TIME

There is a challenge going on right now in the Flying Unicorn Forum to make a layout with your word for the year.  My word is TIME.  How ironic the month is almost over and first now I have found time to make this.....

This is the cover of my Melissa Frances calendar book from the Flying Unicorn store. This is an ongoing project for me. My word is TIME because I don't seem to have enough of it, and I'm hoping if I can find time for everything then there will be balance in my life, "balance" having been my word for the past two years. LOL.

Pardon my sense of humor and showing my age, but there is an expression "get it in gear". That is what this cover represents. Papers are Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante. I layered a frame on top of the paper to showcase the woman's face. The clock-gears is Scrap FX, our featured chippy this week. G45 and Scrap FX are both available in the Flying Unicorn store.

On the paper edges and the clock, I used Ranger Wild Honey Distress Stain. I then covered the clock with Glossy Accents. The gears and hitch fastener are Tim Holtz Ideaology. I added a few bits and bobs from my collection--the jewelry rings and Kaiser copper pearl as an earring. I added scrabble tiles from my stash (scrabble also is my favorite game).

Winter Issue Is Here

Over 100 pages of inspiration have arrived in this Winter 2012 issue of Enchanting Creations by the Flying Unicorn. I am so honored to have work published in this most amazing e-zine. I have been sitting here spellbound by the incredible work in this issue. I hope you can sit back with me, sip some coffee or tea, and enjoy this issue.  

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Digital Publishing with YUDU

Really Old!

My turn again at Flying Unicorn for the Today post.  Thought I'd also share it here.

Today I'm dusting off some items from my attic and making a layout with them. How old do you think this photo is?  I'm thinking it's around 60 years old.  It's a photo of me taken at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.  Yup, it's me only wearing a different bonnet!  It's hard to see, because it's white on white, but I'm holding in my hand this very same postcard of Bushman the gorilla.  Can you believe I actually hung onto this postcard all these years?

I'm a Product Creative Artist for the Flying Unicorn.  Today's product feature is Dusty Attic.  I used Francy Trim #4  to make a "zoo fence".  On the larger piece I used Ranger Black Soot Distress Ink and then brushed on some Perfect Pearls Green Patina, followed by heat setting.  On the smaller piece which I overlaid, I used Ranger Wild Honey Distress Stain.  I used the same color on the Bird of Paradise.


The papers are Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue.  The ticket is from Graphic 45 Curtain Call. I always edge my fancy cutting with black pen.  For a softer effect on the beige items, I used Ranger Distress Ink in Antique Linen.


You will find Dusty Attic lazer cuts in the Flying Unicorn store, along with the Graphic 45 paper collections.


Other items are from my stash. I've had the giraffe since the time I started scrapbooking and bought a kit with it in it.


I hope you have time today to scrap a lot!

White

This weekend at the Flying Unicorn Polar Bear Pajama Party (crop) one of the challenges was to make an all white tag.  This also just happened to be the challenge over at Tag Tuesday. 

This is my first time participating in Tag Tuesday.

This tag has special significance because I used some of things given to me by the Flying Unicorn members.  The crocheted butterfly and 3 crocheted flowers are made by Cathi.  The lace at the top and bottom came from Bitsy in her Secret Santa box to me.  

The clock is a Ruby Rock-It Avalon sticker from the Flying Unicorn store.  Heartwarming Vintage Crafty Secrets made the Once Upon a Time sticker as well as the little girl which I fussy cut and put inside the envelope.  I love how her thumbs are hooked over the edge of the envelope--just too perfect.  I made the tag from white corrugated cardboard.  I tore some strips of French text, also from Cathi, and glued them on the tag, then painted on some gesso and added Picket Fence Crackle to tone down the text. 

I plan to put this tag in my calendar book which is a work in progress.

You Are My Sunshine

Yesterday was my turn for the Today post at the Flying Unicorn.  We're featuring Ruby Rock-It products this week.  I made with layout with the Ruby Rock-It Avalon line--papers, stickers, and rub-ons.


I've been wanting to scrap this photo of my daughters and loved how the yellow doily paper reminded me of the sun.

The word strips are computer generated and are the lyrics to the song You Are My Sunshine.  I chose this song because I sang it to my girls when they were toddlers.  A bonus was that the lyrics when skies are grey went with the greyish purple paper. 

The Avalon collection and most of the flowers are from the Flying Unicorn store.  The beautiful crocheted butterfly is from my friend Cathi who lives in Ireland. 

Today is the last day for the The Polar Bear Pajama Party crop at the Flying Unicorn.  So far I have 14 entries for my ATC challenge over there. 

An ATC Tutorial

I developed this ATC tutorial for the Polar Bear Pajama Party going on this weekend at the Flying Unicorn.  Participants are asked to make an ATC and post it in my challenge thread for a chance to win some sandable Fancy Pants paper from the Flying Unicorn.  

ATC stands for Artist Trading Card. The operative word is trading. These cards are traded among artists, but never sold. When you trade, you write your information on the back of the card. There even are stamps (rubber/acrylic) made with all the needed information to put on the back of your ATC. 

A strict rule is that the trading card must measure 3-1/2 inches by 2-1/2 inches. It does not matter if your card design is horizontal or vertical.
 

Once you get into trading ATCs, you will learn there are more design rules such as when you make sets and series. But during this crop, we only are going to make one ATC so you don’t have to worry about all of that at this point. 

There are 3 basic steps to creating an ATC: background, image and embellishment.
 

You may overload your ATC with embellishments but something to remember is that collectors keep them in sleeves to protect them (think tiny plastic bag like the kind you get embellishments in). These sleeves can be individual, which is how I send my out. Or they can be in binders, each page holding 9 cards. If you or someone you know collects baseball cards, then you have an idea of how this looks. My ATCs are in a long narrow box so that I can look through them, much like you would recipes in a recipe box. Therefore, when you are decorating your ATC, please remember overhanging embellishments and chunky embellishments may keep them from fitting in their sleeves.

If you are an old hand at making ATCs, then you have some cards on hand. If not, then you need to make one. You can use anything for your base—card stock, a piece of designed scrapbooking paper, cardboard, grunge board, burlap, cork, etc. Here is a photo with some examples.

You can buy precut cards that measure 2-1/2 inches by 3-1/2 inches at art and hobby stores. I found canvas and wood ones at Hobby Lobby. Some paper manufacturers have designed paper with rectangles the size needed for ATCs. The paper in the photo is Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden which is available in the Flying Unicorn Store. You would have 7 to 9 ATCs to cut out of this page. Tim Holtz also has 12x12 paper with some of the pattern designed to be cut for ATCs. 

1. Decide what you want for your base and get it ready: 2-1/2 inches x 3-1/2 inches.
2. Create a background on your base: paint, stamping, premade as the Butterfly Garden designs, something run through an embossing folder, just a pretty scrap of paper, etc. Check out the prize for this challenge--sandable paper--perfect for an ATC background!
3. Choose an image to place on top of the background. This can be a clip art image, a larger printed image from scrapbook paper (such as Graphic 45), something 3-D such as a snowman ornament, a stamped image, etc.
4. Embellish to your heart’s content.

Here are a couple samples of ATCs I’ve made in the past. Even though this is a Polar Bear party, I couldn't resist posting a couple of "spring themed" ATCs.

This first one has patterned paper as a background, a fussy cut image and then misc. embellies.

This second one has for a background distressed ink and a couple of rubber stamped images. Another stamped flower cut out and layered on top. The image is fussy cut.

And here’s the one I made for our Polar Bear Pajama Party:

Base is a black card stock ATC. Image is from Gecko Galz, printed on my ink jet printer at home, cut a tad smaller than ATC size so that the black shows as a border. Embellishment is all Stickles and a little bit of cotton from a cotton ball for the wispy snow clouds. 

The ATC part of the tutorial is over, but I thought I’d add a few comments about using wet products with ink jet images. I know you can get a “setting” product to keep the images from bleeding. However, I did want to mention that Stickles is a wet glue and therefore does react with the ink printed from an ink jet printer. Sometimes you can use this to your advantage. I love the effect of Clear Rock Candy Stickles and often use it on water images such as the ocean, or in this case, the ice. I used some Faded Jeans Stickles on the robe (all dressed for the pajama party) and then added Diamond Stickles on both the robe and the clouds. The Flying Unicorn store has a wide variety of Stickles—just look under the category Tim Holtz. I used a glue pen to highlight the snowflakes and then sprinkled glitter on top of the wet glue. I would have brushed on liquid glue and then given it a good dose of glitter, but I know from past experience that the ink runs as you’re painting on the glue. Just a few thoughts if you haven’t worked with these products and ink jet images before. 

If you have time to make an ATC this weekend, I hope you bring it over to the Flying Unicorn so we can admire it. The challenge ends at 6pm est on Sunday.  And you may just be the one to win the prize (winner chosen by random draw).

Just the Rain

At the Flying Unicorn, we're playing Idol.  I got my gold ticket at the audition for my layout "you better not pout".  I made it past round one of Hollywood Week with the help of these Journey lyrics:

I used an image from the Franklyscarlett ephemera sheet by Gecko Galz and the Tim Holtz Alternations die Umbrella Man.  The red doily heart is mounted on a white chipboard heart.  

I'm linking this to the Aud Sentiment challenge#46 where we're to use the word love on our project.  The theme also is "if LOVE were a movie, you'd be a box office hit".  My piece is rather the opposite, but the movie stars of Gone With the Wind certainly were a hit.

I'm also linking this to the first challenge for 2012 at Art With No Boundaries: Express Yourself.  
I posted the badge link a while back and have been anxiously waiting for the new challenge.  
Express Myself:  I love images, both stamps and digital clip art.  My most favorite image is the Umbrella Man by Tim Holtz.  I own it in every form that was made--stamps, die cut, ATC embossing folder.  I love working with photo images and am happy to be on the Gecko Galz design team where I can create with their amazing images.  This is an example of how I express myself.  I love to take these images and create something either a little quirky or very vintage. 

The Polar Bear Pajama Party starts at 6pm est this evening and runs until 6pm est Sunday night.  Lots of crop challenges with prizes -- not to mention the chatting and games.  I'll be back later today to tell you about my challenge.  I hope you can join in the fun at the Flying Unicorn.

What, no Peeking?

It's my turn again for the Today segment at the Flying Unicorn forums.  This layout is on the homepage.  We're featuring Ruby Rock It papers this week.  I got to work with the Avalon collection.

I made this layout of my grandbaby trying to sneak a peek at one of her Christmas presents.  Actually, as you can tell by her age, she needed some help in this endeavor--and grandpa was the partner in crime.  I, of course, told her, no peeking. She looked up at me, as if to say, Seriously? no peeking? I chose not to use a flash so the photos are a bit grainy but I felt they captured a moment  worthy of scrapping.

I used these double sided papers to create the scene, including cutting out a Christmas tree from that perfectly patterned paper.  The rub-ons (butterflies) are high quality, easy to adhere. 

Thanks for looking.  Hope you have time to scrap-a-lot!

Fave Paper

This week's Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead challenge is #GC135: Favorite Paper. 

Being a paperholic, it's quite difficult for me to decide on a favorite paper.  But we were to use something that we love so much that we never cut into it.  That would be my Jenni Bowlin papers.  I have a couple of favorites and bought more than one sheet of each design.  I thought this particular sheet looked like stars and went perfectly with the Stampotique sentiment. 

Since this month's Gingersnapper focus is to get organized with a focus on using up our scraps, I'm pleased to announce I also used up some scraps of trim by putting them on this card. 

As I mentioned last week, Stampotique is this month's sponsor.  This particular sentiment stamp is called "Perhaps" (#8865)

For inspiration from the other design Gingers and challenge details, please visit Gingersnap Creations.  You could be the next Ginger Gem!

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

January marks Gecko Galz' two year anniversary.  We are celebrating with some amazing offers so be sure to head over to the Gecko Galz website.  Sign up for the newsletter and you may  be a winner!

As a new member of the Gecko Galz design team, I used images from two ephemera sets released this month, Kiss Me and Game Time. 

I made the kissing couple into a ping file and placed it on top of the War BINGO card.  After printing it out, I distressed it and edged with Ranger Black Soot ink and placed it on a blank black card.  Embellishments include a BINGO cover from my private vintage ephemera collection and flowers from the Flying Unicorn.  Here is a close up of the ribbon and flowers:

It seemed appropriate to use a yellow ribbon.  Here is a link to one version of the significance of the yellow ribbon in wartime: Wikipedia.

I'm also linking this up to The Craft Room's clean and simple challenge.
I have both the challenge badge and the store badge on my sidebar. 


If you love working with images, you may be interested in the following information from Gecko Galz:

Gecko Galz is looking for 12 guest designers who will be featured artists on our blog site, one each month, in 2012.
Do you like working with collage images and digital stamps?
Do you like to come up with fun exciting projects that will wow and inspire others?
Then this might be a fun way to share your creative talents.

To be considered for a spot just send us 4 recent samples of your work it can be anything and you do not have to use Gecko Galz products to be considered. Send samples to us at geckogalz@yahoo.com and in the header please put the words "Gecko Galz Guest Designer"

International entries welcome!

If we choose you to be a Guest Designer for one of our months, you will receive that month's product which will include all 5 of the collage sets, the jewelry collage sheets for that month, the paper set, and the digital stamp set for that month. Plus $25 in digital products of your choice from our site.

Now what we would like from you, if you are picked, is a short bio about yourself, a link to any blogs or online galleries you may have, and 5 samples that we will post with your write up. This is a great way for you to gain exposure for your work.

Deadline for submitting is ongoing through 2012 until all spots are filled and we will notified those picked via email.

We look forward to seeing your stunning work and invite you to see what Gecko Galz is all about at

www.geckogalz.com

Today

The Flying Unicorn started a new feature this month, called Today.  It's the first thing you see when you go to the site.  Those of us on the creative team are taking turns posting our work on Today.  All the posts stay up, you just need to scroll down to see them all.  My turn was yesterday.  Our product feature this week is Graphic 45.


I had fun making this little journal with the new G45 line, Tropical Travelogue.  I loved the sketch cards and envisioned them in a nature lover's pocket travel guide.


I have been a fan of Graphic 45 paper collections since the day I started scrapbooking.  Their color palettes and vintage designs fit my style. 

The new Tropical Travelogue collection offers so many crafting possibilities.  I decided to make an accordian folder.  Can you picture a nature lover visiting the tropics and recording the sites in this little sketchbook?

The covers are made with real wood thick cherry.  After cutting the wood veneer to size, I dabbed on some Ranger Walnut Stain.  I covered the back sides with G45 paper.  Then I scored the strip of cards and folded them accordian style.  I glued each end onto a wood cover followed by embellishing the covers.

Here is the front cover.  In addition to the stickers from the Tropical Travelogue collection, I used a G45 metal flower and a vintage earring as the flower center as well as a Holtz hitch fastener. The alphas are by Authentique. The Graphic 45 papers, metal flowers, and Authentique alphas are available from the Flying Unicorn.


Here is the inside when you open the cover.  You can see how I notched the strip and glued it to the covers.  I used Ranger Walnut Distres Ink to edge the paper.

Then I turned it over and added additional images to the accordian folder.  You also can see the back cover in this photo on which I used more G45 stickers from this collection.

De-Stashing Ribbon

The Gingers are getting organized in the month of January by using up what they have in their craft rooms.  Today's Spicy Supply Challenge is GC134: Ribbon.  Please check today's Gingersnap Creations blog post for the challenge details and inspiring art from the other Gingers.


Our sponsor this month is Stampotique Originals.  On my postcard tag, I used three Stampotique stamps:
splatter, Wishing You Sun Fish Days, and Beauties. 


I've placed a shell image from Gecko Galz on the left side.  I fussy cut the bird and added two tags and a postage stamp from the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue collection.  Postcard tag and postage cancellation stamps are from Red Lead Paperworks.

Mojo Monday January 9

Today is Mojo Monday at the Flying Unicorn. Every Monday we post a sketch to get your mojo going for the week.  If you participate, you are included in the random draw for a prize from the Flying Unicorn.

I worked with today's sketch and this is where my mojo took me:

It's Graphic 45 Week at the Flying Unicorn. You'll be seeing lots of creations using Graphic 45 paper collections. For this particular layout, I used the A Proper Gentleman collection.  You might also spy some Coredinations paper sanded to show the clock embossing.  The envelope tag is a fairly new product from Graphic 45 and available in the Flying Unicorn store along with Graphic 45 paper collections and their metal trims. 


The photo is of my Uncle Al, my mother's brother.  I don't get family heritage layouts done as often as I'd like. 

Better Not Pout

This first paragraph is from Alda, founder of the Flying Unicorn:

You may watch, you my have tuned out, but there is no doubt we know what happens on  American Idol every week. We welcome  Idol - Unicorn Style  This is an on going  weekly challenge. Every week  there will  be a new  music  theme to  scrap. When Idol starts eliminations will occur by Random.org.   The final two contestants, yes like Idol, we  will bring them to vote  … Everyone is welcome to play along even the Creative Team !  If you are ready  .. then head over to the auditions !

You have until 8pm est January 10th to audition for the first round.  Grand prize winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to the Flying Unicorn store.

Here is my entry.  My song is Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  This also is grandbaby Sophine's scrapbooking debut.  Her other grandma is a photographer.  This is the first photo taken during the two month photo shoot.  It was such a surprise because she rarely pouts.  I need to hurry and scrap another photo so you can see her smiling.  But this photo was perfect for the song lyrics.

I used the Scrap Cake Cozy Christmas paper collection from the Flying Unicorn store. This includes fussy cutting all the various tags and doilies around the photo as well as the ornaments-- and the two scallop borders along the bottom. I used various Ranger distress inks. All the flowers are also from the Flying Unicorn Store. The white pearls and pink wispy pearls are from my stash. The circle embellie is an old K& Co. The pine leaves are the new Tim Holtz sissex die. The large Santa image is from Vintage Moth. I searched high and low to find one that fit just right in the crook of that label to be looking at Sophine. Alphas are my faves from Websters Pages. I love this Scrap Cake paper line because the colors are so muted, perfect to focus on the photo.

My Facebook Page

I've started a Facebook "Page" called 2amscrapper. It is separate from my personal Helene Huber Facebook account which is private. 

The 2amscrapper page is attached to my account but is public.  The page is "liked" rather than needing a "friend" request.  

I'm asking all my art friends currently on my private account to move over to my 2amscrapper page. 

I've moved all my arts and crafts company and site links over there. It's so handy now to see all the new products, promotions and giveaways in one spot. I was fighting the use of Facebook but the craft companies are using it for advertising/promotion, and it's easier to have all that on a Facebook page rather than try to follow it from my blog dashboard. 

So if you're interested in my public 2amscrapper page on Facebook, just "like" me. https://www.facebook.com/pages/2amscrapper/215728735177907

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and have time to scrap a lot.

Angel

Here is the daylight photo taken of the same tag. Not as much shimmer but truer colors:

I started with a piece of white glitter card stock that I had run through the Cuttlebug with a snowflake embossing folder.  It wasn't big enough to cut a label so I positioned the paper to cut the top part with my new Tim Holtz Sizzex baroque label die..  The lighting really picked up the irredescent glitter of the tag so it's hard to see the dimension of the snowflakes.  I stayed with the white theme and added white leaves for wings, a white poinsettia, sugar gem center, and foam glittered snowflakes.  I used part of one snowflake for the crown and added satin puffy stars.  I placed ribbon along the bottom to anchor the design.  A bow didn't seem to work so I ended up using a silver doily.


The angelic face is my mother's. I made this in her honor as she passed away several years ago in the month of January.  I'm going to keep this tag in my new 2012 calendar book that I'm in the process of completing.


This tag is for the Tag You're It challenge hosted by our January guest designer, Lynn Stevens (Trash to Treasure Art), at the Flying Unicorn.





I'm also linking this up to:
The Craft Room:  Anything Goes
The Shabby Tea Room:  Challenge #95 Time Flies--use something with wings
vintage photo contest at sb.com