Month: April 2013

challenge: color

This week’s Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge is featuring “color” – which is right up my alley! You know I love my inks, sprays, inks, and such! Visit the blog to see all of the other creations and to enter. This week’s prize (as always) is a $50 voucher to Simon Says Stamp! The winner is randomly drawn – you can enter by posting to your blog, flickr, or other site too. See the blog for entry details and rules as usual.

So I got to thinking about this challenge, and I decided to do something I’ve been meaning to try for quite a while. I made a canvas-like piece all textures and fun stuff…

and then I just covered it in gesso eliminating all color.

Say WHAT?!

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Yep. It’s true! What may be more shocking is just how easy this would be to make for yourself, and yep. I’ll be sharing that info here too.

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So, here’s my finished piece. Looking at I have a hard time believing how EASY this was. I mean really silly levels of easy. I can’t believe I’ve not done this sooner, and I’m so very glad that this challenge inspired me to do so! All  you’re going to need is:

* canvas, wood (I used a random wood decor thing from craft store – cost about a quarter!)

* gesso or white paint

* texture-y stuff (wood, flowers, metals, chipboard, textured paper… )

* color medium (spray, inks, paints…)

You don’t have to use what I used – there is a lot of substituting you can do for this. Basically, you need to find yourself a firm surface, then play around with materials and figure out placement.

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After you figure out placement, then it is adhering time! Slather everything up with PPA, and let it dry. Once dry, or at least mostly dry, THEN cover everything with gesso.

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When the gesso is totally dry, it’s color time!!

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I used dylusions ink sprays and then misted the white dylusions spray over the top to add a more pastel look to the piece. It seriously was one squirt of each color – 30 seconds or less to color it and then it was done. I just added some enamel dots to finish it.

Crazy easy – right?

Supplies Used:

note: I also used random sequin flowers + mulberry paper flowers + a doily

May’s book rec’s [april 2013 edition]

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I’ve been collecting good reads it would seem – and then I mean to share and I forget/get busy/post about something else…. then I add another book… now we’ve got a list of seven! YAY! Ok, so let me share!

JC Daniels NightBlade is the second in her Colbana Files series (really, you have to read this series in order start with Blade Song) and is very dark urban fantasy. It’s heartbreaking and amazing and really fantastic and I can NOT wait for her to release book 3! (though, it seems I WILL be waiting!) This book is listed first because it is the first book I think of when someone asks what I’ve read that was great recently.

Nora Roberts The Witness is now out in paperback! I loved this book – romance + suspense and just reminds me of the classic Nora Roberts books that made her such a legend.

This next one – I grabbed because the cover was just so cute and I thought why not? Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid – a self-published ebook. The price is right (about $3 or FREE if you have amazon prime + want to borrow it!)  and it was super funny. Very silly, lot of joking around and over the top funniness in the great way that reminds me of the good ‘ol days when romantic comedies were a thing.

Speaking of comedy – Sophie Kinsella has a BRAND NEW BOOK!! Wedding Night releases this Tuesday (I had an advance copy) and it is fabulous. Two sisters. A trip to Greece. Hijinks ensue, and this is one of her funniest and best. Can You Keep a Secret or Twenties Girl remain my favorite two from her – but Wedding Night is really good and SO much better than her last few.

Tina Fey Bossypants. For kindle it is now just 3.99 – and I couldn’t pass that up! Stephanie Howell (among others) have recommended this book and I’m loving it so far – and at that price I couldn’t pass it up.

Written In Red by Anne Bishop is a new novel + series for her. It revolves around a woman who can get visions of the future and has always lived in a lab-like environment, never seen the outside world… then a vision shows her how she can escape and she finds herself living and working with the Others (shifters, fairies, all kinds of other non-humans…). It was really a fantastic start to a new UF series and I couldn’t put it down. I don’t normally jump into hardcover books (I wait for paperback) – this one was worth it.

The next Spindle Cove novel by Tessa Dare (Any Duchess will Do) is really great (I got my hands on an advance copy – love Spindle Cove!) It can be pre-ordered now – and I loved it – but the real reason this book is in this list is not to tease you by saying it’ll be ready soon but rather to share that the spindle cove novels that are already out are on SALE in eBook format! A Week to Be Wicked, A Night to Surrender, and A Lady by Midnight are all just $.99 each! (I assume that is a very limited time offer… not sure how long it’ll last!)

 

That wraps up my recommended reads for now! Do you have some? I’d love to hear them. Before I go though… let me share two books my girlies are STRONGLY recommending lately.

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Emeraldalicious is a fantastic story of imagination and (as always) the art as well as the stories in this series delights my girls. They tell me it is one of the best/most favorite of all the Pinkalicious books.

Fancy Nancy Puppy Party is the story of Nancy’s dog Frenchie’s birthday party – and this is an instant favorite.

Basically any books from Fancy Nancy and/or the Pinkalicious series = instant girl happiness in my world. They are really detailed in illustration, they’re fun, and they have girls using their imaginations and having fun being fancy. Which delights my young ladies to no end, and of course being able to (mostly) read them on their own is a huge bonus – they love that!

Have a great weekend – and happy reading!!

Friday crafting…

I have such love for the Maggie Holmes line of papers + embellishments. I’m on my third package of her gold glitter thickers (seriously, they’re the best!) and I just love all the neutrals and soft colors in her line. mm

Today I wanted to share a layout I’ve made with (mostly) Maggie’s stuff. I love that it works beautifully mixed + matched with other lines too – always a must in my craft supplies!

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Here’s the full page…

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Supplies:

Happy Crafting! I’ll be back tomorrow with a (much overdue!) book recommendation post.

Countdown to Camp Scrap: video ramble

hey guys! So I’m deep into week #3 preparations for Camp Scrap, and this morning while I was setting up some stuff I just turned on the camera and pretended you were here and I was chatting at you about what’s up with camp and what I’m up to here in my studio. If you want to hear what I was rambling on about, you certainly can in all 7minutes of its unedited glory…

[link to youtube]

A bit of a ramble, oh yes. But vlogging (video blogging) can kinda be like that, right? Anyhow, if you’re in the mood for some crafty fun, I invite you to check out Camp Scrap! I’ll continue the countdown with projects, videos, and more here on my blog of course. The class info can be found here.
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