DLP unPlanner 2016 - March Week 3

March 19 - Week 3
Art Challenge: Use arrow(s) as focal point
List Ten: Ten Dream Destinations

This is my spread for the third week. I used a white printout and scraped with turquoise and yellow Dylusions paints. The banners for the dates are punched from an ad I received in the mail. I used collage paper for the spine with hand-painted reinforcers. In addition, there are rub ons, stickers, stamps and washi tape.

To save space (my binder is about full!) I added the List Ten on the back of the Dare 2B list from the week before. I printed it on white and used Distress Inks on a background stamp, misting it with water before stamping to achieve a watercolor effect. The bullet points are the centers of hand-painted reinforcer stickers.

For the PAC I used a journal card from Jamie Doughtery's Creating with Faith since it seemed appropriate for Easter week coming up.  I didn't do much to the card - outlined the cross, added Illustrated Faith black word stickers, stamped the arrow and splattered with diluted white paint.

"Happy, Happy Day" Layout Tutorial

"Happy, Happy Day"

I recently created this single-page layout documenting the day my newest grandson, Grant, came home from the hospital and his older brother, Drew, finally got to meet him and hold him for the first time.  I used the new "Craft Market" paper collection from Crate Paper and I have a full tutorial on my process on The Little Blue House Blog today!  Click on over to see how I created the fun watercolor background using the new Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink.

This beautiful paper line is now available at The Little Blue House and also online here. Check it out - you will love it!

Ink Swatches/Organization

I've recently changed my system for keeping track of my inks. Jennifer McGuire is a genius at organization and she posted this system on her blog here. It uses plastic coin holder sheets and 2"x2" swatch squares. Jennifer has even generously created and shared downloads for many ink companies so you don't have to start from scratch and make your own!

I've completed the swatches for all my Distress inks (I have them all). I like her suggestion for making three samples on the swatches for these inks, because most of us don't stamp often with them and it's great to have a sample of an inked edge as well as a sample of using the ink with a water brush for watercoloring.

This was my previous system for my ink swatches. You can see it was getting unwieldy (yes, I have lots of inks!) As Jennifer said, it's nice to have the colors side by side on the same page for comparison. You can add these pages to a three-ring binder or just clip them loose on a ring as I have done.

So far I love this system and am working (slowly) on getting all my other inks updated. As I do this, I think I will also purge some of the older and drier pads.

Do check out Jennifer's post. She has links for the coin holders, the small solid stamp she used for the swatches and the downloads. And, while you're there, check out all her other organizational ideas!