"My Dream" Scrapbook Page

Today, I have a scrapbook page to share.  This was one of my Spellbinders projects last fall.  This layout expresses  my dream come true to be on the Spellbinders Design Team!  

I used my Spellbinders' last year DT photo as well as the photo from my first year on the Spellbinders DT.  The bigger photo was taken by Allison Tyler Jones Photography.  It's one of my very favorite photos of myself!

The photo of the layout really does't do justice to all the copper on this page.  I've used embossed copper tape along the left side of my photo.  The words along the right side are cut from Royal Langnickle copper Etchboard.  I love that product for embossing.  It's black over a metallic color.  Once it's sanded the metal color is revealed.  It worked beautifully for the Donna Salazar words from her Spellbinders set S5-084 Girlie Grunge Labels.  There's more copper below the photos.  That is copper tape over card stock.  I've cut it with Spellbinders Edgeabilities E8-004 Classic Ric Rac and E8-003 Classic Triple Scallop with a flower Decorative Insert from E8-014 Classic Decorative Inserts Six.

Along the left side of the page are small photos of some of my favorite Spellbinders projects.  I chose to print all the photos in Sepia.  The papers on the page are all neutral brown tones with the copper thrown in for accent. 

I hope you enjoy my sharing of my dream!  If you haven't tried to cut craft foil and emboss it with your Spellbinders die templates, you really need to try it!!! The results are always so stunning!

Thanks for visiting!

Have a super creative day!

-judy



A Wish

......come true......

A snowstorm too bad for travel! And I was home!

Yeah! I wanted a day off.

The good part, I had someone who could work for me so I could stay home. I didn't even try to get there...

It started with about 6-8" of snow yesterday. Very pretty snow - fluffy, sparkly and oh so white. There was hardly a breeze to move it! Amazing in SW Minnesota.

Today was a completely different story. Lots of wind to blow all that fluffy white stuff.

As you can see in my photos, visibility wasn't good. I took these photos through my window.....way too cold to go outside! I could see about .2 of a mile.

Looking out past the barn seemed to be a wall of white! The NW wind whips around the trees there.

Not much visibility on the south side of the barn either.....

So I stayed home and relaxed...pampered myself a bit.

I baked a special cake.....Raspberry Walnut Torte! Oh so good! It's one of my favorites.

The occasion???

My day to celebrate......another year, another birthday!

I spent a little time creating this afternoon.......one of my favorite things to do.

I created this for a friend but it's seems appropriate here today.

I embossed the letters in red craft foil that was already embossed with Impressabilities patterns. I rubbed the color off the letters and added a hint of color with Archival Coffee ink. I simply cut the balloons out of scraps of foil, shaped them and added color with Adirondack markers (alcohol based). They're popped up with layers of foam. I created a little shadow box out of Imaginisce scrapbook paper. The metallic accent on the edges is silver EP.

........just plain fun!

I'm hoping it gets me inspired to complete some of the projects that are due next week........

I'll need to focus this weekend!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you're somewhere warm and cozy!

smiles to you.......

Metal Butterfly

I created this embossed butterfly by stamping the scroll butterfly stamp from Artistic Outpost's Happiness set using StazOn on the back of red craft metal. Then, using Ten Seconds Studio embossing tools, I went over the design with a stylus. Once I had it completely embossed & refined, I removed the red on the butterfly by carefully rubbing solvent stamp cleaner over the raised areas. This can create disaster if too much solvent touches any areas that should remain red.......try it very carefully! I added black acrylic paint to "antique" it rubbing it off the embossed areas.

The frame was cut out of black card stock with Labels Four and Curved Rectangles Spellbinders dies. Once I had it cut, I embossed it with the dies in place and a Butterfly Impressabilities. That created the embossed pattern and a nice embossed edge. I used metallic Rub-Ons (a product I've had for a very long time that seemed appropriate for this) over the embossed pattern. I actually started with red, then added pewter, then black & silver....... I couldn't decide what color I liked best!

The red mat was stamped repeatedly with the scroll butterfly and then cut with a larger Labels Four die. I distressed it a bit with Distress Black Soot.

I used the same Butterfly Impressabilities for the black mat. It's mounted on a light gray card with Black Soot applied to the edges.

Three silver cords are glued around the red mat with little silver brads at each end.

I think this would be a great addition to the front of a journal.........an idea that came to me after I had this card almost finished. Next time........

I hope this inspires you to try embossing one of your stamped images. You can easily use a stylus or even an empty bic pen to create the embossed lines. Place your metal over fun foam or even a magazine......something somewhat soft. Work from the back to make the raised lines on front. Outline them on the front to get nice crisp edges. Leave a comment or send me an email if you'd like more info..........

An Altered Journal

I found this great journal in a dollar store........where everything was not a dollar but multiples of a dollar. I bought several......the quality was great & so was the price. I added them to my stash......some day I would alter them.

A few weeks ago, that some day became reality. I was thinking of writing a journal again.....something I've done off & on since a college writing class....so I pulled this pink one out of my stash.

It would never do like this! Definitely not me!

It had a classic art print glued to the area that's not pink. I peeled it off. I'll add a stamped image or maybe some embossed metal.

........so I started adding color with Aged Mahogany Distress ink...

I started applying it with a piece of Cut n Dry foam from the ink pad. Way too slow........I wasn't getting anywhere. The paper on the cover was so absorbent. Then I used the ink right from the re-inker applied to the Cut N Dry foam. That worked.....lots of color but a little too bright!

I wanted it to be darker so I added Walnut Stain. I mixed it with water in a Mini Mister & sprayed on a light mist. I also applied Walnut Stain & Antique Linen with the foam until I liked the color.


I wasn't going to color the paper on the inside of the cover.........well inky fingers left a few smudges. An incentive for creativity.........how to cover up the smudges. I took the coil & journal pages out.


Then I started stamping........I used this stamp set by Tim Holtz called Slight Alterations. First I stamped the dotted image in the corners using Anitque Linen. Next, I stamped the more solid image using Distress Aged Mahogany to cover the whole inside. Lastly, I stamped the scratches with Walnut Stain. I misted it all with Anitque Linen mixed with water in a Mini Mister to set the ink into the paper, add color & blur the stamping.
It's beginning to look pretty old, don't you think? Exactly what I want!

Next.........a title for the cover out of embossed metal.


First, I cut a cardboard frame to size to fit the blank space on the cover. I laid out my title using Grungeboard letters over some drywall mending mesh all stuck to lightweight chipboard.

Then, I ran it through my Wizard with craft metal.......it embossed beautifully!

I used some of my metal tools to refine the edges around the letters.

I used lightweight spackle to fill in the back of the letters so they won't dent or crush easily. I didn't leave the Grungeboard letters in place. I have those to use on another project.......they just served as a mold.

I folded the metal under to finish all the edges. The embossed title was great but not the color.......way too bright for my vintage looking journal.


Time for black acrylic paint, alcohol inks.......and many applications of color. What a change, huh?

Now it looks more aged........ I added a clear satin spray to protect the color from rubbing off. (Caution: solvent based sprays can change the alcohol inks.) I also sprayed the journal with the same clear finish to protect it.

I added a piece of cotton twill for a marker......it was red until I added Walnut Stain & Aged Mahogany to change the color. Not a permanent color.....water will make it bleed........okay for my journal as long it doesn't get wet. The "listen" charm is from Tim Holtz Ideaology as well as the tiny pins & chain with fastener. I fastened the marker to the coil behind the paper pages.

......the finished journal.......
Whew! That was a long project!

Almost too nice to write in it!!!

Smiles.........

Off to CHA

I'm off to Anaheim today. I'm so excited to be going to CHA! I love seeing all the new products and wonderful artwork. And it will be much warmer there!

I have an incredible opportunity to help with a class at CHA this year. I emailed my friend Magdalena to tell her I'd see her at CHA. She has the company Mercart. They sell metal embossing tools, metal and supplies. I asked her if she needed any help with her class. To my surprise, she took me up on my offer. I'll be helping class attendees who have questions or need one on one help while Magdalena and her mother, also Magdalena, teach the class. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity. I'm not nervous yet but I know I will be on Monday morning. I hope to be able to post while I'm at CHA including some photos so I'll let you know how the class goes.

For now, I have a couple photos of a pencil can I made with embossed aluminum. It started out as a vegetable can.

Here's another side of it.

Enjoy!

-judy

Metal Embossing....

.......I'm going to stray from stamping today.

Here's a little sample of my metal embossing. I dressed up the lid of a simple craft pencil box with a piece of embossed foil.


First, I stained & finished the box. Then I cut a piece of chipboard to fit the lid. I traced the chipboard on a piece of aluminum craft foil to define the pattern area. Then I just doodled with my metal tools.......just fun for me. Some of the design is embossed & some is debossed (dented in). That was not by design choice......I wasn't too pleased with myself when I started working on the wrong side of the metal. Rather than start over, I just worked it into the design.

I used acrylic paint rubbed over the design to antique it.....give it an aged metal look. By buffing the metal with paper towel, the paint rubs off the raised areas & remains in the recessed areas. It makes the pattern stand out. I use this box to store some of my metal working tools.

If you're interested in any of the tools, check out Ten Seconds Studio or Mercart. You'll find lots of visual inspiration in their galleries. As always, if you have any questions about my art, please email me.

Create art!

-judy