my Dina Wakley class layout

I'm sure I won't have to work too hard to remind you of the freakin' amazing time that I had at Dina Wakley's Encaustic Tag Book Class.  F'realz, still one of the best times ever.  Yeah, I know- it was only a month and two days ago- but really- it was a damned good time.

How good was it?

It was so good that I'm experimenting with encaustic-esque goodness on my own (more on that, soon) and:  a few of her techniques and brief lesson on composition have stayed with me-  they've 'persevered' as you might say...

Before we get too far, I'm gonna level with you:  I've been drinking.  It was my birthday last Thursday. I'm just getting around to celebrating.  Get off my back.

Around 3:37pm, I woke up from a nap and thought, "Hell, I'm gonna make a page and fix myself a cocktail before my birthday party starts."

Now, let's back up a few days.

Wednesday:  I was excited to be off of work for a few days.  Somehow, I ended up deciding that the perfect way to spend a "night of unlimited possibilities" (that's what I call a night with no work the next day) was to experiment with watercolors.

I've had some watercolors for quite some time- my Mom gave me a very classy "art box" for Christmas one year.  It's filled with pastels, colored pencils, drawing pencils, tools... and:  watercolors.

Now, previously, the only time I'd tried to paint with watercolors was a few weeks ago, at work.  I was trying to complete my "Make Someone Smile" doodle-  I created a stunning (haha) beach scene, and thought I'd be really cool and use watercolors, from the "art box," to color the ocean.  It didn't work out  so well.  But, I was using my finger and spit- so that was kind of expected.

With my inspiration propelled by my copy of The Journal Junkies Workshop and my failed finger-and-spit watercolor technique, I decided to give it another go-  and while I watercolored away, (more 'bout this later, too) I ended up splattering a brand new sheet of 12X12 kraft cardstock.  I thought I pushed it far enough away- but you know how that goes...

Today, as I tried (in vain) to clean up in preparation for my "birthday party night," I noticed how much I liked the splatters on the corner of cardstock.  It reminded me, somewhat, of the Encaust Tag Book Class.  So:  I pulled three of the pictures I had printed out (thanks, Walgreens and Instagram!) and got to work.

I thought I'd take some pictures of my process.  But then the "process" stretched out hours and hours, as I placed things....replaced things...moved strips...re-moved things...arranged things... well, you get the idea.  So, I've whittled the entire ordeal down to just a few pictures...

At first, I wanted to used the entire piece of kraft as the background.  While digging through my ever-breeding box of papers, a couple of pages from BasicGrey's WANDER collection just jumped out and bit me on the ass.  After an hour or so of moving things around and around, I ended up with the above square glued to the classy distress-y blue B-side of one of BasicGrey's lil' works of art.  The square up there is made from two pieces of the same piece of paper- strips cut, flipped around and glued together.

Dat right there is a piece of the inspiring cardstock.  Hope it isn't too underwhelming.

Above, I added another strip of paper pieced together with part of its own "B-side."
I cut strips from another piece of paper from BasicGrey's WANDER collection and pieced them together, at an angle, with strips of kraft and the border piece that resulted from the background page when I cut the "tag" off.  This is what it looked like from behind:

Kinda cool, seeing things from behind, right?  I thought so...

After another excruciating amount of moving, changing and rearranging, I ended up thinking I needed two little strips of kraft- so I added them.  As you can see up there.

All I had left to do was to glue "the strip" down and figure out how I wanted my pictures!  Luckily, my friend, (and one of my roommates) Pete, happened by to say:  "WHAT YOU BEEN DOIN' FOR FIVE HOURS?!  COME OUT TO THE PATIO AND DRINK WITH US!  AND HEY- Why don't you put that picture there, cuz that's the main picture, right?  And then put that one like this- and there you go..."

And he was right-  I loved the way that looked.  Normally, I would strongly advise AGAINST taking scrapbooking advice from someone who spends most of their time playing "Modern Warfare 3" and shouting over an earpiece at people to "GET THE @#$% OUTTA THE BUNKER!"  But, I gotta say, you gotta keep your mind and ears open to suggestions.

Here's what I ended up with:

The pic to the left is my tag book in progress.  The center pic is, of course, me with the genius goddess Ms. Dina.  The last pic, on the right, is a shot of my proudly ink and paint stained hands.

There was heaps more washi, before I snapped the picture.  I remembered Coco Chanel's advice about removing accessories before you leave the house (or in this case, finish the layout) and removed an accessory.  It made all the difference in the world.

A closer close-up of my beloved center picture.

Look at those layers!

Aaaand my parting shot.  It's too late for me to be awake.  I have a crazy week ahead of me.  Beginning tomorrow with a long long day of rehearsal for a new show.  I don't know if I'll survive the next three months.  We'll see.

-kory

New Layout Time!

Today's my birthday.  No, don't get excited.  I'm not.  I'm just... older.  I am excited that I had the day off of work.  What did I do to celebrate?  I slept until 10am.  I went to Paper Crown.  Bought a couple pages of classy papers.  Bought some new tape.  Bought some new letter stickers.  I came home and MADE A LAYOUT!

I don't know if I'm too happy about it- but I'm happy enough...  There was a change of title/theme ideas halfway through.  There was a tried title placement accident/ordeal which caused quite a panic.  I calmed myself down, 'fixed' the mistake and kept moving.

I took the photo at the production meeting on 5AUG, when the actors and designers met to sign their contracts - that's what led to the title.  There is so much 'business' in show business!   The title is also inspired by a line from the show we met to sign contracts for:  "...the very business we call SHOW!"

I used a few different lines of papers-  Crate, Tim Holtz, Authenqique, BasicGrey.  There's some 7gypsies paper tape, some unknown washi- when I thought a touch of bright color would be nice, a clock rub-on from KaiserCraft, some Distress Ink rubbed thru some mesh tape and three different kinds of alpha stickers- the brown ones are Glitz, the cursive are Authentique and the big black ones are some 'Black on Kraft' stickers from Colorbok.  I know, I make a few jokes about Colorbok being the lonely kid at the prom.  But every once in awhile, they have something semi-nice, like these letters.

I love the look of date stamps.  I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong, tho- I have the hardest time trying to use them.  That's why they're always stamped onto something else THEN added to my layout.  It takes me about twenty tries to get a usable date stamped...

Another angle.  I like the 'Documented' card that I cut from a larger piece of Crate's somethin'er nuffin set- can't remember.  Portrait?  Hell, I don't know.

Well, that's it for NEW LAYOUT EXCITEMENT!

Am I partying tonight, to celebrate my birthday?  No.  Because I promised Miss Tanya that I'll be sober, clean, dressed and ready to go at 8AM, tomorrow morning.  Why?  Cause we'll be picking up Darla and heading to TULSA, for the Creating Keepsake scrapbook convention!  Whooo!  If you're there, keep an eye out for us- I'm sure it won't be hard to find me in a crowd of ladies.  I probably won't shave.

-kory

New Layout Time!

I am proud of myself.  It's Sunday.  Late Sunday afternoon.  Instead of my usual daydreaming about doing something productive- even semi-productive, I got up and DID something.  What did I do?  Laundry?  Pay bills?  Nope.  I made a layout!

I'm still slowly working through a giant stack of photos I printed out.  Today,  I happened upon this picture that I took in Central Park on my last trip to NYC.  I think this picture is damned beautiful and if any cheap '10 Postcards For a Dollar' company had any sense, they'd snatch this one up!

I started with a nice piece of paper from BasicGrey's 'WHAT'S UP' collection- the 'b-side' of the 'light as a feather' paper.  I misted it with my brand new Dylusions Ink Spray (Vibrant Turquoise).  I just discovered (as in, first used) this ink spray YESTERDAY in the Dina Wakley class.  And I'm addicted to it-  the colors are so freakin sexxxy and they spray so well-  just go buy some.  They're five bucks a bottle.  If that isn't a freakin' bargain I don't know what is and there's just no pleasing you people.

Here, you can see detail of the Dymo label, tapes, and the cool stamped (from American Crafts) arrow-y chevron-y kinda design.  I love this stamp.  It's the single most fulfilling thing in my life.

Hope you all had a great weekend!  I'm off to watch some True Blood and Newsroom and then get my handsome sleep.  I need it.

-kory

New Layout: Beautiful Baby

Are you growing tired of my Nelson layouts?  Really?  You're bored of layouts using photos of my dear doggie, Nelson?  Would you say the same thing to the coworker who throws pictures of her horrid children in your face all day?  Oh, you would?  Okay, as long as you treat everyone equally...

How's everybody doing tonight?   Yayyyy, me too.   A long, torturous day at work- but luckily it was broken up by a lunch hour shopping frenzy at PAPER CROWN.  That's right- I have (nearly) the entire collection of BasicGrey's CLIPPINGS in my hot little hands.  And it's as beautiful as it looks in its publicity photos.  Swear.

But more about CLIPPINGS later-  I'm back with a new layout:

I recently printed out a good-sized heap of photos from my digital camera.  I've got lots of photos to work with- and I'm definitely gonna hafta do a few multi-photo layouts.  But for now, I'm just going to enjoy myself with my favorite kindsa layouts.

As usual, there's some misting and some tape.  I can't say no.  I used the Christy Thomlinson 'Vintage Doily' mask to for the big misted/masked shape up there, off center.  I used Mister Huey's Dark Calico and some October Afternoon 'Frequent Flyer' Sprinkler.

The 'I miss you dearly' piece is from a set of stamps from American Crafts, that I picked up on clearance (3.00!) over at Da HobLobs.  I cut off the part that says, 'just a note to say.'  And I thought it worked nicely under the photo.

I tried to use my SMASH stamp to stamp the date up there- but I didn't press it down correctly, and had to handwrite the date the rest of the way...  but I like how it adds to the handmade touch.

And one last close-up.  You can see the misting pretty well, right here.  I also like the Sizzix embossing folder I used on the piece of kraft paper behind the photo.  I love to emboss.  It's one of the finer things in life.  Every single time I'm standing at the BigKick, rolling another piece of cardstock through, I sigh and say, "I wonder what the poor people are doin' today..."

Tomorrow's FRIDAY!  I have a fully booked weekend, lots of shows to catch before they close, a wild party, and a class with Dina Wakley on Saturday morning.  So you know what that means.  Yeahp.  No cocktails tomorrow night.  I've gotta be ready to make some stuff bright and early on Saturday!

-kory

Happy 4th Of July! And: A New Layout (for real!)

Happy 4th of July!

When I was a little kid, a damn adorable little kid, I couldn't sleep before the 4th-  I was that excited to play with sparklers and firecracker 'chickens' and SNAKES.

I wish I could still be excited to light a smoke bomb and jump over the nasty smelling blue smoke.

Instead of possibly blowing off a finger, I decided to stop buying product and USE some of it...
That's right!  FOR REAL!  I sat down at my table and made a new page!

Last week, I was sending pics to Walgreen's for my boss- and threw in a few of my own.  She picked them up and brought them to me the next day.  I've been sitting, looking at them since-  you know how it is, you lay in bed reading blogs and listening to the TV and every so often- glancing at the pile of pictures you intend to work on- and then the moment passes and you find something else lazy and worthless to do...

Well, this morning, I woke up bright and early at 11am, full of the 4th of July spirit and sat down at my table.

First, I sat down on the floor and picked through a mountain of paper.  Most of which I had no memory buying.  I'd like to say that I flipped through paper at a bionic speed- but it actually took nearly an hour and thirty minutes to come up with that little stack of eye-catchers up there...

I should've timed myself-  It feels like this was a four hour process.  I sprayed, cut, stamped, moved and moved and moved things around.  The My Mind's Eye paper with the hexagons made many trial appearances in the work in progress but was eventually left behind.

I used the new 'Washers' border die from Mr. Holtz to cut a 'mask.'  Like I saw someone do somewhere- I'm thinking it was on the Sizzix blog- I'm pretty sure of it...  I love this die.  I recommend it- go buy it.

Here's my new page:

There's a little bit of everything on there-  the base is a piece of plain manila cardstock from Jo-Ann, misted with some Calico White Mister Huey and Frequent Flyer Sprinkler from October Afternoon.  Next layer is some ledger paper from 7gypsies.  The 'Numbers' paper was a 5 for a dollar Michael's brand special.  The light blue with dots and the bone sticker are from Echo Park's Mini Theme 'WOOF' kit.  More 'Numbers,' then a strip of light pink cardstock (I think it's from the Tim Holtz paper- but can't remember).  There's some washi tape, can't remember where it came from, some letters from Authentique- and of course, the photo is of my dearest child, Nelson.  May he rest in peace.

I seem to like to use my handwriting somewhere on every page-  I don't do much journalling, but I like to write something-

I like the way this stamp (from Michaels, the Hampton Art 3.99 big-ass wood mounted bargain stamps) turned out, stamped over the misting in Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Okay, that's it-  I bought a fresh bottle of mixer- uh, I mean, cranberry juice.  It's healthy, dammit.  Good for your... kidneys or something?  Well, adding a splash of it to a glass of vodka is a great way to enjoy the summer afternoon.  From the comforts of the air conditioned den.  And the vodka is healthy, too- it's like...mouthwash.  It's antibacterial or something.

Have a great 4th of July, everyone!

-kory

New York City: a layout with washi tape, misting, stickers, a die cut, some bodily fluids...

I guess you can tell by the title, this layout has a little bit of everything- well, no flowers (Sorry, Paul) and no twine (Sorry, Frank).  Yeahps.  Nearly a little bit of everything, even some bodily fluids.  No, don't run- nothing too disturbing- just a little saliva, where I needed to smudge some distress ink.

I took this photo on one of my favorite trips to New York City.  I think it would be my second favorite trip.  On this specific vacation, I saw Tracey Letts' astounding play, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY.  I also nearly got into a fistfight with a crazy drunk man outside in line for 'street meat' at four in the morning.  And that was after I nearly beat up a cab driver who tried not to accept out fare uptown, because his shift was almost over and he only wanted to go further downtown.  I'm sorry, but after a long night of awe-inspiring theatre and awe-inspiring drinking- a crazy man in line for food or a cranky cab driver is NOT going to get in MY WAY!

About the layout:

The base is just plain old kraft, and I think the light blue background paper with a slight resist pattern is from, well- I have no clue... if anybody knows, I would be much obliged to know.  I outlined/drew a square around the light blue page with a Walnut Stain Distress Marker.  The Chrysler building die cut is from Quickutz- I found it in the Hobby Lobby clearance aisle for two bucks.  The file tab is a punch from Jenni Bowlin/Fiskars.  I LOVE this punch.  

The strip of subway tape is from Mr. Holtz's new set of DESTINATIONS tissue tape.  This tape looks good everywhere.  It can work with so many different styles- I just love it- I need more of it!  

I used four different bottles of misters.  Boarding Pass from October Afternoon's set of "Sprinklers" that coordinates with their genius-beautiful-classy BOARDING PASS collection. Dewey, Heirloom Blue, Calico White- all MISTER HUEY from Studio Calico.  More of "my favorite things."  What did the world do before the proliferation of misters?  And what will we do when we're all sick of them?  And what of October Afternoon's BOARDING PASS collection.  Please don't stare at me blankly and ask what is THAT?!  If you haven't been hoarding up the pieces from October Afternoon's Boarding Pass collection, you must live a horrible life.  I know that my life was horrible until I discovered that line, and every time I buy more of it as I find it, my life gets better and better.  So that's proof.  OA's Boarding Pass equals life, love and happiness.  Yes, I have most of it and a duplicate paper or two- but WHAT will I do once it's gone?!  I want to be able to have a lifetime collection of Boarding Pass papers and embellishments.  October Afternoon, if you're listening:  If you find yourself cleaning out to make room for all the new genius stuff you're making, and you decide to throw out any extra Boarding Pass- DON'T.  Send it to me.  I will not only be the happiest person on earth, I will also do anything you ask.  ANYTHING.  Wink.

Here's the layout:

See the faint skyline stamped along the bottom?  That's a skyline stamp from Tim Holtz's Urban Grunge set, stamped with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  It's faint enough to fade into the background and add to the 'city' look, but still- part of the background.  I feel it adds lots.  

I also used the Quickutz skyscraper die as a sort of mask- and stamped on and over it at random parts of the page, to kinda add another faint skyline image to the right of the photo. 

I had lots of fun doing this page- I relived parts of the trip, I enjoyed the moment I'm in now- and that's part of what scrapping is about, isn't it?  Okay, that's as deep as I'm gonna get- to put it simply,  I felt good doing it and I love the page!

Happy May Day, everyone!

-kory

My Best Friend

I took the day off of work!  


I was so stressed out yesterday, I realized that I had better use some personal time, or quit.  I decided to ask my boss for a day off, ince I don't have another full time job begging me to start in a few days (hint, hint- wanna hire me?  I'll do anything).


I really wanted to 'make a page.'  That's what I call scrapbooking, really.  Makin' a page.  I've got so much new paper laying around, begging to be used- but I needed the photos!  I'm really bad about getting photos printed out.  Because like everything I set out to do, it usually turns into an ordeal.


Well, it was-


Printing photos was an ordeal. I woke up bright and early-  thinking it would be nice to be in Wal-Mart with less of the humanity usually involved.  It was empty!  Which was GREAT- but the photo printing machines don't turn on until 9am.  WHY?!  You do it yourself!  It was only 8am, so I had to slowly wander around the aisles and read magazines for an hour.  Which attracted lots of attention from employees.  In a big empty store, I guess the bored employees decide to focus on the three people there- NO I don't need help! NO I'm not stealing anything! NO I'M NOT COOKING DRUGS IN THE AISLES. 

Also, I have a habit, of when I'm looking at things on the bottom shelves- I will just sit down on the floor. Which is what I was doing in the scrap aisle, looking thru all the dollar stamps and junk. I guess they think that means trouble or they're used to chasing away hobos who 'move in' or something. Just leave me alone! I'm browsing!  I did find three nice lookin' rolls of Wal-Marts new 97cent washi tape!

9am finally came and I finally started printing photos- a young girl came up to use the machine next to me- and I guess it was giving her trouble. It required that the loud and pushy photo counter employee to come over and be...loud and pushy. I just want to print photos in peace!!!

I was happy that I was able to print my photos with a white border around them- I love that look.  I think it adds a touch of class.  I know what you're thinking- why would someone who thinks Franzia's box of Crisp White is a nice drink think they can recognize a touch of class?  I don't have all the answers.

I finally finished choosing which pictures to print, waiting for the slow machine to load each next screen so I could click NEXT until I could click SUBMIT ORDER, finally finished waiting for the machine to print my fifty-three photos, finally get to the counter to pay the loud pushy photo counter employee.  Guess what?  Now I have to wait for her to get the cash register to work-  even had to move to another register.  And then what?  She flips through all my photos!  I'm like, WHAT THE HELL?!  Is she this bored, that she's gotta flip through my stack of photos?!  


I was so happy to get out of Wal-Mart that I almost kissed the ground.


Since there's a Hobby Lobby next door, nearly, I thought- 'Well, I might as well check out their clearance aisle.'  


I wasn't finding anything.  I considered buying some paper, since all paper (including pads! all pads!  take THAT, Michaels!) was 50% OFF!  I was just about to buy Mr. Holtz's glorious new DESTINATIONS pad- but noticed the corner was dented.  Each page had a dent in the corner.  That would've driven me insane.  No matter how small a dent, no matter how unnoticeable it might actually be- I would always know it's there...  and they only had one left!  The Denim Skirt Queen was stocking the scrap aisle, and I guess she thought I was stealing, so she hovered over me all the way through the clearance aisle.  So I left. 

Went to Basket Market. They are just not getting new stuff into BUYER'S CORNER!!! I was about mad that I wasted time going, until I remembered that the last time I was there- with Darla & Tanya, I hid some stuff I wanted into two separate hidey-holes. An employee was stocking in the aisle of my favorite 'vault,' so I had to 'make' a new one- and I COULDN'T exactly remember where it was- I new it was in the entire shelf full of blue glitter, but couldn't remember the exact path. After a bit, I managed to find the stamps behind all the glitter. So I ended up with a cool new stamp, a set of the new Anna Griffin flourish stamps (only 5.00!) and a nice 12x12 pack of AUTHENTIQUE papers (the Journey collection) for only 6.00! 

So now I'm at home... have everything I need to make some pages. But my lazy side is trying to talk myself into going to th movies. I wanna see the Cabin in the Woods! lol And I love going to the movies alone, during the daytime. 

Nevermind. I don't wanna drive again. I'll make something. 


I decided to scrap two cute photos of my best friend and son, Nelson.  May he rest in peace.

I loved this dog more than anything in the world-  I'll miss him for the rest of my life.  I'm glad I took so many pictures of him!

I used some of the washi tape that I got at Michaels to point to the 'best friend' sticker that I stuck on a pennant cut from one of the smaller dies in the Spellbinders Lacey Pennants set-  luckily, not all of the pennants were 'lacey.'  I love the smaller ones!

Well, that was fun, 'makin a page!'  


I'm gonna go drink a Dr. Pepper.  My sugar and caffeine high is fading.  That's not a good thing.


-kory

New Page Wednesday!

First of all- don't let that blog title fool you into thinking I'm going to upload a new page layout every Wednesday.  I'm not that disciplined.  Also, it isn't even Wednesday.  It's Wednesday Eve.  So I've already misled you twice.

My good friend, Holly, gave this photo to me.  It's a picture taken of us at her wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding with an even better looking open bar.  And I can tell this photo was taken very early in the evening, as I look spectacularly sober.

I swear, this photo looked a hundred times better when I was looking at it on the little view-screen on the back of my camera.  Hmmm.  I bet that you're now wishing you had a nickel for every time you've heard someone complain about the quality of their photo on a blog.

But Kory, WHAT beautiful products you've used! What ARE they?!

Glad you asked!

-Textured Cardstock, Ivory, Hobby Lobby (Store Brand?)
-Ripple from the Brook Collection, Crate Paper
-Julianne Vintage, Die Cuts, K & Co (Plaque with date, under photo)
-'Script' Embossing Folder, The Paper Studio / Hobby Lobby
-Regal Crest, Tim Holtz/Sizzix Bigz Die (Leaves on sides of photo)
-EveryDay Fun Borders, Kraft Funday: My Mind's Eye (border)
-Thickers, Amy Tangerine, 'Goodness'
-Distress Ink, Victorian Velvet and Broken China (on the 'leaves')

There it is!

I think it turned out very great, very simple looking, and a memory of a very great and beautiful day.  However, Holly was a little cranky that I had to call her to ask, "WHAT DAY DID YOU GET MARRIED ON?!"

And I still swear it was in July- it was too freakin' hot that day, to be wearing a suit outdoors...


-kory

Show Bidness!

If you're keeping up with me, here, you'll know that I'm a stage manager.  For live shows.  You know- theatre.  Mostly for plays.  Musicals are much more work.  I stage managed a long run of the rock musical, HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH and it so many cues that I nearly lost my mind.  Well, what's left of my mind.  Non-musicals are so much easier to work on!  

As I move from show to show, I like to keep things that remind me of them- photos, cards from actors, ticket stubs, playbills, maybe even a prop or two that I manage to run off with...anything!  I've been working at building a nice album, full of my 'Show Bidness Memories.' 

The play I'm working on right now, opened last Friday night.  I loved the advertising postcards/flyers for the show.  The day I got them, I sat down at my worktable and got to work.  One more page for my album! 

The bright colors of the flyers really seemed to set me free from the stark and/or monochromatic style that I'm usually attracted to- 

I sat down in my pile of papers and found this bright pink paper from CRATE.  I love CRATE, lately.  The backside of this pink paper was a dark brown with a cool minimal design on it- I guess that is why I bought it, but I love that I've ended up using the unexpected (to me) side!

I also have a love for the shape of a postage stamp.  I cut the large photo mat, with my Black Friday Cricut Expression 2 and my latest cartridge, 'Elegant Edges.'  What a great cartridge.  I also used my Cricut to cut the rolodex card shape behind the photo on the left.  I found this great shape on the 'Graphically Speaking' cartridge.  Another great cartridge to have!  I love these kinds of shapes.  Anything that reminds me of office supply gives me a thrill.  Why?  I don't know.  I'll explore that with a therapist.

The part of this page that I had the most fun with?  The borders.  I lined them up all in a row.  They're from a pack of borders from K & CO.  EVERY border in this set is terrific.  The set is called CUT N PASTE.  Check them out: 

Photo from K&CO: http://www.eksuccessbrands.com/kandcompany

See the one that looks like a big film strip?  You gotta see it in person.  I've got to go back to MICHAELS and pick up another package of these...or another two package of these...

I love this 'New Vintage' look that has really taken off.  Will it replace my love for the beautiful grunge from Mr. Holtz?  No.  But, clean, modern retro is really winning over my heart.

There ya go, a page from my 'Shows' album!  If you wanna come to OKC and catch a show, let me know.  I'll take you to the Hobby Lobby outlet in the morning.  ;-)

Later!

-kory

An Infomercial! Or: A blogomercial?

There you are, with a racing heartbeat and endorphins flooding your bloodstream.

Your face is glistening with sweat.  That's right!  You just returned home from another trip to the Scrap store!

You sit down at your scrap table, trying to clear a 12X12 space, pushing as much as the clutter away and BAM! It hits you.  Hits you like a beer bottle in a bar fight.  You're SCRAPBLOCKED!

What do you do when you're blocked?! 

Well...

You can cruise the gallery at http://www.scrapbook.com/.

You can read Frank's blog, Haus of W, and gaze at the amazing work he does...

You can search Google Image for sketches...

OR!

You can pull out KORY K'S NOT SO PATENTED POST-IT NOTE SCRAPBOOKING LAYOUT PLAYSET!



Kory K's NOT SO PATENTED POST-IT NOTE SCRAPBOOK LAYOUT PLAYSET!

But KORY, what's that?!

It's a fun, handy way to experiment with ideas, developed while sitting at my desk while I should've been doing something a little bit more productive!

But KORY! How does it work?!

Thanks for asking, Judy!  It works easily!  (I love pretending to be in an infomercial.)

You get a stack of POST-ITs from the office supply cabinet.   The regular, well-known, classic POST-IT is 3 inches by 3inches.  A nice, perfect little square.  That's going to be your regular piece of 12X12 cardstock.  Or your fancy piece of scrapbook paper.  You decide, it's your imagination!

SO- since we've decided that a 3X3 POST-IT equals a 12X12 cardstock, that means a fourth of an inch equals one entire inch.  How'd I figure that out? No, I didn't just know the measurement.  I'm artistic, not mathtistic.  I used my handy "Say No To Drugs" ruler to count!

Why do I have a "Say No To Drugs" ruler?  Once a year, we hold a thing for school kids, called "Camp Red Ribbon."  I thought you’d ask.

A ton of excited, screaming kids come to the office.  Kids so young they don't even know what drugs are, but start telling them early is the idea, I guess.  We have games and a fire truck and a giant slide and bouncy-castle, and over their shouts of excitement, we shout "DON'T DO DRUGS, YOU WILL BE POOR AND DIE!"

And then we give them gifts.  The item I decided our department would order are these classy, multicolored rulers WITH alphabet stencil built in-  I picked these out because I wanted a ruler with alphabet stencil.  I'm smart that way.  Wow, long story just to explain why I have this ruler.  Where was I?

Oh yeah!  Our scale measurements! 

To review: 1/4 inch equals 1 inch.  Using this scale, you can then cut out little squares for different sized photos and embellishments.  A brightly colored Christmas pencil that you boss put in your Christmas stocking is helpful for marking the cutting lines on your paper.

I made a few generic squares, 4X6 and 3X3 'sizes,' and some random sized 'paper pieces,' such as a long strip, some border shapes, a couple of circles, and a bracket-y shape.  Just cut out any shapes you can think of- these are going to be our little 'placeholders' on our POST-IT layout.  Once you've made a nice little set of little shapes, you're ready to start arranging them on your full square POST-IT- remember the full square is your base piece of cardstock. 

Peel off a few POST-ITs and line them up in front of you and write TITLE in random places on each one.  Then, just start placing your 'picture' sized square pieces onto the big square.  Or lay down some long strips and place a 'photo square' on top of those- and SURPRISE- your layout will begin to take shape!  Fun, easy, and amazing- huh?

Now, that you've got your very own Kory K style POST-IT NOTE SCRAPBOOK LAYOUT PLAYSET, you're ready to let inspiration grab you by the weave and shake you around a bit!  Keep all your pieces together in an envelope, and next time you're standing in line for forty-five minutes at Michael's, behind a lady who SWEARS there was a sign over that item that SAID it was a dollar, so they better sell it at that price- no worries!

Pull out your 'Layout Playset' and dream up ways to put your stash to work!

As Brini Maxwell used to say, “Now why didn’t you think of that?!”

Have fun, and let me know if you try it out!

-kory

A Sketch A Day Keeps The Stash At Bay...

Sometimes, I stare off into space.  Not outer-space.  Not inner.  Just...space. You know.  Air. 

No, I'm not on any strange medications I may or may not have talked someone into smuggling back into the country from Mexico.  I'm just tired.

But, Kory, why are you tired? You're young and don't you sleep?

I'm actually 76 years old.  And no, I don't sleep.  Because I'm stage managing a new play that opens this week.  This Friday night.  The set isn't built and the lights seem to have developed a mind of their own.  They're doing all kinds of tricks, like- changing color and swinging to the right, before spinning straight up to light the ceiling.  So the director sends a guy up to the booth- he checks everything out, and tells me, 'Yeahhhh...they do that- there's something wrong with a data cord and it won't be fixed for like thirty days.'  So no, I don't sleep.  I'm battling possessed electronic lighting equipment.

What am I getting to?  Oh, I remember-  I decided to wisely spend some time designing some sketches!  I put some thought into the scrapbook supply store I call my home.  For realz, guys, I could hang a neon 'OPEN' sign and go into bidness with all this stuff.  How do I remedy this overstock situation?  I COME UP WITH IDEAS TO USE IT!  That's what!

If I don't go into battle with a plan, I will sit there- like a drunk hooker with smeared lipstick and no chance of employment.  (Sorry, I don't know where I come up with these analogies.  Just go with it.)

So here's the plan:  SOME SKETCHES!

So, that's it!  My inspiration for the day.  Will I get to put this inspiration to any scraptacular use, this evening?  No.  Because I will continue my reenactment of THE EXORCIST, with myself as the Priest, and the lighting system of the theatre as the little vomiting girl.

Wish me luck!

-kory