Hand Prints

I'll readily admit that I've got an obsession with hands. I love holding my babies' hands. I love seeing their chubby fingers. I love that my older girls' hands are losing the chubbiness and becoming more womanly. I think that hands tell so much about a person.

Because of this obsession, I've done quite a few things with my children's hands in my artwork. However, up until recently, I'd never used my own hands or Todd's hands. I decided it was time to do just that. I wanted to make sure that my children had a physical record of Todd and I. Something they could hold, place their own hands on and think, "This is my dad. This is my mom. They touched this once."

There is something special about seeing someone's handprint once they have passed away. I wish that I had a handprint from my grandparents to hold. Perhaps my handprint album was spurred by the death of my friend's baby? I'm not sure. I do know that if something ever happened to one of my sweeties that I'd want a print of their hands to touch while I cried.

...So on a lighter note...

I created this album that is so close to my heart I can't even express it.

The quote reads: To receive everything, one must open one's hands and give.

Almost every embellishment and pattern paper is My Mind's Eye from the Lost & Found line. I mixed the girls and the boys lines with wild abandon.

Here are the pages. I followed a strict formula of picture on top, handprint on bottom.

I made the hand prints by spreading a thick layer of DecoArt Paper Perfect and having everyone press their hands into the wet surface. Paper Perfect is a specialty paint that dries to look like handmade paper. It was the perfect surface for such a project. The paint washed off easily with soap and water and it left a dimensional imprint.

I tried to match the personality in the picture with the embellishments.

Each picture has a name and a birthdate.

All of the pictures are courtesy of Sara Jarvie. She is an amazing photographer and knows my family so intimately that she captures each personality.

The impressions in the Paper Perfect were not very distinct so I painted the inside using Shimmerz Blingz in Pixie Dust to help them to stand out. It turned out to be the perfect touch.

Believe it or not, that was the closest to a smile that we got on my sweet Q-tip that day. I love this picture.

The back of the album.

A few more shots to give you a few different views.

For some reason, I really like this angle with the paint-y rings.

You can see that the album is pretty thick so it doesn't lie flat. I love dimension and texture!

I hope that this project inspires you to create something with your loved ones' hands. If you do, please leave me a link so I can gush over your creativity!

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Tinsel Ideas -- New Video

I love tinsel. I think that just about every project would be made more beautiful with a little tinsel (oh and a little sequin waste too). When I found out that My Mind's Eye had tinsel in their Lost & Found line and that it was thick and luxurious tinsel, I felt very happy inside. Their tinsel reminds me of those Woolly Caterpillars of my youth. (I grew up in Illinois.) Did you ever play with those cute guys? I remember one afternoon I hit a gold mine and I found 22 of those cuties. I thought that Santa had come early that year. I'll never forget it.

Anyway, I was so inspired by tinsel that I did a video on it with 2 different techniques for altering it for your projects. I hope that you enjoy it! (Just so you know, it is also on the MME blog today.)



Here's a comparison of what I did in the video.

I'm going to chat a bit about the hands mini-album project in a post next week so don't worry, I'll show you loads of pics at that time.

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

P.S. There are still a few spaces available in my Saturday class on Art Journaling 101, if you are interested. Call and reserve your spot right away! I'm so excited!

Ballet Slippers

When Lyssie was around 2 years old, she became completely enamored with a pair of Dani's old ballet slippers. She loved them so much that she wore them exclusively for months. Even to bed. They became such a part of her that both Todd and I mourned when she finally outgrew them. In a way, it felt like she had outgrown a piece of herself.

Well, I didn't want to put these precious ballet slippers away in a box somewhere. I wanted to display them so I could remember this sweet phase. For about a year, I've been ruminating on what exactly to do. Then, I suddenly just knew. I made this 12x12 wall-hanging using a piece of wood that I purchased at Michaels. I incorporated some gorgeous pictures that I took of her dancing in these very shoes (and her new pink dress, of course.)

All of the papers are My Mind's Eye (Lost & Found) line. I added some bits and baubles from the wedding department at Hobby Lobby.

The tinsel is part of my video coming out at the end of this week. I can't wait to share it with you!

Of course, I added loads of Shimmerz. I used the two new Vibez colors to make the awesome background: Pop Art Pink and Fiery Fiesta. The undertone on these new colors is gold and I can't tell you how much I love it. I also used some Treasured Hymn Spritz to add a little antiquing to the pieces that were too white.

I even spritzed the shoes with some Shimmerz Cotton Candy Spritz.

Now, I can see these little slippers whenever I walk into Lyssie's room. I love that.

Blurry Week

This week has been a blur as I've been putting the finishing touches on the wedding garb, kitting and prepping for my next classes at Scrapbooks Etc in Mesa, AZ,

working on a few videos to be released very soon and keeping certain very rambunctious children alive and healthy.

Photo Credit: Sara Jarvie of Jarvie Photography

The girls have also been placed into advanced math and reading groups at school and the homework load has been a little bit more intense than before. I thought that I had finished with three digit multiplication. It is one of my worst nightmares! (giggle)

I have much more respect now for my dear-father-tutor who put up with my crying and screaming over my math homework for at least 10 years. Wow. Thank you, Dad for never giving up on my computational skills.

I've got a few new projects and some deep thoughts that have been mulling in my brain for a few weeks that I can't wait to share with you...but alas...it will have to be next week or so. I'll come back soon...I promise.

Until then...

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Wedding Guest Album -- Tutorial

When I got married, I had a sign-in book for all the guests that attended my reception. Although I'm glad I had it, I wish my book had been more personal. It would have been nice if my guests had not only signed their names, but also written a little note. (One of those things that you don't think of in the wedding planning rush.) I would have liked to have photos from our courtship and engagement included so that the guests could get to know us as a couple too.

I didn't want anyone else to have guest book regrets, so I started the tradition of making a guest album for the wedding of my siblings when my brother Nate got married about 5 years ago. Since then, I've made 3 such albums and each one has gotten better.

Here is my latest guest album created for my brother, Dane, who is getting married to a wonderful woman, Lani, in September. I'm thrilled for them!

The backbone of the album is a Creative Memories 7x7 inch album. I'm not sure if these are still available. I found mine on Ebay a few years ago. The reason why I chose this particular album is because...

1. It is all white.
2. I like how I can add and subtract pages depending on the reception size.
3. I like how I can easily slip on page protectors once the festivities have ended.

That being said, any album will work for this particular project.

Lani's wedding colors are fall-ish: browns, burgundies, greens, eggplant, orange, etc. Therefore, I chose a brown/burgundy/white/cream color scheme. When I saw that My Mind's Eye Lost & Found line contained these very colors, I was thrilled beyond belief. They made my job so stinking easy that I almost feel like I cheated. Seriously. I didn't use any of the papers from the line because I wanted a very simple classic look, but I used their embellishments like crazy pants.

What you'll need to complete a project like this one (because I know that you are all totally inspired to make wedding guest albums for all your lovies...giggle...

Materials List
1. A 7x7 album. (You can really use any size, but this is what I chose so my materials list is based on the 7x7 size. If you choose a bigger or smaller size, adjust as necessary.)
2. As many picture as you desire. I like to use either black and white or sepia pictures simply because they are more uniform and classic. I usually ask the bride and groom to supply the pictures from their courtship. For this album, I printed out 10 5x7 pictures that I cropped down to 5x5.
3. Two colors of cardstock. I used a burgundy and a deep brown. I cut the burgundy pieces to 5.5x5.5 inches. The brown were cut to 6x6 inches. (I find that the most pleasing mats are about 1/2 inch bigger than the picture or the mat layered on top of it.)
4. Some type of adhesive. I used tacky glue to adhere the cover embellishments and mounting squares by Scrapbook Adhesives (a 3L product) for the inside pages.
5. Little quotes printed on clear paper, embellishments, ribbons, whatever you want to use to decorate your album.
6. If you'd like to ink the edges of your mats/pics/embellies Distress ink and craft foam.

Directions
1. Assemble all your materials.
2. Crop your pictures to 5x5. Crop your first mat to 5.5x5.5. Crop your second mat to 6x6.
3. Layer your picture, first mat and second mat and adhere together.
4. Print out your quotes or find some that are pre-printed.
5. Decide on the number of pages you desire in your album. Keep in mind that you want to leave a few blank so guests have space to write notes to the bride and groom.
6. Adhere your pictures, embellishments, etc to the inside pages. Save a cool picture for the last page. Maybe a picture of the wedding location? A picture of their hands? etc.
7. Decorate the outside with ribbons and one or two embellishments.

Each of the MME quotes (like the photo above) were beautiful on their own, but they seemed to get lost when they weren't matted. I added the ribbon as a little extra touch and I love how it turned out.

Of course, the last picture has to be something amazing. This is what I chose for Dane and Lani's album.

I wish I had taken pictures of the previous albums that I made, but I wasn't a blogger at that point so I didn't think in terms of photographing everything. Bummer. Oh, and just so you know, this entire post also appeared on the MME blog on Wednesday.

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Summertime Challenge at MME

Each month, My Mind's Eye has a sketch challenge with a very big prize. This month, their challenge is to use this sketch...

along with the word Summertime somewhere in the layout. You can use Summertime in the title, in your journaling wherever you desire. You also need to use 80% MME product. Pretty simple.

You'll never believe what you could win...your choice of 3 entire collections. Hello? Awesome?

Here is my take on the challenge.

I used a lot of Shimmerz in addition to the Alphabet Soup collection. Here's what I had to say on the MME blog about altering pattern paper to suit your needs.

I absolutely love the blue wood grain pattern paper in the Alphabet Soup collection and knew that it would be the perfect complement to my swimming pictures. However, once I put the two together, I realized that the color of the pattern paper wasn't exactly right for the color of the water in my pictures. Instead of trying another piece of pattern paper, I decided to use my Shimmerz Pearlz and paint waves of aqua into the pattern paper. (I used the design of the paper as a guide.) Don't be afraid to alter pattern paper to suit your own needs. After all, it belongs to you!  

A few sprays of Shimmerz Spritz and some Pearlz drips helped to tie all the colors in the layout together.

I added a black border to the left side to balance out the off-center design. (I've never been very good at centering things!)

Aren't those fish adorable? And thanks to Blingz...shimmery like Rainbow Fish. The last close-up shot was taken in full sunlight so you can see all the glittery goodness.

You can get all the details for this contest right here.

I hope you win!

Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany

Shimmerz Junque Journal Cover Technique -- New Video

As promised last month, I made a technique video demonstrating how I made the cover of my Shimmerz Junque Journal.

I use this technique a lot when I'm making backgrounds. It may look complicated, but it is easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

This is the cover that I demo in the video.

Enjoy!



Happy Creating!

xoxo
Bethany Kartchner