I brake for paris

Hello everyone!

as much as we have adored having little Fred to foster I am happy to say he is going to be adopted into a permanent home tomorrow!  Bubba will miss him desperately and will have to go back to tormenting me for attention!

Isn't he a cutie pie!  and so lovey-dovey!
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Have you checked out the large array of collage stamps at IBFS?  They are jaw dropping gorgeous and I have quite a few.  These images are put together in such an amazing way - little treasures for beautiful cards in minutes.  Here I have used one of my favorites - the large Paris Balloon Collage:

I stamped the image on cream cardstock using brown ink to keep with the vintage feel of the image.  I paired it up with more cream, brown and blue papers and gave it a bit of glitz with the blingy flower!

YEP that is from the acrylic skins we have been making  (see next post for the full tutorial!)  they work PERFECTLY with dies - in this case a sizzix original type die.  they also work perfectly with craft punches - woohoo!  here you can get a better feel for not just the color but the shimmer and the slight texture too.

i am entering this card in several challenges:

• Creative Craft Challenge - new beginnings (the new artist group i am in that started the acrylic skins experiments)
• Papercrafting Journey - anything goes
• 4 Crafty Chicks - Orange, lt. blue, blue, dk. brown
• Cardmaking mommas - anything goes

We have been having so much fun with this i actually had to order more gel medium!  wondering where to get it for the best price?  i shop at dick blick and use their brand - their gel medium, gesso and matte medium - all are awesome!

Which collage stamp is YOUR favorite?  Head over to I Brake For Stamps and pick some out - and don't forget to use the code SAVE10MARTI and save 10% on your whole order!  happy shopping!

Acrylic Skins - a tutorial for you!

Hi everyone!

we are having some seriously dreary UNsunshine-y days around here lately!  I usually don't mind winter much but this year - just ICK!  i think perhaps i am longing for the start of traveling season with our camper!  we have lots of fun things in the works for this year - can't wait!

of course i may be grumpy because i am missing CHA for the first time in years!  i can see all the new stuff online so that's no big deal.  i miss the PEOPLE!  all of the friends and fun that only happens once a year - BOO!

I am part of various artist groups online and one of them has brought up the topic of using acrylic skins in mixed media work.  A quick search in Google images came up with all sorts of beautiful things.   The idea seemed intriguing so I thought I would give it a whirl!  Rather than using plain acrylic paints I had to step it up a notch and decided to use Primary Elements Pigment powders and Gel Medium to make them.  Once the skins are dry they have a unique elastic-like material which can then be cut or torn and used in collage work.  Here are the steps I followed.I chose 3 colors for each skin.

Place a small pile of each powder on a non-stick surface.

Next put out a pile of Gel Medium alongside each one,  Use enough to ensure you are able to make a skin the size you want.

Mix really well!

Use a pallette knife and spread the paints across a piece of freezer paper (shiny side up).  Overlap and blend the colors into each other but keep them discernable to give the skin some interest.  The thickness can vary.  The thinner it is the more transparent it will be once dry.

Because gel medium is a milky white when wet as you can see in the center of this piece.  Once dry it is crystal clear and you are left with gorgeous brilliant color and because they are done with Luminarte Primaary Elements the color is exceptional PLUS the added bonus of oodles of shimmer!  Coax the edge up and then gently pull it from the freezer paper.
Here are our finished pieces.  In addition to regular gel medium you can use some of the specialty mediums such as Ceramic Stucco or Glass Bead Gel.

The Ceramic Stucco gives a sandy texture...

Here I used Glass Bead gel.

Pezza joined in and made her own set of skins too.

 

she picked her own colors...

and did her own mixing and smoothing (and yes she was in her robe but i couldn't resist the pics!)

we also have a new foster kitten, Fred.  Bubba has really missed having a baby around to play with and he and fred have made fast friends.  so last night while we were watching tv i, the cat LOVER sat on one couch alone and this is what was on the other couch with hubby the cat "tolerator"

really!?!?!?!?  you can see fred - the little black one - sleeping right up close to bubba.

Now to see what we can do with these skins!  Stay tuned!

fabulous of course!

happy weekend!

we have three foster kittens with us temporarily - i couldn't resist!  i miss having babies around!  two are maine coons like our own kitties and they are SO scared and timid the poor little things.  they are down in the basement.  then we also brought home fred.  fred is a short hair all black kitten.  he is rowdy so he had to be seperated and put in the nursery AKA my studio.  bubba was dieing of curiosity of course so yesterday morning i had the door open so they could check each other out.  well the phone rang and it was my MIL and FIL had been back in the hospital with complications so of course i dropped everything and talked to her.  when i got off the phone i heard a big "shamie" upstairs (what my cajun grandma called a big commotion.) so i remembered fred and ran up to see what was going on and bubba and fred had made fast friends.  they were playing fred is chasing me and i am terrified game.  when fred gets tired bubba nudges him and asks why he's laying down :P

i have been meaning to get this post up for the current Color Me Creative challenge and with so much going on the days are getting away from me!  Our challenge was to use pastels on our colored image:

 We also used images from our fab sponsor Paper Makeup Stamps - Katie's images are just darling!

she is colored with colored pencils!  want to learn how to color your images with colored pencils?  check out my classes on Color Me Creative!  I have two colored pencil classes plus several mixed media and cricut classes as well!  with more to come in 2013!

I Brake for Pinecones...

Hello peeps!

so 2 weeks ago, as we approached the new year, i decided to get out my scrapbook and figure out how far behind i was...well it was ALOT.  i sat down and went to the photos where i had left off and began going through them to get them printed and ready to scrap.  i had ended sometime in 2009 DOH!!!!!  too make things even more exciting I began printing my photos off and was just really not happy with how they were looking - the photo printer was a really old one.  so this led to hubby and i researching photo printers and looking for the one we wanted and getting it and setting it up...so wow not fun.  BUT we got through all of that and because my hubby is freakin' AWESOME he got me the one i wanted and have been wanting for awhile - the epson artisan 837.  prints amazing photos AND has a separate ink cartridge for EACH color.  i know the last thing hubby wanted to do on his day off was spend it doing more computer crap!  but he did it for me and then i printed off ALL of the rest of the photos i need to scrap to complete 2009.  i told hubby i was going to do it in a weekend - i got the one eyebrow.  that's what he does now when he thinks i have lost my mind.  no matter how insane OR theatrical i get - i get the one eyebrow.  i guess he has gotten used to me after 9 years :P  needless to say it didn't happen  BUT i am pleased to say that i now have ONE page fully complete to share today AND all of the other photos are on their pages awaiting only journaling and embellishing!

so here is today's scrapbook layout for you:

I ALWAYS use a page sketch - it helps keep me from getting stuck on what I want to do.  i use Page Maps almost exclusively.  when i was printing out my photos i would look at the ones i wanted grouped together and then go through the page map sketches to find one that would work well with it and then i edited and resized my photos to fit the sketch.  i love the freedom to do it this way.  however, I don't always have the exact same number of photos as the sketch - stamps to the rescue!  Since this layout was all about my daughter's Christmas tree the Pinecone Background stamp from I Brake For Stamps was perfect!

I stamped using Versamark and then I brushed across the image with Luminarte Primary Elements shimmering powder in Mallard Green.  To set the powder I gave it a light spray with Workable Fixative (hairspray also works.)

This gives my photo replacement piece a subtle pattern with LOTS of shimmer! 

be sure to check out ALL of the amazing backgrounds available at IBFS!  They are stamps you will use over and over again!  and remember if you use my code - SAVE10MARTI - you will get 10% off!

an artist challenge...

hello all!

we have been on quite the roller coaster over here.  my father in law had a heart attack on thursday night/fri morning.  he ended up needing a quadruple by pass!  this was without warning - he is not even close to over weight, active, and no sign of any problems at his check up the year before!  the surgery went very well and we saw him yesterday - he looked well and should be on his way home this afternoon.  as long as he takes it easy he should be feeling MUCH better than he had been before so it's good news!  he was so very lucky and we are all grateful for that.

recently i became involved in a great google+ challenge group for mixed media techniques.  this week we have been exploring using graphite and acrylic paint together.  it has been interesting to explore artists who use these mediums together well and often and to learn about the different ways it can be done and how people have approached the challenge.  if you are interested in joining in you can find the group HERE.  google+ is not something i have played around with much but i do like the challenge community format of this group and the talent and interaction in it!

as for my attempt at the challenge i have to say i struggled.  but in the end i have two pieces i am pleased with:

i began by sketching out my image on a blank page.  i gave it a spray with workable fixative to set the graphite.  then i thinned my acrylic paints ALOT with glazing medium and brushed over randomly with a paintbrush.  the glazing medium gives the acrylic paints an interesting effect.  they become very translucent - the colors beneath show through and make beautiful layers!

on this one i decided to mix Luminarte Artist Pigment powders into the glazing medium so my acrylic layers would have some shimmer and sparkle!

i thought they both needed a little something to finish them off so i used some stencils with full strength acrylic paint.  the turquoise stenciling on this one is done using a stencil i designed myself!  i always wish i had certain stencil designs but no one makes them the way i envision so i thought hey - i will make them myself!  i tried to get a few of the stencil companies to pick the designs up but i have been told people wouldn't understand how they would be useful SO i will just use them on my own stuff!  i cut this one out of plain paper on my black cat cutter but i need to tweak it a bit and then maybe i will cut it out of something stronger that can be re-useable.  fun stuff!

but for now - it is back to being a housewife!  play time is over!

FaveCrafts Product Review - Fiskars AdvantEdge punch

hi everyone!

quick post for ya on a Product Review I did for FaveCrafts.com on the Fiskars AdvantEdge Punch System.  if you are OBSESSED with punches, especially border or ribbon punches, like i am then you will want to check this out!  i started by making a couple of cards:

just look at those intricate ribbons across the middles!  to see the full review and a how to on these cards head over to favecrafts and check out my review as well - AdvantEdge Punch System.  In addition you can check out my video demo and tutorial from the Favecrafts you tube channel!

i will be sharing more projects with this tool in the coming weeks.  i have to add that after doing all of my projects with this tool i went back to some regular border punches for something else and wow did i really miss the advantedge method!

i brake for tumbling leaves...

happy new year everyone!!!!

today is also happy holy crap school is back in session day over here!  the holidays were wonderful but pezza HATES to play by herself, hates to be out of school, hates to be stuck inside when it's cold and gets dark early, hates hanging out with her mom every day...well you get the idea.  she IS the child who complained at 2 about never getting to be put in daycare.

i am here with a new journal page for y'all.  we all do alot of reflecting when the new year hits.  whether it's thinking about how the past year went or how the new year will go.  i am not one for new year's resolutions per se.  i do the resolution, evaluation, new resolution, re-evaluation thing throughout the year.  however, the new year does sort of magnify it.  one thought that washed over me very strongly is that if i live to be 250 years old i don't know if i will have time to delve into all of the things in life i am interested in!  and it sent me into a bit of a panicky feeling for an afternoon.  so i grabbed my journal and some stamps and this is what i have:

 

 of course having interests is a wonderful thing - and probably keeps people going as they get older.  the fact that i am in a position to explore many of them is an enormous privilege too!  life is a lot of things but one thing it is never for me is boring!  ok there are occasions i wish for a smidge of boredom but really i am never one to sit still.  heck i can't even sit and watch tv - i always have to be doing something else at the same time.  and though i started this page in my studio i finished it off in front of the tv with a collection of neocolor II crayons, rubons and my zig pens.

i made the paper i used for the body of my house using stamps from two I Brake For Stamps sets - Collage Elements 1 and Floral & Leaves Plate. the leaves tumbling through the faint (but definitely present and lurking) clock and watch images was exactly how i felt.  creating this piece of paper to incorporate into my journal work is precisely why i love IBFS images.  endless versatility!

what can YOU create with the fabulous stamp sheets available in the store???  find out by heading over to the IBFS website and picking some out!  use the code SAVE10MARTI and save 10% on your order too!