you me ~ art & design

Hello everyone... I have one more layout from week 1 of the Big Pictures Art & Design Class. Still creating with grids.

This is another fav of mine. I love the grid frame for sure. Perfect houses for embellishments and sentitments. I used an over lay from the Heidi Swapp Project Life Gold Foil Pocket Pages. The gold is perfect with those letters from Maggie Holmes Chipboard. Gold is such a beautiful touch found in so many elements right now. I just had to step in line and highlight it here.

The grid is a cut file from Wilna's class. I 'painted' it with Blush Color Shine. Inside the grids are painted with watercolor. I have always loved using raw elements to create with. There are so many amazing products out there to make layouts and document memories with. But I really connect with a blank canvas and creating my own elements. It is something that really has a hold of me right now.

Part of the bonus items from this class included that square of Wilna's writing. It is a beautiful sentiment that I used here to highlight a friend I have had and cherished since high school. I owe this girl so much. I keep wondering why I moved away from her a few years ago. But you know, sometimes distance can really really create a deep appreciation for someone you love. And any moment we get these days are very meaningful times for me. So I celebrate that here with this layout.

How lucky am I to enjoy this art form where I get an opportunity to explore creativity, new mediums (to me), and celebrate meaningful relationships all at the same time. It is very fulfilling indeed.

How about you...do you feel the same?

awesome ~ art & design

Hey it's Friday...

Sharing a quick look at another Art&Design inspired layout.

The page is real simple. Am really taken by using water color paper as the background and then matting that to pattern paper. The pattern here is from Pink Paislee's Color Wash collection. Those subtle polka dots get me every time.

This page stayed very true to Wilna's version. So for me it was simply a creative exercise. I don't like to keep my pages looking like someone else's. But I do think it is always good for a creative to use resources as jumping off places to discover new inspiration within themselves.

I do adore Wilna's die cuts. So her. Had fun adding them to this layout that will be part of our family album for the year. My daughter's first year at a new school.

Enjoy your weekend. Hoping you get time for some creative play.
Even if it is a creative exercise...
make something this weekend.

~jamie

new fall collection ~ sizzix eshape store

So excited to share my newest cut file with you today...

The Thankful Collection is in the SizzixShapeStore right now! I am in love with these hand drawn designs celebrating and embracing fall.

I love this little oak leaf the best. The Trunk Bay pattern from the Pink Paislee Solstice collection is a great hue for fall. As well as very lovely for these leaves.

After cutting a few smallish sizes of the oak die cut out on my eClips2,  a small dab of hot glue was added to the stem and attached to these branches now displayed in our front room.

I adore their whimsy and little subtle addition of fall in the house.

And how perfectly the yellow from Solstice works for fall. Just a bonus that is.

Eager to share more of these designs in action with you soon.

Until then...

embrace the fall.

~jamie

fabulous ~ art & design

Welcome back today...

Next up in this little mini series based on the first week of class at BigPicturesClasses for Art&Design...

Another take on the grid...and this is probably my very favorite of them all. So much I really enjoyed about this page. It just very simply came together and it draws me in everytime. Don't you love when your own creativity brings you great satisfaction.

First of all the grid-non-grid, as I call it. This is still very much a grid layout, with a twist. It's not linear. Now usually that is all that I am...linear. But when I started to play with different sized photos and different size frames, it just made me do a little happy dance while I was in the moment.

Let's talk about the palette for a moment, shall we? Glad you agree. Very neutral with an awesome pop of gold and even orange with that Pink Paislee Switchboard paper used as the layouts mat. It just made the whole thing pop. Other elements from Switchboard as well as frames from Pink Paislee and Maggie Holmes opened up some new elements for me for sure.

This page is highlighting a few fun moments from this 4 year old's birthday. It was a such a fun, fun night with family and friends from near and far. We had so much fun. I was tickled once again that now these memories are encased in a layout that makes me very happy.

This part of the layout is purely Wilna. She used a smallish size photo inside a larger frame. Stamped on the watercolor paper and of course that die cut is all her too. I love it!

I hope this page inspired you a little bit to think outside the grid. I think just doing something different, and then it actually working, gives one a whole lot of energy.

In fact, I am energized right now...off to go make more fun stuff.

Till next time.

supplies: Canson Watercolor Paper. Pink Paislee Switchboard: 12x12 Pattern Paper Pad, Chipboard Elements, Puffy Stickers. Maggie Holmes Flea Market Chipboard. Heidi Swapp Clear Stamps. HS Wood Stamp.

best day ~ art & design

Hello friends...
Thank you for stopping in today.
The next few days I would love to share with you a few results of a class I am in the middle of taking right now. It is WilnaFurstenberg's Art&Design as offered over at BigPicturesClasses.

The reality of taking classes just is so fabulous to get one to think outside of one's own box.

Everyone has huge creative capacities. The challenge is to develop them. ~Ken Robinson

It's a creative exercise to take time and look into someone else's process. How they develop their ideas. And then to literally watch them become a creative work right before your eyes. It develops my own current creative capacities. It allows the opportunity to develop creatively in a bit of a different direction and experiment and try new things.

I adore wilna's style. While it is not anywhere near my own, I can learn so much from her and her art techniques. She unwraps different techniques that I may not have thought of on my own. It is freeing and inspiring all at the same time.

The first week was all about grids. This page here is a very traditional grid layout. The new for me was playing with watercolor and watercolor paper and integrating those ideas into a page. New patterns and colors and concepts went to work for me here and I love the result.

This page is part of our 2014 family album. While I have a whole lot of pocket pages telling the story of our year, traditional 'scrapbook' layouts are sneaking in there as well. Love how that is turning out too.

I realize this particular class is already closed for purchase. But take the opportunity as they come up to take classes that may not fit your 'normal' creative way. Play. Experiment. And let your heart have fun.

Till next time.

supplies: Canson Watercolor Paper. Heidi Swapp Serendipity Patterned Paper. Studio Calico Wood Veneers. HS Color Shine Pink.

day book ~ pink paislee

Yesterday I posted a project over at the Pink Paislee blog.

You may or may not have seen it?

The mini was inspired by a few of the daybooks found out there on the market, like Amy Tangerines. These are smallish paper only albums usually sewn to bind. I chose to make this because for me it is a perfect size for a not-too-small yet not-too-big story.

So here is a bit of a tutorial for making this mixed-size mini book if you are interested in making for yourself. All pattern paper from Pink Paislee's Hello Sunshine.

1. To create book cover: trim pattern paper to 9 x 6 1/2-inches. Score down middle. Set aside.

2. For the inside pages: trim pattern paper 8 x 12- inches. Fold in half so the page now measures 8-inches x 6 inches high. This way both sides show the pattern. Score down the middle. Set inside the cover piece.

3. For the next page: trim pattern paper 6 x 6-inches. Fold in half so that it now measures 6-inches wide and 3-inches tall. Trim off two corners and punch hole in middle to resemble a tag. Score down middle. Lay inside the other pages.

4. For next page: trim pattern paper to 8-inches x 10-inches. Fold in half to measure 8-inches x 5-inches. Score in half. Set inside other pages.

5. To continue: trim vellum 8-inches x 6-inches. Score down middle. Set inside other pages.

6. For next page: trim pattern paper to 8-inches x 11-inches. Fold in half to measure 8-inches x 5 1/2-inches. Notch edges. Score down middle. Set inside other pages.

7. Trim pattern paper to 6-inches x 9-inches. Fold in half to measure 6 x 4 1/2-inches. Round corners. Score down middle. Set inside other pages.

8. Lastly, create an envelope or pocket. Use the flap as the middle. Lay inside the other pages.

9. To make mini: pierce holes down the 'spine' of the scored pages. Using a large needle and floss, hand sew through the holes. Tie ends in the middle.

10. Add photos and embellishments to the inside pages as desired.

Be sure to visit PinkPaislee to see the inside details with photos and embellishments. Hoping this gave you a good visual as to how to put together the Make It Mini.