Pinterest Primer (with lots of cool links)

Hi everyone, sorry I missed posting last week, things were a little hectic and just couldn't find time to sit down and put something together.

Am going to San Francisco this morning to pick up my Mom who will stay with us for a week, we are trying to have her stay with us for a week each month.  She lives alone and though my brother (who also lives in SF) and his family visit her all the time, she still feels lonely.  Given that I am not working at an outside job this is a great way for us to spend quality time with her, and for her to have company full time for a week : )

I spent Saturday at the Scrapbook Expo in Pleasanton, and OH MY!  Spent WAYYY too much money (thankfully my hubby never reads my blog lol), especially on stamps from "Stamps by Judith."  Here are a few cards I made with the new stamps:

From Card Stamps By Judith

From Card Stamps By Judith

From Card Stamps By Judith

Close up of the card above:

From Card Stamps By Judith

From Card Stamps By Judith

Love that so many of her stamps are "interactive," which means you can use them various ways, I used the same stamp to make the wreath and the arrangement in the pot!  Lots more to do with her stamps, just need to find the time : )  All of the images were colored with Tombow markers, some images were stamped and colored on copy paper, and some were on card stock.  (Judith only uses the copy paper, I am still trying to get used to that).  I also added Clear Crystal Lacquer to the card images for added pop.

Also got a chance to color with the new Spectrum Noir Pens, alcohol based pens that are far cheaper than the Copic markers.  I have to say that from my test at the show these pens seemed to be every bit as good as Copic markers.  At some point I will get a set and test them further, but would love to hear from any of you if you have the markers already, what do you think?

So, today is all about Pinterest, what it is and why people are pinning away.   And if you have been using Pinterest for a while I will also show you how one pin can lead you to all sorts of other things to pin.

First things first:  Pinterest is basically an online way of saving things you find on the internet.  You can have many "boards," such as cooking, DIY, home, garden, papercrafting and so on.  You download an icon for your  browser's tool bar and when you see something you like click the "pin it" button on the tool bar and you will add the item to one of your boards.

You can follow what other people are pinning and other people can follow what you are pinning.  You can also "like:" something without placing it on any of your boards, or you can "re-pin" something you see Pinterest to your own board.

Here is a link if you would like to follow my pins on Pinterest:



In other words, this is a way to visually store all the things you find online!  Pinterest etiquette requires that you make sure to attribute where you found your pin, ie, if there is a blog post or article make sure that you pin back to the original source rather than just a picture.

What I LOVE about Pinterest is how many amazing blogs/website I have been finding!  For instance, I found this card online:



and than found the Pals Paper Arts blog!  (A GREAT resource by the way).  Many times I will find cards, click through to the blog/website, and than click on even more links to find hidden treasures online.

Here are a few things that I have "pinned" on my "Paper Crafting' board and how I found other sites/blogs:

I found this card on SCS:

And went to her blog:  Stamping With a Passion where I found all sorts of fantastic inspiration!

Here is a great idea I found (and repinned) on Pinterest:

                                                                  
The project was on Oh Crafts, where I found all sorts of other GREAT ideas!  Here is a link to their "Paper" ideas, lots of things to try (make sure to click on the other ideas as well, ie, parties and so on)

As you can see there are many ways to use Pinterest, and many of the recent sites/blogs I have listed here have been found either directly (or indirectly) through Pinterest!

Of course I have other links for you today : )  Here are a few of the things from my bookmarks bar (which is getting pretty full and it is only March!)

FREE Art Journal Stencil Class:  Check this out!  GREAT artist who is offering one of her online classes for free, and make sure to visit her other classes as well:  Balzer Designs.  I am linking to many Art Journal related items so that you can expand your creativity and use your supplies stash : )

And here is a video by Balzer Designs "How to stamp with your stencils" What a GREAT idea!


 Copic Marker Storage:  Loved this idea, especially because your markers are spread out by color!

Ok, that is it for this week, need to go shower and get going to pick up my Mom!  See you all next week, until then, a most crafty of weeks : )

Unleashing your creativity: links and ideas

Hi there, hope you had a very nice long weekend : )  We hung around the house and I was able to get a simple house project done (have a ton of projects on my list right now).  Saw a GREAT way to hang kitchen utensils on Pinterest, and went out yesterday to make one for myself.  Our kitchen is small and only has six drawers, and they are very small drawers.  Most of our cooking utensils are in a Pampered Chef tool turnaround, but it was getting WAY too crowded, so I needed a way to spread out the utensils.  The idea I saw on Pinterest used a curtain rod (solid rod) with S hooks, I could not find a solid curtain rod, so I used two different things: a magnetic curtain hooks and then a tension curtain rod.

The rod I ended up using is pretty strong, and it is one of the oval type ones, not the rod that came with the magnetic hooks (the rod was too flimsy). The S hooks were not cheap ( I purchased the stainless steel ones), but am very pleased with the outcome, and I will be purchasing a few more magnetic hooks to help hold the unit up (the rod is attached to our cooking vent which is metal).

My Mom stayed with us all of last week (she is 84, lives alone and is about 50 miles from us), which was great!  She received a new Ipad for Christmas so we were helping her to learn how to use it, including sending email, signing up for Facebook, using Netflix and just about everything else associated with the the Ipad and being online (she has never been online).  It was interesting to say the least, she won't have a wireless internet connection at home for another week, hopefully she won't forget everything she learned.

                                                      
Our plan for 2012 is to bring her to our house once a month for a week or so, that way we get extended visits with her and she has company (if she can stand us that long).

And now we should get on with some stamping things, right?

Don't forget to check Blitsy on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, some absolutely GREAT deals there, I did spend a bit and bought some Archival Ink pads and re-inkers at a wonderful price two weeks ago.  I check all the time to see what is being listed, and when there are good prices on the products I use that is the time to stock up!  The items listed for sale are only available for a short time (7 days), so don't wait to order if you see something you need/want.

Speaking of ink pads:  remember to always purchase a re-inker  when you buy an ink pad!  Having the re-inker on hand is a life saver, and you can use the rei-inkers for so many techniques.  While it does increase the cost of your purchase, down the road you won't have to purchase new ink pads as you can re-ink the pads you have.



This week is all about unleashing your inner creativity, tapping into the artist that is inside all of us.  When you  tap into your inner creativity you unleash all sorts of wonderful ideas that you didn't even know you had!  Have you ever felt like you just are not in a creative mood?  That your projects are lacking something?  Maybe you just don't feel that connection you once had with your scrap booking or card making.

Hopefully the links today will give you a new way to find your hidden, creative talents.  Take some time to try a few of the things below to help you find that inner artist (we all have an inner artist), and in doing so you will also find more creativity when you work on cards, scrap book pages or other paper crafting projects.

How to draw a flower with a calligraphy pen:  Loved this idea, and I have some of these pens, will need to try this!  I image that you could also create other doodles using her technique to get two colors on the pen nib.

How to draw a simple daisy with a brush marker:  Nice!  And so easy!  I have used brush markers to do all sorts of shapes, very easy and makes a very nice graphic for your card. And you could use your Copics (with the brush tip) or dye based markers with brush tips.

Lettering/doodle ideas technique sheets:  A great collection of how you can use your brush tips (Copic markers with a brush tip would work too) for all sorts of lettering and doodles!

Doodling/Art Journal blog:  Wow!  Just loved all the ideas here, doodling/art journaling is a wonderful way to tap into your creative soul, unleashing the artist in you and bringing out ideas for your next card/scrapbook page or other paper crafting project. (Here is a link to a scribd article by the same artist) I have started an art journal, trying all sorts of techniques, doodling, cutting out and pasting pictures, saving images I have stamped/colored but never used and so on.

Keeping an Art Journal is a wonderful way to also get around those times when you feel like you have lost your "mojo" or inspiration.  Each day try to spend a little time with your journal, one day add some background color to a page, the next day draw/doodle on the page, the next day add some more color and so on.  You will be amazed at how your ideas and creativity starts to flow better!

More ideas for brush tip markers:  From I Like Markers (amazing site), love the little hearts and butterflies!



Tutorials GALORE!  Lots of amazing tutorials at this link, you are sure to find something you will want to try, especially if you are starting your art journal.



Art Journaling 101:  This is a wonderful place to start your art journal experience, lots of tips, links to other blogs and more.  Again, unleashing the artist inside you also unleashes the creativity you have for all of your paper crafting projects.



Make your own Smash book:  This is a new/old style of scrap booking, you take your pictures, mementos and what nots and simply "smash" them into a book.  From the link:

Smash Books are basically pre-bound scrapbooks, but instead of plain pages, which can be daunting to fill, they have patterned papers and papers with sayings on them. The books are made from good quality card stock and can take a lot of memorabilia glued, taped or stapled to the pages.

  No fancy layout, just put your things in a book!   love this and am working on one right now, gathering up all sorts of scraps of things I have created and putting them in one place : )

Five ways to lead a more creative life:  Nice article on how you can look at what is around you and change how you view and relate to your environment to unleash your creativity.

That is all for this week!  I hope you have enjoyed the post this week, and don't forget that I love reading your comments!  Have a great week and take some time to discovery your inner creativity : )