Common ...

I am on a few forums and groups that are for cardmaking. Mostly because they also have some scrapbooking forums and stamp stuff. They all have galleries where people can post pictures of the things they make. There is some really lovely stuff out there.

But so much of it looks as though it was made to a formula and had premade bits just glued to it. With the sketches that people offer, the dies and punches they use, basically it is made to a formula. Admittedly a handmade item, but a formula non the less. To me this is manufacturing and I am guilty of using it as the next person. Except for one thing. To me there has to be that edge of chaos somewhere. Where you expect a straight line, there is a ripped line; where you expect pearls or brads there are eyelets with string dangling from it. I cannot stand my work to look completely manufactured.

A couple of years ago when I was talking to my sister about making cards for Christmas and renewing our interest in scrapbooking, she made a comment along the lines of she wouldn't invest in stamps because they are like colouring book pages for adults. I had thought the same thing myself years ago. And stamps sure are the stallwart art of the manufacturer type card makers. And their Copic markers. Colour in the stamp with the Copic marker and no one can tell it isn't a real flower, right?

It may sound critical, but seriously card making should be individualised and a bit artistic. Rip up paper, use bottle caps and washers. Don't make your cards look like everyone else's. Since there are several million of that stamp anyhow. Don't follow fashion. You take pride in dressing as you like, having your house as you like, why should your card making be any different?

Take the stuff you have been taught by good teachers and expand on it. I love to get my embossing powders onto a washer, mixing colours and textures and then drizzle stuff into them.

Experiment. You don't have to sell/give away your experiments. Put them into a folder to remember what you did that you loved or hated. Be daring. Get out your brayer and give it a good workout, rip up some Post-its and do some masking. Look for stamps that come from little known manufacturers that no one else you know has heard of. Use their stamps.

The thing that also amuses me is the die mentality. All those shapes. For what? So your work looks the same as your neighbours? You like her stuff, borrow it and expand on it.

One thing I love is my Bind it All, yeah the pink one. I like to punch the holes into things and then tie some of it together and use maybe one wire spine on it somewhere to make it look different. Go and buy some real locks and keys and use them to make something useful, very useful. Make polymer clay feet so your box has something to stand on, or use those dice bits for feet.

People will love your work even more if they see some evidence of YOU in your work.

The making of an album ...

Earlier this year, my elderly father moved from Adelaide to Canberra, to be nearer to family. He has the family albums, so my Aunt, who remains in Adelaide did not have access to them any longer. As part of my "therapy" to overcome the major depression I had, my psychologist suggested that I take up a few projects. So I thought an album for my Aunt with pictures of my self, my two sisters and our respective families and grandchildren would be nice for her.

Above is the Cover of the album I made for her. I made if from a single fat quarter of fabric as the album is for 22cm x 22cm (8" x 8") pages. It is not overly large. The flower was originally a white fabric flower which I have coloured using my Versacolour mini and the red spots using Red Stazon after the yellow ink has dried.

I used a grommet (eyelet) in one corner (with my u-beaut cropadile) and threaded through for the tags. I like the effect without it being over arty farty.

For the inside cover I have used a neutral cardstock, bookmaker's glue and all on a base of archival quality chipboard.

This is the side view to show you how 43 pages of scramping look. It took almost six weeks to complete. I have used "Wonder under" on the spine and ironed it to a same size piece of calico. This will give it expansion and make it last so much longer than a cardstock or paper one if you purchased a commercial album this size.

I will share some of the photos from the album to give you a feel for how the work was done and some of the detail that has gone into each page and it's opposite journal page.

ARTIST TRADING CARD:

This is the page of The Daughter and Grandsons 1 & 2. I wanted a sort of ATC feel to it. I printed off Lorum Ipsum in fancy but very tiny font, then applied four shades of brown ink around the edges with the Versacolor ink minis and then a final hop around with the black one. I have used a yin yang stamp for the circular drops attached to brown ribbon. The Eiffel tower was stamped and embossed. I cut round the top of the tower to slot in the photo behind it.

A few other stamps, were used to add a bit of abstract feel to it. I printed off the words onto some scrap cardstock and ran them through the Xyron sticker machine. There are a row of gold brads down the RH corner and along the bottom which were cut off in the photo.

The page opposite this one is rather a scaled down version, and instead of the picture I have journalled about the photograph and the people in it.

LIZARD LOVE:

Grandson2 loves lizards, so it was only natural I did a page that had lizards on it. But putting it into perspective with the picture wasn't all that easy. This photograph makes it look as though there are several kinds of lavender but in fact the matt stock is bright pink - his favourite colour at the moment (don't ask - he wont say). Unlike most of the other pages for the journalling where I have made them just either the same as each other or reflection of each other, I have made this one a continuation picture.

I tore a sheet of printer paper to make the shape of the creek for the lizards, and using my Versacolor mini stamp pads applied various greens, then blues and brown and green again for the banks and creek. I then used blender pens (SU!) to blend the colours. I stamped on the dragonflies. Then used the white gel pen for the waves on the water. I used the thin end of double brush marker pens to make the grass. for the weeds I used a skinny plant stamp.

The trees in the back ground were stamped in green, then used a maroon pen to colour the trunks and branches. The lizards I had downloaded onto cardstock several years ago. I just cut them out and using foam dots to raise them made them look like they were drinking at the stream.

Below is a closer look at each side of the picture.

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

This last page is for my Arabian mare, Stephanique. She is a dear old horse and I wanted somthing fitting for "the Queen of Sheba" (lol).

I used a background egyptian themed stamp I have had for a few years with Versamark. I stamped the versamark onto the page, then sprinkled clear embossing powder over it. Tapped it off and heat embossed it. I had to use the stamp four times around the page to cover it.

I then used the Versamark again for the Eye of Ra and the Ankh, then sprinkled on some hologram gold embossing powder. When heated, the hologram gold is really sparkly and looks like real gold. The three little date palms were stamped in back ink and clear powder used on them. One didn't take so well so I fixed it with a black marker. Shhh ...

So the entire album has gone along in this manner, using colours from the phot0graphs. Stamps and use of brads, stick on crystals, punches and so forth.

My Aunt was pretty happy with the album, so that made me extremely happy.

A padded picture ...

I am sharing these photos for my non-Facebook friends. Interesting concept and one I would like to expand on at a later date ...

This is the actual picture, stamped and inked. Then the designer paper padded frame is applied.

In this picture you can see the dimensional effect of the padded frame.

I stamped a dragonfly onto a small scrap of clear acrylic sheet and when dry I cut it out and glued it into the corner after folding the wings.

And then for the back I used a sheet of chipboard to give it stability. I then used some scraps of the chipboard and designer paper to make the stand.

Taking the time ...

When you see something like the Wedding Album below, or other finished pieces of work, you have to realise that there has been much time spent in doing the item. I am talking years. You cannot just sit down one morning and say "I am going to make xxx". I cannot make a saddle, nor for that matter a bridle - I understand the concepts behind making them and as a horselover I would love to be able to - but apart from not having the tools to do so, I do not have the skills either. And it is the gaining of the skills in the first place that you require in order to make anything worthwhile.

The Album came about because I spent almost one or two nights per week for a year going to classes at a scrapbook shop learning the basics. I have books and magazines that I have used articles from, to experiment with various products to suppliment what I learnt at the scrapbooking shop. I have taken the money and invested it in the finest tools so that I have both the tools and skill to do this. But having said that, one of the skills that an artist has to have is a sense of colour.

When I first came up with the idea of the Album, knowing Kylie's dress was going to be blue, I had thought of matching the colour and using plain blue paper and stamping it and embellishing it in other ways, but still with the pieces torn and placed on each side of the pages. It was my daughter (who has also done much as I have with scrapbooking and paper arts) who suggested the yellow for the matting. Again it too is a different yellow from the frangipani flower centres too. But these colours work. They work because they are a whole. They go with the pictures, they are very modern and they are very beautiful. They are whole.

Each page is made from a single piece of card stock, cut to 12 inches by 11 1/2 inches. The extra half inch on the edge of the page is for the binding combs. So each page had to be moved in by this half inch. The back of this half inch border is re-inforced by another strip of cardstock so that when the album is open, there is enough strength at the hole for it not to tear. So in effect what has happened is that I have designed the pages for 11 1/2 inches by 11 1/2 inches.

I took the time to have the pictures developed in a lab rather than print them out on photo stock paper myself. My printing skills in this area are not the best, and as I know this, to do the album justice, the extra money I spent doing this has resulted in beautiful pictures.

Overall, it has been a fairly expensive project - it was a gift to the bride as a wedding present. Kylie is a lovely lady and she has married her dream beau, I thought she deserved something special to remember her special day. I could offer to make this album because I knew I had the skills, knowledge and tools to do it justice. Serendipity helps too, because I was looking for other papers when I discovered those lovely papers that I ended up using.

A little to share ...

Well, I did promise to share some photos of the Wedding Album I am making for the lady at work as her wedding gift. I am not the best photographer nor am I the best scrapbooker, but she is pleased with it. It is by no means finished. I put it together so that she could see the theme that I had used throughout.

I thought going off to Vanuatu to get married extremely romantic, so I have tried to keep the basic theme going. But I tried to keep in mind that they are a bit older couple who have been living together for a while and didn't want the expense or stress of a big wedding with a million guests.

I found the papers in my local scrapbook shop and the cardstock is Bazzil (?sp).

the Cover - a small metal frame with a cutsie dimensional sticker in it.

The first page - I laminated a little map I downloaded.

Detail of the cross stitch palm tree - the slippers were also cross stitched. There is another tree later in the Album as well.

His Page - it needs something

Her Page - the shiny things are little rhinestones in a spiral with rays coming off them. I liked the effect it gave. But this also needs a little more.

A joint page. When you see the next picture, it demonstrates that the two individual photos open so that some journalling can be added.




The Wedding Ceremony page. I used stamps and cutouts to highlight it. The facing page also has the cutouts.



A dimensional paper frame for the Certificate.


The inside back cover has a holder for the disc with all the photos on it. I used two punches to make the hearts and ran them through the sticker machine.

There are 16 pages in all back and front. Each page was started with a 1.25cm (0.5") margin so that I could use the Bind-it-All. The covers are chipboard. I glued a thin strip of paper over each outer edge, the used a sheet of the paper as the cover. Inside I glued a sheet of the card stock. I am hoping to maybe make a box for it.

I am pleased with the colours. I wasn't sure when I first saw them but DD suggested using the creamy yellow matts and lettering which has set it off nicely. I think I will look around for some gold or copper coloured metal embellishments and see how they will look. I felt it best not to get too arty farty with it.

At least it isn't Cheech and Chong ...

Backside

I have been thinking about this for a while now. No one else seems to have written much about it that I can see. However, I consider it is an important aspect of working in all needlearts.

I suppose older, more experienced needle artists do not think too much about it, but the newbies and even intermediate stitchers need a bit of a primer on the back of their work.

Why is the back so important? The back is important because if it is too lumpy and messy, it will show through to the right side of the work as unsightly lumps and bumps, it will feel harsh to the hand and give the appearance of lack of knowledge or care in execution.

I guess in a way, taking care of the backside of your work is also part of the slow cloth concept.

People often comment to me on how tidy the back of my cross stitching is. This is because I use a loop start stitch so only the tails are threaded under stitches when finishing. My work lies flat. Also I do not cross over rows at the back, either, so nothing shows through the holes when viewed from the front. It has taken me an age to learn to do this, but it has made such a difference to my work.

If I made you a garment, say for example a jacket, but I did not finish the seams, did not line it or press it as I went along, it would not be very beautiful nor would it look good when worn. However, spending the time to finish the inside seams, press all the seams open or in one direction, lining and even handsewing where needed, although you cannot see these things from the outside, would make such a difference to the appearance of the garment and how it felt to wear.

If, like me in the needlearts, you are self taught, it is worth investing in a few "how-to" books and taking the time to learn to finish the backside of your work so that the front is beautiful.
Taking the time to learn how to finish stitches on the back so that the work is flat is necessary. Learn how to finish without knots; press your work from the back, using a towel when raised surface embellishments have been added. If necessary, prepare your fabric with the use of a tear or wash away backing, so that the front surface does not pucker. Spend the time on preparation to have a good backside and it will lift your front side to a much greater level. You will notice the difference yourself, and people who look at your work will notice the difference.

Time is of the essence ...