Dare You Journal

I'm in a swap on Arttechniques called a "Dare You Journal". It's based off the website "Wreck this Journal" where you do all kinds of crazy things to your journal. We're to make 25 journal pages and they will be bound into a journal and returned to us. Here's my pages all laid out on the kitchen counter.

I don't drink coffee, but dh does and I mentioned to him that I wanted to use his left over coffee and grounds if he was through with them. He was, but was very curious about WHAT I wanted them for - boy, was he surprised when I "stamped" the coffee using a glass, then dumped the grounds on the pages and smooshed them around.

Once this was dry (which took longer than I imagined), I dusted off the grounds and the pages looked like this.

Here's a closeup of them. Not really the look I wanted.

Plan B: splatter paint on the pages. I dumped some acrylic paint in a small glass and added a little bit of water to make it runny. Then I took the handle of a paint brush, dipped it in the paint, and slung it out over the pages. I like the look I got with this!

Here's a closeup!

Now I have to add a smudged stamp image on the back, along with my contact info and these are ready to go in the mail (after they dry, of course).

Cinco de Mayo

Time for a catch up post, so settle in for awhile! First up is the final calendar page I did in Andi's journal for April.

Second, the pink socks for Peyton are progressing and should be done shortly - I'm on the decreases for the toes!Third, I hosted Stamp Club last month and we did a project out of the Kaleidoscope book. We did the timed collage on mat board and card board. I took my rubicoil and we punched the pages and made a book. Here's my pages, followed by a pix of them in the finished book.

Fourth, here's a Doodle ATC that I did for a swap. We were supposed to use markers, pens, etc and doodle something. I was pleased with what I came up with.

Fifth, I used to belong to Club Stamp a few years ago (I rejoined last month during their Rolling Retreat in Knoxville). I was always too busy to complete the projects that came each month in the kit, so I have had all these pizza boxes packed away in the closet of my art room. I decided it was time to open them up and use what was inside. Here's a pix of the pile of empty boxes, then the contents. I also had a few kits from the Altered Book Club that I was a member of for awhile. Now to start using these supplies (I don't know why I hoard so much STUFF - it's crazy to not use it!).

Calendar Journal Pages

These pages are for Andi's calendar journal. The top one is an Easter card that she sent me. The bottom one uses the scrunchie technique for the background.

Life gets in the way blues

Well, time sure flies - can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted! Since then I've started a new job - just down the hall from my old one, but still lots of new responsibilities. It's been over 7 years since I learned a new job. I had forgotten how hectic and crazy the first weeks are....and that's what I'm in right now. I haven't been too creative lately - doing a few pages in the monthly calendar journal.

A few weeks ago I did slip away for a whole weekend with my friend Patty. We went to the Club Scrap Rolling Retreat and had a great time. I love their paper and used to belong to Club Stamp. Each month you get this pizza box in the mail, full of paper, stamps, and a project. They have since revamped the program and now you get to choose what "side item" you want each month, in addition to the great paper. I signed up again and instead of the project, I picked the "greetings to go" - each month you get precut/pre-scored cardstock, envelopes, and a few layering mats - enough for 15 cards. Plus you might get a stamp pad or an adhesive. It seems well worth the price, to me.

I have some pictures, but will have to post them later as they are still on my camera.

Dreaming of Spring

Above are two ATC's I did for the Knoxville DRI that's coming up on March 24. I'll be trading these with the other attendees from our Tennessee Stampers yahoo group. The warmer weather this week has me dreaming of spring! The colors are very vibrant IRL. Background technique is leafing pen resist (Krylon leafing pen on paper, let dry, then apply Twinkling H2O's over all).

This is one of the pages I did in Santa's calendar journal this month. Our prompt was to write about 10 things that you do each day. I used inches to journal on, background is Lumiere paint.

Creative Weekend

This journal cover is from the larger sheet I did a few weeks ago using the gesso, gel medium, & acrylic paint technique. The phrase is from a magazine and says "Anyone can rock the house". The cover is very textured and glittery.

Last week, I got the stamps I ordered from GreenPepperPress. I made the bird ATC above and also the background paper below using my new stamps! ATC uses the Krylon pen & H20's technique (words are "Here, there, and everywhere"). Below is deli paper spritzed with Color Mists from Outside The Margins. I'm using it in the Calendar Journal RR for this month.

Below is my order I received Friday from Addictedtorubberstamps.com.

Yes, I ordered quite a few clear stamps. New Hero Arts letters (R and P), Technique Tuesday words stamps, and lots more. There's also some new Basic Grey paper and some button brads that I've been wanting. Although I love my wood mounted rubber stamps, space and storage issues caused me to re-look at clear stamps. They certainly don't take up as much room. Some companies are even mounting their rubber stamps onto cling sheets. I really like this approach as you can use the stamps as soon as you get them (not when you finally get around to putting them on the cling sheet yourself, and then cutting each image out!). I'll have to see if the clear stamps hold up as well (over time) as the rubber images do.

Making ATC's

Here are a few samples of the ATC's made using the background paper from my previous post. I added spray webbing and spray glitter, ending with an acrylic sealer. I'm very pleased with how they turned out. I'm also happy to report that I made over 60 ATC's from this one sheet!