Help [ME] Ronda

who turned up the heat?

Yes you read that correctly.  That's 120 Fahrenheit.  Andrew tells me it get's hotter in July & August.  Two months you won't find me in Doha.  We have been settling into life here with Andrew.  The gulf coast beach called Sealine was beckoning us to come forward for a visit, especially with the high temps.  It's just south of Doha where the giant desert sand dunes meet the beach.  You can ride camels & atvs or take your jeep out for a stroll on the huge dunes.  We opted to spend time under umbrellas on the beach and near the pools.  Anthony had fun photographing the crabs in the water and building a sand castle.  It was fun watching him just be a kid.  Andrew & i took to reading especially after Andrew spotted a jellyfish in the water.  Here's a look at our day at Sealine.

Two-tone Stencil Technique

A couple weeks ago i did this layout for the Julie Balzer/The Crafter's Workshop blog hop.  I love the two tone look (or three tone ;) i created using those fabulous stencils. I wanted to show you how too can get this look using a couple of spray inks and a stencil of your choice.  Don't be afraid to try out a variety of combinations on your backgrounds.  You can always cut down your creations to build cards, tags, or embellishments.  PLAY PLAY PLAY.

Here's the video with the technique i'm calling two-tone stencil.  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

In the Desert

We made it safely to Doha, Qatar a couple days ago.  Honestly with the jet lag and time zone changes, it's hard for me to keep track of days.  Andrew always says Day 2 is the worse and i would have to agree.  Anthony & I both were having issues staying awake and being coherent.  We are extremely happy to have time together with Andrew and blessed that he has a few days off with us at the beginning. 

This time around things feel a bit easier.  Maybe it's because i know what to expect.  The unknown is always hard.  Our first few days are always about getting acclimated again so we just do casual jaunts around Doha until the jet lag subsides a bit.  The first night upon arrival we did visit the Villagio Mall.  We are shocked & saddened by the recent fire that happened some 14 hours later. We are heartbroken for those families who lost loved ones.

Our first day we drove around downtown after breakfast at one of Andrew's favorite places. We were checking out potential future apartments since he lives pretty far out from the city center.  We also had to stock up on some groceries since his cupboards were, shall we say, lacking.  This requires a trip to the mall were most of the grocery stores are located.  Grocery carts in the malls still fascinate me.  Andrew also scouted out an Art Supply store for me and wanted to share it with me.  Gosh i love that man.  We also visited the Souq Waqif one night for dinner.  It's such a cool area where you can purchase all kinds of unique items along with some very generic tourist items.  Here's a pictorial diary of our journey so far. 

typesetting sorts

Remember this post with the vintage bottles?  These are another one of the awesome vintage finds my mom & dad brought home to me.  These Altoid tins are filled with metal sorts used in typesetting during the letterpress era.  In truth, these are my absolute favorite finds.  My dad knew he scored big not only on hunting down the perfect item for me but the price was a steal.  $6.  No not for each individual sort which honestly would be cheap but for both tins.  I have lots of ideas for using these typesetting sorts but i just need to find the right outlet.  I want to use them in some creative pieces as well.  Here are few detail shots so you can see just how cool these really are.

Gone

but not forgotten.  It's Memorial day in the US.  A time of bbqs, pool openings, and family gatherings.  But the original reason behind this holiday isn't a celebration of summer beginning but a time to remember the men & women who died while serving in the US armed forces.  Somehow thank you doesn't seem nearly enough gratitude not only for those who served but also for the families of those who we have lost.

have art, can travel

With numerous days ahead in Doha, i decided to pack me a little travel kit.  Ok maybe not so little but compared to the studio, trust me this is a small portion.  Andy will be working and gone some nights while we are there.   Anthony & I have 24 hours of traveling ahead, plus the return trip.  So i will need something to keep me busy and I have an insatiable need to create. I actually tried to limit myself this time, meaning i didn't take every medium i own.  Trust me when i say this is so hard!  Not all of this will be in my carry-on.  I will limit myself to the art journals & pens for now.  Maybe some washi tape.  So let's take a closer look at what's in my travel kit.

I have two art journals going with me, both Moleskin.  These are watercolor journals perfect for almost any medium.  My adhesive dispenser is a must.  Yes i decorated it.  I had leftover paint one day and it was sitting there. 

If i had to limit my mediums, spray ink/mists is always going to make the cut.  I decided to bring a small rainbow of colors.  The mini misters are perfect for traveling!  They will be double bagged in case of leaks.  Right next to them are my black pens in a variety of sizes.

Love Picket Fence distress stain.  It is a great white that really covers well without lifting off the page days later.  Black ink is a must and there is a white ink (Snowcap) underneath as well.  Water bottle, glue stick, some dabber paints are to the left. a simple corner punch can add so much to a page.  Needle & black floss.  A tin of embellishments.  Paint brushes in round, flat, and filbert.  Water pens, a pencil, and a good white eraser.  What you don't see is some stamps that are already packed.

There is a kraft journal under the scissors and brayer.  Again moleskin.  It will be my travel journal for Doha.  Just a little grid journal to help me document my time in Doha.  Behind that are some travel word fetti stickers from Making Memories.  Remember those?  Yes i still have a few of those from ions ago (11 - 12 years ago?).  Perfect for this trip, along with some 7 gyspies date stickers.  There are some kraft journal jotters & Kraft Polka dot envelopes from Maya Road and some glassine envelopes from Tim Holtz.  Manilla tags, 3 x 4 pieces of paper, and book paper under the brayer & scissors.  A few washi tapes and walnut stain ink.  It's my favorite.  And underneath it all is a craft mat that will be joining me on this journey.  It's a great instant go to surface.

soon we'll be

Soon Anthony & i will be heading to Doha, Qatar to spend two weeks or so with Andrew.  Lexi is staying here to work but will have an opportunity to see him in July when he comes home to Colorado.  I am very excited about a couple things.  One is time with Anthony as my seat mate on the plane.  It's good bonding time for us and i know we need it.  It's been a trying year to figure things out, life without his dad here, his struggles with school & adhd, our relationship especially with me being the task master.  I am looking forward to just easy time with him where we don't have to worry about every day life for right now.

The next one is pretty evident, we get time with Andrew. He will have to work some days but we will be with him.  We both need that.  We plan to explore Doha a little more as well as some other beaches.  Anthony & i are going on a photo safari, meaning we will be on the hunt for cool photos.  So happy we share that love.  And we will most likely will be finding relief from the 108 F (42.2 C) temps.  I grew up in Florida with the heat & humidity.  I choose to live in Colorado.  Me no likely that warm of temps nor the humidity.  I can imagine my thick hair is going to grow by leaps & bounds.  It's all worth it to be with Andrew again. 

My favorite things...

I cannot tell you how please i am that this step by step didn't crash with my hard drive.  Today i get to share with you a tag i created using lots of sizzix dies and fades.  Below you will find a little step by step on how to create this tag too.  I am digging the wood background paper.  Can you also tell i love those white clocks rub-ons?  Honestly i could use them on just about everything. They would definitely be included in my favorite things list!

I knew i wanted to distressing this tag a bit with spray inks and stains, so to start i adhered a piece of patterned paper to watercolor paper.  Plus i really liked the weight it gave the tag.  I use matte medium to glue the paper to the watercolor paper and a brayer to smooth it out.  Once it was dry, i cut the tag with the Sizzix Tag & Bookplates die by Tim Holtz.  I sealed the patterned paper with more matte medium.  You'll see why in just a bit.

I picked out one of my favorite texture fade, the Bricked.  The contrast between "bricks" and "wood grain" was interesting to me.  I really love all the possibilities with these fades.  Today we are going to ink it up a bit and then spritz it with a bit of water.

Flip the fade over and press it onto the tag.  Because I sealed the tag, it doesn't completely absorb into the patterned paper and warp it.  I'm impatient so i like to heat dry the ink. 

Add a few rub-ons here and there.  I like the contrast of the white against the wood grain paper.  I do think rub-ons are the underdogs of the scrapbook world but they can bring so a cool twist to a project. 

Now it's time to add some colors.  Here i am using distress stains.  Again by sealing the paper with matte medium, it allows the stains to run without soaking too quickly into the paper.  You can also spritz the colors with water. 

I also wanted a little more opaque layer so i added in some red paint to the top left corner.  The red really pops with the other colors.  I sprinkled some white splatters across the tag as well. 

Next i cut a birdie out of grunge paper using the caged bird die.  He needed some coloring so i painted him with some teal & white creating a mottled look. Once the bird was dry i used a black pen to outline his body. 

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Next i cut some old book text and stacked it up on the smallest flower and the tattered florals die.  Since the paper is so thin, stacking layers of them worked well for me. 

I really wanted to highlight the edges of the flowers so i inked them with the same color ink as the distress stain.  I stacked three of the ink flowers on top of each other and added a green brad to the center.

I found the perfect sentiment on Wendy Vecchi's Tools for Art stamp set.  I inked the edges of the sentiment and the tag using my favorite Walnut Stain ink.  Now i could assemble my tag and bring it all together.  Here's some close up shots of details of this tag.

 

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For the love of Vintage

Aren't these just so sweet?  Let me to tell you the story behind these beauties.  You see my parents were going on a road trip across the US to my niece's wedding.  It was a leisurely trip. I asked if they would be stopping at any flea markets or antique stores along the way knowing their love & appreciation for these kinds of places.  Of course they were.  I asked them if they could do some hunting for me and they immediately said yes.  Little did they know how large my list would be.  Actually i think they enjoyed the search almost as much as i enjoyed unpacking each of their finds.  These vintage little jars & bottles are one of the many awesome pieces they collected for me.  They range in size from about 4 inches tall and smaller.  I have lots of ideas for them in my artsy endeavors.  I have to admit that the ink well to the left just may be my favorite.  i can see a big quill sticking out of the ink or even dip pen.  But the others do have a special place in my heart.  My parents scored big time for me and i cannot wait to find the perfect project for these stellar pieces.

You are Special

You really are!  Today's tag also features the new Maya Road Butterfly Mask set from their Early Summer Release.  Can you tell i'm digging it?  This set has two types of mask.  One with an open butterfly and one with a solid butterfly.  I used them both to create this fun bright tag along with the new You Are stamp set.  Here's a little step by step on how i created it.

1. Cover random bits of the tag with old book print
2. add rub-on white clocks
3. lay down two solid butterflies and spray with various mists
4. heat set to dry (or be patient & let it dry ;)
5. lay identical open butterflies over the masked area
6. using a paint brush & Maya mists, paint in wing details
7. heat set to dry (or be patient & let it dry ;)
8. outline open butterfly masks with black pen
9. stamp black butterflies around tag
10. outline tag with black oil pastel (or ink, paint, or pen)
11. stamp You are image onto kraft cardstock
12. outline stamp image piece with black oil pastel (or ink, paint, or pen)
13. place on tag with pop up adhesive
14. tie twine cording in a bow at the top

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