Paint chip tag

I host a monthly "Inspiration Mingle" on an online group. August's inspiration piece is this turquoise purse with pink tie (sorry, the color of the scan is off). I drew inspiration from the colors and used a large paint sample from a home improvement store as the base of my tag. This happened to be a turquoise sample which I used for the back and then adhered turquoise paper with pink polka dots to the other side. (Again, I guess the scanner doesn't like turquoise as this looks green! IRL, it is turquoise and pink!) The little girl is an image from the Internet and I used text paper for her dress, cut triangle and heart shapes from various pink patterned papers and doodled on the left side with a white gel pen. I love the pom pom fiber (which did happen to scan the right color)!

Fall card

I've been creating fall cards for some classes I'll be teaching this fall. This card was made with some of the leftover paper scraps. It's not quite the traditional fall card, but I like it. It's very simple - a few papers, ribbon and a rubon on a dark burgundy/brown square card.

Scissors Review

Scissors - we all have many pairs - who needs another? That's what I thought when the Tim Holtz scissors by Tonic came out and there was so much hoopla about them.

Well, I've tried them and had to buy them. I love these scissors!! The handles have wide openings for your fingers and are comfortable. The blades are teflon-coated - usually nothing sticks at all. I did get some residue on them when cutting foam mounting tape but it just peeled right off between my fingers. And, my favorite part, is the blades are very finely serrated which makes them grip paper extremely well while cutting. They are much larger than my detail scissors, but work even better for cutting intricate details. And, it's possible to get a very straight cut with these!

So, if you have a chance, try these out. They are the best.

Time flies!

I can hardly believe it's been ten days since my last post. It's been a busy week full of birthdays (mine, my husband's and a daughter's) plus getting my youngest ready to go to Chicago for her sophomore year of college. This was a fairly recent development with details still being worked out today, but she flies out tomorrow morning very early. (Boo hoo) In fact, I'm supposed to be helping pack...

Thought I'd post a few random projects. Several people on one of my online groups were talking about doing more RAKs and someone said she was going to put all the names in a jar and just pick out a few each week. Another gal came up with the name of "Art of Random Thoughtfulness" (ART) which I really liked, so I decorated a small glass jar with ribbon and a label using this. I printed out the names of all our members plus their addresses. I can now pull out a name and send off a RAK without having to look for the address. Once I send one, I will throw out that paper so there will be no duplicates and I will be able to send something to everyone. This system is working well so far. Sorry for the poor photo - it's hard to see the jar on the black background- but here's my ART jar:

My local art group met last week and we made little books using one piece of 12 x 12 cardstock, two squares of lightweight cardboard for covers and a yard of ribbon. The trick is all in the folding and cutting of the cardstock. We used Xmas paper for the cover and gold-embossed Stampington's "The Twelve Days of Christmas" stamp set on the pages. These little cuties are only 3 1/4" square.

ZNE Design Team August assignment

For August, the Design Team had to design two tag templates - with either stars or butterflies as the theme. These will be used to create collage sheets to be sold by ZNE. We were then required to design two projects using the templates. Here are my tag templates and the artwork I made with them - one is stars; one is butterflies.

More art from last week

This is a two-page layout for a "Scrap-a-doodle" class I'm teaching. It's a doodling class. The photo came out pretty bright - in real life these pages are much more subdued. It's also hard to see the iridescent Stickles I used on some of the flowers. I used mostly freehand doodling along with some doodles from the Whimsical Doodle Genie.

This is a wedding card I made for a dear friend's son who was married on Saturday. Turquoise was the bride's color - I used a patterned iridescent cardstock from The Paper Cut (Chic Variety Pack) for the card. I rubbed Adirondack "Stream" ink on the same cardstock for the center strip. This cardstock colors beautifully. LOVE is white embossed on vellum and the lace is a wide piece left over from a previous sewing project.

I joined a Western-themed ATC mingle and made this ATC for my partner. The three cowgirls and sentiment are part of an unmounted stamp from The Queen's Dresser Drawers. I used Cosmo Cricket paper for the background - love that paper!

Class samples

It's going to be a busy weekend with no time for art, but I've been wanting to post these samples for classes I'm teaching at Recollections. This first picture is for a basic card class - no stamping (though I did add the "fun" with foam stamps), just papers and embellishments.

This one is the left page of a two-page layout for an advanced scrapbook class. Unfortunately, I did not get the pictures taken until after the class. When I went in to take photos, the other half of the layout had disappeared!! Apparently someone just walked off with it. (People cease to amaze me...) The other side was pretty neat. I had used the "waterfall" mechanism (you can see a sample of this on one of the more recent webisodes on Craft TV Weekly) to highlight several smaller pictures and journaling. I love these old sepia photos of my husband's grandmother in the 1930's on the beach.

This is a "Hooked on Stamps" class teaching different techniques. These cards use (1) the split-negative technique; (2) cracked glass technique; (3) adding Perfect Pearls powdered pigments to stamped image; and (4) alcohol inks on acetate.

Fancy Pants Clear Acrylic Stamps

I have finally gotten my hands on these neat stamps. I just love the company's name - Fancy Pants. How cute is that! These are clear acrylic stamps and the set is 12" square (yes, you read that right) and includes 33 stamps. I couldn't fit the entire set on my scanner, so I scanned the image on the front of the package to give an idea of how beautiful these are. This set is called "Bella Brush" and there's at least one other set this huge that I know of. I love the flourishes and shabby chic look of this set. I haven't actually used it yet, but can't wait to try it out. (I need to save my pennies for the acrylic block for these - it's a whopping 6" square to accomodate the larger stamps!) They sell smaller sets as well as some beautiful rub-ons and great chipboard sets. You can see more at http://www.fancypantsdesigns.com/.

"Family Memories" Concertina Book

I work part-time at the Recollections scrapbook store and associates were given the option to take a packet of the new fall line papers and product and design a project. These will be reviewed by the corporate office and some will be chosen for an upcoming online gallery.

I received the packet just a few days before the deadline of July 31 and this is what I came up with - a double-sided concertina book using the fall papers, rubons and diecut trading cards and journaling cards. The book was a Pine Cone Press "naked" kit. I made this so the book can open from either side. I used the back side of the trading cards so that tiny individual family photos could be placed in the center openings. The lined journaling cards are for adding memories and notes. This was fun and the new papers are gorgeous - not the typical fall papers ! They are double-sided too which gives you double the possibilities! They will be debuting at our Open House this weekend.