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Artists Collective: #4 - Robert Norman Ross

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One of my earliest memories during my childhood was watching Bob Ross as a family with my parents and brother in the evenings on PBS. Bob's calm voice seemed to put me into a trance and with just a few simple strokes, Bob had created a beautiful pieces of work that now are highly valued and sought after by collectors around the world. Bob Ross is probably one of the most influential creators in my artists collective and I still find myself just as entranced and captivated by Bob's creations on the canvas today as I was when I was growing up. Its not hard to see why The Joy of Painting has had such an enduring impact on society. (It still plays on PBS and there are millions of videos on youtube!) Bob Ross is even widely considered the grandfather of ASMR ! (Do you get the tingles? Find my favorite ASMR youtubers HERE and HERE .) One thing I found out while writing this article was that Bob Ross was once compared to Fred Rogers, which in and of itself should be considered a ...

Perfectly Poised Pineapple

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Hello and welcome back! Thanks for popping in again. It's been a while since I have been able to post, so I thought I would share this little project with you. The other day, after creating a mess in my studio by spreading out all the paper I own, I paired up a design that was cased from a Close to Your Heart design.  I shared this little project on my Instagram the other day and they turned out so cute I decided to make a blog post about them. A few weeks ago I attended at craft sale organized North of where I live in Seattle and met some great ladies. One of them was a Close to my Heart vendor from whom I purchased a couple of scrap layouts from for my Hawaii trip from 2015 (yup - still working on it - little by little!)  She was kind enough to slip an idea book into my bag when I wasn't looking.  (If you don't have the Seasonal Expressions May - August 2016 catalog you can download it here .) Flip to page 27! I love the Calypso line, it's so bright a...

The Making of The Babadook Pop Up Book HD

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My boyfriend has an affinity for horror films so when he recently showed me the movie The Babadook, I was interested because I too like a good scary story. I was happily surprised when the story focused on a mother and child and a bedtime story that is definitely NOT for children. The Babadook is a 2014 Australian-Canadian film in which a woman and her child are tormented by an evil entity. I recommend seeing this movie (even if you are not a fan of horror) for two reasons: the story, although portrayed as a horror film, is really a story of grief and how one copes and changes as a result of being touched by the death of a loved one.  Also, this film has some great papercraft and paper engineering, as you can see from the above video. I hope you enjoyed this post because this is easily one of my favorite movies now. I hope you get to see this film! Cheers!

Flamingo Love

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Have I mentioned that I love birds? Flamingo's are included! I found this rubber stamp of a cute little flamingo and thought I'd make some simple designs. I've noticed lately that Flamingos are very in vogue re: design right now. I ended up giving the above greeting card to one of my co-workers who happens to love them too. And then I found this flamingo rubber stamp at Michael's the other day which really sparked some creativity.l Its from Stampendous and I freaked out when I saw it because I knew it would make an awesome greeting card. I created a Concertina dry embossed greeting card cut on an angle (also known as a z fold card) and used some scraps to paper piece and layer the flamingo with. The scrap was a pink argyle print I liked but probably would have never used - or so I thought! (ALWAYS save your scraps!) I created depth and interest by stamping him twice and fussy cutting his wing to layer with pop dots. I thought this looked nice with the fol...

Girlfriends Make the Best Accessories

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Thanks for joining me once again! I'm so happy you've come back to join me with on my blog. You've come to the right place to find Seattle's finest handmade cards! Today I've got a real treat for you - a Girlfriends greeting card. This was SUCH a fun card to create. If you have not heard about Art Impressions , then you are missing out!! I love to stamp and color these fun images to create cards that truly reflect the fun relationships in life. I loved coloring this fun image of two happy gals with my Copics! The card didn't need much else as the copics took the stage. I didn't want to overpower the card, so I kept it nice and clean. My boyfriend and I are friends with another couple and we paired this card with a bouquet of fresh cut flowers for a nice hello to our friends the last time we all got together. Its nice to make your friends feel loved and wanted.  Cheers!

Tutorial: Marker to Rubber and Masking techniques

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Welcome back to the BEST place to find your handmade Seattle greeting cards. I'm happy to share with you one of my favorite handmade card projects of late.  :) I ended up giving this greeting card to my boyfriend. Just this morning he said to me after noticing this blog post up on the computer, "hey, it's my card! That's my favorite card I've ever received." Which kind of made my heart melt, not gonna lie.  I created this greeting card using the marker to rubber and masking techniques. I created this greeting card with four different stamps. I purchased the couple stamp from Dolce Impressions  here in Seattle. First, I started with planning out the greeting card sketch and layout. I find it easier to start a greeting card with a sketch because it offers inspiration and cohesive style to the project.  I knew that I wanted to create a stamped card featuring ink in layers, not necessarily layers of paper, and this marker to rubber technique, so takin...

Artist's Collective #3 - Maeve Brennan

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I first heard about Maeve after reading Kate Bolick's  Spinster    at the beginning of 2016. (At first I hated this book, but then it grew on me as Kate's story continued, but I digress.) Brennan is one of Kate's Five Awakeners and consequently, one of the people in my Artist Collective. I think that Maeve lived the life that she wanted to live and I think because of that she is a strong female role model. Suffice it to say, Maeve Brennan was thought-provoking at the least. I've included Maeve in my Artist Collective series because she inspires me to challenge myself artistically. She wrote in one way or another her entire life, even toward the end when she literally had nothing left. There are people who talk about doing something, being a creative and producing work, and then there are the people who actually DO it.  Maeve reminds me that life is short and you need to live your passion because it can all be taken away in the blink of an eye. Bein...