I finally made a card for Shari's Sketch Week on the Hero Arts Blog!

This card is entirely digital. I swapped Shari's circle for the tulip shape to go with the vase of flowers. All items are from Hero Arts DigiKit: Garden Flower Sketches.

Thanks for looking!

Today I took two interesting classes at Wishful Thinking in Nashville, IN!

The first class was a beginner's Copic Markers and I am now the proud owner of three markers and a blender pen (paid for as part of the class fees). I didn't take a picture of the little pumpkins we colored in with a few different techniques. I kind of got mixed results on those, but the instructor, Bianca Mandity, said it takes practice to get used to them. Hope she is right and that it wasn't just me!

My favorite part, though, was when she let us use her air compresser with the Copic markers! Here's a sample using a mask and two of my green markers (yes, the Ciao markers do work with some putty to hold them in place). Lots of fun! If I ever build up a bigger supply of Copics I would definitely think about investing in the air compresser! Just think of all the fun card and scrapbook backgrounds that could be made!




















The second class was Japanese No-Stitch Book Binding, also with Bianca. We made an entire mini-book with just a few supplies!

We used a single piece of printed paper from Japan for the cover and colored it with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists. I really like the paper she gave me and I stuck to a mix of blues and greens for my cover. Incidentally, some of the blue is still on my hands despite several washings! Oh well.

While we set the cover aside to dry, we created the inside pages. Would you believe the inside is made from a single piece of Japanese fiber paper? We just folded and folded and folded and ended up with this cute little mini-book! I think I'm still amazed.

The only supplies we used besides the ones above were a metal ruler and a bone folder. Zero adhesives, zero sewing. Amazing!

I hope I will somehow be able to recreate this at home. It wasn't especially intuitive for me and there were a couple of times I got stuck. Lots of measuring and thinking about folds but so worth it! What a great gift this could be when decorated with photos, notes, or stamping! Bianca said she had even made some with gift wrap for the holidays last year.




















We had some extra time at the end of class for playing with the store's huge selection of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists. I didn't even know they made so many colors! Here are the ones I made and they are super shiny in person. You might see them again cut up and used on cards. I really like how the bottom two turned out.

Made lots more cards for CardsforHeroes.org this week using Hero Arts stamps! I am trying to come up with 100 cards to send in my next package! I may be close to halfway now, but I'll have to count them up to be sure.

This first group uses two new Cling stamps and the images are colored in with markers.

CG116 Thinking of You
CG112 Hello (really love this one!)








This set uses Hero Arts F5158 Heart Winged Butterfly. I embossed it in black on black paper, then colored it in with a mix of water and Perfect Pearls (love 'em thanks to Jennifer McGuire and Thinking Inking). I made circles for the backgrounds and covered them in distress inks (ditto above re: Jennifer!) then splotched on water and/or a mix of water and Perfect Pearls. The sentiment is from Hero Arts CL342 ClearDesign: Everyday Sayings.








Thanks for looking! I can already imagine the withdrawal symptoms next week since Thinking Inking is over now! Such a great class!

Here are the two free projects I made at Archiver's Make & Take Weekend on August 8th. Yes, I'm a week late posting this. Better late than never, right?

Blue: The left side is an 8" x 8" scrapbook page. We used a mask and ink on patterned paper to make the star. The flourish was made with a mask and watermark ink. I went out of the lines a little, but it still looks ok. The white dot on the right side of the page is a brad made of satin ribbon using the new i-Top Brad Maker. I love the idea of that tool, but it was a little hard to use and I'm running out of space in my scraproom as it is!

Red: The right side is a window card using little inchies stamps. Note to self: Make more window cards!

















Loved Archiver's Make & Take Weekend, but didn't love the lines!

Thanks for looking!

Here is a sampling of the cute $10 mini-album I made at Archiver's Make & Take Weekend on August 8th. The cover and pages are made from Yours Truly stationery and envelopes (which serve as pockets to hold more pictures or notes), then embellished with paper, die cuts, felt flowers, buttons, and gemstones. The mini-album is held together with two ring binders which we adorned with several ribbons.

This was lots of fun to make and it would be a great gift idea. I will probably make more of these in the future. I haven't decided which photos to put in mine yet. Thanks for looking!