Halloween Scrapbook Album with Karen Bearse

Before Karen Bearse takes you through her fabulously spooky Halloween project, Karen and I would like to thank Karen for all of her fabulous and inspiring work during her time on our Design Team. It has been a true pleasure working with you and we wish you all the best on your future successes! You'll want to make sure to follow Karen on her blog to see what she is up to. Now back to Karen and her spooky Halloween project.

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Karen Bearse here today with my last post for Southern Ridge Trading Co. I have loved being on this team!! I want to thank my team mates especially Katelyn Grosart the DT lead & Karen Beaupre the very generous owner. I will miss these talented ladies but will check in from time to time. I feel the need to focus on other endeavours, but you will still see me around the block!

First I have a creepy Halloween Scrapbook Album for you. I made a similar book way back in 2001 or so. The idea was to do a scrapbook spread every year chronicling our Halloween costumes. This book starts in 1996 with my oldest son’s first Halloween. I have the years up to 2010 where my book kind of stalled out. Time to create part 2 the sequel. The goal is to play with this book and fill in the missing years & carry on from there.

I decided to once again use Eileen Hull’s Journal die but this time in a different way. As most of our Halloween pics tend to be landscape, it will give me room to use bigger photos. First I cut out 2 journal pieces from mat board, lined up & punched the middle hole. Next I cut off the top spine piece leaving me with only 1 row of holes. I used these to add rings so I can add pages as the years go by.

The top pieces were decorated using Distress Oxide, stamped then heat embossed. I have years of Halloween paper hoarded so I brought a bunch out to use on this project. I went with this black & silver spider web paper as the background.

Placing dies & the chipboard piece gave me an idea of how much room I had & where my embellishments should go. I took a photo so I could re-assemble after the pieces were cut & coloured.

Placing dies & the chipboard piece gave me an idea of how much room I had & where my embellishments should go. I took a photo so I could re-assemble after the pieces were cut & coloured.

The cool raven was cut out twice and layered to give him some strength then doodled on. He was adhered with pop dots to give a bit of depth. My ghost was cut out of a piece of white embossed on white paper, misted with Glimmer Mist in Silver for a bit of shimmer.

The cool chippie title was painted using Finnabair art alchemy acrylic paint. Hard to see in photos but in real life there is a great shimmer & metallic finish. Once it was dry the title was a bit dark & did not show up well so I doodled that as well with a white paint pen.

Time for finishing touches! I took my word band and added paint so the letters would show up better, and some hemp. I added orange rings now all I need is to add some pages. I hope you enjoyed my Halloween tutorial & I encourage you to make a book, it is a lot of fun to look back on all the years of Halloween! Thanks again for all the fun playing with Southern Ridge Trading Co.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Halloween Header

Other Supplies Used:

- Eileen Hull by Sizzix: Journal Die

- Tattered Angels: Tinsel Town (G.Glam) and Silver (G.Mist)

- Tombow: Mono Liquid Glue

- Tim Holtz by Sizzix: Feather & Ravens and Village Graveyard

- Tim Holtz Stamps by Stampers Anonymous

- Tim Holtz Idea-ology by Advantus: Word Band 

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Onyx Frost Embossing Powder

- Ranger Ink: Emboss It Dabber

- Finnabair Acrylic Paint by Prima Marketing: Metallic - Dark Forest, Fresh Orange and Silver Spoon, Opal Magic - Pink, Blue and Sparks: Iris Potion

- Karen

Whale Journal Art Page with Karen Bearse

Hello Blog Land, I am here today playing on another Journal Page. This book was made to hold my favourite photos and this certainly qualifies. We lived in Vancouver, Canada in 2005 and made many trips to the aquarium there. It is one of the memories I want to remember.

This whale paper was perfect to highlight our trips. I added a card with washi tape as a flip to put the beautiful turtle card & my journaling on the back. The anchor is a wonderful addition to use as a card tab.

The water fountain there is just incredible with a huge Haida whale statue. I am very happy to have a photo with my goofy kids in front of it.

Here are close ups of my chippies. Thanks for joining me today. If you would like to check out the Journal this came in you can see it on my site here. Have a great crafty day!

Southern Ridge Trading Co. Supplies Used:

- Fish Net Stencil

- Ocean Mix 1

- Canada 150 Set

Other Supplies Used:

- Therm*O*Web: Transfer Foil and DecoFoil Adhesive Pen

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Salted Navy Embossing Powder, Vintage Anchor Charm, Killer Whale Stamp and Dream Stamp

- Marvy Uchida: Le Plume Alcohol Marker - Coffee

- Tombow: Mono Aqua Glue

- Bo Bunny: Paper & Cards

- Recollections: Washi Tape

- Karen

Canada Traveler Journal Pages with Karen Bearse

Karen Bearse here today with the first bit of my Canada Travel Journal Pages. I worked on the inside covers & the cover of the first booklet. The great thing about this book is the booklets are removable.

Sadly I do not know if these papers are still available. I can’t find my recently purchased travel papers for the moment but did find these in my stash from years ago. Sorry about that but you can use whatever papers you have to create the same sort of look.

My chippies were coloured with Distress Oxides & covered with clear emboss.

The maple leaf in the center was painted white & stenciled using Mixed Media Medium. When it was dry and the gel was clear foil was rubbed on using my finger.

To see the original post on how to make this book you can go here. Thanks for joining me for my little update! See you soon.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Fall Leaves

- Canada 150 Set

Other Supplies Used:

- Rebekah Meier Mixed Media Medium
- DecoFoil Transfer Sheets
- Distress Oxide & Inks
- Reminisce Maple Leaf paper
- Beary Patch Sanded Wood paper
- Canada Stickers Titles   

- Karen

Let's Make Art Cards with Karen Bearse!

Today I have a simple technique that you can use with multiple products to get slightly different results on your chipboard pieces. The best part is it makes for really easy colour customizing.  All I did was to gesso my chippie, let dry, add colour and stamp on top. To get a more subtle look just stamp before the colour phase. Here are my art cards!

This has a fun, vintage, grunge feel to it. It also makes me think of a family member even though the photo is not of them.

This is a reminder of a garden friend that visits once in a while.

I collect gift cards, always intending to use them in Project Life or on a scrapbook page but then rarely do that. Part of the reason is I could never find the card when I needed it. Now I have a central place were all the cards go so that has made it easier. Celebrate Me events, like Mother’s Day… my go to is Red Lobster. The Ultimate Feast is the perfect seafood combo & the lobster tail is always (except that one time) cooked perfectly.

To see in more detail how I made these art cards & the supplies I used check out my blog post.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Leafy Branches

- Dandelion Seed Stems

- Word Mix 1

- Green Leaf

- Ocean Mix 1

- Karen

Traveler's Journal for Canada's 150th Birthday with Karen Bearse

Very excited to be working with Southern Ridge Trading Co. debut chippies commemorating Canada’s 150th birthday. Living in the U.S. I go home at least once a year to visit family. I made a traveler’s journal that will be perfect for documenting my trips back home. Some members of our design team & the Emerald Creeks team are participating in a blog hop that goes live tomorrow, Thursday the 29th.

Here is a sneak peek at my project that will have a full tutorial on my blog tomorrow. You can join in the hop here http://mygrandmasteacups.blogspot.ca/  and all the links will also be in a post tomorrow right here on Southern Ridge Trading Co.

Stay tuned right here in July as I continue with the new chipboard release. I will be adding signatures &  pages in my book to get ready for my next trip. I hope you can join us!

- Karen

The ArtiFacts Project, Art Journal With Karen Bearse

I am participating in the Artifacts Collaboration that is being put on by Seth Apter I am a big fan of his products & have been lucky enough to take a few of his classes. The idea is to create a book using whatever style you choose & do a page or so a month to document your artistic endeavours. Today I have a tour of the first page I have done in my book.

This was a fun page to create, as I just did whatever I wanted, using some of my favourite products & techniques as I went. The challenge I had was to put so many photos on 1 page. This is my artistic journey for January. I am playing catch-up but have decided that is okay. As a busy mom & designer I can give myself permission to just have fun & play too, being a bit behind lets me look back with fresh eyes!

After scraping gesso randomly across my craft page it was time to add colour. Knowing the photos were going in the center I started adding acrylic paint and stencil work around the edges.

More stencil work & more colours. Taking crackle paste & tinting it with acrylic paint seemed like a good thing to do. Just building layers.

Next up embellishments. Now that my background was shaping up it was time to add some chippies. I wanted to see what the colour difference would be if I only gessoed some of the gear. The result was unexpected & needs to be researched further. The gear is clearly darker & less embossed in an area. Was it because the powder wasn’t distributed evenly or was it the gesso?

Next up was the Retro Lightbulb. I embossed the base with Hammered Metal which looks totally realistic. The light part was Iridescent Shimmer. You can also see what some of my finishing doodles look like in this photo.

The funky flower branch was first gessoed, dried & then coloured with watercolour markers. A bit of water was added with a fine brush to blend the colours. The flower part was coloured first with a blue marker & than embossed with Fractured Ice. A gemstone was glued in the middle to add some pizazz.  

Once all the embellishments were adhered final touches were in order. Doodling & mark making. You can see some of the highlighting here.

One last shot of some of the products used. If you want to see the cover I put on my book & links to other posts about it you can click here.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Gears 2

- Retro Lightbulbs

- Mina Branch

Other Supplies Used:

- Seth Apter Stencils by Stencil Girl

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Embossing Powder and Gemstones

- Marvy Uchida: LePlume II Watercolour Markers and Deco Colour Liquid Gold & Silver

- DecoArt: Acrylic Paint, Crackle Paste & Matte Medium

- Tombow: Liquid Glue & Fastener Tabs

If you want to see more of what I have been up to you can find me at karenbearse.blogspot.com with links to my other social media. Have an inky day!

- Karen

Artful Adventure Journal Book with Karen Bearse

I am participating in a free class, Artful Adventures by Nathalie Kalbach. It is a wonderful idea about taking photos while "strolling through your hood" & documenting with these photos where you live. It is a 30 day challenge & will also give ideas about how to use your photos in your art. I decided to make a journal book that is fabulous on the outside & simple on the inside to document my strolling.

The design team as you have seen are playing with the wonderful new Dragonfly release. Here is my project using the journal book. It measures almost 4”x8”, has a delicate dragonfly design cut into the cover & comes with the “My Journal” title. I wanted this book to look grungy & metallic. I played with all kinds of products, layering & playing.

Adding Deco Foil to my title & chippies on the inside was an idea I had early on. I knew I wanted the inside of the dragonfly to be one of the watercolour foils showing through from behind. I have a tutorial on my blog with various foiling techniques on adding the foil to chippies.

I thought I would give you a peak at a few pages inside the book. The book comes with chippie inserts but I saved those for another project & added double sided paper for the pages. Wanting the photos to take center stage, meant keeping the pages simple. This book is about the photos & the stories. Another thing I am trying to do in general is use my stash! We all have lots of supplies so this is a way to add old to the new.

A fun place to use different papers, stamps and some stickers, post-it notes.

I will continue building my book as the class challenge goes on. The front & back inside covers are the same, each having a pocket to put something fabulous in!

Southern Ridge Trading Co. Supplies Used:

- Zen Dragonfly Journal

- Nuts & Bolts

- Green Leaf

- Med. Gears

- Gear Clock Stencil - Medium

- Cheerio Stencil - Small

Other Supplies Used:

- Therm.o.web: Deco Foil Transfer Sheets - Amber, Emerald Lapis Watercolour and Aqua, Deco Foil Liquid, Pen Adhesives and Transfer Gel, Peel & Stick Toner Sheets

- Tattered Angels: Glimmer Mist - Black Magic & Sterling, Chalkboard Spray in Charcoal

- Finnabair Art Alchemy by Prima Marketing: Acrylic Metallique - Royal Red & Emerald Green, Acrylic Opal Magic - Pink Blue, Metallique Wax - Rich Copper & Aged Brass

- Frank Garcia Artisan Powder by Prima Marketing: French Blue & Trianon Patina

- Ranger Ink: Texture Paste Opaque Crackle & Matte

- Graphic 45: Nature Sketchbook

- Paper Studio: Patterned Paper

- Tombow: Mono Glue

Hop on over to my blog to see more photos & a Deco Foil tutorial on these chipboard pieces. I am also having the world’s smallest (I assume) blog hop & you could win a prize! hope you join in on all the fun!

- Karen

Playing with Patina Effect Paste with Karen Bearse

Karen Bearse here today with a fun & quick tutorial on how to create patina pieces using Prima Marketing Patina Effect Paste. This is a wonderful mix media kit with 3 paints that create multiple patina’s without using a chemical reaction. There is also a rust kit available.

Here is the project I used to hold my cool finished patina chip. This tag is actually part of a 2 tag technique class I will be teaching at Goldenshill Papercrafts on May 23rd, in Clifton, VA. There are a lot of Prima paints & powders in this class but today we focus on patina!

I was playing with some chippies trying to get used to this product. I realized this is a great way to play & create embellishments to be used in future projects. The best part, you get to hear what I learned in my experiments. The kit contains a blue, mint-green, & brass paste. Each of them has a different consistency. The blue is slightly gritty, the mint-green very gritty & the brass is more of a heavy bodied acrylic.

Step 1: Starting with a gear chip I painted it with the blue paste and let it dry. Tip: I have learned that the best way to do this is to dab & pounce the paste on in random places. It creates more texture. Leave some spots open for the next colour. If you leave it wet & go to step 2 and do the same, letting some of the paint overlap it gives you a more patina look as the colours blend a bit.

Step 2: I may have had some focus issues as I took pictures of different chippies but you will get the idea of where I am going with this. Add the mint-green in random spots. Dab & pounce it on  to give the paste that texture. Remember the idea is to recreate rusty/patina metal so there are lumps & bumps in that. Let dry.

Step 3: Add the brass paint. Tip-I learned the best way is to apply a small amount of paint with a dry brush. Start by just lightly brushing over the bumpy areas hitting the high points & distressing bits of the edges. Add more paint to taste as you go stopping to have a look at the overall piece until you have the results you want.

Just play with the product to get used to it, there is a learning curve so have fun practicing. In my examples above I created 3 different looks.

#1- I let the paints dry in between application & used the brass colour sparingly. The effect is very bright & colourful.

#2-I applied the first 2 without drying in between. I let the colours overlap somewhat and added much more brass. The effect is much grungier & darker, more of a true patina.

#3- I painted the blue on smoothly, stenciled the mint & then added the brass. The mint even though it is fairly wet held up really well with a stencil leaving a nice gritty yet crisp image. This creates more of a mix media rather than a patina effect but gives you another way to use the product.

Here is a close up of my patina chair. Yes I realize the odds of having a copper Adirondack chair on the beach are slim to none but remember this is art! Anything goes. I hope you get a chance to play with this fun kit & make some patina. You can also try the Rust Effects kit that is applied the same way but gives you… you guessed it, rust!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Med Gears

- Gears 2

- Adirondack Chairs

Other Supplies Used:

- Prima Marketing: Finnabair Patina Effects Paste

- Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous: Mini Stencil Set #9

If you want to see more of what I have been up to you can find me at karenbearse.blogspot.com with links to my other social media. Have an inky day!

- Karen