5 For Friday

And it's Friday again.

1. Some very big and exciting news today. I have a layout in Creating Keepsakes latest special issue- Mixed Media Scrapbooking.



Kind of a big deal for me. And for it to be in a Mixed Media issue is kind of funny but here's the layout.



I'm pretty pumped. You can pick up the issue here & there are some awesome ideas and layouts in there.


2. I'm looking forward to going to The Sunshine Crop tomorrow with some friends to scrapbook the day away. I'm bringing a stack of summer photos & my current summer album to work on. I'm hoping to finish it!

3. I've crossed a few books off my list recently that I thought I'd share my thoughts on here.

First, I devoured 'A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book' by Elsie & Emma of the blog by the same name. . If you're like me and you enjoy a good coffee table book that's not only pretty but informative this is a great one to pick up on amazon or indigo. It's beautiful and informative- a.k.a awesome.

Second, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. There's so much I can say about it. It's a YA book so it took mere hours to read but it was so good I started it at 10 p.m- because I wasn't tired- and finished it at 2 a.m. I literally could not put it down it was that good. If you have a middle school age child they need to read this book and it's a wonderful book for adults as well. Soooo good- I laughed, I cried. It was one of my favourite reads this year.

4. For all my fellow Week In The Lifers, Ali shared a video tutorial on her blog this week for using the digital templates and you just might want to pick up a few digi pieces because Designer Digitals has a big 30% off sale on as of yesterday.

5. Kelly Purkey has her latest release on Simon Says Stamp today & it includes a sneak peek of her December Project kit a.k.a December Daily. I'm excited because everyone's doing a December Daily kit this year including my fav local store The Paperie. I can't wait to get my hands on all the holiday beautifulness. If you know me at all, you know I'm a lover of Christmas. I have a holiday stash to prove it. I can't help myself.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo
K

Another celebrity at The Paperie

So our local store, The Paperie, has been knocking it out of the park this year with celebrity visits from paper crafting peeps!

In March they brought scrapbooker and product designer, Kelly Purkey to us for some layouts and a mini album.

This month they did it again, bringing mixed media guru and product designer Dina Wakely in for a weekend of art journaling and mixed media messiness.



I only attended Sunday's workshop on Art Journaling but from what I heard Saturday's classes were a huge hit as well. Dina was funny! And while I'll be the first to admit that what she creates is NOT my area of strength or expertise, I did appreciate how her art came together and certainly learned a lot. I'm not sure I'm sold on buying up all the dylousion inks, stencils & acoutrement that accompanies mixed media but that's another post for another day.

Today I'd like to share two of the pages that I made in the class that turned out okay to my liking.



This one was my favourite. When all else fails just put a bird on it! If you're a Portlandia fan you know what I'm talking about folks. If not, go check it out. It's hilarious. Also, the circles. I like the circles.



And this one wasn't so bad either. I like the bright, vibrant colors. I also like the idea of outlining the silhouettes.

The rest aren't for sharing.

I wonder who The Paperie will bring in next?! I can't wait to see who it will be.

xoxo
K

All done.

Remember Tuesday's post about my mixed media class?

I've finished up those layouts and thought I would share them today.

The first one is bright but I love it.



I'm not a doily fan but I was bound and determined to use it because it was in the kit. I also add some stickers from the Echo Park sticker sheet we got.



I added a stamp to the tag after inking it with Jenni Bowlin cough syrup and my ink blending tool for my journaling.



For the second layout I went much more muted with a mint background similar to the background Cathie created for the class.



My favorite part of this layout is the dimension from stenciling the dots. It looks so cool in person. I added my journaling to that area to draw even more attention to it.



And a few more stickers made this layout complete.





You may have noticed that on both layouts I only used one photo. I like to use lots of photos on a layout but in this case I felt like I didn't want to hide the mixed media that went into the background! It was a lot of work and I wanted to work around it so I could let it show.

One thing Cathie did mention while teaching her class was to think about the final result- a.k.a where you'll place your picture/story- so that you could work towards that. That was a good idea so I had in mind where I wanted to add my picture before I started.

I love the way these layouts turned out. What do you think? Are you into the mixed media/art journaling trend?

xoxo
K

Guest Post: Mixed Media

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm taking a little blog vacation this week and have invited some friends to share on the blog for the next few days. 

Today my very good friend Sara is here to give you a little tutorial on mixed media. This girl knows mixed media folks. I can dabble in a little paint here and there but honestly, she knows what she's doing. Check out her classes at The Paperie or her blog at SaraThings for more of her inspiring designs. 

Take it away Sara...

When Krista asked me to contribute as a guest blogger this week I was thrilled.

And then I was worried.

I mean, come on, she’s an awesome scrapbooker, right? So instead of showing you something that you can get in an awesome form her, I decided to get messy hands!

I love making home décor – really, it’s one of my favourite things to do. No stress over what pictures to scrap, no worrying about timelines or if I have too many LO’s of Molly, my daughter, and not enough of Gabe, my son- just fun playtime!

I’ve been wanting a new canvas for my front porch and this seemed like the perfect time to make one! So grab a cup of whatever you fancy and enjoy the pictures and mini tutorial!

First, I add my base layers with Ranger Matte Multimedium – usually text or book paper, tissue paper, and doilies. In this case I was lucky enough to have a dictionary with the word “home” and tissue paper with antique keys on it – perfect for a home canvas even though you won’t see much of it once I’m finished - the trials of mixed media layers! That’s ok though, I just like knowing they’re on there!

Next, I always add a layer of molding paste through a stencil . This is a step a lot of people don’t take but I love the dimension and look it gives the finished product - way more texture and visual interest than just the paper layer.

Now comes the waiting game. If you’re totally impatient (and I normally am) you can carefully heat set it but I find I like the molding paste better for this type of project when it air dries. Sigh.

So do this step late at night and then go to bed. It will be ready in the morning and you won’t feel like you’ve waited at all!

Once it’s dry you can paint, mist, ink, whatever – just add some colour! My favourites lately are the Luminarte Silks – they’re a waterbased, shimmery glaze, and the colours are incredible! I usually slap them on randomly but since I kind of knew where I was going with this canvas the colour placement  was a little more deliberate.

See how the paint picks up the stenciled designs and the doilies? Sweet!

Next, while you wait for that to dry, you can cut your images from patterned paper or book text. Don’t be too fussy, this is not a perfect piece – it’s art! Once you’re happy with the pieces, use the multimedium to adhere it all to each other and the canvas.

Now this is where we get into the little details!

First, add some shadows – I love my Distress Markers for this since they blend over the multimedium really well:

Then some doodling, stamps, and rub-ons for detail and more texture:

Add some word stickers, some extra embellies if you like:

And you’re done!

This is a quick (seriously, it took about an hour, tops, including most of the drying time), easy, and great way to use paper scraps and all those rub-ons you won’t throw away!

I hope you liked this little break from the norm here on Krista’s blog – I know I enjoyed showing you some of what I do! You can catch up with me any time over at my spot in the blogosphere, sarathings, where I do more of what you’ve just seen, scrapbook LO’s, tutorials, and more. Hope to see some of you there and who knows, maybe someday I’ll convince Krista to guest blog for me! And big thanks to her for having me here – it’s been a blast getting painty!

xoxo
S