Orange Is The New…

I got a new pair of Nike Free 5.0 running shoes and they happen to be orange.

Last Sunday we went running at the coast.  It was quite overcast, but I actual love running when it’s cloudy. 

Todd made these fish tacos with tomatillo sauce and they were divine.  The fish was tilapia and we usually get them frozen from Costco.  The sauce is low cal but tasty and tangy.  So perfect.

A couple of Sundays ago (9/8) I went to Staples.  Todd went with me and we stopped by Wahini Kai on the way there.  We haven’t been this year yet.  It’s our favorite Hawaiian shave ice in San Diego!  We shared a small.

We’ve been having football watching dates at home. 

My iPhone’s front camera isn’t the best.  But I love the selfies we capture with it anyways.

Ohio State played Cal Berkeley this past Saturday (9/14).  On TV it looked like there were more red (Buckeyes) in the stadium than gold (Cal)!

Ohio State ended up beating Cal 52-34.  Fun high-scoring game to watch!

On Friday night (9/13) we had a date night to watch Star Trek Into Darkness on blue-ray at home.

We had already seen it twice in the theater this summer, but this is like my favorite movie in recent years, so we watched again.  Still cried.  Still loved it.

On Wednesday (9/11) we had dinner with some old friends from our church in Dayton, Ohio.  We hadn’t seen Ben & Sandie for maybe over 10 years! 

We had dinner at Tender Greens and I had the Tuna Nicoise salad.  So yummy.

No life update is complete without some cute Noodle photos.

One morning I found him wedged under the dresser.

And on three evenings, he sat on the stairs to watch Todd cook dinner.

However, getting on the dining table is not acceptable.

“Noodle, what are you doing on the dining table?  Get off the table!”

“You’re not my real mom!”

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Stencils + Watercolor

Recently I purchased some stencils designed by Ronda Palazzari for The Crafter’s Workshop.  I wanted to experiment with more artsy and mixed media techniques.  So Peppermint and I scheduled another video scrap chat on Google Hangout and we both crafted and showed each other our stuffs.

This was what I ended up making.

For all of these cards, I used watercolors on Strathmore 300 Watercolor Paper, a silver Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pen, and a black Staedtler Lumicolor pen.

In most cases, I used watercolor with the stencil first.  Then I outlined the design with one of the pens to make it stand out more.

I did these 4 cute designs that look like Instax photos.

A closer look…

For this cute camera I outlined the design with the Pitt silver pen.

One of the cassette tapes from the Mix Tape stencil. 

I had so much fun crafting and chatting with Peppermint that I didn’t realize we did it for three hours!

We must do it again.

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Once A Scrapbooker…

I hadn’t realized that I was scrapbooking in grade school already.  In my mind, I started scrapbooking in 2006 digitally, then also added in paper scrapbooking in 2011.  But turns out I was scrapbooking way back in 1983.  Here’s proof.

What you see here are original newspaper clippings of some of my favorite movies from 1983.  Return of the Jedi and War Games.  This should proof my Star Wars street cred with them young kids who are seeing this movie now on DVD.  I saw it when it came out in the theater and cut out newspaper clippings! 

So how come I just found this?  This past weekend I started what I foresee as a months-long project of organizing old photos and getting them scanned.  I spent hours on Sat and Sun doing this.  Painstakingly removing photos from old non-archival sticky albums and sorting them by year…

In the process I found this treasure of me and my mom on my 1st birthday.

My photo organization, scanning, and putting them into new albums will probably be a series of blog posts as I make progress.  Envisioning the end result is what will keep me going, I think.

Speaking of scrapbooking… I was looking at my layout album last week and was amazed that I’ve created 26 paper layouts this year so far.  I already love looking at these and they’re not even old layouts yet.  Such a great hobby we have.

I found something cool that I thought I would share.  I discovered some great stamps by Studio L2e.  I’m not affiliated in any way, but I love them so I thought I would share.  Many of her stamp sets are perfect for Project Life!  And what’s more, many of her stamp sets match existing punches.

So for instance, some of the designs in her Labels & Tabs stamp set match the We R Memory Keepers Tab Punches.  So you can stamp the label shapes, stamp the sentiments that fit into the shapes with her Labels & Tabs: Sentiments stamp set, then use the Tab Punches to punch them out for layouts or Project Life!  The Tab Punches have a window on the bottom so you can see exactly where you are punch the paper.  It works so well together!  Three other designs in the Labels & Tabs stamp set also match the EK Success Photo Label Punch, which is doubly cool! 

Unfortunately,  I have to share something else by We R Memory Keepers that I don’t really like.  I bought the WRMK 3x4 Punch with a 40% off coupon, because I thought it would be cool to use it to punch out 3x4 photos or journal cards for Project Life easily.  I wanted to use it to punch out 3x4 cards from those popular 12x12 cut-apart papers with 3x4 journal cards on them.  I also wanted it to punch out 3x4 photos from when I print multiple 3x4 photos on the same 4x6 or larger photo paper.  Guess what?  You absolutely can’t use the punch that way. 

Why?  Because the punch makes 4 holes surrounding the paper.  The holes are there to stabilize the paper for punching, since the area to be punched is so big.  As you can see, it put 2 holes into the other slightly smaller than 3x4 photo on my 4x6 that I printed out.  It also ruined the two surrounding journal cards on my 12x12 sheet.  :-(

I put this photo up on Instagram and tagged WRMK. 

Their comment was “sorry you aren't happy with the punch. The reason those four holes are there, is because it holds whatever is being punched in place as it punches up, otherwise it causes it to slip without the four holes holding it in place”.  Again, I understand the reason they are there.  I just can’t use this punch for all the reasons that I wanted it for.  Oh well.

I have a modification to how I store patterned papers in my craft studio.  I purchased some Display Dynamics clear trays that fit perfectly into my IKEA Expedit.  And 12x12 papers fit perfectly in them!

For now, my trays are organized by both colors and usage.  For the colors I have pink, red, orange/yellow, green/teal, blue, neutrals (white, black, brown, gray, tan), woodgrain, and multi-color.  For usage purposes I have cut-apart 12x12 papers (mainly for Project Life) and also seasonal papers (mainly Halloween & Christmas).  For now I’m still keeping my cardstock in frosted paper holders that I got from Oriental Trading.

This isn’t strictly scrapbooking-related, but I use a Staples ARC discbound notebook as my planner + notebook.  The reason it is so cool is because the discs allow you to easily remove and insert any pages you want.  I have the disc punch, so I can also just add any other pieces of paper easily into my notebook.  I love it because now I have my planner AND my notebook in one, instead of carrying around a planner + a separate notebook.  I have 5 tabs/sections in my planner/notebook:  calendar (monthly + week on 2-pager), blog ideas, personal (to-do lists, goals, etc.), creative (to keep track of creative team assignments and any creative ideas I get), and lastly reference.  Reference is where I write down known stuff, like measurements of my shelves for when I want to buy something and want to make sure it fits.  I realize that I can do all these things on my iPhone, but I like writing with pens, so I don’t want to not use them.  :D  And having happy stickers in the back of my planner makes me happy.

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Scrapbooking Downstairs with my Raskog Cart

It’s been unusually hot in San Diego the past few weeks.  I have a craft studio but it is upstairs and can get hot depending on the time of day.

In addition, football season has started, which means my weekends are spent watching college football and NFL football downstairs on the big TV with Todd.  So what’s a girl with a full-time job who primarily scrapbooks on the weekends to do?

You remember that in January I went to IKEA with Pearl and purchased two Raskog carts.  One was for Project Life and it is located upstairs in my craft studio.  The other one resides downstairs in the family room for odds and ends. 

Last weekend I turned the Raskog downstairs into my mobile scrapbooking station.  The cart paired with a folding table is all I need to scrapbooking downstairs while watching football! :-)

 

RASKOG CART ORGANIZATION

The IKEA Raskog has 3 tiers.  I put an Antonius divided organizer into the top tier for my most-often used tools.

TOP TIER CONTENTS:  Scotch ATG, Tim Holtz ruler, Tiny Attacher, Tim Holtz scissors, Cutter Bee scissors, acrylic block, foam adhesive, Glue Dots, Scotch dot roller adhesive, Tombow Mono Multi, stamp cleaner spray, various date/roller stamps, various stamp inks, twine, washi tapes, a punch, and some pens. 

Also on the top tier are some stamp sets that I’ve pulled out to use for the next few projects.

The middle tier contains scrapbooking kits & supplies.  At the top is my 13x13 portable cutting mat.

Then below that I have three current scrapbooking kits, housed in large 2.5 gallon clear zip bags.  One is Studio Calico…

And the other two are Gossamer Blue.

Right below that, I have 4 stacked embroidery floss boxes that fit perfectly into the Raskog, two side-by-side.  These are for small embellishments that I like to use on every layout.

One is actually for my embroidery floss that I use to hand-stitch on layouts sometimes.

One is for sequins.  I bought huge packs of mixed-variety sequins at HobbyLobby.com for a really reasonable price.

One is for wood veneers and other large resin shapes.

And one for my collection of paper clips.  I think I use one on every layout!

The bottom tier of my Raskog cart contains my portable paper trimmer, a favorite punch, and a bread box with lots of letter stickers & Thickers inside. 

Underneath the paper trimmer, I have a Studio Calico Project Life kit, and some baby wipes for fast stamp cleanups.

I think it’s amazing how much I can fit into this Raskog cart!  It has totally worked for me for scrapbooking downstairs in the family room while watching football or movies on TV.  I created two assignment pages last weekend downstairs while watching football.  Occasionally I have had to run upstairs to get something that I wanted to use, but in general I can create a lot with the tools, stamps, kits, and supplies that fit into this cart downstairs.  And with the kits and supplies, I can always swap out newer items I want to use and put some of the older kits back upstairs into my craft studio.  I love that I am in the same room with Todd and we can enjoy time together.  When I’m done with scrapbooking, I just roll the cart next to the couch and fold up the folding card table and put it in the downstairs closet.  :-)

I love solutions that make it easier for me to be creative!

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Experimenting With Letterpress

I’m taking the Letterpress class at Studio Calico this month.  I already had the Lifestyle Crafts L Letterpress Platform that I purchased last year.  Upon signing up for the class, I purchased some Studio Calico letterpress plate designs to play with.  I also purchased some thick letterpress paper from Scrapbook.com.  Everything arrived before the class started, so I thought I would play and experiment.

Top left=letterpress ink with thick letterpress paper.
Top right=Brilliance pigment ink with thick letterpress paper.
Bottom left=letterpress ink with thinner letterpress paper.
Bottom right=Brilliance pigment ink with thinner letterpress paper.
WINNER= top left. 2nd fave=top right. The thick letterpress paper wins with both inks. The pigment ink was so much easier to clean up.  In fact, I was at the kitchen sink cleaning up the letterpress ink for 10 minutes!

I used Lifestyle Crafts letterpress ink in Silver.  For the pigment ink, I used Brilliance ink pad in Starlite Silver.

Just from my brief experimenting, I’ve compiled some tips & tricks.

• Use thick letterpress paper.  The indentations are much deeper and it looks really professional.  This is the thick letterpress paper.
  
  
  This is the thinner one (or the regular one that doesn’t contain the word “thick” in the product description).
  
• Use letterpress ink for the most professional results.  However, pigment ink works well if you already have those and want to save some money.  AND pigment inks are MUCH easier to clean up than the oily letterpress inks.  I spent 10 minutes at the kitchen sink cleaning the brayer and the ink base with vegetable oil and dish detergent.
• Use a palette knife to spread the ink out onto the ink base before using the brayer.  This will ensure the ink "flattens out" onto the ink base more evenly.  I didn’t do this with my initial experiment, and it was difficult to “roll out” the thick letterpress ink evenly.
  
• Buy a 6" soft rubber brayer.  The 3" one that comes with the L platform starter kit is too small and a little too hard and uneven.
• Get the inking guide strips.  It insures even distribution of ink on the plate design when inking with a brayer.  Use the brayer even if you use the pigment ink pads.
  
• Don't forget to take the ink guide strips off before putting the top down and into your diecut platform.  Otherwise the two strips will show up on your letterpressed card!
• Position the un-inked design plate onto your paper on the bottom platform first to make sure it is where you want it.  Then put adhesive on the top part of the platform and close the platform.  The press plate will stick to the adhesive on the top part of the "clamshell" and it will be EXACTLY where you want it on the paper when you've inked up and ready to press.
  
• Use the self-adhesive spongy paper placement guides to make sure your paper doesn’t shift during the process.  You can probably also use washi tape to keep paper in place, as long as the tape placement doesn’t interfere with the design of your plate.  I have not tried it though.
• Buy more brayers and ink bases if you want to do multi-colored designs.  Otherwise you will end up spending a lot of time cleaning up in between each color print.

That’s it for letterpress for now!  I will be playing with it more this weekend, following along with the class lessons at Studio Calico!

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