An order and all caught up!

Remember when I said I was going to write a whole bunch of posts in a row and get them all caught up?  Well, this is it!  I am all caught up as of this posting :)  I had an order from a lady I work with for three semi-matching mini albums/journals for her daughters.  I finished the last of them at 1030 last night, and delivered them today. She was ecstatic!  She loved them and told me that each one absolutely represents each of her daughters.  What a great feeling!  For all three of these albums, I used Luane Kash's file folder mini design, and K&Company's Susan Winget Nature Collection paper pad.  I chose a different main color for each book, and tried to incorporate a bit of each color into each book.  I included a lot of extras and ephemera in these books, as well as flip tags and pages, for lots of added space for photos and journaling.  One of these books will be going to Australia!  How cool is that!

A Kathy Orta Envelope Mini

Once you follow a Kathy Orta tutorial, you'll never go back. She is such an awesome and happy person, it makes you want to keep watching and creating!  After making the first envelope mini from a child's card making kit, I went to Michael's and bought some Recollections blank envelopes and cards and proceeded to make another.  I used paper from My Mind's Eye Antique Floral collection, in a 12 x 12 pad, and Recollections blank envelopes and cards from Michael's.  I made a Gorilla tape spine and colored it with a copper colored Sharpie to make it match the paper line.  The Gorilla Tape Camo is really nice to be able to color with permanent markers.  It has a fabric-like finish that lends itself to being colored :)  There are a lot of pics in this post, so please bear with me :)

For the closure I used a piece of 3/8 elastic and hand-dyed it with distress inks, to match the paper line and the gorilla tape binding.  I also did the same with the piece of lace trim on the front cover.

Every other envelope page has a card flip that has been matted and decorated to use as journaling spots or photo mats.

I added lots of pockets and extras to this one as well...increases the real estate, as Kathy Orta says.

Every other envelope page has a top loading pocket, that has a full, double-sided photo mats.

I really like this paper line, the blues, greens, browns and purples are a great compliment to each other.

Ooooo Let's Color!

Those of you who know me, or have read my very first Ode to Paper blog post, already know that I love color.  Every color, hue, tint and shade.  I have never met one I didn't love.  So when I found a lady selling some of her Copics online, I figured, what the heck, lets give this a try.  I have been an acrylic painter for years, it couldn't be all that different, could it?  Ahem, um, yes, it definitely can.  Copics are alcohol ink markers and have to be blended a certain way.  The other thing I learned quickly is that you can't just pick out some colors and go ahead and color with them like you would crayons or pencil crayons.  I ordered some of her markers but didn't order any blendable colors, lol.  I just went through and picked out a few that I thought were nice colors.  OK, now I had to rectify that situation, but Copics are so very expensive here! The next ride into the city took me to Michael's and I purchased three colors I thought would blend well together.  This is my first attempt with Copics:

Not so great.

 My second attempt, waited until I got a few more colors, ordered from the same lady (who has become a friend***HI Monica!!**).  I also tried a few different papers as I found the coverstock I was using tended to bleed the ink really bad.  My mother-in-law gave me some different sheets to try, unfortunately, I have no idea what they are.  I'll have to take them into the art store in the city and ask if they can tell me.  This is my second attempt with Copics and 2 different papers:

Still not great, but getting better.  The second paper was far better than the first one in the photos.

Then my friend decides to sell a wack of Spectrum Noir markers, and of course, I had to try those too.  The difference between Copics and the Spectrum Noirs have made me a believer.  I love the Spectrum Noir markers.  They are about a third of the price of Copics, and have a bullet tip instead of the brush tip.  I haven't decided which I like better yet though.  This is my third attempt on actual 150 pound cardstock:

Still working on it.  LOL, it is definitely a hard learning curve.  Monica says to me, you need to learn how to blend.  Yup, I do.  I went online again, and went to the Spectrum Noir website and found a whole host of videos on how to blend and such with the spectrum Noir markers and here is my latest attempt:

That's better!  Still not the best, but I'm definitely seeing improvement!  And even better, I love it!