Today is an excellent day to talk about scrapbooking, because I am heading out tomorrow afternoon to go with one of my daughters and some friends to a scrapbook retreat! This will not be quite the pampering event that Kathy and I are accustomed to with another group of friends, because at this location…. we all have to be responsible for a meal! YIKES. Can scrapbooking be fun if we have to cook, too? I’m sure we’ll manage. Thank goodness for things like lasagne that can be made ahead, to take and toss in the oven! Can you guess what I’m taking? wink, wink
My sweet Aussie friend, Melissa Shanhun, from Digital Scrapbooking HQ, has a great guest post about scrapbook planning and scheduling over at the The Daily Digi blog. Even though Melissa teaches digital scrapping, the info she shares in this post is appropriate for any method of scrapbooking.
I have to admit, there have been very few time I have planned a scrapbook. I mostly create pages from photos that I love, or from prompts I receive at events like the Layout A Day challenge, which begins again, February 1. However, Melissa talks about pages she plans for through the year, and I think that without really thinking about it, many of us create our scrapbook pages like this. We DO have a plan for some pages, in the back of our mind.
It would be silly of me to tell you everything Melissa said in her post about scrapbook planning and scheduling, so run on over and check it out!
Just THREE more days before this bundle of creative goodness is available!
Today, I’m sharing another podcast by Melissa from Digital Scrapping HQ, featuring another contributor to the Creative Christmas Bundle. This time she is interviewing Jen Weber from Funk and Weber Designs.
Meet Jen Weber
Jen Weber
Hi I’m Jen Funk Weber! I learned to embroider about the time I learned to read. I also learned to sew, thanks to a crafty mother and an unattended sewing machine. Barbie clothes and furnishings were my first specialty.
As a member of the 4-H Sewing Club, I began designing clothes and crafts, cutting patterns from taped-together newspaper. I took up embroidery again while winter care-taking for remote lodges in Alaska. Ribbons won at the State Fair called attention to the designs and led to requests for patterns which led to Funk & Weber Designs. Together, my husband Mike and I create colorful (usually), playful patterns that bring together our love of nature, wildlife, puzzles, and subtleties.
In addition to print and digital patterns, Funk & Weber Designs offers online stitching and finishing classes.
Podcast
Jen is crazy about needlework. She even creates patterns! Here is what she is offering as part of the bundle. I haven’t stitched anything in a LONG time. This is so cute, it is very tempting!
Jen’s December Tip:
“We all have routine things we do at this time of year. Pick one thing and mix it up! Doing the same things over and over can get boring and sap your creativity. Change things up to reinstate the creative fun!”
Welcome to this week’s Make It Monday blog hop! If you arrived by way of Karen Fitting’s website at Photos Kept Alive, welcome! I don’t want you to miss her post because she always has such great ideas, so I’ll tell you how to get back to it at the end of this post.
Today’s theme is Fall/Halloween for the hop. I have had this idea for a little while, and so I saved it for today. Since so many people want to know how to create the mixed media projects they are seeing, I decided to create something with a limited set of products. I chose the Scaredy Cat paper pack and Scaredy Cat Complements pack from Close to My Heart because I felt it offered such a great collection for what I wanted to create.
Halloween Mixed Media Decor Item
This project was done on a 12″x12″x1″ canvas. By painting the edges, it doesn’t need to be framed. If you wanted to, you could use a canvas panel so that it would be thin enough to place in a regular picture frame.
First off, select what you’ll use for the background. I chose the Slate paper for the top or sky, and the black for the ground bottom. I cut a strip off the bottom of the Slate paper and then tore a tiny bit along the edge. That way, the layers ease together nicely. Now, use an adhesive medium to coat the back side of your paper. Turn it over onto the canvas add a layer of your medium over the top to seal it.
Tear along the bottom edge to create less bulk when adding the next layer.
Next, I tore an edge on my Black paper to create the ground. Again, coat the back of the paper with your adhesive medium, turn it over onto the canvas and add another layer of the medium.
Black paper turn to give curves for the ground portion of the project.
Next, you can either add some texture to background or you could just continue to the next step. I like to add a lot of different textures, so I used black StazOn as well as some white paint and a bit of Thistle ink. In the end I was sorry I had added too much of the white, so I grabbed some black paint and gave a squirt into my white paint to make a nice gray. I then brushed this over the sky portion of my background and restamped my texture in StazOn.
After my night sky became too light, I ended up creating gray with my paint and toned it back down.
Now it was time to really start having some fun. Between the paper pack and some stickers from its coordinating set, there was a lot to play with. Since these were the only products I wanted to use, I did a lot of cutting. One of the decorative sheets has a lot to choose from, and the parts that didn’t get cut up from that sheet will still be used to make some other things — cards, treat bag toppers, etc. You can get a lot of mileage from that one piece of paper! Here is what it looked like
Major pieces placed and doors and windows added.
Next I added details with a fine line marker, placed more stickers, and then used a black Pitt Pen to smudge around the edges of everything to give it more definition. A bit more black was smudged into the sky to add a little more darkness. NOTE: You MUST have sealed everything with your medium over the top, even the stickers. The Pitt Pen will smear for a second as soon as you put it on, but it will not smudge if it is on unsealed paper. You have to act quickly, and you may need to dampen your finger, as well.
The last thing I did was use a white gel pen to add some final definition to a few areas. You’ll notice that I didn’t try to make perfectly straight lines. That’s it. Complete! Here are some close ups.
White Gel Pen used to add some details.
Black Pitt Pen smudged around edges.
Night sky with more black smudged in over the Slate background.
Here is the final piece. I may go back in and use my fine tip black pen to outline the witch and broom over the moon. What do you think?
Halloween Mixed Media Decor Item
Here is the FINAL piece. I went back in and outlined the witch!
Have you ever used Photoshop Elements? Many people have a love/hate relationship ship with digital software – especially when it comes to using them for design. If you can maneuver your way around a program you can do all kinds of amazing things! Maybe you’d like to do digital scrapbooking, try your hand at designing a card, or even go digital with art journaling! Whatever you’d like to do, knowing the shortcut keys can be such a time saver!
My friend, Melissa Shanhun, teaches Photoshop Elements (PSE) over at DigitalScrapbookingHQ.com. Currently she is going through a series called the ABC’s of PSE. She has daily tips she is putting up on her DigitalScrapbookingHQ Facebook Page.
Melissa also has great tips for handling all your digital image files for scrapbooking, as far as organizing goes! Be sure to go visit her on Facebook and on her site, and tell her I sent you over!
Today is an excellent day to talk about scrapbooking, because I am heading out tomorrow afternoon to go with one of my daughters and some friends to a scrapbook retreat! This will not be quite the pampering event that Kathy and I are accustomed to with another group of friends, because at this location…. we all have to be responsible for a meal! YIKES. Can scrapbooking be fun if we have to cook, too? I’m sure we’ll manage. Thank goodness for things like lasagne that can be made ahead, to take and toss in the oven! Can you guess what I’m taking? wink, wink
Just THREE more days before this bundle of creative goodness is available!
Welcome to this week’s Make It Monday blog hop! If you arrived by way of Karen Fitting’s website at Photos Kept Alive, welcome! I don’t want you to miss her post because she always has such great ideas, so I’ll tell you how to get back to it at the end of this post.
