Thankful Scrapbook Page Featuring The Crafters Workshop Products

Hi friends! Today I'm sharing one of my Crafters Workshop projects that I created a few months ago. (To be honest, I have so many things to share...I just need to find some time to blog! And...I've been working on creating videos! Need to work through my technical issues, mostly with my very old and slow PC, but am hoping to have some new videos to share soon...stay tuned!!) OK, back to the project!

I'm sharing a step-by-step tutorial of how I created this scrapbook page...it was super easy!

I started with a piece of 12x12 cardstock, the Zia Sun Bit (TCW2016) and three coordinating Dylusions Ink Sprays. I laid the mask on the paper, gave one good spritz with an ink spray, and then moved the mask, and sprayed again with a different color. Here's the first half of my page:

Next, I used the Tribal Fish (TCW594) stencil, three more coordinating ink sprays and followed the same steps listed above.

Once my ink sprays were completely dry, I added some stamping using the brand new Seth Apter stamps...LOVE them...by stamping in black Archival Ink. Next, I selected my photo and added a bunch of designer papers and embellishments. It's really all about layering papers, die cuts, words, pins, whatever you have on hand. Here are a few close up shots of my completed scrapbook page...A list of the products I used, stencils, stamps, etc. are linked at the end of the post.

Thanks so much for joining me today! Happy Crafting!

Supplies:

-Tribal Fish Stencil (The Crafters Workshop)

-Zia Sun Bit (The Crafters Workshop)

-Dylusions Ink Sprays

-Seth Apter Stamps - Solar System

-Catherine Scanlon Stamp - Words of Wisdom

-Wendy Vecchi Art Parts - Banners

-Tim Holtz - Chit Chat Stickers

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 8

A quick and easy project to share with you today, using decorative napkins! Seriously, this is genius! I know, folks have been using napkins for all kinds of craft projects, but this is the first time I dipped my toe in the napkin waters, and let me tell you, the water was fine!

My only challenge? Finding napkins! Where do you find those babies? I ended up finding these stashed in my kitchen pantry, a left over (I think from the dollar store) from last Thanksgiving. And what do you know, these napkins contain a few of my favorite things...flowers, script text, and butterflies. That's a happy find! Now that I've collaged with these napkins...I need more!

This layout was based upon Donna's IW video from a few weeks ago. It's a simple project, consisting of napkins, a few manila tags, stamps, and some Distress Ink. The beautiful "Hello Sunshine" stamp, which goes perfectly with the napkin design, is from my sweet friend Catherine Scanlon. You can find all of her stamps here. The other random stamp designs, seen on the smaller tags, are from Prima. And, yes, the number 49 is my age...but a few more months until the big 5-0! Ugh...I'm going to need a month long crafting spree to get over that hump! LOL!

Hope you enjoy today's layout...happy crafting!

Inspiration Wednesday Week 2

Happy Monday! It's a great day to make ART! Today I'm sharing my next Inspiration Wednesday project. Woot! Woot! (See the end of my post for supply list)

This week Donna impressed us with not just another wonderful art journal layout, designed to inspire and encourage, but she also had fun burning some of her pages! Seriously, her videos are so much fun to watch...you just never know what she's going to come up with or what technique she's going to try! The look of the burnt page edges is pretty darn cool...(PS - Always burn near a sink or big bucket of water!)

When I told my kids that I was going to try burning some of my pages, they almost fainted! "Mom!" they exclaimed, "You can't be serious! You're going to burn the house down!" LOL! Thankfully, I wasn't very successful with burning the edges of my pages as the flame would go out as soon as it hit the grunge paste. It was if the grunge paste wouldn't burn...maybe that's a good thing...

This week's lesson was all about paste, glaze, and clusters of goodness. I combined a whole bunch of trinkets on my left page, using an already gelli printed chipboard coaster as the base. That fun light bulb chipboard piece is from Blue Fern Studios...love their stuff! I also added a bunch of other fun goodies, such as a partial tag (see the burnt edge!), buttons, a piece of crinkly plastic, and material. The coaster was embedded into the wet paste and then the other elements were glued on top once the paste was dry, which took overnight.

Donna also experimented with mark making in wet paste. That was super fun and looks amazing once you had the glaze. (I used a combo of Golden paint and Glazing Medium to create the rust color)

The right hand page also featured some pieces of masking tape, also embedded in the wet paste, vintage text, another tag top, and a few other goodies. My sentiment, by Catherine Scanlon, is also featured on this page.

Now can we just stop a minute and talk about the inclusion. Do you see that circle in the middle of the inclusion? Oh man, that makes me do the happy dance. I LOVE it! It was created by accident when I was applying paste to the other side of the paper...this side ended up pressing into the coaster. When I pulled the paper up, that circle was left behind..swoon...Once the glaze was added, it appeared by magic. A few random numbers added to this page and this week's lesson was complete!

This was a really quick project to complete, once the paste was dry. There was a boatload of paste on these two pages and it look almost 24 hours for it to completely dry. 

I hope you enjoyed today's project and if you're interested in learning how to make projects like this one, sign up for Donna's Inspiration Wednesday videos...it's only $35 for the entire year! 

Supplies:

-Donna Downey Art Journal

-PaperArtsy Grunge Paste (You can also use molding paste or Wendy Vecchi embossing paste, which is my preferred paste)

-Golden Fluid Acrylics - Quinacridone Nicket Azo Gold

-Glazing Medium

-Catherine Scanlon Stamp - Words of Wisdom 3

-Blue Fern Studios Chipboard

Dream Art Journal Layout with NEW Donna Downey Stencils

 

Hi folks!  I'm back with a two-page art journal layout that I created after grabbing a large handful of Donna Downey's new stencils...LOVE 'em and had a hard time not buying all of them to add to my ever growing stash of stencils!  Today I've created a photo tutorial for you so pull up a chair, get comfy, and read on!

 

Step 1 (photos above and below) - I start any painted pages in my journal by applying gesso.  The gesso preps the paper and keeps the paint from soaking into the paper.  (If using ink sprays, don't gesso).  Once my gesso was dry, I wanted to add some texture to the page (something that would be painted over) but didn't want anything as thick as embossing paste.  Donna uses this tape product on her journal pages that I adore but since I had no such product in my stash, I peeled off the backing of a sticker sheet and applied the entire piece to the middle of my layout.

 Step 2 - I used Dina Wakley's acrylic paints to add color over the entire layout.  This is a combination of Sky, Lapis, and Night.  I adore Dina's acrylic paints...they're heavy bodied and mix beautifully.  (Forgive the never ending glare of my work light...)

 Step 3 - I used Wendy Vecchi's white embossing paste and Donna's NEW Bloom Group stencil to add the main image on my left hand page.  Note that the flower stems are not as long as shown.  I had to lay down the stencil a second time to increase the steam length to the bottom of my page and I also added two more flowers.  While my paste was drying, I added four book text circles on the right hand side of my layout.

 Step 4 - My favorite step...Paint!  I again used Dina's paints to paint the flowers.  I put the stencil back over the dry paste to minimize any paint oozing on to the background, in between the flower petals.  I used Magenta and Ruby on the large flowers and Tangerine, Lemon, and a hint of Umber on the smaller flowers.  I also used a white paint pen to add a few highlights, after the paint was dry.

 Step 5 - Are you confused by this step?  These are my text circles, surrounded by more white embossing paste. The centers of each circle was covered with translucent paste (also from Wendy Vecchi).  Wait until you see what happens when the translucent paste dries...

 Step 6 - I used an older Prima stencil (I think it was Prima) and Dylusions White Linen ink spray to add a bit of design to the background.  I also used more Magenta and Ruby paint to the now dry embossing paste that is surrounding my text circles.

Here's a closer look a the circles...see that glare off of the Love circle?  The translucent paste dries clear and with a glossy finish.  My text circles are now encased in paste...it's very cool!

 Step 6 to the end - (I confess that I got a bit caught up in all the creative fun and missed a few photos!) - I used Higgins black ink to add black circles and DRIPS around each circle and then also added just a few drops of ink on the left hand side of the layout.  I stamped the words using a Catherine Scanlon stamp set....they fit perfectly!!  I then finished with a date stamp...very Donna Downey style. :-)

I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial and layout!  I really must get some better lighting in my studio, right?  I'll work on that next week...if I can start making art!!

In other news...I've officially announced that I'm closing eclectic Paperie (not for lack of success...this girl just really needs her life back!)  The entire store is now 20% off...head on over and grab yourself some paint, journals, paper, and stencils and then get to work on your own art journal!  Used code EP20 when checking out!  Craft On!

Mixed Media Book with Catherine Scanlon Stamps

Welcome to day three of eclectic Paperie's 12 Days of Christmas Celebration!  WooHoo!  It has been an exciting few days and I have been amazed by the beautiful projects posted by our design team...they are the BEST!  And I'm thrilled to be sharing a handmade book project with you today, featuring today's product...Catherine Scanlon stamps!  Catherine is an amazing artist and I was so excited when she launched her stamp and stencil line.  And today only, you can save 30% on one of Catherine's stamps, when you buy one at full price!  Wow, great deal!

I created a video for today's project, which will walk you through the steps needed to re-create a similar book.  And you'll find links for all of the products that I used at the end of the post.  I'm not going to post all of the photos here in the post as you'll see the completed project in the video.  Enjoy!

My cover featured this beautiful Black Eyed Susan image, drawn by Catherine.  The sentiment is also from her new line.  I used Art Anthology sprays to color the paper and a variety of stencils for decoration.  Again, all product links at the end of the post.

The inside cover featured an embossed piece of scrap paper that I had created for another project.  The coloring was perfect for this product and I loved that there was also a gesso resist technique used on the scrap.  Check out my gesso resist video for more details on that technique.  I had the home card in my stash and added the rest of the sentiment using some tiny letter stamps.  One of Catherine Twinchies stamps is above the card.

I'm not the best at journaling, although I should try to do more as it's a great way to record your thoughts, but I love using quote stamps and this big long one from Tim was perfect to fill the page.  I really like stamping directly onto a photo as well.

Seriously, aren't these the moments that make the hard task of parenting all worth it.  Just look at my crazy boys, wearing cardstock masks...and the look my youngest is giving my oldest is priceless.  I adore this photo!  The "so love these moments" stamp is from Ali Edwards.

Another favorite photo...and a great sentiment, stamped in black, and more words above, which have been stenciled.  And a big number eight to signify his age when this photo was taken.  Sigh...that both of my kids would be fearless...not in a reckless way but in a way that keeps them doing what is right and pursuing their dreams.

Inside back cover, with another piece of scrap paper, a card, sentiment, and part of a Twinchies image.  And see my mess up date stamp?  I even like that!!  Embrace the imperfection!!

Check out the full video below, along with all of the product links!  Enjoy!


Supply List:
Catherine Scanlon Stamps (Black Eyed Susan, Twinchies, Good Advice)
Wendy Vecchi Stencils (Three Flourishes and Bar Codes)
Dylusions Stencil (Leaf Flourish)
The Crafters Workshop Stencils (Tiny Circles, US Map, and Cursive Alpha)
Art Anthology Sprays (Timeless and Peacock Feathers)
Claudine Hellmuth Gesso
Copic Markers
Distress Inks (Mustard Seed, Pumice Stone, Gathered Twigs, Pine Needles)
Strathmore Mixed Media Paper


PS - Just realized I have a typo in my video...saying today is the 12th instead of the 11th!  Oopppss...it's late! LOL!