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Saturday, September 30, 2017

2017 Scrapbook Expo


Brandy and I actually carved out some time to spend together in September to attend the Mesa Scrapbook Expo.  This show is very like our traditional scrapbook show hosted by CK (which have abandoned the show format in favor of other activities).  Many of the same vendors, a few new ones, but most fun in that we can set up for the crop at 8am, attend workshops and shop during the day or choose to sit and scrap.  We did a mixture of all of the above on Friday and then on Saturday, I came back to work a couple of shifts.  I ended up being assigned to the Art Anthology Mixed Media Layouts class.   Stayce DeWid taught the course and she actually allowed me to play with some of the media as long as I helped the students when needed.  I did and made this great two page layout.  Not my most involved work, but done between handling out supplies and helping a grandma catch up with the class when she arrived a bit late.  No problem!  We got this!  I inserted the pictures and embellishments after my arrival home.



The show is also known for the make-n-takes.  This one is from the Art Impressions booth.  I did pick up quite a few new stamps here and this card made with their adorable mice holding cheese.  The image was precut and colored and we simply adhered to a patterned background.  Great card!


Onto the workshops that Brandy and I attended.  This first is by Krazy Kreations which is a Mixed Media Vintage Tag.  These include those black outline stickers - the dressor and the fancy young lady.  We adhered the dressor to some glitter paper and colored the image with Copic markers. Not a lot of subtle shading, but a lovely look nonetheless.  The young lady was paper pieced onto different cardstocks - by laying the sticker on the paper and cutting around the portion that you want from that pattern.  She's over some cream cardstock and so the arms and feet are simply uncolored cardstock.  Simple, quick and beautiful result. This little gem will probably make it onto a card or as a tag for a gift bag. 


Our second class is from Heartfelt Creations.  This mini-album is made using their Flip Fold Album and layering pre stamped pattered papers embellishing with a few Poppy shaped flowers.  That poppy looks just as lovely in person as it does in the picture (if not more so).  This was a simple, easy class and mostly gave me an excuse to make the album which is currently being targeted as a Christmas gift.


Inside is a small waterfall album with more pattered papers and flaps for journaling and/or more pictures.





The entire album took less than 90 minutes to create, though I did add some embellishments when I arrived home, like glitter and sequins.  The poppy papers are adorable, but they also look great as a backdrop.  I purchased some more supplies in order to replicate this project and make more gifts for Christmas.



Our last class was also a Heartfelt Creations class, Delicate Vellum Florals cards.  These were also easy to make, though we didn't have time to fully finish in class, everything was colored and simply needed to be glued in place once I had a bit more time.  I love, love, love their Dogwood flowers and these are a delight.  So delicate and appealing.  They make a card beautiful with little effort. 


The kit came with some extra patterned paper and so I added one piece to the inside of this lovely card as I thought the card too plain with the open windown into a white card base.  The patterned paper added just the right touch and this goes into the stash to serve a purpose on the day when I need something quick. 


I added the brown cardstock on the inside and the patterned paper was leftover in the kit so i used it on the inside of the card.  It felt like the delicate edge on the card needed more contrast to pop.  Love how this card turned out!


We'd both highly recommend the Expo and any of the classes you see here.  There are many more good classes, one can only do so much in a two day weekend.  If you haven't worked the event, but enjoy this kind of work, the time passes quickly and the money earned actually offset some of the great cost. 


Friday, September 29, 2017

Welcoming a Baby Girl


I've had this lovely creation by Brandy in my text messages for weeks and am finally getting around to posting it.  The background was made using the SSS Kaleidoscope Background stamp to white emboss onto watercolor paper.  The background was colored with her Mission Gold watercolors to stunning effect keeping the design simple with a stamped entiment on layered cardstock edged with gold embossing.  Some IO die cut Spiral Flowers makes a small and delicate accent to this overly lovely card, don't you think?

Join me in admiring this wonderful background stamp.  It is sure to make a lot of great patterned paper to be used on card fronts.

Andie for 

Friday, September 22, 2017

What a Blessing



I happened to order Papertrey Ink's Beautiful Berries stamp and die set and I'm having a ball getting familiar with it.  I had prepped some of the card fronts for these cards by using my Mission Gold watercolors and then saw this post by Sandy Allnock.  My immediate thought was that I would use these cards to join the effort at encouraging those in Texas.



The berries were stamped using my brown Archival ink and Hero Arts inks in yellow and orange.  This layering stamp is one of the easiest I've used to create an image.  The die was quick and easy to align to create the branch.


On this card, I changed it up by using my Starry Colors watercolors just to see what would happen with a bit of shimmer in the ink.  I like this version, too, but didn't think it was a bunch different.






I did try cutting the sentiment out with some foam sheets and glitter paper.  Not sure this was the easiest thing to do, but the finish was nice.  I also changed up the colors of ink - went for a Hero Arts plum color.



In the end, I couldn't find my favorite so I addressed all these cards to one of the first responder stations from Sandy's list and mailed them out with a handwritten note expressing my concerns and encouragement - I'm praying for them and their communities.  This was two weeks ago now (I've been a busy crafter, not a busy blogger!).

That's not where the story ends.  I am amazed at people's response in these times of stress and trouble.  I meant to encourage and didn't expect any acknowledgement in return.  Low and behold look what showed up in my mailbox earlier this week:


Once of the police stations wrote a handwritten note back to me, thanking me for my kind note and giving me this honorary patch.  Way more than anyone could expect!  I'm humbled and honored and ever so glad that I joined the effort.



Sunday, September 3, 2017

Monotone Cards



The ladies over at City Crafter Challenge Blog have challenged us to make monotone cards.  I was so inspired by what I saw (and in desperate need to some crafty time), I decided to whip together these cards based on the challenge.  I tried to play with different depths of color using my Mission Gold watercolors.  The backgrounds were made on Strathmore watercolor paper and the flowers were made by coloring some white cardstock with darker versions of the same watercolors, stamped with dye ink and then die cut using my Heartfelt Creations Birds and Blooms stamp and die set.



Some of the backgrounds worked better than others and I meant to have a scattering of flowers, but now look at them thinking they might be fuller or more closely spaced.  Either way, I think they turned out pretty and the recipient should feel my gratitude.

The sentiment is from the Honey Bee Bless Your Heart stamp set.


I ended up not liking how the flowers I colored for this darker background turned out, so I deviated from the challenge to create contrast.  I can't say which I like better...

I ended up with some cards I can use to bless someone for blessing me - a win-win since I also spent a considerable amount of crafty time and feel much more relaxed because of it.  Hoping your holiday (in the US at least) weekend has a little bit of crafty time.

I'm going to link up to the following challenges:

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Monotone Cards

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday's Week 298/299 - Anything Goes