Altered SPOONS?!

WOW!  I just have to share this amazing project created by my design teammate Tracy Easson using Susan K. Weckesser's stamp set "Create your Day" .... I Have a feeling my Garden may be FULL of these by fall!

Check out her HOW TO on the My Sweet Earth Blog!

and THANKS for Stopping By!!!

Lynne

Playing with my ART Garbage!

As if I don't already have enough arty stuff piled up (hoarded?) around me in my studio... I have now started playing with my inky paper towels and Kleenex that I USED TO throw away! (Grin)  But really look at the amazingness that I am creating with my GARBAGE!  This is the first canvas I created using this technique - which you may have seen in the March, 2013 issue of Scrap 'n Art magazine.  

 There was no planning involved with this canvas, I just let it evolve as I created and you can see the pieces getting smaller and smaller as I used them up - but that was a large  part of the fun of making this - it was like finishing a puzzle!

To create the raw product is a really simple technique - I just use glossy modpodge to glue these inky paper towels (which are left over from creating other projects) onto sheets of tin foil and let them dry.  The colored paper towels become almost transluscent when you apply the modpodge and light hits the foil and bounces back so it looks a lot like stained glass.  

It may take a while for your pages to dry - especially if you have really piled on the modpodge but otherwise that's pretty much it.  I then cut out shapes and glue them down to pages or canvases to create something.

When I had finished gluing this set of paper towels down I laid them out on the floor to see what I could see and I immediately saw KOI FISH!  

Now I don't usually do a practice or prototype for anything, I just DO IT, but for this project, before I committed to a canvas, I thought I wanted to practice making fish... so I created this journal page of inky paper towel Koi Fish with a toilet paper background for water.  I use a roll of a cheap TP to blot when I am painting with watercolors - no need to tear off any bits, I just use the entire roll to blot - and this roll of TP had the perfect colors for a water background and came off in perfect water-like strips!

So because of this new technique I am playing aorund with now I can't throw away ANYTHING that I have left over from creating because I never know what I will be able to do with it!

Cheers - and thanks for stopping by to share with me - and as always - feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Scrapbook Lynne

I Am So VERY Thankful!

In case you weren't aware, I live in Alberta, Canada on an acreage just north of Calgary.  And if you have been watching the news lately you probably know that this part of Alberta has been dealing with some severe weather issues - if it's not water related (flooding) it's wind related (tornado's!) and we have even been having CRAZY lighting storms and HUGE hail ...larger than golf balls in some cases!  And all this weather has been swirling around our little acreage, but nothing has actually been a direct hit... (grateful sigh)  And as I watch the clean up taking place in the area, and help out where I can, I find myself saying a continual prayer in my head, heart and soul for our home still being safe and dry... I am SO VERY THANKFUL!

So I created this little card to give some tangible expression to my grateful heart... using Susan K. Weckesser's "Sail Away" stamp (again... grin... can you tell I LOVE this one... Bigger Grin) I stamped, colored and cut-out three images and re-layered all those pieces using foam pop dots to create dimension and layers.

I created my card base using 120lbs watercolor paper and a simple watercolor wash sprinkled with salt while still wet.  After it has dried you brush off the salt and you have this really great texture.  I used my black copic liner to draw in the horizon and the sun after I had glued down all my pieces, I also added some extra lines in the water to give a "water wake" effect.  

As always (for me...smile) some stickles and liquid glass to highlight some areas and a wobbly black line around the edge finished off the card.   Thanks for stopping by to share with me again... and I encourage you to take a moment in your day today to stop and recognize all you have to be thankful for in your life right now - Cheers!!! Lynne
PS: If you want too see more crafting with Susan's great products stop by the "My Sweet Earth" blog

A Quick and Simple Card Recipe

Happy Monday Morning Everyone!  I am so gleeful that the rain has stopped and Summer has finally now arrived here in central Alberta, Canada that I am just a wee bit giddy!  Today for my Susan K. Weckesser design team post, I want to share with you a cool little technique I have been using to create lovely cards that come together very quickly and this technique lends itself to Susan's "Sail Away" stamp so easily that I have been making at least one of these cards every week.  Here are some of my favorites:

The basic steps are as follows... pick a solid-colored card base and stamp your image on to it.  Stamp a second image on a different colored piece of plain or patterned paper.  I like to use my inky scraps adding one or two more colors to co-ordinate with my card base. (see below)  From your second image choose one or two or three elements that you want to emphasize and cut them out, adhering them to the card base using foam adhesive dots on some pieces to create depth and dimension.  At this point you can add a few embellishments and a sentiment if desired.  I like to use a black pen to draw a wobbly line around the edge because it finishes off the card and also gives it a whimsical, homemade feel.  That's it... Quick, easy and you can use whatever you have on hand.  

On the variation below you can see that I cut the waves from a piece of scrap paper sprayed with yellow dylusions ink and then I over sprayed it with blue dylusions ink after I had cut it out.  Also, on this card I didn't stamp the image on the base card but cut out two images and layered them.  

I popped the sail and the two larger waves to frame the boat I drew in only one thick black line for the border.  I stamped the sentiment and heat embossed with white embossing powder it to make it more prominent.  I especially love how the one thick black line border cutting through the sentiment draws your eye to that corner.

On this last card (below) I stamped the image on the card base and then filled it in with various colored stickles and liquid glass for some added sparkle and I framed the stamped sentiment in blue/green to help soften the bright orange. 

 

So now you know my "secret recipe" for a quick handmade card that doesn't LOOK quick - I hope it gets your creative brain cells firing because I'd love to see what you come up with (smile).  And if you liked this project using Susan K. Weckesser's stamps please stop by her blog to see what else the Design Team is doing! My Sweet Earth Blog

Lynne Mizera

Just a Quickie!

Just a quick post to wish you all an AMAZING Beginning of Summer (School's OUT!) and sending you all some Creative Energy.... Enjoy!  I am sharing my first creative doodle in my new hand-made-for-ME-by-Janet Doodling Journal!  I have discovered that if you are "doodle-blocked" just write the first word or phrase that comes into your head in GIANT LETTERS and go from there (grin).  Here is what I came up with and I totally LOVE IT!  Cheers! Lynne