On the 1st day of Christmas...and SURPRISE!

Frosted Designs blog told me...
Use 1 bird on your project, link and share... 

I am so excited to be the 1st artist to share my project on the Frosted Designs Blog during our 12 days of Christmas challenge.  At the bottom of this post, I also have an exciting SURPRISE for all of you that live in SO CAL and want to learn how to create your own Mixed Media canvas!

 

In true 12 days of Christmas fashion, for the 1st day of Christmas, please use 1 bird on your project. This can be a layout, a card, or an off the paper project.  It will be FUN to have it be a winter/holiday themed project, but any project is welcome.

 

I can't wait to see what you all create:)

 

On to my project:

 

 

I have been obsessed recently with mixed media and had so much fun making this canvas:)

 

Are you ready for the awesome surprise?????

 

I will be teaching a workshop at Ever After Scrapbooks where you can make this mixed media canvas!  How cool is that?????

 

Class Location: Ever After Scrapbooks, 1954 Hacienda Drive, Vista, CA

Date:  December 15, 2012

Time: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Cost:  $45

 

Supply list:

• HEAT GUN - it is VERY important that each student has their own
• Red Permanent archival ink pad (like Ranger Archival Ink)
• Embossing ink pad
• Black fine point Sharpie
• Red fine point Sharpie
• Black ultra fine point Sharpie
• Glue dots or strong, quick drying liquid adhesive
• Pop does or foam adhesive (little squares or circles)
• Scissors
• Paper trimmer
• Apron or old shirt to protect your clothes
• Roll of Paper Towels
 

 

She who listens sees...

So....I've FINALLY had a chance to view some of the She Art videos for the on-line class I signed up for...well...almost 3 months ago, lol! Christy from Scarlet Lime teaches these classes.  Make sure you visit her site.  And prepare to be AMAZED!

AND....I have to SAY...I'm a HUGE fan!

Take a look at my first SHE ART creation...I'm AMAZED...and THRILLED...and HUMBLED...and all around, over the top in LOVE with this new venture in ALTERED ART...WAHOO!

I started out using a 6 x 8 canvas for my first attempt.  I also decided to use my current TNT kit from the TNT club at Ever After Scrapbooks.  Our monthly meeting is this Tuesday and I can't wait to share my new creation!

As I was creating, this piece "SPOKE" to me and the quote just came to me...

I just LOVE this color combination that was inspired by this month's TNT kit.  I was also thrilled to be able to use some of what my dear friend, Teresa gave me...pages from an old book...in GERMAN...Thanks, Teresa!

I used some "found items" in this project...specifically:

• bubble wrap
• rubber shelf liner
• paper filling from who knows where (see hair)

I also used the following from my TNT kit:

• burgandy flower
• letter stickers
• two pieces of the patterned paper (one of which is mostly covered)

From my stash:

• rub-ons
• acrylic paint
• filmstrip stamp (stamped on to flimsy packaging)
• bling from Prima
• Mod Podge
• canvas from Blick Arts
• Studio 490 stamp
• sharpie (black)

enJOY!

Altered Stick Pins & Studio L3 CCC #33 Entry...Frugal Scrappin' Style:)

Hello fellow scrappers/crafters/bloggers:)

I hope you are having a MOST wonderful day today!  I have been seeing altered stick pins around for a while now, and I've been wanting to try them myself, but just haven't had the time...UNTIL NOW, {hee hee}.

I'm SOOOOO excited that my dear friend, Jacquie, showed a group of us how to make our own altered stick pins at a TNT group meeting at our LSS.  I was so excited and IDEAS just kept running through my head, INCLUDING kicking myself for selling all those BEADS I've had for years at a recent yard sale I had...

Now you all know I have to put my own frugal little twist on what I've seen and I'm very EXCITED to share it with all...as I often say, I know I'm NOT a ROCKET SCIENTIST (well, sometimes in my own little head I think I just MIGHT be {ROFL}...well at least a "scientist" anyway...since, ya know, I'm ALWAYS coming up with new concoctions, AND I'm always all inky and stuff...DEFINITELY, no fresh manicures here, sistah!

So anyway, I went to my local "big box" craft store and bought some corsage pins..ya know, the ones that NEVER hold the corsages on (well at least mine don't)...anyway, I purchased two types...one with ROUND white pearls on the top and the other with TEARDROP white pearls on top.

Then I mosied on over to the bead section...ya know the bead section is now BIGGER than the scrapbook section!  What's the deal with that, I ask?  I know, I know, there are some AMAZING jewelry makers out there BUT I'm not gonna get into that craft now...no, I'm not, BUT I will use some of their AWESOME beads for my ALTERED STICK PINS!

Oh, and I also bought this whoppin' big pkg of glitter, too...I'm tellin' ya, if I can't find a glitter to match my project now, I've got issues...well MORE issues than I already know I have, lol.

I am now the proud owner of 24 lucious colors of glitter.  Here are a few of them:

Now, all I did was cover the pearl tops of my stick pins with some fast drying liquid glue (I use 3-IN-1 Beacon Glue).  Then I popped the lid off of a glitter bottle and dipped the pearly tops in for a "swim"...swirled it around a bit, lifted and tapped off the loose glitter and VOILA, I now had a glittery topped stick pin.  After adding a few beads, I had an AWESOME new embellishment for my crafting project!

Now, ya know I just COULDN'T stop there, right?  So I headed on over to my alcohol ink bin and added some alcohol ink to felt and swirled a few more stick pins around in the felt pad until they were covered.

Check these out!  Another use for my trusty alcohol inks...whoo hoo!

Can I just say AMAZING!!!!!!!

Now, if you've made it this far, I also want to show you my Studio L3 Challenge entry for this week.  Our challenge was to turn to pg 56 in the Compendium of Curiosities book, and use the altered metal technique.  Even though I DEFINITELY altered MORE THAN METAL, I did also complete this challenge.

Here's a close-up of the altered metal (this is a piece of chipboard covered with aluminum foil and embossed with an embossing folder).  The colors of alcohol Ink I used are terra cotta, sailboat blue, and sunset orange.

I had a GREAT time making this project.  THANKS to Linda over at Studio L3 for ANOTHER AMAZING CHALLENGE!

Frugal Scrapper's Homemade Flowers Tutorial

You know, I think I may have posted a similar tutorial once before, but since paper flowers are still REALLY popular, I'm going to post it again, espcially since this has a bit of a "twist".

First, we start with a scallop circle punch and a paper lunch bag.  I love working with a lunch bag for a few reasons:

• They are EXTREMELY economical
• They have a bit of a "waxiness or glossiness to them
• They are a great weight and texture for altering

Then, once the bag is cut apart and 6 scalloped circles are punched, we add some ink.  I inked 5 of the scalloped circles with distress ink in Barn Door and one scalloped circle was inked with distress ink in Peeled Paint.  Make sure to ink BOTH sides of the scalloped circles.

Next, we crumple them up.  You can't crumple them TOO MUCH, so have a blast:)

Now, we'll un-crumple them and layer the red pieces on top of each other and secure with a brad.

Now, crumple them back up toard the center, one later at a time, starting with the top layer.  Once you've crumpled them back up, you can "press all of the layers together so that the brad cannot be seen.

Then you can slowly open the layers back up again...just open slowly so that the layers are still a bit crumpled.  This takes practice, so if you open the layers too much,you can always crumple them together again and start the opening process again until you get the results you want.

Once your satisfied with the results, take the last scalloped circle (the one inked with Peeled Paint) and tear it right in half.  This is where your imagination and inter artist is going to have to get to work.  You will play with each half of these scalloped circles until you think they look like individual leaves.  I personally play with them until when I "pinch" each end and leave the middle wider, they look like leaves.

My end result is this:

If you want to, you can also add a little "glimmer" to them by spraying them with some sort of glimmer spray (I use my homemade glimmer spray, made by filling a mini mister with water and adding a scoop of perfect pearls)...shake and spray:)

These are the results below:

The difference is subtle and based on how concentrated your glimmer spray is.  The reason I LOVE my homemade glimmer spray is because, my color comes from the distress inks and the spray just adds a pearly glimmer, now added color.

The other advantage to doing this is that you can then use a heat tool to dry your flower which will stiffen it, similar to starching.  Now your flower will hold it's shape perfectly!

Another suggestion is to go back over the tips of your flower with a darker color of distress ink (like Fired Brick or Aged Mahogony) so you can add more depth to the petals.

Stickles can also be added by squirting stickles on your craft mat and tapping your finger in them.  Then gently blot you stickled finger over the flower to randomly add more sparkle.

EnJOY!









Today's gonna be a GREAT day, so here's a sneek peek & StudioL3 Post:)

Whoo hoo!!!!!  Today's gonna be a GREAT day!  For those of you who live in "sunny" southern California, you know that the coast has not been so "sunny" this year!  While my hubby and I feel VERY fortunate to be living along the coast in Northern San Diego County, summer has eluded us most of this year:(

Well, that has changed today!!!!  I think May Grey, June Gloom AND July Cry has moved on out (at least for today), and the sun is comin' up over the mountains!  Whoo Hoo!!!!

I took this picture right off of my deck this morning...at 6:30 a.m.....Ahhhhhhhh, this is WHY I moved HERE!

Hey, are those actually SHADOWS I see there?  Wow, it's gonna be hard to go to work today...

I've been workin' on my newest canvas project that I will teach at Ever After Scrapbooks...It will have a Holiday theme and will be modeled after T!m's 12 tags of Christmas...with a frugal scrappin' twist, of course!  This will be part of my monthly Frugal Scrappin' monthly class, and will be a series...we will complete this canvas over 3 months in Sept, Oct, and Nov...in plenty of time for gift giving or Holiday decorating.  More details to follow...

I've already started incorporating some recycled materials into this project...think soda cans, heehee...add a little paint, a little punchin' (hey, this will help sharpen your punches, too...a frugal BONUS), and a few of my other favorite T!m things..

Now I know this project is NO WHERE near FINISHED, but I couldn't help sharin' a SNEEK PEEK, especially since I could take it on a much eluded SUNNY southern California morning!  Whoo hoo!

I think I will also use this pic as my "project" for the Studio L3 CCC#9 challenge...I'm a day late (and probably a dollar short, lol), but hey it gave me the inspiration to used my crackle paint on my new project!

EnJOY!

As always, I love comments, suggestions, and just plain ole..."hey, how ya doin'?" posts...

Have a very BLESSED and sunny DAY!

You favorite Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

Frugal Scrappin' at Ever After:)

It's that time again, fellow scrappers, to share my class samples for the monthly Frugal Scrappin' class at Ever After Scrapbooks.  As I'm sure you know, this class will include some of my FAVORITE T!M HOLTZ products!

FRUGAL SCRAPPIN' CLASS

Class Date:  Thursday, March 25th

Class Time:  6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

This month is just flyin' by AND the class is already full:) There is a wait list for anyone interested in signing up. (Hey...maybe we can even add a second class date...HOW KEWL would that BE?)

I feel very blessed to have such a great group of crafters that attend my class each month.  I am also inspired by their creativity.  They just make my heart smile:)

Now on to the samples:

You may notice that there are only 3 cards shown, so I'm REALLY excited to tell you about a SPECIAL TREAT this month...Now, each card has a very DIFFERENT technique used and I KNOW each person will have a FAVORITE, sooooo....I will have supplies available for each student to go back and try their FAVORITE technique from the class a SECOND time:)  Whoo hoo!!!!

With that in mind, you will end up with FOUR awesomely creative cards to take home.  You can design it any way you want to.  I will have extra stamps available if you want to make something slightly different the second time around.

If you haven't done so yet, come on down (or up, or over) to Ever After and sign up for this awesome class.  It's sure to knock your creativity into HIGH GEAR.

ADDED BONUS!!!!  We have placed an order ESPECIALLY for you that will include the products used in this class.  This way, once you try these techniques, you can purchase your own supplies to use in class AND you can take them home and try them again! 

Whoo hoo!!!!

Happy Scrappin'

Lori McCausland, your friendly Frugal Scrapper Extaordinaire:)

T!m's Back on the Top of My List:)

O.k. bloggers...so I go to what they call the original STAMPING show (or something like that) in Carson, CA yesterday with my very good friend, Gloria. We knew T!m would be there, and were definitely NOT disappointed!!!!

T!m was doing some fun demos and it didn't take long for me to get my creative juices flowing. I had some decorative grungeboard pieces that I wanted to use for a class, so I whipped up this cute wall hanging.I started by STAMPING on the GRUNGEboard, using one of my FLOURISH stamps and a PAINT dabber. I then applied some PINE needles and BRICK red distress ink around the EDGES.

I made a vintage "CARD" using another stamp I bought and distressed it with SCATTERED straw distress ink as I curled up the edges. Before adhering it to my project, I STAMPED some MUSIC notes down the left side of the project.

I then added a decorative metalic corner (think cardboard, aluminum foil, cuttlebug embossing folder and some JUNIPER alcohol INK).

To finish, I added some flowers, a little bling, a snowflake and a hinge clip. To finish it off, I just added some wire to hang it up...oh yes, I did add some "stitching" with a green sharpie marker.

Enjoy:)

.

Tag of the Month-August

Ok, ok...I think I owe my blog a few "Tag of the Month" posts, lol...

At the beginning of 2009 I had one of my "brainy ideas" to post my "Tags of the Month" that I am using for mnt's for the TNT Book Club I lead at Ever After Scrapbooks...

Knowing myself, I should have realized putting that responsibility on myself would be easier said then done...my "love/hate" relationship with what I'll call "Frugal Scrapper A.D.D."...(attention deficit disorder)...I am FAMOUS for having these great ideas to share my projects...and then I forget to post them because my scattered creative mind is off and running toward my next frugally creative altered project:)....o.k....enough about my quirky issues....

So I finished my August TNT mnt this morning...the meeting is tonight and the mnt JUST came into my head this morning...did I also say I'm a procrastinator? For some reason, I love the thrill of creating under pressure...I've been thinking of what I want to do for this month's project for weeks, but nothing was coming to me...until this morning, of course:)

I love this project so much that I couldn't wait to post it to my blog:) It's simple really, just a few basic colors (blues and browns with a twist of silver)...great colors to migrate from summer to what will soon become fall...I love the spark of silver added for pizzazz.

I started with a manilla tag and covered it with some Melissa Frances pp (Leah). I used some of my favorite T!m Holtz products...denim blue and walnut brown distress inks, brown archival ink, memory capsule and a memory frame.

I stamped on the flowers and background paper in the memory capsule with a Hero Arts "Old French Writing" stamp (I use this stamp for backgrounds ALL the time!)

After distressing the tag. with the distress inks, I added a swirl stamp along the left side of the tag. I added some silver ribbon, stickles and LOVE charm to tie into the chrome memory frame.

If you notice the stamped "circles" around the flowers on the tag...this is my latest frugal tip...I used a bottle cap as a stamp...you know, the kind that you use with a bottle opener?...another "stamp" I discovered is from the cover on my antiperspirant...It's a perfect oval AND has a little "handle" on it...you just never know what will work as a "stamp" next:)

Thanks for visiting:)

Have a scrappingly awesome day:)

Lori, Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

More of...Just the Trash and my Stash

Hello fellow scrappers:) I haven't posted a "Just the Trash and my Stash" project for a while, although I still do them all the time....soooo....I realized I need to share some more projects with you:)

I made this mini album focusing on my husband's 50th birthday. Our family surprised him by having ALL of our immediate family (kids, significant others, AND grandkids) together for the very first time! Whoo hoo!!!!












I started with a Genuinely Jane Arrow book that I got from Ever After Scrapbooks. This book came with 4 wooden arrow-shaped pages, but being the frugal person I am, I used only two of the pages in the project (which means...I can make another book later:)

I did add pages by using some corregated cardboard (from a cardboard shipping box...i.e...trash). To cut the arrow shape, I just layed one of the wooden pages on top of the cardboard and roughly cut around it with an exacto knife. I then trimmed where ever needed with scissors. When I do projects like this, I always ink around the edges of each page. Since I wanted this book to be masculine, I used a black acrylic paint dabber on the edges.

Using paper from Graphic 45, 7 Gypsies, and the Paper Loft (I love to mix the manufacturers papers), I covered the wooden pages. On the corregated cardboard pages, I used some Tim Holtx masks and glimmer mist on some, and some Making Memories acrylic paint on others. You will also notice that on some of the cardboard pages, I pulled some of the top layer of cardboard off so the corregated core would show through.

I then added some rub-ons, word strips, ink and more acrylic paint (on photo edges) from my stash. Finally I "blinged" it up (in a masculine way, of course) with Stickles.

I also decided to use sepia photos on this book which pulled the theme together.

Enjoy:)

Frugal Scrapper Tips 'n Techniques #4

Ok fellow scrappers, I have quite a few things going on here...where do I start...hmmmm...let's start with the canvas background:) I purchased a few of these canvas backgrounds from the local dollar store (there were actually 2 packaged together). I originally got them for my grandkids to paint on, but then thought...hey, these would make a great altered art project for my blog...I hope you agree.

This canvas measures 7" x 9", but when I bought them (around Thanksgiving) there were other sizes available, too...as "luck" would have it, though they are nowhere to be found now:( If anyone finds them, please let me know as these would make AWESOME covers for mini books, too.

I first randomly painted the canvas with two of my acrylic paints. Then as part of a Prima contest, I used Prima packaging on my project. The "ribbons" on the right side (black polka dots), the strips around the left photo AND the mat on the right photo are from Prima packaging. The aqua mat on the left photo is from another Prima package (it's actually a cool aqua/white brick wall pattern, but it's a bit hard to see in this pic).

I also used the tape that goes across one of the buckets of flowers Prima sells (notice the Prima, Prima, Prima across the top of the project)...it would have been awesome if I had some ballerina pic's as I could have done "Prima" Ballerina...oh well, maybe another time:)

I also stamped on the canvas using swirl stamps with Staz-on ink. I did add paint to the edges of the photo mats and ink around the edge of the canvas, too. Of course, I had to use some Prima flowers and "bling". I really love Prima's product line.

So I guess the moral of this post is:

• Stop by your local dollar store often...you never know what treasures you will find.
• Don't just "toss" the packaging from your scrapbook products. With so many companies going "green" and helping us stretch our scrapping $$, I have found that packaging really is useful...(I've been using the cellophane and acetate packaging for years)
• Acrylic paints AND inks should be a staple in your scrapping stash...they last "forever" if stored properly and are an easy way to alter your projects. I've had some of my ink pads and acrylic paints over 10 years!
• Create responsibly (go "green" and do your part to save the earth)...

I'd love to see how you have used these techniques in your project:)

I'm sure you'll find other ideas for using Prima's packaging here.

Enjoy!

Lori McCausland, Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire