Inkspiration

Guest DT toot!

I am delighted and honoured to be asked to be a guest DT for Your Next Stamp. These are really fun stamps packed with character and I will be demonstrating how to use them on layouts. I just selected some stamps to work with last night, and of course, I will let you know when posts go up on the Your Next Stamp blog! Meantime, I just wanted to share my happiness with you!

Remember Happy Times - MSW January Reveal

When I was accepted for this term at My Sketch World, I had promised myself that I would get out of the box a little with the sketches. Well, amazingly, this term is almost over, so now is the time! We needed a gift to give my father in law, and he's a tough one to buy for, so it was decided I would make him a layout for his wall. I could have made a paper layout and put it in a frame, but recalling my promise, I decided to get a little more adventurous...

.... and messy! It was FUN!

This is a 12 x 12 stretched canvas frame on which I built my layout. This is my first attempt at something like this, so here is what I learned:

1. Applying gesso was redundant - this canvas was already white because it had come prepped with gesso (I read that later).

2. Applying mists to texture medium - well, both take forever to dry in that combination. But it was fun applying the heat tool to the texture medium and watching it bubble - that created a new texture in itself.

3. Embedding micro beads in the texture medium was a fun way to add texture, but I don't know if they're going to stay there long term.

4. I love the look of the masked butterflies. Butterflies were a favourite of Wendy's so I had to use them on here.

This was the start of the getting messy part. I used vellum to punch out the butterflies. They were masks for the misting in the upper left and then I embedded them in the texture medium in the upper right and lower left corners.

There were about 6-8 colours of mist used - some green, some red/brown.

 

 

 

I chose Echo Parks Times and Seasons collection for this project. It had a timeless feel that seemed good for this tribute and worked for a gift for a man.

While I waited for the canvas surface to dry, I worked on the matting of the photo, and other details that were being attached to the canvas. I did lots of distressing and inking on most paper surfaces. The frame came from a sticker sheet. I applied Crystal Effects to it to give some sheen and a bit more of a solid feel, since this won't be in a page protector. You can also see that I punched out a butterfly from the patterned paper and layered it over the vellum butterfly.

Can you see how much I played with the texture medium? The little dots are the microbeads embedded in it.

I eventually added ink to all 4 sides of the canvas to finish it.

I love this detail. The matted photo flips on hinges to reveal a poem Wendy had saved. You can see there is more distressing and misting here, too, in keeping with the whole feel of the canvas.

The poem by David Harkins reads:

Remember Me

Do not shed tears when I have gone
but smile instead because I have lived.

Do not shut your eyes and pray to God that I’ll come back
but open your eyes and see all that I have left behind.

I know your heart will be empty because you cannot see me
but still I want you to be full of the love we shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live only for yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of what happened
between us yesterday.

You can remember me and grieve that I have gone
or you can cherish my memory and let it live on.

You can cry and lose yourself become distraught
and turn your back on the world
or you can do what I want - smile, wipe away the tears,
learn to love again and go on.

*I can't go on. I must go on. I'll go on.

Here is the completed upper right cluster. I misted a chipboard circle, to which I  added tiny pearls. There is also a tag that summarizes how Wendy approached each day. The ribbon and rick rack were misted to better match the layout.

 

 

 

 

The lower cluster is smaller and simpler to allow access to the hidden poem. More misted ribbon and a pearled punched butterfly all sitting on the textured corner.

 

Do you see the bamboo skewer? I still find that it is the best tool for curling the torn paper edges.

 

 

This is Lucy's sketch that inspired my canvas piece. I am really thrilled with how it came out and actually hope to make some more off the page pieces this year.

If you create a layout with this sketch, I'd love to see it. And let me know what you think of the canvas. The recipient of this gift was pretty choked up, so I think he liked it.

 

 

 

 

Supplies: Echo Park pp and stickers, rick rack, ribbon, Crystal Effects, Harmonie chipboard, BG pearls, hinges, Tattered Angels mists, Stampin' Up micro beads and ink, Texture Medium, gesso, Fonts are Scriptina and Eras, Martha Stewart punch.

 

 

My Sketch World - Sneak Peek

I don't always remember to do these, but I have had my January work for My Sketch World done for a week, now, and I'm itching to show you!!! I'm very excited about it, but, of course, I can't show you until January 1st. So... for now, I'll show you this:

Hmmm... that probably doesn't tell you much, does it. Let me just say I used some yummy Echo Park papers, and it got messy!

My Sketch World Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Calling all layout sketch lovers! We’ve asked our designers to choose their favourite layout sketch and challenge their partner to show you ways to create fabulous layouts, each with their very own a twist!  Our international designers on this hop are:

My Sketch World 

Ann Jobes (YOU Are Here! And I'm glad you are!)

Bev Code - visit the uber talented Bev next

Christa Uttley

Cindy Noesen

Deb Long

Ginni Gass

Joan Borgelt

Malin Rimby

The details:

1. Visit each blog and leave a comment. Read carefully, there may be individual requirements as some designers are offering little prizes of their own!

2. After you have visited each Designer's blog come back to My Sketch World blog and let us know what you thought. Part One of the hop ends Monday, December 5th, 11:59 EST.

3. Everyone who posts a comment on each blog will be entered to win! Winners will be randomly chosen.

4. To receive an additional entry, scraplift a layout and link it back to the My Sketch World blog (in your comment) and tell us what inspired you!

5. Have fun! Be inspired! Part Two of this hop begins December 10,2011.

If you are a cardlover, you are going to delight in Part Two! Don't miss it.

 

My blog hop partner is Cindy, who shares the layout reveal for My Sketch World and her lovely creations on the MSW Facebook page. Cindy chose this sketch by Lucy and as an extra challenge, she asked me to use more than 1 photo.

I'd love to take a minute and show you how I created this. One of my favourite articles in the scrapbooking magazines is the beginner-stepped up-advanced article, where a designer shows you a nicely put together, well balanced, well designed, layout that is probably clean and simple. She then shows you how to step up the design a few more times. Here's my version:

For my simple version, I have fussy cut the background paper to pop up the ornaments and pine boughs. Two pieces of patterned paper are layered under the photos, a coordinating sticker is popped up as the title, and a punched piece adorns and draws the eye to the photos.

 

For my stepped up version, I added a lot of Crystal Effects glaze, colouring all of the berries, and a lot of gold Stickles to trace the lines on the ornaments.  

For my finished layout, the more advanced version, I added gold edging using a Zig painty pen to the title block, along with some stickles to the tiny ornaments on it, and I traced the word "Christmas" with the Crystal Effects. I added strip journalling to tell a story, and 3 little ornaments near the journalling. The punched border was painted with gold pearl paint to look more aged. I also used gold cord to suspend the ornaments, replacing the threads drawn on the patterned paper. Lastly, I altered some black vinyl Thickers shapes and added them to the corners. To change these from black, I first tried white pigment ink, but that was not working well. I then tried colouring them with a white-out pen and that covered them well. When the white out was dry, I used a mix of Copic and Stampin' Up! markers in burgundy and green tones to achieve this aged leathery look. I brushed on just a bit of the gold pearl paint to add a little glimmer. 

 

Thank you so much for sticking with me! I hope you enjoyed seeing the creative process I used for this layout. Thank you, Cindy, for choosing a great sketch - it surely inspired me!

 

Now, before you hop away, I am doing a little giveaway. After all, if you made it through my long post, you deserve an award! Hee hee! I would LOVE if you enjoyed what you saw enough to want become a follower of my blog, but I won't require it to be a winner of my giveaway because I don't want to coerce or guilt you in any way. So follow me if you like - I would be truly honoured! If you'd like to enter my giveaway, just leave me a comment - I read all of them, and you really make my day when you take the time!

 

What could you win? Let's see - I am proudly Canadian, so I will giveaway a copy of the fall Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine. I think I'll add some buttons and ribbons, some rubons, and flowers. I want to keep what I mail fairly flat, but it will be GOOD! Hey free scrappy goodies is always a bonus, right? I'll hold the draw for the giveaway on Tuesday, December 6th, so be sure to pop back then! So just leave a comment to be entered by the hop deadline on Monday, December 5th at 11:59 pm EST. So you get 2 chances to win by leaving a comment - 1 from me, and 1 from My Sketch World - how great is that?! Now, off you go to see what my friend Bev has been up to and I hope you'll be back again soon!

Blessings,

Ann

SYTYCD - My Sketch World Reveal

This month, Lucy challenged us with a double layout:

It's probably been about 7 months since I last did a double layout, so this was good exercise for me!

The layout I created will commemorate a very special day when Brian & I took Sarah to Toronto as an early birthday present so we could take her to the So You Think You Can Dance tour. We all had a great time, and Sarah was really thrilled. She got some great photos, despite the dark arena and the distance from stage. I especially love the photo she took of Melissa (this year's winner). What a great photo to capture that phenomenal pose!

I turned the semi circles into little clusters, adding ribbon, flowers and stickers.

In this shot, you can see the the 2nd cluster that started from the semi circle on the right page, along with some paint I splotched on the cardstock, and little irridescent flowers that I scattered. I love the multi-coloured cross-stitch detail made with baker's twine - it makes me happy!

Here's a full shot of the left page then. Can you see the multi-colour zigzag stitch? I chose to go with a very colourful layout because I really wanted the mood of the layout to exude a celebratory, happy feel! So the polka dots, the colours, the flowers - colour and happy!

When is the last time you did a double layout? Why not play with this month's sketch. If you do, be sure to share it the My Sketch World forum and gallery - we'd love to see it!

If you'd like to see what my fellow design teammates did with the sketch, you'll find links to their blogs in my sidebar, or visit the My Sketch World blog to see them all in one place.

Thanks for popping by!

Blessings,

Ann

P.S. Remember to come on back to be part of the MSW Blog Hop on Saturday!

There are prizes and of course, lots of great sketchy inspiration!

 

Christmas Card - Practical Scrappers

You must visit Practical Scrappers if you are looking for ideas to jumpstart your mojo before your Christmas card making session! All week long, we're featuring Christmas cards. Here is one that I shared there:

This card uses lots of stamping. I stamped with gold on gold paper to create the textured background behind the star. I also stamped with clear embossing powder that has a glitter in it with a harlequin background to create the base of the cardfront.

I trimmed off the side of the cardfront to accomodate the greeting which is stamped and embossed on the inside bottom panel of the card. To the back of the front panel of the card, I adhered to border strips for a dash of colour.

I like the glittery finish of this card - something about Christmas and glitter and bling!

Have you started making Christmas cards? How many do you usually make?

Thanks for popping by!

Be blessed,

Ann

MSW November Reveal

Lucy is all dug out and has been able to do the reveal for My Sketch World!

This is the fabulous sketch Lucy created for us to work with. I have to say I don't usually do much with banners, mostly because I don't handcut the angles very nicely when I make them from scratch.

When I went to the crop with the Scrap Much friends last weekend, a very generous serving of peaches was at each attendees place. Peachy Keen goodness, I mean! I knew I was going to scrap photos of Sarah's birthday and had them along. When I saw this packet of American Crafts papers and embellishments, the layout came together really well!

Brian took the photos while I delivered the cake to the guest of honour. I love that smile as she reads the card from her Uncle Charlie! The day was a bit dull and the sheer curtains behind her  fade out the colours of her clothes, but that just made these papers even more ideal!

For the banner, I used a chipboard piece and cut it down to the length I required. I layered the chipboard on a piece of cardstock and inked all the edges. Then I layered on these great circle alphas from Authentique to spell out Best Birthday Ever. The banner is "held on" to the layout (in appearance only, of course), with a lovely little scrap of organdy ribbon that I've had in my stash for about a year. I tied the little bows and then layered on the buttons. The title is my classic multi-font, multi-colour approach using AC Thickers and K & Co glittery stickers. The badge is an extra detail, and again came from the goodie bag.

You can see a bit of my journaling which is a combination of handwriting and terrific word stickers from a sheet of words by Authentique. The felt cupcakes - aren't they adorable? They are by Pebbles and they were PERFECT for this layout, since the card and cake I made for her were both cupcake themed. I inked the edges of just about everything on this layout, including the felt cupcakes, just to tone them down a little.

Here's the other cupcake and a button tied with the last little piece of organdy.

You can see what everyone else did with the sketch by visiting the MSW blog or the MSW forum. And you can use the sketch too, and share your layout on the forum - we'd LOVE to see it!

And speaking of My Sketch World forum, what are you doing in 2 weeks. There will be a One Hour Sketch Challenge on Saturday, November 19th at 9 pm (EST). These are a lot of fun and a terrific way to get a quick layout done. And the neat part? You are not scrapping alone! There will be a lot of other scrappers playing along. I hope to be there - I've got it on my calendar. Why don't you join us?

Thanks for popping by!

Be blessed,

Ann

Practical Scrappers challenge: 5 stamps

Every Tuesday, Practical Scrappers posts a challenge. This week's Challenge Me Tuesday is to use 5 stamps. I made this Christmas card for this challenge:

This card actually uses 6 stamps - the script background, 3 stamps on the navy piece (canvas background on which I overstamped with a star stamp, and the Joy script stamp), and then the star word stamp, and the word peace stamped on the tag.

So that's my second Christmas card for this season, and it's not even December yet. Isn't that amazing?! It is if you know me. LOL! Have you made any Christmas cards, yet?

Will you play along with this challenge at Practical Scrappers - it does not have to be a card. You'll see other designers used their stamps on layouts, so check it out and play along!

Be blessed - Ann

A Few Cards to Show You

Practical Scrappers just put up a post about Stampin' Up! Of course, being a retired Stampin' Up! rep, I have a bit of it still in my stash, so I said I'd contribute a few cards for the post.

Here's what I shared:

I made several of these at the same time so I can give them to my church. All materials are Stampin' Up! from the cardstock to the ink to the punch to the glitter to the stamps. To achieve the 2 colours on the stamp, I used markers and coloured right on the stamp, rather than pressing a stamp into a single inkpad.

I wanted to create a watercolour effect with this card. Again, I made a few of them, for church. I stamped the leaf on the vanilla cardstock (in retrospect, I should have used watercolour paper but I forgot I had some). I then wet a paintbrush and picked up some colour from the tip of the matching watercolour crayon and swished the colour onto the stamped image. Since I was going for a watercolour effect, I wasn't too concerned about being precise and staying in the lines. When the splotches were dry, I overstamped to give the splotches some definition.

I made this last card at my Stampin' Up! rep's open house, so the concept is hers. I just put my spin on it. Stamping onto glossy cardstock and then waiting for the image to dry. Then I used sponge daubers to apply the ink. I wanted the image to look as though the sun was setting somewhere beyond the tree, so I concentrated intense colours on the tree, and then graduated to lighter colours beyond the tree. The sponge dauber is a great way to apply ink to glossy cardstock as it slides right on and you can work it a little, rubbing in circles. I used a punch to create the leaves, then folded them up the middle to give them a vein and applied ink the vein and outside edges for some definition.

Thanks for popping by! I'll be back soon with more to show you. Blessings - Ann

My Sketch World Reveal - Her Dreams...

 
This is the sketch the layout team played with for the October reveal. Some neat details, isn't there, with the tear, and the flourishes, and the multi-sized photos.

 
I will tell you right off that the main photo, the focal point of the layout, leaves something to be desired. But sometimes that happens, doesn't it? You want to capture a moment through a scrapbook page, even though the photo is not quite ideal. That is the truth in this case. The journaling tells the story of how excited I was (and am) for my friend Christa and her first magazine publication. my subscription arrived before hers (or I checked my mailbox before she checked hers) and went straight to her place to show her. It was a fantastic moment, and I think it was a little bit dreamlike for her - she kept saying how it just didn't feel real. Recreating the moment later with a setup scenario and posed shot would, I think, remove some of the authenticity of the moment, so instead, I chose to work with a less than perfect photo. This is real life!

The sketch was great because it provided 3 photos. I chose another shot of her as she looked up after signing my magazine. She is clearly pleased and proud, as she should be, and has a grin from ear to ear. By using the same photo twice, I hope I captured the delight.

I love these papers by Fancy Pants. It's a line called About a Girl and came out last year sometime. I had it in my stash with the intent to use it for something else, but they just seemed appropriate for this - a little classy, a little dreamy, and great colours. Leftover Prima transparencies form the flourishes that cap and are the base for the focal photo. Some scalloped trim also accents the photo. I thought of trying flowers or gems to try to mask or cover her eye, but decided that would only accentuate them more. Instead I matted the smaller doubled up photos, and really played with my title. A mixture of colours and fonts form a long title that explains her expression, a little. The acrylic stars further play on the dream theme. I like how the black sets off all the colours and I'll have to remember to think of black more often as a base for my layouts. I love the peekaboo tear on  the blue paper, revealing the green underside and that vintagey looking pink flowered pattern, with just a bit of that transparency peeking through. Lots of ink and distressed edges continue the slightly vintagey feel. If you know Christa and I, you know that we are constantly bouncing ideas off each other, and seeking the opinions of each other as we create. Her achievement inspires me to keep trying. You don't have to be a rock star scrapbooker to get published - my day will come, too!

If you use this sketch, be sure to share it at the My Sketch World forum and gallery. If you share it at the forum, you'll find more challenges to try this month, proposed by some of our layout team and card team. You can find the gallery here.

I am also submitting this at Sue Syke's Kewl Beans blog where she hosts a Leave Your Legacy challenge each month. The nice thing about Sue's challenges are that they get you thinking a little, and you have all year to participate - she'll do a draw at the end of the year for the participants. The other thing I love about Sue is she is Canadian as well as a great photographer, designer and lovely person to meet!

 also want to take a moment to thank you for your support last week as I shared my design team application for Practical Scrappers. I'm pleased to say my submission was accepted so I will be sharing with you the work I do for that team, as well as My Sketch World, throughout the month.

Thanks for popping by. Be blessed - Ann