Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Matte Multi-Medium Magic

Howdy Nesters!  Today I want to share a really cool product that's new to me: Claudine Hellmuth Studio's Multi-Medium.

I used this gel medium to transfer patterned paper to some wood shapes (I used Studio Calico wood veneer products).

I was hoping to show a video of the process, but my camera died this weekend and the videos on my old camera are not compatible with iMovie.  (Funny thing...just last week I told my husband I wanted to upgrade to a Canon dSLR.  So, if anyone has recommendations - I don't want to spend a fortune - please leave a comment on this post!)

The steps are really easy though.  First you paint the multi-medium on your surface, and then attach your patterned paper pattern side down.

Allow to dry (I gave them 24 hours) and then wet the paper with water.  Rub off the paper with your fingers and you're done!




It's really easy and a very cool technique!

One thing I learned: be very liberal when applying the medium to your surface.  You'll see areas in my photos where the paper did not transfer - it's because there wasn't enough medium in those places.

Overall, I was pleased with my first attempt.  Here's a close-up of a small bird shape (I had to use an x-acto knife to clean leftover pieces of medium from this one):



I'm going to use these pieces in a layout soon, and I'll be sure to share that with y'all.  :)

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Follow My Lead

Today I have something new to share with you - a sketch from me! I'm going to walk you through a layout I created using this sketch:


I have a bad habit of not measuring before I cut patterned paper, but here are the rough dimensions of the five papers I used:
  • tan background square: 11 in x 11 in
  • dark blue pennant: 4 in x 10 in
  • orange rectangle: 9.25 in x 7.25 in
  • red rectangle: 2 in x 7 in
  • turquoise rectangle (photo mat): 8.25 in x 6.25 in
I started out with my papers and two 4 in x 6 in photos:


I adhered the large square piece to my cardstock and then adhered the pennant on the right side of that square:


Next, I adhered the larger (orange) rectangle.  After border punching one of the long sides of the small (red) rectangle, I attached that to the left of the orange rectangle.


Then came the photo mat with my two photos.


Now, it's time for the fun stuff: embellishments!  I knew I wanted the right side of the page to have a larger cluster of embellishments, so I went to town with stickers, washi tape, chipboard, enamel dots, and cork.

The inside of the cork camera needed a little something, though.


I decided to try putting a heart in the center of the camera.  I grabbed this vellum arrow from a pile on my desk (you can see a bit of the chaos that is my work surface in this next picture) and I pulled out this triple heart punch that I've had for several years:


I ended up cutting out three hearts, and I used two of them.  I needed a piece of foam tape to pop up the hearts, and you can see how it shows through.  I added a second heart on top of the first using Tombow Mono glue in an attempt to hide the foam.


 And here is the final product:


Here's another shot of the embellishment cluster on the right:


And here's the left-hand side:


I hope you enjoyed this walk-through. Also, if you enjoy sketches, please leave a comment.  I may introduce these as a regular feature here on the Nest.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Video Tutorial: Dawn makes a card!

I guess all those Online Card Classes courses I keep taking are starting to pay off...recently I made not one, but TWO cards!

Here is a video of my process:





And here are the cards I created:






I am so proud of myself.  :)

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Back from a Much-Needed Break

Sometimes, you just need a break.  Last week, I finished up a very hectic semester at work (I ended up teaching 8 classes - and I'm a part-timer!).  I was looking forward to my two-week break before the summer term when last Tuesday happened.  My husband was having some lower abdominal pain, and we spent the day (the WHOLE day) at the doctor's office.  Thankfully, he's fine, but it was a day lost.  And sometimes a day can throw my whole week!  (I'm hoping someone else is like me in this regard...I have very well-managed Asperger's, but I'm totally comfortable blaming it on that, too.)

Then, my husband took a few vacation days (our 13th wedding anniversary was yesterday), and as part of his vacation time, we've taken a break from almost all social media.  It's been really nice.  I even went 36 hours at one point between email checks.  Considering that I normally check email at least 12 times a day (did I mention I teach mainly online classes?), it was especially refreshing to not worry about it - even if it was just for a little while.

Life is returning back to normal tomorrow (my husband is back to work, and the boys and I will go back to our regular routine), but I feel refreshed.  Even if I didn't get as much accomplished around the house as I would have liked.  Even if I didn't get as many crafty projects completed as I had hoped.  I was given the chance to be with my family and rest, and I am thankful for it.

Has anyone else taken a break recently?  As I get older, I'm learning that it's important to rest (though I still wish each day had just a couple more hours in it!).

P.S.  For all our momma's (and momma-figures), I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday!
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