New Scrapbook Pages

Here are a couple of recent scrapboook pages I've done for my own personal scrapbook. A while back, I decided to have my own scrapbook with some of my favorite photos. I don't worry about chronological order; this is for whatever I like.

These pages feature photos of my grandson. The page with the lime green paper shows him wrapped in a quilt I made for him. It was so much fun to choose the bright fabrics! I wanted paper that brought out those colors without the business of the fabric. The heart and dots are chipboard. I painted them with acrylic, then coated them with iridescent acrylic medium. Finally, I stamped a swirl design on top with black ink.

The other page has a photo I like just because of his awesome smile! The tag shape is cut from embossed cardstock, inked with white. I had fun layering papers for this. Both of these pages have ribbon tabs left over from the kit I used for my personalized planner. (http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/2008/04/personalized-planner.html)

Let me know about what you're doing to express your creativity.

Immi

New Flowers From Tim Holz

A few days ago, Tim Holtz had a giveaway on his blog. He's getting ready to teach classes on a cruise, and has some really cool collaged paper flowers he'll be using. They're called "Artful Collage Flowers" from Prima. Anyone who submitted a comment had a chance to win a drawing for one of three packages of flowers. I submitted a comment, assuming that as usual, I'd never win. Was I ever excited when I checked his blog the next day, and saw that "Immi" was one of the lucky winners! I promised Tim that I'd get to work right away, and post photos on my blog.



I got them in the mail today, and they really are awesome. I decided to do a quick tag to get my feet wet. I already had the stamped image on a manila shipping tag that I'd done quite some time ago. (Love those shipping tags!) I did some watercoloring on top of what I'd stamped, tore the bottom, and inked the edges. I layered it on top of a scrap of Asian paper I had. Both these layers were attached to black. I love using black paper to make things "pop". I used my good old-fashioned label gun for the word "trust". I attached the flower with a black snap (yes, the kind you use for sewing). I think I'll find some rough brown twine to string through the hole.



This tag would be great on a card or scrapbook page, but I'm planning to clip it to my recent antique purchase (http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/2008/04/interesting-find.html) hanging on the door of my studio.



I really like these flowers, and look forward to doing some more fun stuff with them. It's going to be so easy to use them since they're already collaged. Thanks, Tim!

No More Boring Pushpins!

Why have plain pushpins when you can dress them up a little? A while back, on impulse, I bought a package of large clear pushpins at Target. I thought I could do something with them to make them a little more fun. I found that one of my punches was just the right size to cover the top almost completely. (Yet another great use for those scraps of paper I love to keep!) I also pulled out some buttons from my stash (mostly garage sale finds). I glued the punched paper and buttons to the tops. Sadly, when I went back to Target, with visions of gift sets of pushpins, they were no longer carrying them.



I thought I'd try the same thing with regular sized clear pushpins. I didn't have any buttons on hand that worked, but a hole punch was a good size for the top. For these, I also cut strips of paper and wrapped the shank of the pin. These were way more putzy, and not quite as much fun, but I'm still glad to have them decorating my bulletin board.



I also had some pushpins with much larger heads and a shorter pin. They were pastel, with flowers on top, and didn't really work for me anymore. Of course, being the pack rat that I am, I'd kept them. I found that a couple of punches were close in size to the tops, but not quite big enough. Then it occurred to me to go over the edges with Stazon ink. The pin way at the top is in the process. I've inked the edge and part of the top in black. Then when I glue the paper over it, it should look more like the red one at the lower left of the picture.



The next photo is of some magnets I did. I don't know where I'd gotten them, but I had some plain round magnets that were pretty strong. So again, out came my buttons and I glued some old, beat-up ones to the top. The metal one is not a button; I don't know what it is. For these, I used E6000, which is a strong adhesive.



The last photo shows my bulletin board. I enjoy looking at and using my new variety of pins.



Happy creating,

Immi

Minnesnowta

First off, I'd like to say I realize there is nothing original about the title of today's post. It just seemed too applicable to pass it up. When we went to bed last night, it was still raining, and just as promised, by morning it had turned over to snow. Today it snowed off & on - sometimes sleet mixed with snow, and the wind was so fierce! As one of our local t.v. anchors (transplanted from California) said earlier this week, this is "just sick and wrong!". My sentiments exactly!


I was thinking earlier today about when I began my blog, and the weather was very similar at the end of March. It was a good day to get some cleaning and organizing done. I get very excited when my husband is in the mood to organize! I gladly volunteered to go to Target to get the shelves he needed. His books are threatening to take over. Now that I think about it, our whole house is full of books. Except for the two bathrooms, every room in the house has books.


I've even got a lot of books that belong to the church library. I'm the librarian, and I've been trying to get labels on the books so they can be shelved in some semblance of order. I wheel my suitcase in, fill it with books, and take them home. Then I find Dewey numbers for them on the internet (sometimes it takes a lot of looking) and put the info on labels. When I've got a full sheet of labels, I print them out and put them on the books. Then it's back to the church building, where I put protective labels on the spine and shelve them. Slowly but surely, the library is taking shape.

I had a chance this weekend to do some catching up on the school scrapbook. By default, I've become the school scrapbooker. My boss really likes to have something to show people so they can see some of the faces of our program. We do a new one each year; fieldtrips, graduation, awards, community service, etc. It was high time I got something done; I hadn't done anything, and it's almost the end of the year.

I think we'll veg tonight with a movie. I have an idea for a post for next week, showing some fun push pins I did for my bulletin board. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow, so I can post on Monday.

Happy creating!
Immi

Really Cute Video

This is an experiment for me. I haven't uploaded a video before, so I hope it works. This was forwarded to me; I thought it was too sweet not to share. I have no idea who this little girl is, but she's really belting it out! It reminds me of what Matthew relates in his gospel. When the teachers of the law and the chief priests saw the wonderful things Jesus was doing, and heard the children shouting, "Hosanna to the son of David!", they were indignant and questioned Jesus. Jesus reminded them of the scriptures they knew so well: "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise."

This little girl is having a wonderful time praising the Lord!

Have a great day,

Immi

p.s. On the topic of singing, my husband told me yesterday that I went from snoring to singing in 30 seconds. After the alarm went off, we were lying there for a few minutes, and I went back to sleep. According to a reliable source, I was also snoring. When he started stirring, I woke up and remember wondering what day of the week it was. When I realized it was Wednesday, I started singing a song I learned years ago when working with students, trying to teach them the days of the week. "Wednesday is the middle of the week day, middle of the week day, middle of the week day. Wednesday is the middle of the week day, all year long!" Our brains are strange and marvelous, aren't they!

Finished Acrylic Scrapbook

As promised, here are some photos of the scrapbook I made in the class Saturday. All the pieces came with the holes punched on the left. Most of the materials were pre-cut.
The cover is acrylic, with an image stamped in StazOn ink, using the Fiskars stamp press. The stamp press is really nice for larger acrylic stamps. Behind the cover you can see several succeeding pages.
The next photo shows the third page, which is an envelope. We traced the flap of the envelope
onto decorative paper, cut it out and
adhered the decorative paper onto the flap.
A sheet of stickers was provided for
the word "Keepers".
The third photo shows the back of the envelope and a journaling page, punched out from a 12x12 sheet of journaling shapes. We had brown ink available,and I inked the edges of all my papers with that.
The fourth photo shows the back of a transparent page (transparency weight, lighter than the acrylic covers) inserted after the journaling page. We did some stamping on this page as well.
The final photo is of the back cover with the addition of some stamping. I won't charge any extra for my reflection in the covers!

Try something creative today!

Immi

Acrylic Album

I had a great time Saturday, attending a class to learn about acrylic albums. The challenge with these is that the parts that are made out of acrylic will be seen from both sides. This means a lot of planning has to be done up front so that what is seen in succeeding layers will work with what's come before AND look as good from the back as it does from the front. Planning ahead is NOT my strong suit. I like to jump into a project and let it evolve as I go along. This class was a good way to get my feet wet, since everything came as a kit, and all the planning was done ahead of time. I also got the chance to try out some tools I hadn't used before. I am a bit of a tool junkie, so it's great to see whether or not I'd like something before making the splurge. One of the tools we used was one I'd looked at in the past, but hadn't bought. Now, having tried it, I don't think I will buy it. It's a tool to set very large grommets; they're really cool looking, but I didn't care for the loud pounding with a hammer necessary to punch the hole for the grommet and then to set it. The class also confirmed my conclusions about punches; the ones with levers are much easier to use than those without. I think a lot less force is necessary when using a punch with a lever. I did try one newer type of punch, by Fiskars. The shape is cut out by squeezing the handles together. Because of tendonitis in my right elbow, I'd shied away from those - gripping motions can be painful. I was pleasantly surprised at how little effort was needed to work this type of punch.

I haven't decided what pictures to put in the album yet. I'll post some pictures tomorrow so you can see how it turned out.

Happy creating!

Immi

There You Go

Okay, this has nothing to do with creativity, but it bugs me. I've been hearing the phrase "there you go" a lot lately. I hear it at the end of a sales transaction in all types of stores. The cashier has given me a pleasant greeting, enquiring solicitously about whether or not I found everything I was looking for. Usually I have, so I answer in the afirmative. The cashier finishes ringing up my purchase (I guess no one really does that any more; it's all scanned!) and I hand over my "money" aka plastic card. Or perhaps I scan the card myself. Either way, I sign my agreement to honor the transaction. My receipt is then handed to me or the cashier may ask whether I prefer it with me or in the bag. Sometimes the bag with my purchase is also handed to me; other times I'm left to pick it up myself. It's at this point that I oftentimes hear not, "thank you" or, "have a nice day" or even, "come again soon". Instead, as I'm being handed or am picking up my purchase prior to leaving, I'm sent off with, "there you go". This doesn't strike me as the best note for the last thing a customer hears before leaving the business. I don't know if this is something local or if it's more widespread. I suppose I'm an old fogey, but I do appreciate good customer service!

Rant over.

There you go!
Immi

Catching Up

I had some time recently to continue a project that I've been working on for years; organizing photos. I'd done a lot in the past, but had let it get away from me for some time. I'm still trying to come up with rough dates, and choose the photos which will go into scrapbooks. The rest will go into photo albums, hopefully in (somewhat) chronological order. It ocurred to me that now that my children are grown, I no longer need to be the sole guardian of all these photos. I'm going to start pulling out photos that I think they'll enjoy having and share the wealth! I've managed to complete a few scrapbook pages as I've gone along, which is a bonus. Even though there's a lot left to do, it certainly feels good to make any little progress!

Keep creating,

Immi

Interesting Find

I came across this recently in a boutique. This was once at the back of a bank vault. What is now the top (where the string is for hanging) was originally the side. The back side which you can't see also has metal clips with numbers, but they're facing the top rather than the bottom as you see here. The boutique owner wasn't sure how it was used, but theorized that the numbers may have corresponded to safe deposit boxes. I've got it hanging on the door of my studio, and will use the clips to attach odds and ends that I'll enjoy looking at - sort of a bulleting board. Kind of cool, huh?



Immi

Gratitude Journal

I am indebted to Emily Falconbridge at http://embers.typepad.com/ for this idea. As you know, I have plenty of paper scraps on hand. I thought this was a great idea for a couple of reasons. It's important to take time to think about the many things, large and small, for which we have reason to be grateful. It's also a great way to use up odds & ends of paper!


The idea is a page for each week of the year. I didn't start this at the beginning of the year, so I counted out the weeks remaining in the year and made that number of pages. I'd like to do this annually, and hope to make this with my daughter and daughter-in-law when we've got a chance to have a few days together.


I had a lot of fun, pulling out random scraps of paper, and found ways to use even very small scraps to embellish the pages. Skinny strips were glued close to the edge; punches gave me small birds and flowers. Pieces that were a little wider, but not wide enough for a single page were glued together to form a piece wide enough for writing. I deliberately made the pages many different sizes, both in height and width for added interest. I also used stickers on some of the pages, as well as rubber stamps. This is also a good project to incorporate unusual paper; the last page in my journal is a flat brown sack I got when making a small purchase somewhere.


When I had all the pages done, I punched holes and placed hole reinforcements on front and back. Binding rings hold the whole thing together.


I was so excited by this project that I shared it at a weekend retreat, and some of my friends started their own. Another thought it would be a great project for the class she teaches on Sunday for the junior high girls. I also thought these would make nice gifts for the group of women I work with. For those, I made a cover, using similar paper for each, and incorporating rubber stamps about gratitude or thankfulness. They were very well received.



All in all, a fun, easy project.



Keep experimenting!

Immi

Frame Makeover

I recently received a watercolor of a place my husband's family has visited many times in Sulphur, OK. I liked the watercolor, but didn't care for the way it was matted or framed. I thought at first of buying a new frame, but then it ocurred to me that I should try transforming the old one.



I found a beautiful espresso brown metallic acrylic paint at the craft store which looked just right to me. I mixed it with approximately an equal amount of glazing medium (love that stuff!) and spread two coats on the frame with an el cheapo sponge brush. (I buy them when they're 10/$1 at the craft store.)



I'm happy with the way it turned out. I haven't found a pre-cut mat that will work, so I'm going to take the painting and frame in and have a mat cut for it. This was an easy and cheap transformation - give it a try!



Immi

Personalized Planner, Cont.

Here are some photos of my finished planner. I originally thought I'd use white behind the cover pages, but I decided I preferred the way the covers looked against black.



I had fun going through my stash of papers, pulling things out with orange. It was great to be able to find paper I wanted to use without having to make a trip to the store; I guess it's not so bad, having all these supplies on hand!



After everything had dried, I had to trim excess paper from the edges, and punch holes. Not the most fun, but necessary.



For tabs, I used a punch I bought recently that punches the shape of a ticket. It's a rectangle, with half circles at each short end. The corners are cut off at an angle. I punched a piece from each of the papers I had used, and ran them through my Xyron. I have a love/hate relationship with my Xyron. It's great adhesive, but there's always adhesive residue at the edges of whatever you've run through it. It's quite frustrating to rub it all off with a special "eraser". Maybe I'm just doing it wrong.



Anyway, I folded the ticket shape over the edges of the pages to create tabs, and painstakingly rubbed off excessive adhesive. I pulled out my label maker (love that!), and used clear labels for my categories. I printed a label for both sides of the tabs, so I can see what my sections are from either direction.



After the labels were on, I reassembled the book. Then just for fun, I pulled out some odds & ends of ribbon (we'll talk about ribbon storage some day) and tied short pieces onto the binder rings. All done, and I think I'll enjoy using it! It's so great when I can combine organizing & crafts!!



Immi

Personalized Planner

A while back, I bought a kit for a scrapbook. I didn't know exactly what I would do with it, but it was on clearance, so what could I do? The kit consisted of two decorated covers, blank white tagboard pages, ribbons for tabs and binder rings. It languished for some time, until I thought I'd try turning it into a planner. One of these days, I hope to have a phone/pda combo, but for now I need a way to keep track of "stuff".
The covers were great as is: clear plastic with a design in shades of orange. The white pages (so boring) I decided to cover with decorative paper and use as dividers. I cut office waste paper to the correct size and punched holes to put in the sections for notes, shopping lists, etc. I also created a calendar with Excel (my daughter will be so proud) for one of the sections.

To cover the divider pages, I decided to use Yes! paste. I think this works well for this type of project. It gives good coverage over the entire piece of paper, provides a good bond, and does not wrinkle. Wrinkling is very problematic with paper because of the moisture in the glue.

Here's how I apply it:
(You'll need waste paper, waxed paper, glue of your choice, tool for scraping/spreading adhesive, damp cloth)

Place paper which will receive the glue face down on a waste piece of paper. Waste paper from the office or your home printer is great for this; keep a stack on hand. Use tool of your choice to scoop some paste from the jar & deposit it on the paper. I used a palette knife.
Holding the paper firmly near the top, scrape the paste down the paper. I keep those fake plastic credit cards that come in the mail for this (my husband likes them for bookmarks). Scrape the paste off the edges of your decorative paper, onto the waste paper. Continue to keep a firm grip on the top of the paper! Move your gripping hand out of the way to work on the top of the page or turn the waste paper around to finish spreading the paste. You don't need a thick coating, but you do need enough to see the dampness of the paste all over the paper. I stress holding on to your paper because I know from personal experience what a mess can be created if the paper slips; you can end up with paste where you do not want it, on the front of your good paper. This did happen to me a couple of times; I used my damp cloth to wipe it off after securing it to the divider page. You might want to practice with a couple of pieces you don't care about to get the hang of it. If your paper does slip, immediately pick it up, move the waste paper out of the way and bring over a fresh sheet of waste paper.
When you've got the paste spread completely, pick up your glued paper and imediately move that waste paper to a safe distance! Trust me, you won't be sorry if you make this a habit. Put a piece of waxed paper under the surface which will receive the glued paper. At this point, I transfer the glued paper from my non-dominant hand to my dominant hand; I then use my damp cloth to clean the fingers of the non-dominant hand. Line up as best you can the glued paper and smooth it down. You may need to clean your fingers again at this point. Depending on the paper, you may have a few seconds grace time to reposition. If you don't get it exactly the way you want, be willing to embrace some imperfection or think of a creative way to cover up the mistake. I use the side of my fist to smooth the paper down, working from the center outwards. Then I rub my fingers firmly over the edges.
Fold the waxed paper over your glued pieces so that waxed paper is now on both sides. Place under a heavy book to weight down while drying. This keeps your paper nice and flat. I have a stack of old phone books I use for this purpose. Leave for several hours or overnight to dry. Any excess paste on your waste paper can be scraped off and put back in the jar. I continued this same process with the remaining divider pages. As a way to cut down on the amount of waste paper needed, once you've used a couple of sheets, place the gluey sides together. This way, you can use both sides of some of that waste paper. I ended up with a stack of paper, glued together.

Now, back to the planner project. After I glued all the paper to one side of the divider pages, I left them to dry for several hours. I pulled them out, and punched the holes, using the holes in the divider pages a guides. I also trimmed any excess paper from the edges. I then repeated the gluing process for the other side. I let them dry overnight, but they still seemed a little damp the next morning. I decided to stack them again, but this time between sheets of waste paper, in hopes that the waste paper would draw out any remaining moisture.

More next time...

Immi

Finished Metal Tray

Here are the remaining stages of the metal tray makeover. The first photo shows some additional sanding, along with a black glaze acrylic paint drybrushed in spots.







The next photo shows what the tray looked like after I went over it with a brown glaze.







The third photo shows some additional drybrushing with some Quinacridone Burnt Orange and Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold (both by Golden) as well as an espresso metallic paint I bought the other day for a different project.



As soon as we have a day when it's not raining, I'll take the tray out to the garage and spray it with a matte finishing spray. If I'd planned to use it for display somewhere, I think I would have done some collage, but I plan to use it in my studio to corral containers of scissors and glue. I think I'll glue some felt to the bottom to make it easier to slide out and access the tools I want. I guess really it's premature to call it "finished", but close enough!







The last photo is not really related to this subject, but you might be interested anyway. I keep a stack of old book covers near my painting area (the laundry room - I don't dare try to paint upstairs in a carpeted room!). I use these for a lot of my collages. I like to cover them with tissue paper, which I glue on either with white glue or acrylic medium. The tissue paper, which I allow to wrinkle, gives a nice texture to the surface. When I'm painting a project, any leftover paint I brush onto these old book covers. It creates a great depth and layers of colors, and lets me feel virtuous that I've made the most of my supplies. Often, by using this method, I obtain beautiful backgrounds for collage. Old books are available very cheaply at thrift stores and garage sales.







This was a fun experiment. I did go back to the thrift store to get another tray; I plan to try a collage on it. I'll let you know how it goes.







Keep experimenting!



Immi

Metal Tray Makeover, Cont.

These photos show the stages I've completed so far. The first coat is gesso; the second coat is a mixture of shades of red. Looks worse than the original, but I'm not giving up yet!

After the red dried, I added a mixture of shades of yellow. In the photo, you can see that the paint is still wet. The last photo shows the dried yellow with some sanding. I think my sanding block is worn out; it took a lot of elbow grease, and I still don't have the effect I want. Hopefully once I get a new sanding block, I can get rid of more of the yellow to see the red beneath. It's still not particularly lovely, but I do like the way it looks with some of the yellow removed.

I'll keep you posted on how it's going.

Keep creating,

Immi

Metal Tray Makeover

I bought this metal tray ($0.69) at a thrift store the other day. I thought I'd like to try giving it a makeover. I'm hoping to be able to paint it using paints I have here at home. I have no idea whether or not this will work. I'm going to prep it with gesso, and go from there.





I'll let you know how it goes. I'll take photos of each step and report on the results.





I think I'm going to get another one and try some collage on top. We'll see!





Immi

Paper Scrap Storage, Part 2

Here is the system I use for my smaller paper scraps. These drawer units were bought at Target, but I haven't seen this size since then. These are a little deeper than the small units available there now. I like these because they're deep enough to hold a half sheet from 8.5 x 11 paper. The labels aren't very clear in the picture; Brown; Reds; Blue/Green; Black; Yellow; White. I don't know why, but I feel no need to keep these in alphabetical order (very unlike me!).


When I need a small scrap for a card, or want a piece to punch a shape, I look in these drawers first. I used to throw them in willy-nilly, but found it a hassle to search through the drawer; I also overlooked a lot of smaller pieces. I started storing the smallest pieces in snack size or smaller (look in the craft store with the beads) zip lock bags within the drawer. This works well for me; it corrals all those small pieces in one place and makes them easy to find. Sometimes I get out a punch and use it on some of the smaller scraps so I have a supply of flowers, birds, circles, etc. This is a great way to use up some very small pieces I would otherwise be tempted to toss.



Happy experimenting!


Immi