Did you know?

You may know that Scrapbook News and Review packs tons of amazing eye candy into each monthly issue which comes out the 2nd Sunday of each month. 

But did you know on the 4th Sunday of each month we publish a "Part 2" which includes amazing scrapbooking, cards, stamping and multi-media tutorials?????

Just look what's in store for you in the recently released May Part 2:

Scrapbooking Tutorials


Anglaise Pretties
Coloring Trim
Fabric Butterfly
Fabric Paper
Twisted Fabric Blooms
Adding a 3-D Effect to a Photo
Adding Text to Fabric
Coloring Black-and-White Photos with Chalk
Coloring Black-and-White Photos with Copic Markers
Curly Fabric
DIY Photo Overlays
Fibers Fabric Paper
Fabric Shapes
Ribbon Curling
Twisted Fabric Flowers
Using Dryer Sheets to Make Embellishments & Create Interest


Cards & Stamping Tutorials

Faux Stitching
Fork Bows
Heat Embossing on Fabric
Heat Embossing on Photos
How Do I Attach That? - Ribbon
Stamping on Velvet


Mixed Media Tutorials

An Introduction to Gels, Mediums & Pastes
Adding Cardboard to Your Project
Baby Wipe Background
Canvas Breakdown: A Home
Crinkled Cardstock Background
Gels, Mediums & Pastes Primer
Paper Towel Background
 
These run the gamut from quick 4-step tutorials to really involved tutorials to informative, sample-heavy articles to amazingly in-depth primers. 
 
I feel so blessed to be a part of the amazing Education team and love bringing. 
 
You are going to LOVE everything you see.  Check it out!

A Teacher

So this end-of-school-year was bittersweet.  I'm so excited for my girlie to be moving on to Kindergarten next year but that comes with the price of the end of our 4 year preschool era.  And our current teacher taught the boy for a little while and the girl for her entire preschool career.  Thankfully, we're friends so it wasn't a final goodbye.

A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind and touches a heart.

Lots of collage-y fun.  Canvas, paint, gel medium, acrylic ink, drywall tape, dimensional paint, patterned paper, chipboard and rubs-ons, rub-ons, rub-ons!  Love me some rub-ons!

The girl graduated a week ago but the boy still goes until this Thursday.  His teacher sent out the week's schedule and I'm wondering how they're going to survive it.  (Insert major sarcasm here.)

Monday - no school for Memorial Day.  We're going to go see a movie. 

Tuesday - Morning: play games the kids created last week.  Afternoon: play board games and attend a carnival in another classroom.

Wednesday - Pajama day.  Morning: watch a movie in their classroom.  Afternoon: watch a movie in another classroom.

Thursday - Last day!  Half day.  End-of-year celebration, class-store shopping sprees, water balloon fun. 

Whew!  Glad to see there are actually legitimate, academic reasons to go back every day this week. 

For all the US folks, hope you have fun activities planned for the holiday weekend.  We're going to a bbq this afternoon.  Fun!

Happy Memorial Day!

♥Heidi

Obaachan love

Credits Digi Paper, Flowers, Ribbon & Stitches: The Write Stuff kit by Audrey Neal; Button: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk; Font: Carbon Type

Sketchy Thursdays are becoming digi Thursdays for me, huh?  I promise I've not gone totally digi.  It's just most of my traditional layouts have been in Scrapbook News and Review recently.  Do you subscribe?  You should!  So much amazing inspiration and tons of awesome tutorials.  Speaking of...the July calls are up.  I'd love to see you published in SNR!!  Check out the calls.  Anyhoo, I promise I'll share more traditional layouts soon.  ;oD

I realized I have very few layouts made with the kids and their Obaachan.  Gotta spread the love.  ♥♥♥

So I went sort of clean and simple on the sketch this week for Sketchy Thursdays:

Hope you like it and I'd love to have you play along!!!  This week's prize is an awesome vintage-y pack of goodies by Vintage Street Market. 

It occurred to me just a little while ago that one week from today is JUNE!! 

What??!!!!

Where has this year gone? 

Hope you have super fun or relaxing plans for the Memorial Day weekend. 

♥Heidi

Party Dress

How about a fun card today?

Originally published in Scrapbook News and Review March 2011

The base paper is some faux handmade paper I made.  Later this week I'll share how I made it.

I love using cupcake liners as design elements.  Could NOT pass up this adorable patterned one.  Perfect for a skirt!

Have a great day!

♥Heidi

she knew she could conquer the world

I've really been getting into mixed media and collage lately and recently took Christy Tomlinson's online course "She Art".  I learned lots of great tips in the class and while I've been incorporating the ideas into lots of original stuff I just had to make one of the SheGirls from the class for my mom for Mother's Day.

SheGirl template and phrases by Christy Tomlinson

This is created on a 6x12 canvas and includes paint, ink, rub-ons, patterned paper, soft gel medium, acrylic ink, dimensional paste, dictionary pages, corrugated, stamps, drywall tape, a CD and I'm sure a ton of other stuff I can't remember right now. 

Lots of rub-ons, a stamp and acrylic ink used on this CD.

Acrylic ink mixed into soft gel medium applied with a foam stamp.  I'm loving how mixed media is helping me to re-embrace my HUGE collection of foam stamps that haven't seen the light of day for at least a couple, three years. 

I love TONS of texture.  Drywall tape is my go-to tool right now.  Soft gel medium and acrylic ink applied over a drywall tape mask and then inverted and used as a stamp, too. 

The scariest part of making a SheGirl...the hair.  I started out trying to make this one look like my mom's hair but I couldn't get it blond enough so she's a major dirty blond here.  LOL.  Paint and  ink.

I love how the boots and the grass came out.  The boots are made with corrugated.  The grass is dimensional paste mixed with paint and combed on.  Lots of fun rub-ons.  The edges of the entire thing are swiped with Tsukineko Brilliance ink, BTW.  Have I mentioned how in love I am with Tsukineko?  Luscious, luscious inks!!!!

I went with the floaty, swirly skirt for this girl.  Love mixing all the patterns.  And rub-ons, stamps and ink, of course.

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed making it. 

♥Heidi

We're Not Going to Take It

Credits Border & Digi Stamp: Starbrite kit by Polka Dot Pixels; Staples: Paisley Pop kit by Karen Funk; Fonts: Carbon Type, Sidewalk

The girl's first makeup kit.  She needs a little work.

Based on the sketch I made for Sketchy Thursdays this week:

Be sure to check out what the ST DT made with this sketch.  Some of my fave layouts ever.  Great stuff!

Sorry I've been so MIA lately.  I've got lots of stuff to share but have had little time to share. 

Today was the girl's last day of preschool.  She's officially a Kindergartener now.  So excited!!!

Have a great weekend!

♥Heidi

These Boots

Credits Patterned Paper: Limon kit by Dana Zarling; Journaling Block: Doodly Journal Spots by Angie Kovaks; Fonts: Century Gothic, Champignon, Elephant; Brush: Splatter by Corelila

My daughter wears those boots everywhere, with EVERYTHING.  She inherited them from her older brother who wore them for a couple years also.  I have a pic of her at about 2 wearing them with only a diaper on.  They come up about mid-thigh.  LOL.  I will be sad when these boots no longer fit.  I'm going to have to immortalize them somehow. 

Diana knocked this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch out of the park!  Love it!!!  I know I'll be using this one over and over again. 

Have a great weekend!

Aaaaah...

Aaah...what a beautiful sight!  Two children napping in the middle of the afternoon.  And not yelling.  Nor running around.  Nor teasing each other, pinching, hitting, kicking, breaking things, moving furniture around, creating "potions" with Pixy Stix and popcorn, "cleaning" the bathroom mirror with foam soap, etc, etc, etc. 

Aaah...

Wow, that picture was taken almost 3 years ago and that may have been one of the last times I witnessed the beauty that is afternoon napping. 

I made this layout a while ago, too and used it to base this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch upon: 



Hope to see you over there playing along!

♥heidi

Scrapbook News and Review April issue is out!

The April 2011 issue of Scrapbook News and Review is out today. 

I'm so excited because that's MY card on the cover!  What a fabulous surprise this afternoon when I clicked onto the SNR website! 

If you have a subscription, the issue is available now and it is an awesome one!  The submissions this month are just gorgeous. 

If you don't have a subscription, click here to check out how to get one.  Trust me, this is one case where you definitely get your money's worth and then some.  There are always at least 400 pieces of inspiration every month and actually you get two magazines a month - "eye candy" and inspiration on the second Sunday of the month and then tutorials and papercrafting articles on the fourth Sunday of the month! 

Hope you had a beautiful and relaxing Easter. 

♥heidi

Loved

Credits: Digital Paper & Border: Limon kit by Dana Zarling; Word Art: Be You kit by Karla Dudley; Photo Editor: Picnik.com

I am in love with this pic of my son.  If you could see the entire picture, he's standing there while my husband is tying his shoe.  I love the snapshot of downtime...he's usually larger - and LOUDER - than life. 

This is based on my sketch for Sketchy Thursdays this week:

Sorry I've been so MIA lately.  I've been busy, busy, busy creating lots of fun stuff but ~sniff~ I can't share any of it with you yet.  Stay tuned...I promise I'll share some stuff I made the last few months in the next few days. 

I've also been trying to get ready for Easter.  The Easter Bunny does baskets and then hides TONS of eggs.  EB's been trying to find stuff to put in the eggs besides candy.  So far EB is stumped.  EB thought about hitting the party store but then thought about how much useless party stuff is hanging out in the room I am currently trying to clean up.  Ugh. 

We'll be coloring the Easter Eggs Saturday.  Then the family comes over here for dinner on Sunday. 

What do you do for Easter?

Hope you have a great one!

♥heidi

Sketchy Thursdays

Time once again for your weekly dose of Sketchy Thursdays yumminess!

Another awesome one by Diana! 

And even though two-pagers are hard for me I really LOVE this one and wanted to play along.  Sadly, it wasn't in the cards this week.  This one is definitely going into my "to do " file for later, though. 

Be sure to check out all the amazing inspiration by our DT! 

And we'd love to have you play along with us.  This week's sponsor is Sweet Peach Crop Shop - this week's winner will get their cool April kit!

Hope you are having a great week!

♥Heidi

The F-Word

Damn thing sneaks up on you...

My Sunshine

(Credits coming soon...)

This is one of my favorite pics of my daughter.  She was about 2 here.  She's got the most adorable, full lips.  I monkeyed around with the color on these pics and one of them came up all sunshiney yellow toned. 

This is based on this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch, this one by the lovely and talented Diana:



This is an exciting week on Sketchy Thursdays...today we reveal layouts by our newest Design Team!!!!  Head on over to the blog to check out their wonderful inspiration!!!!

We're having a weird weather week here.  This past weekend we hit 100 - the second earliest 100 in recorded history here.  Lovely.  Sometimes we hit sometime mid-April but on average it doesn't happen until early May.  And then yesterday it was slightly rainy and around 80.  They've got it forecasted for this Saturday in the low 60s.  Yes, you read right - SIXTIES.  If it comes to pass we will have swung 40 degrees in one week.  Very funky.  

Well, OK then!

I completely forgot to write my own blog post for Sketchy Thursdays yesterday despite having written the actual ST post, LOL!  Duuuuuuhhhh!!!!

I based this sketch on a layout I made for Scrapbook News and Review a few months ago. 

Love by Heidi Myers Supplies Cardstock: The Paper Company, Stampin’ Up!; Patterned Paper: EK Success; Glitter Paper: Colorbok; Staples: EK Success; Ink: Clearsnap; Punches: Fiskars, Stampin’ Up!; Adhesive: Scotch 3M; Other: brads, acrylic accent, rhinestones, crepe paper, thread

Originally published in Scrapbook News and Review January 2011

To apologize, how about I share the tutorial that accompanied this layout?  ;oD

Crepe Paper Pleat Tutorial

 

Pleats are a great way to add texture, softness or whimsy to a scrapbook layout or card. There are several ways to make a pleat and several materials you can use. Today I’m going to walk you through how to make one using crepe paper and your sewing machine.

 

Gather your supplies:

 

• Crepe paper roll
• Double-sided tape
• Thread
• Sewing Machine

 Step One: Determine where you want your pleat on your project and run a line of double-sided tape the entire length of your desired pleat.

 

 

Step Two: Beginning at one end of your tape line, press down the end of the crepe paper and then fold it back toward the end of the crepe paper. Lightly holding the fold, bring the crepe paper back toward the tape line sticking it down on the line to make a pleat as wide as you desire. Repeat until you’ve covered your entire tape line.

 

 

Step Three:  Stitch down the middle of your pleat with your sewing machine. I usually like to stitch three lines although the number is a matter of preference. Since I was making a playful layout I allowed my lines to weave and cross a bit, although again, this is a matter of preference.

 

Please note, your needle is going to get a bit sticky because you’ll be stitching through your tape line. No worries. When you’re finished just give it a quick swipe with a baby wipe or damp paper towel to clean off the build-up. (Make sure you’ve unplugged your machine first!)

 

 

 Step Four (optional):  If desired, rough up your pleat a bit by pinching and lifting the pleats.

 

This method for pleating works just as well with strips of fabric or patterned paper and ribbon. You can also attach your pleat to your project with glue, staples or brads. I have tried all these and for the smoothest, most even pleats I think the double-sided tape method works best.

 

Fun, eh?  Hope you enjoyed my pleating tutorial.

For more tutorials and articles in scrapbooking, cards, stamping and multi-media check out Scrapbook News and Review. 

Be sure to hop on over to Sketchy Thursdays to see what our Design Team made for your inspiration with the sketch.  Today is the last sketch for the current DT.  Let me know how much you've enjoyed their work!!!  Next Thursday 4/7 will be the debut of the next DT's work! 

Hope to see you playing along, too!  This week there's an AMAZING Scrapbook Circle kit up for grabs.  Trust me, it's gorgeous!

Hope you have a great weekend planned!  We're forecasted for 99 today.  I'm just not ready for that yet.  Oh, well.  The kids are excited that swim season is almost upon us. 

♥Heidi

Christy Tomlinson Giveaway

I am so inspired by Christy Tomlinson of Scarlett Lime.  Her mixed media art is simply gorgeous. 
I'm dying to take both her online classes:

The She Art Workshop

&

She Had Three Heart Art Journaling Workshop

Courtney Walsh has a very cool interview with Christy on her blog today.  Not only is there lots of amazing Christy eye candy but you can win a spot in the She Had Three Hearts art journaling workshop!  Click here for details. 

I made a few purchases today with mixed media intentions...some Faber-Castell PITT artist pens, some Sakura white Gelly Roll pens, a Canson mix media book which is going to become my new art journal and I'm hoping is going to get broken in tonight, and a bunch of new stamp sets.  I couldn't help myself.  I went to Joanns looking for some pens and realized that not only was all their paper crafting stuff 40% off but they are having their Friends & Family sale, too, which gets you ANOTHER 25% off EVERYTHING you buy (including stuff on sale!).  Did you know Joanns has a phone app where you can grab their coupons and just show the cashier your coupon on your phone??  That's so cool.  And so dangerous!

I also just got Roni Johnson's Teach Yourself Visually Collage & Altered Art book. 

This one came *highly* recommended by some of my peeps over on Scrapbook News and Review that I trust their opinions on matters of mixed media.  I'm just starting to look through it and I'm jonesing to dive into my craft room.  When do the kids go to bed??!!  LOL. 

The kids are outside playing archaeologists.  We've got hot plans to watch the new Suite Life on Deck movie tonight.  Oh, the joys of having near-tweens. 

Do you have any hot plans tonight?  Scrappy plans?

Whatever you do, have fun!

♥Heidi

Celebrate the Season

Supplies Cardstock: Coredinations; Patterned Paper: Advantus, American Crafts, Jillibean Soup, My Little Shoebox, Pebbles Inc.; Felt Spots: Precocious Paper; Ribbon: Prima Marketing; Stickers: SRM Stickers; Stamp: Autumn Leaves; Ink: Ranger Industries, Tsukineko; Pen: Sharpie; Glitter: Stampin' Up!; Punches: EK Success, Marvy, McGill; Adhesive Sheet: Therm-O-Web; Other: thread

So, how's spring treating you?  Ours looked like it was going to start out with a bang with temperatures 15+ degrees warmer than normal.  But then it rained on Monday and brought the temps back down into the normal range (about 75 for this time of year) but they're trying to climb again.  It's forcasted at 83 this weekend.  Ugh. 

I had a bit of fun with this layout, cutting up lots of different favorite patterned papers (with a couple of Precocious Paper Sweet Spots and some awesome SRM stickers thrown in there for good measure). 

I gave the picture a "burnished velvet" treatment.  If you like it you can check out my step-by-step tutorial for it in the April Scrapbook News and Review magazine next month. 

This layout is based on the sketch I made for this week's Sketchy Thursdays challenge:

I got my inspiration for this from the way my son's school newsletters are formatted.  LOL!  See, you just never know when inspiration will strike!

Be sure to check out what the Sketchy Thursdays DT made for your inspiration with this sketch this week.  As usual, great stuff!  This week's sponsor, Addicted to Scrapbooking, is giving our lucky random winner a $25 gift certificate!  Just link your layout up to Mr. Linky in the ST sidebar by 10pm EST next Wednesday 3/30 for your chance to win!  Seriously, have you been to the Addicted to Scrapbooking site????  It's awesome!  They have TONS of stufff!!!  (I believe the official estimation is over 35,000 products!!!!)   I have a wish list there a mile long! 

Ooh!  Did you see we announced the April - October Sketchy Thursdays Design Team line up?  I can't wait to play along with this amazing group of talent.  I'll be seriously missing our departing DT members, too.  :-(

Have a great weekend!!

♥Heidi

Life is Good

This is a bittersweet post for me.  I've got two Precocious Paper projects to share which I LOVE but sadly, these are my last PP projects as a member of her DT.  I'm so bummed to be saying goodbye to my DT term.  :o(  It has been an honor and great fun!!!  I will definitley continue to include PP products on my projects, of course, as they're definitely some of my favorite flowers out there!

Supplies Cardstock: Stampin' Up!; Patterned Paper: 7Gypsies, My Minds Eye; Brads: My Minds Eye; Chipboard: Colorbok; Flowers: Precocious Paper; Sticker: SRM Stickers; Pen: Zig

I absolutely love the Precocious Paper Rolled Fabric Flowers.  They come in two sizes and are just so elegant.  Here I topped a trio of smaller ones with some pretty patterned brads. 

Something I discovered about the ivory rolled fabric flowers (which I'm sure also goes for the white and any of the lighter colored ones) is they accept glitter mist beautifully!

I wasn't sure it was going to work...I trepidatiously sprayed this one thinking if I screwed it up I was going to be seriously bummed since I only had 2 to work with.  I thought maybe, since the fabric was so shimmery and slick-looking that the mist might just bead up on it or unevenly soak in.  Very happily the fabric accepted the mist perfectly. 

When I set out to make this next piece I dove into it with just this gorgeous misted flower and a poem composed by my 5-year-old daughter for inspiration.  Let me tell you, those were some amazing inspiration as I am so proud of this piece.

Supplies Flower: Precocious Paper; Ribbon: Michaels; Tape: Advantus; Stamp: Delish Designs; Ink: Ranger Industries, Tsukineko; Paint: Delta, Making Memories, Plaid; Glitter Glue: Ranger Industries; Ink Mist: Maya Road, Tattered Angels, Tsukineko; Pen: Sharpie; Charcoal Pencil: General's; Oil Pastels: Pentel; Tool: Stampin' Up!; Poem: "The Flower Grows and Grows" by Kinsey Myers; Other: chipboard, drywall tape, staples

The thing I think I'm most impressed with myself on this is that the mix of paints I used on her eyes is almost exactly the color of my daughter's eyes!  I call her "Rootbeer Eyes" because their color reminds me of a backlit rootbeer barrel candy. 

It's so hard to photograph anything shimmery.  This picture doesn't do the flower or the metallic, shimmery copper color in her hair or eyes justice. 
So, one day last month on the way to school my daughter recited a poem for me.  I asked if she'd learned it in school.  She said no, she'd just made it up.  And then she kept reciting it over and over.  She even said it for her class.  Of course, I had to write it down and I've been planning to commemorate it on a layout ever since.  Today, instead, a painting seemed more in order.

The poem begins in the middle of the flower, sprials out of it and down the stem with the "composed by" and the date sprialling through the leaf. 

I put in a seed

It started to grow

It grew a flower

On top of its nose

It started to smile

Full of glee

Happily

Isn't that adorable??!!!!!   My budding poet!  I love the way every line didn't have to have the same number of syllables. 

To finish off the page I attempted to make an interpretive sun out of spiraled misted Tim Holtz tissue tape and clouds of drywall tape. 

The butterfly is cut out of some spring-themed ribbon. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I loved making it.  I don't paint often and don't consider myself a painter by any stretch of the imagination but I really had a great time doing this piece.  I guess I just need awesome inspiration first.  Now I've just got to find a frame for it and it's going to go live in my daughter's room. 

Be sure to check out the Precocious Paper blog for lots more yummy, flowery inspiration from her talented DT.   I can't wait to see who will be on the next team.

Hopefully you guys are cooler than we are this week.  It got up to 91 yesterday.  (Not sure what today was but it felt even worse.)  If it were May, or even April, I would've given in and clicked on that A/C so fast but there's something about it being only March that I refuse to on principle.  Even for here that's 15 degrees warmer than normal.  It's supposed to go back to the "normal" range next week.  I'll believe it when I feel it. 

♥Heidi

Little Things

Supplies Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup, My Little Shoebox; Stickers: SRM Stickers; Moondrops:      ; Alcohol Ink: Ranger Industries; Glitter Mist: Maya Road, Tattered Angels; Pen: Zig; Other: paint chip, staples, thread

Welcome to another installment of Sketchy Thursdays.  And YES!  It's a traditional layout!!!!!   (Admittedly I almost had a hard time not doing this one digi.  I'm hooked!)

I've been holding on to these pictures for, well, 6 years considering this little boy is now 7 and he's 11 months here.  Time to scrap those puppies.  This was his first trip to the beach.  He had a great time.  A litle digging.  A little flinging.  A little eating.  (Yup!  If you take a closer look at the middle picture his mouth is lousy with the sand he's been munching on.)

Loving my little faux dew drops...there's a tutorial for how to make them coming up in Scrapbook News and Review the last Sunday of March.  (Did you hear - we're publishing twice a month now!  The second Sunday of each month will be chock full of all the eye candy.  The last Sunday OEM will have all the awesome tutorials and paper crafting articles.)

I've been playing with my mists a lot in the last couple days, too.  (And I've got blood-red fingers to show for it.  The Tsukineko walnut inks are very intense and stain big time.  My son freaked out thinking his head was bleeding again when he saw my hands, LOL.)

Of course, this layout is based on this week's sketch:

Sketchy Thursdays is also partnering with SRM Stickers this week.  We got to play with some of their newly released stickers.  Have I mentioned I love SRM Stickers?  Seriously.  They blend so well into the background paper. 

Speaking of blood red and the boy...I'm happy to report he's doing fine.  It's a challenge washing his hair but otherwise it doesn't bother him at all.  (Gotta remember to make the appointment to get the staples taken out.)

So, are you wearing your green today?  Do you do anything special for St. Patrick's Day?  We don't although if you have some corned beef and cabbage you want to send my way I'm all over it!  Love it!  Sometimes I make the effort to make it for St. Pat's but I just didn't bother this year.   I do love this day, however, just because green is my favorite color, LOL!

Oh, the May calls are up for Scrapbook News and Review.  Check out my sidebar for the link to see the call descriptions.  Check out the sketch!  It's mine!!  :oD

Have a green and lucky day!

Pretty good. We made it almost 7-1/2 years. (warning - graphic pics)

Without a trip to the ER, that is. 

I guess we've had a pretty good track record, not having had to visit the ER before. 

A playground injury.  He was playing tag and ran into the metal playground equipment.

Man, head wounds sure do bleed profusely. 

My little trooper didn't cry or moan once.  He's my little Frankenstein now...2 staples!

Don't worry - the shiny stuff is antibiotic gel.  Mostly. 

Pretty gross...I can't get the area wet for 24 hours and as I mentioned, head wounds bleed profusely.  His hair is soaked with blood (now dried).  I tried sponging it out as best I could.  Ick! 

So I've driven by several Urgent Cares in my time, always making a conscious mental note of where they are just in case.  Yeah, all that cataloguing just flew out the window.  My mind went blank.  Luckily someone nearby knew the one I wanted to go to.  Whew! 

OK, enough excitement for me for one day.