Life Outside the Fishbowl

Learn Something New Every Day - 2011

A few more pages for my minibook from earlier this month. I'm behind, but slowly making progress. Slowly. And using lots & lots of old alpha stickers & rub-ons!

Ah the joys of summer homework. And of all the things it takes to get the kids to actually do it. Thomas was really good about his summer math packet. Wish I could say the same for Rachel's summer reading.

So on Saturday we found ourselves at the mall. In the Lego shop. And, as usual, the kids wanted toys. I decided to make a bargain with them. They could pick out a Lego (Hero Factory is their new thing) and I'd buy it. However, they could not even open the box until their summer work was done.

And, going along with that.....

The day before school. Things have to be finished. And, although we thought it would be quick & simple (at least for Thomas) it took literally all morning long. Rachel was another story altogether.... tantrums & crying - all over two pieces of paper.

Friday night - we lost power thanks to a tropical storm.  Luckily we had just gotten take out for dinner! After that - game night! We had a fun, racous game of Life. I can't believe my husband never played that game before.

And - finally - the rain was done and the sun came out. It'd been raining since Sunday. And if it wasn't raining then it was dark & overcast.

Spooktacular Tag Class

Halloween and Tim Holtz? Yes, please! 

Come join me in making six Halloween tags, chock full of techniques and goodies.  We'll be doing resists, embossing, inking, image transfers and paining and using a variety of materials such as canvas, glossy paper and shrink plastic.

And with a bit of New Moon thrown in (book pages, that is) ... it'll be a howling good time ;)

The class is Tuesday, October 18th from 11 - 2:30. You can get more information and sign up at ScrapbooksPlus.

Learn Something New Every Day - 2011

I've been working on my minibook slowly. A couple minutes here - a couple minutes there. Tonight I took a good half hour and got out all my old Thickers, rub-ons and other assorted alphas to finish a few pages.

Here's two of them:

September 2nd - I tried out a couple of things I was learning in Alissa Burke's online class on surface design. Very free form - I quickly sketched a couple of circles and just started carving. I also learned to watch how deep you carve, as the material will split in two.

Yes, I resorted to bribery to get my kids to quickly finish up their summer homework. They got to pick out Legos at the Lego store - but couldn't open them up or keep them until they were done.

Thomas - worked like a charm. He immediately went to work on the last of his math packet.

Rachel - mixed success. She was interested and finished one book paper quickly, then complained the rest of the day and got nothing done - except for several tantrums. However, she was sick at the time (unbeknownst to us). The Legos did their trick on Wednesday, when she was still home from school but feeling better.

4x6 Photo Love

Every month Shimelle's been featuring a sketch with the number of photos increasing each month. We had recently gotten back from England - with almost 650 pictures - when I saw August's post.

Bring it on! I had just gotten my September DT from ScrapbooksPlus, filled with Basic Grey's Oxford collection and Simple Stories die cut sheets. I added some items from House of Three's  Daily Junque and some Thickers.

The beauty of this design is that you have, essentially, two layouts that overlap. The top layout is smaller. I made mine eight inches tall, however, it's not flush with the bottom of the back layout.

My 8x12 front page covers up a block of 4x6 photos (and one journaling block). The interior of the flap, too, coordinates with the other pages:

I can't wait to see what's up her sleeve for October!

Art Journaling - Dimensional Cover

Because you apparently can't have enough art journals (um, I'm at around five or six...) I started another one. I picked up a Canson multi-media book - a large one. This one was for OWSE's art journal club.

Robyn gave us a challenge back in August before we left for England to do something with dimension for the cover - modeling paste, bead gel, etc.

After a bit of thought (and several weeks), I had a plan. I first put down a layer of gesso on the cover. Once it was dry I picked up one of my favorite stencils and my modeling paste. Using a palette knife, I spread the paste over the stencil. I didn't smooth it out, I liked the texture I was getting.

After letting it dry overnight, I grabbed the two reinkers from Jenni Bowlin (thanks again - you guys rock!) and decided to just make drops on the cover. I used a mini mister to spray the drops and I loved how the ink moved. The colors are Speckled Egg and Weather Vane.

I found that trying to blot some of liquid took away the color, so I added more ink and a bit more water. And then some Frayed Burlap distress ink reinker. Then I dried it with my heat gun.

After drying the ink, I grabbed some Liquitex and FW inks, lightly applying them inside circles then using my fingers to move the ink around. Once that was dry, I lightly went over the circles with distress ink to accentuate all the texture then dry brushed over that with a bit of Golden's Transparent Red Iron Oxide. Next, I used a bit of Jenni Bowlin's Speckled Egg paint dauber around the outside of the cover.

 

Then - on to a bit of decorating. I grabbed a couple stamps from Red Lead Paperworks (bird themed) and decided to stamp inside some of the circles with archival ink. I placed the mask back over the cover, then used sticky notes to mask off the surrounding areas.

A bit more paint with punchinella around the edges, a bit more stamping....

Learn Something New Every Day - 2011

I'm way behind this year and maybe my first lesson should be the theme for this month.

Yup, not only was my schedule turned around and messed up on the 1st, but the rest of the month has followed suit so far. Nothing like passing a little stomach bug 'round the house.....

I also thought it'd be fun to include photos mainly from my iPhone. I usually use the Hipstamatic app, but I recently added Scratchcam and so I've been snapping with those. I also am trying to really use up scraps and older stash. So, I've included old Thickers (really trying to use these up), journaling cards and die cuts from the Girls Paperie (have a whole packet of these).

Here's the backside of day 1. I did a Scratchcam of my calendar.

While I've got bits and pieces done for most of the days inbetween, I was able to put together a page for yesterday in a snap. I signed up for Jen McGuire's Inspiration Showcase and in a burst of energy tried out all the different resist techniques featured on the first day. I'd done some of the techniques before, but never tried a traditional resist. And I learned that I need to stop stamping on my table, as it's gotten a bit warped in the middle {groan}.

So, I took a couple of the pieces I was playing around with and used those on my page. More old stickers and some washi tape.... and you see the Jenni Bowlin paint...

Supplies (best as I can):

Ranger glossy paper, Distress Ink; American Crafts Thickers; Maya Road Sheers; Sassafras Lass paper posies; Girls' Paperie On Holiday die cuts; Hero Arts stamps; Jenni Bowlin foam stamps, ink and paint daubber; washi tape; Tsukineko Memento ink; My Mind's Eye paper; Making Memories tiny alphas; 7Gypsies card and sticker; dictionary paper (Red Lead Paperworks); Luxe rub ons

Huge Thanks to Jenni Bowlin!!

I never win contests, so I was shocked - and thrilled - to find out I won a blog contest by Jenni Bowlin. They were giving away some of their new products from summer CHA. Well, about a week ago I got a wonderful box in the mail - paint daubber, inks, reinkers and cool foam stamps.

However, before I could do much with it, let alone thank the wonderful people at Jenni Bowlin, life got in the way. Rachel got a stomach bug/flu thing and promptly passed it on to Tom, who gave it to me. So...

In the few minutes I've managed to grab here and there I've been playing with these. I discovered that I like dripping the reinkers onto art journal pages - I used it on the cover of one album which I'll post tomorrow. I've been stamping my little heart out with the foam stamps, inks and paint.  You can see one example here. I'm also using the paint in my Learn Something New Every Day mini, stamping on each page somehow with the daubber.

Shimelle - Start a Sketch

I liked Shimelle's idea of showing the beginning of a layout, then letting everyone go from there. I really liked that I could grab and layer lots of scraps - something I'm trying hard to use this month.

I'll post this quickly - Rachel was kind enough to pass on her stomach bug to both me and my husband - and then I'm going back to lay down on the couch. I did two layouts from the sketch on Friday, one of which is complete.

Seven pieces of scrap paper! Last year's sticker and a background sheet that's at least two years old!

Learn Something New Every Day - 2011

I'm off to a slow start this year, but that's alright. I spent a good chunk of time yesterday going through my scrap bin, sorting, organizing and purging. One of my goals for this project is to use as many pieces of scraps and older products as I can -- stuff that I had to have, but that's been sitting in my stash since then. And, try to keep it less dimensional this year so that my book will still fit into the binding!

Since it's been raining cats and dogs here, I spent most of the past few days at my desk. I finished the dictionary cover for my Learn Something New Every Day project. I used Jenni Bowlin paint with both a Donna Downey stamp and a new Jenni Bowlin foam stamp (more later!). I layered a bunch of scraps and dug through my alpha sticker bin (and made a bit of a dent!).

Here's the entire cover. I'm thinking right now that I wait until the pages are complete before binding the book - that way it'll be easier to paint and stamp the pages.

Supplies:

Jenni Bowlin: Speckled Egg Paint Daubber, Whimsical Foam Stamps, and Mini Chalkboard alphas, Donna Downey Delicate Flower stamp, dictionary paper, Echo Park For the Record alphas, Studio Calico alphas, Sassafras Lass Script alphas, a Susie Bentz handmade ticket, an old 7gypsies sticker, and a couple other scraps.

 

A New Found Love of Burlap

I look forwards to Thursday's Washington Post - for the Living section. This week I was not disappointed. They had a wonderful article on the couple behind the Velvet and Linen blog. It's total eye candy. They have a book out, hence the article -- which is something I'll look for next time I'm at Barnes & Noble.

But what really caught my eye was their talk of using burlap and Home Depot dropcloths for upholstry. Including this burlap headboard:

I've spent more time today than I care to admit searching the net for burlap items - bed frames, pillows, tablecloths, etc. And there will definitely be some burlap in my future. I'm thinking of using burlap to make an 18" x 18" pin board for my craft area wall, among other projects.