Wednesday Wonder – Winter Silhouette Painting

This video shows a fun method to create a winter painting as a gift or for your own home! Stephen Lursen has been doing some work with Donna Downey, and he generously shares this winter silhouette painting! I hope you enjoy it.

For those of you with an electronic cutting machine, you are a step ahead! Cutting a stencil to use would be a breeze!

 

The Close to My Heart Artbooking Cricut cartridge has this reindeer image which would make a great stencil for the holidays. Otherwise, just search for an image you can cut with your machine!

Artbooking Reindeer

Happy Holidays!
KS

Tool Tip Tuesday – Baby Wipes!

Welcome to the first of my Tool Tip Tuesday posts! Hopefully you will have some ‘Aha!’ moments, or think, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ Even if we have used an item, or seen and idea before, we forget. So if you see an idea along those lines, just bear with me, and consider it a reminder; and maybe the next one will be something astonishing! Maybe not, but I can hope, right?

Today, I wanted to share with you something that has become a staple in my studio – baby wipes. Yes, baby wipes, even though the youngest person around here is my, almost eight year old, granddaughter!

Baby wipes - the unsung hero of the craft room!

Baby wipes – the unsung hero of the craft room!

There is not water in my studio, so something that is damp can be a real necessity at times. Having baby wipes handy can:

  • clean up inky fingers
  • clean up sticky fingers
  • quickly clean a stamp
  • wipe off the craft mat
  • wipe off a stencil
  • become an applicator
  • become a blending tool
  • …any ideas you come up with

Once I started using baby wipes, I was able to leave my studio with much cleaner hands than I previously did! The ones which contain alcohol will really help clean up inks which are alcohol based! Actually, I’m not even sure which kind I have on-hand right now, with or without alcohol, but I love having them handy!

What kind of things do you like to use in your craft room/studio? Leave a comment and let me know!

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures,

KS

Holiday Envelope Mini-Album

I was looking for a way to make a small mini album for the holidays and happened to think of a method I had used several years ago. Who would think you could make a sweet little album with just some envelopes for your base? One of the beauties of this method is the fact that you can use any size envelope you want. I’ve used the Snow Haven papers by Close to My Heart, but think how fun this would be to use some of your Gelli prints!

A pretty little CTMH Snow Haven envelope mini-album all tied up!

A pretty little mini-album all tied up!

I still had some square envelopes on hand, so I decided to use three of those.

Three square envelopes

Three square envelopes.

Adhere the envelopes together by using the flaps. You’ll only be adhering 2 envelope flaps. The third will fold over the front as part of the cover.

Adhere two flaps, and leave the third one free

Adhere two flaps, and leave the third one free.

Next, you’ll want to select some coordinating papers. I used the Close to My Heart, Snow Haven papers. I love how they are a little different color combination than red and green! You can use what ever you want to fit the season or occasion.

CTMH Snow Haven paper pack.

CTMH Snow Haven paper pack.

First, you’ll want to cover the flap that was not adhered to another envelope. You’ll cover it front and back.

Cover the front and back of the free flap.

Cover the front and back of the free flap.

Next, decorate the envelope on the opposite end of the flap you just covered. It will become the portion which will make your front cover, so make sure it coordinates with the covered flap.

Cover the panel at the other end of your envelope train.

Cover the panel at the other end of your envelope train.

Cut a piece of coordinating cardstock to create a pull out panel that will fit inside the envelope. Cut it at least 1/4 inch smaller than your envelope width so that it will slide in and out easily, even with photos or other items added on it. If you plan to heavily embellish it, you may have to trim the card down further.

Let’s put a pull tab on it, so it is easy to grab. You can simple fold a piece of paper in half to create a tab, but I cut little tabs to use. If you want to add a brad, be sure to do it before you fold the second side over, so that you cover the little legs of the brad.

Place the brad before folding the tab to the cover the second side.

Place the brad before folding the tab to the cover the second side.

A small word was stamped and punched out to add a little something to the corner. It was adhered with a foam dot to give a little dimension.  Remember, this is still the front panel. Here is this section completed.

Front section completed.

Front section completed.

Decorate the other two envelope sections. Remember, if you are going to use this for adding photos, you don’t need to do a lot of embellishing at this point. You could always add embellishments while adding the photos. I am going to use the Snow Haven Complements for this album. I think these are so adorable!

CTMH Snow Haven Complements

CTMH Snow Haven Complements

This panel has an extra pocket added by just cutting a triangle of paper to cover it.

Extra pocket created on one panel.

Extra pocket created on one panel.

The decorated panels.

The decorated panels.

 

Another small stamped image added.

Another small stamped image added.

 

You can decorate the back as well. It will give you three more panels to use!

Now let’s go back to the front flap. I added just a bit of coordinating paper to the flap. Next, we need to create a place to thread some ribbon, cording, or whatever you want to use to tie your little album closed. I used my trusty Crop-o-dile to punch through all the layers of the flap.

Punch through all layers of the flap.

Punch through all layers of the flap.

You can either punch it once or create a second row to thread your ribbon through. It will work either way. I just like the way it lays a little flatter with two rows.

Double holes to thread ribbon in and out.

Double holes to thread ribbon in and out.

Your album will fold like this:

Fold your album like this.

Fold your album like this.

Wrap your ribbon and round and tie it up just like a pretty little package!

A pretty little CTMH Snow Haven envelope mini-album all tied up!

A pretty little mini-album all tied up!

 

make it monday blog hop logo

 

Thanks for joining me on another Make It Monday blog hop! Next up on the hop is Alice from Scrapbook Wonderland, who will inspire you with an elegant Christmas card!

I hope you came over from Beth at Scrapping Wonders, who shared how to make an Advent Calendar with the Cricut Explore. If not, be sure to go back and check out her post, too.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you’ll make one of these envelope mini-albums from today’s tutorial. If you’d like to keep up with Artful Adventures, leave your info, and you’ll even get a freebie right away!

Free Class for a New Year, New Planner

Have you been to one of Lain Ehmann’s free classes or “scrapinars” as she likes to call them? They are packed with information! Each month a special guest shares on a different topic. While these started out being primarily scrapbook related, many have morphed into things that are more artful, while still being applicable and interesting to scrappers!

I am anxious to see this month’s presentation, as I think it may be a bit like the enormously popular Facebook group, The Documented Life Project (in an extended memory keeping way).

While a beautiful planner may not give you more than 24 hours in the day, it can streamline your schedule and your memory-keeping. In this month’s free scrapinar, we’re welcoming the amazing Layle Koncar of Simple Stories!

December Free Scrapinar

Layle is known for her bold, colorful, eye-catching scrapbook and pocket pages… AND for her easy-to-follow, entertaining teaching style. She’s going to show us some of the latest trends in customizable planners, demonstrating how fun and gratifying it is to combine your stories with your day-to-day planner.

Here’s What You’ll Learn:

  • The latest products available for fun and colorful planners
  • How to make your planner do double-duty as a memory-keeping aid
  • Fun ways to use products you already own to customize your planner, pockets, and pages
  • … and more super time-saving tips!

While Layle will be sharing the new “Life… Documented” planner line from Simple Stories , she’ll be sharing ideas that can work with just about any planner or product line. You won’t want to miss this interactive, entertaining session. And as always, we’ll have time for YOUR questions. This scrapinar is the perfect kick-off to your 2015!

Click here to register for the free class. Even if you can’t attend live, you’ll have access to the replay for a limited time!

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures!

KS

Twelve Days of Christmas Cards

My friend, Carol Cassel from Scrapbook Campus, wanted to offer templates/sketches for 12 Days of Christmas Cards. She wanted to have a variety of cards to go with her templates, so she enlisted the help of friends! Be sure to sign up to her list so you’ll get all the card ideas. The emails go out each morning, so if you’re just starting on day 5, you may end up getting your first email the morning of the 6th. Don’t worry if you’ve missed the first ones, as she will give access to all of them at the end!

Here is the card template/sketch Carol provided for Day 5. As you can see, these ideas can certainly be used for ANY occasion!
Scrapbook Campus-Card 05

 

After some consideration, I decided to use the idea from a graphic I’d seen which had three stockings on it. So instead of limiting myself to using the circles in the top section, I simply used the idea of three things. So here is what I started with, the card base and three little paper stockings. Now, don’t let little paper stocking stop you in your tracks! If nothing else, draw them and cut them out! That is an easy shape and they don’t have to be perfect!

Card base and three Christmas stockings

Card base and three stockings

 

I wanted them to appear as if they were hung up, so here’s what I did…Artful Adventures Christmas stocking card

  • Went to my stash and dug out darling little clothes pins!
  • Used a length of embroidery floss and made triple knots near the ends, so that I could hide glue dots attaching it to the card.
  • Hung the stockings. Placed foam dots beneath the stockings to adhere them to the card and give them support. This also allowed the weight to not be pulling from the string.

Now that I could see how low the stocking would hang, I could decide how much space I would have for the bottom section of the card. It wasn’t nearly as much as in the sketch, but that’s okay! It was just enough to add something. I don’t know about you, but song titles and lyrics often come to mind when I’m working on something, and this was one of those times. Once I decided on my phrase

  • I measured how much room I was going to have and simply typed it up and printed the phrase on my printer!
  • Then I cut it out to the correct dimensions and adhered it to my card.

Now for the envelope.

ScrapbookCampus-Envelop05

I used white as the base of the envelope, and attached the same patterned paper from the stockings, to the curve.

Adhered matching paper to the back curved flap.

Adhered matching patterned paper to the back curved flap.

If you already have envelopes to use, simple use a bit of patterned paper on the back to make it a bit more special! It’s an easy way to coordinate your card with envelope.

Now for the front of the envelope.  Many of us think of stockings hung up on a brick fireplace, so I decided to use the left portion of the envelope front to create a little indication of bricks. I grabbed out a colored pencil and made my bricks. I just roughly colored them in, not being too careful or perfect.

Since stockings were used in place of the circles on the card, why not use another one for the circle area on the envelope front? Since the envelope was white, I made the base of the stocking red so it would stand out. After adhering the stocking to the envelope, I also coated it with Glue N Seal, to create a smoother surface, and make sure it didn’t come off in the mail.

Brick and Christmas stocking on envelope

Here they are together. Thank you again to Carol Cassel from Scrapbook Campus for letting me provide a card for the 12 Days of Christmas! Sign up here so you can get all the templates/sketches. Carol is an expert using Paint Pro software and teaches classes. If you or someone you know wants help with Paint Pro, Carol is your gal!

Artful Adventures Christmas stocking card and envelope

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures!

KS