The Black Stuff layout

Posted on May 17, 2012 by

Hi Friends! Today is Friday – don’t that feel good? Today is the busiest day of the week for me – it’s just going to be nuts! But fun stuff – cause it’s Friday!

Today at Scrapbooker’s Paradise we’re doing another of Allison’s great sketches – I love how I can use her sketches for either cards or layouts, or whatever I want – they are very versatile! And if you create something inspired by the sketch, you just might win some great scrap goodies!

The photos in my layout were taken during the first barbeque of spring last year, and I love my daughter’s expressions in these pics – she was clowning for the camera!

I used paper from My Mind’s Eye, some great chipboard letters from Cosmo Cricket which inspired my title, and then just had fun arranging things to suit me. I think it still resembles the sketch, do you?

I also had to make a marshmallow roasting stick for my page – I die cut a branch using a Tim Holtz die and then used puffy paint to create the marshmallows! When you have as much paper crafting stuff as I do, you can make almost anything!

Oh, these photos just make me giggle! And that’s why I scrapbook – I get to enjoy fun moments like this all over again!

Won’t you visit the Scrapbooker’s Paradise blog, check out the design team projects and play along? We’d love to have you!

 

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Prima License Plate Hello Sign

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

So I had kind of a funky idea and I haven’t showed it to anyone else yet, so I don’t know if it works or if it’s just all in my mind, you know? Sometimes I’m not very objective when it comes to a project into which I’ve poured a lot of energy.

My idea was to make something cool to hang on the front door. Something that says “spring” and something that suits my vintage rustic style. I like rusty signs in my kitchen, vintage sleds leaning against the wall, and broken garden tools sprouting in my garden. So I used an old license plate.

The year on the plate is 1963, and I bought it ten years ago at a yard sale to use in crafts. It’s about time I got around to it!

I didn’t want to cover the plate entirely, but I did want to have a message beyond the numbers on the plate, so I used Scrabble tiles (another passion, and just to let you know that I thoroughly beat my sister the last time we played; she usually beats me.) So, using a piece of Prima Resistant Canvas as my base, I watercoloured the canvas, stamped it and adhered the Scrabble tiles, and then covered the whole thing with Rock Candy crackle paint.

And just as a treat for you, I’m practising my videography and did a little tutorial on using watercolour on canvas. Just FYI.

I’d love to know what you think of this project! It was fun to make, and I think it says my name, if you know what I mean.

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Pretty Mother’s Day Craft Class Projects

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

On Friday afternoon I opened my home to a handful of daughters and mums for a Mother’s Day craft class. As much as I like teaching crafts to girls, I find things go much more efficiently if mum can come too and help her daughter with the projects. I only have so many hands to help, and as it was I spent the entire afternoon running between the two large craft tables in my home studio, finding the right materials and demonstrating different techniques.

We made two cards (one opens this post);

It’s hard for me to keep projects simple enough for kids to do, and yet pretty. I think these served both purposes!

The other project I had planned was a tube-style gift bag, similar to those toilet-paper roll tubes that are popping up everywhere. You really don’t need a TP roll for this though, I just cut cardstock to 5.5″ x 8.5″ and glued the ends to form a tube, then stapled one end flat, hiding the staples with ribbon. You could sew the edges but for a kids’ class, staples were safer and faster!

The girls had a little tutorial in making their own patterned paper using stamps before we assembled the bag. And then it was a matter of glueing and a little more stamping, and using pretty flowers to put the whole thing together. I had seed packets and chocolates to put in the bags when they were done!

Our final project was kind of a bonus. I had originally thought we’d just do the cards and gift bag, but it’s always a good idea to have an extra project in case the kids finish up before the two hour session is over. So I inked up a pretty chipboard heart, added ribbon and flowers, a tiny tag and a brooch pin back, and ended up with a beautiful piece of jewellery for mum for Mother’s Day!

My two girls love having crafty projects to do, and having friends over to create with them is just an added treat! Very good times were had by all.

 

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Brighten Cluster Card

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

Did you celebrate Mother’s Day yesterday? I am so thankful for my mom and my grandmothers and the influence they have had in my life. And I love the way my children loved me this Mother’s Day – they are sweet every day and yesterday I was blessed as my girls sang in church, and my son was in tears the night before because he realized he hadn’t planned a gift for me. Just seeing how upset he was touched my heart.

Last Friday I hosted a mother/daughter Mother’s Day themed craft class. I’ll be posting photos of our projects a little later, but I wanted to share the card I created for Paper Craft magazine’s Gallery Idol competition. I’d like to make a few more before the deadline, but we’ll see. I’m seriously trying to prioritize my time these days – between finishing up our homeschool year, keeping up with crafting and painting deadlines and triathlon training, I’m pretty busy!

There is only a smidge of patterned paper in this card. The base layer was heat embossed, inked and stamped to create the pattern using beautiful Pink Paislee stamps. And then I just had to do a cluster of embellishments. I was inspired by a scrapbook layout and it’s always a challenge trying to translate a layout into a smaller format like a card!

The patterned paper in this card is from Pink Paislee as well – their Prairie Hill line. Love that paper line and I wish I had more of it than just the 6×6 paper pack. Have a fantastic day!

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Imagining Graduation: Playing In Paradise

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

I had a bit of an unusual grad – I was homeschooled through high school since we lived in Papua New Guinea at the time, and so I was the only grad in my class. The remote tribe we lived in didn’t have any options for grad dresses, either, so I wore one that had been chosen for me by my aunt and mailed from Canada. It turned out to really not be my style, but missionary kids learn how to cope. Actually, I was really jealous of Canadian grads for several years after graduating. I so wanted to do the grad traditions that are expected in Canada! I think I’ve learned over time that the “fairy tale” idea I had of graduation in Canada is really overrated. As a homeschooled student, I was given a great education and a lifelong love of learning, and the confidence to be my own person.

Wade has several cousins graduating this spring and I found that my grad dress story made entertaining conversation during the last family gathering!

So however it goes, grad is just the beginning, and this week for the Scrapbooker’s Paradise Playing in Paradise challenge, we are celebrating graduation with all its beginnings.

My card is pretty simple – I really wanted to try embossing black on black again. I used a damask stamp and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I love the texture it gave a simple design. But it was really hard to photograph! The quote is one I love to use on grad cards because stepping into adulthood is like making real a life that many teens spend years imagining – independence at last!

Visit the Scrapbooker’s Paradise blog to see what the rest of the team has created and we hope you’ll play along this week and create something for the graduates you know!

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My First Calligraphy Painting

Posted on May 10, 2012 by

I’ve always been interested in calligraphy. When I was seven, I had a set of Crayola markers with “fancy” tips that would draw a double or triple line, and my baby brother chewed off the nibs. I’ve never really gotten over it!

In my teens I ordered a book on lettering from a school catalogue, and tried out different lettering styles. And I bought fountain pens with calligraphy tips in my early twenties, and learned how to use a dip pen in an art class. And I’ve always, always worked on my handwriting, adopting new ways of writing different letters any time I found a way to write that looked better than the way I was writing.

When I was approached a couple of months ago and asked to create a piece of calligraphy, I was hesitant. My first instinct was to refuse the commission. But I also knew that calligraphy, like drawing, is all about line, and I believed that with practice, I would be able to create a piece of art that would satisfy my client and also perhaps leave me with a new skill that I could use in my art.

I did a good deal of research, ordered quality ink and pens and practised daily for several weeks. My back cramped up and my fingers grew ink-stained, but I could see growth which gave me confidence to see the project through to completion. Today my client picked up the completed piece of art, which I can share with you now:

You never know if you can do something unless you are willing to work hard and try. I am happy with the completed artwork and so was my client. And I’m going to keep refining my technique and building on what I’ve started.

 

 

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Wild Strawberries

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

The wild strawberry is kind of a personal symbol for me. Growing up, I used to pick wild strawberries with my grandma, bringing them to her house to eat with cream and sugar. The wild strawberry is a pain to pick – about the size of a pea, and though there are wild strawberry plants everywhere in northwestern Canada where I live (in fact they make up a large part of my front lawn), it is hard to find plants that actually produce berries. Grandma and Grandpa still live in the forest near the Peace River and she spends much of the summer on her knees in her secret berry patch, hoping not to meet any bears. The taste of a wild strawberry is unrivalled – sweet and wild and sharp – and it beats regular strawberries hollow. And I love “tame” strawberries, so you can imagine!

When I was little, Grandma made me a strawberry patterned dress to wear (it had rainbow lace on it and I loved it!) and the first baby quilt I made (at age eight) was strawberry patterned from the same fabric.

So a strawberry stamp set has special meaning for me and I’m so excited to have been able to design one and that it’s releasing today at Paper and Such!

Along with the release is a blog hop showcasing the stamps that you’ll want to check out. I had colouring and paper piecing in mind when I designed these stamps and so it’s really neat to see that happening in the design teams projects. And they colour better than I do, although I am pleased with how mine turned out. I am getting better at blending with my Copic markers! Leave at comment at each blog to increase your chances of winning the whole release!

This stamp set retails for $12! Totally worth it. Check it out and shop today – these new releases have been known to sell out, you know!

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Wonderful Girl PPC#65

Posted on May 4, 2012 by

Hi Friends! Today the Playing in Paradise challenge is all about spring! I’ve been really into using spring colours in all my projects lately, and some of the projects I’ve made for the Scrapbooker’s Paradise blog over the last few months are among my favourite projects this year.

Today I used my digital die cutter to cut out the word “Girl” which I then layered over my patterned paper and some pretty lace.

What I like about this is that I can mix and match stamp sentiments and die cuts to get the exact phrase I want to use! Scrapbooker’s Paradise has a tonne of sentiment stamp sets in the shop and a Mother’s Day sale to help you take advantage of it.

Won’t you consider participating in the challenge this week? I’d love to see what you come up with. Further inspiration from the rest of the design team is up on the Scrapbooker’s Paradise blog, go check it out!

 

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My Peace I Give

Posted on May 3, 2012 by

This week has been crazy! And yet my day planner is almost blank. Weird, huh?

I need this verse today. Just seems like the older you get, the more people you know who are hurting. It’s hard to live and interact with people and know their problems, and yet not be able to help them. I know a lot of women who suffer from “wee hours anxiety” – you know, that waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep because you’re thinking about all the ones who love who are struggling. What a gift God gives us in being able to live without fear!

I just read in a devotional book recently (can’t remember where) that “Do not be afraid” is such a constant theme in the Bible – some say that phrase, or a variation thereof, appears in the Bible 365 times – one for each day of the year! I don’t know if that’s true, but there are literally hundreds of verses and passages about God’s care for us, our safety and rest in Him, and the truth that we can rely on Him and have no need to be afraid.

Just a little self-talk today – like I said, it’s been a busy week but life is good!

Supplies used: Paper, My Mind’s Eye; Stamps, Unity Stamp Co., Papertrey Ink; Ink, CTMH Creme Brulee, Stampin’ Up! Basic Grey; Dies, Spellbinders Blossom Stackers; Button, Pink Paislee
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A Cheerful Cola card and a Sunday look to the week ahead.

Posted on April 29, 2012 by

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning and I’m sharing a bright and cheerful card to match my mood, just for fun! All the stamps are from Unity Stamp Co.

Looking ahead to a good week! I’ve got a watercolour class to teach, a calligraphy project to ink onto good paper (it’s a little scary to anticipate!) and after a long bike ride this afternoon, I’ll be doing a “recovery week” on my triathlon training schedule. Maybe that will give me more time in the studio!

I really want to submit something to the Peace Liard Arts Council’s Regional Juried Art Exhibition (what a mouthful!) so I’m hoping I can finish my apple blossom painting. It’s almost done, I just don’t know if it’s good enough to exhibit. There are a lot of places where I didn’t know what to do so I just added paint willy-nilly. Is it wrong to admit that?

Hoping to get my bike repaired so I have a few more gears for the triathlon, and this week I want to drive up to Fort St. John and check out the route I’ll be cycling and running on June 3. I bit the bullet and registered yesterday so I really am committed now! Not that I wasn’t before – I keep saying that’s why I tell everyone that I’m doing a triathlon – so I don’t chicken out! Every training run is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and yet every time I manage to complete it. There is something so rewarding about that. And I’m seeing results in my physique too. I haven’t lost more than a couple of pounds, but I’m leaner and sleeker. Except when I’m wearing my swimsuit – it’s a little too long and bags at the bottom.

A couple of paper craft magazines have calls for submission ending this week, so I want to craft for that.

So much to do, so many ideas, and still all of this comes after parenting, wife-ing, homeschooling, and housekeeping. Well, I confess that housekeeping usually comes after creating!

 

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