Mother's Little Helper

Wonders Never Cease!

It's true! I bet you thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth, huh? Well, fear not -- I am alive and well, if a little longer in tooth and wider in girth (I'm working on that, though. The girth part. Can't do much about the teeth. I suppose I could get veneers or something, but I digress). Lots and lots has been going on in my wee corner of the world, of which I am sure I will fill you in on one of these days. For now, though, I don't want our heads to explode, what with my sudden reappearance here on the blog-o-sphere (is that still a word people use?), the fact that I've actually stamped for the first time in 2014 (REALLY!), plus all of my personal news... it would just be too much to take for a Thursday morning.

I will give you a couple of bullet-points, though.  Because I'm a giver...

• We've moved. We still live in the great state of Oklahoma, but instead of Claremore, America, we now reside about 3.5 hours south in Durant. Durant is located in the southeastern part of the state, and is just north of the Oklahoma/Texas border. Why the move? Well, the husband (aka Sean) took a new position as President of Southeastern Oklahoma State University, which is located in Durant.  We live on campus in a beautiful old home that was built in 1916 (or maybe 1918 - I can never remember which; I need to go outside and read the plaque to be sure) and is known as Magnolia House. Here's a picture of it, in case you're curious...

Not the greatest photo (I took it), but you get the idea. See the cartoon bison wearning the yellow shirt and blue shorts, leaning up against the front porch? That's Bolt, the SE Savage Storm mascot. Since I'm at it, might as well show you a recent photo of the fam taken on the front porch for a campus publication...

There's Truman, now a high school senior, Carter, who's now in 4th grade and about to turn 10 this weekend (can you believe it?!), Sean, me, and Sweet Pea and Daisy. (Sadly, Ringo, our big, unruly German Shepherd didn't make the cut for this particular adventure. Instead, he has a new family and lives on a farm -- for reals -- about 5 miles from our new home.)

• My new crafty space is located in the basement. It's a good deal smaller, but at least it's not off of the front of the house anymore, where everyone who walked in would see the unholy mess that is its chronic state. I've got it barely functional at the moment -- consider it a work in progress.

See that pipe under the foil-insulated-looking pipe?  It's about 5 feet off of the ground.  I'm 5'6" and, I swear, I hit my head on it at least three times a day. Painful!

Okay, okay, okay. See? This is exactly what I didn't want to get started today: a long ol' post about me and my new environment and so forth. I just wanted to simply say a brief "hello" and let you know I'm intending to resume my crafty/bloggy ways. Then, I was going to show you my first effort to dip my foot back in the pool again, so to speak. *sigh*  I can't even stick to my own script... Oh, well. Without further adieu, here's a little number I created for my M-I-L's birthday, which is tomorrow.  I used this week's MFT Sketch (#192) and the color challenge from this week's Color Throwdown (Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo & Pumpkin Pie):

Ta-da!  I love the fun, graphic images from My Favorite Things' Office Space set, and I was hoping that using bits of washi tape cut with pinking edged scissors would reinforce the idea of tacking something up with tape. To add a birthday embellishment, I used dies from MFT's Lollipop Treats Die-Namics, a sentiment from Lollipop Additions - Birthday, and some orange Hemptique twine.

There you have it, folks. I'm winded now! I hope all of you have been well, and I'd love to hear what new adventures you've been having since I last poked up my head (or hit it on that dang pipe...)

 

 

MFT WSC 192	CTD 308	MFT Office Space Stamps	MFT Office Space Die-Namics	MFT Lollipop Additions Birthday
MFT Lollipop Treats Die-Namics	MFT Cardstock	MFT Razzle Berry Hybrid Ink	MFT Lemon Drop Hybrid Ink	MFT Hybrid Ink - Orange Fizz
Stampin' Up Card Stock	Jody's Foam Boosters

InLinkz.com

Taylored Expressions March Studio Challenge

{If you're looking for my March i {heart} papers Design Team Challenge post, please scroll down}

It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge.  This is a monthly opportunity for the Taylored Expressions team to share what makes our stamping studios hum.  Each month we  have a fun, crafty question so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more.

The question for March is:

You oughta be in pictures!! 

We all love to share our completed projects with others on our blogs and in on-line galleries.  So, when the stamping ends, the photography begins.  This is a fun step for some and a frustrating one for others.  How is it for you?

Tell us how you get those beautiful project photos.

Well, it's a VERY sophisticated photography set up I have here at the ol' Burragio, let me tell you... 

Actually, I've just developed my own idiosyncratic system over the years that works well enough for me.  I'll give you a peek into my photography process.

First of all, I always take my card/papercrafting photos with a white background.  The reason for this is that I want the cards (or whatever) to be the star of the show, and to minimize distractions for the viewer.  I also like the consistency of this, since I move the location of where I take my photos depending on what time of day it is.

Ideally, I prefer to take my pictures in natural light.  If I'm photographing in the afternoon, when the sun is in the west, I take my photos in the window of my craft room, like so:

Pretty fancy, no?  So much depends on a piece of poster board and a binder clip...  This is a little adjustable medical table that I can roll around to where I need it.  I've got a piece of white poster board that's propped up against an ink turnstile and held in place with a binder clip. 

If I'm taking a photo at night, I use a light box.  This is my least favorite way to take a photo, but often it's necessary when working on deadline.  I keep my photo box up at all times, and it sits on top of a map chest located behind my desk and against a wall in my craft room:

My preferred time of day to take photos is in the morning, when the sun is in the east and not as harsh as the western sun.  When that occurs, here's my set-up:

Please note the dirty-pawed windows and the peanut gallery made up of my constant companions.  This photo is taken in my family room/great room.  The barstool is one of eight that surround the countertop bar that sections off the kitchen from the family room.  I like to the barstools because they have a high back that I can binder clip the posterboard to and upholstered seats that I can stick quilting pins in to help keep the posterboard in place.

I don't take my photos in direct sunlight as the glare is too harsh and causes shadowing on the photos. 

I believe the  camera and lens I use make a big difference in the clarity of my photos.  I use a Nikon D90 DSLR, and I take my card photos with a AF-S Nikkor 50mm F1.4 G lens that really bumps up the resolution.  It's a great camera and lens, and was a Christmas gift from my husband in 2011.

I also think photo editing is so, so important in showing off your paper crafting.  I use a really unsophisticated photo editing software program: iPhoto, which comes standard on any Mac computer.  I've bought various packages of PhotoShop, but have never taken the time to sit down and get familiar with it.  It intimidates me!  I've been using iPhoto for so many years (since at least 2002), that I know it well and it does most of what I need. 

For most photos, my photo editing process is pretty standard:

• select the clearest photo (I usually take 5-7 shots of a given project)
• straighten and crop
• use the auto-enhance button and see if that's an improvement
• I often end up adding exposure to my pictures because I hate dark pictures - I like 'em light & bright
• I occasionally will add a bit of saturation to the photo to beef up the colors
• I always sharpen the photo by at least 80%
• Then, last step, if there are any flaws (an ink smudge or a piece of lint on the backdrop), I retouch them
• I grab the photo and put it on my desktop.  I rename it, then I go into iWatermark (a software you can purchase and download over the web for Macs) and add my watermark.  iWatermark also resizes photos, and I generally resize my pictures to about 680 pixels and 72 dpi.

Here is my project photo, unedited:

And here it is, post-tweaking...

(I have to say, this image from Cuppie Love Scenes makes me giggle.  Cupcakes making out always gets me guffawing, and then there's the cranky cupcake trying to shush the Chatty Cathys in the middle seats...)

It truly doesn't take a lot of fancy equipment to take good photos of cards!  The biggest mistakes (in my opinion) that I see crafters making across the blogosphere and in galleries is that their pictures are too dark and that the photos on their blogs are too small.  If your photos are dark, try to take them in natural light and/or start playing with the exposure levels in your photo editing software.  Never assume someone is going to click a photo on your blog to enlarge it and get a closer look -- people are lazy!  (At least, I know I am -- there are too many blogs out there with big, clear photos for me to spend my time on blogs with poorly sized and/or lit photos.) I use Typepad to blog with and my photos are set to post at a width of 475 pixels (unless I change it). That's about as big as I can get them with the margins of my blog.  If I could make them bigger, I would!  A width of 500 pixels is probably ideal. If you use Blogger, or a blog service that has pre-set widths, bump that sucker up to 'large' or 'extra-large'!  Don't make me squint or have to put my face closer to the screen to see what awesome stuff you've created!

I think I've said all I can think of on this topic.  Make sure you go visit my fellow Baker's Dozen team mates to learn how they make their photos look so good - I'm hoping I can pick up some hints and tips, too!

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Kerri Mchaud

Lynnette Kauffman

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Tammie Edgerton

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

Supplies used from Taylored Expressions

• Stamps: Cuppie Love Scenes; sentiment from Moka Wanda
• Momento Tuxedo Black ink
• Copic Markers
• Foam Tape

Other supplies - Paper: patterned paper from Carta Bella True Friends 6x6 pad (IHP), Copic X-Press Blending cardstock (IHP), Haiwaiian Shores & Hibiscus Burst (PTI); Ink: Green Galore (SU!); Accessories: Rectangle Nestabilities, Doodlebug Cuppy Cakes Braddies

Two VERY IMPORTANT Things

FIRST of all, check out this FABULOUS new chair I got for my craft room:

Please ignore dog nose prints on the window and all the clutter on the side of my cardstock file cabinet.  It's one of the only magnetic surfaces in the house.  Since we're looking at it, though, let me share with you a couple of funny magnets friends have given me over the years.  Mind you, I have no idea what it is about me that inspired these gifts, but they make me giggle, I must admit.

Farm animal butts from Cammie, artwork and poetry by Truman, circa 2003.

From my GF Heather. :)

A truism from my buddy Jen del Muro.

Can't remember who gave me this one, but there are days when this rings so true.

This one, I bought myself because it reminded me of Claremore.  Hey - look at that cute, young gal in the photo.  There I am, on a field trip to the Zoo, tying Truman's shoe.  Look how young - 33 - and cute I was!  (I'm sure I thought I was fat when it was taken, of course...)  Now, I'm totally depressed - I am NOT aging well. Of course, I've had another kid and become a politician's wife since then, which, as Anne LaMott would say, is enough to make even Jesus want to drink gin from the cat bowl.

Which brings me to the SECOND very important thing: to see for yourself just how badly I am aging, head on over to the There She Goes blog, where I'm hosting Stampbook Saturday.  You will have a special place in heaven if you say I look good in the photo.  I don't care if you have to lie to do so (just don't tell me you're that lying).

Have a great Saturday, peeps!

My Ink-credible Swatchbook

I know I mention my cardstock swatchbook all the time, to the point where you regular readers are probably thinking to yourself, "Enough about that dang swatchbook!  If you love it so much, why don't you marry it¹?"  It's just that it's so so handy, and has really changed and streamlined my cardmaking.  I can't tell you how much time I wasted, getting up from my desk, browsing through my cardstock filing cabinet for a shade to grab me, taking it back to my table, then comparing colors under the Ott light, only to have to get back up, return it to it's proper file, and start all over again.  Now, I just grab my cardstock swatchbook at my desk, flip through it for a moment, pick the shade under my Ott light I want, then get up and get it.  So much better!

It got me thinking: maybe I should do the same thing for all of my inks?  I don't know about you, but I have an OBSCENE number of inkpads, even though 95% of the time, I just use trusty old Momento Tuxedo Black.  Still, when you want to use a colored ink, you want the right color when you need it, and without having to test a bunch of different shades on scratch paper.  And maybe, if I could easily distinguish which color I needed, I'd be more apt to use those colored inks and feel better about all the money I spent on them and the space they take up in my craft room.

So I got to work, cutting out a whole bunch of 2.75" by 2.75" squares of white, Georgia Pacific cardstock², trimming a couple of corners with a Fiskars Ticket Corner punch³, and punching a hole in the top for a jump ring.  Now, if I need a particular shade of green (St. Patrick's Day is coming up, after all):

Or maybe something from the orange family?

I wanted to use a stamp that provided me with a good amount of area to cover for comparison purposes, so I selected this funky flower from Taylored Expressions' new Posh Posies set.  Here's the cover:

For the cover, I took a scrap of glossy white cardstock and used a brayer to lay down a coat of Celebration Kaleidacolor ink.  I mounted that on black cardstock covered chipboard, then made my title out of die cuts from TE's new Whimsey Alpha dies. 

Be on the lookout for things to get colorful around here! :)

Footnotes:

1.  Maybe I will, once the kids are grown.  Until then, I'm for sure keeping the old man.  Lucky guy, isn't he?

2.  I used the cheap stuff because there were an awful lot of cards to be trimmed down & punched.  How many?  I don't know & lost my place trying to count the other day.  To tell you the truth, I'm a little embarrassed to know.  I mean, why on earth do I have 39 varying shades of red/pink ink?!  (I do know that number, because I counted it just now.)  That's insane.  And yet, I still want to try out those new shades from Hero Arts, and every Distress Ink that Tim Holtz comes up with, etc.  It's sick, I tell you!

3.  For a tiny bit of flair.  A plain rectangle would just seem so sad...

Taylored Expressions February Studio Challenge

(please scroll down if you're looking for my IHP February Design Team Challenge post)

It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge.  This is a monthly opportunity for the Taylored Expressions team to share what makes our stamping studios hum.  Each month we  have a fun, crafty question so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more.

The question for February is:

Recipe for success!  When you sit down to create a card just for fun, for the pure joy of stamping, without any type of assignment or deadline, what steps do you usually take?

Tell us how you get started and take us along on your creative journey.

1.  Unless I'm creating something for a particular type of challenge, my creative process inevitably starts with selecting an image.  I have so many uninked stamps ready and waiting for a little attention, I inevitably drift towards those I've purchased but haven't had a chance to use.  For example, for today's Studio Challenge, I couldn't wait to use the train image from TE's Life Is a Circus set; I think it's so fun & whimisical, and I know my 8-year-old train afficianado will get a kick out of it.

2. After selecting the image, my thoughts turn to what patterned paper I have that will coordinate best with the image.  If possible, I try to pick a pattern collection that is current (in other words, in the paper company's most recent release), but if I think there is a pattern in my stash (in other words, older paper no longer carried in stores) that's too perfect for the image for me to resist, I'll opt for what I consider the better fit over what's trendy. 

I want the card I make today to be a child's birthday card that can go unisex, so I selected some fun, bright papers from My Mind's Eye's new My Girl 6x6 pad.  (Despite the name of the pad, I think the papers will be fine for a boy, too.)

3.  Next, I hunt for a sketch that will fit the image I want to use.  I'm kind of lazy when it comes to sketches - if there's one out and about (especially if it's a current one) that fits, I'm happy to use it and give credit; why reinvent the wheel, you know?  Some of my favorite weekly sketch challenges include Mojo Monday (naturally!), the Sweet Sunday Sketch, and my fellow Baker's Dozen gal Jen Shults' Deconstructed Sketch.  I also have a bunch of sketches I've printed out over the years that I consider my go-to sketches, and I'll refer to those if need be.  (By the way, Taylor's got 161 AWESOME sketches that I refer to again and again that you can download by clicking on the TE Sketch Book badge on her blog's sidebar. One of my all-time favorites that I've used several times is TECC57.)

Because the train image is so horizontal, I opted to go with the sketch on the left of my clipboard versus the one on the right (it looks like it will be harder to fit my image with the circle feature of the right sketch than it will be to elongate the one on the left).

4.  Once I've got my stamp set, patterned paper and sketch figured out, then I start figuring out the rest of the card ingredients I'm thinking about using: cardstock (I am CONSTANTLY referring to the cardstock swatchbook I made last summer; it was a huge investment of time to make, but I can't emphasize enough how handy it's been), dies, embellishments, etc.  These inevitably end up changing as I make the card and figure out what works and what doesn't.

5. Next, I set about coloring my image.

Like my cardstock swatchbook, I keep my Copic or Spectrum Noir color guides close by when I'm stamping to select the markers I'm going to use.

6.  At long last, it's construction time...

For this card, I ended up modifying this week's Deconstructed Sketch by turning it from vertical to horizontal because it fit the train image better.  The baker's twine is supposed to resemble train tracks, and by laying the Small Scalloped Border die cut on top of the image panel, I was able to avoid creating some sort of grounding on the airbrushed sky background layer (score!).  I used a strip of yellow chevron washi tape at the bottom, but backed it with white cardstock so you wouldn't see the patterned paper show through underneath it.  If you look at the photo before my finished card, you'll see that I had originally planned to use white brads, but then thought better of it when I found the polka dotted red brads in my stash.

As I create my cards, I always keep a list of the materials I use so I don't leave anything out when it's time to create my blog posts or various gallery posts.

7.  I usually don't stamp or embellish the interior of my cards, but because I figure this will be a perfect one for a child's birthday (and I had the stamp set out in front of me), I thought I'd go ahead and stamp an interior sentiment.

8.  Something I ALWAYS do - sign my cards!  I'm a big believer in this, as I've expressed many times over the years on this blog...

I have lots of different stamps I use to do this, often corresponding to the company whose image I'm using.  This particular stamp is from TE's Signature Style set, which gives you 17 different ways to let recipients know you cared enough to make the very best. :)

9. Lastly, I file the card away into my card stash, because heaven knows if I leave it out, I'll spill something on it or mess it up some how.

I have four plastic stackable drawers for cards that I keep in a closet adjacent to my craft room.  They're divided by theme:

• humor/concern/love/baby/masculine
• birthday/thank you/congrats
• friendship
• seasonal

And there you have it!  That's how the sausage gets made here in Claremore, America. :)  Ready to see the mysterious inner workings of my fellow Baker's Dozen team mates creative processes?  I know I'm DYING to figure out their secrets...

• Carole Burrage
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Kerri Michaud
• Lynnette Kauffman
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Tammie Edgerton
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

Supplies used:

From Taylored Expressions: stamps - Life Is a Circus & Signature Style; paper - My Mind's Eye 'My Girl' 6x6 pad, Choice Snow White cardstock; ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Dies: Small Scalloped Border; Cloud Duo(for masking off airbrushed background); Accessories: Copic Markers

Other: paper - Pure Poppy (PTI), Tempting Turquoise (SU); ink: Wild Cherry (MFT); Accessories: Aqua Divine Twine (TCP), My Mind's Eye Yellow Deco-Tape (IHP), Nestabilities Labels 17, Corner Chomper, Queen & Co. polka dot brads, Jody's foam boosters

Book Lover's Bliss

Reading has always been one of the great joys of my life.  In fact, I am completely dependent on books; I have to have one with me at all times or I feel panicky.  What if I get stuck in traffic or have to wait in line somewhere?  I judge all purses by whether or not they're big enough to hold a book.  And my house?  We bought it from a woman in my book club.  In 2007, I met one of my major goals in life by seeing my name on the spine of a book (Voices From the Heartland,a book I co-edited with friends, was published this past August).  All of this is to give you an idea of how happy I am to have finally gotten my hands on Bookwormabella. 

I'm also awfully fond of Joseph Campbell, whose phrase "Follow Your Bliss" became a national mantra after he was the subject of the phenomenal "The Power of Myth" PBS broadcast with Bill Moyers.  I have kind of a crush on J.C., even though he died before I graduated from high school.  (Death doesn't stop me from having crushes on certain men; I also have a big one on Thomas Jefferson.  I know, I'm weird...)  I love that the My Favorite Things Sassy Sayings set includes this sentiment (even more proof that Kim V. is one smart chick), and think it's perfect paired with Bookwormabella.  This card uses the sketch from today's SCS Sketch Challenge.

Supplies Used -- Stamps: Bookwormabella by Stamping Bella, Sassy Sayings by MFT, A Muse oval; Paper: River Rock, Brocade Blue, Ruby Red, Georgia Pacific White, patterned paper by Daisy D's and Creative Memories; Ink: Brilliance Archival Graphite Black, River Rock, Brocade Blue; Accessories: Copic Sketch markers, ribbon, Dimensionals.

So what are you reading these days? I'm about two-thirds of the way through Oprah's hefty latest bookclub pick, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  And my local bookclub -- as opposed to my buddy O's club -- is meeting a week from Monday to discuss Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time, which I'm really excited to re-read, since it's been thirty or so years and I've forgotten just a little bit of it...

Featured Stamper Sunday and a big ol' mess

Today's Featured Stamper is dlounds (aka Fat Cat Stamper, or Danielle).  She may have a lot of names, but fortunately, she also has a lot of talent and a gallery full of sweet cards to CASE from.  I chose this card, because I like the clean simplicity of it, and it gave me a chance to ink up the Time Well Spent set that SU! sent all active Demos as a holiday present (it's a level 3 hostess set in the new Spring-Summer 2008 SU! catalog).
The terms of the FS challenge require changing at least two elements of the chosen card; I went with a different color scheme (I know you're shocked that I went with pink and green), and instead of an oversized brad, I used a cute little chipboard button from Making Memories as an embellishment.

Supplies Used -- Stamps: Time Well Spent by SU!; Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, patterned paper by SEI; Ink: Staz-On Timber Brown; Accessories: Copic Sketch Markers, ribbon, Making Memories chipboard button, embroidery floss

In other news, I'm still working on tearing down the Christmas tree.  I know a lot of people like to leave theirs up through the New Year, but once we're done opening presents on Christmas morning, I'm ready to move on.  I don't want to hear another Christmas Carol and I want the decorations in the attic.  Next on my list of things to do: clean up my disaster of a stamping room.  To shame me into getting it done faster, I'll share with you a couple of before photos:
and

I hope to have after photos to show you by my next post, but if I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath...