Hidden treasures

Hi all:

I love looking through all of the January CHA releases.  Since winter CHA happens right after Christmas, all of the pretty new things to look at and dream about using are a  great way to escape the winter uglies that happen in February and March. 

This year, there were two new products that really drew my eye.  One was Tim Holtz's Distress Markers because - hello - I'm a Tim Girl.  The other was Heidi Swapp's Memory Files.  What a great way to collect all of the bits and pieces of an event into one compact, easy to store album.  Heidi's Sugar Chic collection is full of bright splashes of aqua, pink, and yellow, set off by stabs of black here and there.  Pure awesomeness!  The cutest embellishments ever are also available.

I couldn't resist combining Heidi's ideas with Tim's flair for the vintage and steampunk.  Here is what I came up with:

The adorable little truck is one of Tim's stamps from The Journey by Stampers Anonymous.  The label on the file folder tab was cut with Spellbinders' Grommet Tags die. 

Here is the entire cover.  The gold scrolls were created with Martha Stewart's Craft Clay and the Frames and Flourishes silicone mold.  The flourishes were then painted using Martha Stewart's gold metallic paint.  The paper is Antiquities by Donna Salazar for gcd studios.  This was a plain old manila folder when I started.  It's colored with some of Tim Holtz's Distress Inks - Weathered Wood, Vintage Photo, and Gathered Twigs.

Here are some inside shots:



Same Spellbinders' die, same paper, same distress inks.  The pink tinsel glitter is Martha Stewart's. The silver glitter is Stickles by Ranger.  The ruffled newsprint is Tim Holtz tissue tape, simply gathered into ruffles as it was adhered.  The copper and white twine by Bead Landing, the letters, and the Recollections flowers are all from Michaels.   The letters were white.  I colored them with a gray Copic marker.  :)  The button is an old one - from Bo Bunny, I think.

Here is a complete look at the inside:



This nifty little album lies almost flat when closed, taking up very little space, yet it will hold up to 24 pictures and journaling notes!  Isn't that amazing?!  I love that concept!  That little booklet that say, "Magic" on the bottom right flips open to display 12 pages.  The "Captured" note flips up to display one or two pictures or notes and you can also put something on the front of that if you like.  The button closure hides places for two pictures and a note or three pictures.  It has a magnetic closure.  And the gadget tied with jute on the left side will also hold 3-4 pictures.  And that doesn't even count the front where you can add a title or a picture or both.

I just love this little file.  Hope you enjoyed looking at it!

Kath



A Banner Day...

Hello everyone!

May is National Scrapbook Month, and, more specifically, May 5th is National Scrapbook Day.  There is much going on at the store in preparation for this awesome event.

Today, I stayed after work for a few hours.  I'm working on making some attention grabbing items to put around the store to promote NSM.  Last Saturday at crop, I began making a banner.  I found a Recollections paper pad that I really like.  It's a light weight paper - not anywhere near card stock weight - but for what I'm doing, it works well.  I like the colors and I'm hoping we can hang it over the scrapbook aisle.

I've talked about Martha Stewart's Scoring Board before.  I love using this tool.  Martha's products are well made and they often include built in storage for all of the little pieces you need to use with the tool.  This one is no exception.  The scoring tool itself stores inside a little compartment at the top of the scoring board and the triangular piece that's used to make envelopes slides into a convenient slot on the back of the tool.  Excellent!

Primarily, I use this scoring tool to make rosettes of varying sizes and colors.  To make these rosettes, I started with a 12" x 12" paper.  I cut three strips measuring 12" x 3 1/2".  I scored each strip at every 1/2" mark and folded the strips in an accordion style.

In the foreground, two folded strips.  In the background, the last of the three strips, waiting to be folded.

When making rosettes, glue the folded strips end to end.  When all of the strips are glued into one strip, glue the ends of the one strip together to form a perfectly pleated circle.  Set it aside.

Cut out two circles for the center of your rosette.  In this case, the circle I used was 4 inches across.  I wanted a larger circle because I planned to put a letter in the center of each rosette.  The size of the circle is a matter of preference.  It just needs to be big enough to cover the center of the rosette.

The next part is a bit tricky.  Set the pleated circle on end.  Gather the top part of the circle together in one hand and gently pull out the bottom part of the circle with the other hand.  With practice, you'll get a feel for it.  The circle should  kind of splat out.  Glue one cut out circle to the center on the front and one to the center on the back.  Keeping the rosette in formation while gluing on the center circles comes with practice, as well.  I like to use hot glue because it sets and holds almost immediately.

The banner that I'm working on is in shades of green, blue and pink.  Below are some pictures of the completed rosettes on their pennants.

I did get the letters cut out and glued on to each rosette today.  I also glued on the loops for hanging the banner.  But, alas, I forgot to take pictures when they were done.  I will post them as soon as I can.  I will also post pictures of the banner when it's hung.  Stay tuned....

Kath

Emily's Book

Hi all:

So, after I got all three of my cards done for the Stamping Royalty challenge, I started to focus on other projects that were lined up.

Last year, I experimented with making some small graduation albums for my nieces and nephew.  They measured about 5" x 5", making them small enough to be pretty portable if they wanted to take them to school. I'm not sure if they ever used them (they are teenagers, after all), but the adults seemed to appreciate all of the effort that I put into the albums.  :)

This year, my mom asked if I'd do one for my cousin's daughter, Emily.  I promised her I'd get started with it as soon as the cards were done for the challenge.  Tonight, I finished it.  It was kind of fun to do this album for Emily, as she is graduating from my alma mater.

 That's our little mascot - the Lakota Raider.  :)  I got him off the Raiders' facebook page.  I printed him, cut him out, and then highlighted him with glossy accents.  The words were printed off and cut to fit the matted piece.

The corners of the striped paper were punched with a Martha Stewart punch, then blue cardstock was placed behind the punched corners to bring out the detail.

I like how this page turned out.  The matted areas can be used for pictures, memorabilia, or journaling.  These are different colors of cardstock, one matted on top of the other.  A couple of them were highlighted with patterns using a white gel pen.

I drew the volleyball and then filled it in with glossy accents.  The words were printed out in blue ink and then matted on matching cardstock.

The paper lace was cut out with a Fiskar's punch called "lace".  The tag was cut with a spellbinders die.  The pearls were colored with a copic marker and the words are handwritten.  The page on the left is actually a pocket page.  I like to include pockets to catch things the folks might not want to glue into a book.

Just cardstock and blue glitter letters.  I included all of the textspeak to make it more teen friendly.  :)

Emily was in the school play this spring.  The rose under glass is hand-drawn.

 The paper with the lace edges is punched with a Martha Stewart "Punch Around the Page" set.  The word is printed off and then adhered to the page.

I hope Emily enjoys filling this with all kinds of memories from her senior year.

Take care ~
Kathy

Summery sample

Hey there, everyone!

Sorry it's been a few days.  Sometimes life gets in the way...  :)

Michaels is having their annual Open House on Saturday, March 3 from 1:00 - 3:00.  This event showcases the talents of the instructors at Michaels, giving them an opportunity to display their samples of the Michaels curriculum.  Since our store is so new, none of us have samples from past years to draw on, so it's a bit frenzied as we all work to create some spectacular samples for our customers' viewing pleasure.

Not only are we working to make samples, we are also working to make story boards - kind of a portable bulletin board display listing our class offerings.  Some of our samples will be posted on the story boards; some will be displayed on tables.

I am the scrapbook instructor, of course, but the beading, knitting/crocheting, fine arts, and cake making instructors will be there as well.  I'm really excited about spending a couple of hours with my fellow instructors and sharing our crafting enthusiasm with prospective students.

Yesterday, I set out to knock out a few more samples.  I'm very particular about my finished samples, so I put a little extra time into them.  For that reason, I didn't get as many samples done as I would've liked, but I'm pleased with what I finished.

Die Cuts With a View (DCWV) has a stack of papers called Four Seasons.  I picked that up last week because the summer pages really caught my eye and I wanted to play with them.  I picked up two sets, in fact.  One for store use and....one for ME!  :)

I love the country, cheerful, sunniness of these two pages.


So, this is how my day started out:

You'll see a lot of my basic tools in that picture - Tim Holtz's ruler, my Cutterbee detail scissors (LOVE those!), my Fiskars corner rounder punch and one of Martha Stewarts' Punch Around the Page sets.  The other bits and pieces are the logos to put on my story boards.

One other picture of note:

When I'm in "the zone", intense on my work, I tend to set up a semi-circle.  Oh - there's my Recollections paper trimmer.  :)

After four hours of creative fun....

Voila!  I really liked how this turned out - it's so me!  Unfortunately, I don't usually scrap in the 12 x 12 format, so I wouldn't do one of these for personal use.  I might, however, replicate it on a smaller scale for one of my books.....  Stay tuned....  :)

Kathy

Altered Art Canvases

Hi all:

Last night, I finished up one of the altered art canvases.  I really, really like how it turned out.

The canvas was purchased at Michaels.  It measures 4" x 4" and right now you can get a package of 9 of them for $19.99.  I used my 40% off coupon and got mine for $12.00!  I used Tim Holtz's Terminology Tissue Wrap Paper.  I cut out the "memory" part and modpodged it onto the canvas.  While it was drying, I printed off a picture in sepia tones, a tiny December calendar, and the words "No day is over if it makes a memory".  I cut apart the words and modpodged everything to the canvas.

To make the ribbon, I colored 1/2" wide white satin ribbon with a Copic marker (YR00 - Powder Pink).  Then, I wet a small paint brush , dried it a bit, and swiped it across the Gathered Twigs Distress Ink Pad.  I used that to "paint" the ribbon in spots - kind of aging it as I went.  I added more color here, more water there until I achieved the effect I wanted.  I scrunched up the ribbon, held it closed with a binder clip and heated it with my embossing tool.  (CAREFUL:  You have to use the embossing tool sparingly and keep it moving or you'll burn the ribbon!  Also, the binder clip gets HOT!)  Let it cool, take the binder clip off and check to see if the ribbon is dry and it's crinkled enough for your taste.  If not, scrunch the ribbon again and re-heat.

To make the flower, I used ivory paper with a cross hatch texture to it.  I tore out a circle about 3 1/2" in diameter.  Then, I tore the circle into a spiral and finally, rolled the spiral into a flower.  I tinted the flower the same way I tinted the ribbon, using the Gathered Twigs Distress Ink pad, a paintbrush, and some water.  When it was dry, I touched it up here and there with another Copic marker (RV11 - Pink).  I pretty much kept the pink color wherever I had painted with the Gathered Twigs.  I then dragged the Gathered Twigs Distress Ink Pad over the edges of the "petals" to darken them a little more.  Finally, I tipped the edges with Stickles in Frosted Lace.

I hot glued the flower and the ribbon, deliberately placing the ribbon where I liked it.  The embellishment of pearls is from the Recollections collection at Michaels.  I've had the key - can't remember where I got it.  It's hot glued into place, as well.  I also can't remember where I got the clock stamps.  I stamped the clocks in Gathered Twigs and Archival Black Ink from Ranger.  The "live" sticker is from the Typewriter Assorted Dots sheet from Studio 112.  The "legacy" stamp is from Michaels $1 collection.  I stamped it with Copic Marker E57 in Light Walnut.  This method will give you a rather rough outline of the stamp itself, which I kind of like.  It sort of looks distressed already, but sometimes it's hard to read, so I went back over it by hand with the same marker and brought the letters out a little bit more.

The quality of the pictures is a little lacking as my SD card for my camera broke and until I can get another one, I'm using my phone's camera.  I wanted to get this posted for you guys, though, so I hope you'll bear with the picture quality.  Enjoy!

Kathy

Hi all:

I am sooooo ready to create something new, but circumstances of life have occupied my time of late.  Keeping my fingers crossed that sometime in the next few days, I can make a mixed media canvas or two or some shabby chic picture frames - those are next up.  Then I want to try those amazing memory files and the magnetic closures - so much in my brain!!  :)

I finished my paper bag mini album last week, but neglected to post the pictures here.  (I think I did put them on my Kat's Scraps fb page.  Click here to see my fb page.

Anyway, here is the finished product.  I'm quite proud of it.  Do you see the influences of Tim Holtz?  (That's a rhetorical question...)  :)

The little ticket can be filled in with someone's name, a date, or an event - whatever the theme of the album is.

Untied.....

Pages 1 and 2.  The black mat on the left page is for a picture or memento.  The object can be slid under the band with the gear on it.

Pages 1 and 2, displaying the pocket in between and the tags contained in the pocket.  Tags are useful for additional photos, memorabilia, or journaling.

These tags are contained in a pocket built into page 2.  You can see them as they are actually stowed in the pocket if you go back and look at the picture above.

Pages 3 and 4 and the pocket between.  Note the pearls on page 3 in the lower left corner.  Those were white, but I colored them with a Copic marker.  Also, notice the chain and charm attached to the pocket in this one.  I made the charm by applying a sticker to a small piece of black paper, laying the open heart shape charm over the sticker, and filling the charm with Glossy Accents.  Voila!

More tags, pockets, and envelopes.

Pages 5 and 6.  As you'll see below, the flap on page 5 folds down for journaling or additional pics, while the flap on page 6 folds out....

Flap folded down - page 5

Page 6 and pocket between pages 5 and 6

Flap opened on page 6

More tags....

Back cover

• Paper - "Tattered Time" - DCWV
• Kraft glassine envelope, metal gears, bead chain, journaling ticket, trinket pin, Gathered Twigs Distress Ink - Tim Holtz
• Glossy Accents - Ranger
• Canvas - purchased at Michaels in a single sheet.  

Welcome....

Welcome!


Recently, I was reflecting on the twists and turns my life has taken over the years.  I've worked in fast food, school districts, a flower shop, and the early childhood education field.  Finally, at this point, I have the freedom and where with all to explore one of the passions in my life - working with paper.


I started out putting scrapbooks together.  First, I attempted to document one of my husband's mission trips.  He went to Fruitful Vale in Jamaica, so I put a lot of construction paper fruit on those pages.  Ugh.  One of my next projects was to document an entire year in the life of our family.  Six months into the project, I had so many pages in there, the book fell apart. Nowadays, I look back at my original attempts, roll my eyes, and thank goodness for all that I've learned since then.  


I now work with paper both on and off the page - meaning - I still scrapbook sometimes, but I also do mixed media projects, altered art, paper flowers, glitter projects, and many other art forms that catch my attention. 


I have a wonderful support group around me - gals who are my artistic muses, fellow scrapbook instructors.  I also search out terrific sources of inspiration - Tim Holtz and Ali Edwards especially.   


Now, I'm fortunate enough to be able to combine two of my favorite things - working with paper and teaching.  I'm a certified scrapbook instructor, capable of teaching all sorts of tricks and techniques.  I love finding new tools and new ways to use them.  Stay tuned - I'll share all of my findings with you....