7:00 PM to 9:30 PM

Location: Highland Park, IL

Click here to join the class and get location Details!

Mixed Media is all the rage ~ Join Marie Drahorad from www.prayscraplove.com as she teaches this beautiful technique based mixed media scrapbook page by Blue Fern Studios!! Marie will walk you through the newest paints and techniques using multiple surfaces to create a scrapbook page! The project includes the beautiful Blue Fern papers and Prima embellishments! This class will surely be a favorite!

Marie will teach you how to create homemade butterflies (see picture) that can be used to adorn cards/ scrapbook pages as well as layout a mixed media scrapbook page.

You will go home with 1 completed mixed media scrapbook page.

How long class lasts: 2 hours

Class price: $25.00

Skill Level: Beginning

Supplies to bring to class: Basic Supplies including strong holding adhesive, ¾ wide paintbrush (found at art/craft store, or purchase at Splash of Color booth), Baby wipes and paper towels (stop by the bathroom on the way into class, if you forgot!) and Optional: Apron to cover clothes.

What you’ll complete in class: Mixed Media Scrapbook Page

Techniques You’ll Learn: techniques using multiple surfaces to create a unique scrapbook page.

I love the look of mixed media scrapbook pages but getting started with this requires a bit of research… and learning… and supplies…  Here’s my entry for March Blue Fern sketch challenge (www.bluefernstudios.blogspot.com):

Here’s my Mixed Media Supply List:

Gesso – Use this to add texture to your scrapbooking page – I apply this as my first layer on the scrapbook 12″x12″ cardstock.  This will block out any color so, I use this on white 12×12 cardstock.  You can think of Gesso as a way to make your papers primed where the fibers will not pull apart.  When using mixed media inks, this is always a must have. You can also layer the Gesso so that you can get different textures.  Go slow and let each layer dry before putting on another layer to prevent paper curling.  Tip: Use a baby wipe to apply the gesso to the cardstock. Suggested Brand: Liquitex

Gel Medium – Comes in both glossy and matte.  Experiment with both and see which you like.  Use this to seal in what you have done so that you can add more layers on top and not have the layer below loose colors.  You can also use this as a glue for lightweight things such as paper, cardstock. Suggested brand: Liquitex.

Modeling Paste – Use for adding dimension with masks and stencils.  This is really fun – this is almost like a toothpaste consistency and you can use with a stencil to create really neat dimensional designs.  You can make your own using baby powder (see bottom of this blog for recipe) or purchase premade. Suggested brand: Liquitex

Faber Castell Gelatos – Use for coloring – you can do so many things with these… create shimmer sprays, color on paper, color gel mediums and modeling pastes… the sky is the limit!

Brushes – I get a lot of my brushes at the dollar store in the makeup aisle.  You can use the thinner blush brushes to apply gesso and gel mediums and you can use the eyeliner brushes to apply paints, watercolors and gelatos :).  Try an eyebrow pencil to apply modeling paste as texture.  If you have to buy brushes – use a 40% off coupon from michaels, hobby lobby or joanne fabrics to purchase.

Chipboard – oh yes you can make beautiful embellishments with the chipboard.  I recommend blue fern chipboard and then paint it, emboss on it and just let your creativity go nutty!

Lindy’s Sprays and Embossing Powders – Use for adding color to your pages and embellishments with this unique and utter beautiful inks.  Love the try me sets!  You cannot beat it for $14.50 a set!

 Stencils – To make the really cool designs on your scrapbook page with modeling paste – you are going to need a few of these… I love the stencil’s by crafter’s workshop.

Ideas – Now that you have a few supplies… here’s what you can do with them …

And if you really want to go all out… I really recommend you follow Gabrielle Pollacco’s work – amazing…

Mixed Media Recipes:

• Homemade Smooth Texture Paste
• 1/4 cup Talcum Powder (I used Johnson’s Baby Powder, Smells really good too!!)
• 1 tablespoon White All purpose School Glue
• 1 tablespoon White Acrylic Paint
• Some Water
• Airtight Container

• Travel sized spray bottle (find at a dollar store or target)
• Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments of any color
• Water or 70% rubbing alcohol
• Means of color (acrylic paint, re-inker ink, faber castell gelatos, food color, RIT dye, water color etc.)
• Mod Podge/School Glue

Instructions:

1. Fill the spray bottle about 3/4 of the way with water or rubbing alcohol (if you want to dry faster once sprayed), add about 1 tsp worth of school glue/mod podge. Add a little color (or a lot if you want it a little more saturated) and then add Pearl-Ex powder or coloring agent (ie:re-inker, gelatos) . The amount is up to you, but I find that about the equivalent of 1/8 tsp is plenty. Shake well to mix and dissolve everything.
2. Now, remember to shake up the glimmer mist well before every use. The Pearl Ex pigments like to settle on the bottom of the bottle. If you find that you have difficulty shaking the stuff lose from the bottom, add a small marble or a very small, smooth (and clean) rock to your spray bottle. It will help with the shaking up of things!
3. Hint: Leave out the shimmer and just use a coloring agent that does not shimmer.

The bible verse on the scrapbook page is such a beautiful one… It gives me much comfort and feeling of peace when I am having stress filled days…

Psalm 91:4 – He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;

Enjoy a new way of scrapbooking … and more importantly enjoy spring!

Well I have a dream project – making fairy houses out of paper and forest items such as acorns, moss and sticks.  So a few of my fellow mixed media friends gave me a challenge – make a fairy house.  So away we went, like little gnomes on a mission, and we crafted and crafted and crafted and we are still crafting!

The nice thing about my friends is that we all are different – I paper craft and love little flowers and bows, Edie loves altered art and is the best altered artist I ever met and is amazing at that and Zoe well she loves meditating and yoga and she is a true blue artist…her free hand drawing is just beautiful as is her paintings! I love when we all go away and come up with something… and then we share and realize we are all different in the most awesome artist way!

Here’s one of my fairy houses – of course this is for indoor fairy gardens only!  Paper and weather do not get along!  This particular fairy house started out from an empty breadcrumb can!  The small flowers are hand made and have a small rhinestone in each one.  The charm at the top of the gnome home door is also hand made.

This was such a joy to do… and challenged my creativity quite a bit!  All I need now are a few gnomes to move in!  Stay tuned!

This was very easy and fun…

The button on the card was threaded with pool party color 1/8″ ribbon.  I used crystal lacquer to lacquer the hearts and the handmade saying.  Over the next few weeks I will be periodically posting ideas on using mixed media to take your card making skills a little further.

Stay tuned!

We will be making six (6) cards using the chalkboard technique… we’ll explore the various different ways we can create chalkboard cards… embossing white on black, stamping white on black, stamping black on white…

Here’s a quick sneak peek at one of the cards we are making… this card’s tag is really a magnet… so the receiver of this card can pull the tag off the card and place on a fridge or magnetic whiteboard… what a neat Valentine’s gift!

I made this card with someone very special in mind! She pushes my creative skill to the limit and she is a wonderful friend! Can’t say who it is just yet because I am giving this card to her for Valentine’s day …. shhhhh!

I just love how the pinks make the black pop!  Is there anyone in your life that has made you stronger? wiser? kinder?  Make sure you send a handmade card to them…!

Hop on over to our monthly meetup for the Northshore Crafter’s Guild… we meet at my house and craft the evening or afternoon away… we are still trying to work on a set schedule so for now we meet when everyone seems to be able to meet… I have enough space for 8-10 stampers!

I was invited to host One of a Kind Artists‘ art night – it’s a local creative group I belong to – and the theme of the night was paper crafting… so with that being said – we decided as a group to create Valentine’s Day cards and make them into some type of a journal.  So with a set of cards, I was asked to come up with an example and then teach how I created the example.

I decided to have a theme – for me I am not dating – so I thought to make the journal about me and my favorite things I like to do.  {I imagined that I could do speed dating and bring these cards to the speed dating event – and if the person thought I was nutty – then he was not for me – and if the person thought what I did was really cool – then he might have a chance! How funny is that eh?  Of course, speed dating is a stretch – kinda like this journal card technique lol }

Getting back on topic… The nice thing about this project is that I can add additional cards as I think of things – so this is going to be one of those projects that keep going… lol.  Here’s what each journal card looked like and the Stampin’ Up! Colors I used – I colored and decorated front and back sides and added a few pockets that were made out of tags and coin sleeves (yes the things that you put coins in to make a coin roll – they make the best pockets and thank you Edie (host for One of a Kind Artists Art Club) for coming up with the idea here).

So each card on the ring had a theme:

• Card 1 – Positive Thinking
• Card 2 – Art/ Being Creative
• Card 3 – Bike Riding along the Lake
• Card 4 – Spending Time at Beaches
• Card 5 – Hot Air Balloon Rides
• Card 6 – Baking
• Card 7 – Spending Time at Tea and Coffee shops across the country

I also did something a little different – I used gesso to add a texture to each card (Again thank you Edie for this idea too!) before I applied ink to them… once the gesso dried I then antiqued each side of the card with Tim Holtz’s Walnut color ink (you can use soft suede from Stampin’ Up! as well) and then I applied using a felt pad Stampin’ Up!’s Strawberry Slush color and Riding Hood Red.  The last thing I did, again using a felt pad, was apply gold ink to each side so that the cards had a beautiful sheen to them…

Once I did this, then I decorated them.  I created my own embellishments and used liberally Crystal 3-D by Sakura.  This is the best Waterbased Clear Lacquer I could find… It takes a few hours to dry – but once it does – wow does it make the images pop nicely.

So I figured out there were five easy steps to make these:

1. Cut the Cards and Apply Gesso
2. Punch holes and attach the ringlets that go around the holes (both sides)
3. Color the cards – Antique them using soft suede or tim holtz distressing walnut ink, color them and apply gold ink to make the card base.
4. Decorate
5. Attach to ring using the badge clips and add ribbon on ring

Here’s some of the supplies I used for this project:

To pull the cards all together, I simply hole punched each corner and created hole ringlets using the red glitter paper at Paper Source.  I put a ringlet on each side of the card to give the hole a little more stability.  I then threaded a badge clip through each card and then attached the badge clips to a metal ring.

Once  I completed the project, I tied ribbons in matching colors (thank you Stampin’ Up! and Paper Source) on the metal ring!

For a project I was struggling with… it really turned out nice and I am now a fan of miniature journals like this one.  There are so many things you can do – a school journal where each card represents a year of school for the child… baby’s milestones… wedding day… so many uses…

Here’s the creative kits I created for the One of a Kind Artist’s Meetup Group which I was the guest host at (I hung the ring and badge clips and ringlets on the side of the bag so that the crafters can access them easily):

We had a wonderful time and each ladies’ miniature journal turned out beautifully different and told a story of love which is what Valentine’s Day is all about… !

Why not have me host a Creative Arts Party for you too!  I would love to be your group’s Creative Coach!

Here’s a great video to help you get started:

We r Memory Keeper’s Envelope Punch Board

Here’s my first attempt at making an envelope and matching envelope liner:

Note:

Making an Envelope Liner:

You can make an Envelope Liner with the Envelope Punch Board.  For an A2 envelope Liner – simply cut your paper 7 3/4″ x 7 3/4″ and score at 3 1/2″ – only score lightly and from bottom of envelope punch board – just enough to line up the punch on the board. Follow this video for more instructions:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuUMGpQHK9w

Bad Measurements on original envelope punch board:

Sadly, the measurements on the original envelope punch board are slightly off (this includes the Stampin’ Up! version of the envelope board)… you can print this out on label paper and adhere to the board so that the measurements are correct.  You can also phone We R Memory Keeper at 877.742.5937 8am-5pm MST for an updated label to place on your Envelope Punch Board that has the correct measurements.

• Envelope_Punch_Board_Sticker

This was a quick and easy project to do… the ribbon is dyed using perfect plum re-inker and a little water.  Just add a few drops of reinker and a teaspoon or two of water to a ziplock bag and cut a yard of whisper white ribbon, add that to the bag and ziplock it shut.  Then squish to color the ribbon and let it soak for an hour… take ribbon out of bag and squeeze the moisture out and let dry.  You now have a beautifully matching ribbon!

“The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.”  – Proverbs 11:25

I miss the zany days where we went camping but cherish the memories… Happy Mother’s Day to all of you… sending you love, prayers, hugs and a cute flower… may your spirits soar today as the butterflies on a summer day…

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

1 John 3:1

Thank you Helen for teaching me how to make these wonderful creations!!!

As you can tell… I am not very good at sewing these… but heck it was totally mesmerizing to learn how to take two socks and create this cutie!!!  He needs a Mrs sock monkey so I am going to try to make his mate when I get back from Boston!!!

Here’s a really cute tutorial on how to make this earthlings!

• Sock Monkey Tutorial – YouTube
• Sock Monkey Pattern

Go ahead and try this one!!! I know you are dying to have a sock monkey for a friend!