Fence Posts

Or, I should say, former wooden fence posts were what we used to make little goodies for our Scramp Camp attendees. KJ's wonderful husband (Mike) cut their old fence posts into wooden houses for us to decorate - specifically in the style/likes of one of the attendees. After washing and sanding, I used a coat of gesso to start with a more uniform background.

These were the fronts of 2 of the houses I made. The one on the left was for my friend Diane (lover of theatre and cats) and the one on the right for Maryjo. I layered old book and music pages, and added a bit of molding paste. After all was dry, I painted with acrylics. The door, fence, and roof are thin balsa wood. I found the chipboard windows at Alpha Stamps (they have great stuff - one of my favorite company's).

I even decorated the backs! You can see some of the texture better on the house on the right. The image on the left was from the Moulin Rouge patterned paper pad. I also used rubber stamps and ephemera to embellish the houses. It was quite addicting making these houses!

Tuesday's Tip

I was finishing several projects (and making a quick card or two) this past weekend. After stamping an image, I placed my stamp down on my work surface. Actually, I placed it inked image side down on an acrylic block. It left an image on my block. So...I thought, why not try using the acrylic block as a mirror image stamp? The image is not super clear, but it made for an interesting effect. I think that using the larger blocks (stamped) would make for an interesting background!

Little Houses

These were the last of the little houses. The one on the right has grass and flowers around it. The one on the left also has flowers. I used a combination of liquid pearls and flower soft. Some of the flower soft was dyed using a green re-inker. Re-inkers are great way to change the color of many embellishments!

Houses

Wow - it has been very busy around here! I had wanted to post earlier in the week, but did not have much time. I had a lot of fun making houses for Scramp Camp. These were from a Club Scrap kit in which you can put little battery operated lights.

The colors of these two houses were changed (somewhat) by a variety of color sprays (Adirondack, Glimmer Mist and Shimmering Rain). The red heart was made with the Red Queen in mind. Now, the green was actually made with my friend, Nancy, in mind. She is a big Wizard of Oz fan. You can see a bit of the Yellow Brick Road by the front door.

These are opposite side views of the houses and their inhabitants! These little houses are great fun - I am thinking of a little village, possibly, for Christmas!

Tuesday's Tip

I have been taking a couple of on-line classes in recent months. I really like them- especially as you can take the at your most convenient times. One of the more recent was with Christy Tomlinson. She had a great "texture" stamp tip - use the bottom of a flip flop! Some have interesting soles, and can give a fun background texture to projects. I must say I find myself turning over cheap flip flops to see if I would like the pattern!

Maisons des Artes

was the theme for this year's Scramp Camp. My co-hostesses and I decided to spend the fee on a guest instructor at a local community clubhouse rather than at a hotel conference room. Since we planned to rent KJ's "Ranch House", we wanted to spiff it up a bit and go with a house (maison) theme. Part of the decorations were these mini paper houses from Club Scrap. They came in several color combinations, although we used the Halloween kits. KJ and Mariana kept to the Halloween theme (for the most part).

We put battery operated mini candles inside. I kept these two fairly simple - adding flower soft flowers to the purple house.

These three were themed. The black house was celestial with stars stamped and glittered, with the addition of stamp brads. The middle...Halloween-ish with Alfred Hitchcock (stamped on shrink plastic and shrunk down). The purple is a royal house with crowns and fleur-de-lis.

I will show the remainder in my next post!

After Scramp Camp

I am finally getting re-organized after my trip to Boston and Scramp Camp.My studio was such a pile of stuff that I did not want to spend time in there. I have been cleaning and unpacking...so I can see counter tops and the floor! I am loading and cropping photos from Scramp Camp...stay tuned!

While I was at Scramp Camp, we swapped out our latest round of Elements ATC's. The above card is nickel (a Buffalo head nickel is in the hand). The second element I did in this swap was Silicon:

It's difficult to see in the photo, but there is a bit of hot glue visible under the bra cups. And, yes, silicon is used in silicone....

Tuesday's Tip

I was recently attending (as well as co-hosting) out West Coast group's annual "Scramp Camp". We had arranged for Maryjo McGraw to fly out and teach a couple of classes on Saturday. While making a collage in the first class, we need to tear some background paper. Not wanting a scissor cut edge, I grabbed for my ruler to tear a deckle type edge. Unfortunately, I could not find it at the moment. The next best thing - an acrylic stamp block! Worked like a charm!

                                                     Lest we forget....9/11.....

Halloween Treat Boxes

I will be teaching a Halloween Treat box class just in time for the holiday! It will be a quick one hour class at A Work of Heart Studio in Willow Glen.

The boxes are made from a large Accu-cut Die. We will be using card stock, pattern paper and home made baker's twine. The class will be Thursday, October 6th from 6:00 to 7:00pm. For more information, check out the website by clicking here.

Upcoming Classes

I will be doing a 2 part scrap class at A Work of Heart in Willow Glen. I will be teaching a 2 page layout class using a variety of media and techniques, including heat embossing, resists, stamping on acetate and punches/die cuts. Below is the layout :

                               
The dates of the class are: September 21 and 28 from 6:00 to 8:00pm. For more information, click here.

Tuesday's Tip

I love using Ranger products on projects, cards, and scrapbook pages. One of my favorite background techniques is using Alcohol Inks. Usually, these work best on metals and coated papers, like glossy card stock. Did you know that you can use alcohol inks on porous materials as well? I learned this tip in a Tim Holtz class: use silver Dabber Paint to seal the grunge board or porous material. Once it is dry, feel free to alcohol ink away!

Textures

This post is a bit of a Scramp Camp tease! I have been working on some projects that I cannot share until after September 9th (the first day of Scramp Camp). The photos are a bit fuzzy as I had to get a close-up so as not to give anything away!

This is a portion of one of the projects - taken from the front. You may be able to recognize the textures.

This may be a little tougher to decipher! It is taken from above. Let me know your guesses!

She Flew....

A little bit of mail art love! I was very pleased with the watery sky - a thorough soaking of the paper helped!