Oregon's only 4~H Court / 2015

Today, a celebration of youth !! Our family enjoys the 4H program, volunteering and learning. 4H has so much to offer in ANY subject area.  If you can find someone willing to lead and kids interested in the subject, you've got a club!!
Our Wallowa County hosts the only 4H Court in Oregon and in 2014/2015 my daughter Georgia earned her place on it.  What a busy and exciting year it was. So I finally put together the cover page layout for the book the girls made.  I thought I would share a few of the fun things I did with it.

I started with a pale blue paper and made a 4 leaf clover stencil using heart shapes; carefully pounced green, turquoise and blue ink within the clover shapes ~ 2 sizes randomly scattered. 

When I was satisfied with the results I carefully splashed water over them and let it thoroughly dry (in the oven on super low ~ I was in a hurry!!) I also rubbed the page edges with the blue ink to give them some extra depth.  I decided this was not enough so I took my white NUVO Crystal Drops and and put dozens of dots as randomly as possible.  I wanted it to have a spattered look but I wanted the spatter to be super white ~ I think it worked !!

I had the idea of a belt buckle on the page since each girl received one to commemorate her year.  I used a buckle shaped die, dry embossed it, rubbed the high spots with watermark ink and heat embossed that with silver.  You can guess how I made the 4 leaf clover(?) that in the end decided not to use!! Its enameled with clear heat embossing.

My favorite part was figuring out how to include the 4 pictures I wanted to use without crowding the page and also introducing the girls individually. I came up with the idea of flaps, hinged with gross grain ribbon.  I asked each for a quote and found some great alphabet stickers to add in their names. 

I reflected the layered ribbon shapes from the first page to make the lift flaps adding their name to the flap to be lifted to see their individual photos with each quote!

Originally the papers were plain, it was a very dull look ~ adding background stamps in a monochromatic color & accenting with "stitching" perked up the page a bunch without making it too busy.

🗱Click on the photos to browse close up

Here are some close ups just for fun!  All of the silver pieces were cut & embossed from silver papers - high spots were heat embossed with silver powder. It is a great effect in person, gold is also stunning this way :) 

Another detail that is hard to see is the curve of the belt buckle.  Using the same technique as with the Jar Labels I curved the "buckle" then while attaching it, added 2 layers of dimensional tape to the central vertical axis and glued the ends down tight to the page.  Even with this heavy book closed, it will retain its dimension.

 some open space was for journaling depending on what the girls decided, but I also think it looks great without anything. 

 

Happy Mail!!

Who doesn't love getting something fun in the mail??  As a grown-up it starts to be all about the bills!  That's part of the magic of sharing notes with others via snail mail!!  It doesn't have to be a birthday or Anniversary to send something so simple that makes others feel so special.

Here's Newton doing just that!! Do you know Newton?  Head on over to Newton's Nook Designs (NND) and there you can find out all about him (true story) and the great little shop of delightfulness that includes all his friends and so much more!!

It just so happens that NND is sponsoring our PIP Challenge #1818 this week too!!  The weekly  challenge is ANYTHING GOES and the prize is $15 to spend in their store!!!

One of my favorite things at NND is the stencils!  I thought this "Starfield" stencil looked like the bokah that fills the air in the summertime!  Doesn't it look a little like the out of focus, sundrenched seed pods etc that float around in the hot air??
                I was careful as I stenciled in selectively the dots from the stencil with the blue and then I added in the dots as well as the stars with the yellow after shifting the stencil a little.

Newton is stamped and heat embossed on a white circle die-cut & colored in with a combination of gel pens and watercolor.   The little leaf sprig is from the "Beautiful Leaves" stamp set & washi wrapped all the way around helps dress up the inside too.  

2 sizes of sequins finish it of with a little sparkle factor!(I added those in along with a some extra grass after I thought I was done!!)
Let's see what your friends can anticipate finding in their mail box! (or maybe tucked inside a book, bag, or locker!)  I promise I will check out your entries at PIP Challenges and maybe even leave a comment on your blog!!  Have fun 

Simple Stenciling

Good Morning ~ Glad to see you!  I am excited to share with you this amazingly simple technique using any inexpensive paper { LIKE JUNK MAIL!! }  and your favorite punch or die cut!
I learned this wonderful flash of genius from Angela Magnuson on her Unity Stamp Co. FaceBook  "Show & Tell" page. 


The concept is simple and the applications are endless!


Find a tag of the size you'd like.  If you don't have one just cut a rectangle out of a heavier paper [I often use junk mail card stock or laminate.  Who cares what's on it ~ Just cover it with your desired paper and you're all set to go!!] Punch a hole in the center top and lop off the corners.   Use your punch for this or free hand a straight or curved cut.  ( It really is that easy! )


Now for the stencil> take your scrap paper (again, junk mail works wonderfully) and tightly wrap your tag in it, creasing the edges making it easy to see the size & shape of the body of your tag.  You could also trace it and cut it out but for me the less work [on the part I'll eventually throw away] the better!

Using your chosen punch or punches cut through the scrap paper where you would like your "shadow" to appear.  You can then lay this home made stencil over your tag and simply rub ink or whatever medium you're using, over the openings.  To make sure nothing shifts before you're done it is advisable to tape down the tag and then the stencil.  Be sure your tape is the easy to remove kind and doesn't interfere with any of the stencils open areas!!

Waa-laa! That's it.  I think it took longer to type than to actually do!  When I stencil mine I like to add a little dimension by using 2 or more colors.  I use dense foam packaging, small sponges or cotton balls to transfer the ink from pad to paper and try to always start with a lighter touch and a swirling motion.  This way you can avoid sharp edges of color and you can always make things darker . . . .

Oh, I just love the instant gratification of this technique!!  Add a stamped image, some ribbon or washi and your beautiful creation is ready to go!  No additional coloring necessary 💜

For a closer look, clicking on the pictures will enlarge them!!