Gone Missing

My art journal (above) has gone missing....and as Murphy's Law would have it, I only discovered that it was missing one hour before I was supposed to teach it in class.....sigh.

We always leave the samples of old classes in the classroom in the store 'cos lots of our students come back later to have a look when they're trying to finish up the projects. So, as far as we all know, it was in the classroom. But when I got back from Japan, it was gone....siiiggghhh.

I'm really really really hoping its just lost in the mess of stuff in the classroom, but beginning to suspect very much that it's been taken....stolen 'cos this kind of thing has happened to me before. (This would be the 5th project that's been stolen from the store)

Siiiiigggggghhhhhh............. I'm not angry, just bewildered. And a tiny part of me hopes that all my embellishments on the front cover fall off in revenge!

Way Back When

Shadowbox: "Us" (using small shadow box from IKEA)

This is us in pre-kiddy days. Actually we kind of look like a couple of kids ourselves.... Me, I think I will always have a 'baby' face - hope this is going to work to my advantage when I'm 50 - haha.

Nothing much to share technique wise. Just like the colour scheme on this one - me big fan of black and white.

A Favourite (even though its pink)

Now this pink thing I like because it is the right kind of pink....you know what I mean? Not Barbie pink...old vintage Laura Ashley pink... an uncute pink....haha.

Layout Title: "Love You"
This layout is actually a self-made shadowbox of sorts.

Here's how you can make your own:
1. Cut a hole in a die-cut patterned paper to make a frame. Make sure you leave at least 1" border. (everyone's making these shaped patterned papers nowadays - my sharon-approved pink one is from Making Memories)

2. Reinforce your frame with chipboard so its nice and sturdy

3. Cut a piece of chipboard that is about 1/2" smaller than your frame. This will actually be your 'base'. There should be a 1/2" overlap between your frame and your base. This will be where you put all your 3D foam dots to act as the sides of your 'shadow bow' and the foam dots will support your frame so its lifted nice and high above the base.

4. Decorate your base and your frame separately (E.g. on mine, the frame has white corrugated cardboard and lace pattern paper stuck on the inside edges. The base contains the patterned background, photo, tag, cut out flowers etc.)

5. Assemble the 2 together and voila, your very own shadow box!

You always think of things you could have done only after you're finished...
1. It might have been nice to make some 'glass' for the shadowbox using an overlay stuck to the back of the frame
2. Should have tied some ribbon or string around the frame to give it a bit more texture before gluing it down
3. Wish I could have used real lace, but....oh well.
4. Should cut some chipboard to cover the sides where you can see the ugly 3D foam dots but I'm feeling a little bit lazy....heh

p.s. love this Beatles song... "love you forever and forever, love you with all my heart...."

Sharon's Scrapping Situation:
- almost finished with all 4 projects for July. They're ready for viewing and you can come have a look when you're at the store.
- quite pleased with an experiment in 'artistic baking' that went reasonably well. (You get to enjoy the results of my 'cooking' in one of July's classes)
- very amused by the 'bacon and eggs' I made for another July class.

Hmmm....seems like July has an unintentional food theme....must be my body protesting against eating too much fast food.

Hey it's Good to Be Back Home Again

I'm back - recovered from our Mickey Mouse overdose and missing the Japan weather....sigh.
Happy to be back to our little home where we belong. Here's a little something to share (one of the projects from May's class):
Door / Wall Hanging: "The Ngoos Live Here"
This is something fun to make out of those super thick Pageframes acrylic sheets - they make super sturdy bases for door hangings or room signs and things like that.

I like this..
1. The 'sky' is done with gesso (or paint) - brush a layer of gesso over your acrylic sheet. Wait till its dry, then use a stylus or old pencil to 'scratch' designs onto the gesso (i drew 'windy' swirls)
2. Those pencils are too cute - I bought a whole box of them just to keep and use for myself (they're coloured pencils)
3. If you collect together all your small rectangular shaped stamps, you can make quite a cool 'brick wall' pattern - like the one on my house. Wanted to emboss those so it would feel more bumpy (that would have been even nicer) but then it would take too long in class so...oh well.
4. Making trees from patterned paper - just a few tapered rectangles, and lots of punched out circles....easy peasy.

More to share soon. I'm finishing up July's classes - 3 down, last one to go - will show you peeks soon... there's one I'm really excited about. (and of course, that would be the messiest dirtiest one...haha)

This is HEAVY...

Altered Portfolio: "A Year to Remember"
This is one heavy project - both in weight and in the amount of time it took - that's why we ran this project over 2 classes... And the packing really got Betty complaining no end 'cos it was a real killer (Sorry Betty! heh) But I really enjoyed doing this one - I let myself play and play and play and I got my Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-medium fix in the process....(ah....best smell ever).

This is one of my favourite bits - the 2009 that doubles as a closure for the portfolio. Had fun making the numbers too (10 Seconds Studio).

Love that little circle - its the motto for this project!

This is what it looks like opened up on the inside. The A4 sized section on the left side with the small metal clasp opens up to reveal pages for photos.

Close up of the butterfly - I made my lady wear spectacles! Haha. And I love how stamping on storybook paper and phonebook paper turns out.

Here's a peek at the inside of the 'album' - no photos yet. Too tired from all the collaging - haha

Thought the look was a little bit overcrowded in the end, but all in all I had a wonderful time. I think almost everyone in the class did too....there was quite a bit of giggling going on during my class...maybe it was all of us getting high on the medium haha.

Things Worth Doing Again:
1. Creating background by papering with phonebook paper and then whitewashing
2. Collaged butterfly wings
3. Stamping in black on phonebook or storybook paper.

Except next time I'll do them on something smaller eh? No more 2-part classes for me for a while - Betty will kill me (slowly and painfully I'm sure).

June's here! and I've almost finished 2 projects for July classes - hurry hurry hurry so I can go on holiday with hubby and critters. Yay!