A scrapbook page re-do

OK, same supplies as last image but I modified the base paper to eliminate that bold splash of bright pink and just add touches of it and I got a better composed photo on a wood background. The slant of the wood boards brings your eye back to the first photo on the upper left.

This feels more cohesive, if a little less dramatic than the initial layout.

What do you think?

It is a Digi page. I may lighten up the wood grain paper before printing.

Scrapbook Cropping

TDF68_jbarette_perfectfit, karladudley_life365, wm2_xoxo, mixedmediamonthly_augustsampler, TDF68_MLOH, ClubScrap_0913_TakeWing, ClubScrap_0613_Hope, ClubScrap_0812_BoldBlooms, ange_eternally, TDF65_TPS_takenote, TDF67_kwiniecki_eclecticmoments, Karla Dudley_distressbrush, fonts -Traveling Typewriter, Chunk5, Adobe Garamond, Remachine Script

I participated for a while last evening in the #Paperclipping Online Crop, #GetItScrapped hosted event this weekend. I finally got this page completed today.

This is a rather busy page but the Product Play class at Get It Scrapped/ Masterful Scrapbook Design is drawing to a close and I got to play with product here. I may re-take the camera photo and see if that will help the composition.

I've got Joe working on more DIY projects at my other house. 

With photo enhancing the ugly finish is not apparent. Once the chairs are repaired they will be painted with the white chalk paint to match all the other white dining chairs in the house. I think I'll have Joe go to an upholstery class to cover the seats of the chair properly in a black fabric. He'd learn a valuable skill that way, too.

It will take a while. Results will be posted here.

Back from the anniversary celebration

 Celebrated the 25th wedding anniversary and Cal's 81st birthday a little early by taking a trip to Reno.  We break the drive up  as neither one of us does long stretches in the car well and as short as the trip is we could not drive it without stopping.
It was a beautiful drive but it looks like some of the trees in the Sierra are dead, possibly from the sort of beetles that damaged our backyard redwoods. That's not something one wants to see.
We enjoyed time with our friends, Ray and Judy. Always lots of laughs.
Since we just got back this afternoon this will be a short post. I did get a wonderful old photo for #throwbackThursday up on my Facebook page and will try to import it here tomorrow. My Mom is a baby in the photo and she has an expression on her face that is one I've noticed on Donovan's face. Maybe it's a genetic expression?

I have made a few changes to the "Your Garden" LO and will post that revision tomorrow, too.

Summer harvest coming in as the days turn shorter

fonts Travelling Typewriter, Adobe Garamond, Dancing Script, Club Scrap Digi Kits - 2012 Sprinkles - 0913 Take Wings - 08 12 Bold Blooms, mommyish - Best Summer Ever, Wishing Well Creations - And the Pursuit of Happiness - Authentic, Forever Joy Designs - Hello, Hello, other styles - One Little Bird, distress brush - Karla Dudley, template - Get It Scrapped Membership, Debbie Hodge

Summer is drawing to a close and much of the garden bounty has been reaped. 

I hate when summer is over. Southern CA with its mild weather year was a favorite home, even if I only lived there a year. Sure, the traffic is awful and elsewhere there is a beauty in seasons. Nonetheless, hard to beat that weather. The growing season was also extended. Not, that I'm a gardener. Nope. Even if I was physically up to it, it's not my thing. Enjoying the garden and the harvest - another thing entirely. I love fresh produce.

I am fortunate that my husband, Cal Barwick, and my son, Joe Heffernan, find gardening a satisfying hobby. So good to eat all the fresh wholesome food and am especially grateful that Cal took a Master Food Preserver course at UC Davis. We get to enjoy the garden goodness all year long; he cans, dries and freezes many foods he grows. I am happy that Joe is following the growing things tradition. Who knows? Maybe someday he'll get into canning. It's good to see that home food preservation continues in our family. My Mom made a wonderful crabapple jelly as well as canning many foods. Daughter-in-law, Laurel Brode, is another family member who has been exploring jams and jellies, and she makes marmalade something Cal does not. Yum!

It's hard to see the growing season coming to an end; but, we know that in the cold of December and January our mailbox will be stuffed with seed catalogs full of glorious colorful pictures of what next summer's harvest will bring.

This year is documented. This may not be the final version of the page. I see some areas that may need some work but it's good to have this slice of life recorded.

Throw Back Thursday come on a Friday

 I am quite sure few, if any, of my readers recognize the comic strip reference in the title. It actually might read "Friday the thirteenth done come on a Wednesday, this month", to be more accurate. It was a common phrase found often in one of my all time favorite cartoon strips - Pogo. Wednesday, that quote would have been appropriate in date though not in spirit. As many bad days as one can have, it's not been a bad week. I thought of that when, despite my best intentions of finding throwback Thursday photos, I missed that, too.
My reference to Pogo, reveals a life-long love of newspaper comic strips. I cannot imagine starting most days without coffee and the comics. It's not quite the same to read them on-line, either, unless we are talking about The NewYorker ones. Those work for me anywhere. My all time favorite strips are Pogo, Calvin and Hobbes, and For Better or For Worse. I also have a pattern to reading them. Zits was my start the day strip when my youngest was a teen; now I gravitate to read Pickles first. I like when my life is reflected in the funnies. However, I usually read every strip on the pages. I'm so glad that the Sacramento Bee recognizes readers like me and keeps two pages of funnies going.
I sit here, on my new computer, vs one of my old one, and review my photos, thinking about the fact that I have few old photos on this computer. Another memo to self for next week, plan to write Thursday blog post or go over to Facebook on Thursday, with a photo, while on older computer or find time to scan a family treasure.
I did look back throughout he photos I have here to see what was happening around August 15/16 last year. These photos are from a lovely morning in Myanmar at Inle Lake. Since I was getting all silly about what day came when, as I introduced this post, I strikes me as oddly suitable to include photos taken from half a world away, over the date line.

Creative Team pushes my creativity

 When I joined the Creative Team at Get It Scrapped I thought, "Why not?' It's my hobby. I already check out the message boards and contribute when I'm on-line and I add at least 2-3 layouts a month to the gallery. I realized I'd need to document more of the products I used and write a bit about my process and decision-making but I blog that on occasion; so, again, "No problem".
It has not been significantly different in that way, at all. Which is good, because I run into my physical limitations often these days.
What I did not imagine was how much my imagination would be sparked and how I'd push my creativity. I'm experimenting more with techniques and different styles, I am doing more digi scrapping and thinking a lot about design. Goodness! templates and patterned paper design are not things I thought I'd be making. I like to dabble in art; but, scrapbooking is a passion.
Funny how we choose our hobbies. I play Free Cell, read regency romance novels, knit and do needlepoint, do logic problems, collect some things, and research genealogy. My interest in these activities waxes and wanes. Scrapbooking, though, is a regular habit. Making pages makes me happy and I always find something new to try.
Here is one of my latest pages using a template/sketch from Corrie Jones available at Get It Scrapped for members.

washi - mommyish Im So fancy, DSI New Beginnings chevron, TDF68 mle Sweet Slumber, TDF68 barrette perfect fit, P&Co Dream, Lilypad We Are Storytellers, OneLittleBird Magic Moment, flair - Karla Dudley Dads Day, P&Co Dream, DSI New Beginnings, stars- TDF68 KLewis ByThe Seaside, sequins - DSI New Beginnings, wood veneer - Lilypad We Are Storytellers, mommyish Daily, geotag - mommyish Daily, paper swirl - wm2 xoxo, flower - One Little Bird Magic Moment, distress brush - Karla Dudley, font - Helvetica, ChunkFive, Howser,, Arsenale White

, template - GIS/MSD

Debbie Hodge has over 70 templates available based on classes taught at Get It Scrapped/Masterful Scrapbook Design. There are free classes available if you want to check out the site to see if it fits. Right now, until tomorrow, there is a sale on membership at Get It Scrapped/Masterful Scrapbook Design
I'm glad I found GIS. I enjoy a lot of educational sites. That is my other hobby, taking classes, LOL! The GIS community feels like home, though.

 Here is a layout I made recently for Get It Scrapped/ Masterful Scrapbook Design.

It features my lovely granddaughters in the Hanboks I bought them when I was in Korea. The temple outbuildings where the bell hangs is a photo I took. Since I was making a pink and navy themed page I played with blending modes in Photoshop to convert it to a scenic patterned paper. I made a brush, too then used that to make my pink and navy patterned paper. 

If you click this link - Pagoda Paper you may download the paper for free. Enjoy!

Terms of use are the usual. Personal use only, not to be sold nor used on items for sale.

Terms of Use:

All digital images are Copyright Karen Poirier-Brode 2014 all rights reserved.

This design is for personal use only and is not to be redistributed in any way, used for commercial purposes or claimed as your own. Please refer individuals to my blog for download www.karenscorneroftheweb.blogspot.com

Permitted uses: 

You may use and incorporate the content in your personal scrapbooking layouts. You may use this  content in your layouts submitted to scrapbooking or related sites or magazines for publication as long as proper credit is given to Karen Poirier-Brode. You may print a hardcopy of the content for your personal craft use.

Prohibited use:

You may not do anything with this design that is not expressly permitted. You may not provide a copy to another individual. You may not use this graphic for a purpose or product to generate income. You may not claim this or an alteration of this design as your own.

Any questions:

Contact Karen Poirier-Brode at poirierbrodekaren@gmail.com

Page supplies: patterned paper and card stock - my own design, font: Arial, Karla Dudley for Scrapaneers: distress brush on dates, TheDigiFiles65 flergs - dreamalittledream: stitching, glitter foliage , TheDigiFiles65 tmartin - missingyou: crystal button, flower cluster, washi, flower, One Little Bird: shadow styles.

Yes, I'm finding digi fun. 

I still love paper scrapbooking, too. My other design for my team contribution this month was a paper layout. It's a travel story about Anna's blackboard at the palace in Bangkok. I went with trendy design. Much of the product is new and it is all inspired by current fashion trends of red lace and lace with masculine prints and the office supply trend that continues to be popular.

Supplies: stash: White cardstock, patterned paper, glitter lace fabric, Black/white Baker's twine, red brad; local business card - ephemera, Jenni Bowlin: bottle cap, labels, ledger paper
Freckled Fawn: June kit - metal stars, transparency alphabet die cuts, washi tape, May kit - resin flower, April kit - black bling, stamp   ; Cocoa Daisy: May Kit - wood veneer, April Kit - Doodlebug sprinkles   ; Tim Holtz, Idea-ology: glassine envelope, Staz-On: black ink, American Crafts: pen; Pink Paislee - Portfolio photo tab; Sparco - date stamp

My final version of the Bo Bunny page from Paper Arts

I like how this worked for my trip to NYC in March 2013. I think it will work for a lot of travel destinations. Obviously, I was a little profligate with the embellishing. I think this page would work well and was designed with less. But, if you are in the mood to layer on, it works, too. Maybe your LSS will have this page as a class. The page was designed for store owners and teachers to teach. The nice thing, even if you only pick a few items from the line, is that BoBunny designs products to work with older lines and color schemes. You probably have items in your stash that can work with things you might choose from this "Souvenir" line.

DIY Chalk Paint Table and Desk

The finished pieces a desk and table refinished with #DecoArtAmericanaDecorChalkPaint. The table DIY project was inspired by #MarkMontano.

I had found an inexpensive table at a thrift shop which had been badly refinished with red paint. As my son, Joe, said, "Whoever thought that you should paint an octagonal table with red paint? It looks like a STOP sign!"

After watching Mark Montano on You Tube I knew we could transform this table. 

Joe also wanted a desk and when I saw a pile of desk drawers and frame on a neighbor's yard with a large FREE sign on the tree behind the pile I figured the price was right. Got home and Cal took the truck around the corner and we loaded up the pieces.

The before photos of both are here:

A couple of screws were missing on the rails the drawers moved on, one desk had a corner piece broken off which the previous owner had thoughtfully masking taped into the drawer. Another drawer had fallen apart at the dove tails. And the surface had some deep gouges. A few screws, some wood filler, wood glue, rubber mallet and clamps and the structural integrity was restored. 

I know folk with a lot of time and energy want to restore wood finishes. We are more the quick and easy fix sort. We do like to do it right. While chalk pain adheres to any surface we needed to sand away some of the bad refinish edges and the wood filler patches.

The paint went on next

 Ranger Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Slate, Silver and Black were used to change the hardware finish from the brass to antique silver.

Then a stencil treatment with one of the beautiful Americana Decor Stencils.

After all dried, Americana Decor Creme Wax was applied and Voila!

Comments: The paint is easy to use and the results are great. I hear that one coat of chalk paint is all you need but it must depend on the surface one paints. We needed more coats.  A 16 oz container of black paint was enough for a couple of coats on the desk and the stencil work. The stencil worked well but if you must have absolute precision of your edges I would advise a temporary spray adhesive to the back of the stencil. Even with careful dry brush application we got some tiny paint edge irregularity in places. We can live with it.

Thanks for the inspiration Mark!

Big Picture and Studio Calico news

The story about #BigPictureClasses and #StudioCalico together was breaking news a few minutes ago. I am very interested since I've been a long time fan of #BPC.
See the news on their sites Big Picture Classes Blog and Studio Calico Blog
Clearly, classes can help sales and we have noticed several classes at big picture in the recent past have featured discounted Studio Calico kits. Now the companies are one.
Two Peas in a Bucket was a major "go to" site for folk interested in learning new techniques and new products and with it's demise I think there has been a bit of a hole in the scrap world as far as "Where do we find the latest and greatest?" One can wander all over You Tube and Pinterest but it's easy to get lost. Personally, I can get sucked down the rabbit hole of party planning, haul videos and scrap room tours, sometimes in horrified fascination. It's not particularly helpful for my productivity to do that. I like a more focused situation to help me choose what to watch.
Classes can help sales and likely the kits with classes trials made that clearer to Studio Calico.
I do believe telling our stories and the Maker culture are alive and well. Changes in companies to keep up with us and to stimulate new ideas and to explore new directions are very good for the craft industry.
I am excited to see what changes will happen in the classes offered at BPC and in the products offered by Studio Calico.