Texas Rangers Clipboard

I took a break from journal making to work on something for my school nurse (I'm an art teacher). She asked me to make this for her probably about 6 months ago....a clipboard decorated in honor of her favorite professional baseball team, the Texas Rangers. I'd been gathering the materials for a while but finally found the time to create it...love summer break!

So here it is...front and back.

Front

Back

I found the clipboard at Hobby Lobby. It was $4 but less with a coupon.

They also had some cute baseball and rustic looking papers that I bought as well.

I found the Texas Rangers duct tape at Joann's.

This is one project where I just didn't know when to stop. It just didn't feel finished.

So I kept adding and adding.

The final step was to Modge Podge the front and back to make it more durable. I used a ring used for making my journals to hold the metal clip up so I could Modge Podge underneath it and allow it to dry without messing up the finish.

Now back to my journal making.

And don't forget to visit my Etsy Shop, Kaminski's Creations.

Use coupon code FREESHIP2016 to receive free shipping on all orders.

Decorative Wine Glass Tutorial

I was watching the Today show the other morning and saw Tori Spelling promoting her new movie....something about mom and danger. But I was more interested in the craft that she demonstrated, "How to embellish wine glasses with finger nail polish".

So I had to give it a try.

I grabbed two stemless wine glasses in the cabinet, 2 glass bowls and some nail polish (and some toothpicks).

Fill the bowls with water. I used cold...not sure if it matters.

Drizzle on the nail polish. I used 3 colors.

Use the toothpick to swirl it and move the colors around.

Dip the wine glass in. All of this needs to be done quickly. And viola. Easy peasy. Or so I thought.

When it came time to clean the glass bowls from the nail polish, it was a pain. And not to mention the excess nail polish in the sink. I used nail polish remover to get rid of it, but it was still a pain.

So I got this brilliant idea of using Styrofoam, disposable bowls so I could just dump the mess in a trash bag.

BIG mistake. The nail polish sank to the bottom and ate through the bowl and the water started leaking everywhere, along with the nail polish.

So we got the glass bowls back out and finished the rest of the wine glasses.

They turned out pretty cute but a little clumpy. I'm wondering if it's because we used nail polish that we already had and who knows how old they are? If I were to do this again, I'd use new nail polish and try cheap metal baking trays (the disposable kind).

I also don't know how they are going to do when I wash them by hand...definitely not putting them in the dishwasher.

Keepsake Suitcase

This is one of my all time favorite projects. You'll need a suitcase, paint, paper, glue and a ton of memories! Here the link for the complete tutorial Keepsake Suitcase. If you're looking to find a creative way to use a suitcase or to just treasure your child, this is the perfect labor of love.

I refurbished this old suitcase for free into a keepsake suitcase that I can give my daughter when she walks out that door for college.

Creative Memories + Project Life= One Happy Mama

Another part of my organization mission was to get caught up on Sophia's 0-5 year album(s). I still have her 3-5 year pages to do.

 

I had been looking into Becky Higgins Project Life series because it seems simple, quick and meaningful. BUT, I have a HUGE stash of papers/stickers etc. They are are divided into scraps in the first and whole pages by color in the other two. As you can see, I have a bunch of papers to use. I can't see just wasting papers.

 

Plus, I have a ton of Creative Memories pages, page protectors, and 1 album I bought a while back. So I just can't see throwing away 45 Creative Memory pages, page protectors, 1 Creative Memory Album to switch over to Project Life. So I did a little investigating.

And I made my own version. Sorry. I can't waste. I'll switch over once my stash of papers etc. goes down.

 

Here's how I started I bought a multi-set of Becky Higgins Project Life plastic pages (that I eventually will use) on sale. 

 

She usually uses 3 x4, 4, x6 and 6 x6 pieces of paper or photos. I will eventually use these pages once I'm done with Creative Memories. And it was a helpful reminder of layouts as I looked over at the possibilities it  has at the bottom.

 

 

Then, I chose 2 of my favorite paper collections that I could cut into pieces if I needed to. And set them aside (I already have some of these in my scraps)! I went through my scraps first and found any papers that might coordinate with these 2 sets.

 

Side note: As you work, you may begin to realize that you need more paper to complete your layouts, which is why I chose 2 paper collections that coordinated so that I:  a)didn't have to buy new paper but also  b) it all coordinated. So definitely start with a paper collection that you have an abundance of.

Then I went through my scrap box and cut as may 3x4, 4 x6 and 6 x6 pieces that I could.

I also cut a few 3 x4 solid papers that I could stamp with my special stamps I use for writing.

While I was waiting for that to dry, I tried to figure out what pics I wanted to start with.

 

 I looked at Beck Higgins drawings on the cover of her plastic covers and tried to lay them out.

I also used stickers, and scrap booking printables to glue down to either 3 x4, 4 x6 or 6 x6 scrappy papers.

 

Essentially, what I did was create all of the papers that Project Life creates in their collections. Gather your stickers, scrappy cut outs etc and glue them down to a 3 x4, 4 x6 or 6 x6 piece of coordinating paper. I made ALL of my "papers' ahead of time (where I glued things down and pre-cut everything). It takes time, but it's worth it in the long run. It took me about 2 hours to create my pieces.

What I found is even though Higgins says it should be a 3 x4 etc. I found spaces like this where it was a 2 x 6. Not sure why, but it's easy to fix.

 

 

A quick fix is is a 2 x 6. So as long as your papers coordinate and you have extra, you are safe.

I filled any wonky spaces with rick-rack or ribbon and a little Zip Dry.

 

At least this way, I'm using up all of my: A ) all my creative memory 12 x 12 pages, B) Using up my paper/sticker stash and C)using the Project Life process and I'm recording family memories using my scrapping process.

 

But I'm about half way though Sophia's year 3-4 and it's only taken me 3-4 days. It goes so quickly!

I Made the Top 20!

Thanks to everyone that voted for my Keepsake Suitcase! I made it into the Top 20, so I move on to the next round. We'll be given a material to work with and compete against the other Top 20 participants to make it to Round 2. Check it out over at.....

 

One Artsy Mama!

Guest Posting at Alderberry Hill

Check out my guest post over at

Alderberry Hill.

 

I'm sharing my tutorial for my Keepsake Suitcase.



Being Who I Am in the New Year

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for me. We've had my in-laws in town from NY and of course it was Christmas vacation which is always super busy. 

During the midst of all this busyness, I tweaked my back and have been trying to get my back healthy. Unfortunately, I've had to take it easy, which meant putting off any organizational projects, crafting projects or Etsy store projects.

Because this injury happened around the beginning of the new year, it made me feel behind. 

Last year at this time I was starting all of these cool journaling projects like......

.....One Little Word....

Last year, in January, I picked a word to focus on along with a bunch of other bloggers (part of the One Little Word movement). Mine was present as in being present. I even signed up for the Ali Edwards class on-line. She sent us prompts each month with suggestions for ways to live/examine your word. I think I made it to March and then got bored/busy. But I made this fun book to chronicle my journey. The book was fun to make, but keeping up with it was a burden. Some journey, huh?

Here's where that journey began and soon ended.

....Project 52....

Last year I also made this fun scrapbook called 52 weeks and the idea was that I'd put a picture a week into it, to look back on the year. unfortunately, I at one point was 15 weeks behind. Right now, I'm at week 40....almost done even though the new year has begun. But I did have fun making the book.

Here's my Project 52.

......Gratitude Journal.....

And then there's my favorite project, my gratitude journal to keep track of a thing a day that I'm thankful for. Nice idea but I just got distracted and fell off the wagon about Feb.

Here's where I made my Gratitude Journal.

As I was sitting here on my couch with my ice pack, nursing my sore back, seing all of these other bloggers doing these really awesome, fun beginning of the new year projects, I began to realize, why do I need to beat myself up over this. Why don't I just embrace my personality, my style, and what I LIKE to do. I love making journals and mini-books. But I don't like a strict timeline. 

I think the bottom line for me this year is to not start any new long-term projects that I have to keep up with over an extended length of time. Maybe just a simple journal that I can create and add pics, journal entries, and odds and ends that doesn't have a specific time line. That could be mixed media. Otherwise, I fall off the wagon and end up feeling guilty.

I will go ahead and try to finish my 52 weeks book and Gratitude Journal, but the Gratitude Journal might be over many years instead of just one. The 52 Weeks is actually pretty easy to fix. I just need to go back through my photos and pick them out. The book is already made, it just needs to filled.

So for me, this year is just to be who I am. To do things because I want to, not because everyone else is. And really just to take better care of myself (like eating healthier and my back care). That way, I can be a better mom, wife, teacher and artist.

Look At What I Won!

It pays to link up to other linky parties. Look at what I won over at

http://thecsiproject.com/2012/09/01/winners-of-the-family-fun-photography-challenge/

with my family frame project.

I won a Photoshop action at A Twisted Lenz.

 Here's the one I chose.

It's called Twisted Enchantment and sells for $43.

Yea for Kaminski's Creations!

Thanks to the CSI Project and The Twisted Lenz!

How I Photograph My Etsy Listings....

I went to the craft store and bought one of those tri-folding display boards in white and a piece of white foam board. I set them up on a South facing wall, near a window. I just used my daughter's play table to set it up on. I shot today around 3 ish. There's no direct sunlight, just indirect.

Then I shot my Etsy listings. Here is the before picture......

Using Photoshop, I edited my photographs....here's the after.

I used Camera Raw to "warm" up the photo a little. Then I increased the exposure. After that, I added a little contrast and saturation. And then, I cropped it. 

 Of course, you don't need Photoshop for that. There are free photo-editing software out there. I have a Micro-Soft Photo Editor that came on my computer and have used it before to edit photos.What other free options do you know of and have used?

So for those of you that have Etsy shops, how do you photograph your items? Please share!