Mending, finally!

As of Tuesday I started feeling much better and even started back to my walking routine.  Jasmine has been accompanying me and I am amazed at just how far her little 4" legs will take her. Today we went 3.0 miles and I'd bet she'd be ready for 3.0 more if I got out the leash again.  LOL!!

My creative time has been spent catching up on my Project Life pages this week. They're rather boring but I do have a few more cards to share.

These first two use supplies from an old Simon Says Stamp Card kit.  Very simple, but fun.

I got the design idea for this next one from one of Catherine's pins.  It's a great way to use up scraps.

This last one is one of my all time favorites.  It took me forever to make (paper pieced the animals) but I had someone special in mind.  She loves hippos and I wanted something unique for her 14th birthday.  Lawn Fawn has a stamp set available with this sentiment but I improvised with the supplies I had.

I just really love the way it turned out.  (BTW, I got some smudges from the gel pen I used on the eyes and nose but I fixed them after taking this photo.)  Meg's BFF loved it too.  (As a side note, Meg has already informed me that she wants a cute whale card for her birthday.   LOL!)

Speaking of Meg, she loved her Easter basket but especially loved that we did an egg hunt, something she's really missed the last couple of years.  She was so happy that she didn't even balk at photos.  :-) Here's one of my favorites, enhanced with a few fun RadLab photo filters.

Baby Girl is growing up.

Channeling my "Inner Julie"

Happy Easter!  I've been down and out with a cold so it's been a "lost" week for me.   (Hate when that happens....grrr!)  Hopefully I'm feeling better by tomorrow.

I have some cards to share that I created about a month ago, prior to the Clean & Simple Class.  As I've mentioned before, my current favorite card designer is Julie Ebersole.  In addition to releasing videos on her YouTube Channel she also hosts the Make It Monday feature on the Ellen Hutson YouTube Channel for her storefront by the same name.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I stalk both channels.

I love everything she creates but the minute I saw this one I knew I had to copy it.

Isn't it gorgeous?   Here are my versions....

I prefer her thinner border to my thicker one but this is the size of watercolor paper I happened to have on hand at the time.  I also didn't have the gold Delicata ink she used so I had to improvise.   That said, I still love "my" cards.


Channeling my "inner Julie" I created two more cards.  This next one uses the same typewriter stamp but with a patterned paper background.

And for this one I used the camera stamp from the same set.  

I can also credit JulieE for the start of many hours of mother/daughter bonding.  It was in the making of these cards that Meg decided to sit down and try her hand at watercoloring.  We've had a lot of fun ever since.

Happy Easter and thanks for stopping by!

My Latest Creation

Meg and I spent a wonderful weekend with my parents, my brother and his family. It was both relaxing and extremely productive.   Along with now being able to wirelessly print from a tablet, my parents can now stream Netflix and YouTube videos from two television sets.  I am an enabler as many of you already know.     It's a gift.  :-)

In my last post I briefly mentioned other crafty projects that had recently caught my eye which I would like to share with you now.

A popular trend right now are mixed media art journals.  I was never particularly interested but after watching a few YouTube videos this area was gaining in appeal with me.  One designer in particular who I love is Vicki Papaioannou.  She, along with her husband, are coincidentally also the owners of Inlinkz, a site that many of you are probably familiar with.  Vicki is extremely talented, very creative and I just love all of her cards and journal pages.  If you're not familiar with art journaling here's a link to one of my favorite pages from her.  Take Life One Cup at a Time.

A newer trend also gaining in popularity are Prima Paper Dolls by designer/artist Julie Nutting. They were first introduced as stamps only but her latest release included coordinating die cuts.  I'm dating myself here but I LOVED Betsy McCall paper dolls as a child. (Here is a link to an awesome Pinterest page if you're too young to remember them.  *sigh*)  What great memories!  After seeing what everyone was doing with the new Prima dolls, I had to have one.  (Ok, maybe two....or three. LOL!)

Knowing that I wanted to start an art journal and begin playing with paper dolls, I decided to combine the two into a single project.  Here is what I came up with....

I had more fun with this project than any I've done in a very, very long time.   I started with a blank journal that I picked up at Michael's and following Vicki's instructions I added a tissue paper background and gesso.  After that it was just a matter of pulling stencils, stamps, inks, markers, etc., from my stash and slowly layering them.  I paper pieced Halie (each doll has a name) by cutting her dress out in three different patterned papers and used Copic markers to color her hair.  I used the paper piecing technique on the cute little poodle as well.  I really love how this turned out and thought the title of "Take Time to Play" was very fitting for the introduction to my new journal.  I haven't shown this to Meggie yet but I know she's going to love it.  And yes, I'm secretly hoping that she will want to create her own doll(s) alongside me.  :-)

As always, thanks for stopping by!

YouTube

I wonder if creators Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim had any inkling at just how much their 2005 video sharing platform would change the world? Seriously, is there anyone over the age of four that has not at least heard of YouTube?  I doubt it.

In it's infancy YouTube viewing was restricted to computers.  Then along came smart phones and tablets.  And now with the advent of Smart TVs and Roku boxes YouTube videos can be watched on the big screen via our televisions.  This my friends is a double edged sword.  ;)

While I've ever only uploaded three videos myself, I am a big fan of YouTube.  The variety of video clips/tutorials/documentaries/comedic routines/music is mind blowing.  And it's all right there at your fingertips.  Find something you like?  Well, YouTube will recommend something similar.  Watch that and they'll recommend something else.  It's a road with many forks and unless you drop some breadcrumbs you may find yourself lost in YouTube Land forever.  Do I dare admit how I know this? Keep reading and you'll figure it out.

My first true experience with YouTube occurred when Meg was little.  I was remininscing about a little Saturday morning "series" known as SchoolHouse Rock. After "Googling" it (yes, I do believe it is now a verb) I happened upon a plethora of video clips that transported me back to my childhood. Conjunction Junction and Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here were among my favorites.  Another one that I really loved came in very handy just recently when Meg was studying for a Civics exam.  The YouTube video clip of Preamble helped her get an A on her recitation of the introduction to our nation's constitution.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I go on music kicks that can be more like marathons, especially when the music takes me back to my younger days.  For example, as a young teen in the 1970s I loved The Bee Gees.  In the early 2000s (I'm guessing about 2004) I came upon a concert airing on PBS titled One Night Only, filmed in Las Vegas in 1997.  I immediately bought the DVD which I watched incessantly while running many a mile on my treadmill.  But was that enough?  Heck no.  A year or two later I spent many an hour in front of my computer watching YouTube clips that ranged from their early days to their most recent videos.  I couldn't get enough and it was all there for the taking, for however long I was willing to sit at my computer.

Around 2008 a similar thing happened.  I happened upon another PBS concert with yet another childhood favorite.  The show?  The Osmonds: 50th Anniversary Reunion Concert.  Yep, you guessed it.  I bought the DVD along with a few others and wasted enjoyed many more hours watching old video clips on YouTube.  I was fortunate enough to see them (Wayne, Merrill and Jay) live at Busch Gardens the next year and was as excited as a school girl.  (Yes, I am a dork.)

A few weeks ago I happened upon this YouTube clip of Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd's Lip Synch Battle.  Paul's final number (at about 4:25) immediately transported me back to high school and I was instantly on a Queen kick.  The major difference between my current YouTube video marathons and those of the past is that now I can watch the clips on my Big Ass 60" TV via my Roku box. (Hence my "double edged sword" comment in my opening paragraph.)  I watched Queen videos all evening and into the early hours of the morning.  My favorite is this one... Queen - Live Aid.  It's 25 minutes of Freddie Mercury at his best. Someday I'll pull out my 45s of Bohemian Rhapsody and We Will Rock You to show Meg and provide her with a little history lesson on music platforms while I'm at it.

Last weekend YouTube somehow remembered (imagine that) and recommended an Osmond clip for me to watch.  Yeah, I took the bait which sent me on yet another Osmondmania Marathon.  In addition to the music videos, I stumbled across this 50 minute documentary of the The Osmond's 1973 Tour in the UK.  It left me feeling sad for just how lonely and stressful their childhood must have been.  Two days later, as if reading my mind, YouTube recommended this Piers Morgan Life Stories with Donny Osmond.  It's a fascinatingly indepth and sometimes quite emotional interview with Donny about growing up an Osmond.  But by far my two favorite Osmond clips are this 1971 appearance on the Flip Wilson show -- Osmond Brothers Yo Yo and this 2012 clip of Donny dancing the same Yo Yo moves over 40 years later.  Incredible.  (The other guy in the latter clip is one of his Vegas background dancers. This particular performance took place on a cruise ship.)  If you only follow and watch two of my links, it should be these.  Oh wait...the Live Aid clip is also a must see.  So many clips, so little time. *sigh*

Lest you think that my YouTube habit is solely musical driven, let me prove you wrong.  I have found many fabulous scientific documentaries that I have watched several times each, in hopes of absorbing all of the minute details.  A few of my favorites include The Naked Scientists, The Journey of Man, and Homo Sapiens: Who Are We .

Some of my most current favorite viewing items are crafting tutorials, specifically those that relate to cards and scrapbook layouts/supplies/techniques.  I've watched these here and there for years but now with YouTube available on my BATV I find myself immersed in crafty videos while my DVRecording of zombie/werewolf/vampire shows "collect dust."  WTH???  LOL!  There is so much inspiration out there and I'm finding my creations not only getting easier but better because of it.  But, as if I didn't have enough stuff to occupy my time, I've found a couple other areas of crafty goodness that I plan to delve into.  More about that in a later blog post.

And while my obsessive tendencies steer me towards mini-marathons, for the casual viewer, I think YouTube is best enjoyed watching random clips of everyday people.  So thank you Chad, Steve and Jawed for providing us with the opportunity to watch/learn/laugh at anything/anybody at anytime. For without YouTube the world wouldn't have been privy to such classics as The Evolution of Dance, Ain't Nobody Got Time for That and Charlie Bit Me.

So this, my friends, is a true Glimpse Into JulieWorld. And now that I've eaten away an entire morning day writing this (because, of course, I had to watch every link I provided at least twice, sometimes three times) I'd like to leave you with one last link.  It's a wonderful musical clip that. if you haven't seen yet, you really should.  You will never listen to the song in the same way again.

Happy






 

Final Day of Clean & Simple 3

It's my final post of the Clean & Simple Card class techniques.  Aren't you all happy?  :-)

The theme of this final day was "One Stamp Four Ways" which by all accounts should have read "One Stamp Set Four Ways" based on their examples.  The four designers illustrated the versatility of one stamp set consisting of sentiments, background, geometrics, etc., by creating four very different cards. Their stamp set of choice was the Sunny Skies Set from Mama Elephant Stamps.  I couldn't find a similar stamp set so I chose one stamp, a chevron background, to use on each of my four cards following the techniques demonstrated by the instructors.


Layered Stamping --- This example involved using white pigment ink to stamp a large background onto a white card base.  Once dry another large stamp was applied directly over top using a colored dye ink.  Using a chevron background stamp I created this ...

Masking ---  This technique was illustrated in several examples throughout the class.  I used removable tape and my chevron background stamp to create this example ...

Bokeh Effect ---  This designer used the small circle stamp to create a faux bokeh effect on her card. Using a circle stamp I did one/two/three generation stamping technique and followed it with my chevron background stamped in Versamark.  I then added clear embossing powder, heat set it and here is the resulting card ...

Stamping with Markers --- The final technique of the course was to use markers (instead of ink) to color your stamps.  I alternated four marker colors to stamp my chevron background but because my background was so large the coloring took a bit of time.  Even "huffing" the rubber prior to stamping wasn't enough to get a good crisp impression.  My fix was to cover it with a printed transparency and I have to say, I really love the finished card.

So that concludes my marathon of new card techniques.  The class "forced" me out of my comfort zone and because of that I now have many new techniques that will become part of my everyday designs.  I had so much fun and already have my eye on another class by the same group of designers that I hope to take over the summer.

Thank you all for indulging me!

You Guessed It! More Cards.

If you're tired of reading/viewing card posts then you may as well stop here.  No hard feelings, I promise.  ;)

Today I'm sharing the cards I created using the Day 9 techniques in the Clean & Simple 3 class.  The theme for the day was Textural Effects and the techniques were Dry Embossing, Embossing Paste and Embossing Powder.  

Dry Embossing ---  An embossed image is one that is raised off the surface of your cardstock.  For cardmakers it typically involves running your cardstock through a die cutter with an embossing folder and embossing pad (which prevents the machine from cutting through your cardstock.)  Julie Ebersole demonstrated how you can get an impression within an impression by using both an embossing folder and a traditional steel die.  I love the effect I got.  

Embossing Paste --- Embossing paste is just that...a creamy paste that you can to cardstock that, when dry, gives a raised impression.  I used a stencil to apply some paste here and there over my completed card.   

The flower in the above card was created using embossing powder which leads us into Technique 3.

Embossing Powder ---  This technique involves using a slow drying ink to stamp an image (ex:  pigment inks or Versamark), applying an embossing powder over the wet image and then heat setting it with a heat tool.  As the powder dries it turned shiny and leaves a raised image on your card.  

For this card I used the same design as above using Versamark ink and a mustard colored embossing powder.  

The actual technique demonstrated in the class involved a special kind of ink (some sort of sticky glue) to which glitter was applied.  I improvised with a very sticky double sided tape from which I die cut balloons and added Martha Stewart glitter. I normally shy away from glitter because of it's messiness but I must say, her glitter is awesome.  It's very fine and it stays exactly where it's put.  

In this final variation I fussy cute two of the balloons and raised them up with pop dots.

That's it for Day 9.  I'll be back soon for Day 11, the final day of the class.  (Aren't you happy?  LOL!)

(and Catherine...I'm anxiously awaiting your class examples!)

C&S Cards - Day 7

Meg was off last week for Spring Break and we, being the homebodies that we are, had such a wonderful time doing lots and lots of nothing.  Unless you count crafting.  We did lots of crafting.   Lots and lots of crafting.

Meg joined me in JulieWorld every day where she tried her hand at a lot of the techniques I was doing for the class.  I really enjoyed having her there with me. She has so many creative ideas and knows her way around my stuff just as well as I do.  We worked side by side like pros.

In addition to card making we also spent an afternoon making our own "enamel" dots using plastic beads.  There are lots of how-to videos on YouTube that you can Google if you're curious.  She also made a really cute bracelet and choker using some of the beads and my new Lawn Fawn sparkly twines.  (She has "new stuff radar", remember?  LOL!!!

Before I dive into Day 7 cards I'd like to share one that Meg created.  I think it turned our really, really pretty.  She did an awesome job of selectively stamping her flower with three different colors of ink.

Isnt' it pretty?


Onto Day 7 --

The theme of the day was Creative Coloring.  The three techniques demonstrated were Creative Copic Coloring, Tracing Images, and Watercolor Made Easy.

Creative Copic Coloring ---  Copics are a brand of alcohol markers that many crafters use to color stamped images.  The technique demonstrated involved coloring vellum to use behind the negative image of a die cut sentiment.  For my card I used the negative image of a balloon die cut into the card front.  This one was fun to do and made for a very pretty card.

Tracing Images --- This technique involved stamping an intricate background to the card front and then tracing and coloring a portion of the image.  I wasn't too impressed with the examples only because they're not my style but I did play along.  (That whole stretching and growing thing.)  I should have gone with my first instinct and not bothered.  My result was butt ugly and ended up in the trash. Moving on....

Watercolor Made Easy --- The instructor demonstrated how to freehand a feather image using watercolors.  Again, not something I can see myself doing.  I adapted the freehand idea to something I could handle...scribbles.  ;)  Here are my examples...

Meg is back in school this week and I find myself really missing my daytime crafting companion. Unfortunately it's back to reality.  Our evenings are now being spent reviewing math for the FCAT exams.  grrrr!

I'll be back in a couple of days with my Day 9 cards.