Sugar Skull Invites

I was planning a Halloween get-together and wanted to make an invite.  Of course, I went to Paper Source to get inspiration and there, I saw an awesome Sugar Skull Stencil.

I used the stencil, a glue pen (awesome because you get a point and can use this to trace the stencil), white embossing powder and lots of glitter to make the invites become a reality. 

At first, I tried using ink to get the stencil onto the black paper, but the ink sort of bled and didn't give a sharp outline.  I was happy that the glue pen worked out.  I also used Martha Stewart's flourescent glitters and they showed up amazingly well on the black paper.  

Each invite did take a bunch of time.  I also lined the envelopes with purple glitter paper to make them stand out.  I got this at Paper Source as well!  Here is the result: 

Pork Chop, my chihuahua, fell asleep in the middle of all my craft supplies... awww. 

B R O O K L Y N zentangling ✒️

So last Wednesday, July 23, 2014, I took a zentangling class at the Ink Pad in the West Village (http://www.theinkpadnyc.com) with artist and best-selling author, Kass Hall (http://www.kasshall.com)

I had never zentangled before and I loved the pieces Kass created and knew that, with lots and lots of hours and patience, I could create something using this method.

Here are some images of kass's amazing sample:

She taught us 14 different patterns and we practiced in the class.  Over the weekend, I then created a "Brooklyn" Zentangle, for which I need to find a home. 

My work:

I really enjoyed completing this project!  I used Micron pens and made stencils with my cameo silhouette. 

Hopefully there is more zentangling to come!!

First Time Art Journaling

Hey!  So I bought an art journal!  I have seen so much beautiful work online in art journals and this seems like a natural extension of Smashbooking.  In fact, Smashbooking seems to be a likely extension of art journaling, in fact!  It seems like the Smash book made all the backgrounds and patterns themselves so the journaler can simply focus on the content - though, of course, that is also done artistically. 

I've been browsing around the internet to see how others art journal and I realize that my work is very elementary!  I would love to go to some classes or meetups with real art journalers so I can learn more tips.  I'm going to start integrating that into my life soon :). For now, here's my first work!

Love and Sunshine

I made this card for a friend who recently had surgery.  I used stamping, glitter and paper cutting.

Inspired by a recent interest in mixed media journaling, I used neocolor II artist crayons (soluble in water) and journaling pens for the inside lettering.  This was my first attempt at lettering of this sort so, I hope I get better!

Paper Source Peony Wreath

Above is my completed Peony Wreath which I hung on my apartment door!!!  I love the way it turned out.  When I bought the kit, I assumed this would be really simple, like a 1, 2, 3 production where I just open the bag and follow the directions and finish in an hour.  NOT SO.  The process is pretty laborious and there is a real satisfaction when you complete it.  I'll take you through the process: 

1. Purchasing the kit and taking it home.  

2. Popping out many many flowers from all of the lovely shades of pink and white paper.  The colors are called:  Strawberry, Blush, Blossom and White.  This popping out process on its own took quite a while!

3. Take a scissors and cut the flowers in between the petals.  

4.  Use a boning tool... (what???)  Yes, a boning tool, to curl all the petals of every single flower that you popped out.  Luckily, I recently purchased a cake decorating kit from Michael's.  The kit was really focused on fondant and gum paste flowers and it came with a tool (pictured below) created fur just the purpose of curling (fondant) flower petals.  It worked perfectly.  If you didn't have one of those, you could perhaps use a thin, smooth pen or some sort of wooden dowel.  Whatever you use, however, make sure it works well.  This curling process is really the crux of the wreath-making and it's important that the flowers look fresh and don't get wrinkled or deformed in the curling process.  (I saw a  model wreath at Paper Source in another design that sort of looked like it had been "through the mill."  It made me handle the flowers and petals cautiously to make an attractive wreath).  

5.  Layer the flower cut outs over one another, using double-sided tape or glue (which you must provide) to stack them.  You will also use styrofoam sticky pads (which come in the kit) to add volume to the flowers.  See the first flower I made below!!  I added decorative flower buds to all of my flowers, but these were things I had and did not come with the kit.  

Heart-Shaped Puzzle!

This puzzle was a really cool way to create a visual project that represents the thoughts and ideas of our entire team at school.  The poster is entitled:  "Advisory:  The Heart of Mather Culture".  Puzzle pieces were distributed to all of the teachers and each teacher wrote down their thoughts about why Advisory is at the heart of our school's culture.  

I used my Silhouette to make this project.  I cut out that puzzle in three pieces since the Silhouette only does 12x12 paper and this is probably like 24x24.  FIrst I cut out the red puzzle pieces and then I cut the same things out again on pink paper so that the outline of the puzzle popped.  I had to overlap the pink to get it in line, then glue it down and cut off the excess.  Hopefully that makes sense.  I don't have pictures to demonstrate what I mean.  At our school retreat, we filled in the puzzle pieces and then taped them onto the puzzle.  After the retreat, I glued them all down and then laminated the entire puzzle and put it on display!  

"Juicy Reading" Bookmark

With summer coming and after seeing the amazing garlands available at PaperSource, I was inspired to make this "Juicy Reading" bookmark for all the juicy books I'm planning to read this summer.  

Here is the process I went through to make it.  I cut out larger green circles, medium sized white circles and smaller pink circles: 

I glued them on top of each other and then covered the pink circle with black "seeds," which I also cut out on my Silhouette.  

After I had the circles, I cut them in half to make slices of watermelon!

I then arranged everything to create my book mark.  The glitter card stock I have is great!  I used it for the "JUICY" letters. I also just love polka dots - so there they are times two.  

Happy Reading and Happy Soon-to-Be Summer!