In The Studio

Art Every Week 2017: Just Floating Along

In The Studio

One week down, 51 to go!

First, I really want to share about the journal I made for this year’s art journal project, and now that it’s been shared over on the Imagine blog, I can!

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It’s a fairly simple and straightforward Coptic-stitch book with chipboard covers that I decorated with torn craft paper and an old map page. The full supply list is available on the Imagine blog (Creative Journals for Creative People). Of course, I’d be completely remiss if I didn’t mention that the supplies and directions for a similar book can be found in the Bound & Determined kit from The Crafty Branch.

While I’d love to be able to make time during the week to work on it, I’m realistic enough to know that it’s most likely going to be on weekends, so the first weekend’s page was completed on Sunday, the 8th:

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And, even better, I filmed the making of this page and have the edited, voice-overed, and much sped up (it went from an hour of real time to less than 10 minutes in the video) version over on my YouTube channel right now!

Todd helped me set up a new filming rig before I started this page. It still needs some tweaks but I think, overall, it’s going to make the videos look a lot better and make it much easier for me to film process videos of all sorts of projects. If anyone’s curious, let me know and I’ll be happy to post about how we cobbled together an overhead rig for far less than anything that I could find pre-made and that didn’t involve a lot of heavy lifting in the tool department.

 

My Must-Have Die

In The Studio

Over the summer I saw a particular die that I had a visceral reaction to. I had no set plan in mind, I just knew I had to have it.

dv-tall-victorian-houseIt’s not an exact match for the Gingerbread Dollhouse, but it’s pretty darn close!

And I finally got a chance to use it on a project for the Imagine blog, though I doubt it’ll be the last time I find a project for it.

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Go check it out and see how to create a couple of versions of faux snow for holiday cards and layouts.

Another Year of Getting Inky with Imagine!

In The Studio

Since the official announcement has been made, I can now let the cat out of the bag: Imagine has graciously allowed me another year on their Artist in Residence team and I couldn’t be happier!airs-badge-2017

I really enjoyed my first year with the team and appreciate the push it gives me every month to create. After stepping down from Helmar earlier this year I debated whether I’d submit myself for a second term with Imagine, but when the time came to make the choice, the idea of not being on the team (or at least trying) was just too horrible to contemplate!

Of the 32 projects I created for Imagine in 2016, two were selected for their 2017 catalog: the Growth Potential onesie and my Stamped Napkins.

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But there was one project you never saw, and that was my audition piece from last fall, the one that got me on the team in the first place:

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This card uses Iridescent Creative Medium (roughed up with a stipple brush) for the moon, with the background of India ink dropped around and on top of it, creating a space-like background and shadowy craters on the surface of the medium where I made spaces for it. The tree and other embellishments are StazOn Studio Glaze. I remember writing up the project sheet for submission while on our anniversary cruise last November so it would be ready to send when we got back to our home port. Guess it was worth the effort, right?!

So here’s to another year with the fabulous folks at Imagine! I can only hope to do them proud once again.

I’ll Make a Home For Christmas

In The Studio

Or three…

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I’m fairly certain I’ve mentioned the metal house “lanterns” that we saw last November in a shop in Disney Springs and how amazing they were and how sad I was that they weren’t for sale. Turns out they are available from the Acorn catalog, and aren’t terribly expensive at about $30 a pop. But by the time I’d found them there, I’d already purchased a trio of papier mache houses to make my own Christmas village with.

Sadly, it took a full year before I got around to painting the houses, but I’m glad I waited! The Delicata inks I used to add the metallic sheen to these houses really made the project! You can see the step-by-step over on the Imagine blog!

8 Cards from 1 Kit

In The Studio

In an attempt to curb my random spending, I joined two subscription services at the end of October: Pipsticks (more on that another time) and Simon Says Stamp. I’d been impressed with the Simon Says Stamps products I’d seen some of my favorite YouTubers display and I finally let myself buy in. My first kit to arrive was the November kit, very fall, very Thanksgiving-y, and very bad timing. When it arrived I was in the crunch time on the yarn bomb so all I could do was open it, ooh and aah over the items, and set it aside until this past weekend.

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With the December kit already shipped and due to arrive at any moment, I thought it wise to go ahead and bang some cards out while watching Gilmore Girls A Year in the Life on Saturday. I usually watch Vicky Papaioannou make 10 cards from each kit and wanted to challenge myself to do the same. You can see the cards she created with the kit over on her YouTube channel (I waited until after I made mine to watch hers) and here are mine in more detail.

Unless noted with a +, everything is from the Thankful Heart kit (currently out of stock, but the stamp set may be available in the future). Just because it’s fallish, doesn’t mean the materials are dated–the stamp set is fabulous for any thank-you occasion! (And, no, this is not a sponsored post. I’m just a fan.)jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-1

  • Red cardstock base
  • Plaid patterned paper
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata Ink
  • Stickles
  • +White cardstock
  • +Spellbinders Belly Band Two die
  • +Dollar Tree grosgrain ribbon

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  • Red cardstock card base
  • Green/Orange dot patterned paper
  • Red heart patterned paper
  • Stickles

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  • White cardstock card base
  • +Vellum
  • Floral embossing folder
  • Blue patterned paper
  • Floral-heart clip
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata ink
  • +Xyron Create-a-Sticker

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  • Green cardstock card base
  • Tree patterned paper
  • +White cardstock
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata ink
  • Stickles

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  • White cardstock card base
  • Wood plank patterned paper
  • White patterned paper
  • +Spellbinders ellipse die
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata ink
  • +Off-white twine

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  • Green cardstock card base
  • Flower-pot patterned paper
  • Wood plank patterned paper
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • +Tuxedo Black Memento ink
  • +Helmar Zap Dots

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  • Blue cardstock card base
  • Dotted patterned paper
  • Orange patterned paper
  • Camera patterned paper
  • +Heart punch
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • +Coffee Bean Brilliance ink
  • Stickles
  • +Twine
  • +Helmar Zap Dots

jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-8

  • Blue cardstock card base
  • Camera patterned paper
  • +Heart punch
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata ink
  • +Coffee Bean Brilliance ink
  • +Helmar Zap Dots

Things like acrylic blocks for stamping and basic adhesive go without saying, right?

At any rate, my timing was good. I finished these cards (plus the bonus cards for Monday’s blog hop) on Saturday, the December kit landed in my mailbox on Tuesday evening, and last night the special Holiday Card Kit (not part of the subscription–I was at work on Black Friday and did some frustration shopping from my phone at lunch) came in! Now I have two kits to play with!