The Great Paper Chase

I always have the hardest time finding new and interesting kinds of found paper. I found this idea on somebody else's blog (they did it about two years ago) and I thought it was really neat. If any of you lovely ladies (and handsome men :) ) have any found paper lying around your house that you don't really mind giving away and posting over here to me, I will, in return, make you a collage with some of the paper that you send and I'll ship it back to you, keeping what is left for myself. Everybody's happy - you get a piece of my art and I get more paper to add to my collection.

I'm looking for several different types of paper - I'm not necessarily looking for rare or very valuable ephemera. I like recent stuff as well as antique looking stuff. I do ask though, if you send new things, at least make them grungy and old LOOKING - like Graphic 45, Prima, and 7 Gypsies. But here is a little list of suggestions:

receipts & invoices
advertisements from magazines, comics, etc. (I love the little ads in the back pages)
pages from books, magazines, comics, ledgers & notebooks
patterned end papers from books would be great
labels & packaging
envelopes, letters, stamps & postcards
anything with handwriting on it, particularly old-fashioned pen & ink
anything without writing on it such as notepaper, graph paper, etc.
brown paper bags
paper that is aged, yellow, spotty, stained, even torn is fine
greeting cards & gift wrap
wallpaper
sheet music
maps
flyers, forms, theatre programs, etc.

Extra great would be ephemera from different cultures - China, Japan, India, Mexico, etc. Colourful, decorated paper is nice, but not essential - some of my favourite pieces are regular white paper that has aged to varying shades of yellow & brown.

Thanks so much!!

~Jordan

Blog Candy

I'm not giving away any blog candy, but Samantha is over at Scrapmaster's Paradise. She is celebrating ninety thousand hits and she is giving away hundreds upon hundreds of little odds and ends. This would make a good starter package for anybody who would like to take up scrapbooking. There is no paper included in 12x12 but there ARE ninety sheets of 6x6 paper. Here is the link: http://thescrapmaster.blogspot.com/2009/11/read-entire-post-so-you-dont-miss-out.html Make sure to invite your blog readers over there!

365 Card Challenge

I don't have a page or anything for you right now but I thought I would tell you that I have decided to start doing the cardmaking challenges over on the 365 card challenge blog. Each and every day, our hostess, Pam, will post some form of inspiration, whether it be an ad, a color combination, a recipe, or a sketch, and it is up to us to interpret this form of inspiration. I am going to be working on my card so I'll catch you later!

~Jordan~

Thickers

I am not going to do a product review on this yet, for I have not used them enough to really know how good the quality. I only bought one package and they were on sale. I bought the chipboard ones and they don't stick very well on my layouts. They have a very nice look to them however, so I don't mind the extra effort I put into gluing them on. Here is one of my best layouts that include thickers.

If you notice that some of the letters have a little sparkle to them, then you might like to know that they did not come like that. I actually added crystal stickles over top of the thickers to make them sparkle!

~Jordan~

Layering

Layering is a very nice way to add your style into a page. If you love bright colors, use them in your layering and you will add that to your page. I have a couple of examples for you:

You can layer anything that you like - stickers, patterned paper, cardstock, rub-ons, ribbon, or even chipboard and embellishments. Also, as you can see in the Preschool layout, the title is made from lowercase and capital letters out of place - this gives it a look that is more childish and playful than something more sophisticated. Also, this was completely by accident, because i ran out of the stickers I needed and then I just made do! As you can see I also used some stencils and a black gel pen to add some letters I didn't have in capital or lowercase! Hope this inspires some of you and I hope you have a good day!

~Jordan~