Be BOLD.

27 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by Sara in Art Journal, Mixed Media

Tags

Art Journal, Dina Wakley, Donna Downey, Dylusions, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Mixed media, The Crafter's Workshop, Unity Stamp Co.

As soon as The Paperie received the Sally Carly stencils by Dina Wakley for The Crafter’s Workshop, I had to give them a test run – along with the Tiny Circles and Pie Chart stencils designed by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Ronda Palazzari, and a couple of Dylusions ones too.

To begin, I re-enforced my journal seam with gold chevron washi tape and I love, love, love how it resisted the mist on the gold parts! That was completely unexpected because I just grabbed the first washi tape at hand and stuck it on – awesome surprise!

I used both the positive and negative pieces of the stencil to get different layers of colour with Dylusions Ink Sprays and black gesso. I also did a lot of outlining with my white Uniball Signo Gel Pen, some stamping in black archival ink, and layers of white gesso, Inka Gold, and shimmer mist through the other stencils.

I love how all the layers turned out , especially the Tiny Circles on the head of the first girl:

And the Perfect Pearls Mist through a Dylusions stencil on the second:

Finally, I added Donna Downey phrases from her Art & Possibility set, available through Unity Stamp Co. This may be my new favourite stamp set – the sentiments are fabulous!

All in all, I’m pretty happy with the results – and I really love all the stencils and media that came into play!

What fun things have you done this week? Link me up in the comments – I’d love to see it!

12 on Fourteen & a mini…

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by Sara in 12 on Twelve, Mini Album, ScrapBook, Week in the Life 2012

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Ali Edwards, Clever Handmade, Kiddies, Mini Album, Ranger, Sassafras, Simple Stories, Sticky Back Canvas, Technique Tuesday, Unity Stamp Co.

(note: This is a long one, with lots of pics – you might want a coffee, or wine, or…. whatever, to get you through!)

So…. You all know how much I love the 12 on Twelve photo taking adventure each month, right? I love that little collage of one ordinary day in pictures – no journaling, just snapshots of our life.

And this month I forgot all about it. Sucks. I was bummed. And then that little person in my head went, “knock, knock, knock. Hey dummy! You can take 12 pictures any old day!” Ummm, yeah. Duh!

So today is the day! Anyone want to join in? There’s still lots of time! And my camera battery is dead so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping against hope that absolutely nothing happens for half an hour! 🙂

I’ll have today’s twelve ready for Wednesday.

The other thing that occurred to me was that I haven’t shared any retreat projects with you yet – sorry!

My Week in the Life album is almost done, just a couple of papers left to toss in there and then I’ll photograph and share it. Still love that project and I’m so happy I stuck with the album and finished it (almost!).

The thing is, when that album was done, I had a handful of pics not in there. Either they were cute, but didn’t really tell a story, or I had better ones to tell the story of the day, so they got cut. But, as I said, there were some cute pics – what to do, what to do?

I made G a mini album with the extras and some more of the fabulous Clever Handmade Embroidery Board!

Card Day – A Step by Step Photo Show!

10 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by Sara in Classes, ScrapBook, Techniques

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Adirondack, Craft, Distress Stain, Fiskars, Hero Arts, Ink, Non Stick Craft Sheet, Papertrey Ink, Perfect Pearls Mist, Ranger, Smooch, Stamp Press, Stamps, Unity Stamp Co.

I normally don’t consider myself a great cardmaker – I have trouble with the smaller canvas and working space, I guess – but it’s a great size for trying new things. And I like how this one turned out!

We have a birthday party tomorrow so a card was necessary. This morning, I bit the bullet and went for it, taking pics of the progress for you along the way. This is going to be really photo heavy, sorry!

Supplies

Used lots of stuff here – Papertrey Ink and Unity Stamps, Fiskars Stamp Press (go right now and buy one if you don’t have it!) and Cloud Punch, Hero Arts Long Notecards, My Minds Eye Twine, Papertrey Ink Button Twine, Ranger Archival Ink, Distress Stain, Paint Dabber, and Perfect Pearls Mist, and Clearsnap Smooch.

First, I rubbed my Distress Stains over my Non Stick Craft Sheet and sprayed lightly with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist.

Stain and Mist

Then I dragged a piece of ivory cardstock through the colour.

Swiped through the goodness!

Now I’ve done this before and always gotten a bit of shimmer with the mist, which is what I was going for this time. But I got this instead…

Loads of Heirloom Gold!

See all that gold? Awesome! I can only figure it was because I used Stain this time instead of Ink and the consistency was different. Whatever, it looks fab, if I do say so myself!

Anyway, moving along… 🙂

I cut the card stock down to size to fit the front of the notecard, then stamped some balloon strings…

Balloon Strings

…and a sentiment from Papertey Ink.

sentiment strip

I stamped that on a bit of leftover cardstock for some more interest – and it looks cool (pat on the back)!

I then punched a couple of small holes in the balloon strings so I could tie some twine around them.

Lime Twist bow

I threaded the buttons with Rustic Button Twine, then decided to stamp a “3” and use that as a balloon instead.

Smooched "3"

And while I had the Unity stamps and the smooch out, I did the inside of the card too!

inside...

Finally, I punched some clouds and dabbed them with Pearl Paint Dabber…

Pearl coated clouds

…and adhered everything to the card!

All done!

The best thing? I still have this left over to make another one!

extra stuff!

Are you all pictured out yet? 🙂

We have the birthday party this weekend, and a fun cupcake/Valentine making event at the Paperie, and I’m teaching the Groovy Glassine Class Sunday – we’re full (for the class and the weekend)! Hope you all have a great one!

Things on Thursday – CHA Edition!

02 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by Sara in ScrapBook, Things on Thursday...

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Basically Bare, BoBunny, Distress Ink, Distress Markers, Heidi Swapp, October Afternoon, Ranger, ScrapBook, Simple Stories, Stampin' Up, Studio Calico, Tim Holtz, Unity Stamp Co., Washi Tape, Year Long Album

The Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) just finished up their big show in Florida where manufacturers released their new product for the year. I thought I would give you a run down of my needs!

As an aside, I had an entertaining email chat with a friend (Hi Cathie!) about the difference between wants and needs and she agrees with my reasonings for the needs list. Now I’m fully justified in buying!

1. Distress Markers. Yes, I own a zillion Stampin’ Up markers, but these are different, really and truly. They match all my Distress Ink pads! And there’s a white one too!

2. Studio Calico wood veneer shapes. I love these, they take mist and ink beautifully and look great just left plain. They’re the perfect embellishment. And they’re releasing people and cameras – perfect for my Yearlong Album!

3. October Afternoon SprINKlers. I admit to a slight problem – when I love something, I must have it in every colour (case in point, Distress Ink). And I really love the chalk finish and quick drying time of SprINKlers. Plus the new colours are amazing!

4. Heidi Swapp Memory File. I was shocked by this one, shocked. Love the system and think it’s brilliant, though I know I’ll never do it (but it really is genius). What I really want are the FotoStacks – again, perfect for the Yearlong Album.

5. Simple Stories/Unity Stamp Company. I love Simple Stories – we’re using the Year.o.graphy line for the 2012 Yearlong album – and Unity makes really great rubber stamps, so to get both in one product? Awesome! Especially when they make these, maybe my favourite release of CHA.

6. BoBunny Vintage Double Dot Cardstock. The DoubleDot has been my favourite go to cardstock – great weight, great colours, great tone on tone patterns. And now, just when I thought it couldn’t get better, it’s vintage!

7. Now, that’s not my full list, there’s still Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Chitchat Word Stickers, and washi tape galore, Basically Bare albums, Simple Stories everything (especially the pockets), stamps….. it’s all bad people, it’s all bad!

Let me know what’s on your want/need list, I may have to add it to my own! 🙂