I’ve got two process videos up this week for you to check out.
First up I am playing with my Counterfeit Kit for July and using the very (overly!) bold painted paper I created in a previous video. Small doses make it more “friendly” to my senses! Plus you can watch a quick tip on creating DIY enamel dots. (Photos below)
The whole page (click to enlarge)
DIY “enamel” stars & butteflies
Journaling spots – litterally
Next up is a mixed media layout using a stamp ink bleeding technique. If you enjoy a bit of artsy ink on your pages, you should give this one a try. (Photos below)
The whole page (click to enlarge)
Pointing to journaling start
Embellishment cluster
So that is it for this week. I hope you have an artful weekend and I’ll be back soon with more crafty goodness.
The first Friday of the month I pull out some type of crafty product and play with it. I show at least 10 ways to put that product to use. Here is a look at that video. And if you want the short and sweet version, you can see the photo gallery bellow. But trust me, some of these techniques you’ll want to see in action, like the inked circles with dripping.
Remember when viewing a gallery you can click on each image to see the full version. The gallery view does cut off some sides of the images and you may miss something important if you don’t see the whole picture!
All the ways
Package/smooshing technique
Washes
Various Stripes (click to see more!)
Borders
Ink to paper + dripping
Coloring Book
Stamped watercoloring
Stenciling
Paint Small Images
Backgrounds
Background washes + spatters
Do you have a favorite? Let me know! Want me to show something you’ve been curious about? Let me know?
I’ll admit that I can get a little carried away with organization and storage. But when I figure out some simple and affordable ways to stay organized I get excited and I have to share! So that is what we are dong to do today.
In part 1 of my process I created small trays/boxes that can be used solo, sized to stack, or made with lids. Part 2 shows how to make a drawer system to hold the trays for yet another option.
Download the template guide to help you create these drawers.
Okay, I’ll admit that my mojo feels like it is back. But I wanted to give one final look at something I do when I’m not quite feeling it and that is to just play. Play with something new. Or play with something old and try to figure out how to use it in a new way. This past week I played with two unrelated things in unrelated ways.
First off I was inspired by a ScrapHappy session over at ScrapHappy.org (you can find a video for every week day in April over on the ScrapHappy YouTube channel full of playful ideas). The topic was alcohol ink and I have been meaning to play with those again. I had bought a class kit with different “papers” to try and I had bought my own Yupo “paper” from my local craft store. And those things have just been sitting in my new materials bin. So thanks to Alice’s session, I got those out and played. And technically that is a fourth mojo booster for you — take a class or find a less formal demo video to play along with.
So check out the pretty colors I created with my inks. Now, was it all a success? No. With some things working and some things not working (for me!) I can better hone in on what I like in order to make wiser choices next time. For example, in these items, the alcohol ink on the glitter paper got toned down way too much and became more pastel. While the look is nice, it wasn’t what I wanted. I like alcohol inks for the in-your-face color they can offer. So I made that work with a different technique.
Okay, moving on to the second item I played with and that was sequins. I actually started this project for my YouTube channel right at the beginning of my mojo dip and I didn’t get it posted on the schedule I had planned. So I had to take a step back and think about where the project was going. I took a look at my pile of sequins and I took a look at some projects and I asked myself a question – where else could I put sequins besides just sprinkling them on the side. And once I had a question I was able to experiment. And I managed to get the one technique I was the most excited to try to actually work. But it took some playing and some experimentation. And that could have ended up with a frustrating moment, but if I had given up I would never have experienced the success. So sometimes if you keep going and keep pushing, you can break through. Can you tell which technique I’m talking about in my video?
It is unusual for me to be feeling low in the springtime. I was really surprised that my creativity sort of vanished. And it did so after coming off an exciting card making event that had me super jazzed. So, where did “it” go? I don’t really know and while tracking down a cause could be helpful, turning to tactics to move past this phase is more productive. Last post I talked about using a sketch as a mojo motivator. This time I going to use a scrappy challenge.
I turned to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog for some inspiration. They offer crafty challenges on the 12th and 18th of every month to help boost our creativity. And I really needed that. April 12th’s challenge was titled “Al Fresco” and it was about finding inspiration in the outdoors in some way. I took on that challenge with some mixed media on a double page layout about a beach trip.
Playing with product I haven’t played with in many years, namely modeling paste, did help get my brain going a bit. Plus I combined the product with a new technique I just saw on a demo video. So combining those two gave me a new way to play. Not everything was successful, but it did feel good to experiment.
If you want to see the whole process, you can check out my YouTube episode. Until next time, I hope you find artful ways to be happy!
Do you ever pull out a product and just play with it to see what your imagination could do with it? Well this year I’m on a quest to do just that. Once a month I pull out an inexpensive crafty product and play to find as many ways to use it as I can think of. This month I’m playing with washi tape. While this post is titled 10 ways to use washi, I have more than that to show off.
Here is the video showing it off. If you prefer the text and photo method, read on…
Here is a visual guide to the ways I use the tape in the video. Now some of these tips are best seen live (like creating hinges and pockets) but if you get the gist, then you can go play with your tape! This photo is not in the same order as the video, just an overview of all the techniques.
Spruce up journal cards with washi tape
Create hinges and tabs
Create pockets
Use it for matting photos
Create photo corners
Make stripes and plaids
Do a plaid weave
Ruffle the tape for lots of texture
Create monograms
Makes rows of various tapes tightly packed together and then punch shapes
Hi All. On Christmas day I was a part of the Mixed Media Facebook group’s crafty hop. The theme was Merry & Bright and I took that theme very literally, using those words for my title and watercoloring up a storm. You can check out my leg of the hop on YouTube. And while most of the crafters were also on YouTube, there were a couple of Instagram posts. All the things to all the participants are listed below. I hope you check out everyone on the hop.
I have been very busy this December creating videos of craft projects for families to enjoy together. This year we all highly need some distraction from missing our normal routines! I created a play list of all the crafts from this moth, as well as a couple videos previously made that fit the bill. I hope you find something enjoyable to create with your families! Happy Holidays to you all, no matter what events you celebrate this time of year.
Today I’m taking a tried and true technique and turning it into two different Christmas craft projects. And it you have kids, they can certainly play along.
I have an svg freebie for you of that Christmas tree available in this file download. Bundled together you will get the svg as well as a pdf copy of the instructions for the greeting card. (For the svg along click here.) If you make these projects and post them to Instagram, please tag me @craftysouppics and use the hashtag #craftysoupsharing and we can start seeing each other’s work!
Christmas is on the horizon and I’m busy planning for the holiday. I realized that I had photos from last year hanging around that I hadn’t scrapped yet. So why not tackle those now and share some tips and tricks with you on some festive elements you can add to your Christmas layouts?
In this video I show three ways to use Nuvo drops as embellishments for layouts. 1) Spell out words with the liquid. 2) Create little ornaments to sprinkle around your page. 3) Create frames for photos. (How-to details in the second video)
I love the shine the drops add to this layout. It totally reminds me of frosting on cookies! And that is a bonus tip. You can create some die cut gingerbread or sugar cookie style cutouts and then “frost” them with Nuvo drops!
In that first video I mentioned having already created my frames. In this second video I show you a kit build and then toward the end of the video I feature how to create these frames. Since creating this video I’ve realized that if you create your frames on a nonstick craft sheet instead of parchment then you are likely to get a smoother end result. However the craft sheet can be harder to see through (depending on your brand) and will make working a bit harder.
craftysoup.com 
