Using Paper to create in The Cereal Box Art Journal

Never knowing when and what I am going to be in the mood to create, this month I woke up at about 4 am each morning wanting to play with paper to go in the Cereal Box Art Journal.  I would only play for about an hour or two before it was time for me to rest.  While I was playing, I made a banner to go on the left side of the page.  On the right side of the page, a full size pocket was created with a file card to fit.  Tim Holtz distress pads were used to create color and texture to the pocket.

 On the one side of the file pocket card, I placed two Polaroids with Journal space. 

On the other side of the file card, I decorated with a Polaroid where photos can be placed. I also did two tags placed in a pocket.  It was a lot of fun creating this page.  Make sure to use your imagination to place what ever your creative mind comes up with in the empty spaces and make sure to have fun with this as I did!

Supplies:

Paper

Twine

Glossy accents

Tim Holtz distress pads

Using Coordinated Collections - A Challenge

Happy May, Ladies!

How many of y'all made it to the Gulf Coast Crop and Shop weekend in April? I was able to go for a few hours on Saturday and was impressed with how creative you ladies are. Well done! While I was there, I picked up some fun new Basic Grey papers and stickers to play with. There are times when I want to mix and match patterns and manufacturers. There are times I want to be artsy and make my own backgrounds and embellishments. And then there are times that I want quick and easy. I don't want to think about whether this paper matches that paper. I just want to grab supplies and pictures and create. The easiest thing to do at these times is to use products from a single manufacturer. Scrapbooking companies spend many hours designing and producing lines that coordinate. They WANT to make this easy on us. They WANT us to be able to use their papers and letters and stickers and stamps all together. That is their goal! And sometimes, that is exactly what I want, too.

The line that I brought home to play with was Basic Grey's new Bowties line from their winter CHA release. They had several bright and happy lines this release, including Hipster, Bowties, and Kneehighs, but this is what I chose to play with. All the supplies coordinate. All the supplies are colorful. All the supplies begged me to play with them. All I added to my layouts was some cardstock, ink, and miscellaneous bits and pieces. Everything else came from the Bowties collection.

My challenge to you this month: Choose a line of products that you like. Pull out 3-4 papers from that line, plus some coordinating embellishments, and create a layout (or card or whatever project that you are inspired to make). You may add whatever supplies you want to your project. Post a link to your project here or to the ScrapHappy Facebook page before June 3, and Christy will randomly choose someone to win a $5 credit to the store to spend however she wants!

This first layout, I added washi tape and a printed label from Studio Calico. The journalling block was actually packaging from the Basic Grey enamel dots, and the letters were cut from one of the papers in the collection.

 I only added cardstock to this second layout.

 On this last layout, I added cardstock, washi tape, thickers, more label stickers, and some stitching (a friend loaned me her new Amy Tangerine stitching template, so I was experimenting and playing...highly recommend this product...so...much...fun...).

So...are you ready? Then run grab your collection of papers, get set, and GO!!! I look forward to seeing what you create!

Supplies:
- patterned paper, stickers, brads, enamel dots, transparent frames - Basic Grey
- washi tape - Doodlebug, Hambly
- label stickers, thickers - Studio Calico
- stitching template - Amy Tangerine
- cardstock, stamping ink, bubble wrap/dots stamp

Mineral Spirits... who knew?

I love my Copic markers so much that sometimes I forget about the humble color pencils. There are such beautifully soft colors in my hummingbird. I wanted to get a good blend of blue and violet but sometimes the colors remain flat. That’s where a surprise from the garage comes in handy, mineral spirits. You can use those Crayola color pencils that have been stashed in the drawer. They work very well with mineral spirits. By taking a Tortillon blender (pointed little rolled pieces of paper) and dipping the tip into the mineral spirits, you can blend the blue and violet to get a vibrant blue violet on my birds.

In this pretty tulip card, the mineral spirits blend the colors into something special. There is a smooth mix of the soft shadows and the vibrant edges. So next time you sit down to color and just can’t get the life like quality that you want, pull out your color pencils and mineral spirits.

Simple Stories Vintage Bliss

I love the Simple Stories Vintage Bliss paper pad and find it to be inspiring.  I was not planning on doing another blog post, but the idea for this card just came to me, so here goes:

The paper with the alphabets reminded me of an artist trading card already decorated, so I cut the paper to 2 1/2 x 3 1/2, which is the size of an artist trading card.  I added some of the pretty paper from the Simple Stories Vintage Bliss pad, some pearls, washi tape, and twine with the Lawn Fawn Many Thanks stamp set.  The one thing I would add to the twine is a button.  I think that would add that little extra something special. 

The sentiment, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart," truly states how I feel.  I wish to thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for your thoughts and prayers.

Supplies:

Simple Stories - Vintage Bliss 6 x 6 Paper Pad

Lawn Fawn - Many Thanks

Ranger - Archival Ink - Jet black

 Washi tape

Why Use Divided Page Protectors?

Greetings and Salutations!

How many of you have heard of Project Life or have wondered what to do with those lovely divided page protectors that Scraphappy carries? According to Becky Higgins (www.beckyhiggins.com), Project Life can be anything you want it to be. Some people use it as a photo-a-day project. Some people use it to document weeks at-a-glance. Some use it to corral all the stuff of life that accumulates in our homes. But me? I use it to help with my everyday stories and to include more photos from my travels. Some people choose 'only' Project Life or 'only' traditional layouts. I do both. I use the divided page protectors to include more pictures in my albums. Say you print 6 pictures of an afternoon at the beach but then only use 2 of them on your layout. What are you going to do with the extras? Sure, you can make more layouts, but if you're like me, you can only bear to scrap so many beach layouts. Or penguin pictures. Or Christmas pictures. Or birthday party pictures. Or...you get the idea. So what do I do? I scrap those 2 photos on a traditional layout, then I slide the other 4 photos into divided page protectors. If there are more photo sleeves than I have photos, then I pull some of my supplies (scraps and 6x6 paper pads work great for this) and make a mini-canvas to fill in the blocks.

Another way I have recently used Project Life and divided page protectors is to rescue an old album of pictures from a trip my husband and I took to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon in 1998. I had previously made a scrapbook with these pictures, but I used non-archival products to make it. I didn't know better. All I knew about scrapbooking at that time was those people who cut their photos into cute little shapes and decorated them with cutesy stickers...so not me. I refused to cut my pictures and make paper dolls out of cardstock. The good news? I organized my photos and journalled some of my memories in my book. The bad news? If I didn't 'redo' the album, those pictures and memories still would not have survived. So when I found a set of divided page protectors, I bought them and spent a weekend removing the adhesive from the back of the pictures and memorabilia and sliding them into these photo pocket pages. It was so easy, and I love the results. Even my husband and family have enjoyed the results. Every one of them has gone through my 'new' album and marveled at the improvement. And another perk of using the divided page protectors? Easy...good...design...with no thought required. The designers who created the pages based them on solid grid-based design principles, so you never have to worry about an unbalanced layout.

 I hope this post has inspired you to try out divided page protectors. You may love it. You may not. But either way, you'll have discovered a new way to preserve your memories.

And now, quickly, before I go, I have a few questions to answer:
1. Scrapaholic Mommy asked: how did you do the white stamp is there white ink out that i don't know about LOL???
Answer: There are various brands and forms of white ink available on the market. I've tried several, but my favorites tend to be chalk and craft inks. They tend to be thicker and have a richer color. But I'll let you know a little secret...I rarely actually use the white inks. I cheat. I use clear Versamark ink then emboss them with white embossing powder. Works every time ;)

2. Leslie asked: So Cori, do you have pictures of your completed non-wintry album that you did? I'd like to see it.
Answer: I wish! The album is at ScrapHappy, so feel free to head over there to flip through the album all you want!

Supplies:
- page protectors - American Crafts, WeRMemoryKeepers, office supply store
- journalling cards - Becky Higgins, American Crafts
- label stickers - October Afternoon, unknown

A Winner, A Challenge, and A Question

Hello, Ya'll!

I have a quick apology to make to everyone. This month has been crazy, insanely busy, so my blog post is running a bit late, which means that I still need to announce the March challenge winner. Please forgive my tardiness.

And now, without further ado...the March winner is...SHARON HUNT! Congratulations! You have won a $5 credit to Scraphappy to spend any way your heart desires! ENJOY!!!

This month's challenge: Use divided page protectors (also known as Project Life, Photo Pocket Pages, etc) to make a layout on any topic you want. You can use any configuration you want and use any papers and embellishments that you want. Scraphappy has a great selection of various configurations available for you to play with, so if you need some, go get them!
Ready? On your mark...Get set...GO!!!

Next, a question for you Lovely Ladies (and any Handsome Gentlemen) who are reading this blog today: I am teaching a beginning Silhouette class at next weekend's Gulf Coast Crop. Do you have any specific topics or questions that you want me to address? What do you want to learn about? Please, let me know. I am still working on my handout, so I can add anything that you want to know.

The Joy of Creating Art and Scrappy Goodness/Challenged with Cancer Living with Love

On December 10^th, 1999 I was diagnosed with cancer in my lymph nodes.  It took until sometime in January until they found it was coming from my breast. I wound up having a Bi – lateral mastectomy in January, then started Chemo in February, followed by Radiation.   Since then it has come back every year and was followed by treatment for about 6 months for each occurrence. In 2010 it spread to my liver, lung and bone. I had been on treatment for over two years straight when on December 10, 2013 I start to feel dizzy and was having what I thought were sinus problems.  Living in Florida there were others that I knew who were also complaining the allergies were starting early this year. I did tell my Oncologist about what was going on as it was getting close for another PET scan. On March 11, 2013 I was very dizzy and in pain, which was a level 10 of 10.  That evening my husband took me to the ER, where they did a CAT scan which showed that the cancer had spread to my brain. They transferred me to another Hospital to see a neurosurgeon. I had an MRI done on Tuesday evening and the doctors told me Wednesday morning that there was more cancer than the CAT scan initially showed.   There were multiple tumors in both hemispheres of the brain and at least five tumors in the Cerebellum. The doctor also explained that the cancer had been in my brain for a while because it was already calcified in some areas. He explained that the operation would be very painful and he was not sure, based on the amount of cancer that the operation would be beneficial.  This was all I needed to hear to make the best decision for myself and improve my remaining quality of life.   Over the years I had seen enough to know this was not how I wanted my life to end. I wanted to enjoy the rest of my life. I had lived longer than I had thought when first diagnosed. I have seen my children marry and I have two grandchildren. The second one was born March 18^th, 2013 which put me on a high for a week. Wednesday morning, March 13^th, they gave me THREE weeks to live.  It’s has now been FOUR weeks and with a Steroid to control swelling on my brain and medication to control pain I have been enjoying my life, doing the things I want and making Art which brings joy to my soul.  It has been a little challenging since I now shake when I draw and write, though it still brings me Joy.

My saying “Challenged with Cancer, Living with Love” came to me one night. I did not care for everyone telling me to fight. I don’t like fighting, it’s negative and exhausting and I’ve been doing it now for thirteen years. A challenge is something I can take on without feeling negative and heavy.  Now I just want to enjoy the rest of my life and be free.  My decision brings me peace.