Cathy's Favorite Projects of 2013

Happy Friday!  It's Cathy here. My turn to share my favorite projects from 2013.  As I went back through the year to find my fav's, I could really see that I did far less creating in 2013. I've got to work on that! I'm a much happier person when I get to create!

Wanted: Lost Socks

Wedding Favor Tic-Tac covers for my niece's wedding. (Apparently I never posted this to my blog!)

Spring Bouquet Box

Never a Dull Moment

Sketching with Silhouette

A Little Hello Card

Mixed Media Journal

Silent Night Canvas

They are each linked back to the original blog posts so you scan see the details on how they were made. Except for the wedding favors, which I apparently never shared. Ooops!

Pam shared her favorite pages from 2013 HERE. Over the next week or so many of the other Contributing Artists will also be sharing their favorite pages and projects too.  We hope this gets you inspired to create!

VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S BLOGS/GALLERIES
Cathy Dippolito
Dolores Schaeffer
Cindy deRosier
Lesley Walker
Gael Spence
Sarah Routledge
Sharon Fritchman
Tanya Ham
Sheila Burns
Pam Callaghan

Hybrid Mixed Media Journal

It's been a while, but I finally got to do some more She Art work!!  I love doing this type of art. The mixed media is so very pleasing to all my sensory needs!  It allows my creative process to flow, while I think through some deep thoughts and capture some!  It's an art journaling process.

For this one, I got to also play a bit digitally. Arty Pants Digital Stamps has released some really awesome digital stamp goodies that help make Femme images a real breeze!  Check them all out here.

I laid out my design in Photoshop, then printed the background. That got Mod Podged to a composition book.  I then printed the girl, the word strips and the embellishments separately. I fussy cut the girl and pieces and Mod Podged each layered on the journal. I used paints, bubble wrap, punchanella, inks, pens etc to shade, color and highlight.

Some areas got built up with gesso and modeling paste. Glitter got sprinkled on various layers including the lace, and the girls hair. Unfortunately we did not get any sun today to help with the photographs, so you'll just have to trust me that the bling is really nice!

Some gems were added to the flowers on her dress and in her hair. I doodled around the word strips that are layered on the journal.  Can you see how much fun this is?

I didn't need to add any rub-ons since the Extras by Arty Pants include some awesome stamps to make this super easy!

This beauty has already been delivered to a friend.  I hope she enjoys exploring her dreams and releasing her true beauty!

Sarah's Mixed Media Demonstration

With all the mixed media being used on layouts lately, I thought it might be nice to show all my scrappy friends a little demonstration of some different mediums! They are super fun to use and can have such an impact on your scrapbook pages. For this demonstration, I've used six different mediums and a Prima mask to show their different effects:  1. Gesso, 2. Light Molding Paste, 3. Modelling Paste, 4. Heavy Gel Medium, 5. White Texture Effect, and 6. Sparkle Texture Effect. The paint brush and 'credit card' are what I used to apply the mediums to the paper.

To start out with, I taped my stencil over my paper to make sure it didn't shift during the process of applying the media.

I then applied the different media to the appropriate sections of the page. I sponged the gesso on using the sponge brush - this gives the gesso a nice textured effect. I scraped the thicker media over the stencil using the 'credit card' - this is the easiest way to spread the medium fairly evenly.

Here is what the different media look like once they're dry.

And some close-ups of each of the different media so you can get a better idea of their effects on the page.

1. Gesso

2. Light Molding Paste

3. Modelling Paste

4. Heavy Gel Medium

5. White Texture Effect

6. Sparkle Texture Effect

Finally, I misted everything with a light coat of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist so that you could get an idea of how the different media react to misting!

I hope you liked this little Mixed Media demonstration and that it inspires you  give some different media a try on one of your scrapbook pages!

Happy Scrapping!

VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S BLOGS/GALLERIES

Cathy Dippolito

Dolores Schaeffer

Cindy deRosier

Marlene Murphy

Lesley Walker

Gael Spence

Sarah Routledge

Sharon Fritchman

Tanya Ham

Sheila Burns

Pam Callaghan

Mixed Media + Layout

I've been playing around with mixed media a bit lately and decided to finely put a bit of it on a layout.

 

 

This page is blue cardstock and on it I've used a Stencil and with it I used an artist's knife to smear Gesso over it.  This has resulted in the unusual yet nice 1/2 circular design in top right and bottom left corners.  Gesso is great for work on pages because it dries so quickly and doesn't warp your paper.  I've then cut a 12" circle using the new Martha Stewart Circle Punch, best product I've purchased in a long time, it takes all the guesswork and measuring out of creating circles and the bonus is that you get gorgeous edges as well.  I then cut another one using the same punch, that is only 6" across.  This punch cutes from 6 - 12 inch circles.  Then got into my flower stash which I can't help doing with my granddaughters pages, and a few other smaller embellishments from my stash, mainly the bird at the top and in the centre at the bottom is a cute little resin embellishment which has a butterfly on it, this was made by an Australian Company called Handmade Halo Designs and I love all there products.  Thank you for looking.

 

 

Texture Paste - One Product , Many Uses!

Hello, this is Anupama Choudary. I use mixed-media a lot on my pages...Glimmer mists,  Gesso, Texture Paste, Acrylic paints, Inks, Chalks and so on. Of all these, I reach for texture paint the most while scrapping.

I made this page Just Love featuring my kids last week for a couple of challenges and I want to show you how texture paint can serve many purposes.

1. You can use texture paint with a stencil or a mask to create a beautiful pattern on your layout.

2. Brushing texture paint lightly on embellishments can unify them visually. In other words, it helps to tie different colored flowers, etc. together.

3. I felt that the bling was drawing too much of attention and used the texture paste to tone down the stones. 

4. You can use the medium to dress up chipboard.

A lot of traditional scrapbookers feel overwhelmed by mixed media. Start small and enjoy the creative process with this versatile product. 

Happy Scrapping!

Dress up a Tin Box

Hi there, it's Cathy here with a hybrid project for you today.  What's hybrid? It's the combination of digital and tradition crafting. You may think that it requires an extra step of getting the digital products out of the computer and into your hands, but there are some great benefits to hybrid. The one I like best is that I can re-use digital papers over and over again!

The project I'm sharing today is dressing up a tin box. You could use this for presenting a special gift, or keep some cherished items in.

The digital papers that I used are from the digital Kit "Cherries Jubilee" by Kristin Cronin Barrow.
Here's how I made this box:
1. Select two digital papers to use for flowers and one for leaves.

2. Open digital paper selections in photo editing software and prepare for printing.

  3. Print selected digital papers on inkjet cardstock ( I used Red River Linen 60lb)

4. Use large and medium flower punch (Paper Shapers Retro Flower)to punch required number of petals to create flowers. For the twisted rose, punch three large flowers and one medium flower. For a rose, punch three large flowers. For the open rose, punch one large flower and two medium flowers. For the small rose, punch three medium flowers.

5.Work on a soft surface such as the back of a foam mouse pad. Create two twisted rose flowers. Use three large and one medium punched flower for each of these. Spritz the flowers lightly with water to make them easy to manipulate. Using tweezers, hold the middle of a petal and twist it about 90 percent.

 
6. Push the twisted petal in towards the middle of the flower. Repeat for the remaining petals on all three large punched flowers.

7. Using your fingers, scrunch medium punched flower in to a ball. The image below shows one punched medium flower and one that has been scrunched.

8. Lay one of the large punched twisted flowers on the work surface. Place a drop of liquid adhesive in the center (I used Beacon Adhesives 3-IN-1 Advanced Craft Glue). Layer another large punched twisted flower on top, alternating the petals. Use the handle of a small paint brush to push the center of the flower into the foam work surface to shape and adhere the flower. Repeat with third large punched twisted flower.

9. Add a drop of liquid adhesive in the center. Using tweezers, place the scrunched medium punched flower in the center to complete the twisted rose. Set aside to dry.

 

10. Create three rosettes. Use three medium punched flowers for each. Push the center of one of the flowers into the foam surface using the handle of a small paint brush.

11. Repeat step 10 for the two remaining medium punched flowers, making them each slightly tighter than the previous flower. There will be three shaped flowers pieces of varying openness as shown in the image below.

12. Layer the three shaped flower pieces starting with the most open on the bottom. Add a drop of liquid adhesive in the center and layer the middle open flower piece on top. Add a drop of liquid adhesive to the bottom of the tightest flower piece. Using tweezers, insert it into the middle of the two layered flowers to complete the rosette. Set aside to dry.

13. Create one rose. Use three large punched flowers. Use the handle of a small paint brush or stylus to curl the petals on one punched flower under.

14. Using the handle of a small paint brush, push the center of the remaining two large punched flowers into the foam surface.

 
15. Make one of the flowers tighter by squeezing it against the handle of the paint brush.

16. Layer the three shaped flower pieces using the same technique that was used to layer the rosettes. Start with the most open flower on the bottom and end with the tightest flower on the top. The image below shows the three shaped layers, most open on the right and tightest on the left.

17. This completes the creation of the flowers. See image below to identify each flower type.

 
18. Punch leaves from green digital paper.

19. Prepare the tin by coloring it with inks. Color the outside of the lid and base. Simply place dots of alcohol ink on the tin surface. Use an alcohol ink applicator tool to spread or overlap the inks if desired. Allow the inks to dry. Below is a picture of the tin prior to coloring with the inks. The inked tin is seen below in step 20.

20. Once the ink has dried, spray the lid and base of the tin with Beacon Decoupage Gloss Sealer. This will seal the inks and provide a nice smooth, glossy surface to the tin.

 
21. Wrap ribbon around the lid of the tin using fabric adhesive (I used Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac)

22. Adhere rhinestone sticker to lid.

23. Cut dimensional glue dots in fourths using non stick scissors

 
24. Use the cut glue dots to adhere the flowers and leaves to lid.

Here are some additional photos of the tin.