Today I finished up a project using an SVGCuts.com set that I bought last year called Spring Birdhouses. Here is the link directly to that set. Spring Birdhouses I know it isn't spring yet, but I had some time to work on these cute little birdhouses, so I made some for my Card Club group that will be meeting tomorrow.
You can just make out my Silver Bullet Electronic die cutting machine in the background. (I just L O V E that machine).
I used Stampin Up patterned paper for the fronts, Worldwin DoubleMates for the boxes, and various papers for the other embellishments. I glued everything together with ScrapFusion (TM) glue from Ivy Hallow. Here are some close up pictures of the houses.
I think I'm going to have to make the other Bird Houses in that set and use them to decorate for Spring. They went together easily, but then all the files from SVGCuts.com are a joy to work with. I'm going to have to start using more of their files.
All the photography was done by my in house photographer... Daniel Hammond.
Today, I was able to play around with some of the things I have seen in the Creative Jump Start 2013 videos. The very first video used double sided tape and embossing powder. It was a lot of fun, and I didn't actually make a project, but I made some tape and put it in my art journal, to keep a record of what I liked and didn't like.
I used the TTT tape, which has a plastic type of lining, instead of paper. So I had to cut it to remove parts from my tape after putting it on my craft mat. I didn't really care for the abrupt change from one color to the next.
On the second one, I started to 'mix' my embossing powder, and liked that look a lot better. I also put some glitter down on the tape first then covered it in EP. Not sure how I feel about that, the glitter does show a bit but not a lot. The third one, I removed the entire coating and just sprinkled a bit of EP over it, using 3 different colors... I like that one the most. I can see me doing a lot more of this technique when I want a cool embellishment using tape. Here is a picture of the 3 "tapes" I made. Even though I didn't use my tape for a project, I got to play a bit, and found what I liked and what I didn't like. I think the next time I try this, I will use some of my ScorTape, with a paper lining, and see if I like the looks of a "torn" edge better, and a thinner tape. I think you can get some interesting looks with this technique, playing around with colors.
I'm still learning how to use things here in Blogland... so I hope you can see this picture well enough to see what I did. I need to figure out how to make the image larger when you click on it, so you can get a good look at it.
I think the next time I get a chance to play, I'm going to try cutting out some shapes using my Silver Bullet Electronic Cutter, and the sheets of double sided adhesive, and see what I can come up with. I think a heart shape, with different colors of red EP would look really nice. The possibilities are endless!!! I hope I gave you a few ideas to try on your own, when you start playing around with your tape and embossing powders.
I have been participating in Creative Jump Start 2013 and checking out the blogs of all the wonderful and creative ladies that are doing videos. The other day, I was looking around on Julie Fei-Fan Blazer's blog , and found some interesting classes she is offering this year. They are called Getting Started. Each month, she is going to have an online class in Getting Started with different techniques or supplies for your art. January's class is Getting started with Color Mixing. Feburary's class is Getting Started with the Gelli Plate. and there is a different one each month. Each class is $15, and you don't have to take the class each month. However, if you sign up for all 12, she is offering them for $165 a $15 savings, so it's like getting one class for free. You don't have to sign up for them in the month that they are offered, you can purchase a class at any time during the year. You can check out her site for more information on her classes.
Getting Started with Julie Fei-Fan Blazer
If you have never taken a class from Julie, she packs all her videos full of ideas and inspiration. She also offers a free online class that shows you different ways to use stencils. Stencil 101 I took that class last year, and she packs so much information into her videos, you need to watch them more than once to absorb it all. And like all her other online classes, once you sign up for it, you have access to it for life, so you can go back and watch it when ever you need a bit of inspiration.
Her class on color mixing is going to be my first class. I had decided to buy some good quality acrylic paints (as suggested by Nathalie in one of her Creative Jump Start videos) because Michaels, put their Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic Paint (the same used by Nathalie in her video) on sale for 50% off for one day on Wednesday this week. So I bought the 3 primary colors, plus White and Black. I figured for just getting started, I should be able to mix any color I need with those basic colors. And I didn't want to spend a lot of money on colors I wasn't sure I would use. Then the next day, I see Julie Fei-Fan Blazer's blog and the new classes for 2013. Is that serendipitous or what?
So, if you are just Getting Started on your art journey, and need some guidance in how to use different supplies or techniques, you really should check out Julie Fei-Fan Blazers Getting Started classes.
Hello and welcome to my blog. I have decided to start blogging to have a place where I can share my crafts, quilts and fun or inspiring things I find on the web.
Please bear with me as I learn how to blog, and tweak how things look around here. I didn't want to wait to start posting until I had everything set... so there may be some changes as I go along.
Thank you for stopping by.. and I hope you find some inspiration for your crafting journey.
To start off, I want to let you know about a great way to help get some creative ideas. It's called Creative Jump Start Summit 2013. Nathalie Kalbach is the wonderful person organizing it and she has some great people lined up to help show you how to use supplies you might have on hand, or things you thought about getting, but weren't sure how to use. There are some great sponsers as well, and a lot of them have giveaways.. so you could win some things to help with your creativity. It has already started, so you will not receive links to the previous videos, she can't manually send out emails to every one that joins after Jan 1, 2013. But there is still time to see some great ideas in the ones that are coming out the rest of the month. Here is the link to find out more about it.
Creative Jump Start 2013
Since I have just started blogging I don't have any pictures to show yet... so that is something I will be working on as I work on my blog. Thanks again for stopping by and enjoy your journey.
