Fabric of My Life with Shelley Graham Turner

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Haha I am going to ATTEMPT!....

Just a quick note to say I am alive!

Seems like every time I make a plan things goes astray!

Been watching kids and taking time with Mel, who has the flu :( No time for anything else right now.

Back soon..I hope!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Got Lost Along the Creative Path

I have been on the creative path and must have taken a wrong turn. I meant to come hang out here on my blog earlier in the month but I was just having TOO MUCH FUN!

What have I been up to? Crafting, of course! I have been making new friends, joining in on swaps and playing with so many new techniques!

I am going to attempt to bring you an update once a week. (Emphasis on the word ATTEMPT!)

Let me introduce you to my latest source of inspiration - Joanne Sharpe. Joanne is a mixed media artist and instructor from Rochester, NY. Her work is incredible. When I look at it I just get GIDDY. It's vibrancy calls to me, urging me to get in the studio and be creative.

Joanne recently wrote her first book, 

The Art of Whimsical Lettering. If the interest shown in her Facebook group is any indication, it's definitely going to be one of Interweave's top sellers.

Members of her Facebook group, of which I am a PROUD member, are scrambling to get their hands on the book. We all want our books, and we want them NOW as Joanne has plans to take group members by the hand and lead us through some of the book's exercises.

I was planning to order my copy online with an anticipated delivery date in April. I had checked with my local bookstore and unfortunately they didn't have it. But just moments before pushing the "submit order" button I decided to check one last time, and Glory! My local bookstore had it! I reserved my copy and within an hour I had it in my hot little hands! SCORE!

I came home and dove right in. Using the book as my reference I decided to tackle the first posted lesson on the Facebook group - to create my own inspirational journal using a regular composition notebook. I snagged mine at Walmart for $.94!

Got out my "toys" and went to work. Here is how it turned out-

My process:
I began by applying a few coats of gesso to the cover and then glued on a few strips of my own Gelli prints to the bottom portion. I used textured cardstock on the top portion. I added some washi tape to give it even more "flavor".

Next I decided to use my homemade modeling paste* (thanks Leah Tees for the recipe) and stencilled some shapes to give it a little dimension. Once those were dried I applied an acrylic paint wash.

* recipe I used includes baby powder. I think I added a smidgen more than called for. It smells great AND as an added bonus - it puffs up when you heat it with a heat gun!

Taking my cue from Joanne's book (yeah, I read ahead! If you had a copy you would too, believe me!) I did my main words on tissue paper (used an old sewing pattern). Once I was happy with my lettering I modge-podged* it to the cover( yes, that's a word! Well it is at my house!)

* Tip: to tear in an organic shape first "paint" the tissue paper in the desired shape with water, then tear.

Next I used my Stampin' Up markers to paint a few elements (flowers, leaves and a cloud) based on another of Joanne's techniques learned from watching her in Strathmore Artist Paper's series, Artful Card-Making Techniques. I cut them out and modge-podged those onto the cover as well. Love how they pop!

Now it was time to add even more words. I just took my random thoughts and added them haphazardly. Using my Pitt and Zig markers I "pumped" them up. Took my white Signo and enhanced the outlines and added some flair.

Final step was to just add a bit more color back in using acrylic paint. A coat of Modge Podge to seal and it was d.o.n.e! - or was it? I keep playing with it and adding more! VERY addictive process! :)

I really didn't think I could do it, and in the end I am happy with the results. COLOR is so rewarding!

Looking forward to learning more from this amazing artist.

Maybe you'd like to join in?! (Such an enabler, I am! LOL)

For more information about Joanne Sharpe's online classes CLICK HERE!

Here are the swaps and challenges I have taken part in since my last blog entry:

Mixed Media Friendship Journal - The latest update
My Travelogue - The beginning
Mona Leonard's 2014 Mixed Media Journal Challenge - Weeks 1 and 2
YPP Mail Art - Vintage Grunge March Swaps & Challenges
Swap-Bot Mosaic ATC March Swaps & Challenges
YPP Christmas Cards All Year Long - DieCuts March Swaps & Challenges

Monday, February 24, 2014

My BEST Giveaway to Date!

You all know I love my craft gadgets! Well my latest purchase is by for sure my BEST so far! On Black Friday I bought myself a SILHOUETTE Portrait ™. (Well, my husband actually bought it but he didn’t know it)

Now most of my blog followers are beady ladies so for their benefit, let me explain.

A Silhouette is an electronic cutting machine. It is used mainly for cutting paper shapes. In the olden days, LOL, we had to rely on scissors to do all our intricate cutting. Then we moved on to punches. Next was the invention of the die-cutting machine - Big Shot, Cricut and the like. Those use either metal plates or cartridges. With the Silhouette you aren’t limited by what dies and cartridges you have in your stash (which cost a pretty penny and need storage space to boot!) just connect it to your computer and printer and you are ready to go!

The included software makes it possible to create and cut your own designs and use any font you already have in your computer. Pretty much any image you have, whether you found it on the internet or scanned it into your computer, you can use! This is my favorite feature! In addition to those images you can access cutting files from the Silhouette store at very reasonable prices (under 99 cents). They have a FREE file you can download every week, plus really great sales! Search the internet, there are also gazillions of free printables and cut files out there.

But all the fun doesn’t even stop there –

The Silhouette has many other uses in addition to die-cutting paper. It can cut a variety of materials including fabric, vinyl, heat transfer material, stencils, and more. In addition you can use it to etch glass, create and set rhinestone designs, make temporary tattoos, PLUS a favorite of mine – you can create your own cling stamps!

So, you may be asking yourself – how does she use all the cutouts she creates? Well right now I am working on designing product packaging which I plan to list in my etsy shop, but also I do things just for fun and personal use, like these....

A postcard sent to a special friend

An ATC (Artist Trading Card)

Part of a 2014 Planner
CLICK to see video

Front cover of a mini album
CLICK to view video

I KNOW, all this information is well and good but if you don’t have a Silhouette what good does it do YOU, huh?

Well here’s the GOOD NEWS! I am sponsoring a GIVEAWAY!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway starts right now and is open until 11:59 PM EST on February 28th. The winner of this giveaway will be notified via email and announced on March 3rd in the Rafflecopter widget above.

The more of the ladies you follow, the better your chances to win. You can tweet daily for even more entries!

Leave me a comment and tell me what YOU would do with the Silhouette, if you should win! GOOD LUCK!

Visit ALL of the prize sponsors for plenty of great ideas!

Disclaimer: The ladies who are sponsoring this giveaway have generously done so with their own funds. Facebook, Twitter and the like are NOT involved. We aren't being paid by a vendor, we are just love our followers and want them to be able to join in on our fun!

UPDATE: Congrats to our Silhouette Portrait giveaway winner, Jessie Wynn Cook ,please join us in congratulating her!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Artist Trading Card: Hearts, Hearts, Hearts!!

With Valentine's Day being right around the corner there are loads of swaps and challenges out there with LOVE as their theme. I recently took part in one over at Swap-Bot. It was an ATC (artist trading card) swap called "Hearts, Hearts, Hearts".

Here is my ATC:

I really love creating ATC's. I can use up so many of my scraps from other projects - I hate throwing anything away!

I started out with some left over patterned papers and a snippet of rick-rack.

I also had a few love-related cutouts

I made with my Silhouette machine. I LOVE my Silhouette. I can do soooo many things with it!

Punched out lots of small hearts from the scrap paper too.

I took a standard ATC-sized piece of white cardboard (2.5" x 3.5") and went over the edges with a pink stamp pad and then did a little fill in with the pad too.

Threw the "I Heart You" cutout into the Xyron machine - so much easier than trying to glue it down!'Love my Xyron too!

Next I went to the sewing machine and stitched the rick-rack and heart cutouts into place. I love the look and texture of stitching!

After stitching I "fluffed" up the top layer on the hearts for extra dimension. I love lots of layers, textures and dimension!

I used Glossy Accents to embellish a couple of the hearts, as well as tack down the tiny heart punches. I love dimension (did I say that already?!)

OH, here's a little tip: I find everytime I go to use the Glossy Accents the spout is clogged. Now I leave a pin in the spout and screw the cap on to store it. When ready to use again, just give a little "up and down" with the pin and you are ready to go!

So, that's the first of my Valentine's Day projects, more to come so stay tuned!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Packing and Shipping for the Frugal Crafter!

I do loads of swaps and love to include my international buddies. Shipping cost have gone up so much lately that I JUST had to find a way to be able to continue swapping with them and still eat! Although I spent over $90 in postage last month - the goodies, smiles and friendships I received made it TOTALLY worth it. Of course as a plus I do get to exercise my creative muscles, AND my husband is making friends at the Post Office! LOL

This morning I had to send off a destash item to a new friend in the UK. First thing I do before selling is to look into shipping costs. I use my little postage meter and stamps.com® software from USPS. I am able to print out ALL my labels, add insurance plus get free tracking information. (No, I don't work for them but my father was a postmaster.)

I found out that the cheapest way to send swaps international is as a large envelope .
The question I always have is - when is my item considered an envelope, and when is it a package? I went over to USPS to do some research. I created a little cheat sheet with the answers I found. You can download it for yourself:

USPS Tips & Information (Word format)

USPS Tips & Information (PDF Format)

For those of you without the software you can calculate shipping costs at http://postcalc.usps.com.

Okay, according to my cheat sheet a large envelope has to be between 1/4" and 3/4" thick, maximum. So, how can I manage that?

The Graham Tartan

I am always trying to find the cheapest way to get things done. I've been told it's my Scottish genes that cause me to do this.
Hmmm...I think that might have been an insult, but since it was my sister who told me I can overlook it!).

So I will call on my ancestors for help and put on my Scottish thinking cap....

Here's what I came up with. I decided in order to keep my package less than 3/4" thick I would need to get all the air out of it first. I tried squishing it but it still had puffiness. Not much but you know some of those postal clerks can be sooo anal. (Love them, but it's true!)

Those that know me know I don't cook. I will clean up the kitchen but that's about it. But you also know I love gadgets! Guess what I have? A Seal-a-Meal! AND I know how to use it!

So I did a little experiment.