Welcome back to Paper Play. If it’s Tuesday it must be a post for Tuesday Morning Sketches and that’s what I have for you today. This sketch was a tough one for me. It’s not a card design that I would usually create. I really wanted to feature patterned paper and decided that part of the sentiment was likely the best way to incorporate it. I also decided to go with a fall color palette and incorporated some burlap to add texture to the card. You may find my card and the sketch below. What do you think of it?
Thanks for stopping by today. Until next time . . . be well!
Welcome back to Paper Play. Today’s share for Tuesday Morning Sketches is a fun Halloween card. I thought that the circle element in the sketch lent itself perfectly to a moon. And what better than to have a witch flying across it? I used patterned paper from Kat Scrappiness and stamps from Heidi Swapp to create it.
Here is my card and the sketch that I had to use:
I hope that you enjoy it! Until next time . . . be well!
Hey there, friends!
Thanks for stopping by Paper Play. Today's post is about the card that I created for this week's Tuesday Morning Sketches share. This was an interesting sketch and, I have to admit, I struggled with it a little bit. It's not a typical card layout that I would create.
I started my design by finding a patterned paper in my stash that I wanted to work with for the two columns in the front of the card. I think the floral design on this paper is gorgeous and settled on using it. I wanted to incorporate some texture into the card and thought that some burlap would pair well with the paper.
I didn't want a background that was too plain; and yet, I didn't want to use a patterned paper that would look too busy with the floral print. I looked through my stash and found this white polka dot paper and thought it would work well. It's actually a bag that I received from a shop! I thought it was cute and figured that I would use it some day. I'm glad that I did!
I used the deckle edge blade on my paper trimmer to add a little something extra to the overall look. I also added some slight grunge around the edges using Distress Tea Dye ink, and added 5 pearl gems.
Here's my card and the sketch that it's based on.
I hope that you enjoy this design. Thanks for reading and, until next time, be well!
Hi, friends!
I have always been fascinated by the moon. I have so many memories of being a kid and standing outside with my telescope looking at it. I used to hope so much to see something move while looking up there . . . and used to be disappointed when it didn't happen. I also used to love looking for facial patterns while thinking of the "man on the moon." These days, I find that I appreciate the symbolism of the moon and what it stands for . . . going through phases, our deepest feelings and instincts, mystery, and more. I connect with each of those themes and probably more so than ever at this point in my life. That's why I was so excited to see this month's Gecko Galz theme . . . stay wild, moon child.
Each of my projects this month are directly connected to what the moon symbolizes to me. The first one is an ornament/hanging decoration that I made. I took a small wooden circle, applied a coat of embossing paste to add some texture, and then painted it with black paint. I then applied some glitter paste over it and applied the Geck Galz image in the center. The hanger is stapled to the back and was made with a piece of wire. The sentiment is one that I love - the moon will always listen. It reminds me so much of an Elizabethan sonnet by Sir Philip Sidney called Astrophel and Stella. It's a poem of unrequited love and, in one part of the sonnet, Astrophel essentially asks the moon if love hurts as much up there in the sky as it does down here on land. This sonnet has stayed with me over the years, and influenced this design.
 |
The other three projects that I made are all greetings cards. One celebrates the moon theme of phases, another the mystery of always looking up at the moon, and the last the theme of staying true to our deepest feelings and instincts.
I hope that enjoyed learning more about what influenced these designs! Until next time . . . be well!
Hello, friends!
Welcome back to Paper Play. Today's card is my creation for this week's Tuesday Morning Sketches card sketch. This week I decided to use some products from the 49 and Market Always Together collection. I have lots of ephemera from the collection and I thought it would be a good time to start using it. Seeing as though I was using a sentiment that includes the word together, I thought it would be fun to use puzzle pieces in place of the hexagons in the sketch. The puzzle die that I used is from Sizzix.
I hope that you enjoy this week's card! Thanks for spending some time here with me today. Until next time . . . be well!
Here’s my card and the sketch:
The stamp set is from Technique Junkies. I also used some patterned paper, brown shipping paper, vellum, and Distress inks to create it. It’s a simple card to create and has vintage flair.
I hope that you enjoy the card!
Thanks for spending some time here with me today. Until next time . . . be well!
Welcome back to Paper Play, crafting friends!
I started this blog approximately 18 months ago to document my journey in AECP (Altenew Educator Certification Program). Over this time, I have taken 25 courses, created between 1-3 cards per course, and written 25 blog posts about what I've learned along the way. On Saturday, August 24, 2024, I hosted a live 2-hour workshop that I created based on what I learned through the program. I selected a topic, created two card designs to teach, wrote a lesson plan to submit for approval, marketed the workshop, and then hosted it. This final AECP blog post will take you through that process, including the workshop and lessons that I learned through it all.
Planning, Planning, Planning!
Once my work for 5 level three courses was reviewed and approved, Erum issued me my final assignment for the program - select a topic, create a lesson, and teach it in a live two-hour virtual workshop. I took some time to review all of the courses and started a list of possible topics. That list started out with eight topics and I started to whittle it down until it was down to two: one topic that was pretty safe and one that, while not directly a topic that was covered in the program, would take pieces of various courses and bring them together into a topic that truly interested me. I knew that the latter could be risky - but also knew that it could be very rewarding. I wanted to do something different than the workshops that I had attended and read about. I had made up my mind and decided on the second topic as my heart had to be in it for me to do well.
That topic was creating vintage tile greeting cards. I'm an old soul and have always been drawn towards vintage items. My favorite kind of creating is to take stamps, dies, and stencils and use them in a way that creates something that has a vintage flair. I knew that I could take several techniques learned through the program and apply them to the topic - water coloring with inks and ink sprays, adding small details that will create a big effect, using various shapes to build a card, and bringing what inspires me into my creative process. With this in mind, I created the cards that I would teach. I started by making one that was a general vintage style and then making one in an Art Deco style. These two cards had enough steps to take up a 2 hour time period. Here are the cards:
I next wrote up my lesson plan to send to Erum for approval. That lesson plan included the goal for the workshop, a list of products used, and the detailed steps to make each card. I checked, and rechecked, each step to ensure that someone could pick up the document and make each card by just following these directions. Once satisfied, I submitted it to Erum. I was so relieved when I heard back from her that it was approved.
Once I chose the date for the workshop, I worked on creating an advertisement for it to post in the Altenew Facebook groups, on my Facebook page, and on my Instagram page. Here is that advertisement:
I created it using Canva and was pretty happy with it since it was my first time using the program. I then posted it onto Facebook and Instagram hoping to have some interest in it. The goal was to have between 6 and 10 people sign up for the workshop and I was really happy to have 11 people sign up. I ended up having three cancellations as it got closer to the workshop date - two prior and one the day of due to losing her internet connection. That still left me with 8 crafting participants and my sister & niece also joined to watch me.
I also signed up for a Zoom subscription to allow me to host the workshop without interruption. I cannot stress enough how worthwhile it is to do this since it isn't very expensive for one month and provides a much better experience for your participants. I sent the zoom link to Erum and invited participants two days before the workshop to ensure that all received it.
In retrospect, all of this planning truly paid off. The workshop itself went smoothly due to it. I knew what order to teach the steps in and could refer to a printout as needed (and participants had it available as well), they knew what items to have available from the supply list, and there weren't any technology hiccups since the Zoom could go as long as I needed it to.
I'm including the supply list at the end of the post in an appendix to it.
The Workshop!
It was the day of the workshop before I knew it. I'd be lying to say that I wasn't nervous about it at all; however, I wasn't as anxious as I thought I'd be at the time. I knew that I was as prepared as I possibly could be and that made me feel better. I logged in to setup and was happy to see a couple of early birds logged in. Erum joined shortly thereafter, we made sure that everything was working properly and waited for the rest to join.
The first thing that amazed me was to hear how excited everyone was for the workshop. "I've been looking forward to this", "this is so different!", and "I've never done anything like this before" are a few of the comments that I heard. I started off by giving them some background on my interest in vintage and crafting, my inspiration for the tiles (old tin tile ceilings), and an overview of what we would accomplish.
Creating the tiles was such a fun experience. I went over the embossing folder that I was using to create my tiles (Dreamy Tiles 3D Geometric Embossing Folder), how to make tiles using a different embossing folder, and some examples of various coloring techniques. Here's a pic of the full tile set with various coloring mediums (ink sprays, pigment ink pads, acrylic paint, and gilding wax):
The attendees watched as I colored my tiles and started on their way to coloring their own. They asked lots of great questions about coloring mediums and techniques. We then went over adding either a turquoise/blue-green or rust patina to them. One by one they started to share their tiles and I was absolutely blown away! Their creativity was let loose, and they were all creating something different. There were multicolored panels of tiles in different shapes, wooden tiles, and tiles colored different than mine. At that moment, my heart got light, and I could not have felt more excited. I was so happy to see them taking what I was explaining and adapting it into their own unique ways. Creating the tiles takes up most of the time, which is why I started with that first.
We then moved on to discussing my cards designs and what I did to create the general vintage card. Everyone was focused on their creation and yet we talked, shared, and laughed with each other along the way. Once done with the first card, we moved on to the Art Deco style card. I again spoke about my inspiration (The Great Gastby by F. Scott Fitzgerald) and off to work we went. We ended up going over by about 15-20 minutes, but we did so with Erum's permission.
We ended with a quick wrap up of everyone sharing their cards. If I was blown away by seeing their tiles, I was left almost speechless by their amazing cards. They were absolutely gorgeous, and I couldn't have been more proud. I'm not someone who "toots their own horn." I seldom speak of successes and find receiving compliments to be somewhat awkward. However, the words shared with me as we wrapped up the workshop brought me so much joy: "This was amazing", "you showed me that it's okay to go outside the box", "you gave me permission to be free with my crafting and not constrained by traditional techniques." I was filled with so much joy as we said goodbye to each other.
Attendee Gallery:
Here are the amazing cards that were made in the workshop:
%201.jpg)
.png)
.png)
%202.jpg)
I reflected on the workshop for a couple of days before I started to write some thoughts down. I needed that time because I was honestly so elated by the experience. Here are some of the lessons that I learned throughout the AECP program and from the workshop.
Overall, I felt that the workshop went very well. Everyone seemed engaged and happy to be there. I heard from a few attendees that they learned some new tools and tips to use in their creations. I think the best feedback that I heard was that the workshop allowed them to feel free to "color outside the lines" and take chances they normally wouldn't take in their crafting. That truly made me happy to hear.
The AECP experience was an amazing one for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the classes, especially in level three when I was able to choose them. (As a side note on that, I consider Creative Coloring with Erum and Runway Inspired Card Making to be the best two courses available. Seriously - you should check them out!) Erum was great in running the program and always provided helpful feedback on my project submissions. She was also extremely helpful in preparing for the workshop. I can't thank her enough. I also want to thank Tamara Eastridge and Anet Van Zyl who were part of my AECP group. They offered so much support along the journey. I may have never met them if not for this program and I'm grateful to have made the journey with them. I also want to thank Linda Fields. She has been an inspiration and mentor to me through this. I am better for knowing all of them.
Appendix - Supply List
These are the supplies that I used. However, I offer suggestions on how they may create tiles from a non-floral embossing folder. I will also offer suggestions for alternatives to what I used to help keep the cost of supplies low.
Today’s share for Tuesday Morning Sketches #771 was a fun card to create. The card sketch lends itself to every theme that you can imagine. However, I have been wanting g to use the Tim Holtz Sizzix Vault Gothic Portraits die set and created a design to fit the sketch.
Here is my card and the card sketch:
Thanks for stopping by Paper Play. Today is my day to share my August design team projects for Gecko Galz. Our theme this month was Beauty of the Far East. Gecko Galz has so many beautiful products that may be used for this theme. My goal was to use colors and styles inspired by the Far East to bring these projects to life. Please be sure to let me know how I did!
My first project is my favorite for this month. When I think of the Far East, I think of the beautiful design elements that we in the West have adopted from them. In particular, I have always loved the Japanese paper screen doors and I wanted to create a frame that incorporates them. I took a small rectangular wooden box from Michaels and used brown ink to stain it. I then printed the photo to size, added some grunge to it with Distress Ink, and glued it to the inside of the frame. Two strips of foam were colored with Distress Inks to look like stone and glued at the top and bottom of the frame. Their purpose is to support the doors with pin hinges, and those pins stick into the foam to allow them to open and close. I made the doors by cutting four rectangular pieces of cardboard to size, using an exacto knife to cut out the centers, and then coloring them with black and grey ink. I printed the images for the doors to size on vellum and let them dry. Once dry, I cut them to fit between two pieces of the cardboard and glued them into place. Stick pins were glued to the top left and bottom left corners of one door and then repeated on the right corners for the other door. I attached small nobs to the front center of each door to allow for easier opening, and then put the doors in place by inserting the pins into the foam and aligning into place. This is actually a very easy project to create, and I think it adds a beautiful vintage style to any decor.
My second project is a vintage fan, which is really quite easy to create. I took an 8.5"x11" inch piece of kraft cardstock and glued an 8.5"x11" piece of paper printed from the Asian Botanical Paper Pack to it. I used Distress Ink and Ink Spray to add some grunge to the front and back of the paper. I then used my scoring board to score a line at each 1" and then used a bone folder to burnish each line of the fold. Once folded, I glued twine to the handle, starting at the bottom and working my way up to the point where I wanted it to end. Some pearl gems were glued and the fan was complete. I think it would look pretty either hanging or resting on a shelf.
My final three projects are greeting cards that I made. The shadow box card and fun fold frame card were made using dies that I have for each. I used a variety of Gecko Galz images, Distress Inks, alcohol markers, lace, and paper flowers to create them.
I hope that you enjoyed learning more about my August projects and that I may have inspired you to try one!
Thanks for spending some time with me here on Paper Play today. Until next time . . . be well!
Hello, friends! Thanks for stopping by Paper Play. Today’s design has a vintage feel to it. Sometimes you need a card to let someone know ...
