Tuts on Tuesday...on Wednesday?

Hello Lifers!!

Guess where I am?! I am sitting at LAX waiting to board a plane for...HAWAII!!

For Real! 

My hubby had to go on an emergency 2 week business trip there (he buys seafood...long story) and after he had been gone a few days, he was like "Wouldn't it be great if you could join me?" So only by the grace of God and Him working out a TRUCKLOAD of miracles, my mom and his mom were able to tag team our kiddos so that I could go to Hawaii with him until Sunday!

Woo Hoo!

Because of that...Tuesday tutorials are a day late, but I'm not gonna leave you hangin'!

This past weekend, I was working on a mini album project and got to play with one of my FAVORITE 2 tool: Modeling Paste and Crafter's Workshop's 12 x 12 Brick Stencil.

If you're not familiar with it, modeling paste is a white substance that is the consistency of canned frosting and when it dries, it stays 3D. You can smooth it out or leave it bumpy and you can mix it with acrylic paint to change the color (and by some voodoo magic...it doesn't change the color of your acrylic! Weird, I know.)

Here's a close up of what we will learn today 

(I will reveal the FULL project at a later date.)

This is the cover of a mini-album, but you can use the technique on canvas, burlap or even just a heavy weight paper. 

Supplies You'll Need to Duplicate this (feel free to substitute for you own needs!)

Modeling Paste 

(I used Liquitex I bought in the Art Section at Hobby Lobby)

Medium and Dark Brown Acrylic Paint

Rust Red Acrylic Paint

Tattered Angels Glaze in Saffron

Brick Stencil (again..mine is by Crafter's Workshop)

Ready? Here we go!

·       We are going to start adding some texture by mixing some light brown acrylic paint with our modeling paste and light scrapping or painting through the brick stencil.

o   You want your modeling paste/paint mixture about the consistency of canned frosting.

o   Start with a small amount..a little goes a long way and it doesn’t store well for future use.

·        Start from the top of your project and work down. Take caution when you lift up your stencil that you don’t damage you hard work!

·        If you are in a hurry, grab your heat tool and speed the drying time up!

·        Once it’s dry, let’s add a little dimension. Grab your rust red and darker brown. Using your fingertips,  lightly rub your bricks first with the red, then with the brown.

·        To add shimmer and more texture, grab your Tattered Angels glaze and your heat gun. (Make sure to shake up your glaze well!)

o   Lightly swipe your glaze over your bricks.

o   While it is still wet, hit it with your heat gun. Because of the acrylic base, the paint will bubble up and once it’s cooled, will be permanent

.

(Do as I say…not as I did! LOL! I decided-obviously-after I had done the next step...hence the blue! LOL)

There you go! You now have an easy and fun new technique in your creative toolbox!

Until next time my friends...remember...CHOOSE to make your ART intentional...not an after thought.

XOXO,

KERI

The First "Oh Scrap!" of 2014!!

What's up Lifers!?

It's time, once again, for a little "Oh Scrap!"

Today, I want to inspire and encourage you to scrap those pictures and events that might not be "perfect." They are still worth remembering. 

Let's start with a little "Hello Reality"

This layout features:  Pink Paislee's Hey Kid Collection  . 

I'm sure if you're a parent...you can relate. You pay all this money for a photo shoot so you can have fabulous pictures for your Christmas card and when you get them back, you are only partially shocked that out of 50 family pics, there is not ONE where the whole family looks good (in our case..that would be 5 people perfectly posed at one time.)

So...instead of being upset about...we rolled with it. My husband actually came up with the idea of adding the little bubbles and the idea of "what were we really thinking during that picture?" I decided to take it a little farther and write a little Christmas poem to make everyone giggle during the stressful holidays.

This layout is all about playing up the playfulness of the Christmas card with crazy lines, clustered embellishments and arrows pointing everywhere (which is pretty much how that photo shoot felt! LOL!)

Next up...let's talk about my youngest apparent animosity toward peeps...

"Where My Peeps At?"

Yes...this actually happened this past Easter. My youngest (who will be 4 next month) ate JUST the heads off of an entire box of peeps. Houston...I think we have a problem. :)

For this layout, I wanted to focus on bright, fun colors of Easter, so Pink Paislee's Spring Jubilee was perfect for my accent papers. My background was made with Pink Paislee's Artisan Collection Mistables Paper and Tattered Angels paints in coordinating colors.

For texture, I added some rosettes, gems (which are kind of hard to see on the left side by the "where") and feathers were, of course, necessary!

I kept my title a little zany by mixing up American Crafts Thickers in different fonts and textures, with some Pink Paislee Wood Shop letters. 

I hope you have giggled along with me at my crazy little life and are inspired to keep it real! Not every scrapbook picture has to be a professional head shot...or perfectly posed. This is life! It's messy, funny and rarely perfect, but it's all our's. 

Until next time...remember to make your creativity a choice...not an afterthought. 

XOXO,

KERI

Create Your Happy Day!!

Hello Lifers!!

Happy 2014...how is the new year treating your so far?

I had hoped to blog a little earlier than 15 days into the new year, but between snow days and traveling to Anaheim for CHA it's been a little crazy around here.

CHA Anaheim was this past week (January 10th-14th) and I can't WAIT to share all of the things I learned and amazing things I saw. Look for that post coming soon (probably in 2 parts...it was THAT good!)

While I was away, it was my turn over on the Susan K. Weckesser Blog, My Sweet Earth.

I hope this little card inspires you to "Create Your Happy Day!!"

For Full Details, head on over!

My Sweet Earth

Until next time...make your creativity a choice...not an after thought.

XOXO,

KERI