G and his funny sayings….

19 Monday Nov 2012

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So D and I were in the kitchen the other day – I was making pancakes, he was playing games on his phone – and the kiddies were playing legos in the living room. All was, for the first time ever in the history of our house, quiet. And I said as much to D.

Suddenly, I hear this little pitter patter of feet. They get to the kitchen, stop for a moment, and then run back to the living room.

Then we hear the three-year-old whisper (you know the one – a whisper for him, a regular voice for us) and he says to M, “They’re being really quiet in there!”

He seemed as shocked and disconcerted by the quiet as we were!

S.

Bring on a Neon Christmas!

19 Monday Nov 2012

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I’m teaching a new class next Tuesday night at The Paperie and it’s going to be a fun and bright one!

In the class you’ll receive this Hero Arts stamp set:

Miracle of the Holidays

credit: Hero Arts

and we’ll be playing with pieces from this one too:

credit: Hero Arts

And to go along with those, we’ll be using the new Neon Inks!

credit: Hero Arts

It’s going to be a bright night, my friends! 🙂

Now, I’ll be honest, I lived through the 80’s and when these inks were released I said, “Never, no way, not gonna happen. Been there, done that!” However (and this is a big however) I played with them and have learned ways to tone them down so they’re just gorgeous colours, not in your face, need-to-wear-your-sunglasses bright! Yay!

RJ

Meet RJ, Rudolph’s boy. When I gave him a red nose, it was brought to my attention that Rudolph does not wear a sweater (cough, cough, Liz, cough). Picky, picky. So this is Rudolph Junior and he gets cold up there in the North Pole, a sweater is a necessity!

The colours are brighter when stamped on white instead of kraft…

Ornaments

…but are not totally in your face when in a small dose like this!

Now, most of us have teens, or preteens, or even littler ones in our lives and they didn’t live through the 80’s. And that means they actually like the neon colours – true fact, my friends! So for those on your Christmas list, I made this card, loosely based on one I made in Orlando at the Collins Rep Show:

Patchwork

Trust me, those kids in your lives will love this one! And, be honest now, it is kind of fun instead of traditional red and green, hey?!?

Finally, subway art is really big right now and it’s so easy to make your own. Here’s my neon twist on it!

Subway Art

On top of the 4 cards, you go home with the stamp set, and you get to play with the neon inks (which will also go home with one lucky person!) – it’s going to be a fun night!

Call or email The Paperie to sign up and hopefully, I’ll see you next week!

Do you ever wonder where the Creative Team gets their class ideas? Well, I can tell you that this class was inspired by a card I submitted for publication – the theme was non-traditional Christmas card colours. After using the neon inks in Orlando, I decided that would be the direction I would take this class. And that card I submitted? Check out page 47 of Create: Christmas Cards to see it – it’s also a Hero Arts card! 🙂

S.

Pumpkins and some news…

16 Friday Nov 2012

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For the Paperie Fall Retreat last weekend, the Creative Team all made page LO’s and then put together page kits to sell – and they were a hit!

We all had a budget and needed to keep them pretty clean and simple, while staying true to our own styles and that was way harder than it sounds. However, the pages the other girls did were amazing and all six kits and LO’s were very different – there was definitely a style and colour scheme for everyone.

I chose to do a Hallowe’en LO since the Retreat fell right after that event and many people scrap those pics during the weekend. Also, the October Afternoon Witch Hazel line was in the store and I totally fell in love with the Star Thistle paper! 🙂

Here’s my LO:

But of course, I’m never happy to stop where I’m supposed to and I turned it into a double for anyone who wanted more pictures or was a 2-pager scrapper. So for the additional price of a single sheet of paper, here’s what Retreat participants could make, if they wanted:

My favourite part are the letters that spell “pumpkins.” They are plain leftover chipboard, die cut with the Block 1″ Lowercase alpha using the AccuCut machine, and then I coloured them with my favourite Sakura Clear Stardust pen (the Stardust colours are amazing too). The shimmer is out of this world!

Even with all the things I’ve used this pen on in the past, I was still floored by how it worked on the chipboard! I had more people asking me what stickers those were and saying that they never saw them in store – most were shocked to discover it was chipboard and then thrilled that their kit included the pen!

Have a great weekend everyone, and hopefully, you’ll get to enjoy some crafty time! I’m swamped with upcoming classes to prepare for and excited to get them all together.

Another piece of news I’m both excited and sad about is the change happening at The Paperie. One of the co-owners, Chris, is retiring (sad) and a friend, Wendy, has bought her share of the company (happy and exciting). I couldn’t be more thrilled for Wendy and know that she’ll be amazing in her new role – I’m so excited for what is to come! That being said, I’m sad to see Chris go – she was a regular at the shop I used to work in downtown and after that, I saw her at the Paperie. Plus, she was my travelling companion to Houston last year. I’ve gotten to know and appreciate her more than I ever thought possible so it’s very bittersweet for me to see her go. But she has another new grandchild on the way, and 3 already living here, so I’m sure she’ll still be a Paperie regular to scrap all those kiddies in her life! Have fun Chris, we’ll all miss you so, so much!

S.

Project Life – Weeks 3 & 4

15 Thursday Nov 2012

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Another update with weeks 3 & 4 – and for the record, I’m still keeping up so big pat on the back for me! 🙂

(As always, click on any pictures to open a larger copy in another window)

Week 3 was a pretty laid back week with nothing much going on – thank goodness after the last couple of weeks! One insert with work that M brought home:

I saved this one because they were supposed to be practicing “M’s” and she wrote her name in the lines – made me laugh!

The full spread:

You can see that I got into the Ali Edwards digital overlays this week. Now I’m addicted so you’ll be seeing those a lot! What I love is that it simplifies my process even more – when I edit my pictures I can drop the overlay on at the same time, print the pic and be done, no more embellies needed!

Here’s the left page:

Also loving the foldable journal cards in the PL kit for slightly longer stories, like the Booty one – my kiddos love to “shake their booty!”

And the right:

More pictures from Miss M – she loves drawing grass, sky, and people lately – a self timer pic, backyard races, a visit to bring M to school and G being cute as always. Another week in the bag.

Week 4 was fun – we took family pics in the park, saw family for dinner, and had the cable guys working on the poles in our backyard – the boys talked about it for days!

No inserts this week, just a straight forward LO:

The left page:

And the right:

I’m loving how the title cards seem to work for whatever week and pictures I have and that I can easily alter the colour slightly with washi tape. Washi tape, October Afternoon stickers and coloured labels are the best PL items ever.

I’ll be back next week with a couple more and here tomorrow with 5 on Friday, since Things on Thursday was pre-empted by Project Life!

S.

12 on Twelve – November

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

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Still playing along with this every month, and still loving it. Unfortunately, I had very few pictures and really terrible lighting but it’s done and documented and not every month has to be my favourite, right?

1. Early morning weekend and holiday ritual – yogurt and raspberries in the basement, watching TV.

2. Reading stories to a captive audience of bunnies.

3. Playing horsey with Daddy.

4. Showing off his new-to-him Spiderman toy.

5. Christmas shopping downtown at the local places!

6. My monthly selfie, in the porch, after dark, with aforementioned terrible lighting.

7. Ella, having a snuggle with Miss M’s new blankie (thanks to Vicki for saving the day when the original vanished!)

8. Bath time!

9. Laundry time.

10. New vacuum cleaner was needed, but were two new Dysons really necessary?

11. Sleepy boy, snuggling his lion.

12. Sleepy girl, moving farther and farther down the bed. This is the only thing she says/does/anything that proves she actually does belong to her father!

S.

Tuesday Techniques and Tutorials aka Hello, my pretties!

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Tuesday Techniques, Tuesday Tutorials

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I had an awesome weekend at The Paperie Fall Retreat with all my buddies, playing, crafting, laughing, drinking, demoing…

The item I demoed is a new one for the Paperie and after my trip to Orlando in October, it was one that I knew had to be in the store! I was super excited when it showed up in time for the Retreat…

This is going to be more of a quick and simple overview introducing you to
Silks than an actual tutorial but I hope you like it anyway!

You’re going to need:

Supplies

Silks, Sticky Back Canvas, Craft sheet, paint brushes, Archival Ink, and stamps.

To begin, Silks are a Luminarte product, as in the people who make my beloved Twinks, so you know they’re going to be awesome and shimmery! They’re a water based acrylic glaze which means they’re not permanent or opaque but really fluid and translucent – and shimmery!

For the first tag (sorry there are no pictures of the process, my camera battery died and my little point and shoot just wasn’t up to the challenge, sad) I simply painted the Silks over the Sticky Back canvas, blending as I went, and let them dry, making a background. The beauty of these paints is that they don’t mix together and make mud colour – they just blend and stay gorgeous!

Once it was dry, I stamped the images in Archival Ink and then painted them in with more colours of Silks. As you will see, no muddy colours, just awesomeness! And great shine!

The second tag I made so I could show you how the Silks act as a resist. I stamped the same images in Jet Black Archival on the Sticky Back Canvas and heat set them…

…then painted them in with the same colours of Silks as the first tag:

This looks all wet and messy because I have found that on canvas the paint covers better and easier if I wet the fabric first. You do want to be careful because if you use too much water (I have 4-5 layers of paint and water on the house) you will get this wicking of the paint happening. Not an issue for this tag, I have plans to disguise it and the style of the stamp lends itself to an imperfect effect anyway.

Once the paint was dry, I misted over it with Dylusions Spray Inks and then misted lightly with water to blend them a bit.

You can already see that the Silks are resisting the sprays and keeping their intense colours – love it!

I’m impatient, so I used my cloth to blot up the excess moisture and then heat set the tag:

You can also see that the shimmer comes through and resists the mist too – so cool!

And a good black mixed media pen disguises the wicking flaws!

I didn’t do anything with the tags except add crinkle ribbon because I really just like them as they are. The ribbon for the first tag was painted with the Silks and it has awesome shimmer plus is just a little stiff – enough to hold some shape.

See the top of the tag? Easy and cool technique that I’ll try to remember to do next week!

Here’s the first tag – painting Silks over Silks on canvas:

I love the softness and overall shimmer of this one.

And the second tag – Silks resist with mist:

I think this is my favourite – I love the contrast of the shimmer paint and the matte mist and the colours are amazing!

Click on any of the pictures to make them bigger and see the shimmer a little better – I only wish I had the skills to really photograph it!

Let me know if you have played with Silks and show me what you’ve done – I’d love to see it! And if you don’t have any, go get some, really, they’re worth it!

S.

 

Just popping in….

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

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…to say that I’m taking a short blog break. Crazy week here and on top of it, I’m packing for a scrapbooking retreat that starts on Thursday! Very excited to go but not enough hours in the day so I’ll see talk write to you all next week!

Don’t forget to pause for a moment on Sunday, November 11th and if you haven’t already, go get yourself a poppy. It’s really the least we can do.

S.

Keep Calm & Love On

05 Monday Nov 2012

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I was taking a poke around the Simple Scrapper website (Krista used to be on their Design Team and introduced me to it) and I found a great printable that I just had to use.

As soon as I saw the “Keep Calm and Love On” card I laughed and knew the exact picture for it! I kept poking around, looking at some of their sketches and found the Template Jane sketch. I changed it up a little, of course – that’s the beauty of sketches! – and ended up with this LO:

Keep Calm and Love On

Used my Crafter’s Workshop stencils and Clay Mist, naturally, my faves, and a bunch of washi tape.

I layered on the Glossy Accents – remember my very first Technique post? – and the shine on the wood veneer hearts is awesome!

Glossy Accents and Rock Candy stickles – a girl’s best friends!

Finally, my favourite part, a real stroke of genius I think, my pumpkin!

shiny pumpkin!

That’s a wood veneer apple from the Studio Calico School Icons! Is that the best, or what?!? Patting myself on the back for that one! 🙂

Love how this turned out, easy to do, still looks like me even though it’s from a sketch, and the journaling is actually out in the open for once, thanks to Ali Edwards!

Do you use sketches? What’s your favourite place to find them? And do you love shiny hearts as much as me?

S.

5 on Friday

02 Friday Nov 2012

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And once again, Things on Thursday is shifted a day ahead… 🙂

1. I’m playing today with something new and fun that I’ll be demoing at The Paperie Fall Retreat next weekend – I’m having a blast getting dirty!

making plaid…

2. I have to try this technique, I love how the edges of the card look with the embossing. Very, very cool and easy!

Card and Photo credit: Tammy Tutterow

3. Cocoa Daisy is great online store that specializes in monthly kits but also have lots of other things going on too. They recently had their Fall Crop and there were some amazing challenges and tutorials. Check this out for links to the three online tutorials – they were fabulous!

4. You all have heard how much I loved the two Christy Tomlinson SheArt workshops I took online, right? Well, if you want some awesome freebies she has a bunch of online tutorials and videos that you can do. Everything from mixed media canvases to cards.

Mini Album and Photo credit: Melanie Jarocki via Scarlet Lime

5. I finally have this in my hot little hands and there are big plans to mess it up this weekend – exciting play times are in store for me, my friends!!

Dylusions Art Journal

Have a great weekend – if you’re in Newfoundland, let’s hope that the fog lifts sometime this weekend!

S.

Project Life – Weeks 1 & 2

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

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I actually did start Project Life the first week of September, like I said I was going to, and have kept up with it since – a big deal for me!

Since I really don’t need to bore you with all 8 weeks I have done all at once, I’m going to be nice and just show a couple of weeks at a time. Of course, it looks pretty similar to any other PL album – I just have my own pictures in it! 🙂

Here’s the title page:

Wood veneer, washi tape, and the Turquoise core kit – pretty simple!

Week 1 was jam packed with the last long weekend of the summer, M starting school, G starting swimming, and all the regular life stuff too so I had an insert:

Here’s the main spread on it’s own:

And this is the flip I made for some of Miss M’s first day of school stuff – this is what’s behind the bears picture!

My favourite pictures this week are the one of M jumping for joy before going to her first day of school and this one:

My kiddies throwing sawdust, aka. fairy dust, at the cabin. I love how the wood veneer stars turned out on the photo.

Week two had some more inserts since our fabulous, best ever in the whole world babysitter was here one night and did some crafts and also, it was 12 on Twelve:

I love how the 12 on Twelve is turning out – numbered photos on the front and descriptions on the back. I did it again for October and still love it so I think that will stay. A nice overview of daily life each month!

Again, here’s the main spread on it’s own:

It was an other busy week – last ice cream truck visit of the summer, swimming starting for M, Poppy learning to ride a motorcycle (never in a million years thought my dad would be a biker dude!), and M had a visit from a friend one afternoon.

Love those 3×4 journal cards with the alphabet, like the one on the far right – colouring in the initials of the girls and being able to customize them so easily is awesome!

I’m attempting to keep this album flat and simple and so far that’s helping me to stay up-to-date without having to stress over it. Adding to a running word document each day (thanks for that idea, Liz!) gets all my journaling out of the way and I try to sit down each Sunday to pick photos. Once they’re printed and in the book, the rest is gravy!

I’m already discovering that I love looking back even though it’s super simple and I’m only a few weeks in – I can only imagine how much I’ll like looking at it 6 months from now!

Next Wednesday, Weeks 3 & 4!

S.