Last summer I participated in a Finnabair class. I have always loved her style and craft elegance. After the class I can honestly say she is one of the most talented, incredible and lovely people you can hope to meet. Her teaching ability is as great as her talent.
The class focused on building layers using an image as a focal point, gesso, sprays, little treasures you find around your home and odds and ends from other craft projects.
I'm participating in another Finnabair class this July. This time we'll be working with paper instead of canvas and although I didn't think I could top last year's excitement, I am simply over the moon with anticipation.
I made this masculine birthday card for a friend a little while ago using prima julie nutting aidan, my trusty and well loved brick stencil and pumice modeling paste. I sprayed the pumice bricks with dylusion sprays (squeezed orange and cherry pie) and primary elements artist black emerald. I absolutely adore finnabair's primary element artist pigments. Such incredibly beautiful colours. Have you seen dragonfly wings? Stunning. Simply. Stunning.
Aidan was coloured with distress inks (pumice stone, vintage photo, black soot, weathered wood) and markers.
I'm currently working on a whole bunch of new projects using a whole bunch of new product. I think my favs (memory box, tim holtz, mft, finnabair,gorjuss, elizabeth craft designs) have outdone themselves this season(don't worry mr.everythingshetouches I have shown some restraint).
I also have some very fun class crafts to post. Two dragon bits (an eye and an egg) and a finnabair project canvas.
What has been your favourite new product that you purchased this season?
I have two wonderful mothers with tremendous style. My mom loves everything New York and my mother-in-law is enamored with European style and Italy. I decided to design their Mother's Day cards around Tim Holtz's runway and cityscapes stamp sets and Penny Black's venetian summer stamp with a bokeh background.
I inked up 130lb watercolour paper with peacock feathers, mermaid lagoon and cracked pistachio, sprayed it with water and heat set it. Once dried I inked different sized circles with brilliance moonlight white and stamped the united states skyline directly onto the background. This lovely runway fashionista was stamped onto 130lb white cardstock and embossed with clear embossing powder to give her a little more dimension and sheen. I coloured her in with purple and copper permanent markers.
For the Italian fashionista, I inked the 130lb watercolour paper with abandoned coral and picked raspberry. As I did for the U.S. card, I inked different sized circles with brilliance moonlight white and stamped Penny Black's venetian summer stamp onto 130lb white cardstock and embossed it with clear embossing powder and highlighted the hat and dress with purple and copper embossing powders. Getting embossing powder to go where you want it to go is really a feat. I painted on versamark, added the powder and with a second brush I brushed away the excess powder. I love the results and it was well worth the time.
Happy Mother's Day! Thank you to all the amazing women who on a daily basis make incredible differences in people's lives. Your love and caring bring happiness, security and joy. All the best xx
I have been wanting to play along with mr. holtz in a monthly tag adventure for a super long time and I finally did it.
As many of you know, I cannot help but add my own style to whatever I do. I was planning on making two tags; one that more closely resembled tim's version and a second which followed the same techniques with some interpretation. The first tag never happened. I simply ran out of time to craft it.
So here is my interpretation of tim's march 2015 tag:
In lieu of tissue tape I stamped tim holtz flower garden petals onto tissue paper with black archival ink and adhered it to a manila tag using gel medium. I added mustard seed, abandoned coral, cracked pistachio and salty ocean distress paints using tim's paint swipe technique and once dry, I doodled with a white gel pen.
I stamped and clear-embossed one of the crazy birds over the tissue paper images and paint. By chance, and less by design, he ended up over the flower with petals which look like bird feathers so I simply emphasized the feathers with my white gel pen.
I added the tracks using tim holtz tracks stencil, gel medium, silver paint and glitter paint. After I peeled off the stencil I covered the wet medium with silver embossing powder. When heated it has a gritty silver texture.
The crinkle ribbon was dipped into tea dye and salty ocean distress paint and heat set.
Thank you mr. holtz for great craft fun. I'm looking forward to April's tag!
I am entering my tag in the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #10 Birds of a Feather.
Resolutions have never been my strength. They tend to be monster-sized goals that seize your attention for a few weeks until your best friend says to you, as you're carrying your gym bag out to the car with the greenest of green smoothies, there is a super sale at (you fill in the blank) and we will need humungous lattes to survive the rush. Resolutions can be behemoths if you let them.
But resolutions really are simply goals; we just tend to make them at a critical time when the world is bellowing sentiment of new beginnings and fresh starts. Therefore we often take a reasonable, probably meaningful, goal and turn the little critter into a mountain of an accomplishment.
With that said, I have made two "resolutions" this year (I have many goals but two of which I really want to be mindful): (1) Organize better so that I may (2) spend more time with family and friends. The first resolution may surprise those of you who know me. I am quite the organized person. Everything has a home and events and activities are always well planned and prepared. What I need is a schedule.
I read this article (Here’s What You Should Do Instead Of Making New Year’s Resolutions It’s called a “rememberlutions” jar and it’ll make you feel good all year) posted by Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine and decided to, in addition to my two resolutions, celebrate the smaller resolution successes as they come as well as all of the magnificent things, memories and accomplishments over the next twelve months by creating my own rememberlutions jar.
That coupled with our design team inspiration, I was off to the races.
I created a pendant for each of the four seasons of the year so that I have something to look forward to at the end of each season as the jar turns.
winter:
spring:
summer:
autumn:
And here they are all together and assembled:
Whether you create resolutions this year or a rememberlutions jar, do what makes you feel good, makes you giggle and smile and let's you celebrate you all year long.
I'm entering my rememberlutions jar in the Sweet Stampin Challenge: New, Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #8: Something New for the New Year and Anything But A Card Challenge New Beginnings. The rememberlutions jar is a new project created for the new year.
Now that the gifts (almost all) have been given and the cards (nearly all) have been sent it's time to wrap up 2014 with a holiday card post that will inspire, if not for this season, than possibly for next year. Here are my holiday card templates for 2014.
I have also included the card Alex made for his teacher this year. The design was provided by Dawn (The Inked Stamper), the details and layout were all Alex's ideas and I tied the bow. Come on. It's a very nicely tied bow.
Enjoy, my blogosphere peeps and I will see you in the new year.
I am entering happy winter in Simon Says Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge.
