Finishing Touches

How do you make use of the beautiful paper getting
"lost" between pages in your albums? I'm talking about the backsides of those gorgeous, eye catching designer papers we love to use.
In this example, I covered the brad tines that poked through from my previous post's layout with a few of my many washi tapes in different patterns and widths. This is something I often do; since I have a lot of tape, and I tend to pull pages in and out of the protecting sleeves more times than I maybe ought to. The tape is great for covering seams, too, since I usually cut the majority of background papers out as well. I'm such a paper hoarder!
After I laid my strips of tape down, my eye happened to fall on the stack of dollar bin embellishments I've been whittling down. I realized, I can use these Right Now! and with a few peels off their protective backings, a new page layout was in its early stages of development.
One of the main "problems" with using the backside of an already made layout is that, without proper planning i.e. almost every page I make, you are left with a page that NEEDS to have a consequential set of pictures on it in your album. If you are scrapping a series of photos, this usually will work out pretty well, you just put the next set of pictures down and boom, you're on to the next page! On the other hand, if you scrap -and print photos- out of order like I do, then often times that plank page will sit, basically forgotten, until the next time your album is looked through. With this in mind, I added a simple title that I figured could end up to be applicable to any photos of my girls that might end up being put in place at a future date.

Am I worried that the page will never be completed? NO! because, a)I used the embellishments I wanted to in a design that I'm happy with, and now I can buy more, b) I can always use the page for jounalling if I never find or print photos that "go" here, and c)whocares! Another page is completed and it looks like I had fun making it. Which I did!

Slidings more fun with Friends

Even though I have tons of both brads and buttons in my stash, I never think to use them because of my astonishing assortment of bling! I was determined to use many often overlooked products on this page, including paperclips, and whimsical animal stickers. Washi-tape, border stickers, and some pen outlining pulled the focus into the pictures of my girls playing with one of my great teacher friends, Miss Evans.
Isn't summer break from school just about the most looked-forward-to event of childhood? I can remember well all the grand road trips across country, visiting relatives and seeing our beautiful nation's landscapes from the van or motorhome window. My folks always stopped at several empty schoolyard playgrounds to let us kids stretch our legs. Now that I'm older, I realize it was probably to ensure a little nap time, too!

Anyway, Miss Evans always makes my girls -and me- feel so special and this day was no different.

She oohed and ahhed over Sunday, filled me in on the  latest school's-out happenings, and then went up and down the slides with Rainier for over an hour at her apartment's playground while I ate lunch. Sadly, we were only able to do this one time this summer. Now she's back to school, and we are scrapping all those gorgeous sunny days!

Catch up time!

Whew! I feel like I've been riding a roller coaster of creativity the last few days and I'm excited to tell you about what's been keeping me all charged up!

I noticed a few weeks ago that the new Gig Harbor Michaels did not have any papercrafting classes on their August or September calendar...what?! How is that possible, with Toadilly Scrappin closed and the closest class venues located in Tacoma and Port Orchard? I inquired at the register, and discovered there was no teacher. I immediately set bout to fulfill my dream of getting paid to teach and started the application process. I'm proud to say that I am now a certified PaperEd teacher at Michaels! You can see here the Merry Card Tricks class samples I made for my first day at work last Saturday.  My first class will be taught on October 6th from 4-6:00 pm. We'll be making a scrapbook page using Michael's PaperEd design principles- its Scrapbooking 101! Should be a lot of fun! You can sign up here.

Best part of getting the job, besides the 25% employee discount, was popping back into the store Saturday night, heading straight into the classroom, and using the supplies I found in the cupboard to create a card in under 15 minutes. Of course I followed that creative spurt with a little retail cool-down hehe.

 

What with all the online training, interviewing and sample making that was going on, I wasn't getting any ME time in, but yesterday I was able to create two more samples for classes, a layout to add to my album, as well as put together a card that my friend Joanne had die cut for me using the Cricut Craft Room program and our exclusive Close To My Heart Artbooking cartridge... I love the way everything turned out.

Now its Monday again and I have a whole new week of creativity ahead of me... thanks for joining me and let me know if you have any questions!

Stuck in a Rut?

No, I'm not!

But perhaps you are? There's a great video over at Two Peas today that will help you pull a layout together pronto. All you need is the pause button !
Rainier and I misted and inked the randomly chosen background together. I'm working on building my cursive writing confidence... click on the link and you can see my challenge response layout!

Now Trending: Chalkboard Effects

It seems like everywhere I'm looking for creative inspiration I'm seeing lots and lots of chalkboard type elements. This morning I watched the Trendy Trios video on TwoPeas and was able to craft up this card with quickness.

My friends Angela had shown me a really easy way to achieve the look of chalkboard: simply stamp with white ink! Doi, right? Then I embossed with Close To My Heart's Clear Detail embossing powder. If I had white embossing powder I would've used that for more impact. After I stamped the images, I ran my finger over the stamp pad and softly spread a bit over the black card stock to simulate the eraser look we see in the classrooms.

Interestingly enough, my watercolor pencils look a lot like the spotty texture of chalk when colored on black as well. So filling in the flowers to match my card stock base kind of gave my card front the finishing touch I was looking for. Instead of using white card stock to mat, I chose a scratch piece of vellum, it was a much softer contrast. Black and white polka dot washi tape, a couple bling and it was on to the inside.

More scratch paper laid down over the tape to mask off the stamped flowers at the top, then, being a "waste not..." artist I used that piece on the bottom. Then I stamped the butterfly on another part of that scrap to tie it together

Nothing says chalkboard color like pastel, right?
 

I hope this first week back at school has gone well for you and frees up some more craft time for you! But I case it doesn't, if you leave me a comment by the end of the week I will enter your name in a drawing to win this featured card, as I'm celebrating my 100th blog post. Good luck!

Results of my Crafting by Candlelight experiment

Okay, I'll be honest, when crafting is as important as it is to me, and you live in the forested boonies like I do, crafting by candlelight becomes not a rare, craft eliminator, but a joyous reason to break out the lighter and see what happens!

I'm so pleased with how this layout turned out. In the semi-darkness it was hard to tell if my mat color was a good match but I trusted my gut and it lends just the subtle color break I was looking for.

The bold polka dot strip by Storytellers Club  in the background conveys some of the excited energy Rainier and I shared as we set out on our first camping trip in two years. The last time we went camping with my dad, Ed, was when she was thesame age as Sunday is now... my how time flies! What a difference a couple of years makes. This year she was able to help me put the tent up, make our bed.  There were times I was so grateful she's the kind of child who can occupy herself reading, fixing the blankets or just snacking at the picnic table with Nana and Pop::pop (and Nanas little dog, too!) while I was nursing Sunday or whatever.

Focusing my creativity into this page helped me literally work through my dissapointment at not having been chosen to design for SEI this year. Out of the hundreds of applicants only six were chosen. I'm really going to be looking forward to watching for next years design call!

The latest edition of DieCutCrazy magazine for iPad and iPhone is available now so hurry on into the app store and grab a copy to inspire you as the fall settles in around us.

Happy Crafting!

Something Entirely Intimidating

I'm so excited but also nervous about having just submitted my photos for the SEI design team call. This was the second time I've gone through my layouts to look for representations of my work, but this is the first time I was doing so with my favorite paper crafting company in mind!
These snapshots of Rainier deep in concentration ended up in my submission for Scrapbooking Club Kit Contributer. I'm not sure if I could have applied for more than one Contributer spot, I would have liked to have submitted photos for Cardmaking. Using products all manufactured by the same company makes it so easy to create elegant cards. Of course, the Papercrafting spot would suit me the best since I don't limit my work to just scrapbooking or cardmaking, but also home décor and mini-albums too.

Seriously, I love all things SEI and would love to be offered the opportunity to work with their new products and, maybe, in the future, the possibility of teaching for them could come about?!
Wow, that would be ah-may-zing to say the least. And then I wouldn't have to try to break into their trailer with my crop-a-dile like I've been known to do :-) Hey, when they park it in the lot of the hotel I'm staying at while the Creating Keepsakes Convention is going on, they're just asking for it- if you ask me!
 Wish me luck, and Here's to a Labor free, Super-Charged Crafty Monday!