Working on My Canada Travelers Journal with Southern Ridge Trading Co.

I have a quick page for you today in my Oh Canada Travelers Journal with Southern Ridge Trading co. I am very happy to start playing on the inside of all these journals I have been creating so hopefully I will be able to inspire you too!

Yes this page could probably not look more Canadian! For a few close ups & a quick idea of what I did on this. Check out my blog post on Southern Ridge Trading co. Link above.

Thanks! I hope you get the chance to do something inky today. 

Doctor Who Journal on A Vintage Journey

Hello Blog Land, I am the guest blogger over on A Vintage Journey with my Doctor Who Fan Girl Journal!! I was very excited to be asked to create a project for this awesome challenge site. You can check out my full tutorial on making the book cover there. The inspiration of their design team is really great. If you haven't been over to the blog please take a look at my post & have a browse around. The challenge this month is All Squared Up.

Here is my book using Eileen Hull's Journal die. Inside are 3 Midori style books that can be easily removed to work on. These books are a work in progress mainly because I need to go on a ephemera scavenger hunt. There is not a lot of readily available geek programing scrapbook paper. I will show you what I have come up with in the meantime. All my covers were done in fabric as I could get themed fabric for these shows!

Doctor Who- I added a laser die purchased at a Scrapbook Convention. Inside this book is paper that coincides with episodes. I am using the Paper House Discovery line. Stay tuned for some cool geek pages!

Games Of Thrones- OK seriously this show is insanely amazing. I read the books well 4 of them cause I am impatiently waiting for #6 to be released before I read #5. The show just does not disappoint. Last season finale had to be one of the best in TV history. For those of you watching last week's episode was CRAZY did not see that one coming. Don't worry no spoilers! Pinterest is a great source for images for these types of books. 

First page inside, made a pocket with a travel theme & printed out a map of Westeros. My first quote to open the book is very appropriate. "Winter is Coming" with a great drawing of Ned Stark on the Iron Throne. *This was found on Pinterest and was drawn by Marilia Araujo. Please see below for more info on the drawings & images used. The page peaking out is a downloaded image. I wasn't thrilled with the quality when it was printed out. 

Star Wars-now where did I put all my Star Wars ephemera? I know I bought paper like 8 or so years ago, where did I stash it? You can actually buy Star Wars paper & stickers but mine did not arrive in time for this post. I added a tag from one of the million Star Wars toys we own. 

People Magazine did an entire book which I have pulled apart & will be using the images for my book. This will be my middle layout because it is too frickin cool! 

Well that is it for now. Definitely a book in progress, I am seeing some art journal pages, some collage. It will be fun to see where this takes me. I will keep you posted! Thanks for joining me on this fun journey. I hope I can inspire you to make a Fan Book. I am seeing Supernatural in my very near future!

Images:
One of the challenges with Pinterest is trying to find out if the designer is the pinner & doesn't mind the picture being used. This book is for personal use & when possible I did a link to the original. I also did not use pictures that were obviously copy right. Also credit goes to BBC for the photos of The Doctor's on my cover!

*affiliate-I am on a number of design teams & occasionally receive product for posts. I do work with products I love and try to find the best ways to use them!!

Rebekah Meier by Therm O Web Mix Media Journal

Very excited to be playing along with Rebekah Meier using her line of Therm*O*Web Mixed Media products to make a Mix Media Journal. This is a Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop so I hope you join in & see what the other designers have made! 

I used my product pieces to create this Mix Media Journal using the Eileen Hull Journal die as my base. Yes I am completely addicted to this die but you could use these techniques on a canvas, in your art journal, cards, tags or the cover of a mini album etc. There are multiple techniques that I will be highlighting so please play along! There is also a supply list at the end of the post. 

Thanks so much to Therm*O*Web for the generous box of goodies so I could play & experiment! 

 

Technique 1: Playing with Tape

A very simple way to create dynamic art tape. Using Rebekah's Mix Media Art Tape, simply peel off the backing & adhere the tape to your craft mat. Leave strips of tape & as you art the tape will pick up the products you are using. When you are happy with the background simply add some stamping & use your eclectic tape! Great for an art journal, tag, even along the edge of your planner.

Another way to do this is simply create your tape by swiping multiple colors of Glimmer Glam to create a colorful glittery background. When dry use as is or stamp some background images or text. The tape can be used washi style, for a binding on a book, as an accent to the edge of a planner. Limitless and the great thing is you can custom color it. 

 

Technique 2: Foil with Mix Media Tape

Oh this is a fun one & there are all kinds of different applications once you start playing with this. We are going to use the sticky side of the tape this time. I used a piece of the finished tape, adhered it to some mat board with Rebekah's double sided adhesive. It was die cut & you can see it will be used as tabs for my book.

Peel off the backing of the tape and adhere your tape sticky side up to your craft mat using a couple pieces of washi tape. Take a stencil, place it on top of the tape. The great thing is the stencil will stick to the tape making working easy. Using acrylic paint stencil multiple images in different colors. Use just bits of the stencil image or have smaller images like the butterfly. Rebekah has some great mixed image stencils for this technique. 

Once the paint is dry simply take your foil & shiny side up rub with your finger onto the tape. Where there is no paint the foil will stick creating a cool, shiny metallic tape. I used New Penny & Patina. I liked the look of some of the white so I left it but if you don't, simply reapply more foil. I covered this with a coat of the mixed media medium to seal it & protect it.

Ok I had to add this wee video in. THIS IS MY FIRST EDITED VIDEO!!!! WOHOOO.

Technique 3: Die cut using Foam Sheets

Love THIS!!! Rebekah's Mixed Media Foam Sheets are double sided adhesive. The ideas are once again endless. Peel one side of backing off & adhere paper, fabric or foil. Die cut an image. Simply peel off the adhesive & adhere to your project. You can paint, ink, wax, use whatever product you want to colorize.

Using this technique I made my center piece "x"  & circles  using Seth Apter dies. This is a super easy way to add height to the die cuts. I adhered word search paper to one side of the foam & ran through my die cutting machine 2x. It cut through like butter! I ran the same image through to create a 2nd piece using just the foam. I also made a 3rd piece to create my "x".

The bottom layered piece was adhered sideways to the cover. Hot tip: the foam is pliable & can lose it's shape if handled too much. I found it easier to stick each layer down to a base as I built the embellishment. That helped it maintain it's shape. 

Once my sideways X base was down, I peeled up the backing only where I wanted my foil to be. I rubbed Patina on the sideways X portion and where there are gaps on the next layer. After painting my second layer iron color, (the word paper covered layer) simply peel off the adhesive backing & position on the base piece.

After rubbing foil on the X piece, I ran a brad through it, peeling the backing off before bending the back part of the brad. Now my brad won't turn around. Adhere the X to the middle of the piece. 

The same technique of adding paper to foam was used to create the circles on the back. They were then painted with acrylic paint & glaze mix. Oh this gives all my dies a new life potential!!

Technique 4: Foiling with a Stencil

Seriously one of my favorite techniques. Just scrape some of the Mixed Media Medium through a stencil with a spatula. Let dry which actually doesn't take too long, maybe 10 minutes. You will know it is dry when the product is clear. It will be nice & sticky. Apply foil color side up & rub with your finger or a bone folder. Bam a beautiful metallic image will appear! 

This technique was used randomly over the cover of my book. I just love how it looks! This is a great way to add some wow to your art journal, scrapbook or mix media images. The medium holds it's shape so you get a raised metallic image. I used Vintage Tin for the cover. 

I hope you enjoyed my techniques with foil! If you want to complete this type of journal there is a tutorial here. I used the same steps to make this journal. Thanks so much for joining me today. Please hop along to the other gals blogs & leave us some comments!! Have an inky day.

Anita Scroggins
 Susan Brown
Nadine Carlier
Candy Rosenberg
Steph Ackerman

Supply List:

Rebekah Meier by Therm*O*Web

• Mixed Media Art Paper
• Mixed Media Foam Sheets
• Mix Media Adhesive Sheets
• Mixed Media Medium
• Mixed Media Transfer Foil in Vintage Tin, Patina & New Penny

Rebekah Meier Stencils by The Crafter's Workshop (TCW)

• 6x6 Grow Page
• 6x6 Stencil Postcard
• 6x6 Specimen

Eileen Hull Journal Die by Sizzix
Seth Apter Die:Drip Drop, Coffee Ring, Cross Bars
        "        Stamps: ConText, Pattern Play
Glimmer Glam by Tattered Angels: Organic Garden & Light Blue
Goldens: Micaceous Iron Oxide, Permanent Violet Dark, Acrylic Glazing Liquid.
Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso.

Cute Snowman Envelope with Tag at Topflight

Hello Inky Friends, I am here today with a cute snowman vellum envelope that has a Christmas tag inside. The Topflight team are having Christmas in July & I got to play with Katzelkraft stamps. This will probably end up in my December Daily but it also might end up in my #the100dayproject. Don't you love having options?! 

Christmas in July with Katzelkraft

Starting with a tag & blending Distress Ink on it along with a bit of stamping. The tag was then embossed & the snowflakes were hit with Silver Spark Metallic Lustre. The envelope has this cute frosty snowman on it. I started by making a snow hill on the envelope with Soft Fallen Snow emboss by Emerald Creek. Then I did a couple of patches using Winter's Mistake. I love this heat emboss powder because it has a real fluffy, shimmery snow like look to it.
 

 

Snowman using Emerald Creek Emboss Powder & Marvy Uchida

Hard to get a good pic to show how fabulous & shimmery my frosty friend is. On a separate piece of paper I heat embossed him in Onyx Frost 1st which gave me the outline. Next I used the perfect medium brush to color in the snow bits and did a 2nd layer of embossing using Winter's Mistake. Hot Tip: brush off any white that gets on the black before heating to make your image clearer. If the white embosses on black simply color it with a marker to turn it back to black. I cut him out & then it was time for some marker action.

Blending Alcohol Markers

Here I am testing out what marker colors to use. These markers are alcohol based & great for blending. Monsieur Snowman was adhered with foam tape to give him a bit of dimension. 

 The finishing touches were a star paperclip & some fibers for the tag. Now my envelope is all ready to go!! Thanks for joining me today! I hope you get the chance to get an early start on your Christmas Merry!

Topflight Stamps by Katzelkraft :

• Christmas Trees 
• Snowman

Other Supplies:

• Emerald Creek Emboss Powder 
• Marvy Uchida Le Plumme Markers- O835, B700, BV736, BV738
• Ranger Distress Ink- Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Cracked Pistachio

Eileen Hull Journal with Bo Bunny "Life in Color".

Hello Journal Fans, I am back today with another fabulous Eileen Hull Journal using Bo Bunny's Life In Color. It is an eclectic, seriously fun line with great colors. I also threw in a little of their Faith line which has the same color scheme. Some of the pieces were also jazzed up with Therm*O*Web foil, I have a tutorial for you on this. Eileen's theme this month is to use the Heartfelt Collection. So I used a number of dies from this line. Grab a coffee or your die cut machine & let's go!!

Life In Color Eileen Hull Journal

 The challenge for me with this line was, how to do a book using a multi-themed product. It came to me, a "Favorite Memories" Journal. A place to put a collection of memories. I can put a photo or ephemera if I have no photo. The versatility of these journal books is amazing, love my growing collection! 

Crafting from my couch.

Crafting Injured! 

You never know when inspiration will strike. In this case I was stuck on the couch with a running injury. I spent the day watching Supernatural- one of my favorite craft-to series. It is amazing how much can be done while vegging in pain on the couch! *There is a supply list at the end of this post.

 

Foiling with Therm*O*Web

Let's Add Some Foiling!

I really love this Faith-light bulb. It was so easy to add foiling details. Heat laminator for 10 minutes. Simply use the DecoFoil Pen & go over the grey highlight on the bulb. Top with a foil sheet, color side up, sandwich between parchment paper & run through your laminator. You can also use your die cut machine, see a video on this here. 

I also added foil to my chipboard feather. This is not a perfect technique but works pretty darn well & is fast. Simply cover the chip piece using a paint brush with DecoFoil Transfer Gel (I missed a few spots), place your foil sheet color side up on top of your chippie & run through your Sizzix die machine following the Thinlet sandwich as in the video link above. Use a smooth plate on top of the cuts in your plate will transfer onto your piece. I kinda like that so you can see the texture in mine. You can also do this using the Decofoil Pen if the surface is not too big.

 

Foiled SRTC Chipboard Feather

 You Can Emboss On Foil!!!

I could have repeated the step above to fix the sketchy areas (in a different color foil probably) but I decided to distress by adding some paint that I used on the spine. Wanting more I also used a stamp & heat embossed in black. I was very excited that heat embossing on the foil worked! I also covered my final piece in decoupage glue to protect it. I am very happy with how my chippie ended up looking & will definitely be doing this combo again!

Embossing on the Spine, Love this Technique!

The spine was simply painted in acrylic paint and embossed with Fractured Ice. I love the way this emboss powder turns the paint grungy and yet has sparkle too. I used elastic for my binding so my pages would slip in & out to work on it. There are 3 signatures but I can add a forth, with 5 or 6 papers per signature. Lots of tabs which are included in the collection- I love tabs!
If you need here is a tutorial on how to put the Journal together.

Adding an thick decorative elastic that wraps around the back of the book helps protect the embellishments on the front while keeping the book closed. I added an eyelet at the top & bottom of the book running the elastic thorough them & adhering with SuperTape. 

Here is the back of my book. I used the packaging from the Chipboard Stickers and adhered a card cut from cardstock, along with a piece of washi tape. Isn't that peacock elastic from my stash cool? Keep an eye out for decorative elastic.

My cover was done fairly simply using paper and ephemera from Bo Bunny but also using Eileen's flower die with Resin Paper. You can find a full tutorial at Resin Obsession on how to make these amazing embellishments here. 

 

Quick Peek at the Inside!

The inside cover, totally love this double pocket & it was so easy to do using Eileen's Notebook Pocket Die. The back pocket is using the die cut with paper. The front pocket was simply cut from paper and a tab from the Banner's & Pennant's die was adhered at the top. How cute is that?!!  You will see a bunch of these tabs throughout the book.The tiny star is also from that die.  

Here are the tags from the pockets. This pic was from Creativation 2017 with Eileen, & Suzie as we were setting up Scotty on the show room floor. We had forgotten to bring a t-shirt to work in so nabbed up matching Yoda t's which were perfect for manual labor! The sentiment "Do or do not there is no try" pretty much sums up set up day!

 

Here are a few pages in progress! Love that these paper lines come with a vellum sheet. I simply sewed the edges of the vellum, adhered it to my page & made a pocket. Made a tag out of the paper & added a tab using the banner die. Love that it is a different way to top a tag. I will probably stamp a quote on the vellum- so cool.

 Last pic on this epic-ally long post! The left side, another pocket using a vellum sheet with a banner tab at the top. Forgiveness is a card from the paper, sewn and adhered as a pocket. Apparently I am in the mood for pockets & tags! On the right shows the bottom of a tag with that so awesome banner die adhered as a tab.

I will be sharing updates on this book as I work in it! Thanks for joining me here today & remember to check out Eileen's blog to see what my team members have done this month. Also be sure to join Eileen's Fan Club on Facebook where you can play along with us & win prizes!  
 

Supplies:

Eileen Hull Sizzix dies - Journal 

                                  -Sketchy Flowers & Leaf

                                  -Notebook Pocket
                                  -Banners & Pennants  
                                  -mat board

Bo Bunny- Life in Color: Cardstock, Vellum Paper with foil, Chipboard Stickers with Glitter, Cardstock Stickers.

               - Faith: Noteworthy Journaling Cards

Resin Obsession-Super Clear Resin

Southern Ridge Trading Co.- Drifting Feathers

Emerald Creek- Fractured Ice Embossing Powder 

Therm*O*Web - DecoFoil: Transfer Sheets in Lapis Watercolor, Aqua.

                      -DecoFoil Pen & Transfer Gel

                      -SuperTape & Zots Glue.

Dylusions Paint- Lemon Zest, Fresh Lime & Vibrant Turquoise

Carabelle Stamp- Une Regard sur mon Histoire

Dynamo Label

Making Resin Obsession Flowers

Hello Blog Land, I am here today with my first post for the Resin Obsession Team. I am very excited to be joining and having the chance to further explore Resin making!! I will be entering this in the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge which is too perfect a theme- altered embellishments! 

Hop on over to the Resin Obsession blog to check out my full tutorial on how you can make Resin Paper with napkins and turn them into these colorful & eclectic flowers! Also check back later today to see what I put these fabulous flowers on!! 

Also I hope you join in the current challenge over at Mix Media Monthly! 

Thanks for joining me & have a lovely inky day.

Christmas In July Project Life Card

This week on Topflight Stamps we are playing with Christmas. Yes that is right, time to start thinking of snow, snow, snow! Why you ask, in July? This is the time the stores need to put their orders in so you can get your happy snow globe stamps in the fall. I was designing this and it was 100oF- yikes, steaming Jingle Bells. 

Project Life Card with Katzelkraft

Mini Tutorial~

I participate in Project Life. At Christmas I tend to attempt to make a December Daily. Both involve making journal cards so that is what I decided to do this week. I started with a Becky Higgins card & added some stamping with Distress Ink, at the top & bottom of my card.

Christmas Tree Stamps at Topflight

Next step was to stamp and cut out the wonderful doodle Christmas trees by Katzelkraft with archival ink. Putting Distress Ink on a craft sheet & using it as paint to color the image followed. A quick swipe of color on the background along with some shimmer from A Wink Of Stella pen gave my trees a nice backdrop. I cut out the Merry Christmas and adhered it on the trees, then used pop dots to adhere. All I need is the journaling! Pop on over to the Topflight Blog to get your Christmas going & check out all the cool Christmas designs the team is doing this week. 

Making Nautical Art Cards with Topflight Stamps

Today I have my weekly post from Topflight Stamps. Check out the sale at the bottom of my blog after you read the post! The theme over there is summer or nautical & I got to play with these awesome stamps from Joy Crafts-Seashore Icons.

Stamps by Joy Craft have such great detail!

Playing with Stamps!

I decided to make some simple art cards, here is a quick rundown of how I made them.

This card started with random scrap paper adhered and was covered with acrylic paint & a scraper. I actually was arting on the beach where the picture was taken. Some random stamping of the Ships Wheel in black- notice how applying different pressure changes the look of the stamp. That is also as I was stamping on my lap! When I got home I added a photo from the trip, I love adding photos to my art cards.

The seagull was stamped on beige scrapbook paper, the postage stamp is from Pinterest & is on my Digi board. I added a few embellishments from Bo Bunny & did a bit of sewing. The feather was picked up on at the beach & adds the perfect touch of memory from the day!

 

Let's Make a Tag!

My second project is a tag that I had started with some cheese cloth & artisan powders. It was a demo I did in a class I was teaching. Perfect to add some nautical stamped images. I stamped the oh so cool light house & compass on scrapbook paper, & cut them out. The compass was adhered with pop dots. 

The lighthouse was added to with just a touch of color using Distress Oxide. Below I added some Glass Bead Gel & GemStones to act like the rocks! The background stamping at the top of the tag was part of that same stamp. The edges of the stamp are seagulls & clouds, so they were inked up and stamped. A bit of ribbon at the top & shazam, done. Thanks for joining me today, I hope I can inspire you to make some art. Pop on over to Topflight to get the best of Europe's stamps right here in the U.S. 

I am entering my tag in the Craft Stamper Magazine challenge. 

 There is a huge sale going on, all the summer stamps!

Topflight Stamp 

• Seashore Icons by Joy Crafts

Other Supplies:

•  Ranger-Jet Black, Cobalt Archival Ink
•             -Fossilized Amber, Fired Brick Distress Oxide
• Tombo Mono-Aqua Glue
• Liquitex-Glass Bead Gel
• Emerald Creek-Gemstones
• Bo Bunny- Noteworthy Ephemera
• Letters-Me & My Big Ideas

A Few Art Card Techniques

Hello Blog Land, I am here today with a few art card techniques. I love using Southern Ridge Trading co. chippies on my cards. They are the perfect embellishment to add to these cards & the bonus is you can color customize them to fit your project. 

Vintage Collage with Tim Holtz

 Art Card #1- Collage

I was using this as a test card to see how fast  crackle paste would dry. Sadly I don't remember what the answer was, really need to write that info down. I added some watercolor paint & once dry did some random stamping. I painted the stencil word "Lost" and outlined it. My Leafy Branch was gessoed, stamped and painted. After adding the ephemera I also added copper metallic paint in random spots. This card sentiment kind of reminds me of a family member, hum sparks ideas on how to use these paper dolls. 

The wee turtle that visits our garden.

Card #2- Our Garden Friend

 After creating a Distress Oxide (DO) background I added some stencil work with gesso. The SRTC Dandelion Seed Stem was gessoed, painted with water color marker & once dry stamped with black archival ink. 

The Green Leaf chippie was painted the same way & the only difference is stamped with Leaf Green Archival to create a more subtle look. "Cute" was also colored with a marker & clear embossed, then highlighted with a touch of doodling. Ephemera & stitching was added.

Art Card with Darkroom Door Stamps on a Gel Press Background.

Card #3- Red Lobster!

This card was started using a piece of Gel Press card stock. Random stamping using Dark Room Door Stamps in various colors was the next step. 
 

Emerald Creek Emboss

The shells were stamped on printed paper using Distress Oxide & heat embossed with Fractured Ice. I love this look. The DO color shows through & the emboss creates a grungy look with flecks of black ink & blue glitter. 
 

Stamp on the chippie!

The SRTC lobster was colored with Distress Ink & DO and once dry stamped with copper paint & black archival ink. 

Supplies Used:

•  SRTC- Leafy Branch, Dandelion Seed Stem, Green Leaf, Word Mix 1, Ocean Mix, Raindrop stencil.
• Dark Room Door Stamps- Grunge Marks, Seashells, Correspondence.
• Emerald Creeks Embossing- Fractured Ice 
• Le Plumme II watercolor markers by Marvy Uchida
• Distress Ink, Archival Ink, Distress Oxide.
• Tim Holtz- Paper Dolls, Quotations, Ephemera

  Thanks for joining me today!!! 
 I am entering my Lost art card in the Craft Stamper Magazine challenge & in Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge- Distress It.