Nihao, Cupcake!

Stamp Carving: #Carve December is off to a Great Start

I love a daily creative challenge! If you are a long time follower of my blog, you know I have committed to doing the odd daily challenge for a month or so before, like Lay Out A Day or 31 Days of Blogging or my attempt at 100 Days of Sketches that only got through Day 14 or so. It probably won't be a surprise to you then, to find out that I have been participating in #CarveDecember, a daily stamp carving challenge in December hosted by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer over at Balzer Designs.

 I had wanted to try stamp carving since taking Julie's Art Journal Everyday class back in 2011, but living in China, obtaining supplies was not very easy so it never happened! I'm so happy to finally give it a try.

I started out using a dollar store eraser. I wanted to get used to using my linoleum cutter before moving on to this rubber carving block.

I drew my tree directly onto the eraser using a pencil.

Then started carving away, making sure to carve away anything I didn't want to show up on my impression. 

 

 My linoleum cutter has five blades to choose from so I changed them back and forth depending upon if I was digging away lots of rubber or I was carving details.

It is definitely addictive and not hard to do at all. The linoleum cutter cuts through the rubber like butter. So far, it is one of the most addictive and easiest creative challenges I have attempted thus far.

Here are my other stamps from Day 2 through Day 6:

On Day 2, I learned that carving slowly and not digging deeply with my linoleum cutter gives me more control over my design.

Day 3

A little cloud and rain drop to celebrate the big rain storm we were having in California giving us a bit of relief from our major drought.

Day 4

On Day 4 I made a rookie mistake and drew directly on my eraser but forgot to flip my image, which is important when carving letters. Luckily and "M" can sometimes work either way. 

Day 5

I got a little more daring on Day 5 and instead of carving on an eraser, I used my Speedy Carve rubber block. I made another rookie mistake and thought I was flipping my design, "Noel," but didn't and started carving before I realized what I had done.

Never fear! I turned that Noel into the ornament you see below! Then flipped the rubber block over and did "Noel" the right way.


Day 5, Stamp 2

Day 6

A lotus root and a camera which I originally made as stamps from craft foam. Check out that tutorial for Easy Craft Foam Stamps DIY.

Here is the camera on the other side of the lotus root.

One evening when I went out, two of my boys got in on the fun and carved their own. I returned to their adorable stamps. I'll share those in my next #CarveDecember post.

In the meantime, if you want to join along, it is not too late! Check out the details at Julie's blog. 

Oh, and don't forget to check out Julie's awesome book:

I'm posting all of my stamps everyday on Instagram. I'd love to have you follow along with me. It is truly addictive!

Now what to carve for #CarveDecember Day 7... hmmm... I'd love to hear your suggestions in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by!

FULL DISCLOSURE: A few links in this post are affiliate links that will give me a small commission if you happen to purchase something. Any money received will go towards covering the costs of running this blog. Thank you for your support!

Multi-media Lady

I love making art and for as much as I love it, I haven't made enough time in my life to do it lately.

Fortunately, I'm a docent for my kids' parent-run art program. Which means 5 times in a school year, I am trained by an artist on a project that I turn around and teach the class.

Today we learned a little about Gustav Klimt and created a multi-media piece inspired by his amazing work.

I was so inspired by the lecture and furthermore by doing the project that I decided I would like to be him. Or at least channel him for a time. What fun it must have been to create those pieces!

Our process entailed several steps. We had two strips of water color paper. First we colored one with water pastels for the background after which we applied a wet brush to "paint" the pastels around.

We then moved on to the second strip of water color paper and sketched our Klimt-inspired figure with pencil.

Afterwards, outlining in two widths of Sharpie marker. I loved the depth & interst the two widths of marker added. Then water pastels were added to our figure with a wet brush. Details to her robe or caftan were added using our Sharpies. The final touch on the figure was metalic gold pen highlights.

Our figure was cut out and layered a top the background and detailng added to that if so inspired. 

The instructor suggested adding glitter and other bling. In the interest of time, however, our group had to stop there. That extra bling would have been fun, though!

My initial intention was to have my lady with her hip jutted out to the side, but then she ended up looking more like she was pregnant, so I started erasing her as another one of the docents commented that a pregnant body would be beautiful. At which moment I stopped the eraser in mid-mostion and started re-drawing her original body.

The second time around her curves weren't quite as dramatic as the first time, but she still looks pregnant!

I'm in love with how she turned out. She is rampant with flaws and there are several things I constantly think about changing, but, I'm still in love!

I am tempted to do another one. I think I have everything on hand except maybe the fine tipped Sharpie.

This isn't an entry in my art journal but I'm linking up at Balzer Designs today since it feels fitting and I love her blog.

To see my other Art Journal pieces, go here: http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog/art-journal/

When's the last time you've made art? Tell me in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dalek Costume DIY

Remember this post just before Halloween? Well, this is what I made from the supplies in the photo, a Blue Strategist Dalek costume from Dr. Who. I did end up adding just two additional supplies to my original list.

I was quite nervous to make this when I first started out. My son came home and told me he wanted to be a Dalek. I had never seen one before, so of course I turned to google. Once I saw photos, I was even more afraid and I had no idea how I was going to pull it off. With the help of Pinterest and google, I was able to piece together several ideas as well as come up with a few of my own, to make his costume.

I'm pleased with how it turned out and discovered it came together quickly. It was not complex. He got quite a reaction while trick or treating, so that was a nice bonus. Most people had no idea what he was, but were impressed, none the less. And those who did know, LOVED it even more!

Because I was so appreciative of the few tips and photos that helped me when I was trying to figure out how to make my DIY Dalek costume, expect a detailed tutorial post at nihaocupcake.com.

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Costume Time!

Starting to make our costumes this weekend. Can you guess what Braden is going to be? The only thing missing is a glue gun. There is a trash can, styrofoam balls, a colander, plunger (brand new), mini plunger, gorilla tape, the innards of a paint roller, pipe insulation and silver spray spray paint. Potential supplies to be added: thin flat wooden rings.

I'll post updates as we make it!!

Halloween Costume Supplies

24 Projects in 12 Months - #4 DIY Quick Birthday Number Tee

In January of 2013 I challenged myself to make two projects per month for twelve months and share my results here at Nihao, Cupcake! Blog. Today I share with you Project #4 Quick Birthday Number Tee. To see my other 24 Projects in 12 go here.

Here is the t-shirt I made with scraps from this project for my son's 8th birthday. It was a quick & easy way I could make my son feel special on his birthday by presenting him with a custom made shirt in his favorite colors that he was excited to wear to school on his birthday announcing his new age.

I printed out a pattern/template for my "8" using Arial text in Photoshop. I opened a new 8.5x11 document. Using the TEXT tool, I created a large text box and filled it with a letter. The font size you use will depend upon the font that you select. I believe this was around 170 point. Just experiment until you get the size that you want. 

If you want a thicker letter, BOLD your letter. Then print. I printed using the greyscale draft function to save on ink.

Then I cut out my pattern and pinned it on my felt scrap. Cut it out.

I wanted a little contrast on my number, so I pinned the red felt to some yellow and cut around that by hand. You can see it isn't perfect.

I pinned the bi-color "8" to the t-shirt. It was purchased at Joanns on sale. Lucky me!

After pinning my number on the shirt, I removed the paper pattern.

I machine stitched around the outside of the red eight, about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the edge of the red felt. I just eyeball it as I am sewing.

After stitching around the outside, I stitched around the inner circles.

If you didn't want to sew your numbers, you could use fabric glue instead.

And the t-shirt is finished! It is that simple.

Here is the shirt the morning of my son's birthday awaiting his arrival along with his decorated birthday chair. He loved wearing it to school.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Latest Creative Challenge

I'm doing 100 sketches in 100 days!

I so wish I could link you to the blog where I first heard of this challenge, but I am not finding it! I will keep searching and update when I finally do. EDITED: I found her! Here is the blog where I found the inspiration, TammieBennet.com. Go visit and check it out for yourself!

But anyway, I have been wanting to get back into art journaling daily, but for a variety of reasons (mainly all my supplies are in storage and I don't want to purchase things I already own), I haven't been able to. So, when I read about this simple daily challenge, I realized it was perfect for me!

I thought twice about sharing these drawings here since they are so simplistic, but then I realized the person who shared her drawings on her blog inspired me by sharing hers, so I should do the same. (And once I find the link, I'll let her know!)

All I need is a notebook and a pencil! And a few minutes of time. I carry my notebook and my pencil in my purse every where I go.

And when I have a few minutes to kill, I get drawing.

The hardest part is coming up with things to draw.

This si my only picture drawn with something other than a #2 pencil.

Somedays I just doodle. And other days I draw an entire scene.

I've actually forgotten to draw two days, but luckily on other days I was having so much fun, I drew more than one drawing (one drawing = one page).

I drew this one the day after the academy awards - can you tell? 

I'm being easy on myself and shooting for one per day but my overall goal is 100+ drawings in 100 days.

I've started dating my pictures, so I can keep better track.

One of the best parts is that my son wants to draw too. Every time I bring out my notebook, he begs to have a turn. The fellow above is a human popsicle!

And this is the Weirdly Tree of Weirdleyness!

Well these drawings are just the beginning. I have many, many more to share. And many more to create.

To see my other ART JOURNALING posts, go here.

BLOG UPDATES

You may have noticed a few little changes around the blog. Most recently, I added some cute social media icons (stay tuned for more adjustments on those even - still playing). If you are looking for social media icons for your blog, check out Carrie Loves. She has some FREE ones in a huge variety of colors. 

Oh and if you are in the Americas (or share our time zones), don't forget to have your ice cream for breakfast this morning - it is HAVE ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST DAY!

Thanks for stopping by!

More Brand New DIY Foam Stamp Designs

Just a quick post to share with you my latest craft foam stamp designs. (To see my craft foam stamp tutorial, go here. It is SO easy!) 

With honeycomb patterns and hexagons all the rage, I thought I needed to make my own honeycomb background stamp. All I did to make this one was google "HONEYCOMB GRAPHIC." I found a free PDF on a teacher's resource site, printed it out in the size I wanted (using the size percentage feature on my printer).

I cut out the design from the paper and taped it directly onto my adhesive foam, using a generous amount of Scotch (cello) tape. The tape ensured that it would stay put while I cut the pattern out of the craft foam.

In retrospect, I wish I had made it a little larger. If I use it on my Project Life journaling card, it would be more convenient if I could cover the entire card with one application. That being said, I find it easy to match up the pattern since my clear packaging is easy to see through.

This next stamp is a coffee bean! As you can see, I haven't used it yet. I plan to make a pattern. I think the organic shape will look quite nice. I'll be sure to share it here when I finally do come up with a good pattern.

Over the past few months, I have been spending more time than usual in coffee shops, so I am sure I saw a graphic of a coffee bean and came up with this design.

This banner stamp is one of my favorites! I have used it several times in my Project Life album when documenting birthdays. It is so simple to make and looks adorable.

Here it is in action on a Project Life Clementine Journaling Card from a January spread.

Here is a quick star. As you can see, I drew a quick star, and used my scissors to clip a few cuts and I had an instant star stamp! I used it on the honeycomb journaling card above (very first photo).

Next is my XO stamp with the heart "O." On Valentine's Day I noticed two gift bags in the back of a car with this adorable symbol on them. I made a mental note, went home and made these stamps. 

They were a major feature in my Project Life spread the week of Valentine's Day.

Here is the XO stamp in action during Week 7.

I made this for any baseball themed photos or layouts. This is supposed to be stitching on a baseball.

This is how I used it on a journaling card.

I was killing time in my local Apple store waiting for my computer to be fixed and I noticed an iPhone phone cover with the baseball stitching on its corners. A lightbulb went on above my head at that very moment! The iPhone shape is the same as a Project Life journaling card. And I thought it was adorable.

I hope to make journaling cards in the same design using a basketball print and a volleyball print.

Finally here is my movie camera stamp. My kids love making movies using our video cameras. I made this stamp to include on a label any time I put a photo of the kids doing their movie stuff, whether it is filming or showing their finished product to their audience. 

This page also shows my XO Heart stamp, my banner stamp, my star stamp, honeycomb stamp and my cupcake stamp.

To see all of my other homemade craft foam stamp designs go HERE or to see my craft foam stamp tutorial, go here.

24 Projects in 12 - #3 Easy DIY Felt Banner

As one of my GOALS for 2013, I committed to making 24 projects in 12 months. My third project of this series is a felt name banner I made for my youngest son.

[Click here to see Project 1 & Project 2.]

This felt banner is an easy project and fairly simple to figure out how to do for yourself. I won't do an official tutorial, but I will demonstrate the basic process in these photos and share a few tricks I learned along the way.

TIP: To make patterns for my letters, I opened a new MS WORD document sized 8.5x11. I typed in one letter of the name in Arial font, I set it to BOLD and increased the font size as large as possible with the default margins but that none of the letter would be lost during print.

When the size was just right, I printed the letter out using the fast draft black & white setting (to save ink). I repeated this process for each letter. And then cut them out.

I used three different colors for my letters. My son wanted the two outside letters the same color, the second from the beginning and the second from the end to be the same color and the middle two letters to be the same color. 

Don't ask me why! It is his banner, so I did it exactly as he wanted.

My pieces of felt were purchased at Michaels & Joann craft stores. They come in 9x11 inch pieces. The letters I printed out using MS Word fit perfectly since they fit on an 8.5x11 document.

This also gave room for the notch I cut in the bottom of each felt piece to give the look of a banner. 

To cut the notch, I folded each piece of felt lengthwise. I measured up two inches from the bottom along the folded side of the felt. Using a Sharpie marker I made a small dot two inches up the fold. Then I used a wooden ruler with a strong metal edge to make a straight line from that dot to the bottom corner of the felt on the opposite edge of the felt. 

Using the ruler as a stright edge, I drew a straight line from the dot to the corner of the felt. I cut along the line through both layers of fabric and when unfolded was the right shape for a banner.

After cutting out all of the paper letters, I pinned them to the correct color of felt. Two letters fit on each piece of felt just right. Then I cut the letters from the felt.

The next step was pinning (with straight pins) the felt letters to the banner pieces. I think my letters turned out a bit too large, so you might consider making your letters smaller if you use the same technique I do to create your paper letter patterns.

To permanently attach the letters to the blue felt pieces I used my sewing machine. I used a simple straight stitch.

You could also use craft glue to adhere your letters.

The final step was hanging my banner. I wanted to keep it simple and easy, so I bought a pack of small wooden clothes pins and a ball of twine. 

I used two pins to attach each letter to the twine.

Here it is hanging across the window the morning of his birthday. 

To make it extra special, I made an extra banner piece with a birthday cupcake. I sketched out my pattern on printer paper and pinned it to my felt scraps before cutting it out.

Again, I used my sewing machine to stitch 

Per the birthday boys' request, the candle was in the shape of a "B". 

To save a little time, I glued the flame a top the candle's wick instead of stitching it on.

Here is the banner including the special birthday piece hung in the party room during his birthday party.

This banner will be hung in our home for any special occasion to honor my son. He has another special milestone coming up next month and I plan to make a special banner piece that matches the theme and hang this in our home to help celebrate.

24 Projects in 12 - Handmade Birthday Invitations with DIY Stamp

Hurray! I am finally getting around to posting my FIRST Project of my 24 PROJECTS in 12 for 2013. In this post about my Goals & Intentions for 2013 I announced I was planning to complete 24 homemade projects this year - approximately 2 per month.

I look forward to filling in each of the squares on the grid above as I complete and share each project. This graphic will serve as my 24 PROJECT logo and my way of keeping track and documenting my progress.

PROJECT ONE - Lego Ninjago-inspired Birthday Invitations

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you've most likely noticed pictures of this stamp before. It's shown up in my Project Life album and one or two other posts.

It is the first craft foam stamp I made. (For a tutorial on DIY craft foam stamps, go here.) And I created it specifically to make these birthday invitations for my son per his request. We designed them together. Right down to what the Ninjago face would look like.   

As you can see my stamps were not all lined up properly on their wooden handles, so I had to make adjustments as I stamped.

First I practiced with my stamps to get the spacing for the front of the invitation right. And decide what wording we would use. My son vetoed the idea of including the word "party." He wanted it to read:

BRADEN'S 8th BDAY

He was insistent that I don't spell out the word 'birthday'. I am guessing he thinks the abbreviation "bday" is cool for whatever reason.

I started with the letter furthest over on the right of the invitation of the longest word, "BRADEN'S". Then I worked backwards to that my words would always fit.

I set up my assembly line. I have a habit of doing each item one by one - start to finish - which isn't very efficient. I forced myself to do much of these part by part, assembly line style and it went well.

Here I am working hard hand stamping all of the invitations. What I do for my birthday boy!

Here is what the inside looked like.

[BACK STORY: As soon as I filled them all out and into the envelopes, just before sealing them to put in the mail, we realized we scheduled the party for a 3-day weekend! Thinking many people would be out of town, we re-scheduled for the same time one week later. I updated all of the invitations, sealed them, addressed them and then realized we scheduled the party for SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

Ending time was the same as kick-off!

But, changing the party once was enough. We went forward with it. I know we missed at least one guest because of it, but regardless the birthday boy had a blast! It was the perfect number of 7 & 8 year-old boys!]

And here I had to take a picture of the BEFORE & AFTER of my letter stamping. See how well I got to know my stamps - wonky letter placement & all!? Practice may not make perfect, but it sure makes for a huge improvement.

Such a fun first project and so gratifying to create something totally original (minus the letter stamps). One of the parents even asked me if I was an artist!! Totally made me blush!

Thanks for stopping by! Project #2 to be posted sooner than later since it has been complete for some time and just needs to be shared!

I'd love to know if you have any questions and hear what you think.

To see all of my other homemade craft foam stamp designs go HERE or to see my craft foam stamp tutorial, go here.

Oh and you might be interested in seeing the Ninjago Mini Fig Cake I made. Click here (post on my cake design process coming soon).

Thanks for stopping by!

Last Minute Inspiration for Valentine's Day

via theberry.com

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Look at this adorable idea I found on Pinterest this week! So easy and cute.

Need more great Valentine's Day ideas? Check out my Valentine's Pinterest Board for lots of creative Valentine Pinspiration! I've been pinning like crazy!

In fact, I've pinned all of the ideas we're using to celebrate. Want to see?

We are going to celebrate this morning by making these pancakes:

via www.joybx.com

I experimented over the weekend and found I could achieve a very similar effect using a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. My recommendation is to start with a small hole and if your batter doesn't come out smoothly, you can make your hole a little bigger until you find the perfect size. They turn out great! So fun! 

I'm giving all three of my boys their own Valentine's FLIP BOOK. It was a free download at YOU ARE MY FAVE. An adorable blog I've recently discovered. I sat up tonight before bed, binding one flip book using the Japanese book binding technique which was fun but not worth doing for the other two flip books. So I managed to "bind" those with one brad. The hardest part was poking a heavy duty needle through all that cardstock (all of my mini hole punches are still in storage). I even broke two needles in the process! 

It was so fun though trying out Japanese book binding. I plan to do it again soon. I've been feeling so crafty lately. I love it! More projects I'm going to have to share SOON! 

I hope you have a love filled Valentine's Day. Thanks for stopping by!

 

2013 Project Life 365: Week 4 [My Workflow]

Week 4 and I'm keeping up! Hurray! It was a little touch and go this week with a birthday party and a religious milestone this weekend but I've pulled it off. Yay, me! 

In order to make my goal (posting by Monday night), I had to save my WEEK in REVIEW card for later. All the journaling is done, I just have to transfer it.

Again, I used a lot of my stamps that I made a couple of weeks ago. To see most of the stamps I've made (15+), go here. For a How To tutorial on how I made them (so EASY & cheap!) go here.

I seem to be adding inserts every week even though, as a rule, I've been trying not to. We had a birthday on Wednesday & I wanted to include a current event, so I suppose it is to be expected.

I bought some American Crafts Slick Writer pens and I am loving them.

First of all, I like my writing so much more. Weird, I know, but it is true. The only other pen I find that does that is a Sharpie but an ordinary Sharpie is too thick for typical use.

Secondly, it works on those Martha Stewart kitchen and office labels that are moisture resistant and don't smudge. I haven't used the pens on my photos yet. But that will come very soon!

A few things to note on the right hand page: I used another couple of my stamps here - the camera that you also saw in my layout last week.

Here is the left side of my insert. To make the insert I took Design D Page Protector and cut-off the right two vertical photo pockets. I save all of the pockets that I cut off and save them to use in other layouts.

On the right side of the insert things worth noting not mentioned elsewhere are a very old circle sticker from a Creating Keepsakes Kit of the Month designed by Ali Edwards on the lighthouse photo at the bottom. And another one of my homemade stamps shows up again - the starburst stamp that I also used in last week's layout posted about here.

Here I used a Project Life Grid Cards to make my own filler card. I used a cat eye stamp pad to make this pattern that I originally saw on a throw pillow a friend of mine in Beijing (who has started her own textiles company) designed and created. 

This journaling card again uses two of my homemade stamps (that can be seen here): the zig zag/chevron stamp & the pot stamp that I created to add to my New Recipes 2013 mini album I talk about in these posts.

I'm not very good about including current events, but I've fixed that here. I googled Presidential Inauguration and clicked on IMAGES in the top menu bar. I selected a couple of my favorite photos & graphics and printed them out a bit smaller than 4x3, trimmed them down and adhered it to one of the Journaling Cards from my Clementine Core Kit.

After I took the original photos of my layout this week, I realized I had a screen shot from Jan 24 saved on my desktop. I printed it out on to white cardstock, trimmed it down and slipped it on top of this Clementine Core Kit filler card. I love how it worked out. It often annoys me to "waste" a pocket on a filler card - I have this urge to personalize it or add a cherished photo. "Just" a filler card feels like wasted high value real estate.

Anyone else feel the same way?

This might be my favorite journaling card of the week. Again I used my zig zag/chevron homemade stamp by stamping the image on the top and the bottom of a Project Life Grid Card and by masking the center to save space for my words. To mask the middle, I simply took a scrap of 4x6 photo, laid it across the Grid Card and stamped on top of the card and the photo leaving a crisp straight line. I then used black ink to stamp those words on top of the orange zig zag/chevron pattern. Those alpha stamps were only $1.

Here is another favorite filler card. Again I used a Project Life grid Card. I used some very old rub ons for the word and added with staples some Tim Holtz Filmstrip Ribbon. I LOVE this stuff. Every time I have a good coupon or I find it deeply on sale, I buy some. I think I have 3 or 4 packages of it and I will keep buying it. I don't ever want to run out! It is awesome. I may add more to this card like a simple black outline, but there is something I do like about it so far.

I wanted to highlight the amazing creativity of my oldest son pictured below that card (on the sewing machine). His determination and his creativity and his endless supply of grand ideas amaze and (sometimes) exhaust me. I have to find the right place in this layout to include all of my thoughts. Again to get this post out by my deadline, I had to wait on that.

Here is an extra photo I added on the left hand side of the main layout for this week. I taped on an extra photo pocket with some washi tape I bought in Japan. I didn't get it on totally straight. I may have to re-do or figure out a better technique. Like maybe adhering two smaller pieces like hinges.

And here is the underside. 

What I will do differently or more of next week: COMPUTER TEXT on photos. I wanted to do that this week, but I printed my photos out before I realized I forgot! 

Continue to add more stories and journaling.

Write down what kids say on a journaling card in that moment, add a date stamp and slide into the day's pocket in the next week of my Project Life Album.

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

Follow my Project Life board on PINTEREST. Leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you back. I love finding more friends to share inspriation.

Here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

 

PROJECT LIFE WORKFLOW

And for those that are interested, here is a quick summary of my Project Life workflow using Lightroom. Though it would be applicable for lots of other photo organizing software.

My Project Life weeks go from Monday to Sunday

1)   Typically throughout the week, I upload my photos into Adobe Lightroom.  Before I upload any new photos, I make sure I KEYWORD and RATE (1-3 stars) all of my photos. Lightroom automatically leaves your last group of uploaded photos together until you upload more photos, so it is easy to see if you have finished rating and tagging your photos before you upload more photos.

2)   SUNDAY night I make sure all of my photos from the week are uploaded into LIGHTROOM. I make sure all photos from the past week have been tagged with KEYWORDS and RATED with stars.

a)    My very favorite photos get rated with 2 or 3 STARS. Photos that I like but aren’t my favorite get a 1 STAR. I use a rating system similar to that taught in  Stacy Julian’s FINDING PHOTO FREEDOM class at Big Picture Classes.

b)   I tag all photos that are RATED with 2 or 3 STARS. LIGHTROOM makes tagging photos with KEYWORDs (as well as RATING with STARS) super easy. You can KEYWORD and RATE photos in bulk by highlighting a large group and simply typing in your KEYWORD once or simply choosing the number of STARS you want to rate your photos and tapping that key. For RATING photos you do not even have to have your cursor flashing in a cell. Your photo(s) just has to be highlighted and it will automatically be rated with the number you tap.

1. I KEYWORD at least one photo a day  as “POTD” which stands for Photo Of The Day.
2. The other KEYWORDS I use are peoples’ names, locations, “Photos I love,” etc.

3)   I have set-up my LIGHTROOM to create SMART FOLDERS. This means it takes my search criteria (i.e., KEYWORDS & RATINGS & CAPTURE DATE RANGES) and makes folders for me automatically.

1. I make a COSTCO (or SHUTTERFLY) Photo Center SMART FOLDER each week. Each folder is named 2013 PL365 Week X. The criteria for its photos are: 2 or more STARS, Capture time of one particular week’s date range, KEYWORD: POTD (NOTE: I downloaded free Plug-Ins that allow me to upload photo files from my LIGHTROOM catalog directly to my COSTCO (or SHUTTERFLY) account.

This means that the photos I want are automatically added to these folders, so all I have to do when I’m ready to print, is click on my SMART FOLDER, double check that I have KEYWORDED & RATED all my photos from the week and then click PUBLISH.

4)   On Monday, I visit my COSTCO account or SHUTTERFLY account and order the prints for the week. I typically pick up my photos from COSTCO on Monday afternoon. (Though last week they printed them too dark so I’m looking into a local photo developer that should do a great job! Not to mention I have gift bucks for that store from Xmas! Yay!)

5)   Then I place my photos into the seven pockets, and keep the others in case I decided to fill the smaller pockets or create an insert.

6)   Throughout the week I place memorabilia in the current week’s pockets (the week following the week with printed photos). I put Wednesday’s stuff in Wednesday’s pocket, etc.

 

This week I felt like working on the floor!

7)   I finish my layout by Friday night or Saturday morning and so I can photograph my layout in natural light the next day. My personal deadline is to have my photos ready to post by Monday night to link up at Project Life Tuesday every Tuesday morning. This gives me a day or two extra in case I need it (like this week with a birthday party and special religious milestone).

 

NOTES: I do not plan out my week ahead of time. I like to put all of my photos in at the same time and move them around as I add journaling cards and other “stuff” so that the album is mostly chronological yet still makes sense and looks pleasing.

Please let me know if you have any questions. How does your workflow differ from mine? Any good tips or tricks you’d care to share??

 

How To Make Your Own Cool Stamps from Craft Foam - Super Fun, Super Easy & Super Cheap

I've wanted to make my own stamps for quite some time. There are all sorts of ways to make them. Some require special materials and tools that can be a little pricey and take some practice to get right. So to begin with I decided to try something cheap and seemingly easy - Adheseive Craft Foam stamps made from foam sheets like these.

You will need:

1) a sheet of ADHESIVE craft foam

2) an idea for your image, shape, etc. (a notebook to jot down ideas or sketches)

3) a pencil

4) graph or grid paper (optional) to sketch your design or make a template

5) scissors - smaller, very sharp scissors are best for small details. You could also try using a craft knife in which case you would need a self-healing cutting mat. 

6) clear stiff packaging or a clear acrylic frame

I made all of fifteen stamps shown in this post from this one piece of craft foam and I still have plenty of foam left over for more. This sheet cost me .79 cents at Michaels.

As you can see, for most of the stamps, I drew the image I wanted directly onto the craft foam with a sharp pencil. If you make a mistake, it erases easily and any residue will not affect your stamp.

For some of my ideas, I sketched them in a notebook first or wrote down possible ideas in list form.

Once I was happy with my design, I cut them out with large scissors and then went back for "fussy cutting" with a pair of smaller scissors. I do not recommend the scissors you see in this photo. They are not very sharp but they did an adequate job. My favorite scissors are still in storage so I don't have access to them now. I suspect scissors like them would work much better. Or I want to try out a craft knife on a self healing mat and see how that works out.

Designs with simple shapes seem to work very well. I saw this camera on the side of a coffee mug and drew it on grid paper (Project Life grid card). Then with a few cuts at the corner of the craft foam, cut these rectangles out. As you can see, I drew on the details and then cut them out with my tiny scissors.
For the circle in the center of the camera, I really only cut through the top half of the craft foam which made for some nice detailing.

You can see on this To-go Coffee Cup, I just barely etched a line between the cup and the lid, but surprisingly this is all it took to add the little bit of detail.

Although I didn't do a very good job of an even impression with this stamp, you can see that hint of a line which is all it needs to loook a little more realistic. 

Here is a template I used for the starburst image. I used a project life grid card and sketched out my lines, for a couple of them I used a ruler so they would be straight.

I cut out the necessary rays, using part of the label from the craft foam to make sure the pieces didn't fall away (since all the cuts join at the center of the starburst).

I traced around the template on to the craft foam.

I adhere each foam shape to something clear and stiff to make a stamp. For this sunburst, I taped the template to the back side of my plastic and stuck the foam pieces over the template on the other side, so they would fit together perfectly (or as perfect as possible).

For this stamp, I had some leftover packaging - basically a clear plastic box, so I stuck my shape to that. The clear box is a little flimsy for my needs though it works adequately.

Here's a picture of it in action. 
For the rest of my stamps, I wanted something stiffer than the clear packaging, so I bought myself a 4x6 clear acrylic table frame. I think it was around $2.50 and I had a 40% off coupon! I ended up breaking off the back piece (that folds over) as well as the small piece on the bottom (it is turned side-ways in this photo), so I could use the three pieces independently. I also bought a clear acrylic box frame (comes apart in two pieces with 3 sides each that can be broken apart). I love using something clear so that I can see exactly where I am placing my stamp.

I hope that is clear. 

To review:

1) Transfer your design on to a sheet of adhesive craft foam. Start in the corner or close to the edge to save the rest of your foam for other stamp designs.

-you can do this by tracing a template cut from cardstock or by drawing directly on your craft foam

2) Cut out your design using sharp "fussy cutting" scissors or a craft knife and self-healing cutting mat

3) Ahere your foam shape onto something clear, plastic & stiff (up-cycled packaging or an old clear acrylic frame you don't need any more).

 

Go HERE if you'd like to see all of the stamps I made last week.

Go HERE and HERE if you'd like to see them in use in my Project Life layouts of the past two weeks.

I hope to be making more things with my homemade stamps and when I do, I'll be sure to post at my blog. I'm thinking more Project Life journaling cards and title cards, patterned paper, a card -- any other ideas? I might have to pull out my art journal and experiment.

Please let me know in the comments here or via email (link on my blog) if you have any questions about how I made them! And if you make your own stamps, please come visit me at my blog, Nihao, Cupcake!, and leave me a link so I can come see what you made.

2013 Project Life 365: Week 3 {Why do I love this project?}

Another week and I still love this project! I have read quite a few blogs recently that declare their love for this project each and every week.

But why do we love this project?

I think it is because it gives us an excuse for playing with and spending time with our photos & memories each & every week! It breaks it up into small digestible bites and pieces that can be finished in a short period of time which allows us to feel a sense of accomplishment with a small amount of effort & time.

I'd love to hear why you love this project. Tell me in the comments.

This week I used a lot of the homemade stamps I talked about in last week's Project Life post.

After I finished it, I still needed to add an insert to include the invitation I made for my son's 8th Birthday Party (a post coming soon with more details - it is one of my 24 Projects in 12).

It made more sense then to change out the photo of the invitation in process (bottom right photo of left side of layout) for a different photo. I chose to add the one of my son below since I love how he is so intently concentating on getting his homework done.

This is actually two photos one atop the other.

I had been having difficulty fitting all the photos I wanted into my layout, so I ended up cutting my son out of one photo and placing it on top of a photo of his homework assignment (the colorful map).

I think it turned out kind of cool. He looks almost super-imposed over the map. It helps that the photo of him was blurry to begin with. That makes it kind of pop off the page.

I thought the photo of the invitations in process made more sense above the actual finished invitation. That background paper is made from a pattern of one of the stamps I made. Go to this post to read more about the ten craft foam stamps I made (Super Fun & Super Easy) and to see the lotus root stamp that I used. I'm not sure I love how the paper turned out. But I'm glad I've started to experiment. I envision making a lovely pattern with the lotus root stamps. I'm sure I'll find something I like eventually. 

Here is the other side of the insert with the invitation. I printed out entries from my Oh Life account. (Oh Life is a free service you sign up for. They send you an automated email once a day and you email back anything you'd like to remember about the day. SIMPLE!) This is the first time I have used any of my entries and I've been keeping an Oh Life journal (of sorts) since May 2011. I plan to do it more often since it was so easy to do.

The row of cameras are also another stamp that I made. Surprised?! Ha! Again, I don't love how they turned out. A little too messy. And I think I would have liked them in black or grey. 
Here is a journaling card I made from a photo I took of footprints in the sand. It didn't turn out as good as I thought it would. You can't tell from this photo, but the writing is actually very difficult to read atop the footprints. (Much like the writing over the Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches.) I may try it again and lighten the details of the photo. I also want to re-write the journaling since I think it looks too messy - but that is another story!! I rarely re-do things so I may not get around to it, but I sure am tempted because I was so excited about this idea.

Here is a Project Life Core Kit - Clementine Edition journaling card. I added a "coffee cup to-go" image from another one of those stamps I made that I keep mentioning. Again I wish I could position the writing differently than I did, but I don't want to waste my journaling cards, and the sentiment is exactly right, so I will leave this one.

Another card that uses another one of my new homemade stamps. This is a starburst stamp the same size as a 3" x 4" Journaling Card with Grid Design. I was inspired by an image in the Seafoam Core Kit.  I hope to try it again in a different color. I'm not sure I love it in black. I had fun with this card by messing around with my son's water colors and adding a little circle sticker in the center.

EDITED TO ADD: This journaling card. I don't know how I missed including this one when I originally published this post. I love creating stuff like this with my kids. So fun!

And the last card I will highlight uses yet another stamp that I made. Notice the city skyline at the bottom of the card. I drew the moon on after the fact and colored in the windows and moon using more of my son's water colors. 

I had a more difficult time this week finishing up my layout. I am going to try and finish it a little earlier in the week this time. We have a busy weekend ahead and I'm afraid if I don't do it by Friday, it isn't going to get done. I'm still finding my rhythm this year.

I also want to post about my Project Life photo workflow, but again that will have to wait for another week.

I have a Ninjago mini-fig cake to make, Ninjago cupcakes and a party to finalize. So lots more fun stuff to share on the blog coming up soon but also many busy days ahead!

EDITED TO ADD: If you would like to see how I made the stamps in my Project Life layout this week, please visit this post here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

EDITED TO ADD: And a fun Proeject Life freebie card I found here. It's a 5 Faves Right Now card. A great addition to any Project Life layout.

Perfect Valentine for the Lego Ninjago Fan in Your Life!

Inspired by this on Pinterest, I created this photo as a potential Valentine for my Lego Ninjago fan to give out to his classmates for Valentine's Day.

It's easy to do this yourself. Set up a red piece of construction paper as a backdrop. Lean it against something (in our case it was a flower pot on the table on the back porch), set up your mini-figs and click away. SIMPLE!

I'm going to use Photoshop (PSE) to fit two photos on one 4x6 print, cut them apart and adhere them to cardstock. My son will write a greeting on the back and hand out to his classmates.

What do you think?

TO SEE THE LEGO NINJAGO MINI FIG CAKE I JUST MADE, GO HERE.

Super Fun, Super Easy, Super Cute DIY Craft Foam Stamps

I have been fascinated by DIY stamps for the past year or two, pining to find some creative time and make a bunch. Unfortunately, living in China, getting even simple craft supplies to make some was not easy. I did manage to make one from some adhesive medical padding I found lying around my apartment and use it on a scrapbook layout featured here.

But it wasn't enough!

As part of my intention to make 2013 a year to THRIVE! EXPERIMENT! & BE GRATEFUL! Last week, I challenged myself to make TEN of them from adhesive craft foam. I ended up making FIFTEEN! Yay, me!

And now that I've done it, I don't know why I waited so long to try.

I've been so inspired by the experience that I find myself jotting down ideas and sketches of the next stamps I want to make as well as projects I am going to make with them.

If you've been to my blog this week, you know that I have already used some in my Project Life album here.

Here they are! All made last week.

Lotus Root x 2

Flower Petal also great shape for making patterns

Swirly triangle for patterns

Sunburst Graphic inspired by Project Life Core Kit - Seafoam Edition

MacBook Laptop based off a drawing made by my 7 year old son. He wanted to make his own stamp, so I had him draw a picture and made this.

Easier than it sounds.

Braden's sketch of the stamp he wanted me to make. 

Hexagon - also good for patterns, think honeycomb. I plan to make a honeycomb stamp as well. The possibilities are (almost) endless.

Here is my circle stamp that I made when the circle journaling labels I had weren't cutting it - I made my own out of Avery Sticker Project Paper, White, 8.5 x 11 Inches meant for the InkJet printer.

Here is an adorable cupcake stamp that hasn't even been used yet. But as you can tell by the name of my blog (Nihao, Cupcake!) or if you are a regular reader, you know that I make & decorate a lot of cupcakes, so of course that one is obvious!

A pot stamp to be used on my ONE NEW RECIPE A WEEK cards. You can read about that goal here.

City Skyline - I LOVE this one. Inspired by some adhesive border tape I bought while in Japan. I've always LOVED city skylines. Adorable and so easy to make. Simple lines and cuts.

A zig zag stamp great to use for patterns. When stamped in a row makes a nice chevron pattern/stripe.

I LOVE these little cameras. I made two because when making the original I forgot the stamp makes a mirror image and I wanted the details on the opposite side, but both work great. 
I originally saw the image of the camera on the side of a coffee thermos. I memorized it, jotted it down the first chance I had and came home and sketched it on to a Project Life grid journaling card before making my stamp. It's another favorite! You could totally use this one to make a pattern and create your own patterned paper or title cards for PRoject Life!

And finally, here is the Coffee Cup To-Go stamp. Excuse the poor quality of the photos but I forgot to take a pic of that stamp & had to do it well after the sun went down. Inspired by a similar image on my Starbucks gold card. That one had a circle where I put a star.

 

Let me know what you think! Which one is your favorite? Any ideas for other stamps. I love to add little bits of detail to make them more than just simple shapes. It adds so much character. You will be seeing these showing up in my Project Life layouts and you will be seeing many more of these things as I am filling a notebook full of ideas.

The best part, the sheet of adhesive craft foam I used, (which still has plenty left over to work with), was only 89 cents at Michaels! 

Very soon I will post a tutorial of sorts on how I made these SUPER EASY & SUPER ADORABLE & SUPER CHEAP craft foam stamps, so you can get started making your own. In fact, they are so easy, you probably don't even need my instructions, but I will post any how sharing my process and Tips & Tricks. 

I will also be posting SOON (fingers crossed), projects I have made using them. The stamp you see in the very first photo of this post was made the week before my TEN STAMP challenge week and I used it to make my son's birthday party invitations (part of my 24 Projects in 12 Months goal). So you will be seeing that stamp and resulting project coming up as well.

I also have plans to update my excercise and ONE NEW RECIPE A WEEK challenge too. All are coming along famously. Hurray!

Thanks for stopping by and please let me know what you think about the stamps. And if you decide to give it a try, come back and leave me a link to your stamps and what you made as I would love to pop over and see.

Here is my much anticipated tutorial on how to make these SUPER FUN, SUPER CUTE & SUPER EASY stamps from craft foam.

Bob, The Wool Monster

Felt is all the rage these days. I must admit, I think felt is very cool. And when I was at the LA County Fair this summer, we learned all about wool from one of the guys in the livestock tent who brought along a bunch of his sheep. He told us about all sorts of unlikely things that are made from wool, like the core of an authentic major league baseball (cut one open and see for yourself!),

And of course cashmere sweaters and pashmima scarves are made of wool. He explained what makes those wools so special and why they are so expensive. We also learned that FELT is made from wool.

I must honestly admit, before my visit to the LA County Fair, I did not know felt came from wool! How silly do I feel? It makes me seem like I fit that sterotypical silly, blonde LA girl or out of touch children in class who are portrayed in the LA County Fair commercials from a few years back (What comes from cows?, the teacher asks. "A latte???" one girl says. Another boy pipes up, "My mom says, 'Non-fat, half caf cappuccinos!'" To see for yourself go here. It's hilarious!)

It seems like something I should have known, but alas, I never really thought about it. And frankly, felt is a craft fabric so it seems too low budget to be made from something so nice.

This is how silly I feel:

And now that I know felt is made from wool, I like it even better than it did before!

When I make my 24 Crafty Projects this year (go here for more details), I plan to make at least one thing from felt. In fact, right now I already have two felt project ideas in mind, so it could end up being more.  

Bob, The Monster, up there, is made from felt (aka: wool). He is the second crafty thing I made after returning to The States (after living in China for four years). The first thing I made, also out of felt, was a Halloween costume for my 6th grade son - the hat & backpack of Finn, from the Adventuretime series on Cartoon Network). 

Anyway, back to Bob, The Monster. He comes from Braden's imagination who originally drew Bob on a white piece of paper with a pencil.

I took that drawing and turned, "Paper Bob" into "Felt Bob".

My most favorite projects involve partnering with my kids.

I did the same for my oldest son's sixth birthday. He drew a picture of a monster and I turned it into his birthday cake. There must be something about my kids & I and monsters and creating stuff!

Bob, is Braden's favorite Christmas present, pilling and all. I'm sure it's not only because I make it for him, but because Bob originally came from his imagination!

By the way, does anyone have any tips on how to get felt to stop pilling? Braden is working on his next sketch of a monster and soon Bob will have a new friend. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different. -Coco Chanel

Repurposing Project Life packaging into My Inspiration Box for TWELVE. (StacyJulian 's class at Big Picture Classes)

I had a brilliant idea a few weeks ago. I wanted to make my inspiration box for Stacy's class, TWELVE. which will begin this week (YAY!) but I had limited supplies available since I live in China. Yes, I can get creative, but even that can become complicated and time consuming due to transportation issues, etc. I won't bore you with the details!

Anyway, I had a stroke of genius when I realized I had enough cardboard inserts in my Project Life 12x12 page protectors to cut up and use for my inspiration file. HURRAY!

 

I measured out the sizes I needed, got out my craft knife & Basic Grey cutting mat and had my dividers cut in no time.

 

I really wanted to use this Sephora box I had lying around (no Target or other adorable organizing stores in my neighborhood) since it isn't too big and even though Stacy said not to have a lid for your box, I love it's magnetic lid!

 

 

I figure if it is cumbersome, the design of the box allows me to cut it off easily if need be.

 

 

What do you think? I love it and can't wait to cover it with cute patterned paper when I get home. I wasn't able to decorate the box before leaving China for the holidays, but it is ready for me when I return mid-January. I'll be sure to post my finished project when I am finally able to finish.

In the meantime, I will use a three ring binder with page protectors to use as my sections.

I can't wait for January 1st when TWELVE. begins.

Speaking of January 1st, I will be hosting a One Little Word blog hop that goes live at 8 AM PST. It is the first day of Ali Edward's 2012 class and over two dozen new & returning students are getting together to wrap up last year's class and reveal our words for 2012. Click here to see our One Little Word blog hops from 2012.

EDITED on Jan 3, 2012: Just found out I have a really awesome BPC give-away coming up on MY BLOG! More details coming very soon...

Color Combo Blog Hop & DIY Banner Stamp (couldn't be easier)

DIY Banner Stamp Scrapbook Layout

 

Welcome to another Color Combo Blog Hop hosted by Amy. These are so much fun and it got me scrapbooking! I haven't been this inspired to make a page since Spawn of True Scrap in October. (Which was awesome, by the way!)

Our color combo for November is Coca Tints:

I love this combo. I originally thought I would make a Christmas page, even though I rarely make Christmas pages. But, alas, I ended up with the page about 798 (an art district in Beijing). I used a much truer red but I didn't do too bad with the other colors. That paint around the photo is actually beige and not white like it looks in the photo.

I had fun with the page using a few of the free style techniques I'm getting used to playing around with in my Art Journal class at Balzer Designs.

I'm also proud to report that I made my very first homemade stamp! Do you like the banner in my layout? I used a stamp I made from something I had lying around the house. It was a square of leftover medical padding. I'm not exactly sure where it came from, but more than likely it was from when my son broke his thumb over the summer. My mom was taking care of him (while I was in Beijing with my ill husband) and bought a bunch of supplies to rewrap his dressing every night, so I'm guessing it was in that bag and ended up on my desk. 

I've been eyeing it for the past week or so wanting to see if it would work as a stamp but I didn't know what shape to make.

DIY Banner Stamp Project Life Journaling Card

 

Then I saw this post at Balzer Design's blog, where she carved her own banner stamps, so I thought, "what the heck?!" It is a simple shape and easy to reproduce. I took the nearest pencil, did a quick sketch on the medical padding, cut it out, slapped on some paint and I had myself a stamp! So, I had to use it on my layout. FUN!

See the Project Life Journaling Card to the left? That was the first test stamp. I think the image will be showing up on occasion in my Project Life album from now on. That Journaling Card will be in there because I've got to document my first homemade stamp EVER. 

Have you ever made your own stamp? If so, what material did you use and how did it turn out? I can see myself making more and I would love more inspiration.

 

The rest of the participants for the blog hop are below. It looks like there was an over sight and I was left off of the list. But since I organize two monthly blog hops, I know that things like this can happen with the best of intentions! I have copied the list from another blog (thanks, Joanne!) and I will do my best to participate.

To see everything SCRAPBOOKING on my blog, click here.

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by! And enjoy hopping to the other blogs on the list! Thanks to Amy for hosting.

 

 

www.abstractsmixedwithextracts.com
	http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
	http:/handmadebykirsty.blogspot.com
	http://spud-pickle.blogspot.com
	http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com/
	http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com/
	www.MichelleRoycroft.blogspot.com
	http://scrapyourlife.net
	http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com
	http://scribblesstickingstitchingstroking.blogspot.com/