Tuesday's Tip

A couple of days ago, I posted a "Thrinchie" which had a shrink plastic embellishment.  I tend to add dimension to my projects - cards, scrapbook pages, altered books, etc.  I feel it adds interest. I have used a lot of shrink plastic over the years. My favorite is Lucky Squirrel. Their product is very consist in how it shrinks. Plus, it has a good weight before shrinking, making it easy to stamp, color and cut with minimal possibility of tearing. My "tip" - always lightly sand both sides of the shrink plastic before you begin stamping. Sand horizontally and vertically, very lightly. It will give the plastic some "tooth" to hold inks or colored pencils. Most importantly, it will prevent the shrink plastic from sticking to itself when heated!

Twelve Days of Christmas

                                    
I know, I know - Christmas!? It is still September! I am not one for starting holiday activities early, but this year I did. I hosted a 12 Days of Christmas swap over the summer. We all made 12 identical pages of our day, and then met to bind them into a book. I have a collection of 12 Days books and thought a handmade version would be a great addition. The only restrictions were size (I provided the pages) and no nudity/vulgarity as I was to display mine during December. The artwork and variations on the theme were wonderful! So, I could not resist sharing these with all of you.

I do not know if you noticed, but the 6 Geese a layin'  was a hand carved stamp for this swap. A variety of stamping, die cutting, embossing and "blinging" was used - and everyone went all out!  Can you guess which

page is mine?

Background Play



I had been thinking about making some different backgrounds to use in my art journal. Unfortunately, I really needed a card for our the woman who polices the section where we share Giants season tickets. We have been friendly for years - and my making her a card or small piece of art as a thank you has become a tradition.

This year, I settled on a card and decided to use one of my journal background techniques. For the background, I saved a couple of days of the Sports pages from our local newspaper. I tore them into small pieces/strips, piling them on my desk. I also tore some strips/pieces of a pattern paper that had the colors I wanted to use. Next, I began gluing paper and newsprint randomly, overlapping as I went along.  Once the card stock  was sufficiently covered, I set it aside to dry.

Once dry, I made a wash from Golden Glazes and painted it on. The Glaze helps pull the disparate images on the background together - unifying the background. The baseball image was stamped several times, allowing me to cut out and highlight various parts.

I apologize for the sideways image - for some reason the uploader refuses to cooperate.

Thrinchies

I spent last weekend with gal pals of West Coast Scrap at the annual Scramp Camp.  I decided to use my time to complete swaps for club Scrap's retreat. If you have participated in a swap, you know it can get a bit tedious making multiples of the same thing. I had 50 (yes, 50) 6 x 6 scrapbook pages to assemble. Thankfully, the fun and activities of Scramp Camp made it go quickly.

I also started on my thrinchies (3 x 3 's).  I used  Club Scraps' Gratitude red print as my base. The white glossy was painted with Glimmer Glaze. Once dry, I stamped the Destinations stamp on the prepared square. After re stamping, trimming and popping up the Tower of Pisa, I decided it needed a little something.

I stamped the wine glass image on shrink plastic. Before shrinking, I colored the image with Copic markers. They worked great on the shrink plastic - however, you must color on the opposite side of the stamped image. The alcohol ink will react with the permanent ink of the plastic.

I am very pleased to say i have completed my swaps! On to the next project.

Tuesday's Tip

This past weekend I was at an art retreat. I was using my time to put together scrapbook pages for  Club Scrap's Retreat Friendship Swap.  One of the embellishments I used was flowers. Luckily. I found the exact colors for which I was looking. But what if you do not?

There are flowers in different colors and sizes. (Prima is one of the most common manufacturers.) There are times I have wanted a particular shade of color that I could not find. So, I made a spray with ink pad re-inkers and water - and sprayed white  flowers. Voila - the exact color I needed!

You can use pre-mixed sprays (Adirondack, Glimmer Mist, Radiant Rain, etc) or mix up your own.

Interesting Discovery

While playing around with gesso (after all, doesn't everyone from time to time?), I found that it will react with certain colors of card stock. I painted a burgundy panel from Club Scrap's Apothecary kit - mainly to use up the gesso of  which I was working. I set it aside while I continued with other projects. It appears that the dye in the card stock ran into the gesso, resulting in a mauve color.

A little something to keep in mind while using gesso!

Tuesday's Tip

Seems I have been making a lot of floral cards lately. Do you go through phases in your art?  To add variety to stamped and cloth flowers, I often use brads in the center. Given the variety of brads - solid colors, glitter, rhinestones - it is easy to personalize.

Tinted Gesso

I was able to take all my boxes to the flea market site today. It is wonderful to be in my studio and not trip or have to move boxes out of the way.

I was playing with re-inkers and gesso. I added Hot Pink re-inker to gesso and applied it to blue card stock. I then stamped into the gesso. A quick and easy background to any card.  For the focal image, I colored the stamp with Tombow markers.

Card stock and stamps (other than the mini tag stamp and punch by Stampin' Up) are by Club Scrap.

Hardware

One of the past Tuesday's Tip centered around great finds at the hardware store. Sometimes, you only need to look as far as your husband's tool chest!

In making the card above, I created the treading background with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and gesso, as per Technique Junkies Sanded Gesso. I thought the addition of actual washers would be a fun embellishment over stamped ones. All stamps and card stock are by Club Scrap.

What I have been doing

instead of blogging is cleaning out. There are 2 stores that have fleas markets that allow one to sell used stamps, extra papers,supplies, etc.  One sale occurred in August and then next is this month. I cannot wait to get rid of all this extra stuff!

Have you gone through your supplies recently? How many items to save "just in case"? With the changing of the seasons( we had some rain yesterday in No Ca!), it is time to do some creative housecleaning and get ready for winter. I had too much "just in case" items. Not any more!

Tuesday's Tip

Today's Tip requires a bit of explanation.
 I have been absent from posting for awhile - though I have not been idle!  Kids moving out and a bit of the flu had my attention. Everyone is settled and I am back to full health. 

I have also been purging and reorganizing my studio. After having moved in about a year ago, it was time to make some changes and (really) clean up.  I also was able to find a great product (courtesy of my friend, Diane) that has made all the difference in mobile and compact storage.

The top left photo is of  drawer units I had been using to store embellishments (brads, charms, buttons, etc). I was also using bead boxes.  I had 2 small drawer units as well as 9 bead boxes and I ran out of storage. My shelf was looking crowded and messy - plus, I would need to transfer embellishments to smaller containers to take to classes and crops. WELL - this was not really working.

The top right photo is of the Cropper Hopper Embellishment box. I LOVE THIS! I was able to condense all my (numerous) embellishments into a couple of cases. The bottom photo is of the open case (the mini boxes are sold separately).  This has made a huge difference in portability and space. 

BTW- I purchased my Embellishment cases at Beverly's Fabrics and Crafts - using a 40% off coupon.