End the of the week, again! Hope your Halloween was fun and safe.
Here’s this week’s Case File:
Case File 146
And here’s my LO:
Case File 146 – Solved
Hee hee… Ok, so the story behind this is that there’s a Scrap Retreat I go to every year in Washington State. Sadly, when I move to Australia, I’ll likely not be able to attend next year. The girls knew this, so they threw me a party. And by party, I mean a roast. They know I hate pink. So they all got matching white tshirts with my photo printed up (that’s what they’re wearing), and had one made for me in pink.
When I walked in the room and found that out, I turned and ran out the door. Of course, they followed me. (This was all in good fun, mind.) Once I got cornered, Becky “forced” me into the shirt, and one of the other girls took photos.
Evidence:
Stripes (I think drips are stripes)
Polkadots
Hang Something (I REALLY wanted to put a blindfold over the little pink clad condemned woman, but… I couldn’t figure out how to do that. I’m open to suggestions!)
Metal
Fibers
Jar (my Bell Jar die cut)
Clips (the moustache is a paperclip)
Something Transparent (there’s a clear bell jar over the top of the photo, plus the light bulb)
Light Bulb
Journaling:
Clip your journaling to something.
The journaling is basically a condensed version of the same thing that I wrote above, so I won’t bore you with repeating it.
Here’s how I made my background:
I started off with a paint brush dipped in Picked Raspberry Distress Paint and ran it along the top of the watercolour paper. Then I sprayed the paint with some water to thin it a bit and cause the drips. I let that dry, then used some watered down inks (Weathered Wood and Peeled Paint Distress Ink) on my kraft mat, and rubbed the paper in the pools to create the colour splotches. Finally, I went over the top of the ink and paint with modeling paste and one of my favourite Crafter’s Warehouse stencils, and a bit of pen work around a few of the dots, and some stickles.
The balloons were stamped with Tim Holtz’s miniature draft stamps, and I used black embossing powder to keep ink from smudging whilst working on the balloons. I used the same diluted ink puddles on the balloons I used on the background.
The bell jar pedestal was treated with the same diluted ink puddle trick.
The wood veneers were painted with Picked Raspberry Distress Paint, the moustache and hearts with an added layer of stickles.
The Journaling Spot was stamped with Picked Raspberry and Shabby Shutters.
There’s an awesome, gorgeous new Challenge Blog that kicked off this month! You should totally go check it out. It’s called Words & Paintery. The idea is a word and a colour pallet. You get to use them for whatever you want – art journal, LO, altered object, whatever… I decided to play along this month.
Angels of Yellowstone
I got some new stencils this week. Boy did I have fun playing with one of them. There are 4 layers of fun going on here.
The base layer is a Heidi Swap stencil I used with one of my favourite techniques. It’s a simple thing. Use a water based ink directly on your stencil, spritz it with water, then lay it on your paper, and immediately soak up any extra water that tries to leak out with a paper towel. I first learned this technique off Tim Holtz, but… naturally I couldn’t find it when I went to grab the link. But, I did find this, which is essentially the same thing. I have used two colours here, Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers Distress inks.
The second layer was using one of my new stencils, Specimen by Crafters Workshop. This thing is just so much fun. I did a layer of distress paint (Salty Ocean and Broken China) through part of it, where I knew I was going to put my wings. I just wanted a sort of… bullseye shape for the wings to lay on.
The third layer was also using the Specimen stencil, but instead of paint or ink, I used pen and traced pieces of the stencil on various parts of the background.
The final layer was using a wing stencil I found in the wall stencil area of Michael’s. I don’t know who makes it, sorry. I used Golden’s Modeling Paste through the wing stencil, then sprinkled Stampendous Silver Crushed Glass Glitter over the top of the paste. The paste acts like an adhesive.
Once everything dried, I put my photos on, then arranged the gears and wing in clusters. The gears are mostly from the jewellery aisle in Michel’s, where I can get a bunch of lighter weight gears for cheaper than the ones you can find in the scrapping supplies. It’s a fun aisle to peruse, and I highly recommend having a look. I added a couple of nicer gears (some from Tim Holtz, some from 7 Gypsies), and the wing (also from the jewellery aisle), and the brad securing the wing. The alpha is by Basic Grey, but it’s pretty old, so I don’t know if it’s still available.
The journaling reads:
I was standing, waiting for Old Faithful to go off when I had a Calvin moment. Just like when Calvin realised his summer sky was missing a bit of red (his kite), I realised the snow bank was missing a snow angel.
Yellowstone 26 December 2008
Happy scrapping, everyone. And I do hope you get a chance to play along with the new challenge blog.
Between being out of town, catching a cold, guests in town… I missed last week’s LO getting uploaded here. But, don’t worry… here’s the catchup.
The file:
Case File 144
CSI Case File 144
Now, don’t forget, you have til Sunday night to complete this challenge. There are still a few days left.
I particularly wanted to show you this LO because of the tiny “Cotton Candy” Q-Tips next to the photo block. They were made by my adorable nephew and my mom. I came in one day whilst we were visiting to find them using markers and a spray bottle to make them. Cute, huh? Well, they came in handy for more than one LO.
Here’s this week’s Case File:
Case File 145
And how I solved it:
CSI Case File 145
You’ll notice the small photo in the corner has another of my nephew’s masterpieces. I just love the things. And love that I got to use them twice!
This background was a lot of fun to make. I soaked the waterdcolour paper with water, then ran my broken china distress ink over it. Then I used several stencils and layered different mediums on top. The black dots and the white circles are stamps. The stripes are the TH stencil with glitter paint. I found the title somewhere on the internet, and thought it was pretty perfect for these photos of my friends from this summer. We have a good time together…. and since we’re all scrapbookers, we do leave a trail of glitter wherever we go….
Journaling is about the differences between my previous PhD studies, my current life, and the PhD I’m about to begin. The photo is of the journal articles I was reading to write my proposal. The “It Just Got Real” refers to the fact that I’d been working on getting back to the PhD for over a year, and this was the first thing than I was doing that said, dude… this is REAL. It’s actually happening.
The “genius” refers to a Poem Mooney wrote (its’ at the bottom of my page):
A
Genius
Constant Thought
Never Stopping
Whizzing By on your Mind Roller Coaster
Isn’t that image hilarious? I immediately loved it. Seriously, this turned out so perfect for these photos from 2011. Here’s how I solved the case.
Case File 141 – Solved
Ha… loved these photos. So… here’s the story. I was invited to a weekend crop, but only one person knew I was coming. I surprised the rest of the group. That sort of set the tone for the whole weekend. A couple of us started playing pranks. It sort of turned into Summer Camp, which was pretty awesome. The final night, 3 of us snuck out and Saran Wrapped one of the other participants cars. Now, this was the first time I’d met any of these people, so it was something of a gamble. Since this prank was not pre-planned, we had to improvise the Saran Wrap. We tried to hit a grocery store to get a large quantity of Saran Wrap, but we weren’t in anyone’s home town, and we didn’t know they all closed so early! (Seriously, 9.00 pm?!? On a Saturday!?!) So, we ended up getting 3 of the tiniest, and therefore most expensive, rolls of Saran Wrap you have ever seen. Well, that’s what you get from 7-11!
It was worth it.
It was hilarious. The next morning Laura went out to her car (she was calling it the Pa-Rocket, so we were the “Pa-Rockettes”) and we were lurking just around the corner. She sees her car and turns to glare at us. She thought it was pretty funny, really. (Since then, she’s turned into my BFF, so obviously we chose our mark well!) She started unwrapping her car, then started wrapping it around us.
The next year, we came MUCH more prepared.
So, how I made the LO:
I used one of my very favourite stencils from Crafters Warehouse (the dot pattern. Looks like a bunch of random dots) and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink (Tim Holtz). Then I used another Crafters Warehouse stencil (a distressed harlequin) and Embossing Paste. I used a paint brush and Dirty Martini Dye-lutions Spray Ink (Ranger) to colour some of the diamonds. Then I dribbled Crushed Grape Dye-lutions from the top.
The gears are a mix of Prima Wood and some chipboard that I’m not sure where they’re from. The green is Shabby Shutters Distress Paint. The purple is Concord Grape Distress Stain. The clouds are edged with Shabby Shutters and Concord Grape. I have no idea what the die brand is, unfortunately. They were a gift. Possibly Papertrey Ink. The film strip in the corner is Tim Holtz. And finally… yes, that is actual Saran Wrap I used on the page. Here are a few close ups to check it out.
Well, September is nearly over, but you’ve still got a few days to play along. And the ARTastic Challenge Blog has some inspiration for you!
The challenge for this month is to use string/twine/fibres on your work (not limited to layouts. Any type of creative paper work.) Here’s the inspiration photo:
September ARTastic Inspiration
The creative team over there have some stunning examples to help get your juices flowing. And, they invited me to join them for this month! Yes, that’s right, I’m September’s Guest DT over there. Here’s what I did for this challenge:
Guest DT for September
This is a really simple LO that came together very fast. It’s a single piece of patterned paper (BG) that I altered with a sunburst stencil, Dried Marigold Distress Ink (TH) and a pen. Then I added the bird washi (I have no idea who made it), used my birds on a wire die (Shapeabilities), and my alpha die (PTI), a little journaling… and that was pretty much it. Like I said, super simple. Just goes to show you how much you can do with not much by way of supplies!
I’m looking forward to seeing your work over on ARTastic!
Aaaarg! It be Friday, mateys! And International Talk Like A Pirate Day, too. Yes, me hearty followers, ye must endure a Piratic Themed Post for the day. Anyone who dares complain will be walking the plank!
In honour of Talk Like A Pirate Day, CSI has hoisted the Jolly Roger! Here’s the Case File:
Talk Like A Pirate Case File
Isn’t that wee bonnie lass just the most fearsome pirate to ever hoist sail?
Here’s how I cunningly cracked this case:
Case File 140
The pirate map is the actual “map” of events they gave us at FantasyCon in July. I used the gel transfer technique with only two layers of regular weight gloss gel to make it more fragile. Worked like a charm, me hearties. If ye don’t be knowing what technique, just click on the link and it will take you there.
The background is a piece of Kraft paper that I used a wood stencil from Crafter’s Warehouse and fibre paste to make look like a “plank.” I went over the dried paste with walnut stain distress ink and sprayed it so that the colour would run… just like the yellow bellied curs I’ve encountered on the high seas! Once dry, I singed the edges a bit with a match (well… several matches.) to give it that well worn look.
Good Weekend my friends! Wow, I’ve had the craziest week. But it was brilliantly fun. (If you don’t care about my excuses, scroll down til you see the Case File. It’s all scrapping from that point on.)
Friday was my nephew’s birthday (it was actually Wednesday, but we lied to him. He’s 4, we can still get away with that.) and my parents were in town for that. We went to the Zoo and Frog got to ride the Zoo Train as many times as he wanted.
I had to skip out early, as I had a podiatrist appointment. I’ve been having a pain in my foot since late May, and was finally able to get in to see the specialist. Turns out I have a thing called “Morton’s Neuroma”. Basically, a bruised nerve between my toes. In the early stages (which this was) it’s a simple fix: cortisone shot and no going barefoot. If I had left it for ages and it went chronic it could actually have scared and required surgery. So, note to all: Seeing the Podiatrist is a GOOD PLAN.
Anyway, whilst I was in the exam room waiting for the doctor, my friend texted me to say she had two multi-day tickets to ComicCon, and couldn’t use them, did I want them? Umm… YES! But… DANG that’s going to make my life complicated! It was…. Friday-Sunday. As in, that same day! So I ran to pick up the tickets from her, then went back to my sister’s to hang with the family. I ditched dinner and went to the Convention (in full Weeping Angel garb… yes, I am *that* kind of a geek.) Had a great time. Only got to go for a short time before it closed for the night, but… hey, FREE tickets!
After ComicCon I had to stop at Michaels for some supplies for the birthday party the next day (Friday was just “play with Grandma and Papa for my Birthday”). Of course… I didn’t have time to go home and change then go to the store… So I was wandering around Michaels in my Weeping Angel costume. It doesn’t actually bother me to do things like that. I usually get reactions like, “Wow, looks like you’re having fun!” or (as the cashier said that night) “I’m so jealous! I wanted to go!” Got the paint, and headed home.
At home I photoshopped some cute signs for the party (activities, foods, etc…) and then… dropped into bed. I was pretty tired.
Saturday, I was up at 7.30 to shower and get ready. I threw on a fan t-shirt and jeans, did my hair and ran out the door to Target. Picked up the mini-cupcakes (they do the best ones!) and went to my sister’s house. Dropped off the paint and cupcakes and had my dad take me…. back to ComicCon!
Spent all morning at ComicCon. I found the most adorable “kids at play” sign… Darth Vader and Luke battling it out with lightsabers. Got it for my sister. Tried to meet up with my friends who were there, but we kept missing each other. Ended up running into another friend I didn’t know was there, hung with her. Went to the John Barrowman Panel (seriously, the man is adorable. He’s such a fan of his fans.) which I hadn’t planned to do, but am really glad I did. For those of you who don’t know him, he plays Capitan Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and Torchwood and Merlin/The Dark Archer in Green Arrow. Right at the end of the hour he said, “I’ve got a surprise for you!” and he sang a song! Here’s my recording of it.
Once that finished I worked out logistics with my dad for him picking me up and wandered the vendor fair for a while, until he arrived.
Got to my sister’s house an hour before the party and helped finish getting ready for that. Blew up balloons, posted signs, set out food… and then socialised with the guests til 7. Then, one of the other guests and I changed clothes and ran off to meet her parents to… attend the symphony!
On the way there I was thinking that this was extremely poor planing on the symphony’s part… to host this ON THE SAME SITE AS COMICCON! Until it occurred to me… no, actually, it was BRILLIANT planning. The symphony was doing VIDEO GAME MUSIC. Well played (haha) Symphony, well played. It was hilarious and fun. And so not your typical symphony!
So, like I said… I’m exhausted! I was mugged by my bed this afternoon. It snuck up on me and kidnapped me for 4 hours. And that’s why I am late getting this layout posted.
Here’s the Case File for this week!
Case File 138
Such a cute image! I thought a lot about how I was going to solve this Case, because I don’t have that much by way of school photos, which is hilarious, since I’ve spent nearly my entire life AT school! (well, school or University). But, somehow I don’t have hardly any photos about it.
What I do have, though, is a lot of TRAVEL photos. And the most educational things I’ve ever done have involved travel. So I flipped through my (huge) file of unscrapped travel photos and chose some from New Zealand. I was told by one of my Kiwi friends that if I was in the area, I really should stop off and see the Moeraki Boulders. I googled it, and it happened to be that I was driving literally right past them. Of course… It was also in the middle of a Cyclone (that’s what they call a hurricane in the Southern Hemisphere), so there was an incredible amount of rain falling. (It was just rain. Not high winds.) Well, I’m not one to let a little thing like inclimate weather deter me from having fun. So, I threw on my jacket, and went out into the rain. And got as soaked as if I’d gone swimming. Actually, I did let the water wash over my feet. Felt about the same temperature as the air. It was actually quite a pleasant temperature.
Here’s my LO:
Case File 138 – Solved
Evidence:
Woodgrain
Globe
Eye Glasses
Grid Pattern
Damask (I stenciled on the journaling spot)
Envelope
Tag
Stars
Testimony:
Tuck your Journaling into an envelope:
“‘Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you travelled.’ – Mohammed
There is no education like travel. Not only do you learn that people are the same the world over, but you learn to apreciate what you have and become inspired for how to make it better. If you return unchanged, you’re doing it wrong.
My chance to see the Moeraki Boulders happened to corrispond with a cyclone. I’ve never been so wet on dry land! New Zealand 3-2014”
Testimony
I chose the overlapping circular stencil for my LO because it reminded me of the boulders on the beach. I used modling paste through the stencil, and tinted it with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I used a damask stencil and Dried Marigold Distress Ink for the journaling spot. The arrows are American Craft that I coloured with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The Globe is a Movers and Shakers die from Tim Holtz (YES! I’ve WANTED that die for AGES and hadn’t had a good excuse to buy it! Also, found it on clearance! Woot!) The glasses are Mya Roads. The arrow tag is BasicGrey. I also used Dried Marigold to colour the (once) white lace trim. I don’t know where I got it. The fabric store, probably. The stars are also American Craft. The key tied around the globe… I don’t know. It was in my stash. The tag next to it is from TH’s Tiny Tags die.
Hope you have time to solve this case this week. I love how my LO turned out. These challenges always make me really think. I end up being so much more pleased with what I’ve done than I would have been without the challenge. Thanks CSI for making me stretch again!
Love the quirky word image in this week’s case file:
Case File 137
I love the idea of taking commonly heard phrase and flipping it. Absolutely adorable. And perfect for these photos of my nephew playing in the rain!
Case File 137 – Solved
He was sooooo excited to play with the umbrella!
My Evidence: Polkadots Washi Envelopes Melt Something (my enamel dots started off life as pony beads) Textured Paper Dry Embossing Metal Labels Wood/Woodgrain
My Testimony: Tuck Journaling into an Envelope
“The middle of February in Utah may not be the most obvious time to play in the rain, but actually, it’s perfect. It’s a great way to break up a boring, wet winter day. Not that different from playing in the snow. When you get too cold, just go inside! Besides… it was an excuse to play with the umbrella! Feb 2014”
Don’t forget you have 9 days to solve the case! Good luck, and I look forward to seeing your work!
Here’s the Case file for this week! Don’t forget, you have two weekends to complete each challenge. They run 9 days!
Case File 136
I immediately loved the image when I saw the file, but I was a little at a loss for how to crack it. I sometimes feel that all my life is solitary, and other times that I don’t do anything solitary! But I was flicking through the photos on my computer and I found this image:
Queenstown, NZ
I was inspired by the fact that the only “person” in my photo is my own shadow. I do most of my travelling alone. Travelling, for me, is often a solitary pleasure. So, that’s where I got my inspiration. Here’s my LO:
Case File 136 – Solved
I did the same gel image transfer here that I did on the my “I’ve Left My Heart In So Many Places” LO. It’s such an easy way to add a huge impact.
My evidence is:
Butterflies
Fold/Roll something (butterfly wings are folded up)
Wet Medium (geso, paste and paint)
Testimony:
Far Away Places with Strange Sounding Names
I want to see for myself
Those far away places I’ve been reading about
In a book that I took from the shelf.
I know that I’m burning to see
These far away places with strange sounding names
Calling, calling me.
(Song by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer)
Though I enjoy travelling with others, most of the time, I’m on my own.
This song speaks to something in my soul. It’s mournful, soulful and somewhat lonely. It’s longing for adventure. The lyrics echo my desire to see what is going on in other places. It’s not that I think life is better anywhere else, it’s just that it’s different. And I want to understand it. I just love that song.
This is another LO that is practically identical to what I had in my head when I started off. Apparently I’m better at expressing that image when it has to do with Travel!
Dleebug's Scrapblog 