more recent pages I’ve done even more. Playing with product just never gets old, does it?

I’ll be back next week with another page – trying to keep this regular and being held accountable here will help!

Technique Tag Class | Sneak Peek!

08 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in Cards, Classes, Techniques

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

card class, Distress Ink, Distress Stain, Dylusions Ink Spray, Gesso, Kelly Purkey, technique tags, The Paperie

It’s a bit late but I’m back with sneak peeks of three of the cards for next weekend’s Technique Tag Card Class during the Kelly Purkey weekend at The Paperie!

The first one will be made using Distress Inks and Perfect Pearls:

Then we’ll do a pretty one with Distress Stains and Inka Gold:

And the third is made with gesso, mist, and alcohol ink!

We are actually making four cards but the last one uses a top secret and very fun product so no sneaks for that one – it will be an awesome surprise to the class goers!

If you haven’t signed up for this awesome weekend – and why haven’t you? – I think there’s still a couple of spots available! Kelly is teaching a LO class and a minialbum class, Krista will be doing an Amy Tangerine Daybook, and I’ll be doing a bunch of technique tags that we’ll make into cards! Plus, there’s a meet and greet with Kelly on Friday night and a crop night on Saturday! It’s going a be full and very amazing weekend!

Things on Thursday…

07 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in Things on Thursday...

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Quilt, Things on Thursday

1. I’ll be back tomorrow with sneaks of the technique tags I’ll be teaching in my card class during the Kelly Purkey weekend – it’s almost here!

2. There are only two Things on Thursday today because this one is big….

…I’m making a quilt!

I’ve wanted to do this for years but I’m a master procrastinator so it just never happened. Finally, my friend Marg who, among many other arty things, also quilts, offered to teach a few of us! This is the first one we’re making, just a little strip quilt, but I’m pretty impressed with how straight my seams are and how well I lined them up on either side of the quilt – they’re off a bit but I expect all of you to overlook that part! 🙂

Doesn’t it look like the perfect size for a baby quilt? I’m really hoping I don’t mess the rest of it up because my plan is to give this very special first ever sarathings quilt to a wonderful friend. She’s expecting her first baby and I may actually be more excited for her than I was for myself – really, I’m that thrilled!

She was also one of the very first people to meet little Miss M – my quilt top holder-upper helper:

So I think my friend deserves something from me that is as fabulous as she is. Please tell me the colours are good for either a boy or girl though honestly, I don’t really care either way!

Wish me luck on the rest and cross your fingers that I don’t destroy it along the way!

Crop Circles Blog Hop | WINNER!

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in Blog Hop, Giveaway

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

blog hop winner

NOTE: This is my second post today – check below for the Simple Scrapper Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Sorry for the delay in drawing for this – I’ve been a little under the weather!

The winner is….

Snap!

So Stinkin Cute is so stinkin cute! I love blog hops. So much fun to see what everyone is doing. And, I can even win something! Woo Hoo! Thanks so much for the opportunity!

I’ve emailed you so please get back to me with your mailing info!

Thanks to everyone who played along and left amazing comments on the way – we’re hoping to do another one next month!

Simple Scrapper Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY! | March 2013

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in Blog Hop, Mini Album, ScrapBook, Simple Scrapper

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Blog Hop, Giveaway, Mini Album, Scrapbook Layout, Simple Scrapper

Another month, another Simple Scrapper blog hop and giveaway! We’re doing the giveaway a little differently this month so make sure you scroll to the bottom of this post and use the Rafflecopter link below to enter a giveaway for a one month trial membership at Simple Scrapper. There are three ways to enter and three winners will be selected. To be eligible, you must enter by 11:59pm CST on Wednesday, March 6.

I used one of the Story Starters this month – the theme is Adventures – to make a mini album of Pirate Day on my dad’s boat a couple of summers ago.

Super quick and easy to do when using a kit and one template!

I gave a peek of this album on my guest post over at Simple Scrapper last week and you can check out all the inside pages over at 2peasinabucket.

For the template sketch, I made a letter size, interactive LO of Miss M who actually wanted me to take her picture for once!

Adding the additional pictures behind the top one allowed me to keep them all at a large 4×6 size while still keeping the LO fairly simple and uncluttered. Plus, there’s loads of space for journaling too!

Again, you can see additional pictures in my gallery over at 2peas.

Make sure you check out what the other design team members have done – they have some amazing LO’s this month! The list is below if you have lost your way or want to start at the beginning. And don’t forget to enter to win the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway <–click here to enter!

Simple Scrapper (Jennifer Wilson)

Margrethe Aas Johnsen

Sara Case Strickland <– That’s me!

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping. Each month members receive a new collection of sketch templates and Story Starters, story-focused prompts for pages and projects.

Crop Circles Blog Hop! | March

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in Blog Hop, ScrapBook

≈ 66 Comments

Tags

Blog Hop, Crop Circles, Sketchbook365

Welcome to the first ever Crop Circles blog hop!! We are a group of ladies who share ideas and inspiration on all kinds of scrappy projects. Most of us are either Newfoundlanders or have a link to the Island. We thought we would share our inspiration with you and have decided to use a sketch from Sketchbook365 to showcase our many different styles. You have until end of day March 3rd to complete this hop. For every comment you leave along the way your name will be entered to win a Stampin’ Up! bundle valued at $75! You’ll also have chances to win some blog candy along the way from individual bloggers. And I’m one of those bloggers so make sure you leave a comment here! contest is now closed

Here’s my take on the sketch:

Lots of flicked white and shimmer mist:

And of course, twine again, but with brads instead of eyelets this time:

Some real and some faux stitching:

And layers of lovely goodness:

Remember, you have three days to complete the hop and your name is entered to win the grand prize for every comment you leave along the way! Plus, you have a chance to win some Tim Holtz / Ranger blog candy here if you comment! contest is now closed.

Also, this sketch is the March Challenge on the Scrapbook365 blog and it’s open until March 15 so you should play along and maybe win a prize over there too! Leave me a link in the comments if you use it – I’d love to see what you do.

For now, hop along to Lori and give her some love!

And if you get lost, here’s the full list:

Cheryl Ashworth – (partners with Shar Strahan & Brande Strahan)
Kelly Klapstein
Rhea Skomorowski – (partners with Natasha Connolly)
Catherine Stockley
Michelle Marks
Darlene Head Whalley
Corina Mayo Thorne
Sara Case Strickland <– That’s me!
Lori Smith – (partners with Elaine Lambe Beck)
Liz Davis
Cathy Caines – (partners with Rexene Lockyer)