creative

energy...

i bought this frame nearly a year ago. bought the paper a few weeks ago. and i need to add a more recent photo of our big boy. (but love this old sweet one.....he was 19 months old...which is our little girls age right now....wow!)


the paper is by cosmo cricket. transparency by hambley. brad by american crafts. ribbon by my minds's eye. letter by go west studios....inked by ranger alcohol inks. tag by daisy d's. frame by ikea.

i used alcohol ink on the back side of the letter. it is a thick plastic piece with etched designs. i was impressed with how well they coordinated with this paper. and i love how the ink worked it's magic on it too. sometimes designs just seem to do better than you expect...(if only this was the rule and not the exception!)

(the tag came with the box of goodies from Kim!)

the goodie box girls announce a fun challenge each month. this month is their first anniversary of their business. so the challenge was to create a layout using the word "one". or incorportating "one" in some way. perhaps one color. one photo. or some other creative way to use "one"!

this is the first time i will submit a layout to a contest like this. so a historical moment!

and i thought it would be stressful. not at all. this was fun!

normally i start with the photo and let the page take shape from there.

but in this case i thought about what i could do with "one" in the title. then i chose a few photos i hadn't scrapped before that worked with what i was thinking. i had several ideas...so the photos just helped me narrow it down.

i wanted to use the title "one fine day". then when i pulled out stuff to go with the photo i thought it would be fun to do it all in pink. then i found these other photos. and it just grew. and i ended up not using the initial photo at all. and i changed the title too!

cardstock is bazzill. notepaper, felt and paper flowers, buttons by making memories. letters, foam flowers and bird, brads by american crafts. rhinestones are heidi swapp and also craft supply. and a little hambley transparency. rub-ons are k-i memories (also part of the goody box from kim!) pigment ink is colorbox. white pen is stampin' up. (this is a great pen!)

and i got to use my edge distresser too!

well...i finished this one. and then i still had that original title and photo. hmmm....

so i pulled out the blue cardstock. yum! and then i found these circles on some scrap paper. oh yes! eureka?!

again cardstock by bazzill. patterned paper, letters, acrylic flowers by american crafts. blue letters and butterfly by heidi swapp. i also used stickles glitter glue on the butterfly. buttons and rhinestone brads were just hanging out on a shelf begging to be used....can't remember if they're making memories or some other fine company?!

this is my favourite.

and i also stretched myself to cut out the circle pattern by hand. using an exacto knife and some detail scissors. i surprised myself. and i think i am now addicted to this kind of trimming. uh oh. watch out!


and the prizes....go check them out. they may look familiar to you....then enter your page. it will be fun. just enter before Sunday!

and then share your creations with me. please. oh pretty please.

alcohol ink

technique overview

the first few photos just show me adding ink to my acrylic.

in this case i just used some plastic packaging. how cheap is that?!

there is no technique here other than knowing how to squeeze the bottle and point the nozzle onto the surface. yeah. tough. take deep breaths!

but take a look at how the first drops just kind of stay where they are.

when you start to layer the inks, they make some pretty funky patterns.

the ink does not dry right away, so there is a "path" for the added inks to follow.

my favourite part? if you don't like the colour or pattern. rub off the ink and start over. nothing is wasted. not even time. it is nice to have the opportunity to practice and not waste anything.

here is what you need:

i started with 3 bottles of alcohol ink.

you don't need to buy the expensive applicator tool and precut felt pieces. unless you just had a birthday and someome knows you well enough to buy such a cool tool for you! you can use a clothespin. and pick up some white felt. trim off a piece about 2 cm by 5 cm.

it also is a must to have newsprint or something under the acrylic. there will be some mess.

apply the ink from the bottle onto the acrylic shape.

use the felt/clothespin to DAB at the ink and spread it to where you want it. this step is a lot like stamping or painting.

add more ink to get a darker colour. or add another colour of ink.

each time you add more ink, DAB at it with the felt and move it around to where you want it placed.

here is another shape. you can see in the third photo how the ink is starting to spread out.

scroll back up and take a look at my collage. it may make more sense now.

and here is the finished project!

at the time i did not have felt on hand. i used a cotton pad instead. it did work okay. but i noticed some fibres on some of the shapes.

my piece of felt was about 2 square metres (HUGE). i cut off a 2 cm strip last night and then cut that into smaller rectangles. (cut the strip in half, half again, half again, etc.) it took me 5 minutes. i have enough felt for serveral uses. and i still have a TON of felt to cut out in the future. maybe i'll make some felt animals for the kids! lol!! and the cost? $8. yes. cost effective.

and more ideas to share:

and then i came across this use for alcohol inks today from Janine's blog. check out this cool technique for painting with alcohol ink. i cannot wait to try this out. this is similar to watercolour painting. without the watercolour. and no paintbrush. and on acrylic instead of paper. lol! the way that you move the ink on the acrylic and the forgiveness of the colour IS just like the painting part of watercolour painting. people LOVE it when i say stuff like this....something that is so simple, and i make it more complicated! just go check it out and then see if you can then understand what i am trying to say!

here is something much more complicated in the area of needed materials. but oh sooo cool! . check out the "categories" section on the left. but also follow his links in this blog entry. yeah. wow.

so i hope you have fun and feel more inspired to try something new. i wanted to make it seem less scary to try. if you have any other links of what you can do with alcohol inks, let me know!

it's a

dye job!

if you have been following my blog, you may remember that i said i wanted to step of the box in my scrapbooking. baby steps.

this week i bought some alcohol inks.

i had first learned how to do them from Cari at the Urban Scrapbook on an acrylic album. l enjoyed it and loved the appearance. they look fabulous in fall colours.

i had been wanting to do this on my own since then...just couldn't make a decision on the colours to buy. they are relatively inexpensive, but i think it is good to have some variety in colour. i could not decide which ones to buy.

i decided i did not want to repeat the edge distresser tale!

the use of alcohol ink has been a new technique for at least a year. however that statement may just prove my lack of knowledge in the field of new techniques! not that you needed more proof. you can tell that i have not been up to date in the area of the latest and greatest techniques to try.

a little trip to my lss and purchase of some acrylic shapes.

then another trip to buy a sheet of acrylic and cut out a butterfly with the die cut machine.

and a bold move to finally choose 3 bottles of acholol ink.
(stonewashed, caramel and cranberry)

then took them to the counter before i had a chance to change my mind!

the strategy worked.

these flowers were each done with a single colour.

the nearest butterfly has a combination of blue and red.
this butterfly has all three of the colours. (and some *bling* added later.)

it is a technique that is as messy as stamping. so not scary at all. the great part is that if you make a mistake you can actually dab away the ink and fix it. at least on acrylic that is. perfect for me.

i will try to take pictures of this technique next time --- though it is simple enough to not need that much explanation! i often do my work after the kids are in bed and the house is too dark for any good photo taking.

i think Roslyn would be happy to see that i let myself try some messy stuff. she may need to be sitting down when she hears that i just might be ready to try flocking. but that is a story for another day...

it is also important to note that i do not dream up all of this on my own. i appreciate any and all advice i get from the girls. Neeru pointed out that the store sells the acrylic by the sheet....and i can make a die cut of anything i want. i love how it all looks. thanks Neeru!

the box is getting smaller! yay!!

acrylic winter album

is finished!

if you ever get the opportunity to make an acrylic or transparent album, do it!!! they are not as difficult as they look and that might just be the best part. and i can't forget to mention that they're fun too.

this is the front cover (obvious, i know!)
it looks so neat when it is opened like this...and wow lots of pages
somehow managed to put 2 photos of Aidan and i

here....still have one of Kiara and i....

hmmm...not sure what i will do yetAidan was making "snow marshmallows" for Kiara

tough to tell here...but Aidan made a snow angel on first page

and on the second page...Kiara is standing just above the

finished angel

and that is the end.

so fun!