We wish you....

I finally finished my Christmas cards. It was rough going as I just had no idea what I wanted to do. Since getting into the Holiday spirit has been difficult, I decided to go very simple this year. So, I used some pre-cut card kits (leftovers from Club Scrap kits) and stamps from Close to My Heart:

The nesting dies are by Stampin' Up! Not one of my more spectacular efforts, but at least they are done!

A Bit of Washi

I had made the base of this card a while back. I love Washi tape and tend to use it a lot, particularly in art journals. When I received this floral tape from my friend Sherry, I knew it would make a fun background. So, I just cut a panel and taped away!

It was quick and easy - and I really love the shades of blue in the tape. Since tapes are the hottest product out there, you will have a variety from which to choose for backgrounds and accents! I added colored card stock (Club Scrap) and some Stampin' Up stamps and punch. I used Distress markers to color the inside of the flowers. It is difficult to see, but I used a vine embossing folder on the brown strip. Quick and easy, especially if you have pre-made bases!

Squirrely Challenge Part 2

I had another idea for the Squirrely Challenge. I originally thought I would use darker, more masculine colors, but just went with the flow:

The pearl was white, but I colored it with a Copic marker. The background was colored with Distress Inks. The stamp is from Club Scrap.

No Place Like Home

It has been a tad busy here over the past 2 weeks. My daughter was in town for a brief visit and I am dealing long distance with an elderly mother going downhill (mostly mentally, but physically as well). So, I really needed to get caught up on my journal exchange pages.
This was a definitely go with the flow type of spread. I started by spraying Dylusions Sprays in a yellow and green. Then, I just randomly stamped various leaves and backgrounds - I think I considering something floral. The previous 2 pages were my "Green"/wicked witch scene and Kate followed up with an "over the rainbow" scene.  I decided to continue the Oz theme a bit - stamping,coloring and cutting out the images. I glittered the wings and various areas of the background. I added glitter to the background subtly - placing drops on my finder and smearing it around.

Thought a close up might show the glitter better - you can see some on her wings. All fairy stamps are from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, background stamps are Stampin' Up, house is from Club Scrap, and saying is from Graphic 45/Hampton (I think it's Hampton Arts).

Squirrely Challenge

It is Squirrely Challenge time! Nancy posted the "Spritz Distress" technique from the current edition of the Technique Junkies Newsletter. I have been on a green kick - so I used 3 different shades of green Distress Ink, a leaf stencil and a "spritz" of water:

Card stock is from Club Scrap. Stamps are from Stampin' Up and Silver Crow. Sans Souci roughly translates into without cares/worries. To see what the other "squirrel girls" are doing, us this link.

Sticker Play

On Tuesday's Tips, I posted some ideas for using stickers on cards and layouts - mainly for cards. One of the ideas was to use punches.  For the card above, I punched the flowers at the bottom from the edge of a set of Alphabet stickers from Club Scrap.

For this card, I just punched out the center 1/4 inch circles from the same sheet. Good way to get more mileage from your stickers - and to think outside the box!

FInally Done

A while back, I took a free on-line class at Strathmore. I started a couple of background pages but was sidelined with real life and injury. I have finally finished it. Not sure how happy I am about it. I lost my original thought as to how the pages would go. Here's the link to the original post on January 7th.  Below is the final product:

I decided I wanted to go with primitive and circular flowers. I happen to have several dies for flowers, but like this idea better. The background butterflies were stamped with Adirondak ink and Claudine Helmuth's paints. The die cut was sponged with a couple of colors of Adirondak blues. The stamps used were all Club Scrap. Now, I can send my journal onto my friend, Kate, with whom I am doing a journal exchange.

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!

Getting Back

I am trying to get back into the "swing of things" i.e. blogging. It is funny when you take a hiatus from something - blogging, working out, creating, etc - it is so difficult to get back into it? I know it is worse for me when it comes to blogging and working out! The good news is that I have been getting some creative time in.
With Summer PSL, I have been scrapping a bit more. I have some fun other projects on the back burner while I do a bit of scrapping and card making for my teams (although not a lot of that is being accomplished!). I did finish a fun Halloween page for my daughter's album. She was Micheal Jackson in her 7th grade year. They were allowed to dress up at school - it was quite the hoot. She was unrecognizable - so it did freak out a couple of teachers who thought she was absent - until they heard her voice announcing her presence!

I used one of the wonderful Halloween stamp sets from Artistic Outpost. One of my favorite, and very old, techniques is mixing ink colors on the stamp. I used India Ink Black and Adirondack Bright Orange on one of the Jack O' Lanterns and on the title. It is super easy. Ink you stamp with the lightest color, then add little touches of the darker color. It is not an exact science, so you can get slightly different effects each time:

It looks better in real life - adding depth to the title. (And, yes, I am scrapping photos from 2002 - I am that far behind!) Give it try - if you have not already!

MIA

Yes, I am still around - just missing in action. Real life became oh so busy - a couple of days in San Francisco for "Billy Elliot"(fantastic show), SFMOMA for the Stein exhibit (excellent) and a lot of time with friends and family.  As much as I have been enjoying myself, I have felt guilty to have let my blog posts lapse. I have been busy with creating, and I will share some of the things going on.

This coming Sunday, July 31st, I will be teaching a beginning Scrapbook class at A Work of Heart. This will class will be re-vamped in the future since the 6 page ALSB kits will no longer be available. The kit I will be using is Calypso:

I will also be teaching another card class using Distress Stains and Stencils. I changed it up a bit after my June class. The card stock is from the Welcome kit:

Card Challenge

Since our little "Squirrely Challenge" group is on Summer hiatus, I thought I might participate in some of the Club Scrap challenges to keep me in "card making" shape. The card below was created using the specified kit (Mosaic Twist). Since it has been so hot around here (we went from cool and rainy to 90-100 degree temperatures!), I thought a nice tropical, umbrella drink might be in order...

Do hit a lull in creating during the warmer, Summer months? If so, what do you do; shelve the supplies or find inspiration?

Busy Busy

I have been a bit remiss in posting lately. Mainly due to the preparation for my upcoming classes at A Work of Heart in San Jose. The first class is scrapping - the basics in a mini booklet and the creation of a 6 page layout. I am using Club Scrap's Sales Team special "Cobblestone". The first 2 pages are pictured below:

I thought the colors would be versatile for the activities in June - Father's Day and graduations. Color can be added with fun embellishments based upon the layout usage.

Die Cut Blog Hop

I have to say that I was not a die cut person. For years, I just always steered clear because of the "cuteness" factor. I have been converted! I love the current crop of dies. I used the row of houses by Tim Holtz/Sizzix with Club Scrap's Welcome collection.

Here is another fun card using a different Tim Holtz/Sizzix die and the Welcome collection. To see other ideas, visit the following blogs:
http://www.pagesofpictures.com/
http://chrissiecreations.blogspot.com/
http://scraphappysistersink.blogspot.com/
http://www.capecodscrapper.blogspot.com/
http://www.creatingwithconnie.blogspot.com/
http://www.scrappingthoughts.com/
http://orezonia.blogspot.com/
http://squirrelyart.blogspot.com/
http://wbellino.blogspot.com/
http://craftchaos.blogspot.com/

Enjoy the creativity!

New Partnership

So, it is now time to stop the teasing and make my big announcement! Starting in June, Creating with Connie will be partnering with A Work of Heart art studio in San Jose! I am heading back into teaching, which is a very exciting and fun exercise. Classes will cover the paper arts - scrapbooking and stamping classes will be held this summer. Andrea already has a full schedule; however, we were able to squeeze in a few classes.
And, yes, I will using the fabulous Club Scrap products! So, if you have been wanting to check out Club Scrap in person (but did not want to host a party), now is your opportunity. To learn about A Work of Heart, visit them at AWorkofHeart.com. Hope to see you there beginning in mid-June!

Crackle and Grunge

Yes, I have finally been scrapping some photographs. Thank goodness for PSL - it gets me to put some time into scrapbooking photos for my kids albums. Since the challenge was to use art mediums on layouts and cards, I decided to play with some grunge cut outs and paints.

On this 2 page layout, I used grunge skull and crossbones (on left) and hearts on the right. The little skull and crossbones was painted with Glimmer Glaze (I am determined to use this stuff!). The hearts were painted with Distress Crackle paint in Aged Mahogany. I have been using both of these items quite a bit.

This is a closeup of the hearts. The thing about Distress Crackle - it is difficult to get a good photograph. The effect is always better in person. Just remember to put a fairly thick coat on your item.                      

Usually, I see Grunge board and Distress products on, well, distress style pages, cards, decorative items. I wanted to give you ideas that they can be used effectively in your average, minimalist type of scrap book page. They are fun to play with - both together and separately. Give it a try next time you scrap.

Artist Trading Cards

Post was edited, corrected measurements are given (Thanks, Teresa!).

Artist Trading Cards (aka ATC's) have been around for quite a long time. They are baseball card sized works of art made for trading. (Originally, they were made for trading - I have found out that someone I was in a swap with actually sold a couple of my cards on e-bay...) I am currently in a fun little  (geek) swap of creating ATC's of the Periodic Table of Elements. I have Californium and Einsteinium....

I thought a little refresher on cutting an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of card stock might prove helpful, if you have not participated in making ATC's.

In the above photo, you can see that you can get 9 cards from one sheet of cardstock. The dimensions are

 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 . The scribbled areas indicate non usable space (that can saved for punches)                       

This is the completed ATC for Californium. The lifeguard image was cut out and popped up with mounting tape. Card stocks are from Club Scrap and images are from Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers.

If you have not made an ATC, use the simple cutting instructions and give it a try!

Club Scrap Assignment Book

I have quite a few  Club Scrap projects - more than I would like to admit! Most are in their original bags waiting to be completed. This week, I have been working on several (which is why I have not been posting much!). The above book is the Assignment Book. Inside, is a pad pages that I glued together with Club Scrap's Bookbinding glue. The stamped sentiment is by Paula Best. It is one of my favorites.  I added a Tim token to the ribbon with a mini safety pin.

Mini Books

Now that I'm feeling better, I spent a little time working on one of my many Club Scrap projects. This is the Autograph book project, a simple stitch bound book. The photo below is the closed book, front cover.

The photo below is of the open book. It is approximately ATC size and uses 4 needles to create the stitching. The pages are added side by side, not nestled as a signature. There is a video tutorial on the Club Scrap website's Inspiration tab, Cinema, under Projects. I think it would be easy to adapt to other sizes which I hope to try after the New Year's Holiday. The book would make a perfect purse sized photo album.

Or, you can use it for a mini idea book or journal to jot down notes and ideas to try.



Decorative Tape and Stamp Positioner Usage

For the above card, I used decorative packing tape to provide the background. I have previously shown tape as a striped background and as faux photo corners. This was accomplished with 2 strips of tape on a white background.
The center image was stamped with white ink onto black card stock. Once it was dry, I completely filled in the image with white gesso. This was a technique we did at Club Scrap's Retreat. It is similar to techniques we did years ago with colored pencils.  After the gesso has dried, stamp the image again, using a stamp positioner, in black ink. Using acrylic paints, paint the image. Once the paints have dried, over stamp the image again in black ink, using the stamp positioner for placement.  The image can be stamped several times depending upon how dark you would like the image.
Decorative tapes come in a variety of colors and images, making it easy to mix and match with your stamps and techniques. Have you tried using a stamp positioner? What is your favorite technique?

Washi tape

One of the hot new items I have been seeing used is Washi and other decorative tapes.Some can be found at local scrapbook stores. The main sources that I buy from are on line. (Ranger and Tim Holtz have also issued paper tapes.) My friend, Kelly Kilmer, got me addicted to these tapes several years ago. It is funny how some trends seem to take off after a product has been around for years.

I have previously posted journal photos with decorative tape. I thought I would make up some cards using tape. For the card above, I used 3 complimentary tapes to form the horizontal stripes on the black panel. The stamps and card stocks are by Club Scrap. Next time you see some decorative, pick up a roll or two and try something new.