Project 12 January

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted. I've been so busy and dIStRACted that I've not devoted the time I would like to my blogging and creating. Well, that's not exactly true because I've been cooking. I made two original new for dinner this past week. I also finished my Project 12 layout for January.

Ok, this is not really supposed to be a challenge. At least I don't think it is. It's seems more of an encouraging project than a challenge. Either way, I got it done.

I had a very difficult time with this sketch and had to do a lot of altering to make it fit my projects and my color scheme. I've been having this orange and pink thing going on and that made it a little hard for me to mix patterns. Mixing patterns and colors is a challenge for me. Here's what I came up with once I was settled enough to sit down and scrap for an uninterrupted hour.

The theme for Project 12 is to scrap what was going on in the month. For January I always have two things going on - Organizing and taxes. Organizing is an ongoing theme with me but it's almost like a nesting instinct at the beginning of each year. I've got much accomplished there and will get even more done next month when the girls have spring break. My taxes aren't usually finished until February but all the prep work starts in January. I'm happy to say that everyone in the house has completed and transmitted their tax returns. YIPPEE!!!!

This year I did two new things in January. The first was to learn new art techniques. This continues to be ongoing - I'm having a blast letting my inner preschooler scribble and color through this desire to be more artsy and not just creative. The other newbie for the year was creating this blog. It took me a couple years to finally mustard up the drive to get it done but now that it is, I find I like blogging and believe it gives me a little extra push to finish projects so that I can post my accomplishments.

It's already time to start working on the Project 12 layout for February but we spend so much of this month volunteering at our local county fair and I won't to wait until I have more photos of the fair events before I start scrapping. I aim to post the layout sketch for February sometime this coming week.

Happy Creating.

Susan

Picture Palooza

I cannot believe how many pictures I scrapped this weekend. 40 or more and that was just on Saturday, (laundry distracted me on Sunday).

Do you remember this stack of photos I was working on last week? 

Now it looks like this. Just a handful left.



All day on Saturday I worked on a mini album. I've made tons of minis but never one like this. I used a 4x6 photo album to scrap those 40+ pictures. At this point you're saying, "heck, I could scrap way over 40 pictures if all I did was throw them in an album". Well, it wasn't really like that. I used the photo as my background and scrapped a layout right on the picture.

I had so much fun playing with these pictures and selecting which ones to scrap. I even scrapped more than one picture on the same 4x6 page. (photo lesson learned this week - do not take pictures of layouts while they are in the page cover. Also need practice on removing unwanted backgrounds)

I wasn't real fond of the outside cover of the album I used so I just covered it with some of the leftover paper I used in the layouts. Then I added a chipboard title leftover from a K and Company summer themed sticker sheet along with the numbers for the year from a pack of Thickers. 











I like the look of tabbed pages and one of the kits I used had several pre-made ones that I glued on the outside of some of the page covers.



This was a super easy and quick project. It did take me several hours to complete but taking into consideration the number of photos I scrapped, I think I got a lot done in little time.

Happy Creating

Susan

Git R Done Part II

I've had a devil of a time taking pictures of anything. For the past two days it has been NOthING but rainy and cloudy. Sunny Florida has had no rays at all. (While my photography skills are getting better, poor lighting does not reflect that). Good thing though, the rainy weather has urged me along a little bit in my Git R Done project. I've finished several more pages as well as sorted a ton of summer vacation 2010 pictures.

When we vacation it's usually with our extended family so there's lots of people to photograph and lots of people with cameras. I always share my pictures with whomever we are vacationing with and they do the same, hence the tON of PICtURES.  Granted there is no way I can scrap all those pictures and I have no idea why I even processed some of them so lots will go in a small photo album and some will even get pitched, (what a waste of money). I hope to work on the small photo album over the weekend and maybe I'll have some of that to share the first part of the week.

I'm still using up some old kits that I've had around forever. Most of what I've been using is not high quality anything but I'm getting the pictures on the paper and into an album. My family is just happy to look at the reminders and don't care if I created a piece of art worthy of a museum display.

This is supposed to be a double layout but because the natural lighting has been so poor, I could not get one picture of both sides without losing more color than I already lost. Giving credit where it's due, this layout and the one below are from May Flaum sketches from one of her classes at Big Pictures Classes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Creating

Susan

Git-R-Done

This past week I’ve been trying something new. I call it “Git-R-Done ” scrapbooking. The goal is to get a bunch of pages done. I focus on pictures and sans the embellies, (well, not completely). The purpose is to get some pictures out of my file drawer and to use up some of that paper that’s been sitting around forever. I’m not looking to win any awards for layouts or design, I just want to accomplish my goal.

To get started I chill a bottle of some kind of sweet wine, (Riesling or White Zinfandel works just fine), fire up some music on Pandora Radio, (mostly 70’s or classic rock, Bon Jovi or Def Leopard, oh AC/DC is also to my liking – really I’m not picky, I just like the 70’s and 80’s and some of the 90’s music – how in the world can a semi-redneck, country music lovin’ mom be so stuck in the music of her youth? LOL). Next I go to the pictures that I know I need to get onto paper. As far as the paper is concerned, it doesn’t have to be the top of the line. As a matter-of-fact, I aim to use up some of that STUFF that’s been sitting on the shelf for eons.

Even though I’m concerned more with just mounting the pictures on the paper than with the artiness of the whole layout, I still want something that is pleasing to the eye. However, my goal is to scrap pictures, not to copy the masters. Scrapping is about what I like. Really, scrapping is to satisfy me, not to make the masses happy. I don’t do it to win contests or to derive praise. I just like to be crafty and sometimes need help in that area.

When it comes to scrapping a lot of pictures at one time, I find my best inspiration from May Flaum. She is just my idol when it comes to getting the most out of a 12X12 space.



For these layouts I’ve used some pictures from our family vacation last summer. We took a road trip to northern Indiana to spend a week at my husband’s family’s lake cottage. We also had the pleasure of visiting with many of his relatives at the Garman reunion. What fun. Good food, great company, wonderful memories and alone time with my hubby and the girls, (although be it in the van traveling up and down the highway, it was wonderful). Most of the paper for these two pages came from a couple of kits that I bought clearance somewhere or another and embellishments that have been on my homemade embellishment holder, (more on that in another post), fOREVER!!!

Hope you enjoyed viewing these layouts as much as I enjoyed making them. I think for the next few days I’m going to continue with my Git-R-Done projects. I’ll post a few more as I finish.

Happy Creating.



Susan

Project 12

I’ve found a challenge I want to work on for the entire year. Yes, you heard me right. The Distractible Scrapper is going to try and stay on task for a whole year. Can I do it? I think so. The folks over at Scrapbook and Cards Today have just posted an update to their Project 12 challenge. Since I never saw the original post I guess it’s a good thing they have an update already.

This is a monthly layout challenge and based on the happenings of the previous month. With such a limited requirement, I might just be able to pull this off. Oh, and add to the ease of this challenge the fact that a sketch is posted for each month’s design it’s almost a given that I can tackle this project.

If you would like to participate, just click the Project 12 logo for all the details. To get you started here’s the sketch for January’s layout that has to be completed by February 20th. Wow, I’ve got a couple of weeks still to get my photos processed.

Click the sketch below for a better look at the January layout. Have a wonderful day and try to stay on task.

 


Happy Creating
Susan

Canvas Art

Finally I’m getting around to posting those canvas art pieces I made around the holidays. Here again I’m going to apologize for my horrible photography skills. This picture was taken with a less than stellar camera under not so great conditions. I promise it looks much better in person.

I started this as an experiment after reading Christy Tomlinson’s tutorial on creating on canvas. (while this isn’t the same tutorial that inspired me, it is AWESOME). Honestly it scared me to death. I’ve never been one to worry over making a mistake, (I live by the motto, “it is what it is”), but this project was way far outside my box. I really shouldn’t have worried because the more I worked on it the more fun I had and the more comfortable I became.

I started by using Mod Podge on the entire top of the canvas. While it was still wet I added the paper and another coat of Mod Podge. The paper wrinkled and curled a little but I just pushed it down, wrinkles and all, and added more Mod Podge. At one point I found a huge air bubble so I sliced a small “x” over the bubble with a razor knife, pulled up the edges and added some more MP, smoothed down the cut edges and continued on.

After the sticky mess dried I put down a couple of Tim Holtz Timeworks masks and spritzed the entire canvas with some Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist in Key Lime. What a  mistake. The color was awful. No worries though, I just took Distress Ink, (Walnut Stain or maybe Vintage Photo), dabbed it here and there using my homemade ink applicator.

        

(my photography skills are greatly improved by using a better camera)

By the time I was done I had almost a patina look with the green underneath.

Next I started adding the embellies and shaded around them with some inexpensive brown craft paint. I even shaded around the pictures. After the paint dried I outlined everything with a black fine tipped Sharpie to add some dimension, (a rollerball type pen would work better for this). I put one last coat of MP on top of everything except the picture and let it all dry. Lastly I added a handmade tissue tape flower, (instructions courtesy of Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas) popped that puppy down with some glue dots and slapped on a sticker for the middle. That was it. All done and nicely so if I do say so myself.

I also made a second canvas for the other side of our family. As you can see it the same theme, layout and title but that’s ok. Why mess with perfection. This piece was easier to do because I wasn’t as scared about ruining the canvas. (Such a silly thing to worry over. It only cost a couple of bucks and anything the doesn’t look just right can always be painted over)

Through it all, I had a blast. It was like the messier it got, the more fun I was having. My inner pre-schooler jumped out and started coloring outside the lines.

I plan to make more canvas art. I’m going to try some different projects though. I’ve got a yard or so of duck canvas that I want to try some projects with.  My plan also includes continuing to work on photographing, first the thing I want to scrap and second the thing I’ve scrapped, I hope you and I will see some improvement. All that really matters though is that I stay on task and have fun doing it.

Happy Creating.