Taking Classes and a Tutorial

Hi everyone,

I'm never really good at publicly declaring any major goals at the beginning of a new year. Maybe I'm a little worried that once I say it to the world I'll "have" to make good on them.....ha! So maybe I'll start with some doable, more attainable goals and build up from there.

Well this year I want to make sure I carve out some more time for me to create. I want to make more pages, I want to take more classes, try new techniques, get my hands covered with medium, know what I mean?

To that end I signed up for an online line class called Pop & Colours 2 put on by Shirel Studio.

Here's my first page. The uber talented Georgia Heald put up the first video and I had so much fun trying out her version. When it comes to layering with the photos, I'm a big chicken...bock, bock. Give me mediums to layer, no prob but then comes the time to put the photo down and layer.....and the poultry comes out ;) So for this lesson I just said "aw heck" and kept on adding stuff until I got this. Big smile. I'm very happy.

I used papers from 7 Dots Studio: Messy Head and Love is the Air....

And speaking of learning new things, I have a tutorial up at Scrap Friends on using chalk pastels. Remember this page?

I give a step by step on how to make that background! So head over there and check it out!

Textured Layers for Let's Get Trendy Now! 3

Hi everyone!

I'm up at the Let's Get Trendy Now! 3 workshop! Come and see all the different projects and be inspired to create! The focus for today is Textured Layers and I love me some texture and some layers!

I thought I'd do a quick run down of how I usually approach my layouts. I typically start by layering different mediums to create the background. There are so many out there: gesso, textured pastes, paints, mists and crayons just to name a few.

And just think of all the different ways to apply those mediums: brushes, stamps, stencils, punchinella, heck.... fingers! Again, just to name a few.

After I'm satisfied with the background, I layer with my papers and embellishments.

For my final step, I'll doodle here and there to emphasize certain features or to create interest. I also flick on extra bits of paint or mists at this point. And that's it, my formula for a textured, layered page!

Now for the supplies....

AC Cardstock (not shown), Strathmore watercolor paper (not shown), Stazon ink, Golden gesso, Lumiere's paints, Dr Martin Bombay india ink, Faber Castell Gelatos, Big Brush Pen, and Pitt pen, Zig Writer and Photo Signature pen, Heidi Swapp Color Shine, TA Glimmer Mist, Shimmerz Colorings, TA Glimmer Glam, Studio g glitter, Angora water color paints, washi tape,  7 Gypsies stamp, Studio g stamps, UmWowStudio Chipboard (arrow), Heidi Swapp chipboard, Colorbok hearts, Glitz alphas, Heidi Swapp alphas, Prima alphas
***also not shown are the bits of punchinella used to apply gesso***

For even more textured layered ideas go and visit Let's Get Trendy Now! 3 !

Flowers and Lace

Hi Everyone,

I'll be honest...me and flowers and lace don't usually hang out in the same circles. Don't get me wrong, I like flowers and lace, I admire them on many layouts when I see people do amazing things with them but they are not my usual go to products. I feel like I don't quite know what to do with them!

So what did I do to partake in CSI's Case No. 63 which called for things more soft and feminine? I looked to the experts of course :) In this case I admired, studied (ooo'd and ahhh'd) Czekoczyna's blog. Her work is phenomenal, crazy beautiful! She pulls off a perfect mix of feminine and grunge, often with plenty of flowers and lace and I very much admire her style!

I don't know if I did her any justice but I tried and I'm really happy with the results:

There was lot's of stamping, painting, misting and building of layers. And for my Evidence I used flowers, pearls, tape measure (though it's quite buried), numbers, lace, and a tag. For my Testimony I journaled on a tag tucked under the photo. 

I enjoyed building the layers, not just the media layers but also the paper and embellishment layers...

There we go...flowers! I've amassed quite a bit over the years and I'm actually feeling encouraged to use them!

The white rosette came as part of a lovely RAK I received from my friend Helene Bogren....thank you!

And as I said I would try to do, here are my supplies....

Papers: Prima Songbird, Flowers: Prima, Recollections, Stamps: SA, Recollections, 7 Gypsies, Lace: May Arts, Prima, Washi: FF, GA, Recollections, Chipboard: Studio 18, Thread: Daiso

I tried to show all the labels so it's self explanatory (of course feel free to ask if you're not sure!). Well maybe...Pen: Zig, Chalk Ink: VersaMagic

That's all for now! Thanks so much for dropping by!