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As scrapbookers we don't have to create only layouts, all of the time.  I do a combo of things to settle the creative itch.  I create Project Life pages to make sure the everyday stories are told, I create layouts with favourite photos and they also tell the story, and then there are the quick little pieces of artwork.  Enough to experiment, enough to play, enough to have a little fun without investing a whole layouts-worth of products.

Supplies: Tim Holtz die to cut tag from manilla folder, Prima flowers, prima canvas pieces, Prima leaves.  7Dots studio papers, paint, gesso, guaze, Tattered Angels GlimmerMist in Coral, SWAK and Black Magic.  Home created heart resin piece and flowers.  Metal trinkets.  Other mixed media items such as paperclips and tabs.

I know it's likely you've seen this tag before, and a few other tags like it.  I used this tag as a sample at SENZ and in online classes.  The joy that comes from this tag is the short amount of creating time, the ability to use bits and pieces, and the very cool artpiece you are left with.  This sample includes a whole lot of Prima canvas pieces, flowers and leaves.  it also includes lots of little bits and pieces, look closely to spot the resin pieces I made myself, as well as the metal trinkets I've become so in love with lately.

It's not always flowers and leaves, anything can go on these tags.  I love creating the masculine versions too, the chipboard, (these amazing cog chipboard designs are available from ScrapMatrix), the resin pieces, (made those myself with the molds and resin), the trinkets -( lucky me I can help myself to a huge variety out of the ones I sell) plus all sorts of little bits and pieces.  Pair it all with my favourite coloured sprays (Tattered Angels, especially Jazz Blue, Key Lime Pie and Black Magic) and you've got a little bit of fun right there. Nothing like short term creating where you can standback and look at what you've made and think hell yeah… that's awesome.  I admit there are the pieces that end up in the bin too – or pulled apart with the pieces put in the scrapbooker's junkyard to be used another day.  But that's all part of the fun right?  Not much invested, not much lost.  And likely that you've discovered a whole lot of cool stuff on the way.

Talking of cool stuff, I'm working on my new class "Tag! You’re It! Using Tags as Canvases for Inspiration, Experimentation, and Play" while I won't be going into these exact mixed media type tags, I'll be visiting a whole lot of other tag stuff.  It doesn't matter if you are one of these people that only likes to create layouts, tags are an experimentation thing… we discover fab techniques with little investment.  Then we use those techniques on layouts later.  Win, win!  Hope to see you in class! (And the other classes at the same event… like using actions on photos…masculine layouts, dimensional layouts, using sketches, Heidi Swapp teaching memory file stuff… awesome…)

Laters.

 

 

I've had fun with molds, resin, mixed media and trinkets lately.  The mixed media and steampunk look is so hot in scrapbooking right now, the metals, trinkets and other bits and pieces might not be incredibly acid free, but as far as creative play is concerned, there is nothing better.

But because I love to experiment, and because I always have to take things one step further, I couldn't resist trying to make my own molds.  Now Pinkysil has been around for a while but I was ignoring it.  I was hoping not to find another cool thing to add to the list of already cool things I need to try.  I have a lot of molds, right?  I don't need more.  I think I need to make my own, the devil on the shoulder whispers in my ear.

And so I gathered all the supplies – the Pinkysil, the disposable cups, the container (which just happened to be a lid off something) and I created. 

And I sat back.  Incredibly proud that I'd just made my own 'gears' mold. 

And then I started looking around at what else I could make molds of.  And I saw this angel wings with heart trinket that I've been sending out in the trinket bags.  And I made a mold.

And then I saw a cool decorative bookplate in my bits drawer.  And it became a mold.

Although Pinkysil does take a little experimentation (like learning that whatever you place on the bottom of the container has to have a flat surface ), once you get going, you can't stop.

Nothing is safe.

Not even the biscuit jar. (No Cameo Cremes were harmed in the making of this tutorial.  No wait.  Three cameo cremes were hurt actually.  In fact, they are gone.  I don't mind the sacrifice in the name of art.)

What I did create was a super cool art deo piece to use in my mixed media art. 

If you can't find me I'll be in the bottom of the kids wardrobes (or the pantry) looking around for more stuff to make molds of…

Laters

 

This time last year I was waiting for two big events.  First was my second trip to South Africa, which remains my nearly-most-favourite-place-on-earth, and the second was for the blossoms on our cherry tree to make their appearance. 

 I say 'our' cherry tree, but really it's the street's cherry tree.  It's in the front garden of the first house we built in this street, Paul & I planted it back in 1997.  After we sold that house we became good friends with the new owners and they carried on the care for the tree.  It's grown into a huge spring blossoming tree which hangs over the pathway.  We've placed a community seat underneath which has seen many happy children playing and many late summer evening drinks as the neighbours get together to chat.

Waiting for a cherry tree to blossom doesn't sound like a big event, but it is.  It marks the end of winter for me, and there is a competition riding on when the first blossom opens.  A friendly neighbourhood bet… winner gets the coveted 'cherry tree trophy' and the title of "getting the date of the first blossom right". 

There's no South Africa for me this year but there is the wait for the first cherry tree blossom.  Every morning this week I've been walking along to the cherry tree to see if the blossoms are out yet.  There are a few that are very close, I'm hoping they'll hold out for a while though, as I chose Sept 8th as the day they would make their appearance. 

Don't you love when traditions just happen, kind of like this one?   Don't you love them even better when they are shared with neighbours as fabulous as the ones we have down my street?

(Interesting things I notice in the pics below.. Autumn has Jess & Abby playing with chalk.. something they still do, our road is often covered in chalk drawings… Winter has Jacob holding Molly, Abby's kitty.  Molly went missing 11 Feb 2011 and we never saw her again.  Summer has all the guys in the shade but Lucy in the sun.  I'd probably been sharing a drink right beside her before getting up to take the pic.

Most interesting of all though – my kids are in T-shirts and shorts in all 4 pics.  I love NZ 🙂

Laters

 

 

Some Friday goodness from the Prima Educator blog, this article featured on Wednesday, so I thought I’d share it here today.  Hot on the heels of colouring my own resin pieces are colouring pre-made ones. Enjoy the little tutorial and don’t forget to check in at the Prima Educator blog.  A LOT of people know the regular Prima Blog is there, but there is an equally awesome Educator version too!

Hey there, Nic Howard checking in with my first post for the Prima Educator blog.  I really wanted to show you the Prima product I’m most in love with right now, so choosing a topic was easy – I love the Prima Shabby Chic Treaures! 

The Shabby Chic Treasures are gorgeous as they are, they have a lovely vintage look that makes them easy to add to any page.  However, they are easy to colour as well, so I thought I’d show you one way how!

One of my favourite ways to colour them is to paint and add a metallic sheen.  All you need is some acrylic paint, a paintbrush, your favourite Prima resin piece and some metallic rubs of some kind.  I’ve got some Ranger Perfect Pearls powder but there are many different options you could use.

Paint your chosen piece and let it dry.  I could have used a lot of different colours on here, I could have painted the leaves green and the heart bright red, but I love how metallic rubs look on black, so I chose to paint the piece dark in colour. (I kept the heart really dark in colour by painting it black first, then adding the red on top).

Add your metallic rubs. These Prima pieces are so intricate and the Perfect Pearls catch on the highest parts, leaving an amazing looking embellishment!  (I’m seriously in love with this heart piece from the La Couer set).

There are already a whole lot of ways you can incorporate the gorgeous embellishments into your artwork, but once you colour them the options open up even further.  I’ve used a La Couer  frame which I have left plain, along with my coloured piece on this mixed media tag which is displayed in a frame in my home.  The metallic colouring looks great as the light catches it, I’m always so happy with the result when I colour them like this.

(Spot the other Prima products I’ve been colouring too, the canvas pieces, flowers and leaves!)

These Ingvild Bolme Resin Shabby Chic treasures come in all sorts of designs.  From frames to hearts, to angel wings and other vintage images.  My desk is constantly covered in all manner of paints and other colouring agents, sprays, metallic rubs and other mixed media goodness as I work with them.  Including them in tags, layouts or artwork for your home is so easy to do – have fun with it!

Let me know if you have a play, I’d love to see what you do with these treasures!

Products used:

• 891442 Shabby Chic Treasures, La Couer
• 561031 Canvas Pieces, Swirls
• 556273 Pixie Vine, Almanac
• 539337 Belle Artes Novelty Flowers
• 920982 Flowers Sculpture Pieces
• 539689 Autumn Leaves, October
• Other: Tag, Ribbon, Paint, Coloured Mists and Sprays, Metallic Rubs,

I found this funny graphic the other day and I felt like it was downloaded straight from my current mindset.

Anyone else?  Hands held high?

This winter has been so flippin hard and I've hated going to the gym.  Being the super-athletic sportswoman – spot the scarcasm- that I am, you'd not thing you'd hear me say things like that but oh.my.goodness. I have hated these past few months.  I had a friend ask me the other day "Don't you hate getting out of bed that early to go to the gym every day? "  Well actually.  Yes.  I do.

Anyway, this morning I sat in the car for 10 minutes listening to the radio before I went into the gym. You can imagine the battle going on in my mind.  I finally relented and wandered in, kicked some ass with the weights and left.

On my return home I got a text from my gym.  "Congratulations on your 400th visit to the gym this morning, keep up the amazing work". 

And then the day today has been warm.  I slept on the floor in the sun.  I got too hot.  I started to remember summer.  And dread the shorts, perhaps.

And then I looked up and saw this layout above my desk.  And I remembered why I do it in the first place.  Essentially if I didn't like the gym, or perhaps just the results from going to the gym, I wouldn't be going.  Never let it be said that it's easy or that I always like it.  I guess it comes down to it being something I can do compleetly for myself.  And that's kinda cool.  Even at 5.30am.

Laters

 

* I've been invited to a 40th.  There's a wake up call – my friends are turning 40.  This latest party I've been invited to will have many friends I haven't seen for 25 years.  It can't be 25 years.  I'm not that old.  Apparently I am though and I'm feeling the pressure of catching up with people I haven't seen since I was a teenager.  Things can't have changed that much.  Can they?

 

* Someone in New Zealand successfully started a campaign to bring back the 'Chocoade' biscuits they haven't seen since the 1980s.  If one person can do it, surely another can?   Let's bring back Blue Hawaii wine cooler.  You know.  In the casks.   You do know, right?  I want to bring it back so I can take a cask down to the local park, wait for the sprinklers to be turned on the cricket pitch and lie in the water and drink the cask with my bestie.  Just like the old days.  Is that something that 40 year olds do?

 

* I just realised my Mum & Dad will be mortified when they read the above.  Mum. Dad.  It was 25 years ago.  And it was just lemonade.  And we were studying.  True.

 

* Dear the maker of skinny jeans trends.  Clearly I didn't suceed in getting skinny jeans banned despite my enthusiastic efforts last year.  I still believe they don't have a place in our society,  they are clearly dangerous, circulation being cut off, body parts being squeezed far too tight, not to mention the accidents that could happen if they need to be taken off, you know, quickly, at any point.  So not only are they still trendy, but they are now coming out in ridiculous colours.  Green, tomato red, yellow, indigo blue.  It's like one last laugh at those of us trying to hold on to the last threads of our youth.  Please.  Stop. with. the. skinny. jeans. trends. Or at least bring back Miami Wine cooler so we don't care how we look.

 

* A share.  This layout was published in Issue 94 of Scrapbook Creations in Australia and was also part of my 'SongBird' Kit.  Dangit, we might be old but we are still cute, right?  Right?

Laters

Supplies: Prima Songbird & SunKiss collections.

 

 

Once I fall in love with a style, there is no stopping me.  Which is why when I saw this palette, released by The Color Room, and saw the sketch that went with it, I knew another mixed media tag was in order.

And so I created. 

White cardstock.  Perfect Pearls sprays.  Prima papers.  Music washi tape.  Canvas.  Prima flowers.  Lots of homemade resin pieces.  Metal trinkets.  Lots of colour sprays.  The Cult playing on the radio with a bit of old Taking Heads thrown in.  Lot of adhesive. 

This is what it ends up like.

The bottom heart wasn't meant to come out that way.  It was a happy accident.   It's one of my homemade hearts , made using a mold and resin.   I tried playing with putting alcohol inks straight into the mold before pouring the resin in.  This does not work.  The liquid resin pushes the alcohol inks to the outside and it doesn't mix or dry.  So I pulled out the failed resin heart piece and cleaned the mold with a baby wipe.  But I couldn't get all the red alcohol ink out of the little bitty pieces.

So I decided to make several molds with plain resin in the hope that it 'picked up' the colour out of the nooks and crannies.  I did this several times and it cleaned the mold.  It also created the cool coloured heart .  See, happy accident. 

BTW you can use alcohol inks to colour the resin.  When you mix the 2 resin parts togther you add a few drops of alcohol ink, mix it through and pour.  It works beautifully.  Not nearly as much fun as experimenting though, right?

(If you want more info, I have a step-by-step resin article in my next newsletter, being sent out to my database in the next few days.  Email me nic.paul (at) xtra.co.nz and let me know you want to be added to my newsletter database!

Laters

Five for Friday:

1. Olympics start tomorrow and we are ready. 
We have Abby made olympic torches for each family on display in our lounge.  Since this pic was taken we have more added.  A green-on-green one for Auntie Nancy in London and a green-on-orange one for Uncle Vaughan.  Who have both seen the torch carried into London in person.  How cool is that.

(Ps those of you in Timaru – that little piece of driftwood was picked up on the beach there when we visited in 2011 (I think it was?), it was a present for the grandparents for their garden but it's still at our house… )

2. I've caught the common man flu and as a result you'll find that Chicken Cuppa-Soup has now been moved to the "Totally acceptable to serve to your family for dinner" list.

3. Neener. Neener.  Neener.  This means the days are getting longer.  Summer is getting closer.  So encouraging.  (photo has been edited for my Project Life album)

4. Tell me.  Why do PE teachers still use the "Here are 2 leaders, now each have turns picking a team from a class of 33" method of choosing teams?  What's wrong with walking through the line of kids tapping their heads going 1,2,1,2,1,2?  It's a long time standing while people are being picked around you, and then ending up standing there last.  Just say the last child already had esteem issues that have taken a lot of work.  Just say that really affected that last child standing.   Just sayin'.

5. I've joined The Color Room team of designers.  My contributions thus far have been nothing less than pathetic, I intend to change that when work settles a little.  It's an amazing resource and I joined because I wanted to be pushed outside my zone a little.  I'm usually given the products to scrap with, so I don't have a choice in what I use.  The Colour Room means I get free reign, as long as I stay within a colour palette.  That's pretty cool.  And outright terrifying actually.  My first attempt was a few weeks ago, palette 117.  Cute kid huh?

Laters.

It's so different being on the other side of SENZ.  While I enjoy teaching and being in the classroom, I loved being out and about with everyone.  It was lovely to spend relaxed quality chatting time with some of my favourite people in the booth I had created with my hubby Paul, friends Tana & Lianne, and amazing neighbour, Willow. 

Of course we had the kids products on display – a basket full of ribbon from Jacob and diecut pieces from Abby & Braden…

It wasn't long before the booth was full.  This pic shows the paremeters of our booth, it stayed this full for a lot of the time we were there.

Along with those people that knew me through my teaching and retreats came many that didn't.  Every other store had big signs saying who they were.   I was asked over and over "So what store are you?  Where are you from?":   I ended up putting up a sign that said:

Nic Howard
Scrapbooking teacher, designer, writer.
And just a girl with too much stuff in her garage.

And so we spent the weekend getting to know everyone better.  Lianne and I had an enourmous amount of fun in the demo area.  We started out all very structured, showing the basics of working with resin, but by Sunday afternoon we were experimenting with all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to colour the resin in the molds.  Some were highly successful, you'll see the gorgeous marbled heart worn as a necklace one day I'm sure, and some were not.  Pouring alcohol inks into the mold and pouring resin in on top does not work.  Just sayin'.

  Check out Lianne's amazing works of art on the wall in the booth.  These are all resin pieces with chipboard. 

 So all in all, a fabulous time was had by all. 

Conclusions:

1.  It was wonderful to spend time on a project with my hubby.  He was a trooper, he stood at that till and worked all day every day, chatting and serving customers without barely a break.  When we returned home and I told him how incredibly amazed I was at his people skills, his answer was "I got 17 phone numbers and an invite to a hen's party, I think it was worth it honey".  Hmmmmm….

2. SENZ brings all types together in a way that no other event in New Zealand does.  We had stampers, we had scrapbookers, mixed media artists, retailers, consumers and the cafe guy that couldn't believe how many caramel slices he could sell in one weekend.  The show had a buzz that was happy, people were enthused and that in turn was inspiring – it felt so good to see the craft (my craft) so alive.

3. You cannot place the alcohol ink in the mold before adding the mixed resin.  This will not work.  The resin will push the alcohol ink to the sides of the mold.

4. You should wear gloves whilst removing alcohol messes from molds.

5.  If someone looks at your red stained hands at the service station on the way home from an event and says "Bad day, was it?" You should just agree.  Going into detail about resin and molds is not nearly as much fun as what they were probably imagining.

6. Resin and molds are HOT.  They are THE new hot thing.  While we taught many, many consumers about it all, we also taught retailers, many of which will now be stocking the items.  While I originally said I wasn't going to stock the molds after I sold out, the enthusiasm was so high, the excitment about something new was so extreme, that I decided to stock more.  Not only have I come home and re-ordered the old designs, but I have about 10 new ones.  These are a few weeks away.  Look out for my re-stocking of items, but also look to your local scrapbook store.  They'll have it too, and it's fun to shop local.

7. My last conclusion.  People are good.  From the friends that jumped in the car and travelled hours and stayed in a motel to be there, to the other friends that worked out demos and make n takes with me, to the EFTPOS guy that gave me his number and promised to be there any time I needed him, god I wished my eftpos broke down but it didn't, to the amazing attitude of retailers and consumers alike, it was just fabulous.  Some of my biggest smiles this past weekend came when people bought the kids' ribbons and diecuts and I knew they were doing so just to support the kids in their school holiday money making ventures.  I know they were doing that and I appreciate it fully.  So did the kids.  The life lessons they learnt from the project was awesome.  The work, the need to pay costs, learning about packaging and presentation and realising that some wouldn't sell.   It was all a great learning experience.

Thanks everyone for an amazing SENZ experience.  And thanks to my fabulous hubby, it was awesome to spend time on a project together.

 

 

What a weekend.  SENZ was amazing.  I mean it really was.  Will post an update with a few pics in the next few days.  I have always been behind the scenes teaching.  This year I was out in the main arena.  Loved it.  More in a few days.

What am I doing now that I am home?  I'm selling the 14 designs of Washi that didn't sell out at SENZ (only because I had lots more of these designs.).  I'm ordering more molds…yes you heard me, I'm ordering more molds including new designs.  What I didn't understand before I went to SENZ was just how hot the trend would be.  It was THE new thing at SENZ.  See here for my latest stocks and resin. 

Anyway.  I do still scrapbook. 

I thought I'd share a layout I created recently that has come out in the latest Prima newsletter.  It uses the new Prima range called Zephyr.  It's all about teal and bright pops of colour.  Possibly created with me in mind – no?

I've a few things going on with my scrapping at the moment.  The first is the overwhelming need to "Finnbair" everything.  This doesn't mean whole layouts full of steampunk and hugely dimensional accents, it just means small sprinklings of mixed media and coloured sprays.  I haven't been this enthused about a style for so long, as those that saw me at SENZ can verify…

Layers of canvas, chipboard, small findings and flowers.  Nothing is safe. (This all Prima in this layout though)

Resin.  Resin pieces of all kinds.  Whether it is pre-made accents from companies such as Prima, (used in this layout) or whether it is the kind we make ourselves (what technique was hot at SENZ?  Molds and resin!!)…

Something that I did in this layout that I don't normally do is the high contrast black and white photos.  Professional photographers would declare them "blown out" but it's a look I love and want to experiment with at the moment. Just for a while.

Check out the flags.  Prima always has fun packaging that is easily used in projects.  This time they have flags you cut out and use.  Clever.  Very clever.  These flags actually came off the packaging for the canvas pieces. 

I had a whole lot of fun with this layout.  I'm in the zone at the moment.  On one hand I am enjoying my Project Life more than ever, (getting the story told) and on the other hand I'm getting even more Dimensional and more creative with my layouts.  Story telling vs creative.  So glad to have found a happy medium.  Being in a happy creative zone is always a bonus, right?

laters