I Wanna Scrap!

Welcome to Scrappin' Peeps summer camp hop. It you didn't arrive from Mandi's blog, be sure to go back and check it out.  

The Peeps have a week full of fun planned for all of us. We have all fallen behind in our scrapping and paper crafting and thought we would take advantage of this week of summer to get a bit caught up.
The theme for our blog hop is water. Water is a BIG part of summer and summer fun: cool glasses of ice water after a day in the sun, a cool dip in a pool, and wading through puddles after a summer rain. Water is also becoming a big part of scrapping and crafting.  At first glance, that statement may sound a bit odd. After all, water and paper usually DON'T mix, do they?

One of the big trends in cardmaking has been the introduction of watercolor and watercolor techniques. You see it everywhere. Well, if you are like me you can experiment with watercolor, but the results are often less than impressive.

Recently, however, I discovered a wonderful alternative!

I purchased THESE pencils after a recommendation from a friend:

They are NOT watercolor pencils. They are actually INK pencils. The resulting color is much more intense than the look you achieve with watercolor pencils. I have also found that it is MUCH easier to shade.

After my purchase, the first thing I did was go to YouTube to see if I could find a good tutorial on using them. I found THIS one by AnnaBelle Stamps

Great ideas huh?

Now, let me share with you 2 cards that I created using these pencils.

My first card was this beautiful Santa image. It is from a Recollections stamp set called "Country Santa".

After stamping and coloring I heat embossed the beard and added some chunky glitter to the fur parts of the coat. I layered the image with cardstock and a frame cut using a Spellbinders die.

My second attempt with these pencils was this snowman card. It was created using the Stampin' Up stamp set called "Snow Much Fun".

Don't you love the shading on the snowman's body, hat, and boots?

I have discovered only one problem with these pencils. I love the look SO MUCH that I need a bigger set with more colors! A quick search on Amazon revealed to me that there is a set of 24 and a set of 72 available.  I am already saving up to make one of  those sets my next splurge.

Your next stop for the crop hop is Robyn's blog. If you got lost on the way here is the complete list.

Mandi mjskraze.blogspot.com/
Stella myscrapbliss.blogspot.com/
Robyn cozienookhomestead.wordpress.com/
Christine terrapincreekdesignstudio.blogspot.com/

Can You Believe It?

I didn't post on this blog for over a year and now I have posted two days in a row! What can I say? I got hooked on challenges this week. That might just be the ticket to getting me back into the papercrafting world.

I started with the challenges over at Scrappin' Mojo. Those gals can always inspire me. Then I came across this sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.

I really liked the diagonal stripe across the card, so I started digging through my stash. I came across a chipboard cherry embellishment that I knew would be perfect for the Mojo Tutti Fruity Challenge. That helped me decide that I wanted a vintage type of look for my card.

I ended up using a piece of "Core Impressions" paper that I had been saving for a long time. I sanded it a bit to reveal the inner core through the embossed polka dots, added some lace, buttons, vintage print papers, inking, and sewing. I REALLY like the end result!

I have bookmarked the Freshly Made website and you will also find a link in the sidebar. I will definitely be keeping an eye on their sketches each week. They are GREAT inspiration for someone like me who needs to start using some of that mountain of craft stash that I have been keeping for years!

Hello...... Hello...... Can Anyone Hear Me?

Just checking to see if this blog even works anymore..... LOL!

Life has kept me pretty busy this past year. It was my daughter's senior year in high school and between college visits, fundraisers, trips, track meets, and various other competitions it seemed like we were constantly on the run.  School and family took up most of my time. I don't think I have scrapbooked in over a year. I did create the occasional greeting card, but other than that my supplies have just been gathering dust.

Last week that all changed.

I came home after teaching a week in our summer credit recovery program and I logged on one of my favorite websites: Scrappin' Mojo. (There's a link in the sidebar if you are interested.) It just so happened that the gals were hosting a summer crop full of WONDERFUL challenges. The timing was perfect!

So far I have finished 4 challenges, creating 4 cards, three of which I will share with you. (The other one..... I am not so happy with.... If you want to see it, you will have to visit the website.

CARD 1

This card is for the single layer challenge. That in itself is something I rarely do. I also decided to try a new stamping technique. I grabbed a small rectangular acrylic block and inked it up. Then I spritzed it with a water mist so the ink would bead up. Then I stamped directly on the paper. After my rectangles dried I went back and added the flower stamping and dry embossed some lines above and below the image.

CARD 2

 



This one was for a polka dot challenge. I LOVE polka dots! I used one of my many embossing folders to emboss the bottom edge of the card. Then I dry embossed some lines above that to create an area for my stamped greeting. I raided my flower drawer and found a printed plastic flower, a chipboard flower, and a rhinestone sticker flower. I stacked all of those to create my own unique flower at the top of the card.

CARD 3

 

 

This one was for the watercolor challenge and was inspired by a card on Pinterest. I used the same technique that I mentioned earlier, this time inking up a larger acrylic block with several different colors of distress ink. Then I spritzed it with water and stamped on watercolor paper to create the background. I blotted it with paper towel and allowed it to dry before stamping the image with black ink.

 

The summer challenges have been extended through this week, so I am hoping to get a couple more done. Who knows? I may even get out some pictures and scrapbook a page or two!

My Attempt at Cardmaking

I am a member of the Scrappin' Mojo group online.... (link is provided in my sidebar.) This is a great group of gals who love scrapping, cardmaking, and papercrafting. Some of them got together a few months ago and formed a small group who participates in a special card event monthly. One member will put together a card kit and sends it out to each member. Each crafter works to use the kit contents to create their own special card creations and shares them in a blog post.

I have watched every month as ladies posted wonderful inspirational cards and found myself oohing and aahing at their creativity. As for me..... cards have just not been a strong point. I think that this is largely due to the fact that I just haven't tried to create them very much.

A couple of months ago one of the kit club members surprised me by sending me the kit. I opened the kit and found myself almost afraid to cut into anything. My cards just aren't good enough...... at least that is what the little voice inside my head kept saying. Besides, my scrap space was so stacked up at the time that I didn't even have space to work.

This month another member of the club sent me the kit. Once again I opened it and found myself in awe of the contents. (Here is a pic.... so you can ooh and aah right along with me...)

See what I mean? GREAT stuff..... Anyone could create cards with this stuff, right? I had to give it a try. Besides, my scrap room is now relatively clean and organized, so that isn't even an excuse anymore.

I headed off to Pinterest, my usual inspirational search location and with a little help from there, I was actually able to create 4 cards that I am happy to say, I MADE!!!

Hey, I could get used to this! As long as I have Pinterest to help me with ideas....LOL!

Seriously though.. if you like cardmaking and scrapbooking, check out Scrappin' Mojo. These ladies are fantastic crafters and some of the sweetest ladies you will meet. And who knows..... you might discover that you can do things you didn't think you could do too!