Online Class

I'll be teaching a short class on Scrapbook Takeout today as part of the crop. It's a Spring banner, a little something to brighten up your scrap space or other part of your home. Here's a sneak peek. The class starts at 1:30 p.m. EST and the supply list is available here. Everyone is welcome to drop by!

The crop is in full swing!!!

Drop in and say hello! Check out the challenges for a chance at prizes and see how many you can complete to become the Queen of the Crop! This is the prize up for grabs if you are crowned!

Also check out the Crop Specials page on the website. Some great deals to be had!

There's no place like it.

Home that is. As a person who has lived in seven different countries I certainly can attest to the truth of that statement. So when I saw that Shimelle Laine was doing an online class entitled"There's no place like Home" I had to sign up. (The class started on Monday but you might still be able to sign up and catch up with the first week). I'm really enjoying the way the class is proceeding so far, and the first two prompts inspired me to make this layout.

Close up shots of the details can be seen here

I think I went way out of my comfort zone on this one! For one thing I had vowed never to silhouette a photo (again), but it really seemed to be appropriate here. And I love all the whimsical work I've seen people doing lately, this is the first time that I think I've gotten close with my whimsy. I had a blast doing the page and I absolutely adore it! I love that I stretched myself in new ways and I am hoping that some aspects of the page will show up in my future work.

National Craft Month Crop

Come celebrate the end of National Craft Month by cropping with us at Scrapbook Takeout.
Challenges to get your mojo going! Fun games! Lots of chit chat and laughing! And of course PRIZES!!!

Win the grand prize of a Fiskars Paper Drill and an assortment of yummy embellishments by completing the most challenges and being crowned "Queen of the Crop". There will also be prizes for each challenge and select games.

If you want to play bingo the words are already posted here, and you need to have your selection in by Friday at 3:00 p.m. EST.

So clear your calendar! Secure a baby sitter! Clean off your desk! Grab some snacks and drinks! and Come crop until you drop!

More details coming so check back here over the next couple days!

Hope you'll come party with us :)

Live Creatively,

Tuesday To-Do - Spring Blossom Mirror

This is an older project, but it's perfect for this time of year. Just substitute some newer supplies, or dig into your stash for the original papers used. Come on, you know you've been hoarding them!

Spring Blossoms Altered Mirror

Supplies:

Wooden frame mirror (this one is available at Ikea)

Patterned Papers:

Twigs and Soar from Lily Kate Collection by BasicGrey

Acrylic Paint:

Anise

Almond Green

Chipboard Flower border:

Fancy Pants Designs

Paper Flowers:

Prima Marketing

Silk Flowers:

Bazzill Basics Paper

Rhinestones:

Moments Defined

Micro beads:

Queen and Company

Dimensional adhesive:

Glossy Accents, Ranger

Decoupage glue (e.g. Mod Podge)

Gesso

Tools:

Craft Knife and/or sharp scissors

Paintbrushes

Instructions:

Step 1:

Prepare frame by painting with gesso. Allow to dry completely.

Tip: to avoid getting paint on the mirror, protect the edges with low-tack masking tape or painters tape. If any paint does get on mirror, clean immediately with a baby wipe

Step 2:

Paint frame with three coats of Anise paint, allowing each coat to dry completely.

Paint chipboard border with 2 coats of Almond Green, allowing each coat to dry completely.

Step 3:

Using your craft knife/scissors cut out designs from the patterned paper. Measure the mirror to ensure the patterned paper is the right size, and trim any excess.

Step 4.

Using a clean paint brush and the decoupage glue adhere patterned paper to mirror. Once adhered, paint a layer of decoupage over the papers as well as the painted frame. This will act as a fixative as well as give a finished look.Allow to dry.

Step 5.

Stick chipboard border to frame, cutting off any overhang. In the center of each flower shape squeeze a layer of dimensional adhesive, and pour beads in. Allow to dry, preferably overnight. Decorate papers with silk and paper flowers, and rhinestones as shown.

Remember I had some fun news?

I'm now a How Much is Too Much Girl! This is one of my favourite challenges blogs ever, so I am tickled that they asked me to join the team. Here's my layout for this week's challenge

5 patterned papers, 5 stamps, 5 brads/eyelets, 5 rub-ons and 5 other embellishments.

10 Scrapbooking Tips and Tricks

I don't claim to be an expert by any means, so take this list with a grain of salt. These are just some tips I've discovered along the way that can be a great help.

1. Alcohol free baby wipes are perfect for cleaning rubber and acrylic stamps
2. Not sure if a stamp is the perfect design for a certain spot? Stamp it first with a solvent ink like StazOn on a piece of plastic and lay over your project in progress to check. Clear inserts or packaging that come with products are handy for this.
3. Glossy Accents by Ranger is also a great adhesive for lumpy stuff and clear elements
4.Older stickers and diecuts that you probably won't use again make great masks. To use the diecuts lightly apply a re-positionable adhesive to the back. Then ink, paint or spray over them
5. Place embellishments in odd numbers like three and five for more visual impact
6. No more e's in your letter sticker pack? Try an upside down 3! I've done this tons of times. In fact I have also changed a lower case g into a y and an h, and an ampersand (&) into an S. It all depends on the font, so take a closer look to see what you can improvise!
7. Try using themed products on unrelated projects. I've used stickers from a wedding sheet on a layout about pizza and another about dinner guests. This way you get more bang for your buck!
8. Punch holes in raw chipboard to make it a more decorative element. The Crop-a-Dile cuts through chipboard like butter!
9.Grab five to seven left out items from your desk and challenge yourself to use them on a quick page. You'll be amazed at what you come up with
10. When all fails, use Thickers!

Some quick updates

I'm very excited about being featured on the Vintage Indie Blog today. If you came here by way of Vintage Indie, welcome! My canvas tutorial is is part of their What You Make of It Series and I couldn't be more honoured!

I've also finally gone ahead and opened an Etsy Store! It's been in the works for a while so I am happy to realise that goal. The store will feature primarily flea market finds, paper goods and sewn items, but you never know what I might decide to add, so keep checking! There's a permanent link over on the left.

And I have another fun bit of news but I'll hold off on that for a while. HoweverI won't go without sharing the latest scrappage

Journaling Challenge on Scrapbook Takeout

See more details here

March Inkling for the Ranger Group

See more details here

It's been a pretty full week so far!

Inspiration!

The theme for March on ScrapnScrap is Inspiration. One of my favourite things to talk about. I recently pulled together an inspiration corner in my scrap space, consisting of a couple 3M sticky boards that I stick random bits and pieces to, some twine with mini clothespins that I am hanging photos and other images from, and this framed poster that came with Ali E's latest book Life Artist.

As I was trying to decide what to use as an inspiration piece to make a page for my post on the blog, I realised that the poster is constantly inspiring me.
So I drew not just from the design but also from the words. This was a total free flow layout, and boy did it feel good!

This just in!

I've been asked to join the brand new DesignTeam at The Scrapbook Site and A Walk Down Memory Lane. This is a fun board with lovely people, and Lisa puts together some super cool kits! I'm really looking forward to the next six months there!

Multiples

I tend to mainly make one photo layouts. Let's face it those come together much more quickly. But lately I've been on a lots-of-small-photos kick. Probably because I haven't printed new photos lately and I am going back through all the random photos that never made it on a project, and trying to pull them together to tell some kind of story. Those coupled with my square punches are making me very happy lately!



Both layouts made with items from the February Studio Calico kit

Tuesday To-Do

Here are the instructions to make this canvas which I posted a couple weeks ago

Supplies

Canvas or canvas board

Two colours of Ranger Perfect Pearls (I used Sparkle Yellow and Rust)

Ranger Embossing ink

Ranger clear embossing powder

Image stamp - I used clear acrylic stamps by Alpha Stamps

Rub-ons: 7 Gypsies

Sticker: Daisy D’s

Trim: Prima

Fabric butterfly: from Alpha Stamps fabric collage sheet

Two spray bottles

Paper towels

Stickers and embellishments

Instructions

1. Ink your stamp with embossing ink and randomly stamp image across the canvas.

I did my stamping in a trail across the canvas because of the follow your bliss theme I was going for.

2. Cover with embossing powder and tap off the excess. Because the canvas is textured make sure to really tap it against your table so that it adheres only to the stamped image.

3. Use heat gun to melt embossing powder

4. Mix lighter colour of Perfect Pearls with a little water in a spray bottle

And spray over entire canvas.

Don’t worry about any drips or drabbles, that will only add to the effect J

Let dry entirely. If you’re impatient (like me!) you might want to use your heat gun to speed this process up a bit.

5. Once dry mix second colour of Perfect Pearls and spray over canvas, making sure to concentrate on the areas of the canvas that are still white.

6. At this point you can use a crumpled up piece of paper towel to dab into the wet “ink”. This gives a nice texture to the pattern

7. You can choose to either stop at this point or add another layer of colour.

Once the canvas is dry use a clean paper towel or soft cloth to wipe colour off the embossed image

Now you can decorate the canvas to suit your theme!

Some details:

Let's pretend it's Tuesday

****I wrote this post on Wednesday and somehow it ended up saved as a draft instead of being published. I must have not had my coffee yet!***

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted a Tuesday To-Do, so I'm getting back into the swing of things with this super simple Spring project. I came up with the idea at christmas when I was working on button trees and other ornaments using styrofoam shapes.


You will need:
An egg shape styrofoam form
silk and paper flowers
Ribbon
Pearl headed pins
Regular straight pins

How To:

First attach the ribbon by forming a loop and using a few regular pins to attach to top of egg. Starting at the top layer silk and paper flowers, first covering the area where you stuck the pins into the ribbon
Continue until the shape is covered.
It's best to begin with the larger flowers and then use smaller ones to fill in the empty spaces

These would be lovely to use as decor for a Spring or Easter themed party!

{21 Days}

I mentioned on Saturday that Rhonna Farrer is leading an Art Journal Challenge on Two Peas. I finally got started on it today, the weekend just didn't lend itself to starting a new project. The idea behind the challenge is taking 21 days to make or break a habit through the creative process. My goal is to develop a more efficient morning routine, consisting of waking up earlier and spending less time online, among other things. Today I worked on my album cover, title page and the first day based on the Day 1 prompt.



For the first week I am focusing on waking up earlier. I think that will be the hardest part for me. If I get that mastered I'll be half way there. I'm keeping the album fairly simple and not very artsy. Since I want this to be the first thing I work on in the morning, I decided to stick with what I know best, rather than trying new techniques, because I know I would get bogged down and end up spending the whole morning working on it, which will defeat my purpose.

Coincidentally, when I read Zen Habits today, his post was all about how to be more efficient with your online time. It's amazing how the universe just knows exactly what I need to see.

Linkage Love

In case you're looking for a way to fritter some time away this weekend, here are some things I've come across lately

This blog Design for Mankind which has a newly produced Inspiration e-zine. Here are Issue 1 and Issue 2
Found magazine. They collect random notes found all over the world
Rhonna Farrer is starting up another 21 Day Challenge
Have you heard about the Shutter Sisters?
Baking French bread with Lucy and the Daring Bakers
Free desktop wallpapers from Fifi Mandirac (in French/en francais)
Vintage Indie Spring Swap (for US and Canadian residents only, Deadline to sign up is today!)
Sparkle Power Sew Along

Have a wonderfully creative weekend!