Learn to Create Splatters

Okay, so I know there are a zillion "splatter technique" videos out there; however, I created one for a board I am part of. I thought I would share it with you also. I hope you like it, and if you have never tried splattering before, I hope you find it helpful. Feel free to ask questions in the comment box, and I will answer your questions there. Happy Splattering!

Art {Journaling} Inspiration Journal Video Flip Through

So, I finished the Inspiration Journal I posted about yesterday. If you missed that post, click here. Today I wanted to share a video of what the journal looks like. I really love how it turned out, and I am sure I will make more. :) A supply list is below, and for the pattern to make your own, click here.

Fabric: Duck fabric from Hobby Lobby, heavy canvas from fabric.com

Embellishments: sari ribbon from etsy, grommets and button kit from Hobby Lobby, elastic saved from gift

Paper: Canson mixed media paper

Inclusions: various saved pieces

Thanks for joining me, and now it's time to paint in this great journal!

A Birthday Book with {Video}

My precious mother and her identical twin turned 70 yesterday. I do not know how it is possible. Here they are back in the 1980s celebrating their birthday in France. They are a pair, and they still love to dress alike. :) Love you Mom and AK!!!!!

Anyway, when Dad turned 70, I made him a "70 Things" book. You may remember that book. If not, click here for that post. Since I made Dad a book, of course I needed to make Mom one too for her 70th birthday. So, I went to work writing down the 70 things that make her special. I had some input from my girls too via e-mail as two of them are away at college. Hubby was out of town on business so we had to do the best we could. 

This is a very quick album to make once you think of the "70 things." I print the "70 things" and then just stamp and use washi quickly throughout the book. I do use a Smash Mini book when I make these, and the covers are usually not too detailed in their design. The chipboard piece is from Blue Fern Studios, and it is called "Birthday Wishes."

Here is a video showing the inside of the book. I hope you enjoy it and that it gives you some ideas for a milestone birthday in your family! Blessings,

Product List (click product tags for more info)

View blog post for supplies

Organizational {Friday} Peerless Watercolors

Peerless Watercolors are wonderful and portable. I searched YouTube for the best way to store these beautiful watercolors but still wanted something slightly different. Also, most things I found used cardstock, and I was afraid it would just get bent up especially if I travel with this. And I must say that sometimes it pays 'not' to purge your older supplies because I had the perfect things on hand to store and use these new paints.

If you are unfamiliar with these paints, they were developed back in 1885 by Charles F. Nicholson. The formula he created 120 years ago is the formula still used today to create these colors. How cool is that? They blend beautifully and are great for travel because the color is on a small sheet of paper. The colors are acid free and non-toxic. Click here to see the products available. I purchased the Small Peerless Bonus Pak because it has 40 colors, and it's really all I need.

When the paints arrived, they came in a small clear envelope. The paints are flat sheets of dry color so it wasn't a big envelope. These sheets are a bit hard to use this way because you always have to flip through them to find the color you want. Also, the color on the sheet is very different from what the color actually looks like. And if you have any sort of dampness on your hands, you will start to lift color off of the sheets. That is why most people feel that they need to make a palette of some sort.

First, I found a great plastic box I had lying in my studio. It fits these 2" x 2" sheets perfectly. This is where I will store the original sheets, and when I need to make a new square of color for my palette, I can easily grab it from this box. But for the most part, this box will be stored in a drawer in my studio and only used for replenishing my palette.

Now let's look at the palette I created. This is where my old stash came into use. I found an old 4" x 4" clear acrylic album by Pageframe Designs in one of my cabinets. Remember those? Unfortunately, it is no longer available but Clear Scraps makes a similiar album that is available and should work perfectly for this also. Click here to see that album.

To make my palette, here is a list of supplies I used:

*Acrylic album

*1 1/2" punch square punch to make watercolor paper squares

*1" square punch to punch 1" pieces of the Peerless watercolors

*Glue dots or other adhesive

*Waterbrush

*Acetate sheets to put between your pages (the video below shows this nicely).

*Large rubberband

And here are the step-by-step instructions to create your album.

1. To create the color palette squares, punch forty 1 1/2" squares of watercolor paper.

2. Write or type each watercolor name onto each punched square.

3. Next, punch a 1" square piece of each Peerless watercolor and adhere to the appropriate 1 1/2" square made above using a Glue Dot or other adhesive.

4. Use your waterbrush to create a color sample on the side of each color palette.

5. You should then end up with 40 usable squares like this:

6. Next put them in color order. I put mine as follows: yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, pink, red, brown, black.

7. Determine how many squares you will put on each album page. For my 4x4 album, I put four squares on each acrylic page.

8. Adhere each color to the page using a Glue Dot or other adhesive. I chose to use Glue Dots because they will be easy to remove.

9. When finished, add a cover page if desired and secure album with a rubberband.

10. Store the waterbrush in the metal ring binding of the album.

Here is the finished product:

And now, here is a quick video flip-through so that you can see this album in action. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have found today's post helpful. Blessings,

Documented Life Planner & a Video

I have been following Roben-Marie's posts all year long about The Documented Life Project. Well, I didn't jump on board but continued to watch. As the end of April approached, I decided it was time to give this project a try, and oh my goodness, am I glad I did! Holding this completed book is just AMAZING! It's chunky, fun, and full of color which makes me happy. Let's look at my book.

The Tabs

To create my tabs, I scanned my painted cover and printed the image onto cardstock. Then I cut out tabs using the Spellbinders Creative Page Tabs die. Once I cut them out, I added the monthly labels to each tab, and sealed them with book tape. If you have a Xyron, you can use the lamination/sticker cartridge for sealing also. However, please note, that either option involves cutting the laminate or tape around the edges of each tab. Yes, quite painstaking but worth it since the tabs will hold up over time!

The Front

I always love using hearts and circles on my art journaling pages as well as hymn sheets. So, this cover incorporates all of that. 

The Back

The back is sort of a mirror image of the front. I did open the book and paint the entire front and back together as one piece.

The Pages

The journal is filled with fold-out pages. Some pages are mixed media sheets so I can paint on them. Some are doilies, envelopes, paper bags, tags, etc. Below I have a video for you showing you the inside of this planner. :) 

In the class I took (click here to see the class), Lorraine Bell suggests adding fold-out pages to every page; however, I did not. I have an 18 month calendar, and it would have just been way too full if I added a fold out section to every week. So, I did every other week, and I think this will work out fine. It did make my book nice and chunky! To add the fold-out pages, you use washi tape. Now you can see where all of my washi scraps came from. If you missed my washi scrap embellishment post, please click here. :) Now, isn't all of this color just yummy? And look how chunky!

A Video Flip Through

And here is a quick flip through my journal. It is blank at the moment but I wanted to show you some of the fun additions I added inside. And you will notice some threads in my book. I have done some sewing, and I like to leave the threads long for more texture and fun.

The journal I have used for this project is the Moleskine 2014-2015 Weekly Planner, 18-Month. You can find it on amazon.com by clicking here.

Next, I will be prepping some of the inside pages with paint so that when July arrives, I am ready to go! I hope you have enjoyed seeing my planner. And if you want to make one, don't forget to click here for all of the details of the class. It's only $12! Blessings,

Organizational {Friday} IKEA Goodies Means Changes

I placed an IKEA order last week. The closest store to me is an hour away. So, I loaded up my cart, and paid $26 shipping for the goodies noted below. It certainly was worth it as it saved me time and gas. My box arrived earlier this week, and here is what was inside:

• 2 Raskog carts in teal blue
• 2 pkgs. of Grundtal containers
• A Bygel wire basket
• 3 Antonious containers

Today I wanted to show you the first Raskog cart. I have moved my original grey Raskog cart to my pantry. The second Raskog will be used for my art journaling supplies. Here is a short video of the new teal filled cart for Project Life. I still store my cards the same. To see how I store them, please click here for that post.

If you couldn't tell from the video, my favorite new piece is the wire basket. I should have gotten more than one of those! The links for each product are noted in the bulleted section above. Just click on the product name.

If you are interested in printing Project Life Card Design Reference sheets, please click here. Not all of the kits are there but most of them are. It really is a handy reference! I just printed them double-sided and keep in the pink binder.

I hope you find something helpful here today! Thanks for stopping by! I always appreciate you! Blessings,

Organizational {Friday} My Studio Video Tour

Yes, can you believe the title? My studio tour is finally here for you to see. It only took me a year after moving in to get it ready for you. LOL! I have not been happy with my room and have moved things around several times. I am finally really pleased with it. And I decided not to put up window treatments. I love all of the light I have and wanted to keep the windows "as is."

Now on with the tour. First, my room is not one of those white, clean rooms. I love different woods. I love "cozy," and my room is definitely that. I serves many purposes so you will see:

*A die cut area

*A sewing space

*An office space

*An art journaling table

*My Scrap 'n Cube for scrapping

I have room for 4 people to craft in here with me. Now to just find some local scrappy friends. LOL!

As you watch the video, I take you on an "overview" of the room. Below the video, you will see links to the posts that talk about specific parts of my room. If there are other things you would like me to post about, please be sure to leave a comment in the comment section here.

Now, here are some links to previous posts that go into detail about specific pieces you see in the video:

*6x6 paper storage unit

*Fabric storage

*Over-the-door unit for Simple Stories storage

*Plastic bins for flowers

*Rolodex Stamp Inventory

*Raskog Cart from IKEA

*Scrap 'n Cube Cart

*Scrap 'n Cube Mini Apothecary Cabinet

*Scrap 'n Cube Paper Tower

*Stratford Storage unit with baskets

*Ultimate Tray by Stampin' Things

*Other Stampin' Things posts (inks, etc.)

*Washi tape storage

*Wine rack pencil storage

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed my tour. If you are ever in the area, I would love to have you come by and craft with me! Blessings,

Update December 2015: Unfortunately my friend and owner of Stampin' Things passed away from breast cancer. Her products linked above are no longer available. Thank you for your understanding and prayers for Sue's family.

Tuesday's {Tip} Video Tutorial, Tying Crinkle Ribbon Bows

Last week I shared how I make crinkle ribbon. If you missed that post, please click here. Several of you then asked to see how I tie my bows. So, here is a quick video on how I do that.

TyingCrinkleRibbonVideo from Patter Cross on Vimeo.

And here is the bow on a card I created this morning. You can see the entire card by clicking here.

Memory Box Papers: Pool cs, Brioche 6x6 paper pack
Dies: Memory Box Pristine Border die, Poppystamps Lorelai Leaf die
Stamps: Memory Box Joy Outline A1379
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink peacock feathers
Embellishments: hand-dyed Hug Snug seam binding, Mister Huey's bonny blue mist, Paper Trey Ink button, May Arts twine, Hobby Lobby doily, misc. ticket, sewing machine

I hope you find this helpful, and feel free to ask questions in the comment section. Blessings,

New Video Tutorial!

**Please note: For those of you looking for today's Journaling Challenge prompt, you can find the post by clicking here or by scrolling down just below this post. Thank you!

Dave, owner of Memory Box, asked me to do a video showing how to use the new Memory Box dies with the matching stamps. There are two methods you can use:

**Stamping the image first and then die cutting the image.
**Die cutting the image first and then stamping the image.

I prefer the second method. So much easier to me and you don't need to keep a guide or template! You can see the video below. I hope you find it helpful. I do hope to do more videos but they take time, and I am learning as I go. LOL! Have a blessed day!