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| 1988 at a "Winter in Summer" check-out party |
Zoo on the left, Red Bear on the right
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| 2018 in the craft room |
Red Bear on the left, Zoo on the right
Showing posts with label zoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zoo. Show all posts
Monday, January 04, 2021
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Ugly Paper Contest - September 2016
The Challenge: Red Bear and I were each to make two cards. One to mail to each other, and one to mail to Kidlet. We were allowed to choose our own base paper.
These are the papers we chose.
These are the results.
Backstory
A long time ago, in another life, circa 2011, the Ugly Paper Contest was born. Kidlet had purchased a big pad of truly ugly paper. Red Bear and I were teasing her about it and wanted to know what on earth would she ever use such ugly paper for. The Ugly Paper contest of course!
Of Course! How silly of us.
The first time, all three of us crafters made our attempts and The Farmer aka Himself aka Hubby, chose the winner. Quite often that is how the contests progressed and I still don't know if he ever knew who did what. Kidlet and Red Bear most often won, I don't think I ever did.
He did have a farm to run however and wasn't always available. One of us would choose the paper, make the "rules", and be the final judge. Kidlet often chose the Worst colour combinations and came up with challenging rules. Like the time "must use at least one alpha stamp but it must be part of the design, not part of a word".
Sometimes the background or base paper was part of the challenge, sometimes we could choose whatever we liked, or from within a colour family. Sometimes the rules would change part-way through the challenge.
The best part was always seeing how different the results were from the same starting point. We also got to learn about each other. Red Bear gravitates towards heart shapes and the colour red. Zoo likes circles and either green and pink or green and peach. Kidlet was never pinned down except for the yellow/purple colour combo.
These are always a lot of fun, inspire creativity, and really take the pressure off. We're starting with "ugly" so it's not our fault if the result is ugly!
Before Red Bear moved across the country, we took the ugly paper pad, divided it into approximately three equal piles, wrote identifying numbers on the back, and each of the three of us had our own stash in a 9 x 12 envelope. Also included were some embellishments, stickers, "add-ons". That is how years later we can still have Ugly Paper Contests with the same papers.
Zoo
p.s. As I write this post, it is exactly two years later, Red Bear is airborne on her way here to visit. Recently some WoW Friends, purring and Bearminimum, asked to see some of my artwork. I was sad to realize that I have been a very bad craft blogger. This is the beginning of an attempt to make up for that. Thanks, Guys! You two are wonderful friends of Kidlet, babysitting Mom.
These are the papers we chose.
 |
| Papers |
 |
| Zoo's Cards |
 |
| Red Bear's on the Left; Zoo's on the right |
A long time ago, in another life, circa 2011, the Ugly Paper Contest was born. Kidlet had purchased a big pad of truly ugly paper. Red Bear and I were teasing her about it and wanted to know what on earth would she ever use such ugly paper for. The Ugly Paper contest of course!
Of Course! How silly of us.
The first time, all three of us crafters made our attempts and The Farmer aka Himself aka Hubby, chose the winner. Quite often that is how the contests progressed and I still don't know if he ever knew who did what. Kidlet and Red Bear most often won, I don't think I ever did.
He did have a farm to run however and wasn't always available. One of us would choose the paper, make the "rules", and be the final judge. Kidlet often chose the Worst colour combinations and came up with challenging rules. Like the time "must use at least one alpha stamp but it must be part of the design, not part of a word".
 |
| Left: Red Bear Center: Kidlet Right: Zoo |
The best part was always seeing how different the results were from the same starting point. We also got to learn about each other. Red Bear gravitates towards heart shapes and the colour red. Zoo likes circles and either green and pink or green and peach. Kidlet was never pinned down except for the yellow/purple colour combo.
These are always a lot of fun, inspire creativity, and really take the pressure off. We're starting with "ugly" so it's not our fault if the result is ugly!
Before Red Bear moved across the country, we took the ugly paper pad, divided it into approximately three equal piles, wrote identifying numbers on the back, and each of the three of us had our own stash in a 9 x 12 envelope. Also included were some embellishments, stickers, "add-ons". That is how years later we can still have Ugly Paper Contests with the same papers.
Zoo
p.s. As I write this post, it is exactly two years later, Red Bear is airborne on her way here to visit. Recently some WoW Friends, purring and Bearminimum, asked to see some of my artwork. I was sad to realize that I have been a very bad craft blogger. This is the beginning of an attempt to make up for that. Thanks, Guys! You two are wonderful friends of Kidlet, babysitting Mom.
Thursday, January 05, 2017
On Books and Reading & possibly a new hobby for 2017
I discovered a new website this week: Literary Hub
I've shared a few articles on facebook the past couple of days, but today, I started reading an article that inspired a post about one of my Grandmothers.
Doing a final edit of the post, I realized it's too long for a facebook post and realized I haven't made a non-crafting entry into this blog for awhile so why not put it here instead?
Inspired by the article "What Romance Fiction Can Accomplish: On the Passion and Pleasure of "Light" Reading"
My Grandmother, Yellow Nana, my Dad's Mom; was an avid consumer of Harlequin Romances. There was always an ever-changing box of them out at the lake. With these, plus a box of Reader's Digest, plus a box of my Mom's books, there was always something to read out there.
In grade seven, our English teacher assigned us to read and do a book report, once a month, for the entire school year. I had mine completed by the second week of September. I was always looking for something to read.
That January, for some reason, [I didn't know it at the time, but I was already firmly entrenched in my Seasonal Affective Disorder, my January Blues], I set myself the challenge to read one Harlequin Romance a day. By February, I could identify the formulas for the different categories.
Nana wasn't a fan of the supernatural or sci-fi romances but there were generous helpings of the not-traditionally-pretty and scrappy heroine, the independent heroine [as much as there could be in that genre, after all they always did end up with a man], and a sprinkling of the erotic read. I've never picked up a Harlequin Romance since but, there were the seeds of the independent, yet sensual, career woman I became.
As an adult I graduated to Danielle Steel, amassed a collection, shared them with my Mother and Sister until I learned her formulas and became jaded against "the same ol' story". In recent years, culling the book shelves to make room for the craft room stuff, Danielle Steel has become the fodder for our Altered Art creations.
Once I was over Danielle, I delved into the likes of Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, Tom Clancy, and Anne Rule and thought I left the romance novel behind.
In the mid-'80s on a recruiting trip to the back of beyond, some isolated part of Northwestern Ontario, Northern Manitoba or Saskatchewan, and looking for something to read I happened upon LaVyrle Spencer. And thus another collection began.
I haven't read one of her books for over a decade but when the great cull happened, I gave up my Stephen King books but couldn't part with my Lavyrle Spencer's. Her books don't make it into my annual revolving list of series authors but I can't give them up either. She's in the shelf with my Margaret Atwood and, my smaller, Alice Munro, collections. Maybe it's time to re-read some of them.
I'm wondering if 2017 may be the year of Literary Hub being my "go to" website instead of Bored Panda? The language is denser, the thoughts more profound and frankly it stretches and hurts my brain reading some of the articles but, today anyway, that feels like a good thing.
It's too easy learning new things by reading the internet. When you stumble across something you don't know, a quick highlight, right click, "Search Google for ____" answers the question. Thus, today I learned the meaning of and how to pronounce "Synecdoche". I also glanced at the incredible list of Literary Devices and got excited about a whole year's worth of learning!
Yesterday I got caught up in and shared on facebook:
There's so many place to go and read:
There is one section Lit Hub Daily, which, as the title suggestions is a Daily list of about a dozen links to literary related places on the 'net.
Every Saturday though, is a "Best of the Week:" compilation, a slightly longer [I'm guessing to appeal to the leisure of the weekend of "normal" people] list of the Daily links. I wonder how that is determined? "Most Viewed", "Most Shared"?
All in all, a huge, HUGE collection of intellectual, brain stimulating writing on one of my favourite, life-long pleasures. I've been casting around for a "new project" since the demise of my World of Warcraft involvement.
Himself once observed that every two years or so I change focus of my hobby. When we lived in Churchill it was "Cooking for the Freezer", when we first moved to the farm I learned all about Landscape Gardening, then it was Yoga for a few years.
My first move to Thompson was swimming with intellectually and physically challenged kids, the second Thompson move was Air Cadets and the third, taking a three year long night-course on Management and Supervision.
There were a few years of Paint Shop Pro graphics and a couple of learning to CSS code our own farm website, the internet saved my sanity during the first decade of living as a disabled, physically challenged, isolated person.
Yes, I'm thinking that a 2017 year of Literary Hub would be good for me in more ways than one, and pleasureable to boot!
Think I'll start by learning the definition of and how to pronounce: lucubrations and Why Calvin and Hobbes is Great Literature.
Who are your favourite authors? Do you have a list of annual or occasional "re-reads"?
I've shared a few articles on facebook the past couple of days, but today, I started reading an article that inspired a post about one of my Grandmothers.
Doing a final edit of the post, I realized it's too long for a facebook post and realized I haven't made a non-crafting entry into this blog for awhile so why not put it here instead?
Inspired by the article "What Romance Fiction Can Accomplish: On the Passion and Pleasure of "Light" Reading"
My Grandmother, Yellow Nana, my Dad's Mom; was an avid consumer of Harlequin Romances. There was always an ever-changing box of them out at the lake. With these, plus a box of Reader's Digest, plus a box of my Mom's books, there was always something to read out there.
In grade seven, our English teacher assigned us to read and do a book report, once a month, for the entire school year. I had mine completed by the second week of September. I was always looking for something to read.
That January, for some reason, [I didn't know it at the time, but I was already firmly entrenched in my Seasonal Affective Disorder, my January Blues], I set myself the challenge to read one Harlequin Romance a day. By February, I could identify the formulas for the different categories.
Nana wasn't a fan of the supernatural or sci-fi romances but there were generous helpings of the not-traditionally-pretty and scrappy heroine, the independent heroine [as much as there could be in that genre, after all they always did end up with a man], and a sprinkling of the erotic read. I've never picked up a Harlequin Romance since but, there were the seeds of the independent, yet sensual, career woman I became.
As an adult I graduated to Danielle Steel, amassed a collection, shared them with my Mother and Sister until I learned her formulas and became jaded against "the same ol' story". In recent years, culling the book shelves to make room for the craft room stuff, Danielle Steel has become the fodder for our Altered Art creations.
Once I was over Danielle, I delved into the likes of Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, Tom Clancy, and Anne Rule and thought I left the romance novel behind.
In the mid-'80s on a recruiting trip to the back of beyond, some isolated part of Northwestern Ontario, Northern Manitoba or Saskatchewan, and looking for something to read I happened upon LaVyrle Spencer. And thus another collection began.
I haven't read one of her books for over a decade but when the great cull happened, I gave up my Stephen King books but couldn't part with my Lavyrle Spencer's. Her books don't make it into my annual revolving list of series authors but I can't give them up either. She's in the shelf with my Margaret Atwood and, my smaller, Alice Munro, collections. Maybe it's time to re-read some of them.
I'm wondering if 2017 may be the year of Literary Hub being my "go to" website instead of Bored Panda? The language is denser, the thoughts more profound and frankly it stretches and hurts my brain reading some of the articles but, today anyway, that feels like a good thing.
It's too easy learning new things by reading the internet. When you stumble across something you don't know, a quick highlight, right click, "Search Google for ____" answers the question. Thus, today I learned the meaning of and how to pronounce "Synecdoche". I also glanced at the incredible list of Literary Devices and got excited about a whole year's worth of learning!
Yesterday I got caught up in and shared on facebook:
- NOTABLE LITERARY DEATHS IN 2016
- IN MEMORY OF GEORGE MICHAEL, IN PRAISE OF MISTAKES
- five biggest literary stories of 2016
- Remembering the literary greats we lost in 2016.
There's so many place to go and read:
- Canadian writers on their favorite places in the Great White North.
- Resistance Lit:
- CAN SCIENCE FICTION SAVE THE EARTH?
- THE MANY BAD MOMS OF CHARLES DICKENS
- HOW A GROUP OF 20TH CENTURY ARCTIC EXPLORERS CELEBRATED THE HOLIDAYS
- HUMAN HAIR, DOLLS CLOTHES, LOVE LETTERS AND OTHER STRANGE THINGS FOUND IN OLD BOOKS
There is one section Lit Hub Daily, which, as the title suggestions is a Daily list of about a dozen links to literary related places on the 'net.
Every Saturday though, is a "Best of the Week:" compilation, a slightly longer [I'm guessing to appeal to the leisure of the weekend of "normal" people] list of the Daily links. I wonder how that is determined? "Most Viewed", "Most Shared"?
All in all, a huge, HUGE collection of intellectual, brain stimulating writing on one of my favourite, life-long pleasures. I've been casting around for a "new project" since the demise of my World of Warcraft involvement.
Himself once observed that every two years or so I change focus of my hobby. When we lived in Churchill it was "Cooking for the Freezer", when we first moved to the farm I learned all about Landscape Gardening, then it was Yoga for a few years.
My first move to Thompson was swimming with intellectually and physically challenged kids, the second Thompson move was Air Cadets and the third, taking a three year long night-course on Management and Supervision.
There were a few years of Paint Shop Pro graphics and a couple of learning to CSS code our own farm website, the internet saved my sanity during the first decade of living as a disabled, physically challenged, isolated person.
Yes, I'm thinking that a 2017 year of Literary Hub would be good for me in more ways than one, and pleasureable to boot!
Think I'll start by learning the definition of and how to pronounce: lucubrations and Why Calvin and Hobbes is Great Literature.
Who are your favourite authors? Do you have a list of annual or occasional "re-reads"?
Thursday, September 01, 2016
High hopes for mandatory Indigenous courses set to start at U of W - Aboriginal - CBC
A good start. I think it should begin in High School myself.
High hopes for mandatory Indigenous courses set to start at U of W - Aboriginal - CBC:
"According to a 2011 Statistics Canada report, nearly 17 per cent of Manitoba's population identified as aboriginal — four times the Canadian average."
'via Blog this'
Zoo
High hopes for mandatory Indigenous courses set to start at U of W - Aboriginal - CBC:
"According to a 2011 Statistics Canada report, nearly 17 per cent of Manitoba's population identified as aboriginal — four times the Canadian average."
'via Blog this'
Zoo
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Chalk Card - and - Paper Bow
Chalk Card
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| Chalk Embossed Card |
Pick a contrasting, in my case, a dark olive green, card base.
Cut a piece of contrasting, in my case, white, cardstock to fit the top of the card. If I were to do this again, I'd cut the white about one quarter of an inch smaller so as to show a larger frame of the dark colour border.
Emboss top of card.
Brush chalk on raised embossing. Use one or three colours. In this case I used a yellow-green chalk and an darker olive green chalk.
You can use:
- Pan Chalk, the brand I have is Pebbles Inc. Ikandee Chalks "Earth Tones" 42003.
- what we typically think of as "teacher's chalk", the brand I have is Prang Gallery AMBRITE colored chalk for papier 53012, or,
- Chalk Pencils. The brand I have is Faber-Castell PITT Pastel 1122-170 and 1122-174.
[I just did a Google Search for each of the product links I used. I get my supplies from a local art supply store.]
Then use a nesting set of dies to cut a frame from the center of the white embossed card stock. The set I used was Framelits - Labels Collection 125598, from my Stampin' Up dealer. Save the remaining frame for use on the inside if you like, or for another project.
Add a bit of bling a sentiment, and anything else you like on the inside and you're done!
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| Sentiment, Owl and Feather stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ME-800 |
--------------------------------------------
DIY Embellishments - Paper Bows
Edited to add: click on the title above, it's a link to the video^^I just discovered this video today and was impelled to try it as she said she was going to go over it again quickly!
I had some scrap tissue paper laying around and cut a 6 by 6 inch square and followed along. Too easy! If I can do it, you can do it!
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| Crafting NOT at my crafting table! |
The smaller you cut your initial square, the smaller the bow. No more extra postage for mailing a card just because you wanted a bow for it!
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| Ta Da! |
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Helping Red Bear make her first post!
I thought copying from Word would be a PITA, but, apparently not! phew!
We want to add a picture. Let's pick a couple old sigs I made a long long time ago on Delphi Forums, my first venture online.
 |
| Canadian Sue |
I was so proud when I made this one, my first original sig that turned out so so pretty. I was a SBP master using Paint Shop Pro.
So We're Done! Yay!
Zoo
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| My first sig. Rain made this for me. Sending warm thoughts to Rain. :) |
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
A Door Opening - AAJ#2 - Oct. 2013 page
The Challenge: Use the leaves Zoo collected. I also found this tutorial:
Sizzix Tutorial | Mixed Media Canvas by Vivian Keh and her associated Blog Post.
Tutorial starts at 5:54, up to then she itemizes the dies she used and cuts the shapes.
The OP [original poster] used a stretched canvas for this mixed media page so I got it stuck in my head that I needed to use a piece of canvas. You can buy pads of canvas for painting on just like pads of watercolor paper or mixed media paper.
I also decided, for the first time, that I needed to rotate my book to the vertical for this project. Red Bear did hers differently so I'll be excited to see her take on this challenge!
Here is my layout sketch.
I did my sketch in watercolor pencils, knowing that they would melt into the paint as I applied it.
I had decided I wanted my door to open, thus the border on the door part of the sketch. I had to plan for the door to be on one side, or the other, of the center of the book. I didn't think the door would stand up well to being folded in half and bending as the book opened or closed.
On the canvas, it looked very bottom heavy, then I remembered that the canvas was smaller than the book itself, so it worked out fine in the end.
I also laid out the paint colors I thought I would be using. My color plan was to start with pale blue in the upper right of the project [bottom right in the photo above], to pinks to purple to red all along the bottom [left in photo].
You'll also notice that the bottles of "Dr. Ph. Martin's" colors are concentrated WATERcolor paint. Yes, I mix acrylic paint and watercolor paint all the time. I have also used Matte Medium for acrylic paint with just watercolor paint or stamp pad re-inkers to color it! That is one of the perks of being self-taught, I don't know the rules I may be breaking as we play!
I'm also enamoured, lately, with the interference paints of various colors, so that's where some of the shimmer comes from as well as from Iridescent Medium.
For the snowflakes, I got the bright idea to use my texture plates [and embossing folders as texture plates] with coffee filters to make the "paper" to cut the snowflakes from.
I always cut a slit in my coffee filters before coloring them, so they lay flat. Looks cool with the watercolor pencil on the coffee filter. I just put the coffee filter over the texture plate/bump up side of embossing folder and rubbed over it with a watercolor pencil.
I used a combination of Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencil and Inktense watercolor pencil.
Then I used a spray bottle to wet the coffee filter. Oh My! These colors turned out a lot darker than I was anticipating! Except the pink one doesn't look like anything at all! I wonder what they'll look like after they're dried?
Here are some of the flakes cut out and the beginning of a layout plan with the door, leaves, and snowflakes. I thought my die cut flakes were all on the big side so I used a border and corner punch to make some smaller flakes. I also used some of the wax paper flakes that are a by-product of using wax paper to cut intricate die cut shapes.
Wait a minute! There was no orange in the color plan! Shit happens! When the creativity of the moment calls for a change in plan, plans change! I don't remember why I put orange in there, maybe Red Bear remembers?
The darker than anticipated color of the coffee filters wasn't so overwhelming once the snowflakes were cut out of them. There were a few drip marks in the paint that I didn't care for, so I used snowflakes and/or leaves to cover them!
OK, I think this is it! Time to start gluing everything down!
As you can see, I changed my mind when it came time to put glue to paper to canvas! I decided to include an intricate die-cut that Red Bear sent me a while ago and to not use a couple of the larger, darker snowflakes.
I also "cheated" a bit on our challenge in that I didn't limit myself just to the leaves I collected for this particular project. I found some big oak leaves from our yard that I felt were big enough to anchor the project in the bottom left.
The sentiment "The Seasons of Life are Ever Changing" came from Red Bear.
I dropped a red pen shadow on the leaves.
If you open the last picture in a new tab or window to view it as large as it will go, you may notice and wonder about the horizontal bubble-lines in the red at the bottom. If you zoom in and go to the very bottom right corner. In between the two leaves, you'll notice a mostly orange blob with what looks like little horns coming out of it. hmmm, .... very strange.
I had decided to add an element to the page before this in the book, that needed holes put in the paper. But I had already started this one, ... what to do?
Instead of making a glob of a big knot, I let the threads just be loose, split them, colored them with markers to match the background, and used a blob of GAC to hold them in place. [GAC is Glossy Accent, Clear by Inkadinkado]. After the GAC dried, it looked ridiculous. so I just added dashes of GAC all over the page below where the canvas ended. Then added some paint on top to make them "blend in".
Did I succeed? Did you notice the blobs on your own or did you have to go back and look after I pointed them out? I'm curious to know, leave a comment!
Oh, and, duh, here's a pic with the door open. Seeing as how I went to the effort to make the door open, I should include a pic!
Done!
~Zoo~
General info/chit-chat about this altered art journal page.
So far, I've deemed every October page to be "leaves" oriented. I don't know how many more times Red Bear will let me get away with this but ... this time, I had collected some leaves from my sister's house. We were meeting there to plan our mother's funeral and I was outside on a smoke break when I noticed some pretty leaves. I divided my haul and sent half of them to Red Bear.
During one of my adventures out surfing the interwebs, I discovered the tutorial and blog post. This is the email I sent Red Bear:
I'm pretty sure Red Bear suggested we use snowflakes instead of butterflies to symbolize the transition from fall to winter to better match the time of our journal page.
Normally, I would have revelled in creating some hand-bombed lettering but this time I used an alpha stamp set for the large sentiment and just plain-printed my parents names and dates. Maybe my emotions got the better of me, but I just wasn't up to my usual enthusiasm for lettering. I originally printed their names in purple and dates in red, then decided I didn't like it, so traced over them with black. That's where I stopped because things were getting messier rather than better!
Sizzix Tutorial | Mixed Media Canvas by Vivian Keh and her associated Blog Post.
Tutorial starts at 5:54, up to then she itemizes the dies she used and cuts the shapes.
The OP [original poster] used a stretched canvas for this mixed media page so I got it stuck in my head that I needed to use a piece of canvas. You can buy pads of canvas for painting on just like pads of watercolor paper or mixed media paper.
I also decided, for the first time, that I needed to rotate my book to the vertical for this project. Red Bear did hers differently so I'll be excited to see her take on this challenge!
Here is my layout sketch.
 |
| Layout - sideways |
I did my sketch in watercolor pencils, knowing that they would melt into the paint as I applied it.
I had decided I wanted my door to open, thus the border on the door part of the sketch. I had to plan for the door to be on one side, or the other, of the center of the book. I didn't think the door would stand up well to being folded in half and bending as the book opened or closed.
On the canvas, it looked very bottom heavy, then I remembered that the canvas was smaller than the book itself, so it worked out fine in the end.
I also laid out the paint colors I thought I would be using. My color plan was to start with pale blue in the upper right of the project [bottom right in the photo above], to pinks to purple to red all along the bottom [left in photo].
You'll also notice that the bottles of "Dr. Ph. Martin's" colors are concentrated WATERcolor paint. Yes, I mix acrylic paint and watercolor paint all the time. I have also used Matte Medium for acrylic paint with just watercolor paint or stamp pad re-inkers to color it! That is one of the perks of being self-taught, I don't know the rules I may be breaking as we play!
I'm also enamoured, lately, with the interference paints of various colors, so that's where some of the shimmer comes from as well as from Iridescent Medium.
For the snowflakes, I got the bright idea to use my texture plates [and embossing folders as texture plates] with coffee filters to make the "paper" to cut the snowflakes from.
 |
| Texture plate and Embossing Folders |
I always cut a slit in my coffee filters before coloring them, so they lay flat. Looks cool with the watercolor pencil on the coffee filter. I just put the coffee filter over the texture plate/bump up side of embossing folder and rubbed over it with a watercolor pencil.
I used a combination of Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencil and Inktense watercolor pencil.
 |
| use the embossing folder "bumped up" side and do like a "bark rubbing" |
Then I used a spray bottle to wet the coffee filter. Oh My! These colors turned out a lot darker than I was anticipating! Except the pink one doesn't look like anything at all! I wonder what they'll look like after they're dried?
 |
| Whoa! Those teals are not so subtle! |
 |
| Plan A - what goes where? |
The darker than anticipated color of the coffee filters wasn't so overwhelming once the snowflakes were cut out of them. There were a few drip marks in the paint that I didn't care for, so I used snowflakes and/or leaves to cover them!
 |
| Strategic Snowflake Placement |
OK, I think this is it! Time to start gluing everything down!
 |
| Yes, this is where I want everything! |
 |
| Unless I change my mind! |
As you can see, I changed my mind when it came time to put glue to paper to canvas! I decided to include an intricate die-cut that Red Bear sent me a while ago and to not use a couple of the larger, darker snowflakes.
I also "cheated" a bit on our challenge in that I didn't limit myself just to the leaves I collected for this particular project. I found some big oak leaves from our yard that I felt were big enough to anchor the project in the bottom left.
The sentiment "The Seasons of Life are Ever Changing" came from Red Bear.
I dropped a red pen shadow on the leaves.
If you open the last picture in a new tab or window to view it as large as it will go, you may notice and wonder about the horizontal bubble-lines in the red at the bottom. If you zoom in and go to the very bottom right corner. In between the two leaves, you'll notice a mostly orange blob with what looks like little horns coming out of it. hmmm, .... very strange.
I had decided to add an element to the page before this in the book, that needed holes put in the paper. But I had already started this one, ... what to do?
Instead of making a glob of a big knot, I let the threads just be loose, split them, colored them with markers to match the background, and used a blob of GAC to hold them in place. [GAC is Glossy Accent, Clear by Inkadinkado]. After the GAC dried, it looked ridiculous. so I just added dashes of GAC all over the page below where the canvas ended. Then added some paint on top to make them "blend in".
Did I succeed? Did you notice the blobs on your own or did you have to go back and look after I pointed them out? I'm curious to know, leave a comment!
Oh, and, duh, here's a pic with the door open. Seeing as how I went to the effort to make the door open, I should include a pic!
 |
| A Door Opened |
~Zoo~
General info/chit-chat about this altered art journal page.
So far, I've deemed every October page to be "leaves" oriented. I don't know how many more times Red Bear will let me get away with this but ... this time, I had collected some leaves from my sister's house. We were meeting there to plan our mother's funeral and I was outside on a smoke break when I noticed some pretty leaves. I divided my haul and sent half of them to Red Bear.
During one of my adventures out surfing the interwebs, I discovered the tutorial and blog post. This is the email I sent Red Bear:
"This is different and totally not what I was expecting to do with our leaves!
We will have to improvise, but I think we'll be able to create our own door with our paper cutter and score boards.
Of course we have a plethora of snowflakes and butterflies to choose from.
Really different "painting" technique! We don't have the type of paints she uses but I already have in mind some of my supplies that I want to use with this. I'm drawing a blank, I can't remember what you have for paint but I'm sure you'll be able to come up with a couple of colors to use.
I'm excited to try this one!
Start the video at 5:34. Up to that point she is just listing the dies she uses and cutting the shapes."
I'm pretty sure Red Bear suggested we use snowflakes instead of butterflies to symbolize the transition from fall to winter to better match the time of our journal page.
Normally, I would have revelled in creating some hand-bombed lettering but this time I used an alpha stamp set for the large sentiment and just plain-printed my parents names and dates. Maybe my emotions got the better of me, but I just wasn't up to my usual enthusiasm for lettering. I originally printed their names in purple and dates in red, then decided I didn't like it, so traced over them with black. That's where I stopped because things were getting messier rather than better!
Thursday, April 02, 2015
D.I.Y. Texture Paste
This is the YouTube video that started it all, the recipes we ended up using, and some photos of some of my projects with the resulting texture paste.
Homemade Modeling/Texture Paste Comparison
Luvleescrappin
Baking Soda Texture Paste
1 Tablespoon Gesso
4 Tablespoons Baking Soda
1/2 Tablespoon Iridescent Medium
Baby Powder Texture Paste
2 Tablespoons Gesso
4 Tablespoons Baby Powder +*
1 Tablespoon Mod Podge
* needed a couple extra squirts baby powder - not very thick
I was anxious to use iridescent medium, anticipating a lovely shimmer in the end result. --sad face-- Well, that didn't happen!
These are the samples I did the day we made the paste:
Well, that one didn't work so well. Red Bear was ahead of me, of course, and said "You have to be careful with pointy stencils like this. Best to gently scrape the paste from the outside edge of the point inward, carefully avoiding the point on the opposite side."
To use a single line, I'd have to mask off the adjacent lines to avoid a mess. The only part that gives me pause with this stencil is the gaps.
I don't know if you noticed the date on the last photo. We made the texture paste in November 2013.
One day I was leafing through my practice altered art journal and noticed this pretty page. [whenever I have leftover paint that I can't waste, I usually slap it on a page or two in my practice AAJ] The colours reminded me of Northern Lights and I wondered if I could use a cake icing trick with the texture paste.
I put some of the paste in a small plastic bag, clipped a hole in one corner and used it like a pastry tube to "draw" with the texture paste.
Then I used a moistened finger to push the paste around. Finally, I added some black gesso I had a sample of. I haven't taken this project any farther yet.
Fast forward a bit. To February 2015. Red Bear was in town on a visit. She brought a lovely stencil she found that was big enough to chop in two and share. :) For once, my snail pace was an advantage. While we were prepping, I had thought that I might want to angle the stencil.
Of course, Red Bear was way ahead of me, and lay her stencil down in a very linear fashion. I soon as I saw hers, I knew I had to angle mine!
Because of ... reasons ... we're way behind in our second Altered Art Journal [AAJ2], but something I had noticed on a previous shopping trip to the art store was itching at me. This trip, I had to get each of us a "Mixed Media Journal" by Strathmore.
Truthfully, I can't see much of a difference in the paper compared to any of the other journals but, they are officially now our Altered Art Journal #3, AAJ3.
I wanted us to do our first page together, while she was here in person even though I was still working on page one of AAJ2!
The theme had to be "friendship" and "winter", using the stencil she shared.
Note: That texture paste was over a year old. Made in Nov. 2013, applied Feb. 2015. Very cool!
I dunno, I'm not 100% happy with the "best friends" tag on the wooden oval. I might take the sandpaper to it and replace it with something else. What do you think?
I started adding some colour with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads, "Peacock Feathers" is the teal and "Lemonade" was the yellow. But the yellow wasn't showing up much, so out came my watercolor pencils.
Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencil. I was a bit fearful that when I took my aqua pen to the pencil to paint it around, the texture paste might dissolve, but you can see it did not!
The metal flake is a Tim Holtz charm. Die cut white cardstock flake swirls are a die that Red Bear has. I just love it and am thankful that she shared some cuts with me.
In this next shot, you can see the wax paper die cut snowflakes I applied to the center of the circles. I just stamped them all over with Versamark embossing ink and used an iridescent embossing powder, a new one from Stampin' Up called "Iridescent Ice".
That's the Texture Paste post folks. Now it's Red Bear's turn to blog!
Edit to add a link to Red Bear's D.I.Y. Texture Paste Post.
Later 'Gators, Zoo
Sneak Peek: Red Bear made these pieces that we're using for an upcoming AAJ2 page. I can't wait to see what we make of these!
Texture Paste, Gesso, Glue, Glue Gun Stamps, Stencils, Molds; Stamp Ink Pad, Blending Ink, Roller Stamps [in Sumi Smoosh videos], Glimmery Spray, Twinkly Watercolour Paint, Embossing Folders, and Ink Blending Tools.
For when you just can't wait to obtain supplies and you need to art right this very minute. Using household supplies and things you may already have in your craft room.
When you can't find just the right stamp or stencil, you can make your own with your glue gun, or inexpensive fun foam and a toilet paper roll. Adding your own style and expression at the same time. Make your art more you!
When you want to try a new medium but don't want to purchase something you may not enjoy using.
Some of these are truly cost saving, like the texture paste. Baking soda, Baby Powder and some kind of medium you already have v.s. a single use product. Also, making your own roller stamps are far more cost effective than purchasing a ready-made product.
Some of these ideas, like the gesso and the glue, I will probably continue to purchase commercially but isn't it nice to know that if you're in a bind [like living in a remote location, or, say, stuck in a storm] you can proceed to art without a trip to the store!
Includes 27 Tutorials on:
DIY Glimmer Mist [6]
DIY Roller Stamps [in the 2 Sumi Smoosh by Diana Trout Tutorials]
DIY Blending Solution [alcohol - 1]
DIY Texture Paste [2]
DIY Distress Ink Blending Tools
DIY Gesso [1]
DIY Glue [2] one is fascinating making glue from milk, haven't tried it yet.
DIY Stamp Ink Pad
DIY Hot Glue Gun Stamps & Stencils [2 - future post]
DIY Hot Glue Gun Mold [2]
DIY Twinkling Shimmering Watercolour Paint [1]
DIY Embossing Folders [3]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homemade Modeling/Texture Paste Comparison
Luvleescrappin
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recipes we used:Baking Soda Texture Paste
1 Tablespoon Gesso
4 Tablespoons Baking Soda
1/2 Tablespoon Iridescent Medium
Baby Powder Texture Paste
2 Tablespoons Gesso
4 Tablespoons Baby Powder +*
1 Tablespoon Mod Podge
* needed a couple extra squirts baby powder - not very thick
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I honestly don't remember why I was researching texture paste, perhaps Red Bear does and she can remind me in her post. I was delighted when I found the comparison video. The recipes were simple, used ingredients I had in the house, and instantly brought to mind variations to try. I was anxious to use iridescent medium, anticipating a lovely shimmer in the end result. --sad face-- Well, that didn't happen!
These are the samples I did the day we made the paste:
 |
| Template made with die-cuts. Glossy black postcard paper. |
Well, that one didn't work so well. Red Bear was ahead of me, of course, and said "You have to be careful with pointy stencils like this. Best to gently scrape the paste from the outside edge of the point inward, carefully avoiding the point on the opposite side."
 |
| Easy Stitches - these would make great borders! |
 |
| I've used this garden planning template for more crafts projects than I've ever used it for planning any gardens! |
 |
| This is my favourite design. It's a quilting stencil. |
One day I was leafing through my practice altered art journal and noticed this pretty page. [whenever I have leftover paint that I can't waste, I usually slap it on a page or two in my practice AAJ] The colours reminded me of Northern Lights and I wondered if I could use a cake icing trick with the texture paste.
I put some of the paste in a small plastic bag, clipped a hole in one corner and used it like a pastry tube to "draw" with the texture paste.
Then I used a moistened finger to push the paste around. Finally, I added some black gesso I had a sample of. I haven't taken this project any farther yet.
 |
| Twinkling H2O Watercolor Paint ~ "Snapdragon" |
 |
| Finger smooshing. yes, that is a technical crafting term. |
 |
| Black Gesso - who knew there was such a thing? |
 |
| Now what? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Of course, Red Bear was way ahead of me, and lay her stencil down in a very linear fashion. I soon as I saw hers, I knew I had to angle mine!
Because of ... reasons ... we're way behind in our second Altered Art Journal [AAJ2], but something I had noticed on a previous shopping trip to the art store was itching at me. This trip, I had to get each of us a "Mixed Media Journal" by Strathmore.
Truthfully, I can't see much of a difference in the paper compared to any of the other journals but, they are officially now our Altered Art Journal #3, AAJ3.
I wanted us to do our first page together, while she was here in person even though I was still working on page one of AAJ2!
The theme had to be "friendship" and "winter", using the stencil she shared.
 |
| AAJ3-1 "friendship" "winter" "circle stencil" |
I dunno, I'm not 100% happy with the "best friends" tag on the wooden oval. I might take the sandpaper to it and replace it with something else. What do you think?
I started adding some colour with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads, "Peacock Feathers" is the teal and "Lemonade" was the yellow. But the yellow wasn't showing up much, so out came my watercolor pencils.
Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencil. I was a bit fearful that when I took my aqua pen to the pencil to paint it around, the texture paste might dissolve, but you can see it did not!
The metal flake is a Tim Holtz charm. Die cut white cardstock flake swirls are a die that Red Bear has. I just love it and am thankful that she shared some cuts with me.
In this next shot, you can see the wax paper die cut snowflakes I applied to the center of the circles. I just stamped them all over with Versamark embossing ink and used an iridescent embossing powder, a new one from Stampin' Up called "Iridescent Ice".
That's the Texture Paste post folks. Now it's Red Bear's turn to blog!
Edit to add a link to Red Bear's D.I.Y. Texture Paste Post.
Later 'Gators, Zoo
Sneak Peek: Red Bear made these pieces that we're using for an upcoming AAJ2 page. I can't wait to see what we make of these!
 |
| What would YOU make with these? |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Playlist: DIY_craft_suppliesTexture Paste, Gesso, Glue, Glue Gun Stamps, Stencils, Molds; Stamp Ink Pad, Blending Ink, Roller Stamps [in Sumi Smoosh videos], Glimmery Spray, Twinkly Watercolour Paint, Embossing Folders, and Ink Blending Tools.
For when you just can't wait to obtain supplies and you need to art right this very minute. Using household supplies and things you may already have in your craft room.
When you can't find just the right stamp or stencil, you can make your own with your glue gun, or inexpensive fun foam and a toilet paper roll. Adding your own style and expression at the same time. Make your art more you!
When you want to try a new medium but don't want to purchase something you may not enjoy using.
Some of these are truly cost saving, like the texture paste. Baking soda, Baby Powder and some kind of medium you already have v.s. a single use product. Also, making your own roller stamps are far more cost effective than purchasing a ready-made product.
Some of these ideas, like the gesso and the glue, I will probably continue to purchase commercially but isn't it nice to know that if you're in a bind [like living in a remote location, or, say, stuck in a storm] you can proceed to art without a trip to the store!
Includes 27 Tutorials on:
DIY Glimmer Mist [6]
DIY Roller Stamps [in the 2 Sumi Smoosh by Diana Trout Tutorials]
DIY Blending Solution [alcohol - 1]
DIY Texture Paste [2]
DIY Distress Ink Blending Tools
DIY Gesso [1]
DIY Glue [2] one is fascinating making glue from milk, haven't tried it yet.
DIY Stamp Ink Pad
DIY Hot Glue Gun Stamps & Stencils [2 - future post]
DIY Hot Glue Gun Mold [2]
DIY Twinkling Shimmering Watercolour Paint [1]
DIY Embossing Folders [3]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, April 01, 2015
Introducing Red Bear and a Blog Theme
I started this blog in September of 2006 and really haven't had much to say over the years. Except for the odd commentary on the news or other stuff I tripped over while reading the internets.
I did find that I had a lot to say about the photos I was uploading to my flickr account, and it occasionally occurred to me that I could be doing all of that typing on this blog, rather than in the remarks section of my flickr photos. It was only when I started participating in a blog my daughter started about me playing a computer game, that I realized blog writing isn't so scary and that I could do it.
Finally, a focus and a co-author for this blog! Time to turn this into an Arts 'n Crafts blog. Mainly paper crafts. Cards, Altered Art Journals, Mixed Media, some Scrapbooking, Ugly Paper Competitions, Monthly Challenges, Zentangle and Z.I.A., Painting, Colouring, Lettering and Calligraphy, Stamping, D.I.Y. Craft Supplies and Tools, ... but mostly it's all about the cutting and the pasting of the paper.
Another thing I learned co-writing My Mom Plays WoW, is that everything is better with a friend. It's easier and a lot more fun, to blog with someone than to go it alone. Enter Red Bear, I'll let her tell you where her moniker comes from. This Stampin' Up stamp pretty much says it all about Red Bear and me.
We've worked together, had kids together, and been posted all across Canada together, and apart, over the past twenty five years. Red Bear is a far more experienced crafter than I, she's been making her own cards as long as I've known her. We've both crafted with the kids over the years. Starting about five years ago we started branching out from stamping cards to other forms of artistic expression. Having said that, I recently caught the card-making-bug.
We absolutely do not take our artistic endeavours seriously. We are self-taught [I failed grade eleven art class], and we do this just for fun.
These posts will be about some of the things we've done that we'd like to share with you. You, anonymous internet reader-crafter, whoever you are! [leave a comment and introduce yourself] Or, are about giving credit where credit is due, and linking you up with other artists on the 'net that have inspired us and taught us.
Red Bear is a bit of a computer-phobe. She loathes being online and is extremely data-sharing-paranoid. I tried to convince her to start a flickr account, to no avail.
My continual requests to take photos of her work, fell on deaf ears. I thought. One day I received quite the package in the mail. Red Bear is so against sharing on the internet, she had physically printed pictures of her work, put them in photo album sleeves and mailed them to me!
I finally convinced her to blog with me by appealing to the one thing that trumps her dislike of all things computer and internet related - saving money. I doubt I would have succeeded with the cost of printing the photos alone, I believe what sealed the deal is that it costs so darn much to mail the photos across Canada!
Red Bear even went so far as to take a computer course. Then, my snail-paced life intervened. It's been a long time since she agreed to blog with me. When she agreed, she said "As soon as you make the texture paste post, I'll start blogging with you".
Well, I can't make the texture paste post until I make an introductory post ... ... time goes by ... ... and here we are. Today is the day the introduction to Red Bear, co-blogging, and a Blog Theme happens.
As mentioned, Red Bear and I have known each other for a long time. I was her on-job-instructor at work, then we were co-workers. Here's a photo of us taken in 1988 at a "winter in July"-themed Air Traffic Controller Check-Out Party.
Gawd, those were the days. That night was only the second time in my life, to date, that I got sick from drinking too much!
When Red Bear and I were pregnant at the same time, my husband went to pre-natal classes with both of us [which raised a few eyebrows that we took delight in.]. We were pen-pals for the many years our different work postings took us all over Canada and beyond. Serendipity brought us back together in the same geographic vicinity when the kids were finishing high school and getting started in their adult lives. That's when we started crafting together almost weekly. One final transfer took her to the other side of the country and for the past three years we've been having weekly Skype Craft sessions.
Yes, we had to get our kids to learn us how to Skype, but as we were physically separated from our offspring, the motherly motivation was high so we learned quickly. Then we realized we could use Skype for more than nagging, money requests, dorm room walk-throughs, and being introduced to our child's new friends!
When I began playing on the internet around 2000, I spent most of my time in arthritis and fibromyalgia support forums. This was long before the days of facebook and we were all advised never to use our real names or reveal personal data. My online "handle" from then was "Zoo" [that's where the name of this blog came from]. Since then, how much we reveal about ourselves online has come full circle, from being "required" to use our real names on facebook, to discovering the nefarious ways people can use data we reveal about ourselves, back to "don't tell 'em nothin".
We won't be using our real names on our craft posts. I've always referred to my daughter as "Kidlet" and my husband as "Himself", and will continue to do so. We'll sign-off our craft posts as Red Bear or Zoo so you'll know who is posting.
Red Bear is very linear and task oriented, which is great when we just need to get some crap done. I tend ramble and wander all over the place, getting distracted many times along the way from point A to point B, which is great for new discoveries.
We both love to make our own paper for crafting with.
We are very fond of putting our own spin on ideas and sometimes you can't even recognize the original work. For example, we often talk about "Sumi Smoosh" as in "we could use some sumi smoosh paper for this ..." or, something Red Bear said very recently "We haven't done Sumi Smoosh in awhile, we'll have to do some soon!" Shortly after Red Bear said that, in preparation for writing a few of these blog posts, I looked up the original Sumi Smoosh by Diana Trout. While I was re-watching the two videos, I wrote down this question to ask Red Bear at our next Skype Craft, "how in the world did we get from what Diana does to stamp ink pads and wax paper?". Red Bear's answer, "That's just the way we roll".
I'm eager to blog about our version of Sumi Smoosh and how we turned a sticky lint roller and an empty toilet paper roll into endless, or revolving stamps. We'll see how long it takes to get that post published! [hint: don't hold your breath]
My favourite shape is a circle, Red Bear's is the heart. Red Bear's fave colour is red, mine is green. We are both fond of glitter and/or shimmer. Fortunately we've discovered Perfect Pearls, iridescent medium, and fine glitter so we've moved away from what we now consider "kid's glitter glue" LOL
We are also fond of mocking ourselves, cracking wise, being sarcastic, and occasionally, we swear.
Phew! Done! One down, one to go. If you're still reading, you may have gathered I tend to babble on and on and on. Ya, ... that's not going to change. I write the way I think and talk.
So, enough about us, and on to the crafting! As soon as I get the texture paste post up, Red Bear will begin her blogging career.
Ciao for now, Zoo
I did find that I had a lot to say about the photos I was uploading to my flickr account, and it occasionally occurred to me that I could be doing all of that typing on this blog, rather than in the remarks section of my flickr photos. It was only when I started participating in a blog my daughter started about me playing a computer game, that I realized blog writing isn't so scary and that I could do it.
Finally, a focus and a co-author for this blog! Time to turn this into an Arts 'n Crafts blog. Mainly paper crafts. Cards, Altered Art Journals, Mixed Media, some Scrapbooking, Ugly Paper Competitions, Monthly Challenges, Zentangle and Z.I.A., Painting, Colouring, Lettering and Calligraphy, Stamping, D.I.Y. Craft Supplies and Tools, ... but mostly it's all about the cutting and the pasting of the paper.
Another thing I learned co-writing My Mom Plays WoW, is that everything is better with a friend. It's easier and a lot more fun, to blog with someone than to go it alone. Enter Red Bear, I'll let her tell you where her moniker comes from. This Stampin' Up stamp pretty much says it all about Red Bear and me.
We absolutely do not take our artistic endeavours seriously. We are self-taught [I failed grade eleven art class], and we do this just for fun.
These posts will be about some of the things we've done that we'd like to share with you. You, anonymous internet reader-crafter, whoever you are! [leave a comment and introduce yourself] Or, are about giving credit where credit is due, and linking you up with other artists on the 'net that have inspired us and taught us.
Red Bear is a bit of a computer-phobe. She loathes being online and is extremely data-sharing-paranoid. I tried to convince her to start a flickr account, to no avail.
My continual requests to take photos of her work, fell on deaf ears. I thought. One day I received quite the package in the mail. Red Bear is so against sharing on the internet, she had physically printed pictures of her work, put them in photo album sleeves and mailed them to me!
I finally convinced her to blog with me by appealing to the one thing that trumps her dislike of all things computer and internet related - saving money. I doubt I would have succeeded with the cost of printing the photos alone, I believe what sealed the deal is that it costs so darn much to mail the photos across Canada!
Red Bear even went so far as to take a computer course. Then, my snail-paced life intervened. It's been a long time since she agreed to blog with me. When she agreed, she said "As soon as you make the texture paste post, I'll start blogging with you".
Well, I can't make the texture paste post until I make an introductory post ... ... time goes by ... ... and here we are. Today is the day the introduction to Red Bear, co-blogging, and a Blog Theme happens.
As mentioned, Red Bear and I have known each other for a long time. I was her on-job-instructor at work, then we were co-workers. Here's a photo of us taken in 1988 at a "winter in July"-themed Air Traffic Controller Check-Out Party.
 |
| 1988 |
When Red Bear and I were pregnant at the same time, my husband went to pre-natal classes with both of us [which raised a few eyebrows that we took delight in.]. We were pen-pals for the many years our different work postings took us all over Canada and beyond. Serendipity brought us back together in the same geographic vicinity when the kids were finishing high school and getting started in their adult lives. That's when we started crafting together almost weekly. One final transfer took her to the other side of the country and for the past three years we've been having weekly Skype Craft sessions.
Yes, we had to get our kids to learn us how to Skype, but as we were physically separated from our offspring, the motherly motivation was high so we learned quickly. Then we realized we could use Skype for more than nagging, money requests, dorm room walk-throughs, and being introduced to our child's new friends!
When I began playing on the internet around 2000, I spent most of my time in arthritis and fibromyalgia support forums. This was long before the days of facebook and we were all advised never to use our real names or reveal personal data. My online "handle" from then was "Zoo" [that's where the name of this blog came from]. Since then, how much we reveal about ourselves online has come full circle, from being "required" to use our real names on facebook, to discovering the nefarious ways people can use data we reveal about ourselves, back to "don't tell 'em nothin".
We won't be using our real names on our craft posts. I've always referred to my daughter as "Kidlet" and my husband as "Himself", and will continue to do so. We'll sign-off our craft posts as Red Bear or Zoo so you'll know who is posting.
Some crafting background.
Red Bear's "go to method for adding colour" is chalk, with stamp ink being a close second. Mine is watercolour pencils/coloured pencils, with acrylic paint being a close second. Red Bear operates at super-warp-speed, I am painfully slow. I do have a good excuse, I am cognitively challenged due to some chronic illness, proven with neurological testing where I scored so-low-it-is-off-the-bottom-of-the-chart in cognitive processing ability.Red Bear is very linear and task oriented, which is great when we just need to get some crap done. I tend ramble and wander all over the place, getting distracted many times along the way from point A to point B, which is great for new discoveries.
We both love to make our own paper for crafting with.
We are very fond of putting our own spin on ideas and sometimes you can't even recognize the original work. For example, we often talk about "Sumi Smoosh" as in "we could use some sumi smoosh paper for this ..." or, something Red Bear said very recently "We haven't done Sumi Smoosh in awhile, we'll have to do some soon!" Shortly after Red Bear said that, in preparation for writing a few of these blog posts, I looked up the original Sumi Smoosh by Diana Trout. While I was re-watching the two videos, I wrote down this question to ask Red Bear at our next Skype Craft, "how in the world did we get from what Diana does to stamp ink pads and wax paper?". Red Bear's answer, "That's just the way we roll".
I'm eager to blog about our version of Sumi Smoosh and how we turned a sticky lint roller and an empty toilet paper roll into endless, or revolving stamps. We'll see how long it takes to get that post published! [hint: don't hold your breath]
My favourite shape is a circle, Red Bear's is the heart. Red Bear's fave colour is red, mine is green. We are both fond of glitter and/or shimmer. Fortunately we've discovered Perfect Pearls, iridescent medium, and fine glitter so we've moved away from what we now consider "kid's glitter glue" LOL
We are also fond of mocking ourselves, cracking wise, being sarcastic, and occasionally, we swear.
Phew! Done! One down, one to go. If you're still reading, you may have gathered I tend to babble on and on and on. Ya, ... that's not going to change. I write the way I think and talk.
So, enough about us, and on to the crafting! As soon as I get the texture paste post up, Red Bear will begin her blogging career.
Ciao for now, Zoo
Monday, November 17, 2014
Drunk birds sober up in Environment Yukon holding tank - North - CBC News
Silly birds! Great photo with this article
Drunk birds sober up in Environment Yukon holding tank - North - CBC News: "Birds in Yukon are getting tipsy on fermented berries, so Environment Yukon has set up an avian drunk tank where they can sober up safely."
'via Blog this'
Drunk birds sober up in Environment Yukon holding tank - North - CBC News: "Birds in Yukon are getting tipsy on fermented berries, so Environment Yukon has set up an avian drunk tank where they can sober up safely."
'via Blog this'
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Sunday, November 09, 2014
Cut a semi-circle in the middle of a piece of cardstock using a full circle die.
This YouTube video first shows how to use an embossing folder to emboss just an edge of a piece of cardstock.
Next, she shows one method of cutting a semi-circle in the center of a piece of cardstock using a full circle die.
This could easily be made into a semi-circle "window" by using a straight edge to slice out the bottom of the semi-circle.
Or, to create a place card that has a shape extending above the folded edge. To do that, you would just have to fold the cardstock along the line that would create the semi-circle above.
Using the same full circle die on a different piece of cardstock, you could then give the illusion that the circle is separate from and extending from the top of, your folded place card.
I'll have to do some of these in the future and take some pictures.
Zoo
Next, she shows one method of cutting a semi-circle in the center of a piece of cardstock using a full circle die.
This could easily be made into a semi-circle "window" by using a straight edge to slice out the bottom of the semi-circle.
Or, to create a place card that has a shape extending above the folded edge. To do that, you would just have to fold the cardstock along the line that would create the semi-circle above.
Using the same full circle die on a different piece of cardstock, you could then give the illusion that the circle is separate from and extending from the top of, your folded place card.
I'll have to do some of these in the future and take some pictures.
Zoo
Fall of the Berlin Wall - Google Search
Today, 9-Nov-2014 is the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. My daughter was born in Dec. 1989 and has never known a world with the wall in it.
Her grandfather was a paratrooper at Normandy.
I wish she had grown up in a world without war at all.
You would think that after all these thousands of years we would know better.
Being born in the sixty's I guess I'm just naive in wishing for "live and let live."
Fall of the Berlin Wall - Google Search: "Fall of the Berlin Wall"
'via Blog this'
Her grandfather was a paratrooper at Normandy.
I wish she had grown up in a world without war at all.
You would think that after all these thousands of years we would know better.
Being born in the sixty's I guess I'm just naive in wishing for "live and let live."
Fall of the Berlin Wall - Google Search: "Fall of the Berlin Wall"
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, November 05, 2014
'The beginning of the long dash' indicates 75 years of official time on CBC - Newfoundland & Labrador - CBC News
I didn't know that the CBC was involved in the telephone talking clock or the Network Time Protocol!
I used the telephone talking clock at least once a week before the advent of the internet. Working in a round-the-clock shift worker household and with aviation's precision time-keeping, it was important to me that our household clocks reflected the "real time".
Then the internet replaced the phone calls to the NRC clock. I always was mildly curious about who ran the internet clock.
It's taken me years of retirement to let go of my obsession keeping all the clocks in this rural home "on time". I always expected our electricity to be somewhat less than perfect when we were living up north. I was surprised, though I don't know why, to discover rural electricity "down south" can be just as variable.
Last weekend when the fall time change happened I realized how lax I've become. The clocks from one end of the house were out by as much as 10 minutes from the other end! I can imagine what it will be like when Himself retires as well.
With no one at work and no one in school, with the "farm time" beating in weeks and months, I imagine our non-computer clocks will suffer even more from lack of attention.
At least there's always the CBC radio on in the background of the craft room. The hourly long dash keeping me at least peripherally aware of the passage of time.
'The beginning of the long dash' indicates 75 years of official time on CBC - Newfoundland & Labrador - CBC News: "The control room contains the systems used to disseminate official time to the public, including the telephone talking clock, the CBC daily time broadcasts, computer time clocks, and the internet servers for Network Time Protocol (NTP). (NRC)"
'via Blog this'
I used the telephone talking clock at least once a week before the advent of the internet. Working in a round-the-clock shift worker household and with aviation's precision time-keeping, it was important to me that our household clocks reflected the "real time".
Then the internet replaced the phone calls to the NRC clock. I always was mildly curious about who ran the internet clock.
It's taken me years of retirement to let go of my obsession keeping all the clocks in this rural home "on time". I always expected our electricity to be somewhat less than perfect when we were living up north. I was surprised, though I don't know why, to discover rural electricity "down south" can be just as variable.
Last weekend when the fall time change happened I realized how lax I've become. The clocks from one end of the house were out by as much as 10 minutes from the other end! I can imagine what it will be like when Himself retires as well.
With no one at work and no one in school, with the "farm time" beating in weeks and months, I imagine our non-computer clocks will suffer even more from lack of attention.
At least there's always the CBC radio on in the background of the craft room. The hourly long dash keeping me at least peripherally aware of the passage of time.
'The beginning of the long dash' indicates 75 years of official time on CBC - Newfoundland & Labrador - CBC News: "The control room contains the systems used to disseminate official time to the public, including the telephone talking clock, the CBC daily time broadcasts, computer time clocks, and the internet servers for Network Time Protocol (NTP). (NRC)"
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Make Any Size Box Using Your Stampin' Up! Envelope Punch Board and Box B...
Start tutorial at the 6 minute mark with a 9 inch square piece of paper to make a box 51/2 x 4 x 1 inch to hold 4 cards with their envelopes.
Box Buster
Zoo
I'm in rest & recovery mode from MCB's visit. Sore hands and joints mean watchin' TV, DVDs and YouTube crafting videos!
Monday, August 25, 2014
Cards -- Summer Dresses
MCB learned how to make a summer dress out of a circle. We used my scalloped circle die-cut.
The exact nestabilities dies are labeled on the cardboard templates.
Purses are made from scraps, I hand lettered the sentiment, doily for the lace under-petticoat-thingy! This time the card bases were purchased at a craft store, SGD online.
The exact nestabilities dies are labeled on the cardboard templates.
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| Summer Dresses - right click, open in a new tab/window to see full size |
Purses are made from scraps, I hand lettered the sentiment, doily for the lace under-petticoat-thingy! This time the card bases were purchased at a craft store, SGD online.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Places I've been, places to go.
I was born in Winnipeg. Raised half 'n half between school days in the city and the rest of the time in Lac du Bonnet. When I was 18 I moved away to go to school and then moved 13 times in 14 years up north before settling down south, here on the farm, in 1994.
Unlike most Canadians, instead of being an east to west type of traveler, I'be been living on a north-south line all my life.
Winnipeg to Thompson, "Y" out: north-west to Lynn Lake, north-east to Churchill, then back in straight north to Qausuittuq, Nunavut [Resolute Bay].
I've always been a swimmer. Built for comfort not speed, my specialty was endurance. I can and have swum [swam?] all day.
I have taken a swim in the Arctic Ocean off Dynamite Beach, Cornwallis Island, waded in the Creswell River, on Somerset Island. Off the coast of Vancouver Island @ Qualicum Beach in the Pacific Ocean, in Hudson Bay off the coast of Churchill.
I've been in 6 of 10 provinces, none in the Atlantic, so I have to get to Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and New Brunswick and swim in the Atlantic Ocean before I die. I have been in 2 of the 3 territories, so just have to visit Yukon.
The farthest north I've been is Eureka, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. The farthest east, Quebec City, Quebec.
The farthest west, east coast of Vancouver Island. Unless you count Hawaii.
Unlike most Canadians, instead of being an east to west type of traveler, I'be been living on a north-south line all my life.
Winnipeg to Thompson, "Y" out: north-west to Lynn Lake, north-east to Churchill, then back in straight north to Qausuittuq, Nunavut [Resolute Bay].
I've always been a swimmer. Built for comfort not speed, my specialty was endurance. I can and have swum [swam?] all day.
I have taken a swim in the Arctic Ocean off Dynamite Beach, Cornwallis Island, waded in the Creswell River, on Somerset Island. Off the coast of Vancouver Island @ Qualicum Beach in the Pacific Ocean, in Hudson Bay off the coast of Churchill.
I've been in 6 of 10 provinces, none in the Atlantic, so I have to get to Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and New Brunswick and swim in the Atlantic Ocean before I die. I have been in 2 of the 3 territories, so just have to visit Yukon.
The farthest north I've been is Eureka, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. The farthest east, Quebec City, Quebec.
The farthest west, east coast of Vancouver Island. Unless you count Hawaii.
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