Still operating…
Hello readers! Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Life got very crazy and I was away from computers for the week. I hope to be getting back on schedule now that school is starting again. I of course, am going to be even busier, but at least it will be a consistent schedule. Right now I’m having trouble writing or thinking because our bulldog Gordo is having bad gas problems tonight and is farting some pretty rank toots here at my feet. I think perhaps I should invest in a gas mask to wear. It is also awful that he is silent but deadly, there is no noise to warn of a coming attack to your nasal passages! I will try to take pictures tomorrow of the projects that I worked on at the scrapbooking convention last weekend. My mother is here visiting from Texas this week, so I’m sure anything that I’m able to post this week will be pretty short and sweet.
I hope you will all hang in there with me while I get my weeks scheduled and organized. Don’t stop checking back for more updates and tips and tricks. They are coming, it just may take a little time to build up some steam again.
Have a great week!
CKC Scrapbook Convention, Charlotte NC
Oh what an awesome time I had! Busy and fast, but great! I took three classes at the convention: Fun and Fast Tips for Fabulous Journaling, Word Books 101, and Pocket Full of Cards (all about making cards with pockets)! I really liked all my classes and got a lot of great ideas, not to mention just getting inspired. That always helps. Will put some pictures online when I get the projects finished. Two are almost done, the journal and the pocket cards, but the word book only has one letter covered out of a five letter word. Each class is limited to one hour, so quite often you have to get the idea and then finish it at home. I’ll tell you though, the vendor fair was pretty cool. Although it made me wish that I had won the lottery before I went so that I could have bought more! Hee Hee Hee! I really liked the t-shirt that I saw there that said, “My husband lets me buy as many scrap supplies as I can hide.” LOL. And of course, I think my favorite shirt was the one that said, “It’s all fun and games until someone looses an eyelet.” I definitely wanted to buy that one, but the t-shirts were $20 and I felt like I’d rather spend that money on supplies, at least at this point. I just started scrapping this year, so I don’t have a great amount of supplies. Plus, I’m a stay at home mom with no income of my own, so I have to be conservative with my purchases. This trip and the classes were a gift from my husband… my Mother’s Day gift. He asked my before Mother’s Day what I wanted and this was it! A great gift I must say! I was so inspired by the convention that I cleaned and reorganized my craft room, once again! I’ve been down there (in the basement) working on scrapbooks and cards. I want make some cards to sell in packets and to give as gifts. I think I finally got it to the point where I can stand to be down there working, without feeling like I’m crammed into a dark closet.
Right now I must say that I am exhausted! I got home around 10:00 Saturday night and when I called my husband to tell him I was almost home, he asked if I wanted to go to the new Batman movie, since the kids were away for the evening. I was like, sure, why not… what’s a few more hours to stay awake. Then he was the one that fell asleep two times during the movie! Again, LOL. Then we came home and fiddled around watching some TV and online, before finally going to bed around 2:45 am. We had to get up at 8 am, so we could go pick up the kids, take someone to the airport, and get back in time for church. I have to tell you that I am so, so, so, so glad that this is the last week of summer vacation! Yay! Finally, some peaceful days! The beginning of the summer up until about three weeks ago was o.k., but now I think the kids have summer-itis because they are CONSTANTLY fighting over every little thing!
Anyway, will try to update more tomorrow. Thanks for reading, hope everyone had a great weekend!
Short and Sweet Handy Tip
I hope I can keep it short and sweet. I remembered this very simple but extremely useful idea for use when altering books. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it, but try using bulldog clips… the ones that look like this:
for holding your books open while you gesso or design pages. Simple, yet extremely helpful. I don’t think I have any new wisdom to impart this week. I’m still prepping for the scrapbooking convention in Charlotte this weekend! I had to go get some last minute supplies for some of my classes. Only two more days and counting! Now let’s just hope I don’t give myself a hernia carrying all my supplies, lol!
Back in Business, Sort of…
We finally finished with our church’s Lay Renewal Weekend. I have to tell you, it was Wonderful! My first thought was… “three days of church? Hmmm.” But, it turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever been able to participate in. I met a lot of great new people and got to know some of our new friends from church even better. The people in our church seem really close now and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next few weeks as new programs start and hopefully more people get involved. If you live in this area (Cary, NC) and you want to experience one of the most open, friendly and encouraging churches around… please visit North Cary Baptist Church! Let me tell you, I’m married in a bi-racial relationship with two step children and we both have tattoos, including myself who is working on a full sleeve, and everyone there accepted us with open arms from the second we stepped through the door.
Anyway, now that all those activities have past I have to spend today cleaning because the pastor and his wife are coming tonight to give us some new member paperwork and talk to our daughter who is 7 who told him she wanted to be baptized. I’ve been working on getting the inside pages to three of my altered books coated with gesso. I decided to try and get the entire inside prepped so I can create whenever the mood strikes and can also take at least one with me as a journal. I think this has been easier than doing a page and then prepping the next page and so on. It lets you get some continuity going with your design thoughts if the pages are already ready to go. I won’t have much time this week though for new projects because on Friday afternoon I’m meeting some of my meetup scrapbooking ladies to go to the scrapbooking convention in Charlotte for the weekend. I’m so, so excited I can barely contain myself. Needless to say, I probably won’t have much in the way of updates until next week. However, I hope to maintain my blogging through this Thursday with more tips and tricks, so please stay tuned. I can’t wait to tell you about how the scrapbooking classes went! Some of you may be thinking… I’m into altered art, not scrapbooking, why does she keep talking about scrapbooking? Well, I started out making artist trading cards at the scrapbook meetings, as the group is really for anyone into any kind of paper crafts. But then after seeing some of the projects done by other people I started to get into the scrapbooking. I’ve noticed that there are many similarities between scrapbooking and altered art. They are beginning to use many altered art techniques in scrapbook pages these days. So, there are many things like including pictures, journaling, memorabilia, found items, etc. that are being shared by scrapbooking and altered art techniques.
I hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks again for reading!
Clearing Creative Blocks, Getting Inspired
I’ve been busy the past couple days cooking for a church function, which was yesterday. I probably won’t have time to blog or craft this weekend either as our church is having a lay renewal weekend and starts on Saturday morning and runs through Sunday night, for our family anyway. I’m still squeezing some scrapbooking time in on Sunday. My meetup group has an all day scrap on Sunday, I’ll only be able to go from 1-5:30 this time. I’ll be spending the time getting my stuff in order for the scrapbooking convention in Charlotte that is next weekend. I’m so looking forward to that. I’ll blog all about it when I get back. I had some time today and went down to my craft area to try and get some work done… but it was a no go. I couldn’t get motivated or inspired. I was pretty frustrated, but then I remembered some of my tricks to break that uninspired down time.
1. Don’t try to force yourself to create when you are stumped, you’ll just get further frustrated.
2. Relax and listen to some of your favorite music in a quiet place.
3. Start writing/journaling! Even if you have to start writing about not knowing what to write about, once you start writing, more ideas will come out. That is one thing I need to do more… journal. I’m making a backpack of journaling supplies that I can start taking everywhere with me, that way, when an idea hits, I’ll be ready for it!
4. Watch a favorite movie that inspires you. Right now, mine is Nim’s Island… I love the island and the artfulness of their house in the jungle. Just thinking about being able to live like that inspires me.
5. Think about something that interests you and look up information and pictures about it online.
6. Go to the library and just browse books.
7. Go for a walk or exercise. Sometimes all you need to do is get the blood flowing and clear your head.
The one thing I try to avoid when I’m totally blocked is looking at other artist’s work. That always frustrates me and makes it hard for original ideas to find their way into my boggled mind, at least at that time. Anyway, I hope some of these tips can help you out of your rut, if you happen to be in one. Thanks for reading!
Scrapbooking, Altered Art Techniques
We were doing some massive cleaning yesterday. I was working on the basement and I was moving all my photos from boxes that were falling apart to large shoe boxes and plastic storage containers to put on the shelf in my little craft area when I decided that there are a lot of scrapbooks waiting to be made. I will have no problem with scrapbook material for the next couple years! lol. After dinner time, something bit the heck out of me! I have at least 12 bites on each arm and leg and I am so itchy I can barely stand it! I wanted to get some altered art or some trading cards done today, but I may spend the day scratching. The really bad thing is, I don’t know where or what got me so I don’t know how to avoid getting more.
The stamping books that I picked up at the library have some really good ideas in them, not only for stamping but for creating backgrounds. I also need to get back to work on my altered books. I’ve just had too many projects going to get anything finished. I still am a little stumped for inspiration. However, in one of the books I checked out, not one of the stamping books, they had some ideas on how to incorporate a photograph into your altered book without it looking like a scrapbook page. As they collaged/painted the background of the photo to match up with the pages of the book, so only the subject is left. I bought some clear credit card sleeves to use as little show pockets for small fragile items like pressed flowers/leaves in scrapbooks and altered books. In cleaning the large room in the basement, my small craft space got a bit torn asunder, so I need to pick up the pieces so I can create in there. I can’t create when stuff is heaped all around me and under my feet, I’m a bit anal that way.
Here are some more techniques for you to try: (Some of these are definitely things you’ve heard of before, but it is always helpful to get a reminder every now and then)
1. Sprinkle salt on your wet watercolors.
2. Place crinkled saran wrap on your wet paint and let dry.
3. Draw with designs with wax crayon and then paint over with watercolors.
4. Use non-permanent felt markers and then wet to blend together.
5. Tear paper and use as a mask to create interesting white space to stamp or draw in.
More Nature Journals, Altering Techniques, Fishing…
Boy, time is flying! I liked the nature journal that I made so much that I picked up some supplies to make a few more. I want to put some small ones into some nature themed Geocaches. Almost done with two walking sticks, just need to seal two and then I can start on mine. We are getting up early in the morning to go out fishing at our favorite catfishing hole. Ok, it’s a lake, not a hole, but it’s our spot. I think I’ll take my new nature journal to start filling it up. Hopefully I won’t have too much down time while we are fishing, I’m hoping to catch the “big one.”
I went back to the scrap exchange to try and get some photo slides and they were all gone! DANG! They sold a couple boxes full! Oh, well, that’s what I get for being slow at choosing. I still found a basket full of stuff to buy though, and that didn’t include the stuff I wanted but didn’t buy, can’t go too far over budget. I found some stuff for my altered art, but also for my scrapbooking.
I took the kids to the library today and was looking for a certain book when I happened upon about 6 books about stamping techniques that were really cool! I am still looking through them, I was disrupted by going out to eat Mexican food for dinner, then coming home and getting all the fishing gear ready. I need to get inspired to make some more ATC’s. In the meantime, here are some more altered art techniques:
1. Use unusual things as stamps/stencils, bubble wrap, plastic mesh or screen.
2. Embellish with gel pens, sparkly and other metallic inks.
3. Glue on texturing materials such as used dryer sheets, crumbled tissue paper, old mesh or net material
4. Spray paint comes in many interesting textures like stone, metal, rust, etc.
5. Make copies on transparencies for cool layering or window effects.
Have a great weekend, thanks for reading.
