Just Cardstock

I'm taking a break from patterned papers. I find it quite therapeutic to mist and doodle and distress and ink the cardstock directly.

This was using one of the cardstock from my misting experiments.
Took some photos of E pecking away at an old keyboard. When I received the Memoirs kit from Club Scrap, I imagined she was trying to write her memoirs. Hence the title "I'll be done before dinner".

I hated the yellow buttons on this version. I had already plucked out several large one, tearing the lace cardstock in some places.
So I toned them down with some Lettuce alcohol ink.

Still don't like the page. Maybe it's the scanner which distorted the colour balance. Maybe it's my eyes. But I'll let it incubate for a while before tweaking it further.

No wonder my work is never done

4,294,967,270 messages!

Did this for Pooi's challenge on MWL.

All those numbers from Thickers and Doodlebug sheets which are hardly used, clear stickers from ProvoCraft (small numbers) and American Craft (chandelier), a rubon from an old sheet of October Afternoon, and a round journalling sheer.

Nature Abhors a Vacuum

When you suck all the air out of a bottle, this is what you get.

CHA-S Stalking the Sneaks

Surfing for sneak peeks again.

I love the Victoria line from 7Gypsy. The Tree of Life from Cropper Hopper is cute, but I have no place to put it. Of course, Ranger's Distress Crackle Paint in clear Rock Candy! Not forgetting, lot's of Maya Road goodness - sushi anyone?

I think I'll have to eat cardstock, seeing that my budget will be busted with all these releases. Okay, maybe I'll just get only one little tool ...

The Fourth Submission

Congratulations to the new gals on MWL Design Team. They are amazing!

Here's my last submission for that call.

For embellishments, I used only Sizzix dies with cardstock, felt, foil tape and magic mesh.

Originalz: Parchment, Paperclip, Daisy, San Serif alpha
Sizzlits: Flower #2 and #3, Cherish alpha

The Parchment die is most versatile. Besides using it full sized (above, on the yellow felt), it can also make smaller shapes (below:yellow post-its) and as a border (white and teal journalling block)

Paperclips from foil tape and felt

My Submitted Works

These are 3 of the works I submitted to MWL.

The first is a colourful one, full of sparkles and blings.Lots of shine here, with my favourite cardstock. Some glossy accent on the bees and leaves and butterfly wings. Lots of Prima crystal swirls.
I love this font - MM Lovenote.

A quiet layout in contrast. I hardly scrap with pastels, but these slightly over-exposed pictures just call for soothing colours. The scanner took away some colour from the MR blossom, but you get a better view later.
Here's the MR blossom, a sheer ribbon scrap for leaves, and the Hambly onesies. I coloured behind the pink one and added pearl buttons. The other is custom monogrammed with StazOn.
Epoxy sticker cut in half over a folded Prima. More pearls scattered around the swirls.
My favourite part of the page: pom-pom trims with folded pink ribbons and buttons sewn onto the polka-dot ribbon.
I had a lot of fun tweaking the altered houses.

Added a pole of onesies. These were coloured in white. I resized some photos and trimmed them to fit in the windows.

Here's a little bird singing in a Hambly cage at the kitchen window, where J is preparing some fruits.

Me, watching TV. A rare sight in real life actually!

I have to enlarge this last shot so that you can see: A whole room for my scrapping, and it's still as untidy as ever!

I'll put out the last layout later, which showcases a very versatile Sizzix die. If you can't wait, head over to MWL forum, where you'll be wowed by the amazing work of the talented applicants.

Experiments with Paint

Aim:

To investigate the effects of water and heat on different medium.

Apparatus:

Heat gun

Squirt bottle

Medium:

Maya Road Mist

Memories Mist

Making Memories Acrylic Paint

Adirondack Paint Dabber

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line Paint

Delta Paper Paint

Ranger Distress Stickles

Okay, enough of serious-looking lists, let the fun begin!

1. Maya Road Mist and water resist

Water mist squirted from spray bottle was too fine and merely diluted the mist. I then collected some water in the palm of my hand and sprinkled onto the paper. The droplets were larger and created the effect I intended when I applied the Maya Road Mist in purple (see lower droplet with white cardstock showing through). By the time I applied the Mist in blue, the water had pooled and dried slightly and the blue mist merely looked diluted (see other group of droplets). But I got the splattered edges I wanted with the larger droplets which took longer to dry.

2. Memories Mist with acrylic paint resist

I applied some acrylic paint and dried it. Memories Mist is more like a pigment suspension. It pooled over the acrylic paint (see left). I also tried a resist with water and found that the mist layered over the water and when I dried everything with the heat gun, the mist appeared diluted (see right). I could not get the white cardstock to show through and I don't have the splatter edges around the droplets.

Now let's bring the heat on!

3. Delta Paper Paint

This paint has the most watery consistency. The thin film of paint bubbled easily and dried quickly. The blister will flatten if pressed.

4. Making Memories Paint

Applied neat from the bottle, the thicker consistency meant that it bubbled only after prolonged heating. After heating, the paint lost its sheen. The resulting blister has a thicker "skin" which does not flatten as easily.

5. Claudine Hellmuth Paint

This took the longest to bubble, and as a result, I scorched the paper. The bubble did not expand much, and the resulting blister did not have much texture. However, the paint retained its sheen after drying.
6. Distress Stickle

I used Distress Stickle instead of regular. The liquid bubbled easily but shrunk without leaving any textured blisters. So disappointing!

Have I convinced you that it is FUN to see the paint bubble and blister and pop? Now go play!!

Prayers In Her Own Words

E has been saying grace before her meals and milk. It started with lots of prompting, and she'll fill in the final word in each phrase:
(Thank You) Jesus (for my) merk. (Bless it to my) boddee. Amen.

Recently she progressed to
Thank You Jesus for merk merk. Blezzit boddee Amen.

She will also pause and substitute milk for "shereal", "mum-mum" or "bibao" (mian bao=bread).

At bedtime, she has been faithfully laying hands on me or J and praying for us. At first all I could make out was

Dear God, thank You Jesus ...mumble mumble... Amen

Then last night, very clearly, J and I heard
Dear God, thank You Jesus. Bless boddee. Amen

The question remains - did she just say grace or ask for healing in our bodies?

Recent Pages

I used some lace and ribbons on these pages. I found that Sticky Dots Adhesive (which comes in sheets) work well for the lace, while glue lines, besides creating bulk, didn't hold the folds very neatly.


Framing the photo all-round helped it sit better on the page. Unlike these photos which are bulky only along the top.

Also these lace edges were held in place by glue lines, adding unnecessary bulk.

I spent some mindless minutes stitching half a yard of ribbon to make the ruched border.
Fabric certainly adds texture to the page and cost-wise, you get a lot of mileage out of it. I'm off to make more fabric embellishments.

Spellbinders Giveaway Enablers

I love the ideas from the Spellbinder Design Team. The following list is the schedule for showcasing the new releases and the DT who will be sharing their creation. I enjoy the detailed instructions. For each day's release there is also a giveaway.
7/9 Debbie Olson
7/10 Michelle Wooderson
7/11 Karen Hunsaker
7//12 Kazan Clark
7/13 Linda Duke
7/14 Heidi Blankenship
7/15 Kimberly Crawford
7/16 Julie Overby
7/17 Sherry Cheever
7/18 Debbie Seyer
7/19 Lesa Rapp
7/20 Becca Feeken
7/21 Jennifer Davis
7/22 Keri Lee Sereika

I know this is too late for entering the grand giveaway, since you have missed the earlier reveals. But it's not too late for the daily giveaways. Good luck!

Play Day for Mummy

I'm scouting around for CHA-S sneak peeks. This is probably the "motherload" of all sneaks. What struck me most is the list of companies which are not exhibiting, some of which are big names. Of course it does not necessarily hint of trouble for these brands as they are still releasing new products. On the contrary, it could be that they feel they are well-entrenched in the industry and can afford to cut back from this particular trade show. However, not so for this. For more industry news, head over here.

Speaking of cutting back, I'm finding so much satisfaction experimenting with the Sizzix and thinking of new ways to use old products. I'm going to move onto paints and pigments next. Yes, tomorrow is the perfect day to play. The family had better watch what's on the dinner plate - maybe some glitter or glimmer ...

It's the weekend again

And I get to play. This time, I really had to eat my words and haul out the machine because MWL is having a Design Team call and requires the use of Sizzix. Since the machine is out, I might as well experiment. So far, I've cut felt, sheet metal, shrink plastic and foil tape. The shrink plastic cracked where the shape is too narrow. It will not show if I carefully flatten it during shrinking, otherwise the cracked fragment has a tendency to curl in a different direction.

I'm digging out my embossing folders and looking around for more things to play with. Things are going to get dirty here ... in a good way!

Assembly-Line

So what is the assembly-line I mentioned earlier? It originates from Club Scrap. By strategically cutting a few sheets of cardstock from a kit into specific sizes and adding some generic embellishments, you can pre-assemble a bunch of layouts for use later. Just add title and journalling.

The method saves my sanity when I need several double-page spreads which coordinate, like a birthday spread or an entire travel album.

I have a whole bunch done up and whenever I need to "speed stick" my photos, I just go through my stash and pick the colour scheme that works best with the photos I have.The pages I used for E's birthday are from the Jan 07 collection called Fizz. Here they are semi-completed.

Weekend scrapping

What is my style? I went through a phase of exploring different styles, thanks to classes and blogs from where I learnt and experimented. I lost myself for a while, feeling inundated with the rapidly evolving trends. Many of the layouts I admire require the latest products and techniques, necessary in attracting and promoting sales. Several months and shelves of supplies later, I have reached a stage when I can start to look at my pages and find myself again. I can feel a resonance when the page is complete and *I* have made a statement.

For now, it's margins, alignment and symmetry. More cardstock and less patterned paper. Title and journalling. No fancy schmancy techniques: I hate hauling out the heat gun and sizzix. Next week, maybe. For now, I'm comfortable with churning out the simple pages:
Consider this *done*. I resisted adding buttons and blings.
Nope, not a drop of stickles or smidge of paint. I did say *simple* = *done*

Another magazine in the crunch ...

What is going to happen to one of the last giants standing? Waiting with bated breath.
http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/2009/07/03/ck-media-sold-mass-layoff-ordered/

Photos from Aug 08

I made a bunch of pages assembly-line style, just so that I can end E's First Year album.
The photos are also from Aug-Sep 08.
E loves the mirror, just like J.
I painted the edge of the sheer with an American Craft paint marker.

Before you think I am *that* good at colouring within the lines ...
I actually painted the back. The black border hid all the untidiness.