Tote Bag

Last month at Pointer Scrapbooking's birthday crop, we were all given blank canvas bags to decorate. I actually had the heads up and took the bag home to do. My hope was to inspire others at the crop to create something beautiful with their bag too.  

Got lots of positive feedback from everyone at the crop.

Anyways, Heidi, the store owner, then asked me to create one similar for her. So I thought I would provide a step by step with photos, for my blog readers, of me creating that bag. I actually like this one better! Enjoy! Everything you need is available at Pointer, except for the paint (but I know that Claudine Hellmuth's stuff is available in the store now and would work too!)

I did a colour wash with 3 shades of turquoise acrylic paint. To make a wash, I just poured a dollop of paint into a tray and put some water into it to make a thin "water colour". I then used a flat brush and painted in a side to side fashion. After, I dried the bag with my heat gun.

I then set down a doillie on the left bottom area and spritz with Tattered Angels Dragonfly glimmer mists (this is one of my fav colours and it's a limited edition -sob!)  Again dry with your heat gun

Now time to embellish!  I used this fantastic ribbon from Maya Road and created this flower.

Heidi has these flowers in the store and I thought it would make a great centre for the ribbon flower.

These Petaloo Color me flowers, I inked with Broken China distress inks. I then used a wet paint brush to "blend" the colours.

For the smaller Petaloo flowers, I used Tattered Angels Cherry Blossum glimmer mists. This is a very faint pink but pretty!

For the leaves I used Studio Calico's clover to colour (this is unfortunately not available at the store).

I then used a technique that Virgina Nebel showed everyone at Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine using this tape and chipboard.  So much fun!

So here it is all put together.  I used a Prima vine and cut it up and added all the embellishments I had spritzed and coloured to the bag, using Helmar glue (love this stuff 'cause it's like a glue gun without burning myself!).  I then added glitter stickers and it was done!

A quick post

I've been coveting this stand from  Pottery Barn for awhile. Other scrappers have been using it for storage of their scrappy supplies, which I think is fantastic. However, the $90 price tag here in Canada is another story.

So over at Pinterest, some fellow scrappers have been posting some DIY's. I was inspired and headed over to my Dollarama and picked up 3x Flan pans, 2 candle stick holders and used a bottle of Gorilla glue from Home Depot. Total cost $12.00 my friends!  I'm quite happy with my paint/ink holder which seems to be holding up okay so far to my enormous stash of inky goodness (ignore the craziness in the background please!)

And finally I can post the costume my son wanted for Halloween. He's Fire Nation Aang from Nickelodeon's Avatar. It's simple but stressed me out because I waited last minute to make it. I'm hoping next years I will either get a head start or just buying his costume!!!

(graphic from Spider Cookee at Deviant Art)

That's all for now and I will post some more of my craftiness shortly I hope!

Oh my poor neglected blog......

I have had a very busy month and unfortunately many things have been neglected, including this blog.  I have been doing some creative things though this month and will share in the days to come.   Right now I am knee deep into the whole Halloween costume thing for my son. He wants to be Fire Nation Aang from Nickelodeon's Avatar.  I'll try and remember to post photos of my attempt in making said costume!

So in the meantime blog readers I'm going to give you some cool sites I love to visit.

A very cool tutorial over at this site.... Now to figure out where in the world I can put this in my room.


Another favourite place for me to visit is the Counterfeit Kit Challenge  is somewhere I like to visit to get inspired to use my stash up.

Washi tape is a big trend lately in scrapbooking and I'm a junkie for that stuff. There are a bunch of tutorials out there now for making your own. Who knew??? Here is one link to share for the fun Washi tape - so easy!

Altered binder for my Tim stamps

My work was finally clearing out the shelves and this was heading to the dumpster (is it dating myself when I can say "I remember using MS-dos!"?) The hoarder squirrel in me decided to save it.

I was thinking along the lines of 8x8 album, but this weekend inspiration hit and I thought "let's see if my Tim stamps fit" Happy dance, they fit perfectly!

 

So here is the altered binder for my stamps. I haven't decided how I'm going to close it yet, I'm thinking hair elastic or hairband but if there are better suggestions, I'll take them.  

I covered the outside with Claudine Helmuth's gesso first because I thought it would need some "tooth" for everything to stick. 

After that dried I used Claudine's multi-medium to attach Tim's Vintage Shabby Paper Stash. I attached the lace ribbon over the seams using the same.   I cut out the butterflies on the dot grungeboard using Tim's dies.  

I then painted the grungeboard with pearl paint, and then used Faded Jeans Distress Stain. The rose ribbon is actually from Maya Road, but I covered that with Distress Stain too.  I used the alphabet background stamp from Tim's Stampers Anoynomous Going Somewhere to stamp the paper behind the butterflies.  I then completed it with the letters and heart from the grungeboard Mixed Mini plain.

Some fun places on the web

So on top of all my other hobbies, I openly admit that I love surfing the web. Here is my round up for this week.

I've been spending a lot of time on Pinterest . If you've never been on Pinterest, it is a social media site where you "pin" things you see on the web. You become the curator of your boards and others who find your pins, can re-pin your finds. Being a visual person, this is an awesome find for me. Right now they are only taking people through invites, so if you want to join, send me an email and I'll send you an invite. But be warned...one can spend many hours on there!

Here is something that gave me a good laugh.  Elizabeth Kartchner of Dear Lizzy posted this the other day and I laughed and laughed. Her husband is one good sport!

And here is something to make one day. I think her's is so pretty.

And just a reminder to those who live in the GTA - I'll be teaching a Misting Card Class at Pointer Scrapbooking this Friday. Come and join me for some messy fun!

Sharing some stuff I've been doing this summer....

All Day Play

Did a layout tag with the gals from Scrapbook Star. Here is my take on the one I got. I used BoBunny and Basic Grey PP, Autumn Leaves Stamps, Fancy Pants rubons, Technique Tuesday tile, EK Sucess punch, American Crafts CS, random star brads.

Also had a shower for my lil' sister this summer. I had to make 60 of these invites! So I cracked out my MM Slice for these. PP from Basic Grey, Hampton Arts card base.

Fun layout using Bo Bunny dots PP, DCWV PP kit, Fancy Pants ribbon, stamps from Tim Holtz and CTMH, journal tag from Teresa Collins, chipboard Maya Road, flower Prima, Liquid Pearls from Ranger, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists, Slice card, Making Memories letters and Heidi Swapp journaling tabs.

Basic Grey PP, Stars diecut, ribbon, Glimmer mists by Tattered Angels, letter stickers Doodle Bug.

Entire LO is part of Scenic Route kit, journal card from Jenni Bowlin

A layout I had done many years ago as a class. Added my own jazz to it by putting large flowers, journaling with a white gel pen

One of my recent favourite layouts. I used Prima PP, banners from Echo Park, Canvas from Canvas Corp, Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels, loops from Queen and Co., ribbon random, Maya Road chipboard, wood button from Studio Calico, Mister Huey Mists in white from Studio Calico, letters from Doodle Bug.

A layout I did in a Prima class with Cari Fennel.  I added my own jazz to it, using Prima packaging to the background. I used glitter letters from Making Memories and journaling block from Pink Paislee. I also "painted the centres for the white flowers with Tattered Angels Glimmer mists (thanks to Marion Smith for the inspiration)

And finally a card inspired from my friend Melissa. Had to try it out. So I coverd the entire card in TH distress inks, splat some water and then stamped with Tim Holtz stamps. Thanks Melissa! I think I will make a dozen of these cards!

Post CHA summary

So it's been a few weeks since CHA Summer in Chicago, and I am finally going to post some thoughts and more photos.  There was so much to see and despite the fact that it was a smaller show, based on what others had said, I still missed some of the vendors booths - yikes!

So even though the show is suppose to encompass all crafts, I would say 80% of the show was dedicated to the papercrafting world (which is okay with me).  Some trends that I noticed (not in any particular order):

*woodgrain
*butterflies
*zebra/giraffe prints
*mini alphabets
*canvas
*mixed media (was the buzz word of the show and probably for awhile)
*more generic prints - could be used for more than just Halloween and Christmas
*lots of vintage feel still


So I think that sums it up , I will post more photos from the show when I get home.

As promised more (random) photos from CHA ....

Art by Wendy Vecchi

In love with grunge board in this LO

Drive by of Chicago

With Donna Salzar - not ready for the camera

Le Blanche stamps - goregous stamps, booth and art work displayed

My favourite Valentine line from Jillibean Soup

Paper wreath from Jillibean Soup

More yummines from Jillibean Soup

Make and Take from Tombow

Gelato and other mediums from Faber Castell

Me being silly with "chapstick" Gelato from Faber Castell workshop

Me with Mou Saha

Claudine Hellmuth at Ranger Booth

Me with Claudine

Mario Rossi, Wendy Vecchi, Tim Holtz  (in case you didn't know)

Maya Road cuteness

In love with the felt beads

Pssst.....

Hop on over to the Pointer Scrapbooking blog - she's giving out blog candy for commenting!

A CHA video to share

Here's a video of Tim Holtz doing a demo of his new Snow Cap mixative at the Ranger Industries booth.  I'm sorry for the poor video - it's my first one ever that I've actually posted. I now know for next time what not to do!

What an awesome week!

CHA was a blast, despite the sweltering heat and humidity. My days were filled with checking out the booths and coming back to report to Heidi, the owner of Pointer Scrapbooking, with what great stuff we saw.  With all 4 teachers there, it was great to collaborate on our ideas and wishes for the store. Lots of yummy stuff to come!!!!   Below are some photos I took and I will try over the next week to report on what we saw.

So we drove to Chicago (actually Simon drove, we chatted and slept). So in total it was about 11 hours to there including all the lovely toll booths like the one below.

The gang from Pointer Scrapbooking

Some inspiration from the show. I'll post more during the week.

Quilt made from Sticky back canvas and various techniques, plus Claudine Helmuth's studio paint.

Simply inspiring at Claudine Hellmuth's section of Ranger's booth

Wreath at Jillibean Soup

Loving this collection from Jillibean soup

Mmmmmm Gelato medium from Faber Castell

Crate Paper's booth of inspiration

I can't wait!!!

Leaving soon for the Craft and Hobby Association conference (CHA). For those who don't know, this is when all the craft vendors get together and showcase their latest and greatest items for shop owners to peruse. I'll be attending with Pointer Scrapbooking, the store I teach at. We are so lucky that Heidi the owner invited all her teachers to attend. I'm so excited, as this will be my first show ever!!!  I will try and report back what lovely stuff I spot during the week!

CKC Buffalo Review

Sorry everyone for not posting much these days, I have waaay too much on my plate.   I am happy to report that I spent the past weekend at the Creating Keepsakes Buffalo Convention with my crew of happy scrappy friends. If you've never been to a CKC, you should attend. I've been going for 4 years now, and this year did not disappoint.  I did plenty of classes to keep me out of the vendor faire which sort of helped. I will note that the vendor faire was much smaller than years previous but there were plenty of places for me to still spend my moolah!  Anyhow, below are a review of the classes I took and hopefully it will help a fellow scrapper who plans on attending another CKC.  I will note that I have a boy only, so I tend to take classes geared to that direction. I also judge a class based on how much product you get for the class price.  So here goes. I will post photos later this week, if I remember.

All Boy - Queen & Co. :  I always love their products, so this class did not disappoint for giving me solid boy layouts. 4 pages made with exactly enough product. Everyone in the class won a prize too.

Scrapping with Sketches - Creating Keepsakes: Didn't learn anything new but they did give us an entire pack of Basic Grey paper pack. Layouts were so that I could easily change it up easily enough with the paper pack to gear towards my boy photos.

Perspectives by Ali - Technique Tuesday:  Used Ali's new paper pack, part of Ali's stamp set and again, solid layouts that I will use. Nothing new learned. Teacher was a bit confusing but the layout is not difficult to do at all. I won a prize of their chalk inks but gave it to one of my crew who recently lost her scrappy stuff in a flood.

30 Minute Layouts - Prima: Despite having a boy, I love Prima Products with a passion. Cari Fennel taught this class and we made 3 lovely, flowery layouts with plenty of Prima product left over.

Boy Mini Album - Prima:  Again another solid mini album made with Prima products. Taught again by Cari, who is an awesome teacher and super nice.  The photo of the class sample is "meh" but the one we did in class is much better. Plenty of Prima product left over to play with and believe it or not - most of it was geared to boys!

Mixed Media Album - Strictly Scrapbooking:  Used My Mind's Eye paperline. The photos for the mini album were dark and did not do the album justice. Loved the end result and loved playing with the glue gun in the class.

Terrific Trends - Studio Calico:  I was so happy that they were offering classes this year at CKC. Even happier that Kelley Purkey was teaching them too (she is super nice). We misted with the Mister Huey sprays on a layout and made a card too. I didn't learn anything new, but it gave me a chance to play a bit with their products. (I also won a gift certificate as a door prize to their booth, and was very happy that I got buy stuff at their booth!)

Mixing and Matching - Faber Castell:  I was happy that this class was added. They gave everyone a kit to take home and which we didn't have to open, as there was plenty of product on the table for us to play with. I wanted to try all these mediums and loved that we got to play. Disappointed with my "art" but I will try and make them again.  I will say that our teacher was a bit flakey too but we all survived.