Winner - Club Scrap Stationary Box & Cards

The winner of the 

Club Scrap Stationary Box & Cards is.....

JeniRuth JFebruary 27, 2015 at 8:12 AM

I definitely have to lift this idea... if I don't win, that is. Maybe I'll lift it anyways! LOVE it!

CONGRATULATIONS JeniRuth!!

Please send me your snail mail addy so I can get your goodies in the mail to you.

2015 Mixed Media Technique Calendar - July

I hope the week off has given everyone a chance to catch up some.  A few people asked for a breather because they felt like they were getting too far behind.  

So we're on to July and here in the US that's a very patriotic month so I am going with red, white and blue for my color scheme.  You of course can vary the colors to whatever suits your mood.

We're using Gesso, Acrylic Paint, inks and stamps for this months calendar.  It's all about texture.  I went with an organic type texture but you could choose to use any number of tools to create your texture.

Let's go!

Start off by applying a fairly thick layer of gesso.  I like a heavy body gesso that will hold it's shape.  I was going for the look of something that's been painted over and over for years and years.  I wanted to see layers, thick and thin areas and lots of brush strokes.  You can see I added just a bit of gesso near the center - I just wanted to highlight the texture of the cardboard in this area.

Of course you can use lots of things to create texture in gesso - all sorts of catalyst blades (store bought or home made); stencils, masks, etc.  The look below was exactly what I wanted.  It looks like it's been around a day or two.

Choose  a couple colors you want to work with then apply them to the surface.

Immediately spritz a couple coffee filters (or a baby wipe or paper towel) with a bit of water and dab it over the paint.  You'll notice I picked up more paint in some areas and less in others.  I was really trying to highlight the texture created in the gesso and of the cardboard.

Don't waste the paint - you can use the filters (or wipe/towel) to color up a tag or two before the paint dries.

Now you might be wondering why I used coffee filters?  Well they are WAY cheaper than baby wipes and once dry you have the start of a wicked cool project!

Continuing with the calendar arch - stamp desired relevant images over the entire piece.  I've used various patriotic images I had in my stash.

Optional - You can go back in with the gesso or white acrylic paint and add additional accents - I used stars for mine but you could use whatever fits your theme.

I trimmed the excess cardboard, mounted the calendar, inked the edges and added a couple hand drawn stars to the mix.  I wish you could feel/see this up close.  The texture really makes the arch a tactile joy.

Are you up for a challenge?

A Technique challenge that is!  As you know last month was the inaugural month for Club Scrap new Artist Team.  Well, we were all having so much fun that I suggested we host a technique challenge each month on the Club Scrap blog (cause you all know how much I love techniques AND challenges!).  Well it was posted today and here's a peek at my cards....

March Club Scrap Artist Team Technique Challenge

It's a trio or techniques from a video that Tricia shared back in 2012 featuring 3 different "faux" watercolor techniques (link to the video is on the Club Scrap post above).  To enter the challenge you can try your hand at one or more of these fun techniques.  They are as follows:

Technique #1 - Inking the stamp with an ink pad and spritzing with water (Hydrangea & Lace card)

Technique #2 - Coloring stamp with Gelatos, misting then stamp (Love card)

Technique #3 - Coloring the image with markers, huff to moisten the ink & stamp. (Art card)

If you decide to take up the challenge be sure to go over to the Club Scrap blog and post a link to your creation!

Supplies Used: 

Club Scrap - Stamps & Papers - Kits Fire & Ice (top), Wisteria (left), Hydrangea (right)

IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko - Memento Inks, Memento Markers, Tuxedo Black Pico Embellisher 

Gelatos

Lace

Just a Note Flowery Heart Wreath Card

Today I wanted to share a really fun springy card with you...  I'm getting desperate for some color now that the snow has started to melt so this fun heart wreath card is a perfect pick-me-up.

The flowers were made using Radiant Neon Amplify! puff medium.  I just love this stuff, it's so easy to use and the results look great.  It adds such a fun, unexpected dimension to your projects.  Here's what I did....

I started off by tracing the heart (using a die) onto white cardstock.

Then I made some simple basic flowers with pink and coral Amplify!, added white dots to the centers and added green leaves here and there.

I heat to puff the Amplify! medium and in no time I had a beautiful dimensional flowery wreath!

I added a spritz of Summer Sky Fireworks! spray.  Once it was dry I stamped the sentiment in the center of the wreath and cut away the excess paper.

It was matted onto a fancy die-cut square and added to a card panel.

Supplies Used: 

IMAGINE Crafts featuring Tsukineko:

• Amplify!: Electric Pink, Electric Coral, Electric Green, White
• Fireworks! Summer Sky
• Memento Ink Danube Blue
• Craft Mat

Other Supplies:

• ClubScrap.com: white and blue cardstock, Reunion Blue Print cardstock
• DoCrafts: X-Cut Heart Die
• Spellbinders: Ornate Square Frame Die
• Penny Black: Sentimental set
• Miscellaneous: stamp block

Doodle Circles

Happy Monday Everyone!  I hope you all had a super weekend.

Today I wanted to share some fun cards with you that I made using the large and small "doodle" circles....

My first card has a mixed media vibe going on.  I started off by smearing around some Memento Inks onto my craft mat then spritzed with water.  I smooshed the paper around in the ink and let it dry.  I then stamped the circles with some of the same inks.  The dots are made using StazOn Studio Glaze.

The Happy Day card was made by stamping the circles with a mix of Radiant Neon and Memento Luxe inks.  The dots were made with a sponge dauber.

Finally my favorite - These flowers are so much fun to make.  I simply stamped a larger circle in a darker shade of ink then used the smaller circle and stamped in a lighter shade.  I then used a sponge dauber to add the dot in the center.  The stems and leaves were made by dragging an ink pad and smudging on the leaves.  I used a Memento marker to trace lines around my smudges.  It all started out very random but came together perfectly.

All of the stamps used can be found at Just For Fun rubber stamps; all inks and other mediums are from IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko.  Most of the papers (besides the water color paper on the first card) are ClubScrap.com 

More on Unmounting my UM stamps - New Craft Mat

Several people have e-mailed telling me that the EZ mount foam is there to cushion the stamps for a better image.  Yes, I do know that but I guess that is another factor I should have mentioned on why I felt it was o.k. to remove all of the foam cushion.

When I was lucky enough to be selected to be a member of the IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko AIR's (Artist in Residence) Team I rec'd one of their Craft Mats.  Prior to this I honestly didn't even know there were other types of craft mats on the market other than the one I had used for years. Well there is and I have to tell you this mat is unlike any other craft mat I have ever owned.  It's really remarkable and despite being on their DT I'm not just saying that to sell something.  I think most of you know by now that I wouldn't promote a product I didn't like and will freely tell you so.  Sometimes my honestly gets me in hot water but I'm not selling out my integrity so some company can make a few bucks.

The IMAGINE Crafts craft mat is amazing - I'm not sure what it's made of but it almost feels like a silicone cushion. It's like having a thin foam surface to stamp on so basically I'm swapping my foam cushion for the craft mat.

This mat can be folded, rolled, even wadded up into a ball - you can unfold it and it will be just like new.  It doesn't stain, it doesn't get minute cracks where color mediums soak into, it doesn't get permanent bends or creases if it's moved wrong, it doesn't slip and stays where you put it.  I actually used my double stick tape to hold my old craft mat in place because it slid all over my table surface.

I have inked, stamped, spritzed, painted, glued, and more for the past 4 months and it still looks brand new.  My old mat - after about 3 weeks it would start to get minute cracks in the fiberglass and it would start to look nasty.  No matter how careful I was I would have to replace the mat every 6 -8 months or so.

When this mat gets gunky with lots of dried on glue - simply scrape it off with a finger nail or the edge of a credit card or gift card.  It it's a smaller amount of glue or it's still wet or maybe you get ink or paint or other color medium on it - spritz it with water and wipe it away.  Honestly it's that easy!  Below is a photo of the mat after a day of crafting....

I spritzed it with my water bottle and wiped it with a dry cloth....it's all gone!  The glue, ink, paint, over-spray from dye ink sprays.... all of it GONE!  You can see in the photo down at the bottom of the mat where the black bit of acrylic paint (under the M) was wiped off the mat but remained on my table. 

Trust me, I was skeptical at first...I even held onto my nasty 7 mo old craft mat just in case.  I put this down and from the first day it hasn't left my table!  I love it...it's so easy to care for and use, I would never buy any other mat.

There was one thing that I did have a hard time getting used to - since it's got a silicone feel to it things don't go anywhere - you lay something down and it doesn't roll away - it stays put.  It was wild...  I do every once in a while have a hard time picking up a piece of paper which sounds odd I know but it's true.  Normally if I have left over bits of paper that I have cut away from a stamped image I use my cloth to wipe them away because you can't just wipe them off like the surface of a table - they stay where they are put.

Anyway, that is the other reason why I have started removing my cling foam from my stamps.  I know it's not for everyone and it's a big change but in some circumstances like mine it makes sense. 

Oh and eeek...I don't think I'll take Ellie's suggestion on how to free up some space (by selling some of my older stamps) -  Makes me light headed & dizzy just thinking about it - LOL!!!  ;)  

Unmounting my Unmounted Stamps!

I know that sounds nuts but that's what I've been doing for the last several days!  I am running out of space in a serious way.  I have 20+ 3" 3-ring binders filled with stamps that are technically unmounted stamps....rubber stamps mounted on cling foam. I need more because I've got several sets of stamps that are still in their packages because I don't have room on my shelves for more binders.

 This stack is only 4 pages of stamps but that's all that fits into a binder.  It's about 2.75" - I could technically fit one more page in there but the cover of the binder wouldn't close very well and would press the stamps together which I don't like to do.

So, I've decided to go naked!  I'm peeling off all of the cling foam and applying a layer of Aleene's Tack-It Over and Over instead.  I had some of this stuff a LONG time ago. It worked great back then but that's about the time Cling Foam came out and it was the beat all and end all for UM stamps.  So easy and (at that time) inexpensive....Less fuss, less muss.  WELL, have you looked at how much cling foam is now?  The price just keeps rising and rising.  Even the cheap stuff isn't cheap anymore.
The higher price paired with the space issue got me interested in TO&O again.  I did some searching locally and I couldn't find a single store that carried it anymore?!?!?!  I thought maybe it had been discontinued but I found a great source on Ebay - actually the best price I could find (with shipping included) and bought 6 bottles of it!

It arrived on Monday afternoon and I've been peeling and gluing stamps ever since!

Here's what you do...Peel off your foam backing and paint a layer of the glue (with a bristle or foam paint brush) and let it dry!  That's it, it is so easy!!!  Once the glue is clear you can then mount them on page protectors or some other slick surface.  When you want to use a stamp simply peel it off of the page protector and stick it to your acrylic block.  Once you're done stamping, peel it off the block and stick it back on the pp.

Here is a direct comparison of page for page....The top page is simply a page protector (that holds the stamp index pages inside) with the glued stamps on either side.  The bottom page (which holds fewer stamps) is an 8.5x11 stamp board that has cling mounted stamps on either side.  As you can see the new UM page takes up FAR less than the cling foam stamps.

And here's my first filled binder of stamps....this binder is holding a full years worth of stamps from Club Scrap - that's 4 sets of stamps a month (and it's got a couple extra "special edition" sets too) for 12 months.  It would actually hold more but I only wanted one months worth of stamps per page protector for ease of organization/location.  Each page has about 1/2 of it's back page empty so I could actually fit about another 6 months in the binder if I weren't so anal.

That's almost 3 cling foam binders full of stamp in one single 3" 3-ring binder!!!  I am so excited!!  I still haven't used up the first 4 oz bottle of glue yet either.  How cool is that???  Soooo, if you're like me - drowning in stamp binders and you're looking for an inexpensive way out - this is THE way to go.  Honestly, I'm thinking I may need to go shopping to fill up some of the soon to be empty binders - LOL!!!  Just kidding....I'll hold off until I get all of my UM stamps really UM ;)

Someone asked about how long the glue on the back lasts...It seems to me originally it lasted a really long time.  When the sticky goes away you can simply scrape it off the back and apply a new layer and you're set to go for another good while.  

Also, a bottle of this glue goes a long way...you only need a very thin coat to work.  I have UM all of my CS stamps and STILL have about an inch of glue left in the bottle.  That's 2.5 years worth of monthly stamps...about 25-30 sheets of UM Cling foam ($$$$$$) all for the price of (less than) $5.58.  You sure can't beat that at least I couldn't find any better deal.

BTW, if you want the name of the e-bay store where I got the glue JLMK - I didn't want anyone to think I was selling glue for her...just a really great deal at a super price :)

Ken Oliver's Color Burst

I am so excited to share a bit about an awesome new color medium that was recently released at CHA - Ken Oliver Crafts Color Burst pigment powder.

(Before I go any further I just wanted to let you know I'm not getting paid or compensated in any way to mention this or post any of the links.  This stuff just ROCKS and you have to know about it!!)

I was so intrigued when I first heard about this product I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  I ordered it the only place I could find that had it in stock - Doodlebug which is a scrapbook store in southern Indiana (yeah!) very close to where Ken lives.  Since Doodlebug is just on the other end of my state I got my order in 1 day!!

Note: Ken Oliver is the guy who came out with Stick It Die Cut Adhesive that everyone is going nuts about.

So, let's talk about Color Burst....currently it comes in 6 colors - Alizarin Crimson, Orange, Lemon Yellow, Pthalo Green, Ultramarine Blue, and Violet.

From what I've seen it's around $5-6.00 per bottle (Doodlebug has it for $5.25).  Now I know what you're thinkin'...that's a lot of money for such a small bottle!  Well, normally I would agree with you but ...

I want to show you what you can do with a teeny tiny about of this highly pigmented color medium.... (it's truly amazing!!!)

Get ready...see those few grains of powder....and a couple mists from my water bottle and....

LOOK at all that color!  I tilted the paper here and there to get quite a bit of coverage and I spilled some off the sides

so I picked up that excess color on a couple tags.

I decided to wet the paper with plain water and

I began shaking a tiny bit of powder over the surface...

I gave it a couple spritzes of water and heated to dry the cool designs I saw.

Next I sprinkled a tiny bit of the red, orange and green in my watercolor palette.  I picked it up with my Niji water brush and painted this digi poppies image (from SCACD).

I had so much color left over I painted this 4x5" area on a scrap of watercolor paper.

Next I spritzed lots of water on a piece of watercolor paper and sprinkled just a few grains of the blue and a bit more violet - WHEW - isn't that wicked?

Don't ever just wipe up your craft area without checking to see what you have left....  After I moved the paper above I spritzed my craft mat with a bit of water and I saw all sorts of color so I started grabbing paper...

and this is what I ended up with....  Just two small shakes of the Color Burst colored 2 4x6 pieces of watercolor paper, 2 tags and a 8x3+ scrap piece of watercolor paper!

So now you see what I mean when I said that five or six dollars a bottle is well worth the price.  Each bottle of powder has so much color packed into it I can't imagine how far it will go.  I am just so excited about this product, I can't wait to further experiment with it just to see what is possible!!  

If you'd like to check out more about Color Burst there is lots of beautiful examples of what you can do with it on Mr. Oliver's Facebook Page - Ken Oliver Crafts.

Let's Talk about Following Your Artist Dreams

o.k. since I've been down with my injured leg I have had a lot of time to think about stuff.  Have you ever wanted to do something but didn't think you could or that you weren't good enough or maybe you just never took the time to actually do it?

Well, I love art, I always have.  It isn't just one area of art, I just like creating in general.  Heck when I was 7 or 8 I was cutting up my knee high socks and made my own stuffed animal, a kitten.  So fast forward to 8th grade...everyone was required to take a semester of art which was great cause I loved it and did really well - or so I thought.  When it came time to sign up and plan our high school courses I was told that there was only so much room in art class and that only seriously artistic people would be allowed to take those classes with recommendations made by the art teacher.  As it turned out I was told that I just didn't have what it took. As a result I hadn't picked up a pencil to draw since.  

But as I said I've had lots of time to think lately and drawing, sketching, painting has been on my mind.  I always wanted to until I was told I couldn't...   What got me to thinking about this is Mom has started painting - she started off by going to Paint n Sip parties where they paint a picture and yes drink wine at the same time.  She's had so much fun at it she has decided to take it up and bought her supplies and been painting away.  I figured if she can take up painting at her age (tee hee hee...can't wait till she reads this!!) why the heck can't I draw?  

So I signed up for an on-line course and I'm giving it a go!  I started off with a basic course on Craftsy - 10 Essential Techniques for Better Drawing and I'm doing it!

Here is my first "still life".  This lesson was about line and contour...

and the second is about structural drawing and placement.  It needs work, it was done quickly while the teacher was talking last night.  I'm going to give it another go looking at the actual reference photo rather than just the pieces.

So, if you've ever wanted to do something and someone told you that you weren't good enough forget about it... To hell with what everyone else thinks...just do it!  If it brings you joy then it's worth it and that's all that matters.

P.S...I just thought I'd add that I'm not getting paid to promote Craftsy or their classes (which is why I didn't post any links)...it just so happens it was the first class I investigated that I really thought sounded like something that I would enjoy.  I'm sure there are tons of classes out there on a variety of subjects.  Google what you're interested in, find something that sparks your imagination and just do it ~ I'm sure you won't be sorry!

Stencils & Creative Medium

Over the weekend one of my cards was featured on the IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko blog.  Be sure to check out the post as there are a couple more cards using the Creative Medium as well. My card is also available in the "Make" section of their web-site which offers a complete supply list and instructions on making one for yourself....

Concentric Circles - Thinking of You

This card was made using a variety of the new Iridescent Creative Mediums.  I wanted to use several colors together to show that they are compatible and you can see how the various over lapping areas allow both colors to shine through.   The colors are so subtle on lighter color cardstock but so striking on darker colors.  

I am working on a color chart showing each color on both light and dark cardstock per requests of several readers. The color swatches on the web-site just don't do it justice.  I'm hoping to have the comparison chart done a bit later in the week.