Sunday, December 28, 2014

Looking Forward and Thanks!

Good Morning!

I hope that your Christmas was filled with family, love, laughter, and of course some art! 


Has it really been since December 15th that I posted?  Oh, sorry about that. I was in full swing making Christmas projects, gifts and decorating when I got sick.  I'm getting better. Not 100% yet but much better.  So everything stopped including gifts in progress, new projects, and of course blogging.   On top of all that this is one of my busiest times of year at work. I'm human resources so that means benefit renewals, short weeks where I have to get payroll done early, and closing out the year.   Whew!

I am looking forward to the new year. New projects. New inspiration. Always feels like a fresh start. 

So excited for CHA in early January. Will be traveling with my girls from Chico Scrapbooks, Jodie and Terri. We have a good time and manage to laugh and giggle our way through the long, long days.  Look for Facebook and blog posts from CHA. 

Speaking of Facebook. Did you know that I have a FB page?  Would love it if you would check it out and follow me.  It's SY's Studio-Papercrafting with Sharon Young. 

Thanks so much for your support, comments, and good will thought the year. I really appreciate each and everyone of you.   Wishing you many blessings for the new year!

Happy Creating!

Hugs, Sharon



Monday, December 15, 2014

Tim Tags - a Chico Scrapbooks Tradition

Happy Monday!

Hope your week is going well. I had a busy weekend at Chico Scrapbooks with a crop on Saturday and a Tim Holtz inspired Christmas tag class. 

Jodie, the owner of Chico Scrapbooks, has created a Tim tag set every December since she opened. This year I was honored that she asked me to help her design some tags. For those of you who know me it's no secret that I'm a fan of Tim's work and all things Distress. She didn't have to ask twice. I jumped at the chance to get inky.


Each of the backgrounds were created using Tim's techniques. Plenty of stencils, dies, and inks were used. 

Look how festive St Nick looks on the mowed lawn foil embossed background. 


This one is one of my favorites. I absolutely adore this background technique using the a Christmas stencil and mini ink pads.   What really got me excited was what I did with the Industrious stickers and UTEE. 


I wasn't sure it would work but to my delight it did.  I inked up the ornament die cuts, adhered the industrious stickers and then used embossing ink at add a couple of layers of UTEE.  It has a cool enamel feel and look!


I used some pewter stain to create a plaid background on the sleigh tag. It's subtle but adds some wonderful texture and shine. The sleigh is glittered with clear rock candy and filled with gifts, a tree, and a metal adornment wreath. 


The packages are rectangles and squares cut out of The Merriment paper stash.


Jodie created this snowy festive gent. He is cut out of a script paper and covered in UTEE. We do love our UTEE at Chico Scrapbooks. Hope you can see the gorgeous fibers on all the tags. Jodie has quite the talent for finding unusual and beautiful fibers to use on our projects. 


Our last tag features the layered snowflake over a harlequin background. 


Fun aren't they?  I had a blast being a part of creating something for a Chico Scrapbooks tradition. Thanks Jodie for including me. The icing on the cake was being able to teach these techniques in class on Sunday.  It makes me happy to see the ladies learning something they can use in future projects. 

Thanks Tim for all the inspiration and products that make tags like these possible. 

Thanks to all of you for visiting my blog and commenting and encouraging me  

I hope that you take time to enjoy the little moments that make this season so magical. 

Happy Creating!

Hugs, Sharon








Monday, December 8, 2014

Thanksgiving Recap and Christmas Preview

Hello!  How is your December going?  We are in full holiday swing now.

Warning!  Grab a cuppa and sit back as this is a photo heavy post. 

I just wanted share the results of my Thanksgiving culinary adventure. We went a little non traditional this year and had prime rib instead of turkey. Never cooked a prime rib before. Nope. Never. I was a bit scared but forged ahead. Turns out it was easier than I thought and it turned out great. 


Almost there. We cooked to about 130 so it was medium rare. 



My husband and nephew getting ready to enjoy the meal. 

Good day, good food, and good company. 

With Christmas fast approaching I am in full swing on some personal projects and some for Chico Scrapbooks. Some of the personal projects are gifts so I will have to share later. I can give you a look at the December tree at Chico Scrapbooks and a sneak peek at an upcoming class. 

This year one of the other designers at the store, Terri Camilli has been decorating a small tree to celebrate the seasons and holidays. I joined in about six months ago.  Take a peek at the December tree. 


All the ornaments and decorations are created with Tim Holtz Merriment paper stash and Tim Holtz Sizzix dies.   I made the rustic lanterns and the topper and Terri created all the others. She is amazing!





It was hard to see the topper but wanted to give you a closer view. It's an up-cycled project with paper towel rolls. Kind of funky but I'm happy with how it turned out. 


Jodie has traditionally done a Tim Holtz style Christmas tag class every year at Chico Scrapbooks. This year she asked me to help out with some of the designs. Here is a quick look at two that are still in progress. 




Whew that was a lot of photos, huh?  Thanks for hanging in there. I'll give you some more looks as I complete more Christmas projects. Hope you are getting some time to enjoy the season. 

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Creating!

Hugs, Sharon













Friday, December 5, 2014

Compendium of Curiosities 3, Challenge 16

Happy Friday,

Thank You so much for all your kind comments about my last challenge post.  So appreciate you taking the time to visit and give me some encouragement and love.

Challenge 16 in the CC3C is all about layering stencils.  As per the rules I can't let you in on the technique but you can check it out yourself on page 50.

I needed a masculine birthday card.  I wanted something beefier than cardstock so I started with a chipboard base.  I then covered the card with various Tim Holtz papers from French Industrial and Laboratorie.

Front view.



Closure undone and ready to open.


The card opens as a gate fold to reveal an interior birthday card.  The card is held in place with a belly band.




I kept things pretty simple and free of dimensional embellishments as I wanted to be able to mail it.  The chipboard card will fit in a 6 x 9 envelope.

Have you joined in on the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge yet?  It is a lot of fun making our way through Tim's latest book.  Each week there is a "Curiosity Crew's Choice" winner who will win some Tim goodies courtesy of Tim and Mario.  Another lucky winner will receive a $25 shopping spree from Linda Coughlin over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Be sure to head over to Linda Ledbetter's blog to check out what the Curiosity Crew has created as well as the others who have played along.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Looks to be a wet one in the North State.  We have been getting some much needed rain.

Thanks so much for stopping by.





Sunday, November 30, 2014

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 November

Good Evening!

Is it really the last day of November?  I swear Tim just posted his tag for this month.  Check out his fantastic tag here.  Be sure to also scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what everyone else created.

I'm just happy that I was able to make some time to create my version.  Since Thanksgiving has past, the leaves are falling, and its almost December I decided to do a snowy version.  Don't you just love the layered dies?  This snowflake is just amazing.


 I chose some blues and some iced spruce for my background.


Faded Jeans for the embossing portion.


A silver for the foiling.  Now that's really cool.


More blues for the corrugated cardboard.


Now here are when things took a decidedly dark turn.  I only have three colors of distress stain sprays so far.  So far, hee hee.  I used pumice stone and need some more practice on the spotty technique.  It was more spray than spot.  Looking quite dark at this point.  I wanted to lighten things up and get some "spots".  What to do?  Hmmm, could I do a flicking technique?  Well, yes.  I smooshed several colors of blue stain on my mat, hit it with some water and flicked it onto the tag.  Subtle, but I think it helped.  As you can see, I think I got more ink on my fingers than on the tag.  Don't mind a bit.  Love to get inky!


Determined to go with the flow and enjoy the process I went forward with this dark and grungy snow flake.  I added some white rubs on, ribbon, and the alpha parts.  So happy with the overall look and really felt good about staying in the moment.








Hope you like my version of Tim's November tag.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Happy Creating!

Hugs,  Sharon



Monday, November 24, 2014

Busy Thanksgiving Week

Hello!

Well, we are on the countdown to Thanksgiving in the US. How are your preparations going?  Things are in full swing at the Young Household. Busy doesn't even begin to describe it. 

Oh before I forget I wanted to share some pics of our front yard tree. I am lucky to live in an area that has some great fall color. These were taken a few weeks ago when the leaves were turning.  Our neighborhood looks fantastic and really puts me in the fall mood!




So, back to this busy week. At work this is always an especially intense time of year for me as the Human Resources lady. Short weeks like this one mean payday is early and it's a race to get payroll done before the deadline. Ok, today I checked that one off my list!  I also have a couple of new hires starting who need their orientation and initial training. That's tomorrow.  Wednesday will be all about collecting all the health insurance renewal paperwork and getting the new deductions set up in our payroll system. 

At home, preparations for Thanksgiving are under way. Since we don't have much family living close by and with my busy work schedule we tend towards keeping the day mellow. This year we are doing something a little different. My sister in law and our nephew will be joining us for dinner. Ok sounds good. Last week my husband said how about if we have prime rib instead of turkey. Um, ok, that sounds good too.  Except for one thing. I have never cooked a prime rib!  Um, ya,  I have to admit I'm a little bit scared over this one.  Looked up how to cook one and some nice sides and of course a horseradish sauce. Really, what did we do in situations like this before the internet?  Thanks goodness I was able to get educated.  Though it doesn't really help me feel any more relaxed about getting this big ol pice of meat cooked just right. Yikes!  What have I gotten myself into?  Breeeeeeathe!  We pick up the prime rib from the butcher on Wednesday!  Let the adventure begin!

Tonight I made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Can you say yum?!  Oh these beauties are a little bit of heaven.  First time making them and I'm in love!  The recipie called for brown and granulated sugar. Turns out I had about a teaspoon of granulated sugar so I just added more brown sugar. Both hubbie and I agreed it was just the right amount of sweetness. 


I hope that those who celebrate Thanksgiving have a wonderful time full of good food, friends and family and lots of laughter and love!  

Be sure to check back as I take you along on my culinary adventure. 

Thanks for stopping by. Happy creating and cooking!

Hugs, Sharon

Friday, November 21, 2014

Compendium of Curiosities 3, Challenge 15

Happy Friday!  It's number 15 in the Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge.  This one is a Cabinet Card Pocket.  You will find this challenge on page 38 of the Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities III book.

First let me say Thank You for all the lovely comments on my last CC3C piece.  So appreciate all the comments and visits.

As Thanksgiving is next week and with colder weather arriving I was in a winter mood while creating my cabinet card pocket.

Meet Sammy skater.  He loves winter, snow, skating, and making snowmen.  Aren't Tim's found relatives so fun?  I took all my inspiration from this photo to come up with a winter theme.

Ack!  So sorry for the cruddy background of my dirty non stick mat!  Well, that's kind of embarrassing.  In my haste to get these photos I didn't pull out a better, er, at least cleaner background.  Hee, hee, hee.


Did you know that the speckle stencil makes great snow with texture paste applied through it?


Clear rock candy glitter applied over Scotch Quick Dry glue added a sparkle and icy feel.


The tag in the pocket is one of those snowmen that Sammy likes to build.  The top is adorned with the new stacked snowflake which slides over the front of the cabinet card.



Mr. snowman is covered in clear rock candy glitter.  But first the tag was inked up in various blue Distress inks and the scarf, holly, nose and arms were colored with Distress markers.


Here is a closer look at the snowflake that adorns the tag.  Fun, fun die!


The skate charm was the perfect embellishment!


I really like how my cabinet card pocket turned out.  Captures the essence of Sammy the skater, don't you think?  It would make a fun Christmas card and could even hold a gift card if you attached a pocket to the back of the tag.

As with every challenge there will be a Curiosity Crew choice winner who will get a load of goodies from Tim and Mario.  Challenge 15 is sponsored by Inspiration Emporium and one lucky winner will get a $50 gift certificate.

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Creating!

Hugs, Sharon







Thursday, November 20, 2014

Ranger Ink Rocks! Happy Mail and Keeping Me Organized

Happy Thursday everyone!

I received some very happy mail today.  If you are a regular visitor to my blog or Facebook then you know I am a huge Ranger Ink fan.  The Ranger blog is one of my regular stops when I'm cruising the net.  Last week they announced the release of the remaining 24 colors of the new Distress Stain Sprays.  Check it out here.  To celebrate they picked 5 random winners from those who commented on their favorite color of the new stain sprays.  Well, as it turned out I was one of the 5 lucky winners!  Winner, winner chicken dinner!  Yay!

Yup, you guessed it my happy mail today was from Ranger and it contained my new sprays!  So excited to play with these.  They even included the Pumice Stone which I commented was my favorite. Happy dance!



Ranger Ink rocks, right?  Their products speak for themselves (can you say, I love Distress?!), they have amazing signature designers,  they are a US company who makes their products here at home, and are always keeping us inspired with a wide variety of posts and tutorials.

Many a Ranger product has made its way into my studio.  Like many crafters and artists I struggle at times keeping myself organized.  It can be a battle between having everything within reach and having enough space to create.  Did you know that Ranger has some ways to help you organize your inks, paints and various media?  There are some printable charts and labels that you can use that really come in handy.  If you go to their website main page and scroll all the way to the bottom you will see a link called "Organize Your Ranger Products".  You will see a variety of Ranger products from alcohol inks, Dylusions sprays, archival ink, and of course the Distress line.  Click on any of the pictures and it links you to a color chart and/or a label sheet.  Pretty cool, huh?

I spent some time last weekend labeling all of my Distress ink pads, paint, stains, embossing powder and glitter.  No more rooting around my bins to find the color I want.  Easy to see, easy to use, easy to put away.

Here are my full size Distress pads.  I actually printed 4 sets of labels so that no matter how I put it away I can see the color.  A lot more work than just one label per pad?  Yes.  So worth it.  I also have to give a shout out and big thank you to my friends Michele and George Wellman for this wonderful ink pad holder!  This was a gift that George made himself.  This is going to save me so much time.  Plus it looks great in my studio.  Thanks and hugs you two!!!!!!



There are also some larger slots that fit the archival ink pads.  My well used jet black along with my Wendy Vecchi archival pads.



Here is my Ikea Raskog cart filled with my most reached for mediums, embossing supplies, paints, stains, sprays and more.  Its on wheels so it rolls under my table when not in use.  On the second shelf you will see a clear bin that holds my Distress Paints and Stains.  These labels were printed from the Ranger website onto a full 8 1/2 x 11 sticker page and punched out with a 3/4" punch.


Much easier to find the color I want.  No more picking up each bottle to see what color it is.  Paints on the left and stains on the right use the same size punched out labels.



I also used those same labels for my embossing powders and glitters.  These are both stored in my spinning organizer from Harbor Freight Tool.



I have been trying to clean up and re-arrange my studio for several  months.  It is work but oh so worth it.  Thanks to Ranger my most used products are labeled and organized. 

Let me know if you are interested in seeing more studio organization by leaving a comment or sending me an email (listed on the top right of my blog).  I'm not quite ready for a full reveal but if there is interest I can show you areas as I get done with them.

Thanks again to Ranger for the wonderful prize!  You really do rock!

Appreciate you stopping by.  Happy Creating!

Hugs, Sharon