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!

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

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

The Family

This is one of my favorite photo's of my dad and his two brothers and sister. My father is the little cutie on the top right, "Freddie". This canvas was inspired by the hardship my grandmother faced while raising four children at such a young age, in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Their father was not around much and she had to fend for herself, carving out a pattern of survival skills that I have found invaluable during the last few years of my own personal hardships. Remember the stories your grandparents tell you, because they are trying to teach you something!

I chose this quote because we take our hits, then we dance on.

This is a laser chipboard cut, and the butterfly is a Spellbinders die cut, and various metal findings.

The bird and branch is a Tim Holtz Alteration die, bird branch. I cut it out with chipboard, then layered it for depth. My grandmother loved the birds.

The cogs are another Tim Holtz Alterations die, and a few metal pieces placed strategically. The fence is a laser wood cut from Michael's. The grass is a Cheery Lynn Designs die cut that I painted with texture paint.  

My grandmother had the all American home when I was growing up. Simple and maintained with love. She didn't have a fence, but she had a beautiful enclosed patio. I aspire to have one of my own.

The paint is a real rust and patina paint and solution. I then stenciled on a brick texture using fiber paste and a brick template stencil. After that cured, I applied a new layer of rust and patina.

More hardware findings by Tim Holtz Alterations. Cut out with chipboard and painted, then soaked in a tub of activator solution and enclosed and shaken on occasion until I was satisfied with the depth of color.

The quotes are stamped with Stampers Anonymous stamps, by Tim Holts. I can't read the side poem anymore! I used StazOn ink on acetate, then adhered with Crackle Accents glue.

The knob is packed by Tim Holtz, and dropped in the tub of solution with the hinges, gears, cogs, and metal accents.

I will have one more 12x12 thick canvas that I will post next.

Thank you for stopping by! 

Homestead

These are my immigrant great-great-grandparents from Sweden. They arrived in Minnesota in the 1880's. My great-great-grandmother, Ida, worked at a hotel to pay for her passage to America. I don't know when they met, but they set up a homestead in Bellingham, WA in the early 1900's. This picture really speaks to me as the American dream. I imagine they saved every penny they had to build this small home. They raised three children, and thrived here for some time.

 This is the first in my homestead series, which is a collection of thick 12x12, mixed media canvas. Something I like to call "Memory Art".

The image is printed on acetate and mounted on a lightly patterned paper. I cropped the house out by hand and mounted it on a 5x7 flat canvas that I had pre-painted with a rust and patina process.

The key, and Home, and fence are laser cut outs I found at Michael's. The grass is a die by Cheery Lynn Designs that I painted with a textured paint.

This is a Tim Holtz brand hardware knob that I bought at JoAnns. I let it soak in the rusting solution for the night to give it this aged and weathered look.

While the solution is still wet, I place bottles or jars on the canvas until it is dry, that is how I get the rings. 

Thank you for stopping by. I have another 12x12 canvas that I am really excited to share.

Dancing on the Railroad

No idea what inspired me to rip out my camera while we stopped for this train car to pass. It was moving slow because the men were throwing rail ties over the side along the tracks. Having already taken so many pictures, I kept snapping through the windshield not noticing that one of the men was dancing and posing! Then I saw this big Egyptian like pose and started laughing so hard! He was fun and really made my day. So when I see these pictures I can remember a fun loving man of the moment. I need all the happy I can get these days.  Credits: all me!

Milestone

My dear friend Renee treated me to my very first (and last!) pedicure! It was a huge first for me, I never understood the charm of painted toes. Well, I get it now! Again, all mine!

Just BE

I'm having fun adhering to no creative boundaries, and find that I am getting so much more accomplished! I have completely stopped thinking about what would be pleasing to someone else and doing whatever I feel like doing from one moment to the next. I usually make things for other people so I get a little distracted with the notion of pleasing others. Now that I don't care about the "other's" I am whizzing right along! I made this layout of my oldest and dearest friend, Tom Oakes. He hates this picture, but his eye movement speaks to me. I was taking a picture of the poster behind him for future inspiration. It's all mine, I owe no credit to anyone else :-)

The background is my new art phase. I created it to turn it into backgrounds, which I did, but now I want to make more of this kind of art! If you look around, this art is very popular. If I were a true artist, I would know what style it is! Someone tell me! I owe big thanks to Tom for buying me the paint and canvas! Thanks dreamy eyed Tom!

Birds of Prey

Hunting my cats in my back yard...? We admire that which is not killing off our beloved pets. I lost two cats in a months time. Five days after losing Tasha I noticed this very large bird scoping my entire back yard, which is just over an acre. I was fortunate to capture it with my camera at a 12x optical zoom. I have seen eagles hunting over the property behind us, though I have never seen one intently examining my back yard.

I am especially pleased to have quickly created a layout using all things I made with my own two hands and my tired old computer. Photoshop helped! Tom has been buying me magazines and advanced tutorials that I can't exactly keep up with, but they force me to up my game with design. I have been into rainbows and bright skies lately. I admire so many artists that sell and share freebies, I decided to make my own versions of my favorites. I considered uploading and selling my own kits and designs to online stores or create my own, but I'm just not there yet. Designing is expensive!