One Lucky Day: April 2012

I'm bummed....one of my favorite local (Arizona) shopping places has closed their doors. Sad news....Domestic Bliss (in Mesa) is no longer. We've talked about them several times on the blog. Truly an inspirational store that has been around for a long, long time. They will be missed!
Found, their sister store is still open by appointment and promises to have a monthly event for us to attend. Let's hope they keep it going.

With that said, I'm determined to find some new favorite places, here's one I visited last week....

Sweet Salvage

A fairly new place in town. They have been around since the end of last year, but this is my first chance to check them out.

They are open 4 days on the 3rd weekend of every month. For some reason those 4 days, every month I have not been able to attend so I was happy to finally see what they are all about. They find new treasures and create new displays each month to make the store fun and fresh each time you visit.

Here's a few pictures I took:

bracelets from license plates....

I picked up a few of these mini flashcards.

Love how these crates are held together with C-clamps.

This is the back side of a cabinet of small drawers. All the drawers are actually old wooden cigar boxes. The fronts are all painted grey, but I love the back side better, where you can see the labels and graphics.

Up close...

Fabulous ski rack....Paula has one of these up in her family room.

I have a thing for watch faces....

Here are a few more photos I found on their blog. The sale started on Thursday and I didn't get to go until Friday, so this is what I missed out on.

Love the large letters on the back wall, I think there was a lone "S" hanging on the wall when I got there! And, love that stool with the back.

Apparently they have done well since next month they are moving to a new location just down the street. They will be right next to Paris Envy and promise cool air conditioning and lots of parking....both a problem at the current location. I love that this is turning into a destination area with Melrose Vintage, Rust and Roses and several other shops in the area all on 7th Avenue south of Camelback Road.

I feel a list coming on....

Is is me or are the good places becoming harder to find!! I'm searching to find some new places to haunt. Do you have some favorite "go to" places to share with us? Of course we would love places that are near to us (California and Arizona), but both Paula and I love to travel and would be happy for a reason to go on a trip. Share with us your favorite places to find not only wonderful things, but lots of inspiration. We'll gather all your suggestions and share what we come up with.

Can't wait to hear from you,
deb

Lucky Winners

The winner of the paper pack

Diddy Jones said...

Love the mini! I have been eying this collection for so long that I would EVEN take the one you cut up :)! The Dylusions Inks look like a lot of fun too!!

April 25, 2012 3:40 PM

The winner of the mini book

gail said...

As always, your creativity never disappoints! I always leave this blog so very much inspired! This mini book is so delightful and I love the bright, lively paper --so uplifting. Thanks again, Paula.

April 25, 2012 11:09 AM

Congratulations - email us with your address.

Today I am creating a mini book using the new This and That: Graceful Collection from Echo Park. I wanted to change it up, make something bright since spring is here! Although the weather in CA can't seem to make up it's mind. I have an abundance of roses blooming in the backyard and yet today the weather man is calling for rain and thunderstorms. Very weird for the end of April!
Anyway, back to the project at hand...Love the colors and the patterns of these papers. I am working with the Graceful Paper Pack that has all the 12 x 12 papers, journaling cards and two 12 x 12 sticker sheets. This pack would make for a seriously beautiful Mothers Day mini book even though some of the phrases are geared toward a younger girl.

I decided to make this a fun, not so serious mini. I am using the 7gypsies Index cards: naked scalloped as the foundation and one binding ring in the top left corner. The new scalloped cards are the same stock as the tabbed cards I love so much. Nice and heavy, great for dividers and book pages since they have a fun edge. They also soak up spray ink without getting sopping wet or overly warped, distress ink works beautifully on the manilla paper and 20 pieces come in a package for $3.99. nice.

I decided to use the new Dylusions spray inks I purchased after seeing them at CHA. With names like Cut Grass, Lemon Zest, Squeezed Orange, and Pure Sunshine you can imagine the inks are vibrant (nothing less than vibrant from Dyan Reaveley). There are 12 colors of ink so far...and I imagine more to come.

So time to get out the inks and start on some foundation cards. A craft mat, paper towels and heat gun is a must for this technique, oh and some loud music couldn't hurt! Seriously love these ink colors.

1. Using your craft mat as a base, spray two complementary colors of ink next to each other (not on top of). Here I am using Lemon Zest and Vibrant Turquoise (I also added a spritz of water but that is not necessary).

2. Swipe your card through the ink.

3. Turn the card over and see what you got.

4. Dry with a heat gun. Don't get the heat tool so close to the ink on the craft sheet that you accidentally dry it too...we still need it!

5. Now back into the ink on the craft sheet and dry again. The key is to have the heat gun close by so you can keep swiping or smashing the card into the ink and then drying between each swipe. That way the colors layer on top of each other rather than just meld into one.

6. Alright I think this is where I will stop with this one. I like that some of the card color is showing through. I know some of you are thinking, "Paula have you lost your gypsy marbles"?

7. Ink the edges with Vintage Photo if you like...I do. Just adds another layer of color and makes it a bit vintage...I mean seriously I haven't lost all my gypsy instinct.

So lets try another color combo: Bubblegum Pink and Feeling Lime.

1. Swipe

2. Swipe... I still didn't pick up much color so I am going to keep going before I start drying.

3. Swipe...smash...keep turning...time to dry.

4. Smash a couple more times picking up more color....dry again.

5. Ink the edges to add that bit of brown I love. Love this one...definitely the cover of the mini.

After playing with the inks for a while, I have a stack of cards prepared. I can pick through them and choose the ones I like for this project, save the others for another day. Super fun playing with the inks, love all the colors and the combinations you can make. I stuck with two colors on each card since two colors make more colors when combined. I also didn't worry about the the back being messy since I will be covering it up with patterned paper.
I also wanted to mention that if you want to experiment with color combinations and might want to repeat them, it is best to write the colors on the back of your tests, otherwise it may be hard to identify the colors used once they start mixing. trust me on this one.

Okay so on to the mini...
This one is meant to be quick and fun. Not a lot of thinking, just creating. A bit of glue was used but also staples and a lot of sewing.

I cut a stack of Graceful papers 4.5 x 5.5" so they could be adhered to the back of a scalloped card or they could be punched as another page. I also cut some plain manila paper the same size. I used the inked cards for the cover and 3 inserts.

If you have an inked card that didn't turn out as well as you would have liked, just cut it up into smaller pieces or shapes. Sometimes I just cut off the scalloped edges and sewed them to pages.

Here is the pink/orange card from the tutorial and of course my favorite stamp. I'm not over it yet.

Journaling card as a fold out. Buttons added.

Here is the green and blue card I made at the beginning of the tutorial. Paper pieces stitched on, stamps, Tim Holtz (Papillon by Stampers Anonymous).