Beachy Love

Cathy is hosting a paper mache heart swap over at Paper Traders this month.  Once I got over the initial messy gross-ness of the paper mache process, I found it to be a relaxing task to do while watching movies.  It took me about a week to make these hearts because I had to let it dry in between the many layers.  I learned a few things doing this project which I'll share...

I loosely based my technique on Crafy Cupid's tutorial here: http://www.craftycupid.com/index.php/cc/entry/mache-mixed-media-heart-tutorial/

For working with the messy paste, I employed this Martha Stewart tip using a rubber band to create a scraper which easily removed the excess paste from my paper strips:

http://www.marthastewart.com/272867/paint-can-tip

When they were completely dry, I applied a layer of gesso and then a coat of acrylic paint to each heart.  Both of my hearts were crackled using Ranger's Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.  Here's something interesting that I discovered...  The gold heart was painted with a glossy metallic acrylic paint underneath the crackle.  When dry, the crackle still appeared very shiny and crystal clear.  The blue heart, however, was painted with a matte acrylic paint under the crackle.  This one ended up looking much more opaque (sort of like sea glass) as the crackle coat seemed to take on some of the aspects of the underlying paint.  Both results looked terrific but were notably different.  For this project, I topped off the blue heart with an extra coat of glossy glazing medium to bring back that high shine finish I had anticipated.

The "sand" for my beach scene came from a pre-packaged bead mix and I just love the way this looks!  I used Glossy Accents to adhere the beads, shells, and charms.

So here are my finished results... I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them:

I also made an extra heart which I covered with distress doilies and pretty printed napkins layered over a bronze crackle finish:

Christmas Crafts

 These are two items I made for Christmas swaps on Paper Traders - some inchie ornaments (made with Tim Holtz fragments) and a paper ATC ornament.

Below are some handmade Christmas cards I made - and donated - for my women's church group...

Going Places

On Paper Traders, I'm hosting a "Fun with Maps" ATC swap. These are the cards I made. I tried to cut the dresses out so that the maps added accents, like a different colored bodice or a ruffled skirt. I started with some travel-themed scrapbook paper for the backgrounds, then used Tim Holtz' mini mask and distress ink in the corners, stamped on an old building image and the word "journey", then added a text background stamp on one side.

Love Birds

This is a spread I made for a private journal swap I'm in. The metallic pieces didn't scan well and they look black but, in reality, the large bird is a pink mirror from Heidi Swapp and the "Love Birds" words and small hearts at the bottom are reflective silver. I used a cute K&Company paper for my background, adding the effect of a Tim Holtz mask with Tea Dye Distress Ink, then pouncing metallic pearl white paint through some heart-shaped sequin scrap on the corners. In addition to the silver hearts at the bottom, if you look closely, you'll see there are also some pink iridescent hearts there as well.

I have five more pages to make for this project and I think they're all going to be unique (although I do have the option of making them the same or similar). Our inspiration for this project comes from the Somerset in Love magazine that was released earlier this year.

Gypsy Musicians

This is the spread I did for Susan's gypsy-themed tip-in journal on Paper Traders. This was my first time playing with my new Tim Holtz masks (note the ghosted music stanza in the background)... these are really fun and easy to use - can't wait to get my hands on some of his mini masks soon!