Technique Time

About a year ago I was very interested in card making and decided to take the Jennifer McGuire course called Inspiration Canvas.  It was a great class and I learned lots of techniques, with each being produced on a small heart along with an embellishment in many cases.
As soon as I had completed 80% of the hearts, I watched the rest of the videos, played with the techniques on paper and then gradually put everything away in a cupboard.

This weekend I took everything out of the cupboard and finally finished the canvas!  It's not exactly my style now but I'm glad I did it.  The techniques are still great and the canvas will be a prompt for alternative techniques for things I'm currently working on.

12" x 12" Inspiration Showcase canvas

While I was finalising the remaining hearts and attaching it to the canvas, I realised that I really don't like following what someone else has done.  I would probably have been happier attaching the hearts to swing tags and writing descriptions on the back, but didn't think about it early enough.

Various techniques including resist, dry embossing and stamping with paint

Stamping on canvas, painting with pearl, heat embossing, mica powder and rust techniques

Rosette and Canvas heart

Embossed canvas 

Various ink, stamp and embossing techniques.  'Create' is coated in Glossy Accents

I couldn't resist switching out one of Jennifer McGuire's techniques and replacing with one of my own - rust!

Bits of Life

I had read the buzz about Smash Books and Junk Journals and really wanted to make something where I could put all the little bits of life that had no financial value but for some reason I wanted to hold on to.  I have a desk and drawer full of bits of practice art that I just think is nice.  Things I doodle while I'm on the phone, or things I find that amuse me.

So was born my 'Bits of Life' book.  The cover is made of matt board and covered in patterned paper inside and out.  I used my zutter binder to hold it all together and then attached a Tim Holtz faceplate to the front.

There is lots of room inside for me to write, draw or stick things.  I started out with the things that were just lying around on my desk.  A thank you tag I'd made and never used.  A paper heart I had left over from doing the Jennifer McGuire techniques class, I made into a face.  Just random bits of my life I want to keep.