Rose Diaries Instant Scrapbook Pages

This is a sneak peak at my new Remembrance Album. These are all digital renderings of scrapbook pages that will be available in my Etsy store within the week for $3.50 per double layout. There are more than 13 layouts, and it takes 10 to fill a standard scrapbook album. They don't have to be for a loved one that has passed, they can be for any life story you want to highlight. I especially like the Heritage cover and index pages. Very handy. There is one for a family portrait that I expect will be very handy for many. The link to my Etsy store is on the side bar. It will be a busy week getting them uploaded!

Bracket Album - Pink Rose

Handmade mat board albums has been a favorite project of mine for a couple of years. They are special cut scrapbook albums, approx 11 inches and very sturdy and thick. The reason I have not listed or posted anything about them recently is because the material has been increasingly difficult to find. This album is my favorite of all that I have made. There is a vintage album, and a more masculine  theme album that I am preparing to list in my Etsy store. 

I used my Cricut Expression to cut nine bracket frames.

My work space tends to get a little spread out, and very messy. A single project can overtake my studio, and somehow turn into several other off subject projects. If I'm doing this, I might as well do that!

I have several more of these that are waiting to find creative homes. They should be as easy as just adhering your favorite photo's on the page. Embellish or not, I think they are fabulous just as they are, but that is personal discretion. 

In the coming months, I will start making these books with my own designs, which you can also find in my Etsy store. I will soon be making books in: Rose Diaries - Green or Rose Diaries -Pink themes. Hint... I also have images that are not listed in the store, so they will be truly unique! 

Steampunk Instant Scrapbook Pages

These are my latest creations. I combined all of my areas of interest and created a downloadable instant scrapbook album. I printed them on my Epson R1800 wide format printer and was so thrilled how easy it was to just adhere the pictures. I just happened to have a few 1970's reprints that were developed square back in the day, and then I cropped them down to size and just glued them on. So easy. I also have a version for those who prefer to hand journal. I plan to print them professionally and sell the physical product with hand painted scrapbook albums. But I am only one person and these things will take time.

Etsy only allows for 5 files at 19.9 mb per file, so I will have to list the pages separately. I am very distressed by this revelation because if it were me as a customer, I would want the whole shebang! Let me have it all!

This is how it looks printed from my home inkjet printer. Everyone who has looked at it has rubbed it with their fingers to experience the depth of layers. I take that as a the ultimate compliment!

Basic supplies: Glue stick, pictures, and a pen.

This is my mom and me, I think about 4 years old.

There are several options for working with these files. You can print them on any printer and just fit them to size at 8 inches and recalculate the size of photos, or send them to a photo printer for roughly $3 per page and either glue on your matching luster or gloss print, or use the optional PNG file format included and drop your photo behind the open squares, then save and print the 12x12 photo. My preferred method is to send them to my local copy shop, and ask for 13x19 inch paper. Yes, it can be done, then you just trim off the excess. I use the extra space to drop the double layout, and shrink it by 50% for a mini album. 

Here is the link to my Etsy store: Peppers & Papers

My latest rescue dogs

A more personal post to explain my absence. In my spare time I rescue dogs, primarily German Shepherds, and this is my busy season for dog rescue because I feel so alive and I am able to give more of myself to the rescue effort.  

Jazzy 1.7 yo GSD

I do have many more projects to share, and I still intend to explore more on rusting techniques when I am able to get back to that rather messy obsession. For now I am getting this very new mom used to motherhood. Jazzy and Kye were both surrendered as a bonded pair, and to our surprise, they were a full family soon after they arrived. We are feeling very blessed, but there is so much work to be done as Jazzy and Kye were on the Rescue Only list, therefore deemed unadoptable for 5 long weeks. For now, I can only sneak in a few minutes here and there to do some creative work. 

I have introduced Kye and Leo into my pack. I am waiting to see if Jazzy can be parted from Kye, or if I'm keeping them both or surrendering them both to the same home. Whatever happens, they will get the best life R.A.I.N. Rescue can find for them. We call it the "Jack Pot".

Kye 1.7 yo GSD

Leo 2 yo Mini Pincher

Up next... I am releasing a new line in my Etsy store. It is scrapbooking quick pages concept, which I am calling Print and Place. I am gathering my details and I will be sharing that very soon! 

Steampunk Tissue Box

One thing I can not get enough of is embellished home decor. The simple side of me suggests that the tissue box is decorated all nice and pretty from the manufacturer, and when you're done, you recycle the box. 

But I need these sturdy pieces scattered around my house so I can remember to do the things I love to do. And that would be cut paper, paint, and distress! I have spent a good chunk of my life trying to make something really cheap look really authentic. 

This is a wood tissue box from Craft Warehouse in Vancouver, WA. This is my favorite wood tissue box from all the stores I shop at. It has the open bottom and it's heavy and loose around the tissue box.

The majority of the die cuts I used are reclaimed chipboard sheets from a manufacturing department, but I found a way to make them look like real weathered metal items. 

I will eventually get to a place where I can show you step by step how I create all the layers, but for now, please enjoy the finished projects while I make sense of some "behind the scenes" photo's I have taken for that purpose. 

Supplies: I bought pretty much all of my dies and embellies from Joann's. They have amazing sales on scrapbooking supplies and tools, you get the best deals. But you have to get it on sale, because sometimes, and especially with the dies, they mark them up so the discount seems bigger. The 40% sale is my rule.

joann.com

Tim Holtz - Weathered Clock

Tim Holtz - Gadget Gears

Tim Holtz - Clock Face

Tim Holtz - Metal Box Corners

Tim Holtz Idea-Ology - Sprocket Gears

modernmasters.com

Modern Masters - Reactive Metallic Paints

Vintage Trunk

 I was especially proud of this project. It is a rather large trunk that I bought at the Craft Warehouse in Vancouver, WA. It was on sale, but still a pretty penny. I thought this wooden box would take a lot longer to complete, but I actually finished it in a day.

I painted the box frame with Modern Masters, to create this great rust effect. I used paper from a steampunk theme cardstock pack from the Hobby Lobby, and used the Cricut to cut out his monogram for the top, which I wanted to fit into the white space. 

The front is a stencil that I made with my Cricut (Indie Art, I believe) and stencil sheets from the Hobby Lobby. I rubber stamped his birthday in the crest just to make it personal. 

The inside is from the same paper stack, and really not that hard to cut it to size. This is another one of those stack-able projects. Some things need to be simple, so they are not just clutter and dust collectors. Keep it simple and it will last forever.

Believe

I bought some of these chipboard wall decor words from Hobby Lobby to give out as Christmas gifts. I am enamored with the colors of this blue and green style and can't seem to move on to another color scheme. The blending is challenging, and I feel like I am inventing the wheel every time I attempt to recreate this look.

The quote is from a Footprints rubber stamp that I stamped on acetate with Staz-On ink. I cut the quote up and littered it throughout the piece. This is by far my favorite of all my word pieces. There are others, but this one was the one I wish I could look at every single day. 

The balance of beads and jewels is my favorite challenge. The cherry on top!

Paints were found at Joann.com. I used blue, green, and gold metallic paints. Gel medium sealed and adhered the dimensional goodies. 

Follow your art

I feel like words will ruin the tranquility of this enchanting little 8x8 canvas. I spend a couple months every year, putting paint and texture on a variety of canvases, so I can later create something with it. I really loved the plain painted canvas. Layers and layers that I will one day post a walk through series of my process. Each canvas takes a week, sometimes two weeks to create. If you take into account that I cut then hand paint all the die cuts, then we are looking at a much longer process from start to finish. 

Sizzix - 3-D flower 

Spellbinders - Floral Flourishes 

Spellbinders - Peacock Feathers

Spellbinders - Jewel Keys, Truth

Precious Metal Color - Blackberry, Blue Azure, Gold

Fiber Paste scraped on smoothly, but allowing the texture of the canvas to show from beneath. I use cheap gold paint to highlight the areas I want to show, then the final touch is Liquid Leaf Gold for that rich metallic look.

Cheery Lynn Designs - Hot Air Balloons

Cheery Lynn Designs - Butterfly

Fly Away

The only thing I love more than a deep textured, mixed media canvas, is the die cuts I put on it. This is an 8x10 inch canvas, one of my first attempts at mastering the reflective nature and motion I desire. I gave in to the theme of the year, which was game pieces as words, but I like the way it looks. My favorite part of this piece is the Milky Way like stream down the center. I made this piece when Cheery Lynn Designs released their mini gears and cog set, which I cut out with metallic paper.

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Sewing Room 

Clock Parts and gears or here

Lumiere - Halo Blue Gold

Liquid Leaf Gold

Precious Metal Colour - Blue Azure

Really... you can add anything you have on hand. Just make it fluid, and love it when it's done.

Peacock Peace

Continuing with my Peacock journey, I created this little piece last year and gave it away as a gift. It is really very simple, but ornate. I don't really like the smaller pieces that are so popular these day, because I want my story to take over the entire wall. But they make wonderful little gifts!

This fun little canvas is 5x7, and I used the Spellbinders Jewel Fantasies and Jewel Keys die set, along with the Cricut Art Nouveau. I found a large earring at Joann's and used it for the feather. The label is cut with the Tim Holtz Tag & Bookplates die. I used metallic paints to color th eaccents, and jewels to fill the feather tail. I do love my die cuts!

Alluring

I went on a crazy peacock phase a couple years ago, then went on a cutting spree with my Cricut. Originally this was not going to be a hombre type painting, I switched gears half way through and decided the peacock in the tree needed a blue sky! This painting hangs in my hallway so I can see it when I come up the stairs. It sits under a solar light tube, so it reflects the sun off the glass in the sky. It truly is Alluring. The gold mica flakes simulate falling leaves.

 I love the reflective nature of the Shimmer paper by DCWV, and the mica flakes from Micheal's. The base paints are Lumiere fabric paint, also metallic, but then I use pretty much nothing else! The peacock tail is filled in with stickles by Ranger.

  The wings are a beautiful set from Cheery Lynn Designs. It is a left and right, large and small set, and I LoOOove them!! You can see the details yourself!

The Alluring is from a Tim Holtz Bigz Block Talk alphabet set, I cut multiple layers of chipboard and layered them for dimension. The paint is Viva Precious Metal Colour, a wonderfully expensive metallic paint that is rather difficult to find, but Joann.com sells most of the colors. 

I am ever so pleased with the clever use of re-purposed treasures for my pieces. The branch is the Tim Holtz Bird Branch die, that I cut out the packaging of the die, with the die. Then painted the underside with Viva Stamp Paint, which offers texture, and the top is glossy. Or you can flip it for the texture up, I go both ways. You can see where I built the tree out of the single branch die.

One of my favorite techniques is using Golden Gel Medium from Amazon or Michael's and mixing a batter of translucent beads and blue and green cello glitter. This mixture also contains blue and green beach glass that I smashed to bits. The silver tube beads are a bit like rain drops, but only if you are thinking that when you drop them in the batter!

 The gel medium acts as a glue, so it is a really valuable tool for working on canvas. The base is textured with Liquitex Natural Sand mixed with paint, then watered down metallic paint for the blended effect.

I linked the stores that I buy most of my materials from. 

Thank you for stopping by!!