Today is Challenge 3 at Arty Divas.
This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme)
challenge with a design team who makes projects
showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!
This was a tricky one for me. I really like the images from our sponsor this week, but I don't do a lot of mixed media or art journaling or a lot of digi work. I have to say I have mixed feelings about the end result. It just didn't quite turn out the way I imagined.
I did have an idea, though when I saw the set of house images in both colour and b/w. While simple, I felt it could be quite striking if I could pull it off and I was partway there I guess.
The following Dr Seuss quote popped into my head and I thought I could make one of those houses stand out from the rest!
The "rest" in this case being the b/w ones! I had to remove the one in the centre to make room for the sentiment, which naturally would once again require the services of my grandmother's Olivetti (except for the words "stand out" which alpha stickers added a pop of colour to).
Some messy stitching in colourful variegated thread added to the slightly crazy whimsical nature of the little houses.
I picked one little house to be the one which stands out! I printed it in colour and adhered with dimensional foam so it quite literally "stood out" 🤣
I found a Vicki Boutin pattern paper which looked like watercolour to make a narrow mat to pull in the colours I used so far and used a kraft card base for a slightly more retro feel.
The sequins are the bit I like the least, buuut I needed to disguise a rogue "w" from a typewriter not aligned properly! Oops!
I hope you will join us over at Arty Divas and take part in this week's challenge.
Today is challenge day for Design Team B for the Through The Craft Room Door Challenge.
This is a WEEKLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme)
challenge with 2 design teams who alternate weeks to make projects
showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!
This week's sponsor isThe Paper Shelter. You can read a bit more about them below.
Prize: 3 images
"If you are looking for fun, cute and lovely digi stamps for your
paper-crafting or web design projects, The Paper Shelter is your
one-stop boutique!
This growing catalog of high-quality digi stamps
with many different kinds of options offers a multitude of themes such
as everyday items, holidays, special occasions, children, adorable
characters and creatures. Stamps are available in standard black and
white line art, as well as in pre-colored format."
The image we were given to work with was this yummy looking ice cream sundae!
I knew my light Copic markers were not juicy enough to be up to the challenge, although they would have been one one of my first choices considering how small I printed the images. I printed 4 or 5 to allow for mistakes and also to make more than one card at a time. It's not twice the amount of work to make two if you make them at the same time sort of "production line" style.
Water colour was the logical next choice and would give a lovely soft effect to the ice cream, but to get into those tiny areas? I busted out the Inktense again and they worked reasonably well until tried to colour the sprinkles since I didn't think my hands were steady enough to use wet glue and tiny beads. 😒
I did manage to carefully spread some Glossy Accents over the sundae glass to make it look more like...well glass! I should have stopped there, but no, I went straight for the Wink if Stella and succeeded in smearing the "sprinkles" even more! Oops! 🤷.
And I didn't even mind that the Glossy Accents cracked a bit after it dried. In larger areas, it's not uncommon for it to do that, but kinds looks a bit more realistic!
While the Glossy Accents was drying, I pulled out some of the many patterned papers which featured sweets or ice creams. These can be a challenge since there are only so many layouts featuring this rather specific motif that one can make!
There are, however, many great puns and sentiments for cards which would work and I found I even had some relevant stamps.
I knew using the coloured sundae on a patterned background (even if I did pick fairly soft ones) would mean I had to keep the rest simple and that's just not something I do particularly well. I wanted SOMEthing to jazz it up.
Rather than stamping the sentiments (which were not worded exactly how I wanted them anyway), I used some of the many many fonts I have and played around on the computer until the size and combination of fonts was more or less OK.
Since our printer is a laser printer, it's idea for the MINC. Foil on black looks really striking and just what the cards needed. It's pretty cool printing black on black before running it through the MINC!
The silver is actually holographic foil and looks very "cool" (see what I did there?) 🤣
Here are a couple more photos of my two cards. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you take part in the TTCRD challenge!
I'm awfully sorry I'm late with my Embellish With Flair project, but I have a good reason I promise!
I have been meaning to revive my poor YouTube channel...all year. 😳😳😳
It has been languishing with just a few videos for the longest time and I've spent the last 10 days or so making videos for various assignments and battling technology dragons. 🐉
I am aiming to make videos a regular part of my creative process spread over my various Design Team and personal projects. The quality of the set up and editing is not what I'd like, so it's a work in progress and only to get better.
So what did I make? Well, as usual there is a story behind it (isn't there always?) and it starts with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.
Aaaanyway, my kits are always huge and it frustrates me. If I like the kit I have no problem keeping it together and working from it even after the month is over. It will be the case with this one since I started late in the month (I wasn't even intending to play along) and this layout I'm bringing you today is just the first one.
If you'd like to see my kit and read my thoughts on that (along with ANOTHER video 😮) here is the relevant post.
Today's project has a lot less paper than I'd normally use, and a lot more "stuff". It often happens that my layouts take me along for the ride and they just do their own thing. While it definitely didn't turn out EXACTLY as I imagined, I'm actually really happy with it and pleased to use the flair in a different way. I mixed up the various collections since I was working with colour and at the same time, motifs were critically important.
It was all about rainbows inspired by those gorgeous Oobi dresses my nieces are wearing. The background paper from Shimelle's Glitter Girl line reminded me so much if them, and I wanted to scrapbook the Instax photo too. I'm trying to mix the sizes up a little bit.
All the pieces in that huge rainbow mean something to me as they relate to my lovely nieces and I think there are EIGHT flair badges? That's gotta be some kind of a record for one scrapbook page, no? 🤣.
Here are some close ups of the embellishment rainbow:
Can you spot the letters L and T and the numbers 2 and 4? I love those little cut aparts in Shimelle's collections to add little personal details like the girls' initials and ages at the time of the photo.
Can you see the globe hiding in there? Those girls are
some of the most well traveled global citizens I even met with frequent overseas
jaunts.
Also, as I can attest, sisters are very much friends for a lifetime. I mean you can say just about anything to them and still can't get rid of them! 🤣 I'm kidding, Both mine are so different, yet equally awesome. xx
That's right, there are not one, but TWO birds in the picture below. Ew. 🤢 If you don't already know, I have a phobia to the icky things. Those two just happen to be from Shimelle's Sparkle City collection. She says I'm the only person with permission to dislike her birds, but to be fair, she makes them look rather less menacing than the stuff of my nightmares.
So why are they there, I hear you ask? Good question! 🤣 My oldest niece teases me mercilessly about the subject, and there's no-one I'd rather take it from for sure! 😍
I was also happy to add some things that I often pull out and end up putting back like those fabric tabs by Basic Grey. I stitched them down at one end letting them still flap about. You know by know I love colour and texture and using all-the-things. Infact, this layout could just about be called all-
the-flair!
The journaling on the surface was about the dresses, but on a deeper level it went into how those dresses (and many other like them) are a reflection of how I feel about those girlies who are just pure sunshine and rainbows. Everyone who meets them is enamored with them. You can't come away
grumpy after seeing them!
You are a Beautiful Rainbow of Possibilities Scrapbook Layout
My first thought was huh? When did the scrapbooking bit of a monthly kit become an "add on"? Then I realised a lot of kit clubs are getting rid of the 12x12 monthly kits. Is it due to increased shipping costs worldwide? Is it the continuing popularity of pocket page scrapbooking and the relatively recent surge in travellers' notebooks? I don't know, but I'm a 12x12 girl always and forever so I basically ignored the main part of the kit and based mine around the scrapbook kit.
I'll be honest, this idea of everything being so happy and perfect and "best day eveeeerrr" in the craft world makes me a bit cranky and induces slight waves of nausea. It's just not realistic for anyone and when you ave a chronic illness, there are far fewer good days. So I'm going to name my kit:
Good Enough
Am I biter and twisted? I doubt it since I came up with far darker names than that, but I'm the queen of snark along with some fellow scrappy buds, so you wont often get happyhappyjoyjoy from me! 🤷
I even got my video set-up 😲😲😲. I.Know.Right?? 🤣
Here it is if you want to watch and I'd love for you to subscribe and that old chestnut. Thank you!!
Should you prefer stills, here goes:
The scrapbook kit consists of 9 patterned papers and 3 sheets of cardstock which I immediately subbed for more patterned paper.
My usual "rule" of a single sided paper pad sheet gets another single sided sheet to equal one double sided! But get this...you know how usually I pick one paper for the A side of the inspo kit and another for the B side and end up with twice as much paper (part of which I count as "add on pattern paper so totes legit in my mind)? Well this time I didn't! 😲😲😲
Here are both sides of my papers and one of each of the single sheets
All the paper
I did, however, lose the plot entirely when it came to embellishments. I can't help it. Kits have always been really light on embellies for my style and the thing is that a sticker sheet they choose goes with their whole kit because it's chosen specifically for that.
I'm trying to pull together a kit with a similar vibe and different paper, so any given sticker sheet might have as few as one or two stickers that I want and the rest are just there for the ride, so when you see my sticker books, don't judge!! (And everything that isn't 12x12 (or inside a cup) fits nicely in the plastic basket which makes it look a lot more compact than all these photos would suggest! 🙈)
Sticker books
12x12 sticker sheets
More stickers
Thickers
The kit is definitely not intended to be killed and the last two that I have made are mostly intact, although I confess to have cannibalized bits I needed for other things along the way.
There were an awful lot of puffy stickers in the inspo kit so I had to mix in a whole bunch of other things since it wasn't enough variety for me. I also seemed to go on a cloud tangent!
All the clouds
Large embellishments that I struggle to use seemed to be a recurring theme in this kit. It looks as though I'll be challenging myself..a lot! I could live to regret this!
All the big (and random) things
Also on Struggle Street are those largeish words - kinda smallish for titles and too big for anything else!
All the big words (and some little ones!)
And die cuts and random finds.
I have small alphas within reach so didn't specifically pull any out and small wood veneer, cabochons, random clips and brads and buttons are also in the pull-as-you-go category.
I did include some sprinkly bits, though
The Sprinkly bits
...And I highly recommend you stay away from a file of stickers while you wait for your camera crew to troubleshoot a problematic tripod.
Consequences...
Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you seen either here or YouTube or any of my other socials!
Guess what? I'm very excited to be taking part in my first Design Team Assignment at Arty Divas! Don't you just love the graphic?? 😍
Today is Challenge 2 at Arty Divas.
This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme)
challenge with a design team who makes projects
showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!
This week's sponsor is LeAnn's World
Prize:
The Design team is working with an image called Sweet Suzie. I'm not sure WHY, but the first thing that came into my my mind was that she looked a bit like Alice in Wonderland...with short hair...and no apron...or Alice band! 😂🙈
Even so, I used Copic Markers to colour her her like Alice. I really REALLY need to get some refills for my lightest colours! Her hair isn't as blonde as I was going for, but the Alice blue dress and paper from Echo Park's Alice in Wonderland's line definitely gets the idea across.
Doilies are a given and I fussy cut a tiny tea cup from the same patterned paper I used on the background. A fussy cut image of the White Rabbit is meant to look like a painting on the wall behind Alice (although I would have preferred a Cheshire Cat).
Lastly, I pulled out my vintage typewriter for a custom sentiment and quote from book. It really needs a new ribbon, but considering how long that one has been in the typewriter, it's rather amazing that it even works at all!
We're All Mad Here Card
That's all for now and please check our Arty Divas and enter a project or two in the challenge!
Today is challenge day for Design Team B for the Through The Craft Room Door Challenge.
This is a WEEKLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme)
challenge with 2 design teams who alternate weeks to make projects
showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!
This week's sponsor isTTCRD with a Beach Theme.
Prize: $5 Amazon gift card
So...what's the fist thing that springs ti mind when you think beach? Naturally my rather warped imagination jumps straight to two stamps sets ("Shark Bites" from Newton's Nook and "Killer Messages" by Hero Arts) and a set of dies ("Paper Layering Shark" from Hero Arts)...of sharks.
I did promise nothing gruesome so it wasn't as fun as it could be, but I made the best of it. This was one of those times when what's in my head didn't translate to paper. Again.
I wanted a beach scene with a fin, but when you open a partial flap, it shows what's REALLY under the water. I didn't really have much in the way of beachy stuff, so I kept it simple with watercolouring using Distress Inks. I figured I had to have some stickers with beachy stuff SOMEwhere and Amy Tangerine came through with some palm trees from the "American Crafts Designer Sticker Books',
After stamping, painting and cutting out the sharks, I looked at the silhouettes of the swimmers from the set of dies. I thought about placing them in the same spot on the front and the inside of the card then use that great sentiment which makes me laugh every time.
Not being one who knows when to stop, I stamped waves on the front of the card and then some schools of fish (one of which is slightly messed up! 😳)
While I like the idea, I definitely don't quite love how it actually turned out. I would have liked stiffer watercolour paper, but it needs to be hot pressed so I can stamp on it.
Friends til the Inevitable End
Front of card
Friends til the Inevitable End
Inside of Card
That's all for now and please head on over to TTCRD and enter a project in the challenge, It doesn't have to be beach themed.
