Monthly Archives: July 2014

Inspiration at the Paint Store

Inspiration at the Paint Store

While trying to decide on which color to paint the new craft room, I came across this flyer from Behr:

Behr 2014 color trends

None of these colors were exactly what I was looking for as far as paint goes, but they worked so well together, I knew they’d make a wonderful page.

Once home, I started pulling scraps out of my scrap bin, and dug around in my journaling/pocket page card stash for some coordinating papers. This is the result:

You are my sunshine || noexcusescrapbooking.com

There were a few scraps left over, so they got thrown on a card, along with a stamp from Judikins stamped with Tim Holtz’s Gathered Twigs Distress ink, if I’m remembering correctly.

behr inspired card || noexcusescrapbooking.com

What’s inspiring you lately? Have anything you’d like to share?

Quick Craft Room Update

Quick Craft Room Update

Just wanted to show you where I am at right now:

Almost done!! || noexcusescrapbooking.com

Yes indeedy sir, the main part of the scrap room is almost done. I just need to finish giving my husband’s computer a thorough dusting, and set it back up, and the working area will be done.

Then all that will be left to do is the closets.

All.

Heh.

Did you see how much stuff I had in the other closets? And have I mentioned that I will have to install more shelving? Again?!

But that’s the next thing on the agenda.

I’ll post a full update/walk you through the whole process once everything is done. Maybe even a new video tour!

Speaking of tours, anyone have a craft room they’d like to share? Link it up in the comments!

A Sticky Situation

A Sticky Situation

I’ve been playing with some of my oldest supplies–A huge bottle of Judikins Diamond Glaze (a dimensional adhesive similar to Tim Holtz’s Glossy Accents) and Dr. PH Martins Hydrus watercolors.

As well as a few items not quite as old– Tim Holtz’s Fragments, and some embossed rose paper from the Paper Source.
Embossed rose paper from paper source

Why, you ask? Because I have way too much Diamond Glaze, and I’d like to use it up within my lifetime. (When I first discovered Diamond Glaze, I bought the big 8 oz. bottle because I was sure I would be using it a lot. And then I bought myself the 16 oz. refill bottle at a stamp convention. Because I was still convinced I was going to be using it all.the.time. I’m still working on emptying the original 8 oz. bottle. Fifteen years later.)

This is a fun little technique that you can use with any dimensional adhesive. I used Diamond Glaze. For, you know, reasons.

Take about a tablespoon of dimensional adhesive and add one to three drops of Doc Martin’s Hydrus watercolors. One drop will give you very translucent colors. Three drops, as I used here will give you very deep, almost opaque color. You can mix them in a small disposable cup. If you’re covering a large area in one color, you can pour the colored adhesive on your surface and use a toothpick to spread it out evenly. Or, you can do what I did, and use a toothpick like a teensy tiny brush and use it to color smaller areas.

rose notebook || noexcusescrapbooking.com

This mini book was made with the back side of the embossed rose paper, so the lines of the roses acted as basin edges to hold the dimensional adhesive in place. Leave yourself a lot of time between colors, so the glue dries. Diamond Glaze takes quite awhile to dry when it’s applied this heavily. The cool thing about Diamond Glaze is that it’s pretty flexible when dry, so I was able to fold the paper to make the cover for this little book. It’s got 10 half sheets of graph paper folded inside to make 20 pages. Thin baker’s twine was used to sew the pages to the cover, with a long tail left on to add beads to make a built in book mark.

glittered fragment ornaments || noexcusescrapbooking.com

I had a little of the blue dyed glue leftover when I finished the cover, so I dug out some Tim Holtz fragment charms, and spread the rest of the glue on one side. I quickly added some tinsel glitter, spread it around and let it dry overnight. Once it had dried, I added another layer of clear glue over top of the glitter, to make sure the glitter wouldn’t go anywhere.

I love playing with dimensional adhesive. Do you have any craft supplies hanging around at your house that you’ve been neglecting? Play with them! Show me what you make!

 

Embracing Project Life (It’s all about the story.)

Embracing Project Life (It’s all about the story.)

There’s a secret I’ve learned about Project Life that hopefully will help me keep current: it’s all about the story. Project Life, while initially about getting photos onto pages, has become, for me, a way to capture little bits of daily life. Sometimes that is a photo, but mostly it’s a story.

Some days are so long, I’ll have multiple stories to tell. Some days fly by so fast, it seems like the only story to tell is we ate, we drank, we slept. But there are moments in between that disappear if you don’t have some way of catching them. The way a child looks both like an adult and an infant in the same moment in time. The smile your spouse gives you when you’re sharing an idea wordlessly. The sounds that comfort you and make you think of home. Everything is a story, you just have to catch it as you notice it.

MY PL stash || noexcusescrapbooking.com

Since I’m concentrating on story catching, I will be putting little caches of journaling cards and pens throughout the house for myself and my family to use. Yes, I will be encouraging my family to add their own words to our story. Hopefully I can talk them into photographing our lives as well.

I will also make sure I carry journaling cards in my purse as well, so I can document the world around me when I’m out and about.

I’ll make sure my camera is handy, and the battery fully charged. If I take any phone photos, I’ll email them to myself immediately, so they don’t wander aimlessly in cyberspace forever. And I’ll print at home once a week, with the templates I shared with you last week.

Any memorabilia I collect will go into a small lunch box, and will be curated and added to pockets once a week as well.

Of course, this is the plan at the moment. I’ll re-evaluate and adapt as needed.

That will be the key to success I think: adapting on the fly. That, and not feeling like I have to create a two page spread for each and every week. Some weeks will be two pages, some one, and some three and a half.

I’m committing to story telling, not pocket filling.

 

Work in Progress

Work in Progress

My craft room is no more:

Empty craft room || noexcusescrapbooking.com

It looks so small and sad now. It won’t take long to turn it into a lovely little jewel box of a bedroom though.

And my new craft room?

new craft room || noexcusescrapbooking.com

Barren and colorless and cluttered with my husband’s desk and ugly, needs painting file cabinet.

Which color do you like?

craft room color choices || noexcusescrapbooking.com

If you can’t read the writing on the wall (ha!) the colors are ocean liner, indian ocean, mint majesty, and spring stream. Sorry for the bad lighting, but that’s what the room looks like with no lights on during the day. I wanted to get a good impression of how each of the colors worked with the available light.

My inspiration this time around?

This lovely dining room from Design Crisis:

Design Crisis inspiration

 

I love the combination of bold color with neutrals and wood tones. Since that’s mostly what I have to work with, this is a good starting point for me.

If you have your own craft space, what color is it? If you don’t, what color would you paint one if you did?

Anyone have any pictures they want to share? I’d love to see where you all create! Link them up in the comments below!