A Clean Desk for WOYWW 233

Yippee Skippee. I finally cleaned my desk, just in time for the weekly sharing hosted by the wonderful Julia! I've been at the state planning conference for the last four days. I'm happy to report although I might be getting older, I am getting wiser and after four full days of talking and being "on" all the time (as one of the organizers) I took today off. It was blissful.

Here it is in all it's glory. Christmas bits and bobs to the left and ready to go. While I was cleaning I usually put things on my chair, but Ben the cat was there. Being the lazy cuss I am I put them there anyway. The most casual of cats, just kept on bathing. I did finally get him to look at the camera though.

He's just my best buddy. All cat ... all on his terms .... but I was told he missed him Mom. Big Smile.

On the things I'm working on is a Christmas Book. All three kids will be here at one time over Christmas and I want someplace to capture the memories. I was thrilled when Tammy Tutterow had an on line class....less thinking was just what a I needed. I don't have everything she's using, but I can get close enough. 

I had some time last week to play in an art journal....real quick....with lotz of colors. Super fun. Love the Zig Wink of Stella brush glitter pens. They make sparkles so easy and mess free. 

Life is good these days, and I am enjoying the journey. Hope you are too. 

I'm at the tale end this week, because it's 6:30 pm Wednesday evening here in Alaska. It's already Thursday morning (maybe even afternoon) and all my friends in the UK are probably fast asleep and will wake up in 4 to 5 hours to start their days. But as someone once said - It's Wednesday Somewhere in the World. And this time it's here! Have a good week everyone. 

Patchwork Christmas

I have been itching to start making Christmas cards (I salute those of you who are well along this path - but this is early for me!) Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge this week is patchwork which was the perfect inspiration for me.

I absolutely love the Graphic 45 Christmas papers so I knewI would start there.  They remind me of home spun fabric. The first thing I did was cut up A LOT of paper into 1" squares.

When I started I was going to use 1/2' squares.  Three hours into the project I was awfully glad I chose the one inch size! I started playing with designs and finally decided to use a simple pattern of squares on edge. In fact it's simple I can't find the name for it! Once I had them all cut up they reminded be of the beautiful quilts of Marsha McCloskey called Blended Quilts. I've made a couple of them and throughly enjoyed auditioning all the fabrics. However, they take a LONG time to complete. Hence why I'm drawn to paper - you can actually complete things.

Once I started laying them out I had some floral designs which helped me decide on the type of embellishment I wanted to use - flowers.I had these beautiful small prima roses and I paired one with some Ideology leaves I had melted embossing powder on (thank-you for another great way to use the products you already own Tammy Tutterow).  

I also used some alcohol ink on a metal tag, and a Tim Holtz Rub-on. To Becmake sure the squares lined up nicely I cut 1" strips of red paper and glued all the squares onto the strip. It also helped add more depth to the card. Because I wanted it to look like patch work, I used a micron pen to make some dashes between the squares and then around the entire design. 

As I was making the card, I had one of my sisters in mind. She once spent 12 hours making a beautiful birthday card for a member of the family....so happy this didn't approach that time schedule. 

Hope there is magic in your life!

In addition to SSS, I'm also entering this in the Try It On Tuesday color explosion - seasonal!

Love 'Em - Don't Know Why I Don't Use 'Em

I got a text from my daughter last night trying to cajole me into sending her Girl Scout cookies in the mail. Turns out she really wants mail...and probably the cookies but as much as I like the Girl Scouts - having been one myself - the cookies are already plenty expensive and she can buy her own! But I did bite and decided to make a card for her on Sunday afternoon. I also wanted to participate in the Simon Says Stamp challenge of using a stamp you love but don't use often. Sadly I have, well, let's just say there were a lot of stamps to choose from.

The Fairy Stamp is a old Graphic 45 Stamp that doesn't seem to be available any more. I stamped her on a piece of manilla paper, colored in the edges with Spun Sugar and Bundled Sage Distress Inks, and went around the edge with Vintage Photo. I used Distress Markers and a water brush to color her dress and flowers, but the thing I now LOVE is the dry glitter I used on her wings.

OMG - this stuff is SO Cool. Well, it's from Tim Holtz, master of the universe, so I should have known, but it SOOOOO dimensional. Little late to this party, but I can't wait to use it again!

The other stamp I really like I got from my sister Daina and it was way before I knew Donna Downey was...as fate would have it she's one of my current inspirations! I stamped it in clear and emossed it with white....love the look. The other thing I want to mention is the trick I picked up from Tammy Tutterow about embossing the top of a brad. Super simple. Touch it to the Versamark pad, dip it in the embossing powder (with tweezers) and try it. And yes, I will say it. Don't touch it. It's metal. It's hot. You would think I get that. Nope. Ouch.

I mounted the whole paper on a piece of card stock and embossed some more dandelions, inside....and while for us spring is at least 6 if not 8 weeks away, it is sunny and the days are longer and it's all good!

More Creative Chemistry

So much fun. I enter that a lot on my calendar and in my journal. Playing in the Fun Room is just sooo much Fun. I got to spend a lot of time up there this weekend, making tags for the April 21 and 30 class Stamp Cache, embossing some more metal ala Tammy Tutterow, painting and die cutting odds and ends and even making a birthday card. I went upstairs to play with my Distress Markers which arrived at the Stamp Cache on Tuesday and I still haven't done the home work. Oh well -- everything is waiting for me. I thought I might at least post the few days I do have completed.

Day 1 - Wrinkle Free Distress, Brushless Watercolor and Blended Spritz & Flick

I finally understand how to really blend distress inks. I feel like a genius (tee hee) or at the very least a chemist. Aside from that very, very important item, I learned how important my favorite color purple is to blending (a lovely moment) and how to get water droplets from the craft sheet and from my hand.

Day 3 - Alcohol Resist, Alcohol Inks Agates, Stamping with Reflections

I love stamping with reflections and can't wait to get a couple of more embossing folders that lend themselves to that technique. The writing or scrolls or anything without directon, really looks like it is behind the embossed area. I also like the way my alcohol inks agates turned out. Using the blending solution at the end as Tim suggested produced a great effect. I also didn't have any light or bright archival inks when I started Creative Chemistry...as we know lights aren't really my strong suit, so I tried with another kind of ink. Odd color combination to be sure.

Day 5 - Marbled Stains

The example on the left was one drag too many through the craft sheet, although I still like the effect. This is really a technique where LESS is MORE. The example on the right, I blended out the whole tag. When I was finished I kinda looked at it and thought, boy that looks like just a blended tag, nice but.... When in doubt read directions. Tim asked us to blend the edges....

Day 5 - Kraft Resist

I've done this with better success in the past. I think I like to blend the colors more than I did on these samples. The one on the left was my first attempt - it needed a stronger image. I tried a variety of inks on the example on the right...once again, Tim knows best. Archival Jet Black provides the best contrast.

My example of Stamping with Stains from Day 5 is in my previous post. Maybe I can get a few more done this week since I won't be working every night....really cuts down on time in the Fun Room!

Enjoy!



I Did It - It's Light!!

There are so many things I love about Tim's Creative Chemistry...

• Paper has no memory
• Dry (and we mean really dry) each layer
• Keep a blending tool for each family of colors
• Water based products and how they play with others
• The list goes on and on

But I knew right away that Stamping with Stains was right up my alley. One of my group of girlfriends has some how gotten on a color kick for prezzies. All the goodies in the gift bag are the same color, or at least color family. So when I saw the Lemon Drop kit, I knew it would be perfect for my friend, and went about collecting yellow goodies. This of course, means I have to make a yellow card. YIKES.

But I did it...well kind of. You do have to admit it's nice and light.

I have had Tammy Tutterow and Shelly Hickox right up there on my Link bar right up next to Tim for the last six months or so. I was crazy about all the cards they, and Joy Kennedy created for the Gallery of Creative Chemistry. So with a nod to them and Tammy's amazing embossing technique I made this card.

When I made my sample for the class, I didn't own the butterfly stamp set, but I feel in love with the background stamp....seriously. So many fonts, so large, so many possibilities....yummy. Turns out the butterflys are cool too.

And, it's way different than my "class" tag. I love having all the tags up on my table (well, the tags I've done, I still have about half of the samples to make). They are a great reference and idea library. Just want Tim intended. Thank you Uncle Tim.

Day 5 - Christmas in Paris

Ooo la la. Like this technique a lot! I didn't have the Christmas script, and truth be told I hadn't been really successful with the stamp I did have...but I had only tried stamp to stamp. But using the reverse stamp on the beautifully colored clear tag produced a gorgeous background.

I used Red Pepper, Watermelon, and Current alcohol inks - three different applications. And the process worked just like Tim (link)said it would. I think I was actually giggling when the ink removed the color and just left the french sentences.

I was sitting in a meeting earlier this week when I came up with the idea of the Eiffel Tower and after auditioning red, white, and green I settled on the black background The greenery is from the pine cone die - in about as many different colors of green as you can imagine. Got that from my quilting days: if you use enough they all blend together.

I am a real fan of Tammy Tutterow (link) and so one day ordered the little hero arts alphabet she uses so effectively. I have to say I love it. It's just the right size and I can use it to say any ole' thing that pops into my head. The simple red "pearl" (yeah, right, a string of them for $2.90 at Michael's) was all the embellishment it needed. Enjoyed this tag a lot....I love Paris.