Anatomy of a Tag with 7 Dots Studio and Helmar

Today a thought I would share a quick pictorial of the process I used for creating the tags for the 7 Dots Studio & Helmar Promo Week.

Gather all  materials

Squish Distress Ink directly on non-stick craft sheet

Spritz with water...look how the colors

have intensified

Oops...left tag MUDDY...why?

This was the 2nd tag and 2 complementary colors

 had mixed together...not pretty!

Fixed tag by adding Distress Ink directly on tag ;)

Distress edges with my favorite brown...

Gathered Twigs

Adds just the right amount of depth & interest

The muddy tag all fixed...happy dance!

Embossing with Distress Ink applied to embossing plate

Layering papers for tags

                                     

Hmmm...thinking...the hardest part ;)

                                 

Finished tags

Materials used:

7 Dots Studio ~ Hopefully Collection

Inkessentials Craft Taga #10 Manilla

RANGER Non-stick craft sheet

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~

Gathered Twigs 

Squeezed Lemonade 

Mowed Lawn

Spun Sugar

Shaded Lilac

Vagabond Die Cutting System

Tim Holtz Alterations ~ Mini Paper Rosettes

Sizzix Embossing Folder ~ Paisley Palooza

Helmar Acid Free Professional Glue

Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Thanks for stopping by...I love making tags...do you?

The Whatevers #5 Catching Up...FINALLY

Have you been following along with The Whatevers...the brainchild of Vicki Chrisman, Nathalie Kalbach & Catherine Matthews Scanlon? I have but fell behind which caused me to be quite sad as this has been such a great challenge! If you haven't I've provided their blog links. So today I am determined to get caught up because this Fri., 2/15 will be the reveal for Photo #8.

Here's Photo #5 and my background story.

"I always knew when summer was coming to an end and I would soon be leaving Grandmas house.  Every summer in August we made an annual trip down to Hatteras, NC to visit a family friend. It was during the Annual DAY AT THE DOCKS celebration in Hatteras Village. This weekend trip was the signal that summer was rapidly coming to an end and I would have to leave to go back home.

Because Grandma didn’t have a car we rode the trolley along the ocean highway from Nags Head to Hatteras Village. I loved that ride where you could watch the waves roll in, see the seagulls flying about, occasionally spot a school of dolphins and smell the sweet ocean air. I also knew that I would have a chance to run around the carnival, riding the ponies, tasting sweet treats but the best part was that I would get a huge, piping hot bowl of HATTERAS CLAM CHOWDER. There was always a contest to see who made the best chowder…if you were the lucky one you held that honor for a full year until the next time.

After a day filled with fun and lots of good food we would spend the night at Cousin Tish’s house. She lived right on the beach and I loved listening to the sounds of the waves rolling in as I fell off to sleep."

Here's my journal page:

Recipe for Hatteras Style Clam Chowder

Here's the recipe:

Hatteras Style Clam Chowder

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

5 stalks celery, sliced

4 carrots, sliced

4 cups peeled, cubed white potatoes

2 (16 ounce) cans minced clams, with juice

3 quarts clam juice

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

8 slices crisp cooked bacon, crumbled

In a large pot over medium heat, cook onion, celery and carrots in oil until they begin to soften.   

Stir in potatoes, clams, clam juice, thyme, pepper and bacon.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. 

Ok so there is #5...now off to finish #6 and I have another great recipe to share with you ;)

LINK:

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/WhateversCreativeStorytelling

Have a great day ;)

My MONTHLY WORD for Jan. 2013

Thanks for stopping by...I hope you are here because you read my blog post over on The Monthly Word if not I hope you will pop on over so you can read what my friend Catherine and I are up to.

My monthly word for Jan. 2013 is Re~Birth, so appropriate as this is my birth month. I am a Capricorn and I  love astrology so this page was based on the good and bad characteristics/traits of a Capricorn or more simply put of ME. I always take this month to reflect back on the year and use my reflections to put in motion ways to be a better person...wife, mother, sister, aunt, friend and artist. 

A journal page was the basis for this using the Dylusions Creative Journal {which is AWESOME}. 

There are many layers of acrylic paints, collage, stamps & metallic markers. I used these pages to make a list of all my good and bad characteristics/traits. By using a gold metallic marker you would have to look very closely at these pages...it is a way to hide my journaling.

Double page spread

A definition of rebirth printed on a library catalog card

with more journaling underneath it

Right side

Close up with a glimpse of the gold metallic marker

I LOVE using the library catalog card. I originally read about it on Katie the Scrapbook Lady blog. It is web based and you have the ability to use it to create great journaling spots. Here is the one I created for this journal page.

Here is one I created with the information you need to create your very own library catalog card. 

Thanks for stopping by...I hope you will try making your own catalog card...let me know what you think about this. Have a creative day and I'll be back with a blog post about my Ice Resin class I took at CHA Winter 2013.

The JEWEL LOOM designed by Julianna Hudgins ROCKS!

I know that everyone returning from CHA Winter 2013 is talking about their favorite new product(s) but today I want to tell you not only about my favorites but the classes I took with the designers of these products. I was fortunate this year to get many of the classes I wanted not realizing that I signed up for 4 jewelry classes. 

I'm going to start off today with the class I took with the oh so enthusiastic Julianna Hudgins where her brand new JEWEL LOOM was unveiled for the first time. Julianna also had just received word that she was awarded a patent for her loom and was just super, super excited. The JEWEL LOOM will be available soon and when you see the price point you just won't believe it...for about 2 Venti Starbuck' Frappacinos you can bring this baby home!!!

Here's the JEWEL LOOM.

 

Here's the bracelet that I started working on in class at CHA Winter 2013 from start to finish.

Now the question that many crafters want to know...will I use it again and the answer is YES! I'm not sure when it will available but a little birdie told me that it might be making an appearance on JTV on Feb. 10th & 11th.

Thanks for stopping by and I will share 2 more classes I took this week. Have a creative day!

Unity Stamp Co. Rocks Susan K Weckesser & Liz Hicks Stamps

I need to share with my loyal readers these awesome stamp sets made by Unity Stamp Company and created by two fabulous artists that happen to be friends. I've worked with Susan K. Weckesser stamps before and while at Winter 2013 CHA I got the chance to play with Liz Hicks new stamp designs. Below you will find my blog post from the Helmar Blog and links for both designers.

"This week the HELMAR DT teamed up with Susan K. Weckesser Inc. to #getyourglueon with her original designs in stamps and paper. I love working with the ever so sweet Susan and when her designs were created into stamps with Unity Stamps I was over the moon with excitement.

The project I completed came to together by mistake. As I pulled out Susan's stamps to figure out which I wanted to use they landed on what I call my journal MOP PAGE. I hate to waste any type of paint or mist or glimmer so as I'm creating backgrounds for my Art Journals I mop up the excess with various papers and tags. This wasn't my intent to use but then the light bulb went on and I created this page from various scraps, papers and leftovers. I can't even tell you what products I used because the items on this page were leftover scraps, leftovers, mistakes but when stamped and cut apart they worked together.

Of course having my favorite glues on hand also helped for applying the banner to the ribbon with HELMAR Fabric Glue and HELMAR Professional Acid Free Glue for paper to paper."

Here are the stamps that I used. You can find them over at Unity Stamp Company and there are several more stamp sets by Susan. The quality of these stamps are incredible giving you a really sharp image every time! Please go and check out Susan's stamp designs. 

Here are the Unity Stamp Co. stamp sets created by Liz Hicks...they are fabulous and on sale this weekend!

I love being able to endorse products that I  have actually had the privilege to work with and know the designers behind the products!

Have a  great weekend!