Some cute Christmas Cards

While we were on our Door County Retreat we took a class using the Northwoods Stamps and watercolor markers by Tombow. I am hoping some of these are in my stocking on Christmas morning. If you have never taken a class by them, it is fantastic! I had so much fun even though I am not crazy about cards.

 I think this one is my favorite. I absolutely adore snowmen. One cool aspect of these cards is the purple/grey color around the edges to make the object pop. They also use a blend of clear and black embossing powder when they heat the cards. This keeps the marker from running together.

 The elf clothes are super cute. I was surprised to learn how to use yellow underneath to make the green pop more. The little Doodlebug clothespins are the perfect finish.

 This card is exceptionally special in that it is two layers. We colored the page underneath and then did the window frame. There is mounting foam between the two layers to give the great dimension. The watercolor markers are very precise for coloring and the water on the brush allows for the blending with the small spaces.

Finally we have the flower vase. I wasn't wild about the colors as I couldn't figure out how to the colors for the hydrangea in comparison to the roses. I love the red for Christmas.

This was a phenomenal class! I would highly recommend it to anyone who was interested. I can't wait to play with these markers more in the future.

Projects from our Door County Retreat

While we were on our girls weekend in Door County we took two card classes. One was focused on stenciling and the other was watercoloring techniques. The first class was using Dreamweavers Stencils. The stencils were a cool metal type and very durable. The paste was easy to work with a very easy to move around. We did four different cards in the class. We learned a lot but the timing was lesson that ideal. There was a little too much to do, with less than adequate supplies to go around. 

The first card was the flower techique. We used stipple brushes and ink underneath. Then we put clear modeling paste on top to give the card dimension. Finally we finished with clear glitter. 

The next card is the pumpkins. We did a black paste underneath the pumpkins and then a crackle on top. We didn't get to finish this is class, so we had to use our own ink later to complete the project. I used two Tim Holtz inks to finish my project. The "autumn" phrase is made with Versa Mark and Pearl EX Pigment Powders.

This third card is one of my favorites. Using a wet modeling paste (I think it was glossy but the supplies were moved around way too much, we really didn't have time to take in all the information). then we put the Pearl Ex Powders on top and heated them. Turns out you use Swiffer pads to take off the excess powder.

 Finally, the final card is the poinsettia. We used a white modeling paste with the stencil and then let it dry. After the paste dried we used ink and a stipple brush to ink the poinsettia. Finally we used glitter to finish off the card!

Overall we learned a lot while taking this class. Not sure I would take something by these teachers, as we were rushed through the material and didn't finish. But I had a lot of fun trying some new techniques.

Back after a little break

Finally back to the blogging world after an unexpected break this fall. After a crazy semester of graduate school my scrapping was put on the back burner. I sadly don't even remember when I finished my Atlanta album but I never was able to show the final pages. I've stayed busy and had a few scrappy outings. I wanted to highlight a little bit of my fall!

We checked out the beautiful fall colors in Door County! These pages eventually coming.

I also went with my scrappy friends Rita and Karen to a retreat in Sturgeon Bay for a little art weekend. It was held at the beautiful Bridgeport Resort.

 This is the beautiful Batmobile Yacht from Palmer Johnson's out for a spin in the channel.

I took the first place prize in the contest using Oscar's new paperline specific to Door County! Coming up next week I will share the projects from our crop.

Checking out Downtown

 If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm an inner foodie. Besides scrapbooking and my outdoor activities, I really enjoy cooking. I am a total live to eat personality. I love trying new foods and new restaurants. While we were in Atlanta, my mom through she saw the Hard Rock. It wasn't..but thanks to Siri we walked a few blocks and found it. And my favorite foods deserved a pictures. Plus it's Hard Rock and it's just fun.

 The picture of the guitar sign is fantastic with the blue sky against it. And another painted burlap flower. I'm in a mixed media rut and it may need a minor intervention. I really liked the American Crafts patterned paper to accent the beautiful fall colors.

 This page turned out very nice as well. The embellishments were from a Basic Grey Hello Boy pack. But the wood grains were great with the brown tones. The skyline was gorgeous here and I wished we would have explored more.

I am having such a blast reliving this vacation as I scrap the pages. It was such a memorable time for our family. Needless to say a second album needs to be ordered since I scrapped so much. What was I thinking using a smaller than normal album.

Centennial Olympic Park

 I was not real wild about visiting the fountains in Atlanta but I did it to be a good sport. It was quite hot and I didn't know what the big deal was all about. Normally before vacation I like to do some research about the area and learn what to see. This vacation was a month into our school year, and lets be real, I was busy enough getting ready for a sub. So I kinda winged this whole vacation.

You can quickly tell my my favorite techniques in this album: watermark ink, heat emboss, ink resist....and repeat. I don't need to re-tell technique since I've outlined it a million times before.

 This page is a random hodge podge of embellishments I was pulling together throughout the album. The Basic Grey chipboard became my favorites, but I also enjoyed the doilies.

 I used my iRock to jazz up my Heidi Swapp banner and added the little bling in each corner.

This was a cool park to visit. If you ever make it to Atlanta check it out when they do the actual shows to the music. I had a fun time creating this page and being free and wild.

Tasting Room

 Hands down one of the fantastic parts of Coke World is the tasting room. Who wouldn't like to try any and every type of soda that Coca Cola produces. I'm pretty sure the blue Fanta was my favorite. Too bad that's not really an American option. I guess that must means I need to travel the world.

 Once again I took a plain background paper and made it my own. Way back when in February, my friend Rita challenged me to make this book my own and to try more mixed media backgrounds. My supplies are repetitive, but since it is a vacation album, I wanted some consistency.

One of my favorite techniques is to change the color of flowers with my gelatos. It's pretty easy but you have to be cautious when misting and blending the colors so you don't rip the flowers.

The little Coke bottles are made during the tours. It's cool to see the process of making Coke and all the parts. And you get to take one home at the end!  It reminded me of Disney and the Pavilion.

Soda Fountain

 This page from Coke World is a classic. You have to walk through the old fashioned soda counter. As I blog this I realize how much I need to practice taking straighter pictures. I don't feel like I have that crooked of embellishments on the page. I used the same repetitive supplies throughout this album. Granted I did a lot of this album at a hotel crop, so didn't pack the whole room.

 I have taken a liking to the Channel font o my Silhouette. I like that it is thin enough to curve around things.

 

One of my favorite parts is how I did the sunburst on the circle embellishment. I like the two tone effect of the grey on silver. 

I'm so excited that I got a picture in the mirror. It was fun and a cool effect with my camera. I realized what a difference the few steps over does to the lightening. I really enjoy these pocket pages, and the small part is just perfect for my journalling.

Cultures of Coke World

 As a member of a bilingual and bicultural community I always enjoy the culture of new places and new experiences. One of the things I enjoyed about Coke World was their variety of memorabilia from around the world. Of course I could only read the Spanish, but it was still cool.

 This page was really fun and tough to make. I didn't like any of my supplies and I was getting sick and tired of working with red. So I started painting with my Distress Paints on some kraft paper. The big bottle on the right was my inspiration for the page. Then I decided to paint on the burlap piece as well. I incorporated some ink into the page as well. Unfortunately my dirty fingers got in the way and on the page. I ruched up some ribbon as well.

This second page I really like. My second language is Spanish so this was really cool to me. I enjoyed using the pocket protectors in this album to speed it up. With the demands of life and work and continuing education, scrapping doesn't happen too regularly. I feel like I've been working on this album forever.

I pulled out my favorite mask and mist to jazz up the red paper along with letters cut on my Silhouette.

Rehersal Dinner

 This is one of my favorite page from my Atlanta album. I may or may not have thrown out like 6 pages of navy blue paper in the process of figuring out what I was doing. But now I'm out of my nice heavy navy cardstock.

I pulled out my favorite Hero Arts background stamp along with embossing powder and watermark ink. But the texture of the paper made this even better.

 One of my favorite things on this page are the embellishments. I used a pack of banners from Heidi Swapp and some Prima flowers. My goal on this page was elegance.

 I cut the font on my Silhouette using the Channel font. It was very delicate to work with and I had to be extremely careful putting it down. But I achieved my goal for the page.

Beautiful flowers

 One of my favorite parts of my big camera is the ability to take photos up close of gorgeous subjects. I just don't feel like I have that ability with the phone. I am a sucker when it comes to flower pictures. I can't get enough of them. I did a collage on Picasa and then printed a few collages in 4x6 format to make this page.

 I used my Close to my Heart Chevron stamps in the corner, and then used some bling in the middle to close the big gaps. I like all the patterns within the chevrons. I'm not a big fan of buying brand new stamps, but I'm a sucker for chevrons.

Fall Decorations at the Gardens

When we visited Atlanta it was early in October. We were surprised with temperatures closer to our normal highs in June but with pumpkins and changing trees. The garden was in the process of setting up for both their Halloween and Christmas displays. We normally get up to Door County this time of year, so we were happy to get our fall fix.

I had a lot of fun making this page. I used my favorite mask and mist to color the back ground. I used a combo of paper from American Crafts and Imaginesnce. I also used burlap flowers from Little Yellow Bicycle. I didn't want to have the brown burlap color so I used my Tim Holtz Distress Paint. I learned my lesson to let it dry on it's own or else it will stink if you try and dry it.

 I also used some cork arrows from Studio Calico and some ribbon from American Crafts to jazz up this page!

A Few More

 I have a few more pages from the garden to share. Sometimes I take more pictures of my actual pages than others. For some reason the Orchid Garden only got the main picture and nothing else, but I really wanted to share it. I think Orchids are a beautiful flower and this was a great page. 

 The background paper was from Close to my Heart. The stickers are from Thickers and they are the perfect color. I also brought in some Basic Grey chipboard that I've used throughout this album. The ribbon was something random I found laying around and folder over and cut to make as part of my title.

The second page I am sharing is of the skyline. I didn't do titles on all my pages as some are more obvious. This was a really different but fun page for me to try.

 My favorite part is the mixed media bottom with the skyscrapers. My friend Rita has this stencil and I had to borrow it to go with this page. I used some Ferro Paste from Viva. It is a very fun and gritty paste to work with, but has the perfect effect for this page. The only thing I realized is how fast you much wash it off, as it dries fast and is a bit gritty.

Throughout this page I used some other embellishments including washi tape and wood veneers. I changed the colors of the veneers using my Tim Holtz Distress Ink.