From This to That!

Do you ever get so excited about a project that you jump right into it and then have "crafters regret?"  I just did this week!

I found a wonderful tutorial from an amazing artist, that showed how to make a cute, little mini album, posted by Paula at http://www.2gypsygirls.com/!  It is made using sticky back canvas! I absolutely fell in love with it and decided to try my hand at it with a few modifications!

First of all, though I love her blue colors, I will be making this album for me, to document my 50th year of life starting on Sunday November 25th, and so I HAD to make it using my favorite color:  ORANGE!!!

Modification #2:  I do not (yet) own the Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations pocket die, so I had to use another one that I do own, and that one makes library cards, so I decided that I would use them as folders.

Modification #3:  I wanted to make enough folders for all 12 months of my new year of life!  I love pockets and I wanted a place to put all my ephemera until I could write about it or collage it!  Paula used 5 inserts and sewed them into her canvas covers.

With the 12 pockets I intended to make for my book, I quickly discovered that Paula's mini was too mini for me.  So I decided to make mine totally different!!!  I made my covers 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches so I could cut my 8 1/2 by 11 sticky back right down the middle on the 11 inch side. I now had two 4 1/4 X 11 inch pieces and I cut those in half ending up with a total of four 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 pieces of canvas.

Modification #4:  I took out my stains, of which I only have four, and not in the colors that Paula used, and my Dylusions inks and proceeded to squirt my craft mat, following Paula's instructions.  Well that left a lot of white on my canvas, maybe because I didn't squirt enough stain or ink.  I decided to just spray the canvas directly and found that my bright orange/yellows/ and reds were perfect for me, and forget the blue!

I made a cute little bookplate and added some teal ribbon and some eyelets for my cover and look how cute it turned out:

The bookplate is a Teresa Collins one that I inked with blue alcohol ink and gold patina acrylic paint, and it turned out the perfect shade of teal!  The inside reads "Everyday Moments" and is a piece of cardboard packaging that I cut off of the buttons enclosed in my newest Teresa Collins Everyday Moments kit.  I sewed around the canvas as Paula instructs in her tutorial.  I loved, loved, loved how it turned out!!!!!

Until the following morning!!!

That was when I inserted my papers and calendars and discovered that the front and back covers were too floppy!  The canvas is too thin to support all that I planned to put inside, and since I made my binding with holes for the binding rings, instead of sewing the pages into the book like Paula did, it just was not going to work for me at all!!!!  I did not want to sew my book because it would severely limit me if I'd ever want to add more pages throughout the year!  And I plan to live a full life, so I am SURE there will be a lot of pages added throughout the year.  My pages combined so far are already one half in thick!!!  I haven't even started writing on them yet, or adding my photos or other embellishments!!!!

Therefore, for a whole day after completing the book, I had Crafters Regret!!!!

I hate that!!!!   I knew I could not live with it!!!!

On the second day, I awoke with a brainstorm!!!!

Why not start the covers over again, this time, with book boards that would give my book some more sturdiness.  It would take a lot of work to re-do the covers, plus use more ink and sticky back canvas (which I can't find in Newark--I got mine pack of 5 sheets on my last trip to The Queen's Ink in Savage, MD in October).

But I decided it had to be done!!!

This is the end result of my new cover, which I officially finished this morning at 1 am!!!!

I am thrilled with it!!!

I took me about 8 hours to complete, but I love it it so much more!

Step-by-step guide of how I totally revamped my original piece and created my new Everyday Moments Journal:


1)  I started by finding two book boards, which were very sturdy.  These are thicker than regular cardstock.  Don't know where I got these.  I think they came as packaging with something I ordered a long time ago.  Thank God I am a hoarder!!!  And I knew just where I had these, just waiting for the perfect project.  They measure 4 1/2 X 6 1/2, so they are actually a little bigger than my original covers.  I like this size much better because now I will be able to use tons of pages from my 6X6 pads of patterned papers, and just cut them down to 4 1/2 X 6.  If I wanted to put a standard pic on the page, I now can easily since most standard prints are 4X6.

2)  I placed each of the covers on a 8 1/2 X 5 1/2 piece of sticky back canvas and wrapped the extra canvas around the book covers.

3)  I before I finished the wrapping, I remembered to round the corners using the 1/4 side of my Corner Chomper.  That tool cut through my heavy-duty card board like butter!!!  So did the Crop-A-Dile I used to punch out my binder ring holes!  I wanted the hole punched out before adhering the cover in case the canvas was going to be hard to get through with the Crop-A-Dile.  It worked fine that way! Here is what the book covers look like before making the hole for the rings:

Here is what the covers look like after the holes were made:

4)  Now comes the fun part:  I wanted to ink my canvas with the same vibrant colors as on the first project, with the addition of teal.  I knew that if I used the blue, it would blend just right with the oranges and yellows. I also wanted a bright fushia, but that ended up blending also and it just made another shade of orange.  That ultimately was fine with me, because orange is the happiest color on earth!!!!

5)  At this point in the evening, it was about 10:30 pm, and I frankly got so messy with paint on my hands, that I didn't want to touch my camera.  My sink is upstairs so I decided to apply all my paints before heading up to wash my palettes, brushes, stencils and hands.

Here are two pics of the front and back covers of my new journal.

6)  I used a variety of acrylic paints on top of my Crafters Workshop stencils (chicken wire and bird cage).  The brick stencil is a Wendi Vecchi one that I just love.  The stars stencil is from Dyan Reavely.  I put the paint on very thick with some coarse texture multi medium, so that it would give the cover not only texture, but also a more 3-D effect.  It worked perfectly.  After everything was dry, I went back and outlined the cover with my Scarlet Lime black pen from Christy Tomlinson.  I will do the back too, but by the time I finished, I was very sleepy!  It was almost 1 am!

7)  Here is a view of some of my pages.  I worked on cutting these and assembling them while the covers dried (every time I inked or used a stencil with paint, the covers had to dry before I could continue with the next layer of stenciling or painting).

This page has an opening at the top and the tab that has the flower and the word DREAM, is only adhered on the right and bottom edge, so it also serves as a pocket.  I have already journaled about my big Creating Keepsakes University Teaching Assistant job earlier this month, but I wanted to keep that journaling private, so I will print out the two page document and fold it and insert it into this orange DREAM pocket.  I will attach the ephemera from my trip, to the front of the page.

The page below is really cute, from the My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline collection.  There is a saying at the bottom that reads, "start each day with a smile."  The lady in green is cut from a Crate Paper paper of various tags.

Here are some more pages I completed using paper lines from those listed above as well as Basic Grey, Websters pages, and Teresa Collins Everyday Moments.

Here is one of the blank calendar pages from Heidi Swapp--I bought a kit from her for yet another project ( a memory display stand) and she had the calendar pages as a free download.  They are gorgeous.  Here's the link to her blog:  http://www.heidiswapp.com/weekend-recap-and-a-calendar-freebie/.  I used a Stampendous Calendar set to stamp the months on all 12 sheets.  And, obviously, I have yet to complete this page with the days of the weeks and my details!

I have greatly enjoyed sharing this guide with you and hope that you get inspired to Shine Your Light in your own projects and then come share them with me!

I am off to Shine my Light through a new project for our family's Thanksgiving feast in 2 days.  I hope to share that soon!

Till then, blessings galore to you and your family!  May God's abundance flow to you and may you always remember to give thanks to the Giver of good things!!!

Thankfulness in Color!

The weekend of November 1, 2012 through November 3, 2012 will be cherished forever:  this was the weekend I decided to give of my time, expenses, and expertise to volunteer as a Teaching Assistant at Creating Keepsakes University in Stamford, CT.  It was held just days after a freak Hurricane hit the East Coast, and though the storm caused no harm to my home, it sure did a lot of damage to many folks in NJ and NY.  On Thursday morning, as I left my house for the 3-4 hour drive to my teaching gig, I passed numerous long lines of cars, trying to get gas at every rest stop from Elizabeth, NJ all the way up to the NY state border.  It didn't even occur to me that I might not be able to get gas for myself upon my return trip.  (I am happy to report that I ultimately made the entire trip on one tank of gas!)

There are numerous different things that I gathered from that weekend, many of which include expressions of thanksgiving!!!  I will save that for a later blog because right now, I want to focus on one direct outcome from that weekend:

On the heels of that Teaching Assistant gig with Creating Keepsakes, I decided to keep the creative juices flowing the following weekend, by inviting my BFF to come "art" with me.  What began as a "come-over-for-a-couple-of-hours-of-arting" day, quickly turned into a 12-hour crafting marathon!  I’m used to this kind of mad-crafting event, but Robin is not, so I thank God that she pushed through and managed to finish her canvas that very day. I wanted her to walk away with a finished work of art and she did!

We each started with a blank canvas, a 12X12 flat board.  I like those for experimenting on techniques and just having some creative fun.  I have yet to find the best way to display them when all is set and done, but that’s also a topic for another day…..maybe! 

This was only the second time that I presented the topic of “mixed media” to Robin, so she graciously accepted my invitation, with only a small amount of trepidation.  The first time, a few months ago, she created a canvas piece that she just didn't like at all and she dreaded the thought of being frustrated in that way again!  Now, please know that she is an outstanding scrapbooker!  In fact, she is the one that introduced me to the creative possibilities of memory keeping.  But her style is very different from mine.  I classify her as a as classic scrapbooker, who enjoys her layouts presented in a formal, simple, clean and symmetrical format.  She favors the pastel pallet, and her stories always convey a crisp, concise message on every page.  

My style has emerged over the years into shabby chic, incorporating many sorts of media (acrylics, modeling paste, gelatos, big brush pens, watercolors, inks, stains, canvas, burlap, twine, stencils and masks, and of course, assorted papers—just to name a few).  So mixed media art is a natural venue for me.  I find that I now apply mixed media principles to all my scrapbooking, card making, and home décor. 

For our marathon crafting day, I gave a blank canvas to Robin, along with the assignment to “make something pretty.”   Blank canvases can be daunting, even for the most experienced artist!  So I find it useful to always start with a sketch.  Here’s the sketch I came up with for Robin.  It was quickly drawn on a scratch piece of paper in about 30 seconds. 

I envisioned a very elegant piece for her, with the use of doilies and light pastels paints and inks and a variety of vintage-themed embellishments.  Much to her delight, this mixed media arting extravaganza turned out exactly that way for Robin.  Here is her masterpiece:

At the start of the marathon, I had visions of a whimsical piece for myself, in warm colors, that would have stars and a Shine theme.  But the more I started playing with my art mediums, I quickly discovered that Robin's sketch was exactly what I wanted to create also!  My style is much more informal, and my color pallet is bold colors, so I knew that even though we would both be creating art using the same sketch, both pieces would turn out very different!

I began my project by taking Robin's old canvas and covering it with white embossed paper.  I love the texture that the paper adds to the flat canvas, especially since I placed it on top of previously textured canvas.  

You can see here the painted canvas in the process of being covered. 

And here is my newly covered canvas, all white!  This is usually unheard of, in my world!  But I wanted to start with a white background to showcase the conversion to bright color that I knew would happen! 

And happen, it did!!!

I began by adding some acrylic paints to the background in yellows and orange.  I also added splashes of blue and green gelatos and made some of the colors run, by squirting water on them.  Gelatos are so fun to play with!  I feel like a little kid, coloring with my set of crayons!  

The rest of the day was spent adding doilies in various paper patterns, bird cage die cuts out of burlap, bird out of canvas, and paper flowers using various dies.  My life's  motto is Shine Your Light (taken from Matthew 5:16 - shine your light before men, that they may see your good works and praise your Father in heaven) and so I placed that on the label at the top.  

I outlined the letters using my Faber Castell pitt pen.

Since I have so much to be thankful for, I had to include a Teresa Collins journaling tag that reads "Live with Gratitude."  I do . . . . every single day!   

One last photo to show a close up of some of my hand made flowers and the beautiful lace that I placed around my paper doily.  I also added a hand made pocket with a tag.  The fibers at the top of the tag are made using twined that I tinted with brown Distress Stain.  

Interestingly, the white doily is made out of a coffee filter that I embossed and then cut out using a Fiskars round doily punch.  I love that thing!  

Robin and I made our paper doilies by cutting a 6 inch circle out of patterned paper, and then putting the circle in the Fiskars punch--it makes 4 inch and 6 inch doilies--my favorite sizes!

This was a very fun day for me, filled with lots of episodes of "happy hands" and lots of chit chatting about life and such with my BFF!  I look forward to the next time we get to spend the day arting!  

Thanks for joining me today and I hope you also let Your Light Shine in all you do today! 

Doggie Card

A friend of our family has lost a very dear doggie a few days ago.  Missy Dog was our friend's companion and loyal friend.  I know Laura will be hurting for a long time.  I made her a card to let her know we care.

Outside of card:

Inside of card:

Blue Day Art Journal Tutorial

So I had a rough night Wednesday night, and a rough day all Thursday.  I won't go into the details, but I will tell you that I did a lot of praying about the situation, and ultimately came down to the studio to document my sadness.  I knew I was going to take my time doing this page because crafting always takes my mind away from other things, and I had a lot of things to try to get past.  It was theraputic to spend time in my studio, playing with my tools, and experimenting with various techniques.  

So I titled this Blue Day, since I was sad, and I used a ton of blue, and absolutely no orange, which is my happy color.  (Except there is orange in the ribbon--I put that on the day after my sad day.)

Here is the photo of my final page, and after this, I will go into the process that got me here.

 

So to start out, I had to decide which aRt jouRnaL to use.  I currently have 4 I am playing around in, and they don't really have any specific purpose.  I just love them all.  

For this project, I chose the hard bound book I am in the process of altering.  I tore several page out from the book and glued 4 sheets together creating very thick pages.  I knew i would really put a lot of mediums on these pages, so I made sure they were sturdy.  So far, I am very pleased.

I found a great idea for how to decorate the front, spine, and back of this book.  I hope to begin working on that right after I blog about this  aRt jouRnaL page. 

I started the page by gessoing it.   When I do my aRt jouRnaL entries, I have a bunch of things I could try, such as collaging with paper, painting with acrylic paints, or misting with inks.  I prepare my pages with gesso ahead of time because it helps the paper accept the colors and textures of the acrylic paints much easier.  So below is a picture of my gessoed paper.  You will note that some of the writing is showing through.  That is exactly how I wanted it.  One of the funnest elements of aRt jouRnaLing is layering.  The more you layer, the more fun it is.  It took a few minutes for the gesso to dry thoroughly, so I moved on to gesso some more pages in some of my other journals (not pictured here yet).

Then I had to select how I would add color to these pages.  I chose to use Tattered Angel Glimmer Mists because they leave a sparkle when the mist dries.  

I combined the Lily Pad (pale green) and the Jazz Blue mists and I also squirted a little of the Dylusions Lemon Zest ink just because I love the Dylusions inks.  Once the page was misted, I moved the book around to make the smear marks you see below.   I dried the pages and re-inked and dried and then re-inked and dried again until I was happy with the richness of blue and green and slight yellow colors. 

Just for fun, I decided to put a border of faded jean Distress Stain all around the edges of the pages.  It looks a lot cooler in person than in the picture. Again, this was just another layer of color on color.  After applying the stain on the pages, I dried them so I could keep working. 

This next step was real fun.  I found a nice piece of scrap brown cardstock, embossed it in my Vagabond machine using a wood textured embossing folder from Darice, and cut out a tree using a Tim Holtz alterations tree die.  The piece of tree that I cut was used on another page for a completely different and happy aRt JouRnaL entry.  Hard to see below how cool the paper turned out.  It looks like real wood grain to me.  

After I cut out the tree and used it on the other page, I had the left over "negative" image, which I did not throw out.  I decided to mix up some acrylic paint (black and hunter green) with modeling paste, and use the left over piece of the tree die cut as a stencil for this page.

 I really packed the stencil nice and thick and when I pulled up the scrap paper, you can see the tree left behind on the page.  It turned out so pretty and just thick enough and with a lot of texture.  The left over stencil served it's purpose and was thrown out after making my tree.   

 Next it was time to play with more layers on the pages.  I decided to add some rubon clouds--I used a pack of Studio Calico rub-ons--I just love their products.   

I also used some of the left over embossed brown paper to cut out fence posts.  That was done free style and arranged on either side of the tree.  

I also began pulling out a bunch of background stamps and adding them all over the pages.  That is one of my favorite techniques to add texture that Christy Tomlinson taught me.  I used a Hero Arts wood mounted, french script stamp, and a Unity stamp designed by Christy Tomlinson called Brick Wall.  I used Staz-on Timber Brown ink because it is water soluable and if I were to use my colored mists, the stamped images will not run. I also decided the tree needed something under it, like a path of some sort.  So I pulled out a small jar of specialty sand that comes pre-glued, and pulled out enough sand to cover the area under the tree, between the fence post.  I got this sand from a company called Muddpuddles.net about 2 years ago.  I had not used it at all, and the glue had kink of dried up, so I added a little glossy accents liquid glue to the sand to make sure it adhered nicely to the paper.  

At this point, with the modeling pasted tree still wet and the sand under it very tacky, I decided to leave the rest of the arting for the next day.  Modeling paste takes a LONG time to dry.  Over night is always a safe amount of time.

When I came down early the next morning to check on the page, it was dry and it was lovely.  You can see below, that I made a journaling tag and added that to the page.  I also added some more texture to the page using punchinella stencil and some coarse texture gel medium and some white acrylic paint.  I made the cloud rub-ons a little bigger and added some more fleeting clouds to the top of the page. 

I also added some clock stamps using red archival ink to signify the passing of time.  My caption reads:  8/16/12 was a "BLUE" day.  When I have days like that, I live for the Promise of a new day.  Lamentations 3:23.  

True to God's Word, Friday was a much better day for me and so has been today, Saturday. 

What do you think of this entry?  Care to try your hand at aRt JouRnaLing?  Write me and let me know or send me some pics!  

I had a lot of fun with this project.  Hope it inspires you in some way, to Craft 2 Shine!!!

More Bloggin for Me

I've been given permission to guest blog about crafty things on my Pastor's church blog!!!  Isn't that cool?  I think so.  He called it Onesimus3 because he wanted Pastor Ben, our Youth Pastor, and me, the Children's Ministries Director, to blog on it.  But I never have.  Mostly because when I blog, I usually am blogging about some form of artistic expression that I am trying out, or I giving  some some of tutorial for a new project.  I never dreamed Pastor would let me blog about creative stuff.  But he thinks it will be a good way to add another element to that blog.  So I will be occasionally contributing things there!

Here's the link:  www.onesimus3.blogger.com

I case you don't get there, though, here is a picture of my most recent Art Journal, and this is what I just blogged about at Onesimus3:

This entry is only the second one in my hardbound black art journal.  I used a book that I altered and that I love, because of how sturdy it is.  The tree was made out of corrugated cardboard, with a die from the Tim Holtz collection of dies.  I die cut a gazzillion little leaves from a QuickCutz die.  I then adhered each one of the leaves to the branches of the tree, with a glue pen.  The background was misted with two different Crafter's Workshop stencils and a mixture of tattered angels and dylusions inks.  I also did a bunch of stamping using some Tim Holtz stamps and Archival inks.

The journaling says this:

August 13th:  there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.  Eccl 3:1
How true are these words. Our season of drought is coming to an end after 9 1/2 months. I thank the Lord for His mercy and grace. Shawn starts his brand new, full-time job tomorrow.  We are so blessed!  Thank You Jesus!

Amen!

I'm looking forward to posting more art journal entries in the days to come!

Couture Stationary Box

On July 28, 2012, I was blessed to attend a Creating Keepsakes Convention in Lancaster, PA, where I volunteered to Assistant Teach in the morning sessions.  I didn't know which classes I would be asked to help in, but I knew that whatever it was, I would love the experience.  And I did!  I can't wait to do it again!!!  I realized that I much prefer to "teach" classes like this, than to "take" them at conventions like this.  I am much too precision- minded to enjoy the classes as presented in this type of setting!!!  I like to take my time with my projects and ensure they are done accurately!  I so enjoy the process, that I really resent having to accomplish these classes in 1 hour.  That being said, it was much more relaxing and exhilarating for me to help others complete their projects in a limited time!  

I assisted with 3 fast-paced and wonderful classes that morning, using the SEI line of papers, which I had never used.  

The first two classes were jammed with 47 ladies each; the third had 17!!!  

The first class consisted of making 4 two-page layouts with some interesting techniques.  The ladies only had time to do the first two layouts and were sent home with a detailed listing of directions.  

The second class also consisted of 4 two-page layouts, with completely different papers and techniques.  Again, we only completed the first two layouts, but the directions are very complete and will ensure they can continue their projects without major difficulty.  

The last class consisted of making a Couture Stationary Box.  This was my favorite class of the day because we actually got to leave with a completed project.  I was tremendously inspired by this project and came home eager to try the project out for myself, using a bright and cheerful line of paper from Teresa Collins called Freestyle.  I love the pinks and oranges of this paper line!  I also enjoyed putting my own special  touches on the project, including embellishments for the front of the box, as well as handmade tags, mini note cards, and correspondence cards.

So here is a picture of my complete box, as seen from the outside:

One of the very first things I did was to make some fabric rosettes to add to the lid.  I also added some matching ribbon, some chipboard pieces, and some die cut birdies!  Below, you will see a closeup of the fabric rosettes.  I love making my own flowers.  There are numerous videos on how to make them all over YouTube.  If you are interested, go to YouTube and enter fabric flower techniques on the search line.  I've spent endless hours learning these techniques.

 Upon lifting the lid of my Couture Stationary Box, the front flap opens and this is where you get to see all the goodies I jam-packed into this kit. 

The first thing you see on the flip-down flap is a small note book where one can write any number of things of importance such as birthdays, anniversaries, addresses, etc.  next to the handmade Note to Self book is a small pocket for placing stamps.  Below these two is a slot for a pen or pencil.

Below is a closeup of the Post It Note cover I made.  There are two chipboard pieces from the Teresa Collins collection, and a die cut butterfly I made using a Martha Steward punch.

This is the inside of the sticky note holder.

One of the slots above has a pocket for small tickets or receipts.  I chose to make some colorful tags.  I cut them out in two sizes, and stamped them with a variety of Tim Holtz images, and some Basic Grey acrylics.  I also distressed each of the tags and inked all the edges with ink pads.  These tags can be used to add special little personal notes to your friends or to highlight some major event.  They can also be used as a small mat for pictures, if you so desire.  

I used my Tim Holtz Vagabond and a Sizzix Envelope die to make the small note card envelopes pictured below.  They are approximately 2.5 by 2.5 inches.  I used colorful patterned paper from a Die Cut With a View paper pack and inked each envelope with some Tim Holtz vibrant distress inks, so they would blend well with the bright hues of the stationary box.  The little note cards on the inside are also from a DCWV paper line and they are die cut with a Spellbinders scalloped square Nestabilities die.  

Over the weekend, I was thrilled to find some very inexpensive correspondence cards at Michael's, manufactured by Studio 18.  They came in a variety of colors, and each has an inspiring message at the top, which is not pictured.  I chose four of the bright orange and four of the hot fushia for this stationary set, because they match perfectly.  I also added a pocket to each of the cards, each cut with a border punch to add interest to the card and for the placement of a personal note, or perhaps one of the tags pictured above. 

This project turned out very nice. Between the time it took me to make the fabric flowers, each of the tags, note cards, and correspondence cards, as well as assemble the notebook and the box itself, I would guess I spent about 8 hours on this project--not all consecutive.  It is a one of a kind.  I would easily retail this for $22.50.  I can also customize a set like this with different colored patterned papers if perchance, the hot pink and orange colors do not appeal to you.  

As always, I remain eager to Craft to Shine!!!