Experiments in Creativity

Hearts on a String

2011-02-05T11:41:00.007-06:00

Many thanks to Tif at Dottie Angel for the inspiration for this fun and easy project. Go here to see her post.

You will need:

Sewing machine &
Thread color of your choice (I used white) &
String for hanging loops &
Scissors for cutting paper (don't you dare use your good sewing scissors!) &
Various papers - I used leftover scrapbook papers as well as paper pulled from my stash torn from old books

If you have them and want to use them, heart shaped paper punches are useful, too. I've got a small and medium punch, and used them both.

Cut or punch out hearts of various sizes. Use a variety of papers, and get a nice assortment ready to sew. You will be sewing pairs of hearts together as you go. You may find, as I did, that you don't want to stop!

Originally, I did my strings the way Tif did, with long threads left at the top for hanging, and long trailing threads at the bottom. I decided I didn't care for them that way, so I trimmed off the danglies. Instead of long threads for hanging, I stitched loops of string between the top heart layers.

Lay one heart, "good" side down. Put a loop of string on top, with the ends pointing to the bottom of the heart, and the loop sticking above the top of the heart. Place another heart on top of that, "good" side up.

Zigzag across the top center of the heart, going back and forth a few times to securely catch the ends of the string. If your machine has a "needle down" function, it helps a lot. After going backwards & forwards with the zigzag, stop in the middle of the center top of the heart.

Pivot the heart so the top is fac ing the back of your machine (leave your needle down). At this point, I switched to a straight stitch, although you could continue to zigzag. Stitch down to the point of the heart. Put another pair of hearts in position behind it, and keep on sewing until your string is as long as you like. I tried to mix up papers as I went, to keep it interesting.

I hope these directions are clear. It's very fast and it's a great way to use up odds & ends!

Keep on creating!
Immi

What's Truly Important

2010-08-13T15:36:00.004-05:00

I created this digital layout in response to a challenge in a free online class I'm taking. More and more, I'm learning that scrapbooking doesn't have to be chronological. I'm seeing the value in creating pages based on relationships and connections. This really frees me up from the tyranny of being "caught up". That's not to say that I won't continue to do event or time based layouts! I have some in mind right now.

Supplies used: Digital papers from Crystal Wilkerson; journaling tab from Katie Pertiet.

Celebrate the relationships in your life!
Immi

August Sunshine

2010-08-12T08:32:00.002-05:00

I spent some time this morning playing with a layered digital template. This one was a freebie from Designer Digitals by Katie Pertiet. All the cute stuff is done for you; all I had to do was drop in photos and size them to fit the frames. This is so nice for someone like me who doesn't know too much about Photoshop Elements; most of the work is done by professional designers. I decided to use the template "as is", although the possibility of changing or deleting some of the layers exists. To refresh my memory on working with layered templates, I referred to a video tutorial made by Ali Edwards, which was very helpful.

I plan to have this printed by an online service since it's too large for my color printer. I'll have to wait to see it in person to know whether or not the edges seem too bland. If they do, I'll either trim off enough to put it on a more colorful background or do some inking. I will also print some photos from the trip to do some traditional scrapbooking.

All these photos came from a recent trip to see our grandkids. We enjoy these visits so much, and I try to take lots of photos hoping to get a few good ones. It was hot, hot, hot that weekend, but we had a great time!

Do something fun with your photos today!
Immi

Showing Off

2010-07-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Daddy couldn't resist showing off a couple of cute outfits they had for N. The Indian maiden costume was bought with the intention of using it for Halloween, but as you can see, it fits quite snugly in April. No way that's going to work for Halloween! So cute, though.
This page features a leftover strip of decorative paper, edged with brown, and a cute rub-on.

The next page shows off our little bathing beauty. I have a great fondness for baby swimsuits, especially girls' suits. They are so teeny and cute! For this layout, I used more leftover papers (is it okay if I stop saying edged in brown?). A flower at the top left completes the layout.

Enjoy!

Immi

Having Fun

2010-07-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of fun pages. I love the background paper on "Fresh". I added a couple of leftover green strips to frame the photo, edging all the paper in brown. The word is a white sticker with a felt-like finish.

The bath time layout also features a fun paper. I used a small rub-on in the top left corner, and adhered the plastic duckie to the bottom right. Couldn't be simpler!

Happy crafting!

Immi

Precious Face

2010-07-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Who could resist that sweet little face? Looking at this picture makes me want to pick her up and get some sugar! N is about six months old here and learning to sit up by herself.

I had a little fun using up some scraps on this layout, layering as I went. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but the pink strip to the right of the green paper is folded accordion style. I also used a small piece of sewing trim along the bottom of the picture.

The embellishment at the bottom is a clear acrylic piece, which can be difficult to adhere, because you usually don't want your adhesive to show. Sometimes you can do a work-around by hiding the adhesive under something that sits over part of your clear piece. I wanted this to stand alone, however, so I had to come up with something transparent. I chose to run this through my Xyron machine, which isn't my favorite adhesive, but works well for this type of use.

As I've been doing throughout this scrapbook, I edged all the paper pieces in brown. It's one of the ways I'm trying to tie things together.

Enjoy!
Immi

Santababy

2010-06-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

Here's Daddy, holding his little Santababy. Poor babies; they have to put up with grown-ups decking them out in all kinds of outlandish outfits and taking photos for posterity!

The polkadot paper allowed me to continue the pink theme even though the picture is strongly red. The white strips on the right side are leftover trims from other pages. Her hat seemed to be crying out for a white pompom, and the white flower brad fit the bill. I added a little bling on one of the paper strips just for a little something extra. I felt like the upper left corner of the photo needed some interest, so I added a white photo corner, punched from a scrap of white paper. Rather than place it on top of the photo, I chose to slide it underneath. The edges of the background paper are, once again, edged in brown.

Next stop, April in Minnesota!
Immi

Sweet Girl

2010-06-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

This is another photo taken in December. It was so much fun to see N smiling and interacting with all of us. This layout has two layers of paper edged in brown, along with a rub-on. I cut the rub-on into three parts (two words and a flower) and placed them to create a triangle. I added some sparkle with little crystals placed on each part of the rub-on.

One of the fun things about a smaller size album is that you don't need to spend a lot of time on each layout. Less room = less work! Sometimes I'm in the mood to spend a lot of time on a layout, but often, especially with a themed album, I'm anxious to get the project done so I can enjoy it.

Happy crafting!
Immi

Mummy

2010-06-24T08:00:00.002-05:00

Here is N, dressed in her cute mummy costume that Sooks bought for her. Love the orange hat!

The background of this layout consists of two layers, white textured cardstock layered over a Basic Grey paper. The narrow strips running across the page vertically and horizontally were cut from a very cute glitter paper. The edges of all papers were altered with brown ink. (I love my ColorBox cats' eye stamp in Chestnut Roan for this technique!) I stamped the word "cute" using an acrylics stamp, and that was that! Quick and simple.

What are you doing today that is creative?
Immi

Mommy & Baby

2010-06-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

Now we've moved beyond N's very first days. This was taken in Texas as we celebrated Christmas together.

This layout was very quick and easy. I added some brown ink around the edge of the background paper and placed a white word sticker on top of the photo. Nuthin' to it!

If I had it to do all over again, I would have tried to do a little more editing to the photo itself. Mommy's skin is a little green, due no doubt to my very inexpert photography! Even though the photo could be better, it's more important to me to have this recorded rather than obsess over every detail.

Enjoy!
Immi

April Layout

2010-06-21T08:00:00.001-05:00

This is one of the easiest type of digital layouts to do, similar to the one I did here. This is called a quick page. Everything is done for you except to add a photo and text. The only change I made beyond that is to add some splatters around the edge. The background layer is locked on this type of page, so I had to make the changes to the top layer which was unlocked. The only quick pages I've downloaded have been freebies. They're a great way to get started, but I don't think I'd pay for any because of the limitations. Since the background layer is locked, any additional layouts I did with this would look waaaay too similar. However, when you get a layered template, you can make any changes you want. You can change colors, papers and the order of the layers. You can turn off layers you don't want to use. Much more useful down the road!

First Year Continued

2010-06-17T08:00:00.008-05:00

Here are some more pages of my scrapbook. I'm keeping these pages very simple, so the process is going quickly. For the background of this first one, I used a gorgeous paper I had with a raised glitter design. I put a rub-on on top of the photo, and that was that!

The next page also went together quickly. I combined two coordinating papers, edged in brown. I stamped the word "family" in brown, and added the felt flower to the bottom left corner. I also used a small rub-on over the top right corner of the photo.

Enjoy!

Immi

Siblings

2010-06-17T08:00:00.007-05:00

I love, love, love this photo of A & N. This was taken in the morning, while we still had our jammies on. I think Abba was working the camera that morning.

I had a little trouble with this layout. I wanted to use green and pink together, but because of my robe, my patterned papers all looked too busy. (I could have worked around this by converting the photo to B&W, which works well to avoid clashing colors.) The pink paper was originally white textured cardstock. I started with Tim Holtz' distress ink in Worn Lipstick and his ink applicator tool. Wonderful color, but really too strong for the effect I wanted. Next I tried using his Tea Dye distress ink to tone it down, but the brown on top of the pink looked too orange. I added a layer of a Fresco chalk ink (Botticelli Blush), using the direct to paper technique (pressing the ink pad directly onto the paper), but it still wasn't right. Finally, I rubbed Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid over everything. I also stamped flowers in white ink on top. The green was also pretty bright to start with so I toned it down with some of the tea dye ink followed by the Fresco. The stamp in the corner is from a teeny set designed by Ali Edwards. The set has a variety of words, and I combined the ones I wanted onto a single acrylic block, then stamped it in black.

Today

2010-06-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

This is a layout celebrating a personal accomplishment. I made this digitally using a quick page, adding text and photos. I printed it on cardstock, using our Epson color printer. This particular layout is 8.5 x 11, which is not the size I typically do (12 x 12).

It's been interesting to watch the changes in page size over the years I've been scrapping. When I first began in late 1998 or early 1999 (don't remember for sure), the only page size available was 8.5 x 11. Later, 12 x 12 became very popular. Now it's possible to find papers and albums in both these sizes as well as 6 x 6 and 8 x 8. With the proliferation of mini books you can bind yourself and other forms of altered books, the sky's the limit now. One of the professional scrapbookers whose style I admire, Ali Edwards, mixes page sizes within albums. It's also popular now to use divided page protectors along with scrapbook pages. The sections can be filled with photos, journaling cards, patterned paper or ephemera. This is an easy way to make use of more photos without doing a layout every single time.

I'd like to encourage you to make scrapbooking about the little, daily things as well as events. The big push today is for us to tell our stories. A scrapbook page doesn't even have to include photos to count!

Happy crafting!
Immi

Grandparents

2010-06-14T08:00:00.002-05:00

Here is the second page, featuring the doting grandparents, Abba & Immi. One of the things that's been so amazing to me since becoming a grandparent is how fascinated I've been with these babies. I can hardly take my eyes off them, and could watch them for hours!

This page was very simple. I used a Basic Grey paper for the background, and edged it with brown ink. The saying came on a piece of transparency; I used my Xyron to add the adhesive and backed it with textured white cardstock. The strip towards the bottom was left over from cutting another sheet; I colored and edged it with some inks. Simple!

Happy crafting!
Immi

New Scrapbook

2010-06-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've started a new scrapbook about N's first year. I'll be posting pages from this for a while. This is the first time I've done anything with an 8x8 format. A while back, I chose the scrapbook as well as some possible papers and embellishments.

Last week I spent some time choosing pictures and sent them off to Shutterfly. When the pictures came in the mail, I decided which ones to use and slid them in the page protectors.

Here's the first page, using a photo taken when she was only a few days old. I love the way the light coming through the window illuminates her precious little face! I layered some textured white cardstock with a watercolor-look paper (edged with blue ink). The rub-on at the bottom of the page is one I've had for a while. The flowers came in a package; they're made from an iridescent fabric. The flower center was punched from a scrap of pink paper.

I think this project will come together pretty quickly, now that I've got all my stuff together. Enjoy!

Immi

The Results Are In

2010-06-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

I want to share my very first "from scratch" digital layout. I used one of my freebie papers as the background. I also used a brush set, coloring it with a color I picked up from one of the photos. I experimented with adding drop shadows to the photos. The label at the bottom is another brush, with text added inside. (I realized after I sent it off to be printed that the date should have been August, but I decided I could live with it.) Finally, I played around with some of the default brushes that come with Photoshop Elements to add the color around the outside edge of the layout. This is not an outstanding layout, but I was happy with my first try at building from the ground up.

If you are interested in experimenting with digital, you can find some great free digital products out there to get started. One of my favorite sources is DesignerDigitals. You have to join their online community to have access to the freebies, but they are very generous. They also have a vast selection of items to purchase, as well as some tutorials.

The online printing service I used is ScrapbookPictures. The service is easy to use, and the turnaround is quick. I sent two layouts to be printed, and I'm quite pleased with the way they look. I was concerned that the layouts would look too flat, but that's not the case. I'm not ready to give up my paper, but this is a fun and creative alternative. It's also nice to have a very thin layout to slide into my album.

Try something creative today!
Immi

Paper and Tulle Flowers

2010-06-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here is an experiment I tried recently and enjoyed very much. I saw a tutorial for this on a website. It involves cutting circles of increasing (or decreasing, depending on your perspective) size from paper and tulle.

The paper circles are layered, with tulle circles in between each layer. The stack is sewn together with a button on the top. I roughed up the edge of each paper circle with a tool containing a razor blade, made especially for such use. This gives a little more texture and interest.

The end result is fun, colorful flowers to use as accents on a card or scrapbook page. AND, of course, I love the fact that I'm using up odds and ends of my stash!

Happy crafting!
Immi

Halloween 2008

2010-05-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here is a layout using a photo from 2008. N was only a few days old - she's filled out quite nicely since then! Love the ninja costume - perfect for a boy with an active imagination!

Somehow this picture didn't "feel" very Halloweeny to me, so I chose to forgo the usual Halloween colors. Instead, I picked up colors from the couch and costumes. It sure feels great to get photos out of a box and into my scrapbook!

Today would be a good day for you to do something creative!

Immi

Gotta Love That Smile!

2010-05-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

Here is another page, using an older photo I had of A. He's got such an expressive face! This page came together pretty quickly. The base is a textured cardstock. I wanted part of my title to be computer generated, so I cut the color blocked paper to 8.5 x 11. I placed a text box where I wanted it, and printed a test page before using my "good" paper. The "SMILE" comes from a set of stickers I had. As per my usual good planning ahead, I was part-way through placing the stickers when I realized I didn't have an L. EEK!! I sacrificed a B, cutting off the parts I didn't want to make an L out of it. You'd think I'd learn to be more careful! The question mark I'd had for a while; it just seemed to fit the picture. I don't have any idea what to call the blue loosely woven material I used. It's not fabric, and it's not paper. It's just another random thing I picked up somewhere. The ants were a last-minute addition, and I really like what they add.

Happy crafting!
Immi

Bandana Boy

2010-05-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

Here is a recent scrapbook page featuring A, using a photo taken when he was younger. I had this photo in a frame for quite a while, and planned to put in in my scrapbook when I switched pictures. The background paper is from a boy-themed kit I bought a while back, as is the chipboard sticker I placed on the photo. The grunge edge around the photo is from a set of rub-ons.

The stamps I used are acrylic, which offer some advantages over wood-mounted stamps. (Traditional stamps have their own strengths,too!) The word "BOY" was originally in a vertical format, but I wanted to use it horizontally. I cut the letters apart, and placed them on my acrylic mount the way I wanted them. It doesn't hurt the stamps at all to do this, and now I have the freedom to stamp this word either horizontally or vertically. The other stamp I used is a saying. I bent it into the curve I wanted on the mount before stamping. Neither of these options would have been available had I used traditional rubber stamps.

This page was very quick and easy - the rub-ons took more time than anything else.

Keep on crafting!
Immi

All-Digi Layout

2010-05-20T07:43:00.002-05:00

Here is my first all digital scrapbook page. This is from a free lesson available on Jessica Sprague's website. Any beginner (like me!) could do this. The template is already created. All that is necessary is to drop in a photo and add the journaling. There is a video that accompanies the tutorial with very clear instructions. I think I may try a few more of these and send them off to be printed. (I don't have a large format printer here at home.) If I wanted to print them at home, I could change them to 8x8, but I generally prefer to use a 12x12 format. I'm curious to see what I will think of the finished product once I see it in person. I don't know if the "depth" will disappear, giving it a flat look or not. If you've ever wondered about how digital scrapbooking works, I highly recommend this free tutorial!

Happy crafting,

Immi

Green Crafting

2010-02-21T16:17:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I spent the morning at Archivers having fun. I did a couple of make & take projects, and shopped the sales. When I came home and began unpacking my purchases, I thought about all the packaging that has to be thrown away. I do as much recycling as I can (it's pretty easy here with curbside service). However, most of the plastic packaging is not marked with the recycling symbol and ends up in the trash. One of the packages was mostly flat rather than curved plastic. It occurred to me that I might be able to run it through my Bigshot Express die cutting machine. It worked quite nicely. The most difficult part was cutting through the plastic to separate out the parts that weren't completely flat. I ended up with several flower shapes - and people pay good money at the scrapbook store for acrylic embellishments! I also decided rather than recycle all the posterboard-type packaging I'd run that through as well. I always enjoy stretching those craft dollars as much as possible!

Happy creating,
Immi

Kitchen Experiments

2010-01-23T19:11:00.004-06:00

I have been trying to clean out the freezer lately, so I decided to cook some boneless ribs tonight. I recently saw an idea in the Penzey's spice catalog, using one of their barbecue spice blends. The suggested method was to rub the blend on the ribs and cook 4-6 hours at 220 degrees. I covered the rubbed ribs with foil, and baked for about 4 hours. I then removed the ribs from that pan (a lot of liquid had come from the ribs - I guess it was mostly fat). I think they were done enough to eat at that point, but I wanted to add some barbecue sauce. I put them back in the oven for a couple of hours. The long slow cooking didn't dry them at all, and they tasted great.

I first thought of mashed potatoes on the side with a salad. I decided that instead of mashed potatoes, I'd roast some potatoes along with carrots and mushrooms (the mushrooms were languishing in the fridge and really needed to be used!). While at the store to get the potatoes and some lettuce, I was inspired to buy a small bunch of organic beets to roast with the other veggies. These beets were orange rather than red, with the brilliant green tops still attached.

Now, beets are not my favorite. I am not as fond of vegetables as my husband - I've never found a vegetable he doesn't like. However, in the last few years, I've come to appreciate certain vegetables more. The secret is roasting at high temperature. I've learned to like brussels sprouts this way. I am indebted to Barbara Kafka's cookbook, Roasting: A Simple Art. Following her guidelines, I roasted the veggies with some olive oil and kosher salt. They were fabulous, and I loved the beets!

Instead of salad, I decided to saute the beet tops rather than waste them - they're very nutritious. We love to have sauteed greens for a vegetable. I heat a little olive oil in the pan, and briefly saute some garlic, put through the press. Then I add the greens (we often use fresh spinach), and saute a few minutes until wilted. I finish with freshly ground pepper and a few pinches of fleur de sel. Fantastic - and so easy!

Creativity with Words

2010-01-11T19:46:00.003-06:00

I recently learned about a site called Wordle. You enter words, and they'll be arranged into a fun piece of wordart. I had some fun with it, and decided to make use of it in a scrapbook I'm doing for a friend. She asked me if I'd scrapbook her wedding pictures, so that's one of my current projects. It's kind of scary to do a project like that for someone else! Here's what I came up with.

Happy creating!

Immi

Holiday Countdown

2009-12-01T07:35:00.003-06:00

Tis the season when thoughts turn to Christmas crafting (mine do, anyway). If you're looking for a source for holiday images, check out this link to Lisa Volrath's site.

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

Happy Christmas crafting!

Immi

2009-09-07T20:06:00.003-05:00

On this last weekend of summer, I spent some time playing with scraps of paper, epoxy seals and buttons. It was fun to see what I could make out of odds & ends. I think these will be cute embellishments for cards or for scrapbooking! Hope you enjoyed your summer. It's back to school tomorrow. The sumac here is already starting to turn red, a sure sign of fall.

Immi

Cards For Heroes

2009-08-26T10:14:00.002-05:00

I just finished my second box of cards for Cards for Heroes. http://cardsforheroes.org/

This photo shows a sample of some of the cards I'm sending. It's a great opportunity to give a little to those serving in the armed forces. If you'd like more information, check out the website.

Happy crafting!

Immi

Digital Fun

2009-07-28T06:54:00.004-05:00

I'm playing around with some lessons on digital scrapbooking. The first lesson is to add a frame and word art to a photo. I love this photo of N, taken back in June. I tried getting rid of the legs behind her, but I need another tutorial on that!

I really like the way this class is set up, with video tutorial every step of the way. It's nice to be able to pause the video and work through the steps, checking back when I'm not sure what to do next.

Enjoy!
Immi

Button Bouquet

2009-05-05T20:37:00.003-05:00

I took a leaf from my daughter-in-law's book for this craft project. She'd shown me some button flowers some time ago, and I really liked them. I thought it would be fun to do some button bouquets for some of my co-workers for the first of May. I found some cute little bud vases at Walmart which were the perfect size. (I originally wanted to buy all the vases from thrift stores and call them "vintage", but I couldn't find enough of the right size that way - that's what I get for coming up with a plan with only a few days to execute it!)I bought some bright colored buttons at the fabric store, as well as some floral wire. I added a few beads from my stash below each stack of buttons. I also bought a bag of crushed shells to go in the bottom of the vases. At the last minute, I decided to add some copper colored wire, twisted with beads as an accent to each vase. I stamped a tag for each vase, with a "to and from" on the back. I managed to sneak them onto everyone's desk the afternoon before so they'd see them the first thing the next morning. Everyone loved them!

2008-12-06T09:24:00.002-06:00

While poking around on blogs today, I came across a drawing for a new book out (see photo). The requirements to participate are to post the Amazon link: http://tinyurl.com/64h9tm and to post a link to the artist's blog so that others could enter the drawing as well: http://ilkasattic.blogspot.com/2008/12/book-give-away-contest.html#links

So, there you go! Looks like a cool book, and I'd love to win a free copy of it!

Immi

90th Birthday

2008-10-03T07:30:00.000-05:00

In November of 2007, my grandfather celebrated his 90th birthday. A party was in order, so my mom and aunt got busy organizing. All of his grandchildren, most of his great-grandchildren, and his one great-great grandchild were there.

The photo at the top shows 5 generations, with A sitting on Daddy Clyde's knee. The bottom photo is all of us squeezed in for a group photo. We met at a restaurant in Sweetwater, TX for some good food and catching up. I'm so glad we were able to do that!
Happy creating!
Immi

71 Years

2008-10-01T07:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a layout of photos taken on my grandparents' 71st anniversary. It's amazing to me to think of being married that long - longer than some people live! Nanny was no longer able to live at home, but the staff at the care facility helped put together a celebration for them.

I didn't do much in the way of embellishments here. I used a pretty piece of vellum over white cardstock as my background. In my stash I found a neat ribbon with a slide over it which I adhered across the page. (I took to heart the lesson learned from the mistake I'd made with ribbon before!) I did want to cover up the date stamp on the photos, and I had some epoxy word stickers that worked well for that.

Happy creating!
Immi

Sweet Face

2008-09-29T07:30:00.000-05:00

First, a note about AARP. My DH decided to apply for membership to take advantage of discounts. Weird enough to be married to a spouse who is a member of AARP. However, when his card arrived this past weekend, I was shocked to see a card with MY NAME on it!!! It's one thing for him to have a card; I wasn't ready for it at all. Sigh.

Okay, now for something fun and young! I took this photo of A back in June, when he was watching a He-Man cartoon. He was so absorbed in the action. My inspiration for the layout came from a post on Ali Edwards' blog - her layouts are always so clean and simple. I particularly liked the half-circle she'd cut out of a photo, with a circular element in the negative space left. I used up what was left of a piece of serendipity paper I'd done, so this really came together quickly. This layout is going in my scrapbook, which isn't chronological; it's photos I love that aren't necessarily tied to an event.

I did learn a lesson from adhering the ribbon to the page. I used some thin, double-sided tape, and put it on the ribbon first. I should have put it on the page, and then put the ribbon on top. Putting in on the ribbon caused the ribbon to get distorted and wavy. I wasn't very happy with the way it looked, but the tape is so strong, that when I gingerly tried to remove it, the paper underneath began to tear. I decided I'd better leave it as is and live with the waves.

Enjoy!
Immi

Inchie ATCs

2008-09-26T07:30:00.000-05:00

I recently came across a swap on Swapbot for inchie artwork that would be about the size of an ATC. The inchies had to be connected to each other somehow.

I worked on the one on the left, and was liking the way it looked. I hadn't decided how to attach them to each other yet when I looked back at the rules for the swap. I realized this wouldn't work, because the swap description stated that it should be one continuous image, separated over the inchies used. So I glued them down to a black piece of cardstock, and kept that one for myself.

Back to the drawing board for the one I would send out. Do you remember the glossy photos from the social studies curriculum? I used one of the photos (sans glitter glue) for the background. The bird was stamped on tissue paper, and glued over the photo. I added some color with markers and a fake jewel for the eye, and cut it apart into inchies.

I thought I'd try attaching them to each other with thread. I used a very small hole punch to create the holes, and used sewing thread on a needle, tied in a knot on top. However, they wouldn't stay apart the distance I wanted, and it was all floppy. So I bent the rules a little, and glued everything down to brown cardstock and called it done.

If you'd like to get your feet wet in some swaps, Swapbot is a good place to start.

Till later,
Immi

ATCs

2008-09-24T07:30:00.000-05:00

Here are some ATCs I've done for recent swaps. Some are already mailed out; others I'm waiting for an address.

The first two photos are ATCs I did for a Vintage ATC swap. The only rule was that they had to look vintage; you weren't required to use vintage materials.

For the first one, I used (again) a piece from a serendipity page. It didn't need much; I simply added a scrap of lace and a couple of old buttons from my collection. I did "age" the lace a little by rubbing it with an ink pad before gluing it down.

For the second ATC, I chose a piece from my files of a reproduction of an old document. I stamped the flourish at the bottom, and cut it a little smaller than the finished size. I taped it down to a blue background (the same shade as the blue I used for stamping the face).The face is stamped on a transparency, and layered over the "document". I attached the transparency at the top with a couple of eyelets, in an antique looking metal.

Finally, the last photo shows a set I've done for a Sender's Choice swap for September. I pulled out some odds & ends and did a little inking around the edges (one of my favorite techniques) to help them stand out a little from the background (which is from a serendipity page). I glued everything down and that was that!

Happy creating!
Immi

Recent ATCs

2008-09-22T07:30:00.000-05:00

Here are some ATCs I've done recently. The first two photos show what I've sent out for a "Fall Fantasy" swap.

The set of three with leaves is done on a background made from one of my serendipity page experiments. I love these, because you've got a lot of the work done already and just need to add something to finish it off. The leaves are something I bought long ago, and thought they'd work well for this. They came pre-cut, colored & glittered, so all I had to do was glue them to the background. I included all three, since the backgrounds were slightly different.

The next photo shows one of a set of three for the same swap. For this background, I used the top layer of a decorative napkin, which I glued to a support underneath. I added another fall image, from the same batch as the leaves. I also added a strip of paper along the left that looks like gingham ribbon. Some text stamping over the top and it was done.

The final photo is an ATC I did as an experiment, not as part of a swap. I've got a lot of glossy photos on heavy weight paper which came from an unused social studies curriculum packet (yes, I had permission to take this stuff home). I stuck them in a misc. file, with no idea how to use them. A couple of weekends ago, I got the urge to find a way to use up all my cheap glitter glue, saving the good Ranger stuff. I pulled out these photo sheets, and began painting over them with glitter glue. I let that dry. Then I stamped an image on tissue paper, and glued that over the glittered photos. I colored the image with colored pencils, and added a fake jewel for the eye, and a small reproduction of a Scrabble tile at the bottom. I think it turned out just "okay", but that's what experiments are about!

Happy creating!
Immi

Reading Glasses

2008-09-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

Finally, to finish out the week of collages from the past, here is a collage that got its start because I wanted to use an old, broken pair of reading glasses!

The background is my favorite tissue paper over a book cover, with layers of paint and glazes. I wanted writing on it, so I found some Italian on the internet, and handwrote it. I hope it's saying something nice, because I have no idea what it means!

The glasses are glued down with E6000, a very strong adhesive which is good for things that won't lie flat. The flower is one left over from my daughter's wedding reception, with a couple of beads in the middle.

The curly wire pieces started out very differently from what you see here. I had in mind to use a piece of wire, curled, with beads strung along the length. It turned out awful! Well, I hated to throw it out, so I got some wire snips and began cutting it apart. I liked the way the cut apart pieces looked, so I flattened them out somewhat and glued them down.

This is a brighter piece than I usually do, but that was driven by the reading glasses. I didn't think something subdued would work too well.

Happy creating!
Immi

Collages

2008-09-17T07:30:00.000-05:00

The inspiration for this collage came from the Jan/Feb 2006 issue of Somerset Studio (one of my favorite mixed media magazines). One of the articles featured Lynne Perrella's Paper Doll Assemblages. While mine is not as elaborate as hers (I don't have the patience for too much fussiness), I did enjoy trying something new.

The base is - you guessed it - an old book cover. For the background, I used some white mulberry paper (wonderful stuff!!) which I'd painted with pastel shades of watered down acrylic. I followed the instructions in the magazine to create the doll body. Then the fun part! I pulled out stuff from my stash to create her clothes, and found a head I liked from an old book illustrating clothing styles throughout the centuries.

The rest of the ephemera is old-looking stuff I had in my collection that I thought fit with the theme. I glued everything down, and that was that!

This collage was inspired by a book I have titled Paper Quilting. The background covering the base is tissue paper, painted with glazes once the glue had dried. The leaf shape I cut out of paper and hand stitched to the layer just underneath. Additional hand stitching is done on subsequent layers as well.

I added some old brown trim on the left, and a key sticker at the bottom. Very easy!

Happy creating,

Immi

Amour

2008-09-15T09:05:00.005-05:00

It's Monday morning, and I'm home, fighting the first cold of the season. I hope it's also the last! I thought I'd post photos this week of collages I've done in the past. I'm so lucky to have a great supply of images to use for these, along with lots of old book covers, which are almost always the base I use.

For this collage, I glued tissue paper over a painted board book. When it was dry, I stamped various images and the word "love" on top in black ink. I printed a reproduction of an old poster (check out Dover books for weekly free downloads of great stuff) on a transparency, and glued that down with Diamond Glaze. The embellishments include a black ribbon along the left side, a scattering of beads and a few artificial flowers (all glued with Diamond Glaze.

I enjoy collages; it's so much fun to take unrelated objects and bring them together in an interesting composition. It's also fun to find ways to make use of things I already have; I didn't buy anything new for this project. Plus, I like the fact that you really can't make a mistake, since this is all throwaway stuff anyway!

If you're interested in trying your hand at something like this, start some files with illustrations from old books, or check out sites like Dover where you can download free (and copyright free)images. Also collect odds & ends - stuff that might otherwise be thrown away.

Happy creating!
Immi

Transparency ATC

2008-09-04T07:30:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of ATCs I did recently for a Transparency ATC swap. I had a choice of making 3 or 6 (depending on which number I'd like to receive). I decided to make two sets of three. I've had the good fortune to be given some transparencies that a teacher in our program had received with some books. He couldn't make use of them in his class, and knew I "made stuff" and thought I'd like to use them. I was able to get three ATCs from each of the transparencies I used.

The first one is made from a transparency showing a street scene. I don't know where or when the photo was made, but from the looks of it, it's showing the aftermath of war. The paper under the transparency is from one of the serendipity pages I did recently, in shades of pink.(http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/2008/08/serendipity.html) I really like the way it shows subtly through the transparent photo. I fastened the transparency to the background with small eyelets. Transparencies create special challenges when it comes to adhering them to another surface - usually you don't want adhesive showing through!

The second ATc is from an art collage. Again, I'm not sure exactly what's being depicted here, although in one of the ATCs (not pictured here), there's part of a sign for the distance to Pretoria. This makes me think it may be related to South Africa, although it may be more generally about human rights struggles. Because this had a lot of strong color in it, I chose a plain background. I liked the way it looked over yellow. I hit on the idea of stitching it down, using a red metallic thread. I have a metal stitching guide, used for punching the holes ahead of time. Doing those holes before stitching really saves the day when hand-stitching! After that, I trimmed the edge of the yellow with deckle scissors and mounted everything on a black background.

Now all I have to do is get these in the mail; this swap is going to a central hostess, who will send them on to their destinations. I have no idea who will end up with them.

Happy creating!
Immi

Pear Tag

2008-09-01T18:53:00.006-05:00

Hey there, loyal readers! It's been a while since my last post, but I'm ready to go again. Tomorrow it's back to school, and the usual routine.

Yesterday, while checking out some blogs, I came across a challenge to use a technique I haven't seen in a while - an oldie but goodie. The challenge was posted on Tim Holtz' blog (http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/september-techn.html). You can see the specifics there.

I got out some inks, stamps and paper and had some fun. Here's the first one I did, which I used to make a card. This was only moderately successful, I think because there wasn't enough solid space on the stamp - mostly lines. The patterened paper is one I recently received in a swap of paper ephemera. I was glad to have a chance to use it right away; it's not the type of paper I would typically choose, but I think it worked well here.

The next two samples are from a pear stamp. The completed tag was the first stamping; the other one was the second stamping. I outlined both of them with a thin brown marker; I think it helped the image stand out a little bit better. Then I added some additional color around the images, using a combination of dye ink refill, thinned with water, and chalk, applied with water. I used a barrel type brush that has a reservoir which holds water; it worked great, especially for the chalk.

On the completed tag, I also added some mini beads close to the top. I used some red line tape, which works well for holding those little, teeny beads in place. The thread along the edges is a variegated specialty sewing thread, which I love to use. I also got out a punch I hadn't used in a long time, which notches the corners, and holds the thread nicely.

Till next time,

Immi

Serendipity

2008-08-07T07:30:00.000-05:00

After my Radiant Pearl fun, I turned my attention to using up some paper scraps. This way of using scraps produces what's called "Serendipity Paper". For ideas on paper scrap storage, see these posts: http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Here's what you'll need:
1. Paper scraps
2. A substrate (something to attach all these scraps to)
3. Glue (I prefer a glue stick)
4. Damp cloth or wet wipes for sticky fingers
5. Stamps and ink pads (optional)

The first photo shows a pile of paper scraps in browns. As you can see, some of them really are ridiculous, but I feel compelled to save them and find a way to use them. I had seen posts on Serendipity paper, but had never tried it, so I've been learning as I go. All you're doing is tearing scraps (to avoid too many hard edges) and gluing them down. The second photo shows a completed piece, with additional stamping on top. I think the stamping helps tie all those odd papers together.

The third photo shows some ATC size pieces cut from a couple of brown serendipity pages. They won't need much additional work to be ready to go. These can also be cut into smaller squares to be used as accent pieces on a card or scrapbook page.

The fourth photo is a red and green page in progress. You can see the substrate is still showing in places.

The last photo is a green page. I'll tuck these away until I'm ready to use them.

As I've been doing this, I've learned a couple of things that you
might find handy if you want to try this technique. The first few I did were on chipboard (saved from various packages, etc.; I never buy chipboard). I've decided that chipboard is a little heavy, but lighter materials (manila file folders or poster board) work well. I'm sure cardstock would work, too.

I tried both glue stick and a more liquid glue. Glue stick has less moisture, so less possibility of warping the page.

Finally, I found that using heavier weight paper scraps can be problematic. This was especially apparent when I cut the larger page down into ATC size pieces. It's very difficult, even with a guillotine cutter, to cut through some of the thicker portions. If you want to use those papers, it's worth the time to separate and remove some of the layers underneath to keep from adding too much bulk.

This was a lot of fun, and of course, I feel so virtuous for using up those scraps! I recommend you give this a try.
Immi

Use It Up

2008-08-04T07:30:00.000-05:00

As you've all noticed by now, I'm somewhat obsessive about making the most of what I've got - it's hard for me to throw stuff away! I was in the mood recently to play around with Radiant Pearls. I've had these for ages - I don't think they're available anymore in stores, although I did see some on Ebay.

My favorite use for RPs is making backgrounds. The consistency is somewhat like light bodied acrylic paint, but they're very sheer.
They blend beautifully, and dry with a pearly sheen. When I'm working with them, I always keep a blank piece of paper nearby to "clean" my brush. (Again, trying to stretch everything as far as I can.)

Anyway, I discovered that one of the colors, Tiger Eye, had separated badly. Of course I didn't want it to go to waste, so I managed to stir it well enough with a toothpick (shaking well is usually sufficient) so that it could be used. While I had it in this state, I wanted to try to use the whole jar. I began playing around, and found that it tinted patterned papers so that they loooked somewhat aged. The first two photos show a side by side comparison, with the original paper on the right, and the doctored paper on the left. Eventually I managed to play around enough to use up that jar.

The next photo shows a paper that has a raised design of flowers. The original was white. I brushed on a variety of colors, but it still looked a little flat. I got out an ink pad, and rubbed it over the raised surface, and it looked much nicer.

The last photo shows one of my blank pieces that I use to get the last bit of RP out of my brush. I also place this paper under whatever I'm working on, so that as I work on the edges of the top sheet, any excess goes onto the paper underneath. Eventually, it gets all filled up, and I've got another background sheet to use.

Maybe I need to get on Ebay and buy up some more!
Immi

ATCs Received

2008-08-01T08:42:00.003-05:00

Here are some ATCs I've received in swaps. The first photo shows ATCs from the Layers, Texture, Glazes swap. I posted my photos here: http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-atcs.html

The second photo shows ATCs from a Random swap - no particular theme. I didn't do a post for what I sent; mine were variations on cards I'd done before for other swaps.

Next week, the theme will be using up supplies on hand.

Till then,

Immi

Swap Goodies

2008-07-28T07:30:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of goodies I've received in the mail from recent swaps. The photo with all the papers is from an "Embellishment Swap". Looks like some fun stuff to play with.

The tea themed ATC is from the "Fair Trade" swap; the artist is Karen Fife.

The two ATCs with women and a scalloped edging are from Tammy Gray. She does these collages in Photoshop and then prints them on photo paper. These are from a "Sender's Choice" swap.

Finally, the ATC with the girl holding a bouquet is from Nancy Bailey. It also is from the "Sender's Choice" swap.
It's always interesting to see what kind of art others are doing.

Later, Immi

Still Making ATCs

2008-07-25T07:37:00.002-05:00

Here are some ATCs I've recently completed for swaps. Next week I'll show you what I've been receiving in the mail.

The ATC with the purple background is one of a few I had left from a swap long ago. I used it this time for a "Sender's Choice" swap.
The ATC with the happy girl was also for the "Sender's Choice" swap. The background is from (again!) an old set of leftover ATCs. I did some inking over it to subdue it a little bit so it wouldn't compete with what I wanted to put on top. The girl I stamped in black; then I added color with markers, cut her out and mounted her on black cardstock. I felt that the card needed a little something else, and dug out some letter brads from my stash.

The next two cards were for a "Fair Trade" swap. The only rule was that the fair trade mark from a label had to be visible on the card. I did a background with letter stickers, masking tape and paint. Below is the link for the original post explaining this.(http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/2008/07/atc-week-continues.html)
For one card I used a label from a small bar of fair trade chocolate. For the other, I used a label from fair trade coffee. Now all I have to do is eat the chocolate and drink the coffee!
Happy creating!
Immi

ATC Week Continues

2008-07-18T07:30:00.000-05:00

The ATC saga continues. I've really enjoyed getting back into this. I'm sure it's a passing phase, but it's fun while it lasts.

The first photo uses the same background you saw before in the "Layers, Texture, Glazes" swap. This swap is sender's choice. I didn't do too much extra to what I'd done for the background. I cut out some text from an old book of poetry, and glued that down along with a small flower. I haven't done it yet, but I'll put something fun in the center of the flower. By the way, I always make one of these for myself; I like to keep one to see what kinds of things I've done before.

The second photo is for, as you may have guessed, an Egyptian swap. In the world of crafting, things come and go. Several years ago there was an Egyptian phase; I haven't seen any of that for some time now. I had some ATCs left from a former swap back in the day, so I pulled them out to see how I could improve what I'd done before.

Everything is the same except for the figure on top. I thought it would be interesting to have that in gold, and I first tried painting over what I'd stamped with some gold Lumiere. Didn't turn out too well. Then it occurred to me that it might work better if I did the painting first, and then stamped on top. That did the trick; the stamped figure was much clearer that way. I also decided to mount the figure on the background with some dimensional adhesive so that it would stand out more. What you see behind the figure is metallic thread wrapped around a piece of cardstock. It's very inexpensive and there are many ways to use it.

Go do something creative!
Immi

More ATCs

2008-07-16T07:30:00.000-05:00

These are for a swap with the theme "Layers, Texture, Glazes". Each participant has the option to send one or two sets of three cards. I chose to do two sets.

The first photo has a piece of watercolor paper as the base. I had fun painting layers of acrylic paint mixed with glazing medium (awesome stuff!). When that was dry, I found a poem in Italian on the internet, and hand wrote it diagonally across the page in black Sharpie. Next I adhered a piece of tissue paper from an old pattern (the sewing kind) on top. I added a little more layering of glazes.

I cut the background down to size and added a little bit of ink stamped through some sequin waste in one corner. The strip of paper across the middle is from a neat envelope I got in the mail once, made from some kind of textured plastic. I painted over it with some Lumiere acrylic paint and cut strips with deckle edge scissors. The flower is one from a package I won in a drawing (thanks, Tim!), with a little acrylic bead called a dew drop on top.

The next photo is a piece of chipboard I used as the base for the other set of cards. Do you remember the post with the alphabet stickers on chipboard? I did one that really didn't thrill me at all. The stickers were very small (what a pain!!!), and a weird striped design (they were given to me; I certainly didn't buy them!). I thought I try using them up this way, but it was so blah and boring! But then I thought it might work to provide some texture.

I tore strips of masking tape and placed them randomly over the whole thing. Next came a layer of red glaze; pretty intense color, but it already looked more interesting than before. I thought I'd do a layer of yellow glaze next, but then I decided to try scraping the paint over rather than smoothly painting it. I loved the way it looked!

After cutting it down to size, I adhered a small piece of gauze for additional texture and interest. Then I dug out some odds and end, and glued those down. I had lots of fun experimenting with these!

Later,

Immi

ATC Week

2008-07-14T07:30:00.000-05:00

This week's posts will all be about ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). I participate off and on in a couple of swap groups, and enjoy making ATCs according to a set theme to trade with others. I'm in a swapping phase right now, so I'll share some of what I've been doing.

ATCs are always 2.5 x 3.5; I store the ones I've received in a binder fitted with plastic sleeves designed to hold baseball cards. I got started in this years ago when I was a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! One year they held the convention in Minneapolis, and the idea was to bring a bunch of ATCs you'd made to trade with others. I enjoy seeing miniature art works from others. Sometimes people from around the world participate in these swaps.

The first swap I signed up for in this latest round was for a sunflower theme. I have a thing for sunflowers, and I've got quite a few sunflower stamps. I actually had some ATCs left over from a swap long ago that I'd done with sunflowers, so I pulled those out and decided to add a little bling for fun.

You can't really tell from the picture, but I painted a glaze over the top for shine. Then I added dots of a glitter product made by Ranger called Stickles. These are ready to go in the mail; I'll post pictures of what I receive when they come in.

Happy crafting!

Immi

Silly Boy

2008-07-11T07:30:00.001-05:00

Here's the scrapbook page I mentioned in the post about leftover alphabet stickers. I trimmed a small amount off the edges (the old paper cutter - not the new one!) to be sure it would fit in a page protector with the additional bulk of chipboard.

I got this great shot of A when I was there a few weeks back. He had fun clomping around in my shoes, and I caught a great expression in this photo. He's going to love this someday!

I think I'm going to have to do a scrapbook page featuring some of his fun expressions!

Try something creative today.
Immi

Leftover Alphabet Stickers

2008-07-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

I recently saw an idea for using up leftover alphabet stickers that I thought I'd try. The base is 12x12 chipboard, with a variety of stickers placed randomly on the surface. Then I brushed over a mixture of green & white paint, mixed with glazing medium. When that dried, I drybrushed black and gold on top. I've used it in a scrapbook page; I'll post that later this week.

While I was on a roll, I decided to do another one with a chipboard base. This time I didn't paint over the surface; I liked it as it was. I did brush over a coat of acrylic medium to seal the surface (I'm quite sure it wasn't acid free).

The last one I did was on a piece of lightweight cardstock. I used all black stickers for that one. I haven't decided how to use these last two just yet.

I have a few observations about this project.
(1) If you're going to do much work with stickers, especially smaller ones, tweezers are invaluable. I don't mean the kind used for eyebrows; this type of tweezer is made just for picking up small objects with adhesive on one side and placing them where you want them. Mine are called "Tweezer Bee".
(2) Unless you've got the patience of Job, avoid alphabet stickers with very small openings (as in the letters a,e,g...etc.). I found it very frustrating to try to get those little holes clear! Also, letters with very cute swirls and curlicues are a pain to get off the backing sheet without tearing.
(3) For the painted background, you really need stickers that are slightly raised. Some stickers are made to lie almost flush with the paper, and don't show up well under the paint.

Happy crafting!
Immi

New Toy

2008-07-07T07:30:00.000-05:00

I got a new tool for my studio this last week. For a long time, I've wanted a better quality paper cutter. I had a cheapo guillotine cutter, but I never was satisfied with it for a couple of reasons. (1) Either the grid on the surface was off, or the cutting edge was off. I never could get a standard piece of cardstock cut in half so that when folded for a card, the edges would match up. It drove me crazy! (2) It was impossible to cut a small sliver off the edge of anything lighter weight than cardstock.

I had done some research several years ago, and found a cutter I wanted, but hesitated at the price. Later, I wished I had taken the plunge, because the company changed hands, the factory moved to another state, and they're still not back in production. The website gives no indication as to when they'll be ready for production, and there's a long wait list. I kept hoping I'd see one on Ebay, but no luck until recently. I bid until I felt I couldn't go any higher, and it sold for a pretty high price.

So...I decided I needed to think differently. I did some more research, and found this paper cutter. It's made by a German company (Dahle), and is supposed to be a good quality cutter. The blade is self-sharpening, and it can cut even thin papers cleanly. I tried a piece of text weight paper, and was able to cut a slice so thin it curled! So far, I'm very happy with it. My old cutter is down in the basement, and I'll use it for cutting things like chipboard.

Gotta love a good tool!
Immi

More Inchie Cards

2008-06-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some more "inchie" cards. I used another tag with the sunflower card, and also found a way to use my beloved bird punch. (Sorry, Sooks! I know you're not too fond of birds!) The inchies on the other card are really cheating. They're just squares punched out of a cool scrap of decorative paper, which already had the glitter design on it. The flower is one left over from Sooks' wedding. The puzzle piece is covered with a scrap of paper, with some stamping on top. All in all, pretty simple!

Why don't you try a card or have some fun playing with inchies?

Immi

Inchie Cards

2008-06-27T08:39:00.003-05:00

Here are a couple of cards I made using the inchies I did. For both these cards, I dug into my scraps. I like the way the Sepia Accents worked, and it was a good jump start to a card with a more masculine feel (the card with the tag). I have the hardest time making cards for grown men!

By the way, the inchie I wrote about (using the Crackle Accents), didn't turn out too well when dry. It crackled fine, but the paper was very warped. I tried to flatten it out, but that just broke the crackle layer. Maybe the paper I used was too lightweight. I'll have to do some more experimenting to see if it works better on something heavier.

Later!
Immi

Inchies

2008-06-26T06:55:00.004-05:00

I've been reading about inchies for a while, but hadn't tried them myself. Oh! Maybe you haven't heard about inchies! Inchies are miniature works of art, and as the name implies, are one inch square. Now technically, I'm cheating, because I didn't have a one inch punch and had no intention of cutting out a bunch of one inch squares to try this. I do have a square punch that is 1 3/8", so I figured that would be close enough.

Here are the ones I've done so far. All of these were done using scraps of paper (love my scraps!), and rubber stamping. The inchie in the upper left has a layer of "Crackle Accents"on it, but it's still wet, so I don't know if it will work or not. The pear inchie has some "Frosted Lace Stickles" on it - it's a liquid glitter made by Ranger. The architectural-looking inchie in the lower center has a layer of "Sepia Accents" on it. Both the Crackle and Sepia Accents are made by Ranger.

I can see using these on a card or scrapbook page. I've also seen examples of multiple rows of inchies arranged and framed. These are fun, quick & easy - give them a try! Later I'll post some photos of something I've made using them. (I don't know yet what that will be!)

Keep experimenting!

Immi

2008-06-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a project I did recently for a friend who is getting married in August. K. asked me to make a book for her, similar to the one I'd done for K's wedding shower a while back.

This is made from a material called book board, which is like very sturdy tagboard or matboard. I covered it with some cool paper I found at Target. The inside cover is a blue scrapbook paper, with an overlay of a brown paper. The brown paper is pre-cut into a 12x12 sheet, somewhat like lace. It comes in other colors as well. I cut it down to the size I wanted, and glued it over the blue.

The blue ribbon on the cover was from my ribbon stash; I had to go shopping for the brown ribbon. I painted a chipboard letter for the cover, and glued a metal heart I had in my stash (it once was a button with a shank).

I first learned to make this type of book when my son got married. He asked me to make a guest book for the wedding. I've made a few more since then, and learn something new each time.

Enjoy,
Immi

He-Man

2008-06-23T08:00:00.002-05:00

Here's a scrapbook layout of A playing with his He-Man figures. His dad has made a conscious effort to pass on his love of He-Man to him. I had the chance recently to watch a He-Man cartoon with A. He got so excited! At times, he'd sit entranced by the action; other times he'd run around the room working off excess energy. Skeletor is always greeted by a "boo!" (I taught him that!). It sure is fun, sitting back and watching him hard at play. I especially enjoyed having him call me over to come play with him - that's a first, and it was music to my ears!

Enjoy!

Immi

Brrr!

2008-05-29T16:22:00.002-05:00

Hi there, loyal fans & readers! Although I haven't had time to do much creative fun stuff, I don't want you to think I've forgotten about you. Today's post is just to say "hello" and to let you know what's going on in my corner of the world.

I just got home from work. Nothing unusual about that, except for one thing. Normally, when I get home from work in the month of May, I don't turn on the heater. Today is an exception. The house felt cold when I came in, so I checked the thermostat. It was 65 degrees! That might sound just right to you, but it's a little too chilly for me. Now don't get me wrong. I am grateful to have a good heating system. I don't have to go out and chop wood and start a fire to get warm. However, to someone raised in the southern half of the U.S., it doesn't seem right that on May 29, we still may need our heater. Sigh.

Hope to get back to fun stuff next week.
Immi

Paperweight

2008-05-28T07:30:00.000-05:00

I've been spending most of my creative energy on catching up with the school scrapbook, so I haven't had much time for personal creative endeavors. However, I did promise recently to post a picture of another paperweight I made. This was made at the same time I made paperweights for my co-workers at Christmas a couple of years ago, so it's the same style.

I knew I wanted something with an old-world feel. I have lots of reproductions of wonderful old paintings (rescued from the library weeding), so I pulled out an assortment that I thought my intended recipients would like. I took them to a copy place, and made reduced size color copies of each one. I did a little cutting and pasting to get them all on a couple of sheets, and then made color transparencies out of them. This enabled me to create a layered effect with text or a map behind the transparency of the painting.

Once I had the color copies made, it was simply a matter of trimming everything to the size of the backing and putting it all together.

Thanks for looking!

Immi

Tribute to a Friend

2008-05-21T17:33:00.000-05:00

One of the couples from church is moving away soon. We're really going to miss the whole family. They've been such a great asset, and fun to boot!

I wanted to make something to give her before she leaves, and I thought about some blank paperweights I've got. These are so easy to make it's almost ridiculous! I made several for my co-workers a couple of years ago for Christmas, and they were well received. I made one for myself then, so I'll post a picture of that one another day.

This one is a patterned scrapbook paper, a sticker, a paper flower, and a button. I wasn't kidding when I said they're easy - practically foolproof. The hardest part was choosing which paper and which flower. Once I had that done, the rest took maybe 5 minutes. The blank paperweights can be ordered online, and come with the glass, a pre-cut form with adhesive on one side for your decorative elements, and a "velvet" paper backing, also with adhesive on one side.

Keep creating,
Immi

Cool Shades

2008-05-20T17:28:00.000-05:00

Like most toddlers, A enjoys trying on sunglasses. He's got his own, but it's fun wearing Immi's, too. I thought the shirt really added to the cute factor of these pictures (although contrary to the shirt's phrase, he doesn't get up to much mischief!). Mom and Dad are really thoughtful about having him wear something I've bought when we see them. Abba & Immi had a great time hanging out with A in the backyard. It's great to be grandparents!

Aunt Sooks' Sunglasses

2008-05-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed by my pack-rat tendencies; other times I'm smugly virtuous when I have an opportunity to use up something I've had around for a while. (Surely you've guessed by now that I'm currently feeling smugly virtuous!)

I first started a scrapbook when my beautiful daugher (Sooks Malooks) was a senior in high school. I conceived the insane notion of chronicling all her school years in scrapbook form to be displayed at her graduation open house. I stocked up on variety packs of cardstock (almost everything back in those olden days was 8.5 x 11), page protectors, and stickers. This was the heyday of decorative scissors & stickers - everything looks much more sophisticated and artsy now.

Thanks to dumb luck, I had saved samples of school work from kindergarten in separate folders. I say dumb luck, because when I went to conferences, the teachers would present me with a "folder" made of construction paper that my child had decorated for the occasion. Without that, I would have had a mess with no idea what belonged to each year. (My advice is to do this yourself, if your child's teacher doesn't do it for you - you won't be sorry!)

All this is leading up to today's post. The stickers on this page are leftovers from doing first my daughter's and then my son's school scrapbooks. I saw a similar idea in a magazine the other day, and knew at once that this was how I could make use of those stickers. (The photos are of A, wearing Sooks' sunglasses.) I honestly don't come up with many original layouts, but I don't mind using someone else's ideas - that's why those magazines are there!

Happy creating!
Immi

Birthday Boy

2008-05-18T13:57:00.004-05:00

I promised in the post with last year's birthday pictures that I wouldn't wait a whole year before scrapbooking birthday #2. Here are some photos from A's birthday party last weekend. Although A is not quite two, his parents thought that since family from far distances would be in town for graduation, it made sense to have all the fun in one big party. He's still young enough that he doesn't quite "get" the whole party idea, but he didn't seem as startled as he did last year when everyone suddenly started singing to him! Since the cake wasn't quite cool enough, we started off with birthday cookies (plenty big enough for 2 candles!).

It was a lot of fun to watch his reactions to his presents. Some things merited only a quick glance; others received very close attention. It's hard to appreciate so much new stuff all at once; he would have liked to sit and play for a while before moving on to the next thing. The foam blocks needed to be tasted (much to mom & dad's disapproval); the plastic dome-shaped lid to a bucket of sand toys made a great hat. He seemed very intrigued with some He-man figures (chip off the old block), and looked them over very carefully. I also thought he did a pretty good job of sharing with his cousin. What a great kid!

Have a great week, and do something creative.
Immi

Birthday Boy

2008-05-16T07:30:00.000-05:00

After returning from a weekend celebration of my grandson's 2nd birthday, I felt it was high time to scrapbook photos of his first birthday!! I got some fun photos while we were there, but I need to edit them a little bit before printing them out. I promise, I won't wait a whole year to scrapbook birthday #2. (Now that I've put it in black & white, I can't go back!)

As you can see, from the top photo, he was a little overwhelmed with all the hoopla. There he was, minding his own business, when everyone starts singing and clapping. I can understand how that would be startling when you've never experienced a birthday before. He got some fun presents that he's still playing with, and his own little birthday cupcake (dad had to help a little with blowing out the candle).

Why not pull out some pictures and do a scrapbook page today?

Immi

Confessions of a Lazy Scrapbooker

2008-05-13T07:30:00.001-05:00

I have a confession to make: I'm a lazy scrapbooker. Yes, I know it's shocking beyond belief, but it's true! I admit to you all, that I don't put a lot of time into the majority of my layouts. I look at the wonderful magazines and imagine myself doing work worthy of gracing the cover. The colors are carefully chosen, and each piece of the layout is placed just so. They're so appealing! Then I sit down with my pictures, and I can't summon the energy to make mine that cool. Sometimes I think I'll "scraplift" a layout, but it never quite turns out that way.

Anyway, here's a layout (long overdue) of the A-man last summer, "drinking" coffee from Abba's cup. Don't worry, mom, he didn't get even a taste! It sure looks like he's into it, doesn't it!

My printer won't handle 12x12 paper, so I used a trick I learned in one of those beautiful glossy magazines. I created a text box in Word, and sized it so that it would line pretty much half way on a 12" piece of paper (keeping in mind that Word assumed I was using 11"). I cut off a strip from the big piece of paper and adhered it with a temporary adhesive to an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. I ran it through the printer, and removed my cardstock strip from the paper. I taped the cut strip to the rest of the page on the back. To help cover up the seam, I used a black piece of rick rack. Guess it pays off to read those magazines after all!

Pull out some pictures, and do a simple layout; as long as you like it, that's what counts!
Immi

Chicken Collage

2008-05-07T07:30:00.001-05:00

Here's a chicken collage that was fun to make. Instead of painting a used book cover for the base, I covered this one with paper. I pulled out odds and end of "stuff" to put this together. The tag is a shipping tag, stamped with a crackle stamp. The chicken image is from a calendar, with a scrap of paper behind it. It's mounted on a piece of cardboard, with the top layer removed so you can see the ridges. A label from something is at the top. Behind the tag is a small piece of cheesecloth. This is a great material to use to add texture - works for collages, cards, scrapbooks, etc.

The three pieces of ephemera at the top of the collage are from a collection I've got. I had the great opportunity several years ago to work at a high school library that underwent a massive weeding of a very out-of-date collection. I received permission to take anything not earmarked for teacher use in the classroom. I spent hours ripping apart books to save images that interested me. I didn't spend a lot of time analyzing what I took; whatever caught my eye was fair game. I ended up with files full of great stuff for collages, as well as a large supply of book covers.
I don't remember where the irregularly shaped gold piece came from. I think it's hot glue with embossing powder over it, but I don't remember for sure. The red "t" is something I picked up somewhere and added to my "junk". I love to look through this junk (some of it received in trades) when I'm doing a collage. Sometimes I'll find just the right thing to finish a project.

Finally, some multicolored thread is strung along the right edge. There are some beautiful variegated threads in the fabric store; you should check them out.

Keep experimenting!

Immi

Collage

2008-05-06T07:30:00.003-05:00

Here's a sample of a collage I did using an old book cover as the base. I like to keep these handy at my painting station. (See http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/2008/04/finished-metal-tray.html) I usually glue used gift tissue paper down first (although I didn't do that first on this one). I like the wrinkles. I wrap the paper around to the back, but I don't worry about how the back looks. Later, I'll choose paper to cover it up.

For this collage, I'd already done some painting with craft store acrylic paints. I used a variety of stamps on some tissue paper, then glued that over the painted surface. The paint color can still be seen, but is toned down considerably. I began playing around with placement of images. Once I know where I want them, they're glued down. Sometimes the glue I use is craft glue; other times I'll use acrylic medium. After the gluing is done and dried, I do coat the piece with acrylic medium to protect it. Then I pulled out some pearl beads, a butterfly charm, and a piece broken off a decorative bobby pin. When I had them where I wanted them, they were adhered with Diamond Glaze. I use inexpensive stands from he craft store to display these.

Have fun creating!

Immi

Chair Re-do

2008-05-05T07:30:00.002-05:00

Sooks Malooks sent me these photos of a chair she re-upholstered. You can see how booooring the chair cover was before. It's amazing what a change of fabric can do! I think the fabric she chose it such an improvement. For very little cash outlay, she's got a great chair. Nice job, Sooks!

Find a way to create today.

Immi

Free Download

2008-05-03T08:02:00.002-05:00

Lisa Volrath is providing free images related to mother's day for download. The only caveat is to post a link to her site before downloading. Here is the link: http://countdown.tentwostudios.com

Enjoy!
Immi

New Scrapbook Pages

2008-04-30T07:30:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-29T07:30:00.001-05:00

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!

2008-04-28T07:30:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-26T17:32:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-24T07:30:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-22T07:30:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-21T07:30:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-18T07:30:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-16T07:30:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-15T07:30:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-10T07:00:00.003-05:00

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.

2008-04-09T07:00:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

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.

2008-04-04T08:00:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-03T08:40:00.000-05:00

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

2008-04-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

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

Paper Scrap Storage, Part 1

2008-03-31T14:10:00.005-05:00

Here is the way I store my larger paper scraps. Some of these aren't scraps per se, they're 8.5 x 11 pieces of paper. As I've moved to scrapbooking with mostly 12x12, I've ended up with a lot of leftovers from the "olden days" when I worked with the smaller size. The other pieces in this file tote are those that are too large to fit in my smaller scrap storage drawers. I'll talk about the small scraps tomorrow.

I've found that for most of my paper storage I prefer a vertical rather than horizontal system. This is an inexpensive tote, probably from an office supply store. (I've had it so long I don't remember where I got it!) It contains hanging files, neatly labeled by color (I love labels) and alphabetized (I even alphabetize my spices!). It's wide enough to hold paper scraps that are up to 12" wide. I keep it close at hand in the desk/storage unit my husband built for me.

Scraps can quickly get out of hand; I encourage you to experiment and find a system that works for you!

Immi

Going Out Like a Lion

2008-03-31T13:57:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting in my studio (sounds really fancy, doesn't it!), watching snow swirling outside. We may get several inches today. I think that constitutes going out like a lion.

Here's a photo of part of the scrapbook page I mentioned in the post about blue tulle. The background is a patterned scrapbook paper; no work there. I placed the vellum seashell stickers along the right side, with the tulle on top. I poked holes for the buttons and sewed them on with dental floss (I didn't have any clear thread or fishing line around). I used Judikins Diamond Glaze to adhere the beads. For the beads, I started out with a few clumps of beads, but decided I'd rather have an irregular line going the length of the tulle. The D.G. also served to adhere the tulle rather than relying only on the spots where buttons were sewn. I found it easiest to work with the beads in sections. I'd squeeze a line of adhesive and place the beads down. Because of the tulle, they didn't immediately stick securely to the paper. I placed plastic wrap on top, and weighted it with a heavy book. I think I did it in three sections. Afterwards, I rubbed over the beads with fingers to check that they were secure; if they came off, I used additional D.G. & weighted as before.

Keep experimenting!
Immi

Colored Tulle

2008-03-29T19:12:00.002-05:00

I discovered yesterday how easy it is to change the color of tulle. I was working on a scrapbook page that had a sea theme, and wanted to use tulle to represent a net. All I had was white, so I wondered what would happen if I swiped an ink pad over the surface of the tulle. Lo and behold, I quickly had blue tulle! I used a Fresco dye ink pad, although I imagine another type of ink pad would work, too. I think dye ink pads would dry better on that type of surface. I tore the edges of the tulle so that it was very raggedy, and placed it along the edge of the page over some vellum shell stickers. I then glued down some pale colors of beads, and really liked the way it turned out. I didn't have time to take a picture, but I'll try to post one in a couple of days.
Happy experimenting!
Immi

Paper Scraps

2008-03-21T16:25:00.016-05:00

I'm going to share a secret with you; I hoard paper scraps. In the process of making a scrapbook page or other paper arts, I end up with a lot of scraps! In a later post, I'll talk about how I store all those pieces of paper. For today, I wanted to share some cards I made yesterday, mostly from scraps. The card bases are not made from scraps; those are 8 x 11.5 pages cut in half.

Birthday Card

Torn scrap of dictionary page, painted
Scrap of blue patterned paper
Shipping tag (office supply store), painted & stamped; small scrap of blue on the end; scrap of ribbon through the hole

Birds on Blue Card

Torn scrap of book index, painted & stamped
Black scrap, deliberately torn
Leftover piece of blue paper

Birds

Torn strip from book index, painted
Torn piece of tissue paper, stamped
Shipping tag, painted (acrylic) & stamped; blue scrap on the end; ribbon scrap through the hole

Celebrate

Torn scraps from book index, painted
Blue scrap, stamped
Flower border, stamped & watercolored

Simple Thanks (L)

Shipping tag, stamped & swiped with ink pads; scrap of hem tape (swiped with ink pads) through hole
Leftover paper flower embellishment
Scrap red paper, torn
Scrap brown patterned paper

Simple Thanks (R)

Scrap from book index, painted & cut in shape of tag; stamped; edged with red from ink pad; red eyelet through hole
Leftover paper flower embellishment
Scrap brown patterned paper, torn
Scrap red paper, torn
Scrap black paper
Bird, made with punch (Martha Stewart)

First Day of Spring

2008-03-21T09:52:00.002-05:00

We woke up this morning to the first day of spring! Spring in Minnesota is not at all what I remember from my days growing up in the South and Southwest; spring there is not usually heralded by snow. Yep, it's snowing here, which seems to me to be a cruel irony.

While poking around on the internet this morning, I came across SnowCrystals.com where I found gorgeous photos of individual snowflakes. So in honor of the season, I'm posting one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Immi

2008-03-20T09:14:00.000-05:00

My husband doesn't forward emails very often, so when he does, I know it's going to be something I'll appreciate. He received this image the other day, and sent it on to me. I thought this would be a great time to learn how to upload a photo to my blog, and how fitting that I received this during Holy Week! I haven't researched to see if it's true or not, but this is labeled as being done with a single stroke of a pen (if you click on the picture, you can see an enlarged version). Whether or not that's correct, it's a beautiful piece of artwork, and provides a focus for what's most important: Jesus.

Just Getting Started

2008-03-17T20:11:00.000-05:00

This is my first attempt at blogging. I've recently learned about subscribing to blogs that interest me, and I've decided to try my own blog. This idea has been floating around in my head now, and for some reason, I feel brave enough to get started today. After all, the idea is Experiments in Creativity!

I hope to learn how to upload scans of some of my artwork as well as learn more about the process of journaling through this blog.

Thanks for reading!
More later,
Immi