To My Hunny Bunny - A Valentine's Day Card

Some of my favorite cards are the ones that are pretty easy to put together.  I get to use up my stash items, and fun finds, and BOOM...I'm done!  This is the perfect way to use up scraps, alphabet stickers, die-cut stickers, mist, and rub-ons!

There's lots of Studio Calico goodness here for you!  Studio Calico was gracious enough to provide some Scrapbook News and Review staffers with fun goodies to use in an SNR event a couple years ago.  These were one of my favorite manufacturers to work with.

Here are some fun elements of the card:

1) I used leftover strips and showcased the different patterned papers and patterned die-cut stickers on this card.  Just arrange them in a way that pleases you or use a sketch to help you with your design.

2) Instead of stamps or fancy sentiment embellishments, spell out your greeting with alphabet stickers.  If you're a hoarder like me, you probably have tons of these laying around!  Mix and match fonts from leftover sticker sheets!  As long as the colors work, you're golden!

3) Same with rub-ons - hunt through your stash and find phrases that would work with your card.  Team them up with letter stickers to create your sentiment.

4)  For a splash of fun color, I spritzed some green mist onto my card before I added the rub-ons and letters.

5)  Not sure how to use veneer pieces?  I just added them to this card just the way they were.  Use some strong glue to stick them onto each other and onto the front of your card.  I like E-6000!

See where your creative mind takes you.  Gather some coordinating papers, embellishments, stickers, rub-ons, and any other stash items you need to use up and go to town!  Make more than one card in one sitting and save them for future use!

I have a photo box full of cards I create for an event or on a whim.  If you need some therapeutic time to yourself, this is the perfect project for you!  Throw on some music, sip on some coffee (or wine) and you'll finish knowing you've created some cards to use later, you've had time to decompress from your daily duties, and hopefully you feel refreshed and productive all at the same time!

What crafty projects bring you the most joy?  Do you use scrappy creating as therapy?

This year as part of my Goals of 2014, I plan on dedicating some time here and there to creating cards.  What I like about creating cards is I GIVE them away and they don't take up room in my craft room!  Start now to build your card stash or plan to create a lovely scrapbook for a beloved family member or friend.  If you start now, you'll have an impressive scrapbook to gift by the Holidays!

Misty Drips and Gesso

Not only am I lucky enough to be an instructor at The Art Studio, but I'm blessed with talented peers from which to draw knowledge and inspiration from!  I recently took Heidi Myers Mists: Not Just Point and Shoot class and it has opened the door to new possibilities for me!  (Note: It says registration has closed but it's SELF-PACED so you can access all the materials at once, just buy!)

Here is a sneak of a project featured in the September 2012 issue I just created.  I was able to apply some techniques I learned in Heidi's class.  I am in LOVE with this creation!  I can think of so many offshoots to this project and I can't wait to get in my craft room after this post to play with misty goodness some more!

And I am EDGE OF MY SEAT excited about Kate Koch's class:

 

Class starts August 11th!  Here's a CLASS DESCRIPTION:

All right. Raise your hand if you know what gesso is. One, three seven, eight...that’s it? I kid. Sort of. Gesso is one of those silly paradox types of products. Paper crafters tend to see gesso as something only a true artist (whatever that means) would use and true artists (let me know if you have a definition of one) tend to think what paper crafters do with it is ridiculous.

Well, that’s what I was recently told by an art school professor who was flipping through one of my scrapbooks and couldn’t get over how much gesso I use and in “such absurd and non-traditional ways.” Pfft. What’s traditional? Doesn’t being creative with a product that’s basically a primer make me a true artist? (Let the record show that she didn’t have an answer for that one.)

As I watched her thumb through the pages and scratch at things with her fingernails (can’t imagine how she’d take it if I went around scratching on her carefully placed fine art wall hangings, but I digress), I realized I’m one of those paper crafters who likes to do ridiculous things with gesso.

Want to slap this crazy label on your forehead? If so, then this class is perfect for you and it’s taught by a true gesso fiend. Now I can’t make you a list of all the things you’ll learn in this class cause then what would you need to take it for, right? But what I can tell you is that it’s more than just a primer or an adhesive and my obsession goes way beyond swipe and paint.

In Gesso: It’s More than Just a Primer, I’ll teach you the basics and how to apply it correctly (cause it really does matter!), simple uses for it, the way it was intended to be used (to make Ms. Prissy Professor Pants happy) and then get you thinking way outside the proverbial box.

Sadly, that’s all I can tell you but if you gather some stencils and some glitter and some sparkly stuff and some embellishments and some photos and oh heck, just sit in the middle of your scrap space and be ready to reach for anything and everything cause if gesso can stick to it (unfortunately, it doesn't stick to everything), you’ll learn how to slap it on there and do some mighty cool tricks with it.

I guess you’ll just have to jump in to the fray and find out if it’s worth the hype. Now, as with my other classes, I put a strict student cap on my classes so if you want in, then click on that Save My Spot button now and make your voice heard. Otherwise, when you do get around to buying that “kooky girl’s gesso class” and you click on the button, you may see the words “Class Sold Out” and you’ll be wishing you had listened to me in the first place. Go ahead, I dare you. Press the button.

SAVE A SPOT, because it will fill up FAST!  Katie will be there in the Group Area of the class helping you with whatever you need.  Take advantage of her presence, she's a wealth of knowledge!

Oh, and I hear you need to get a gigantic bottle of gesso for the class!!!  I  know I need to go BACK to the craft store for more!

Ha ha...I know....LONG POST, but I can't say goodbye without some quick eye candy, right?


(click on images for supply lists if you're curious)

Had some digi fun scrapping about my niece and nephew.  Gorgeous kids.  They're growing so fast!




This one's a hybrid scrapbook page about how the Kao Clan has this awful ugly FACE we make.  It seems to pop up when you least expect it!




I love this paint-splattered card made with stickers and rub-ons!




And, we can't forget my roots....ha ha...a traditional scrapbook page with lots of prints and a burst of red!

All creations were featured in Scrapbook News and Review Magazine this year!

Just finishing out the rest of my summer trying to get all our old stuff out of the house!  I'm hoping to get a garage sale going in the next couple of weeks!  I seriously don't care what I sell everything for, just that I get it OUT of the house!  It would feel sooooo nice!

I hope you're having a great Summer so far!