Homemade Mists (cheaper and really do compare)

Good morning/evening all!   I am a very CHEAP scrapper!  For the longest time I was struggling with buying supplies to keep up with this hobby, and have searched for ways to improvise! 

So how Cheap am I?  Well I have been so cheap that I rarely even buy pop up dots, foam, or anything of that nature.  Instead, I just use scraps of cardboard...or sometimes I will even fold up the left over strips of photo paper that I had cropped and use that to glue under my pics for dimension!  Now that may be going a little too far, but desperate times call for desperate measure right?! lol   

Ok, so my cheap ways have caused me to be so envious of some of your pics when I see tons of bottles of tattered angels/shimmerz mists in the background...I think that at times my mouth literally would salivate at the sight of them!  (I get the same way with seeing any tim holtz products in plenty).  As you who follow me know, I am a big mist person.  Unfortunately, until a couple of months ago, my projects were severely lacking in my eyes because I couldn't afford to keep up with my own demand of inks.  For instance, do you remember this project?

I had so many plans for this thing!  Unfortunately, I had a small amount of purple and yellow mist...the blue and reds in this are actually chalk that I attempted to water down and smear to make look more like misting.  I really couldn't believe I even shared this...but I loved the gate and the overall meaning behind it, which you can find here.

One of these days I will try to touch it up and actually let my cousins have it...

So onto the reason for this post....

In my search for a more cost efficient way to make this craft work for me, I stumbled onto some inks in the art section of my local Hobby Lobby store!  Dr. Ph. Martins Bombay inks, they are a permanent, waterproof ink advertised as being perfect for calligraphy, stamping, airbrushing, etc...and are archival safe.  So, I decided with a 40% coupon I couldn't resist buying 12 different colors for around $20!

I actually bought both sets and let me tell you, the Black...is truly BLACK, which I don't feel is the case with some mists.  Now I still struggle with the red color...no matter the ink to water ratio I can't seem to find true red.

Here I have compared my inks (on the left) to a tattered angels ~heidi Swapp~ set (on the right)

I love tattered angels so don't think I'm trying to show them up...but I do want to show you how these homemade mists really do compare.

I totally saturated both mine, and theirs completely...this is what the comparison looks like after it was all dried.  However, the pink color of theirs at the bottom had to be a manufacture error because I've bought this set before and it is usually pink not gold with a pink tint to it?  So the pink may not be a good comparison.

The great thing about these is that they are permanent and waterproof, so they dry fast and won't be affected by layering! I absolutely love them.  I am now just on the search for a red and some other colors like a neon or lime green.

So there you have it!  Check out the actual instructions on how to make the mists over at the Gauche Alchemy blog.

Hopefully, I've given some of you other "financially impaired" artists a way to stretch that dollar!

Thanks for looking and if you make these let me know how much you love them!

An Award..An Apology...and my heartfelt Gratitude to you!

Happy Monday friends!

First, I would like to say thank you to my friend, Andrea for awarding me the liebster blog award Andrea is a talented scrapbooker and to receive this from her is a huge honor!  So thank you so much Andrea!

"Liebster" is German for "Dearest". The award is a "Share the love arrangement", given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers. Here is the to do list for any of the "Liebster" blog award recipients.

1. Thank your Liebster Blog award presenter on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who presented you the award.

3.Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers.

5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog.

I am happy to honor some people who inspire me...

SANDI 

ZIMA

ANNMARIE

REBECCA

BETTY

Stop by their blogs if you haven't recently, and be inspired!

***So onto the next order of business...***

It was brought to my attention recently, that my post announcing my position on the Scrapfx design team, may have came across as offensive and prideful.  I want to sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart,if any of you felt this way.

  I, in no way, want to offend any of you who have supported me throughout this past year with your kind words, by being arrogant! 

When I wrote that post, I was trying to find a way to bring some added interest to my post by being silly with it. 

I feel like most of my posts are very boring!  So being inspired by some awesome blog writers out there, I decided to follow their lead and add some humor.  Obviously, I did it without considering how some of the words I used, may offend any of you.  So please forgive me if I made any of you uncomfortable with that post.  I will definitely be more careful with how I present myself in the future!

So with that said, I just want to share my  heartfelt gratitude for all of you!  I don't take lightly, the friendships I have made through this love of art we share.  I appreciate and am inspired by all of you on a regular basis.  You have all added to my life in a big way and I'm so thankful to know you all.  I know that sometimes I'm slow at sharing  blog/forum love with you at times (if you haven't noticed I go in spurts), but I think you also know that I will eventually show up! 
Unfortunately, I do struggle with juggling a job, my family (which consists of two preschoolers), the actual act of scrapbooking, and forum love.  I promise that I will get better at it, and if I am slow...its not because I don't care!  I'm just trying to find that balance. 

 Also, because I know that a lot of you share in my struggle, PLEASE don't feel obligated to leave me a comment! I love hearing from you, but I totally understand the amount of time it can take too! That is why I added the little vote box (not sure what they are called) at the end of the post next to the comments. I did this a couple of weeks ago. If you want to show love, but are struggling with time...feel free to rate the post just to let me know that you are out there. 

Again, I just want to say thank you to all of you who have been such an amazing support to me in this journey! I'm extremely grateful for your friendships!

 

Art House Co-op 4x6 exchange

Hi, I'm here to share with you my 4x6 for the Art House Co-op exchange.  When I first heard about this, I was so excited, but procrastinated about signing up.  Then when I finally made up my mind...sign ups were closed! :(   

 Thankfully though, a couple of weeks later they started another one and I wasn't going to miss my chance to join this one!  I mean how cool is this project?!  Art from all around the world sent to one place, and then distributed back into the world.  I can't wait to get mine and see where it was made and who by! 

The inspiration for my 4x6 came from 2 places.  First it came from me being in complete shock and awe of the many friendships I've created since starting my scrapbooking/mixed media journey.  To share this love with so many people around the world, makes me feel connected with people I otherwise would have never known!  So when I saw Christina's 4x6 I realized that I really wanted to make that kind of a statement with my project!

So here it is:

I made the background with layers of paint, and mists and then added some clear gel medium over the top with the star punchinella from Gauche Alchemy.  You will be seeing that hand again in the future.  It was actually made for a gauche project that will be revealed next month.

So are any of you taking part in the exchange?  Let me know if you are, I would love to check it out!

thanks for looking!

Glitzy Grunge with Want2Scrap

Hi all! I'm here to share a layout I made for Want2Scrap.  I've always loved pages with some bling, but I have to say that I've never really tried adding to much glam to my grungy style before?  That all changed when I was asked last month to be a guest designer for Want2Scrap.  I actually had a lot of fun adding some bling to my page, and will be definitely be doing it again in the future!  The designs that they have are so easy to work with, and you get a lot of detail with little effort (you will see what I mean with another project I've done coming soon...) ! 

So here is my example of glitzy grunge.  This looks much better IRL, my photography skills are lacking and for some reason I couldn't seem to capture the pops of color hiding in the dark background?!

Here I used the sentiments "Faith" and "love", and added baby bling pearl purple (inspired by Katie @ STTG), then added some turquoise baby bing to "hope"square ribbon slide

Here is a close up of some butterflies that I made with my new mariposa template from the crafters workshop...you have a chance to win this, the daisy cluster, and chevron templates...as well as a bundle of awesome gauche alchemy punchinella by following and commenting here.

I love the Want2Scrap clasp...I REALLY love it!  They have them with this square shape, a circle shape, and a heart shape.  What am I saying?!  I really loved the tourquoise and grey rose ribbon and awesome Bling Border just as much.  Like I said before...a lot of detail with  little effort!

Gotta love my blurry detail pic here!

So please stop by the store and see all of the awesome choices they have to glam up your projects...and stop by the blog too, their designers are intimidatingly talented so I guarantee you will leave inspired!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S.

 Don't forget to stop here for a chance to win some templates from TheCraftersWorkshop and yummy punchinella from Gauche Alchemy!

EXCITING NEWS!!!!

Yours truly is now on the new design team for Scrapfx!!! 

Do you hear the angelic choir singing?

~Aaahhhhhhh~

As soon as I received my email I shouted out in my craziest TV evangelist voice...

"Thank ya! Lord-uh!" 

Then, I was really bummed out that there was NO ONE around that I could share the news with! My grams and mom are in Israel...and my hubby was at work...and no one else would really get HOW exciting this really is!

Plus, even if they were around, it wouldn't have satisfied me.  What I really wanted was an audience that I could accept my award in front of...where I could tell all of those people that have supported me that they were a part of making this happen...and then I would pack up and head to Disney World!!!!

Yes, I'm a big drama queen! That's why I'm thankful that I've found this artsy side of myself,  because now I can blame it on my "artist" personality...you know where they are stereotyped as flighty, messy, and dramatic...all traits that I have!

 I get to use art as a way to embrace it, instead of truly thinking that I'm off my rocker!

WINNING!

Seriously?!  This has been an amazing start to the new year!! ...being asked to be a part of Gauche Alchemy, then STTG, and now making the Scrapfx TEAM?!?!  I'm still pinching myself!

I'm thinking that next month, I will be having another giveaway to celebrate!!!

CAN I GET AN AMEN!?!
 (good one scarlett, had to use it!)

A texture tutorial and GIVEAWAY!!! (a day of firsts)

So you know how I mentioned in a previous post that being on the gauche alchemy team has really been taking me out of my comfort zone?  Well one of the ways they have done this is by encouraging me to share some tutorials.  The reason this is such a stretch for me isn't because I'm uncomfortable with sharing, I really don't mind that part.
   First of all, really??? What can I teach you guys?  Most of you are well established scrappers and I look to you for tips, and technique how to's.  Plus, most of my techniques have been discovered through many screw ups!  So usually I have no clue how I get from point A to point B...it just kinda happens?!

I am very glad that GA encouraged me to do some tutorials though, because having to make step by step instructions has made me realize that there is a little more to this particular technique than just slapping some modeling paste over a stencil...although...not really a whole lot more! lol

Check out the tutorial here.

OHHHH!!...and I almost forgot! I'm also having my first giveaway!!! 

Here we have a sampling of the AWESOME!!!! punchinella from Gauche Alchemy...seriously!?!...I love my punchinella!!! and there is no doubt in my mind that you will too!  BUT WAIT!!!  That's not it....You also get my favorite Crafters Workshop Template (the daisy cluster), as well as a chevron, and mariposa template!!!

 (Quick shout out to Susanna for the best customer service ever!  Because I had ordered 2 of some of the templates she actually called me, to make sure that I didn't make a mistake!  How cool is that?)

All you have to do to get your hands on these yummy texture tools, is make sure you are a follower...and leave me a comment telling me how you like to use stencils?! Do you use paint? Modeling paste? Mists? Chalk? Ink?....something I've never heard of?

That's it! Simple as that!  I will randomly choose a winner either by random.org...or one of my cuties drawing form a hat on the 31st! 

International entries welcome!

So whatcha waiting for????

Design Team Call:

Here is what Maggi has to say about it:

Hi everyone! Maggi here to ask a question: Do you love Gauche Alchemy??? Are you irreverent, snarky, creative AND maybe just a wee bit coo coo bananas? If so, we want to put you to work!
Here at Gauche Alchemy, our goal is to support and encourage creative thought and expression by providing materials that help artists of all types think differently about their creative pursuits. We endeavor to be the “jumping-off point” for your next great idea! We are all about upcycling, as well as digging up the best manufactured products we can find and we’re looking for 3 creative, dedicated and enthusiastic people to join our team!

We are looking for a blog writer, videographer, and news letter overlord.  For More details, and how to apply go here.

"family is a circle of love"

Where on earth is the time going?  I can't believe its already the 3rd of March?!  Life has felt like a whirlwind lately (all good), so I've been letting myself get behind on some stuff, including the fact that I forgot to share the layout I made for my second dt project with Gauche Alchemy. 

 I can't tell you how much I love being on this team!  These girls are an amazing and strong group of women, who are truly encouraging towards one another.  I feel like such a valued member, and while I'm being pushed out of my creative comfort zone in some areas (like tutorials, and a mini coming soon),  I'm more than excited about it, because of the support I have behind me!  (run-on sentences...my specialty!!!)

I usually never know where my pages will end up...here you can see part of the book page collage (from the ACME kit) I made int the background.

Here is the awesome scrapfx wordlet that I embossed with silver to keep in line with the metal madness I had going on!

The fasteners and charm are all findings in the blacked out mixed media color kit!  The flowers are Bo Bunny Chiffon ribbon that I inked black and experimented by adding embossing around the trim.  You can purchase this ribbon for very little at the  STTG store, and I love that you can custom color it to your liking!

So please stop by the gauche website and check out the awesome, (and once again, totally encouraging) post that one of my scrappy hero's and fellow alchemist, Michelle has wrote!

Thanks for stopping by, I always enjoy when you visit!