Somebody's gotta win.... why not me??

If you haven't been able to get your hands onto some of the amazing Simple Stories products, I'm sorry.  It's such amazing product.  Here in AZ you can find it at Scraps of Love - tell Chris I sent you and you can find it in Payson at Paper & Metal Scrappers - again let the ladies know I sent you.  If you know of another store that has it PLEASE let me know.  I'll visit to snatch some up & let them know you told me about it.

As to the title of my post - Simple Stories has a new product line called Snap.  It's just as amazing as their original but with a fresh, bright, cleaner look and tons of versatility.  Their giving away a beautiful bunch of goodies and I'd love to be one of the winners.  :)  So check out their adorable video on Snap.

August projects at Scrapbook Barn

One thing I've been thinking about lately is the desire to do more interesting or unique folds or shapes in class each month.  Starting in August I'm going to make sure at least one project of the four is not your typical A2 or A7 card.  To start this off, I chose to create an easel style fold up card.  The whole idea exploded in my brain right at the end of class in July.  :)  

The majority of our "coloring" on this one will come from the airbrushing techniques we'll use.  Expect to take a little time on the assembly. 

You can see a closer view of the card front on the Class Projects tab.  You'll also see the 3 other projects for August.  We've got a good mix of quick and easy coloring & card making and more involved assembly and coloring.  I hope to see you on August 21. 

Creating my own paper....

Recently Paper Vineyard had a sidewalk sale that I was able to poke thru before class.  I found a 6x6 Crate Paper paper pad buried in the stacks of 12x12 clearance paper.  Of course I had to scoop it up.  I had no idea what I'd use it for but with so many cute patterns I was sure I could figure something out.

Just as I was drifting off to sleep after getting it home I had an idea.  As quickly as I could - once I woke up of course - I had to try it.

While I create plenty of cards and love to do mini books, I've found a renewed interest in creating 12x12 layouts - thanks to the Sketch class I'm teaching.  I've managed to get several wedding layouts done - I mean, it's only been 10 years since we renewed our vows with a ceremony - as well as layouts about my sister's wedding, a vacation to Puerto Penasco and more.  So what was I going to do with 6x6 paper?  How about make my own 12x12??

I love to sew on paper.  So I sewed 4 sheets of the 6x6 together.  I opted to use four different patterns but imagine if I'd done 4 of the same?  The red on red polka dot with pink stitching to hold it all together??  Or that floral?  I'm starting to wish I'd found more than one of these little babies!

To make the stitching easier to do, I flipped the papers over and used a little bit of Scotch tape to hold them together.  Then some quick zig zag stitching where they all meet up.

I also added a straight border stitch.  But am thinking that a nice wavy, free motion kind of stitch in two passes would have been pretty neat too.

I'm now thinking of all kinds of ways to create my own paper using my scrap stash.  Long 12" strips in varying widths all stitched together.  Different sizes of squares and rectangles.  What about those sheets of cardstock where I've only used a portion of it?  I've got plenty of 12xsomething sheets in my stash.  I could easily find papers to add to them to create a full 12x12 again.

And because my background paper is so busy interesting, I'm not going to need a ton of embellishments or other products.  Or maybe, with a nice big photo I can load up on the embellishments.  I'll have to try it both ways!

I'd love to see your variations of this technique!  Leave a comment with a link to a blog post or photo site so I can see them.  Join the creative journey!

Guitar card & class updates

Have you been to Pinterest?  If you've managed to avoid that time sucking, food filled, crafty project overloaded addiction, you're lucky!!!  I, however, am totally, completely and utterly stuck.  Kinda like Br'er Rabbit and the tar baby!  One of the projects I pinned was a really adorable guitar card.  

I knew I'd want to recreate it for Mel.  However.  When I read that not one, but both, of the ladies that had done this card previously had drawn their image free hand I knew I was in trouble.  And the more I thought about it, I wanted to do an acoustic guitar.  Here's how I solved my conundrum.  :)

I'm a PowerPoint girl.  I just have never figured out how to do stuff in Word and I like the flexibility I've got in PP.  I opened a new document and "drew" a 5x7 box on the page.  I take the fill color out to make it easier to see.   I found an image - clip art or real, either will work fine - online of an acoustic guitar I liked and copied it.  I pasted that to my power point doc and moved it around and resized it so that I got just the portion of the guitar in the 5x7 space that I wanted.  Hit print and grabbed my fussy cutting tools - a craft knife with a new blade and my glass mat.  I first cut around the guitar shape inside the blue rectangle and then cut along the blue lines at the top, bottom and on the left side.  That gave me a shape to trace onto the front of my card base.  I also used it to trace the shape onto wood paper - I KNEW I'd be able to find a cool way to use it when I bought it!  When tracing make sure you trace onto the BACK of your chosen material and flip your image or letter so that you're looking at the wrong side as you trace it.  This way you can cut it out and not have to deal with erasing any stray marks.

I then cut out each of the "shapes" inside that template - the hole, the part of the neck showing, the bridge & the pick guard - out.  I used each of those to trace onto different papers to give me texture and color and cut them out.  I inserted 6 small silver brads into the bridge and the strung silver thread from each of them up to the neck and taping the thread behind the neck.  All in all, pretty simple and straight forward but I really like how it turned out.

To get the mottled look for the pick guard I used Core'dinations paper and sanded it since I don't think I've even ever seen tortises shell look paper.

I've updated the Class Projects page.  A few photos will be added soon.  I managed to mail out samples to two stores with out taking pictures or scanning them in a flurry of marking stuff of my to do list and cleaning off me desk.  :(

Join me for Friday night fun!!

If you're looking for something fun to do Friday night, join me up at Tailgaters anytime after 7 pm.  We're hosting a poker tourney to help raise funds to send the Tent City Terrors to upcoming tournaments.  If poker isn't your thing there'll be karaoke.  And plenty of derby silliness.

So much seems to have happened in such a short period of time!!

Since I last blogged, I've officially begun helping out with the Phoenix Derby Brats.  Talk about awesome and inspiring and humbling all at once!!  Skating with 20 somethings was tough enough but now I'm skating with teenagers and pre-teens!!  But I love it.  Those girls keep me on my toes, literally.  And I can't stop trying and working around them.  If you'd like to watch these fierce skaters put August 11 on your calendar. We'll be hosting the Las Cruces team for a rematch on our home turf.  I'll post all the details closer to the date.

I also had to order new skates unexpectedly.  I took my skates in to see about replacing a $2 part.  Or so I thought.  When I had them up on the counter I noticed that the rivets holding the plate to the heel was loose. But worse was that the boot was coming away from the heel.  Needless to say, skating on them could be dangerous.  And since that was the right skate, I'd just as soon not break the other ankle.  3 more weeks til my red with silver striped skates come in.  :)  I'm sure you'll see pics as soon as I have them in hand but until then this is a computer rendering

I've been re-evaluating my classes and working to revamp them.  So far the changes have gotten a positive response so I'm rolling them out to all of my coloring classes.  Each class will now have 4 cards or projects.  With all of the markers, embellishments and items needed to create each card in a separate "box" the boxes will be passed around among class participants.  This has allowed more of a "color at your own pace" style that gives everyone as much time as they need.  This will also allow me to work with each person as needed.  I'd love any feedback regarding these changes.

I've actually been creating layouts lately.  Something I've gotten away from the last few years unintentionally. But thankfully my new Scrapbooking with Sketches class is helping with that.  I'm delighted to have made at least 2 layouts about our renewal ceremony from 2001!  I've got some neat things in the works and planned for this concept.   I hope you'll join me for one of these classes - I'm teaching it at Paper Vineyard and now at Paper & Metal Scrappers.  Each class will send you home with not only completed layouts but also pages to create your own "sketch" book of ideas.  You can see the next set of layouts on the Class Projects tab.

And one thing I'm especially excited about is the upcoming Open House/Meet the Teachers event at Phoenix Scrap Cottage.  You'll find me there from 1-5 this Saturday.  Because the Cottage doesn't publish their address - to ensure privacy for any of the groups that reserve the retreat - please email me to get the address.  You'll be able to see my Fill in the Blanks journal project as well as meet the other teachers & see their projects for upcoming classes.  Stop by and check out the cottage and chat with all of us.

Classes have been updated & more

I was delighted to spend yesterday at Paper Vineyard creating with a group of funny and inspiring ladies.  After putting the finishing touches on my PV class projects I started working on a mini album sample for the store - wait til you see it!!!  It's brand new Authentique.  Swoon. Sigh. Adore. Here's a little peek at it:

I've updated the Class Projects tab with the latest projects.  Go check 'em out.

And add this date to your calendar - June 16 1:00 - 5:00 pm.  I'll be at Phx Scrapbook Cottage for their open house and showcasing my Fill In The Blanks album.  If you're not signed up for my newsletter, please do.  I'll send out the address for the Cottage next week.