Paper Crafts are like Fashion only better

What the heck you say? Paper crafts are like fashion? We don't wear paper!

I am not into fashion, I don't know one designer from the next. My wardrobe comes mostly from Kohl's, Walmart and Amazon Prime and consists of a lot of cotton and denim. But I do know that fashion cycles around, fads come and go, and classics stick around for a long time. The same can be said for paper crafting products.

Paper Crafting Tools
I have been making cards for about 15 years and I have seen things evolve in the industry and in my craft room. I have jumped on many bandwagons I had no business being on and amassed a lot of instruments to play on that wagon. Here is how I see the evolution of a few of our favorite things.

• eyelets — brads — mini staples — shaped paper clips
• buttons — dew drops —  enamel dots —  resin embellishments
• self adhesive bling — sequins
• glitter  — chunky glitter  —  fine glitter — glitter paper  — glitter pens
• ribbon —  hemp thread —  embroidery floss —  baker's twine  — washi tape
• stickers — rub-ons — chipboard
• rosettes  — doilies  — wood veneers
• circle punches  — precut dies and wavy scissors  —  shaped punches  — manual dies cutting machines  — electric cutting machines
• water-based markers  — colored chalks  — water color pencils — Prismacolor pencils  and Gamsol  — Copic Markers
• wood mounted stamps  — acrylic stamps  — cling mounted stamps  — digital stamps
• dye inks  — pigment inks — Distress Inks  — chalk inks  — spray inks  —  hybrid inks

I still have a bit of everything listed above and then some. A lot of the tools I have are sorely neglected. They have fallen out of favor because I want what's in fashion and they are no longer the go to items in our collective creative arsenal. 

Image Fads
The fashion in images seems to move at varying paces. A fashion or fad occurs when 3 or more companies carry a similar image. We have (or have had):

• aquatic life and all things nautical
• banners and pennants
• bicycles and tricycles
• birds of every description and their homes
• butterflies and flowers
• cameras of every shape
• cassette tapes, guitars and stars
• chevrons, hexagons and sparkly gems
• coffee, and tea and kitchen tools
• elephants
• eyeglasses and mustaches
• farms and their critters
• fruits of every kind
• globes
• gnomes and their mushroom homes
• light bulbs and lamps
• loving people to the moon and beyond
• mason jars and all they can hold
• potted plants
• robots, astronauts, rocket ships and all of outer space
• super heroes and skylines
• typewriters
• umbrellas, clouds and raindrops
• woodland creatures like owls, foxes and deer
• zoo animals and their babies

I do love the elephants though, so much so that I order 3 sets from different manufacturers: WPlus9, Avery Elle, and Mama Elephant. You can also find elephants by Lawn Fawn, Wild Rose Studio, My Favorite Things.

Here is a look at cards featuring these cuties.

Better than Fashion

If I use a 15 years old eyelet, no one will know. I can still make something beautiful. If I use a long retired stamp set no one but a paper crafter familiar with the manufacturer will know. The card recipient will still be happy.  Paper crafting supplies don't becomes threadbare with use. They don't shrink, ride up or lose their usefulness. With proper care they will last until with put them in a scrapbook or envelop. See better.

I follow crafty trends from a distance these days. I know what is going on in the paper crafty world (and am excited to see the new Silhouette Mint and Silhouette Curio) but I can't buy everything that is popular. First of all I have a limited budget. Second, I have limited space. And finally, I have little interest in following every trend. If I bought every stamp I liked I wouldn't be able to eat or move in my craft room.

I need to start paring down my collection and using what I have. I'll be selling or donating items I had no business purchasing in the first place, like wavy scissors, ribbon, and copious amounts of brads.

Some people do wear paper, and become famous doing it too.

Check out Fashion by Mayhem. This 4 year old is designing fashion using paper and tape and got a gig designing kids clothes for J Crew because of her blog and Instagram feed. She has better taste in clothes than I can ever hope to have.

Happy Crafting,

Marker Monday

It is official. I've known all along that I was certifiable but now the world knows too. I took the Copic Standard Certification in Chicago a couple of months ago and I am now certified. Lori Craig said so. I understand the Copic numbering system, blending families, and how to use blender solution, I even got a taste of airbrushing. I wield my markers with more confidence now. 

I plan to share a Copic tip on Marker Mondays and if I can't be a good example I will be a warning of what not to do.

In the class Lori showed us how to use blending solution on a bit of towel or denim to get a texture on our projects. She had blending solution in a spritzer because you don't need a lot to get results. So I ran home and filled a spritzer with blending solution. I was not ready to cut up my clothes for texture so I thought I'd try using a stippling brush. I spritzed solution in a little container, got out the brush and gave it a go. Well I can tell you that it just makes a mess of your project - don't try it. Like I said, a warning.

The other day I was working with Distress Ink and reached for my water spritzer and a light bulb went out, or did a bell ring, what if I used my blending solution spritzer the same way I use my water spritzer with other inks. So I experimented.

Because I am a novice with the airbrush my color is often uneven with light and dark spots that look, well, terrible. Spritzing the image with blending solution gives it a cool mottled effect and helps even out those light and dark spots. 

Have you ever used blending solution this way? Will you try and share your creations?

Happy Crafting,

Makeover Week - Day 4 Hold it part 2

Tuesday I showed you 2 versions of the "Making the Grade" stamp set from My Favorite Things. Today I have more stamps from My Favorite Things where someone is holding something but like yesterday the sets are retired.

Beakers to Vases

The first card features the set, Scientist. This card was fun to put together but took a lot longer than I anticipated. This beaker holding, smock wearing little girl got a bit of a makeover.  Her beaker has been turned into a vase to hold a sweet bouquet of flowers from the retired Inkadinkado "Lots of Pots" set. Her five button lab coat looks more like a pediatric dental hygienist's smock.

Dig all that dimension. 

I stamped the new My Favorite Things Small Brick Background Stamp onto a tan card stock, then used the Copic Airbrush to color them red.  I love this stamp, the bricks are perfectly proportioned for the rest of the My Favorite Things stamps. I cut out a window then had to make a window frame - more cutting. The wood grain on the window and the window box is from the Heidi Swapp Woodgrain background. I used washi tape to mask off the corners to give it a mitered look. I really like how that part turned out. I put the whole panel on 3M foam tape for some depth.


The valance in the window is a bit of lacy ribbon glued on the back of the brick panel. The window box is popped out with dimensional tape as well. The pots are from the Inkadinkado set I mentioned before. The plants growing in them are the waste side of the grass punch from Martha Stewart.

---------- FAILURE WAS INEVITABLE ----------

Last week when I wrote about rebooting the blog I told you I was going to fail to deliver from time to time. I had posts planned out. I had a editorial calendar in place and life still got in the way in the first week.

Sciatica, severe back pain and tingling fingers and toes, dog sitting and doctor's appointments were not all scheduled for this week when I wrote that post but they happened anyway. So Day 4 of makeover week is happening on Day 5 and you are going to miss some pretty awesome cards this week. I will post them next week. No biggie. That's the great thing about being the boss. You can change the rules midstream. Ask any parent -- it happens all the time.

--------------------------------------------------------------

You Rock Loveasaurus 

The last card features one of my favorite images by Claire Keay. The little Loveasaurus stamp used to be sold by My Favorite Stamps but they no longer carry Keay images. You can still get a digital version at the Jellypark page at PayHip.com as well as a lot of other Keay images.

The Copics got a work out on this card. This image is so fun to color and I love adding the added bits of interest like the stripes on the tail and the dots on the spine plates. The curtain and stage were freehanded but the guitar and sentiment are from the Stampendous set "Rock Out". The guitar was colored with Copics then coated in Versamark ink and embossed so the whole guitar is shiny.

I cut the arm of the Loveasaurus tucked the guitar under it. Masking to make this happen may be possible but I wasn't up for trying to do it that way.

Research on where to get Stampendous "Rock Out set turned up nothing, nil, nada. So again probably retired.

I matted the image on some kraft paper so it would pop more then decided to do a bit of decorating with my Signo Uni-ball white gel pen. I may have gone overboard but I like it. I even dotted his guitar strap so it stands out a bit more. The background is from a DCWV Matstack called Old World.

About the links

I am not part of any affiliate program - yet. I don't make any money if you follow a link and buy something - yet. So all the links here are either from the manufacturer because they are the only one selling the product or are from the site with the lowest price today. There is a 30% off sale on papercrafting supplies at JoAnn Fabrics right now so several of the links go to that site. 

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Happy Crafting,

Makeover Week Day 3 - Boy Howdy

Unless they are wearing hats the Pure Innocence boys from My Favorite Things are all bald. Have you ever noticed that? Bald. My son has a head full of curly hair so like his mother, the Pure Innocence kid doesn't look anything like him. This wasn't going to work for Scout Thank You cards.

Because he is bald I didn't need to tape off hair I just needed to add it. This Boy Scout stamp set's sentiments had to do with scouting. There was no "thank you" available so I had to go to other Pure Innocence sets. The "thank you" is from Firefighter Girl and the "so much" is from Soldier Girl - both retired.

The second card features a bit more hair and a lot more scenery. The clouds, tents and trees are from an old Inkadinkado set called On the Road Again. And the Sentiment, which echoes through the valley, is from a retired Studio Calico set. 

Unfortunately the Boy Scout set has been retired. I'm seeing a trend of unavailable stamp sets.

Happy Crafting,

Makeover Week Day 2 - Hold It

Yesterday I showed you how to change the hairstyle of a stamped image. Today's cards feature the same tape technique to remove a chalk board. This image called Making the Grade is from the Pure Innocence by My Favorite Things. It's the perfect image for saying congratulations to a student but I saw other things in this girl's future.

In the first card she is missing her jump rope partner on the playground. The textured background was spritzed with red ink to make it look more like bricks. The chalk in her right hand was used as a handle for a jump rope made of embroidery floss. The floss was adhered with matte medium so I know it's not going anywhere unless the recipient wants it to.




The second card features this same little girl walking her Schnauzer. The dog is from Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Dog Park set. It was drawn as a Scottie but as we have a Schnauzer it's tail was cropped further and it was colored as a Schnauzer. The chalk has now become the handle to a leash made of twine.



Both images were colored with Copics and a White Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen.

Makeover Week Day 3 - Boy Howdy

Happy Crafting,

Makeover Week Day 1 - Change the Hair

I am in love with the Pure Innocence line from My Favorite Things. That little girl is so cute. Unfortunately she has nearly the same hairstyle in every image. Do you have the same hairstyle day in and day out? Do you ever use a curling iron? A straightening wand? A rounded brush?

I didn’t see myself in her image. I have long, naturally curly hair. Sometimes I wear my hair up, sometimes not, but it is never straight. I wanted the Pure Innocence girl to look more like me, so it was time for that little lady to get a makeover.

Tools I used:

•      My favorite things stamp of your choice
•      Acrylic block
•      Black Ink
•      Standard copy paper
•     Tracing paper or vellum
•      Pencil
•     Cellophane Tape
•     Card stock for your project
•    Black fine line marker, I used Copic multi-liner .03
•   Erasure

How to get your look

1.  Stamp your image on standard copy paper.
2. Cover image with tracing paper or vellum, and draw the hair you like.
   
3. Turn the tracing paper or vellum over and lightly scribble over the lines you drew.
4.  Clean and dry your stamp. Cover the hair on the stamp image with tape, making sure the tape goes beyond the image. 
   
5.  Ink up your stamp. The tape will be very inky. Carefully remove and discard the tape.
6.  Stamp your image on your card stock. Doesn’t she look odd with the top of her head gone?
7. Put the tracing paper or vellum, drawing side up – scribble side down, where her hair should be.
   
         
8.  Lightly trace your drawing of her hair. 
9. Remove the tracing paper or vellum.
10. There will be faint pencil line where you traced.
       
11.  Get out your fine line marker and trace again. You can add more detail at this point if you like. When the ink is fully dry erase any pencil marks remaining.
12. Color your image as you normally would. Keep in mind that if you are using Copics or watercolor the pen you use to draw with will make a big difference, test before you color.

Voilà! She now has a new do.

The whole idea of having her wear different hairstyles came from a black smudge on her forehead. I didn’t want to waste the coloring I had done or the patterned paper that made her kimono because of a stupid smudge, so I gave her bangs. That particular image had black hair so it was fairly easy to do. 

Why use vellum or tracing paper you ask? Because when you first get started proportions can be difficult. I tried to just draw the hair but she ended up looking really weird. Having a reference is a good thing.

Here are other Pure Innocence Good Fortune image with new hairdos.

Those streaks were intentional. It's not bad Copic coloring.

Makeover Week Day 2 - Hold On

Happy Crafting,

REBOOT. REDESIGN. RELAUNCH. REALLY.

Can I still call myself a blogger?

I've had this blog for over 8 years but can I still call myself a blogger if it's been 9 months since my last post? Will anyone still read what I have to share if I start up again? We shall see.

One of the first cards I posted on this blog over 8 years ago. 

Over the last 9 months I have loved me some Pinterest. I need to become a contributor not just a curator. I need to spend more time creating. For months I have had ideas for projects, pages, or cards but no plans, dreams but no goals. That changes NOW.

So much of success in life comes down to habits, just ask Gretchen Rubin. Last summer I started the habit of walking my dog a mile every morning, and a half mile after work and another half mile before bed. Those two miles each day helped me shed a few pounds, allowed me to meet more neighbors and improved my mood.

I have recently started the habit of making a card everyday. That quiet creative time after the dog has been walked is a great way to start or end my day and also improves my mood.  Now it's time to add the habit of sharing those cards and the process of making them to my routine.

Redesign

I have made some minor adjustments to the design of the blog space. Lightened it up. Made it a bit more me and a bit less template. It may look rather simple and kind of sparse as craft blogs go because I'm not on any design teams - yet. I haven't had any of my work published - yet. I don't have any sponsors or specific advertisers - yet.

I have developed an editorial calendar that I'm filling up with ideas. I have headers created for special days, like marker Monday and watercolor Wednesday. I have always liked the alliteration used on other blogs, so being the copy cat I am, I am and doing it too.

Relaunch Expectations

I will be posting about paper crafts and using paper crafting materials in various non-paper crafty ways. 

I plan to post relatively short articles Monday-Friday. It will not be like Twitter or War and Peace. More like Instagram with additional back story. I plan to put video tutorials up on the blog from time to time too if my internal perfectionist will get out of my way.

This go around, things will be different. I have an accountability partner who will get on my case if I don't post regularly. Bonus – she's a paper crafter too so she wants to see what I make and learn about how I do what I do. She will not take a lack of mojo as an excuse. She will push me through creative slumps and force me to try new things to find the spark again (at least I hope she will).

One other difference this time is I expect to fail once in a while. I am a single mom of an increasingly active tween in need of taxi service. I know I will take a day off here and there because our lives get busy or someone gets sick. This time around I will be kinder to myself. Forgive myself when distractions steal focus. And most importantly not let months lapse when I miss a day or two because of illness or a kid's scouting schedule, or, or, or…

I realize being successful as a blogger means different things to different people. For some it's all about the number of readers they have, for others it's about how much money they can make. For me it's about how consistent I can be. The readers and money may come but right now I need to develop the blogging habit.

Next week is Makeover Week and I hope you will come back and see how I change things up a bit.