I'm Back

I took a break last year from blogging. I don't know where 2015 went. In a recap I can say I got engaged, moved, started planning a wedding, took a new job, took some amazing trips and so much more!

Back in July I joined an Artist Trading Card Group through my Close to My Heart Group. I keep putting my block on as my address, but its about time I actually started posting again.

I wanted to show some of the cards I made over the past few months and how I store them:

July: Sunflowers:

 I started this card on a kraft base, granted you can't see it anymore. I tore up old books and glued those as my base. I used Tim Holtz Distress ink for the background. The top left corner is from a stencil with Ferro Paste by Viva Decor. The stamp was purchased many years ago from the Michael's dollar bin. I used a black embossing powder and colored in the edges. I finished off the design with a piece of lace, sprayed with Heidi Swapp Color Shine.

August: Flowers in the Field

 August was really hard for me, and I didn't want to keep going with these projects. After many failed cards I finally settled for this. I used a screen and some Tim Holtz Distress Ink for the background. I painted on the grass and embossed the flowers. I used my Silks Acrylic Paint to carefully paint the color detail onto the flowers. I finished the design with the wood veneer "sun" in the corner.

September: Butterflies 

 My groove officially kicked in come September. I had tried the butterflies in August and set them aside. The background was made with Alcohol Inks on glossy paper. I did the inks and then stamped the swirl on top of them. I glue down the wood veneer butterflies, which were colored with Faber Castell Gelatos, coated with Crackle Accents and finished with a Stickle glitter. Using a Heidi Swapp Stencil I designed the stars with Pearl Pens by Viva. I finished with some Art Glitter and bling.

October: Pumpkins at Midnight 

 I got this stamp at a crop last year, and never saw any purpose for it. I started with my background, which was painted from Silks Acrylic Paint. I embossed the tree/cats/fence all from the one stamp. I used a silver Stickle to color the moon and give it definition. The pumpkin was a stencil and I first colored it with ink and then sealed in with a dimensional string gel, to give it a cool finish. I officially am loving ATC's by this point.

 November: Hoot

November has to be one of my favorite ATC's so far. I am a lover of all things owl's, they are all over.  I cut the owls on my Silhouette, just using kraft paper for everything but the eyes. I immediately put all the small pieces into storage containers so I wouldn't loose anything. The body of the owl was painted with gesso and then I used a Studio Calico stencil and navy Viva Decor Modeling Paste, to add the chevron design. The burnt orange for the wings and belly were colored with a Tim Holtz Distress Pad. The brown paint was from Viva Decors Paint Pens. The background was a Heidi Swapp Stencil, using one of her spray inks and some green Tim Holtz Paint Daubers. The stamps were a finishing touch from a prize I won at a Close to My Heart Crop.

December: Merry and Bright

 

 Finally I have my December cards to share. These were actually I made with scraps, I don't think I have ever went out and bought anything for my cards, I always work with what I have. I painted the blue background on the edges (I don't know why I never start with colored paper). I trimmed up all the scraps from an old My Mind's Eye Christmas Pack, to make the background. I fussy cut the snowman and the trees from the paper stack, and I used the extras for Christmas Cards. The stamp was a set from Close to My Heart, that I absolutely had to have.

Next weekend I will debut my January Cards! 

How I store all my ATC's:  

My initial plan for storing my ATC's was to just get them all off my desk. I had an extra cork board laying around. We started with nine gals in our group and now are up to ten. The board quickly got full and I needed a new plan.

I came across an old playing card binder, but it was ugly. I grabbed some burlap at Hobby Lobby and voila....A new ATC book. I have lots of storage for all my cards. We trade on a monthly basis, so I'm planning on posting my new cards each month after the group receives them.

I am also planning on doing a little review of our cruise from March. I was on an online forum for cruisers and never took the time to share our experiences. Plus I have that scrapbook ready to share, I'm just finishing photographing it. Of course the sun went down a lot faster than I anticipated today.

2016 is going to be a great year and I can't wait to share a little of it!

 

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.