Spool Mini Album

Hi everyone!
Long time no post, huh?
Yes, unfortunately it's been a few years since I've been able to post anything on this blog, life definitely has gone on and taken over, but if you follow me on Instagram, you've seen a bit of what I've been up to all this time. If you follow me on my Youtube channel, you definitely know everything about what my post is today. If you don't follow me on my other social media accounts, I suggest you do, so you int miss out (check the directs link on the sidebar of this site).

I've been posting videos since late February again, and I've walked you through how I created the mini album I'm about to show you. It's been one of the most labor intensive editing jobs I've done, since the making of this album, due to my responsibilities, and lack of free time, took place within many different days. It was not all filmed at once, not in one day (I think you can see the variations of my nail polish which give it away hehehe).

For the first time, I decided to record the whole process of making a mini album. I've had multiple requests throughout the years to do so, and I finally I did it. Took a while to edit, but it's finally finished. I hope you enjoyed the process if you watched all of the videos (if you didn't you can click HERE).
Prepare yourselves for a ton of pictures! Hope you liked them. If you have any questions, you can always leave a comment, or contact me directly at smscrapper@gmail.com.
Thanks for stopping by!

Color Explosion Technique Tutorial

Hello everyone!
Today I'm sharing with you a new technique tutorial. It is such a fun one, which I hope you enjoy!
I used Canson watercolor paper for the base, Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals, as well as embossing powder. The last thing I used was a spray bottle with water. Very few supplies, but you will create awesome results with them.
I hope you enjoy the video tutorial and the pictures below. Please share with me if you try it! I'd love to see your results!

Embossed Webbing Technique

So, it's been quite a while since I shared any type of tutorial with you. As you know, life has taken over, and I've kind of been separated from my supplies for many months now. It's been tough, but I've been wanting to be a little more aggressive, and make some time, when I can, to do a few things, maybe as a way to get back into the "craft every week" kind of days...things have certainly changed around my house, and my life (all good things though), and I find myself with less and less time to dedicate to actually crafting...you know me, I'm a slow crafter, so a project that could probably take an hour for one person, will probably end up taking four for me, and that makes the whole "getting  a project completed" pretty darn difficult at this time.

Today, I finally come to share a tutorial with you, of a technique I hope you enjoy trying out. The effect and background you can create with it are really cool, and though it might look a bit intimidating at first, it's quite simple to do.
Take a look at the steps I took to create it, and check out the results. I hope you are inspired to try it out! Let me know in the comments what you think, and any questions you might have. I'll be glad to help. Enjoy the tutorial!

Step 1
Get a piece of white cardstock, and cover it entirely in Versamark Ink

Step 2
Grab a few Lindy’s Stamp Gang Magicals, and a small dry fluffy brush, ( I used Chateau Rose, Cosmopolitan Pink, A Bit o’ Bubbly, and Mercy Beaucoup Mint), and dab the brush in the Magicals to pick up color.

Step 3
Spread each Magical color randomly all over the white cardstock covered in the Versamark Ink. Do one color at a time to avoid mixing the powders in the jars when switching colors with the brush.

Step 4
Get a piece of fusible webbing (you can find it at your local craft stores in the quilting section), and lay it on top of the background you have created with the Magicals.

Step 5
Take some different colors of embossing powders (I used Raspberry Lemonade, Geranium Coral Blush, Café au Lait, and Weeping Willow Green Gold), and spread a little bit of each one, randomly on top of the fusible webbing. Handle with care to avoid adding too much powder, or getting powder all over your workspace.

Step 6
Carefully lift the cardstock, and using your heat tool, heat your cardstock from underneath to melt the powder, and fusible webbing. Take care to move the heat tool frequently, and do not leave it aimed at one place for too long, to avoid burning the cardstock, or overheating the embossing powder, and fusible webbing.

Step 7
Once all embossing powder has melted, you can take the heat tool, and heat from the top of the cardstock, moving the tool frequently to allow the webbing to curl, and web, creating the effect shown. The Magicals in the background will show through the random spots of the cardstock where little to no webbing stuck.

Step 8
Add your textured background to the project you are working on, and embellish, as you like.

Miss You

Hi guys!
My visits here seem to be few and far in between :( That's life for ya! I'm still here though, alive and kicking, and I'm still around, I've just my busy bee self!  I really recommend you follow me on all my social media, so you can more accurately see what I'm up to, and what's new. My Instagram, Facebook and Youtube Channel are great places for updates----you can find a link to all those places on the top right of this page. Follow me and don't miss a thing!
Now talking about missing, I have this I miss you simple card I created a long time ago, which I never got a chance ti share. It's sad, but I haven't used my Copic marked in over a year now, and I'm wondering if I've forgotten how to color! The only way to find out will be to give an image a try, but overtime I've sit down to start one, something comes up and I can't even start it!!!

I'm thinking once my daughter starts school again when summer ends, I'l have a little bit less interruptions, and a little bit more time to dedicate to the things I love. I'm really hoping for that, anyways!
On this card I used Graphic 45's Songbird collection and the Mia In Kimono Stamp from Wild Rose Studio.  I love the simplicity and how it gets right to the point as soon as you see it. Like I always say, simple is my preferred style. Hope you like it!

Watercolor Shine!

Hi everyone!
Is anybody still out there? I sure hope so! I've missed you so, but I wanted to share a video of the unboxing of my new planner!
Life has definitely taken over, and as you might have seen by my lack of posts, I've been quite the busy bee. Everything is going great, I've just had very little time for myself, and my hobbies.
I'm super excited about this new planner, I've always been very curious about Erin Condren and her products, so as I needed some change in my planning style, I decided I needed a new planner as well!
I hope you enjoy my video!

I'm loving all the personalized products and organizational accessories I've found at Erincondren.com! Check it out for yourself and you'll receive $10 off your first purchase! https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/sharonmartinelli0906

This process...

.....seems to be taking FOREVER. Many of you following me on Instagram or my Facebook Page might know what I'm talking about, as I've been sharing stuff there... the fact that life is very busy, and the time I have for myself is very limited, has not helped this process go as fast as I've wanted. My entire office/craftroom/studio is a huge mess, and I cannot wait to finish organizing everything, yet I always get interrupted, or just more important things come up and I have to stop doing what I want to do. Seems like everything takes me FOREVER to finish!Man do we collect stuff!!!
I recently ordered some new pieces of furniture, and had a whole fiasco with that, not ordering everything I needed  from the start, and then needing to order again for the missing pieces I forgot to get. Has that ever happened to you? Oh that was annoying! I finally got the parts, and everything is starting to look good...

There is still a lot I have to do, but slowly, I think I'm finally feeling comfortable in my room. I want a place for everything, and everything to have it's place, and even though it's taking me forever to get everything the way I want to, I have hope that soon it will finally be done and finished. I'll be so content the day when that happens!

Inspiring...

Hello everyone! I'm back!
I want to first start by thanking everyone for all the comments, Facebook messages, and  e-mails in response to my last post. I really appreciate all your support, and all you shared with me in your messages. From many, I also got questions, and I'm going to address one here today.
It seems like many have gone through what I'm going through at the moment, but considering how hard the whole process is, many have just given up, and not really known how to start the whole de-cluterring of craft supplies, as letting go of stuff we once loved so much, seems to be such a hard thing to do.
Well, let me introduce you to something that I think really helped me start, and follow through with my current de-cluterring/organizing process in my craft room. I randomly picked up this book a few weeks back, curious to see what perspective the book would give me. I'm an organized person as is, but I just couldn't figure out what to do to help my craft room/office be what I wanted it to be. Maybe, this book would give me some insight on something I'd never done before? I didn't hesitate, and ordered it. Got it the next day, and started reading right away.

I read the whole book pretty quickly, and got really intrigued by what the author's method of "tidying up" was... I definitely recommend the book. Some things seem quite extreme, but in my opinion a lot of things do make sense, and have really helped me in my process of choosing what tot get rid of, and what to keep, while at the same time feeling happy with the whole process. I don't want to elaborate too much on it, as reading the book in it's entirety will give you a better idea of how everything works.

I'm no way near done with what I want to accomplish in my workspace (I'm so picky it's insane!), but I can honestly say, lots has been done, and so far I have no regrets!

So, to answer the questions: How do you get started? How do you approach it? How do you decide what to keep, how to organize? Read this book. It will definitely help you rationalize, and facilitate the process. It sure helped me. 

Have a great week!

Seriously....

I've been hoping to sit down and update this blog for literally over a month and a half now. Seriously! The end of last year and beginning of this year, have definitely been super duper busy for me, as you might have noticed from my lack of posts and projects. Let's just say it's been crazy, but I'm still standing, and I thank God for that!
I apologize for the lack of posts, but not only have I been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off in the last few months, but I've also suffered from lack of mojo. Don't know if it's related to my crazy busy life at the moment, but I'm really tired of it, and have been wanting to create for quite some time, yet haven't managed to do so.
Every time I've tried to sit down and make something, there has ALWAYS been something that has interrupted me, and or, the fact that I've had no inspiration whatsoever makes me take such a long time to think of anything to make, that by the time I've figured something out, something comes up and I can't even start it!
It's been quite frustrating, and one day it just hit me. I went in my office/studio/craft-room/ whatever you want to call it, and looked all around. I felt overwhelmed. It's no mystery that we as crafters (at least the majority of us), buy a lot more, and faster than we create. There's always something new coming out we just have to have, yet we still have not even touched what we bought a month ago. Can you relate? Over time, things accumulate, and new projects get put on the " I'm going to use that for such and such a project one day," and that day usually never comes, as the cycle continues.

I've been really into creating since 2008, so you can just imagine all the stuff I've accumulated over the years. Yes, a lot of things have brought me a ton of joy, but a lot of things I've learned that I will never be using, because either it's no longer my style, or I have too many other things that are very similar to it. I have done what we call "detashes" of some product in the past, but as I looked at my room filled to the rims with supplies, I realized I needed to do a huge purge of products, and just maybe, that would help me get out of the craft rut I'm in, and allow me to be happy in the space I use to create.

We moved into this house over a year ago, and though I've spent quite a bit of time unpacking, organizing, setting things up, I've never been totally happy with the way it looks, and also of the way some of my 'storage solutions' work for me.  So I've started a journey----going through my stuff and hoping to get some of them to a new home, where they will actually get used.  I posted my first destash video in the middle of February sometime, then a second one last week. I'm currently getting ready to finish filming and releasing a new video with more stuff to sell, and let me tell you, the struggle has been real...even though I have managed to put a lot of stuff in the "sell"pile, there's still a ton of stuff I can't seem to let go off. It's hard, I'm working on it. Just like I'm working on getting creatively active on this platform once again.  Many have seen my 'destash' videos, and emailed me asking if I was not going to create anymore. I am. I'm not stopping. I'm just helping myself get back to it.

Will you join me? Will you stick around while all these things take place, and things fall back into place? Have you felt this way at any time before? How did you handle it? What worked for you? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. I always love hearing from you. I know it will take time, but I'm positive I'll get there. I want to get there. I hope you stick around, and that you are still there :)

IAR "End of the Year" Blog Hop

Welcome to the I Am Roses “End of the Year” Blog Hop!
If you are following along the hop line, you should be coming from Kate's blog. If not, and you've just joined us, please feel free to check out the rest of the line up listed at the end of this post, and remember to leave comments on each stop to increase your chance of winning a great prize! 

For this hop I created some paper ornaments which are great to add to your Christmas tree, and/or  to add to presents as an extra embellishment.  It's a little something special that is handmade and is very simple to do. 

I used several different I Am Roses products to create each of the ones below, and they are:

-Turquoise Blue Small Paper Flower (R19-266)

- Red Small Gardenia Flower (GB3-79)

-White Mulberry Paper Flowers (R8-15)

- Small Crochet White Flower (JC3-79)

- Maple Leaves ( (L21-836) 

- Foam head white Stamen ( ST1-151) 

I used Tim Holt's Rosette Alteration die (the original version), as the base of the ornament, and decorated with flowers, leaves, stamens and some ribbon. The handmade products by I Am Roses make them look so pretty, and make the process of making these super fast, so you could easily make a whole bunch of them rather quickly, and decorate your whole tree without having to buy a single ornament! By using different designer paper, ribbons, and colored flowers, you could create a variety of different ornaments, with any theme in mind. The possibilities are endless!

 

Here’s the how to, for your chance to win:

• Hop along to each of the Designers’ blogs and be sure to comment on their individual "End of the Year” Blog Post
• There are 2 HIDDEN BLOG CANDY PRIZES up for grabs in TWO of our hoppers’ blogs!
• Be sure to Subscribe/Follow the I Am Roses Challenge Blog (http://iamroses-challenge.blogspot.com/).
• Commenting along the way highly increases your chance of winning the prize package.
• Comments will be CLOSED on 11:59pm PST on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21st
• We will be randomly selecting 2 winners from the comments on two of the blogs and will announce the winners on the I Am Roses Challenge Blog. 

In case you get lost along the way, here is a list of the I Am Roses Design Team hopping today:

Jo: http://www.paperdrama.blogspot.com/

Tamara: http://handmadebytamara.blogspot.com/

Ivett: http://ivettcarrillo.blogspot.com/

Marisa: http://maribellscrapsportugal.blogspot.com/

Aliscia: http://iscraphappy1.blogspot.com/

Kate: http://scrapyardthe.wordpress.com/

Sharon: http://smscrapperdesigns.blogspot.com/

Good Luck!

Happy Late-Thanksgiving?!!?!

Hello there and Happy Late -Thanksgiving!

Believe it or not, I've had this Thanksgiving post set up for weeks before it's scheduled post date of Nov. 27th, and for some unknown reason, my blog did not post it, as it usually does when I schedule posts for publication on specific dates! On top of that, I did not check to see if the post actually went live the day it was supposed to, as I usually do as well! So yeah, basically my thanksgiving post never got published on this blog. Ugh!

Well, like I always say, better late than never, and I've just decided to post it anyways today, which is when I noticed it on my blog's dashboard, marked as "draft" just when I came here to draft a blog post that will be up in the next few days (yeah can you tell I haven't even seen my blog dashboard in a while?! It's been a crazy end of the year for me).

Anyways, here's the original post that should have gone up on Thanksgiving day for you guys. It is very ironic it did not go public when it was supposed to, and you'll see what I mean when you read what I discussed in it. Remarkable! I apologize for it's delay, and I hope you enjoy it.

__________________________________

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and it's a sad thing that commercialism has made it so you barely hear about it, as Christmas seems to be "what's up" from now until the end of the year!

I cannot believe the amount of Halloween, and every other holiday decor, hype etc, yet when it comes to Thanksgiving, we barely get to see anything at all, as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, as well as all the preparation for Christmas decorating takes over all the stores, schools etc etc.

Thanksgiving is SO IMPORTANT, but I see how every year, it all gets diminished to a meal interrupted by super sales. Come on! Have we forgotten the importance of Thanksgiving? I think we have kind of "let it happen", and it seems to have gotten to the point of no return. So sad.

Well, I refuse to let it go by unnoticed, and I made this card using the Lindy's Stamp Gang Color Challenge Palette for the month of November.

I used several different colors of Magicals ( Golden Sleigh Bells, Red Hot Poker Orange, Autumn Maple Crimson, Canna Lily Burnt Orange, Cattail Copper Brown, Tibetan Poppy Teal, Sweet violet Purple Teal) to create the color gradation on the leaves, which were cut by the Tim Holtz Alterations Autumn Gatherings die. Once the leaves has color, I added a bit of embossing powder in Angel Wings Gold. I stamped the sentiment using a Stamping' up stamp set called Tags 4 You, using Chestnut brown chalk Ink and Twilight Bronze Slate embossing powder.

I hope you like this card, and take some time to join the Lindy's Stamp Gang Color Challenge. This month's challenge is almost coming to an end, so hurry on up there to find out the rules, and what to do to enter. You can win a $50 gift card! Thanks for stopping by. I'm thankful for you!