September Studio J Blog Hop - These Are a Few of My Favourite Things

Welcome to our first Studio J Blog Hop. To learn more about Studio J Online Scrapbooking contact your local consultant. My customers (and Canadians without a consultant) can create and purchase from my website or by contacting me. 

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our blog viewers. By leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see.  Thank you… now on to our hop!

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop.  If you came from Marianne of The Scrapbook Chick, then you are in the right place!

Close To My Heart recently launched it's new Annual Inspirations Idea Book, so several of my blog posts have referred to my favourite things. This often reminds me the song "My Favourite Things" from The Sound of Music.  I saw a local production as a child and I'm sure I've seen the movie over 30 times. 

As mentioned previously, I spent a year in Ireland with my husband and two children in 2008-2009. We took advantage of the cheap air fare and explored other parts of Europe during school breaks.  In May 2009, I planned a trip and tried to incorporate something for everyone. I really wanted to visit Salzburg and I just had to take my family on Fräulein Maria's Bicycle Tour.  It was a great tour and we were able to see a lot of the sights from the movie.  

Created in: Studio J
Kit: Lucky
Pattern: Glimpses 
Kit Mix: 5

I love watching the Love Your Layout videos From Close To My Heart.  When I saw one using the Lucky paper and My Stickese, I knew it would be perfect for my layout.  One great thing about creating in Studio J is that you can change the size of your stickese and you can also use multiples.  This is particularly great for my title, where I used them for "BICYCLE".  I also had the choice of colour for each letter.  I did make changes from the video to suit my pictures and theme.  

Your next stop on our Studio J blog hop is Heather's blog.  If you get lost along the way, you can head to Adeline's blog, as she has the complete blog list.

Thanks for hopping along with us.  We hope that you've learned some new things to try in Studio J.  If you're new to Studio J, I hope we've inspired you to try it out. 

September Cross Canada Blog Hop - Our Favourite Things

Welcome to our September Blog Hop featuring our Favourite New Things.  To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.  For my customers, or if you do not have a consultant and see something you would like, you may order from my website or contact me.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop! 

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, and I am at the beginning.  If you started elsewhere, then you came from Candra of Paper DragonFleur and you are in the right place! 

This post continues the tutorial shown in my previous post.  This time I am using the sponge and the blending pen with the Exclusive Ink Pads to colour my image.  I will be using some of my favourite new products to complete my card.  

I used the chocolate mini pigment ink that comes with the Z2503 Basics set to stamp the image from A1157 Quick Cards - Island Greetings.  I used our sponge to apply ink in two of my favourite new colours Glacier and Thistle.  You can use the sponge whole or cut it into wedges.  

Next used the blending pen with the Topiary stamp pad to colour in the stems and buds.  I continued to sponge over the image with Desert Sand stamp pad.

I assembled my card using the  Make It From Your Heart Volume 2, Pattern 30.  Other favourite new products I used were the Paper Fundaments Whimsey Assortment and the Silver Sequins Assortment.  Cardstocks used were White Daisy, Kraft and  Topiary.

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Michelle of My Creations With Michelle. Michelle also has the complete blog list posted in case you get lost along the way. 

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. We hope you will join us again next month when we will be featuring Trick or Treats, for Halloween.  So mark October 15th on your calendars and hop along with us.

Team Brae-er September Blog Hop - Back to School

Welcome to our September Team Brae-er Blog Hop. Since the children go back to school in September, we decided it was a good month for us to teach and learn some new techniques. Each stop on our hop will feature a tutorial using various Close To My Heart Products.  To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, kindly contact your local consultant to place an order.  For my customers, or if you do not have a consultant and see something you would like, you may order from my website or contact me.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we really love feedback from our blog viewers.  By leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop!  

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow our team's blogs, then please start at the beginning and join Brae at the Brae-er.  If you came from Tamara at Mara's Journey then you are in the right place! 

To meet the needs of my customers, I offer workshop kits by mail.  This idea was inspired by Dawn Montagano.  These kits include the stamp set supplies and instructions (not ink) to complete a minimum of 4 projects and cost $25 including postage to you.  This month's kit features 6 all occasion quick cards and also includes my cutting guide.  Participants can choose any of our Quick Card sets, but I have chosen A1157 Quick Cards - Island Greetings

When working with alcohol markers, the best choice of ink for stamping the image is Archival Black, however the regular Exclusive Ink stamp pads and Exclusive Ink Mini Pigment stamp also work well and provide more colour choice.  You just want to give the ink time to dry or use the craft heater.   I have chosen to use the saddle mini pigment ink that comes with the Z2503 Basics set.  

For this workshop, there are various options to colour in the image.  But I have chosen to focus on using the ShinHan Touch Twin markers for this tutorial.  I want to show some basic shading options that do not require you to use many marker colours.  Each of these options use just two colours for the flower and two for the stem.

I started by by making some flicking strokes with the Z2457 Marigold for the flower and 2463 Sap Green on the buds.

Next I went over the petals with the Z2452 Golden Yellow and finished the stem with with Z2454 Leaf Green.  You can also lighten areas with the Z2469 Colourless Blender Marker.

Here is another two marker combination for the flower, Z2464 Tender Pink with Z2455 Light Orange.  

I tried other combinations including 2458 Marine Blue and 2461 Peacock Green.  Here are my finished cards.  Some are coloured using sponging and the blending pen with the exclusive ink pads.  This will be shown in another tutorial.

Your next stop on the Team Brae-er Hop is Carol's blog . If you get lost along the way, you can head to Brae's blog at the Brae-er, as she has a complete blog list.

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope you enjoyed some of our favourite new products and that we inspired you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way.