New monkeys

I redid yesterday's card using Hammermill paper and it's much better.  So now we know, even though it says that it doesn't bleed, sometimes it does!!!

The left is yesterday, the right is today.

Which one do you like best?

The other thing I have to learn to do is to write down my color combinations as I use them.  Because I forget when I go to sleep!  LOL!!!

Lucy's jeans:  B00, 32, 45, W3, and denim texture with colorless blender.

Lucy's shirt:  R29, 00

Lucy's hair:  E29,21,09

Lucy's skin: E000, 02, R20

Monkey barrel:  E08, 18, 21, W3
Monkeys in the barrel:  E25, E11

Monkey in front:  E000, E21, 25
Paws: E000, 02
Lips: R29, 00
"Tickle me Terry" with terry cloth and colorless blender

So even if you are limited in the colors of copics that you have, you can still do a lot of fun things!  I'll grow my collection over the winter with my 40% off coupons.  :o)  I think it's important to note as well that each of us will develop our own copic style.  I can already tell I like a "watercolor" look, not a pure blended look.  I'm going to prefer glitter on top of my stickler.  I'm going to like the pink/turquoise/green combo that I use with alcohol inks.  But it's going to be fun to just play.

Without you.....

Two sets of Monkey stamps by "Talk About Images".  And Lucy.  I'm learning.  I used a medium weight copic paper....too thin to layer.  But I still like the concept.  Color the images with copics, then cut out and layer, then adhere to white cardstock and distress ink the edges.  The paper would be fine for just plain coloring, but it just doesn't work for layering.  

"Without you it's just a barrel...."  isn't that just the truth?  I went through a phase last summer of collecting ladybugs and putting them in a corner in my garden.  I think I'm going to collect sock monkeys this winter.  They are just so cute and they remind me a lot of my childhood.  Grandma Moore made me one once.  I'm sure it got loved to pieces!  We went to lunch at Cracker Barrel today and I found this little guy.  Wrapped him around a pen in my craft tool tote.

Did you know that Cracker Barrel has Moon Pies?  They taste just like they did when I was a kid!  Always good to find things that remind you of your childhood.  :o)

The Child in You

Some days, it's good to go off and find the child in you.  Just to play.  Like a kid.  Like you did when you were a kid. I have always loved dolls,  In about 1994, I puchased the American Girl Doll Samantha.  She was given away to a little girl in Greely, Colorado, about 1997.  I think that "little girl" is probably all grown up by now!  Then I purchased Kirsten, who was given away to another little girl.  Over the years, I have bought and given away about 8 American Girl Dolls.  And then I was lucky enough to have found 5 more at thrift stores that needed repair.  I've given them all away as well.  I know they've all been well cared for over the years!

In 1995, the Girls of Today line was introduced and in 1996 I had to buy a "hanukkah doll"!  I ordered her with black hair, brown eyes, fair skin and her Hanukkah outift.   She's been on a shelf ever since with her menorah and dredle.  She's just too precious to give away!!

This week, I happened to stop by a Goodwill store.  Much to my surprise, I found an American Girl table.  I had no idea what it was. but for $2.99.....it's now the center of a new "dust corner".  (if you don't know what a dust corner is - don't ask!!!)

I had the artist easel.....but I needed to make my Hanukkah girl look like an  artist.  So I made her a "lucy mcgoo" apron. You have to click on it to see how totally cute it is!!!   Lucy's motto has always been to "hug the child inside of you".  How appropriate!

remember the apron I made for the retreat here?



and no artist is complete without their bag of goodies:

Her paint set and color wheel, menorah and bear now sit on the new table (which I learned is really her sewing table)  And her other little toys are on the shelf below

added one of mom's wonderful watercolors and the vignette is complete.  And now we have an "artist" in my art studio!

So while I truly had a bit of a chuckle playing with dolls at my age, it reminded me that each of us truly needs to let the child play once in awhile.  Wonder what the grandkids will think when they find out GJ has her own American Girl Doll!!!

Lucy McGoo

So I turned my doll into a real Lucy:

who loves shoes

and loves to shop. LOL!




I had more fun than you can imagine putting her together

I wanted to do better photos of all of them.....here is Edie's.


On the base, she has "Play" - my favorite word!

can you see the felted hat? Just loaded with fun things . The table top is amazing. You could look at this one for an hour and not see all of it!

and the detail on Ron's......

I truly didn't notice the hat at first glance......


and just laughed and laughed when I saw he had replicated our "Naughty Girl Hat". How cute!!

So these are the 3 winners. What a trio!


Just so much fun! Tomorrow I'm going to do a "group" shoot and then we'll submit them to a magazine to see if we can get them all published!

Things are slowly getting back to normal. I think my studio is back in place. Am mounting all my new stamps tonight and getting them organized. And then I have to start making up "thank you" cards for all the fun things we were given!

Life is good!

More alcohol ink on Friendly Plastic

Peg and I agreed we could sit and do this forever. Not just fun - but I think a bit of some kind of therapy involved here. So we wanted to show you the different looks you can get with the same stamp, same Friendly plastic - just using different colors and inking techniques. I used silver on this.....

And Peg used gold on hers....

How do you decide which one you like the best? LOL!

This next one is a much lighter impression - and I like it just as well

And these 2 are really deep impressions - with different inking techniques (above and below)
But all of these simply used alcohol inks, blending solution, 91% alcohol, stamps, and white Friendly Plastic strips.

And at $1.99 per strip - it really is cheaper than therapy!!!

OK, just one more night of ideas tomorrow and then on to something else!

Crafts n things

I'm in the latest issue.....can you believe I literally forgot what I had submitted to them and had to get the magazine before I could share??? LOL!!!



The coolest part of this is that I've used my very own rubber stamps on the cards! So Lucy McGoo has finally made it into a magazine! Woo Hoo!!! :o)



You can purcahse the stamps directly from me or from After Midnight Stamps.



There are only 36 stamps total (so far) and they come on 3 full sheets of unmounted rubber. But if you catch After Midnight at a local show, you can buy them individually cut up in the bins. I know - I know, I need to get busy and get the next set done, huh? Well, all in good time!!! For now, I'm going to enjoy the fact that these 2 got published!

The Lucy McGoo (Basement Babes) Fall Retreat

I'm NOT taking reservations yet, but if you think you'd like to fly in for a fun filled weekend, send me an email and I will put your name on my "list".

October 9 -11, 2009

It's totally free - but you have to get here on your own, bring food, tools (and such) and either sleep on the floor or an air mattress.  We had a total blast last year and I think this year will be so much better!  And we're expanding just a little!!!

Invites will go out first to those who attended last year, then to my yahoo group, then I will open it up to anyone who has sent me a note.

It would be worth the price of airfare....since airfare is so darn cheap right now!

And if you want to come and be an instructor - email me and we'll chat!

Plans are in the works and I think this fall - we'll really have fun playing!!!

She's here!!! She's here!!!

But you know, she didn't get here til about 2:30 today and by the time we got home from the airport....and unpacked....and had some wine.....and looked at the studio....and moved her studio into my studio....

NOTHING got done!!!

However, in anticipation of all the designing and creating that's going on this week.....and the videos we are going to make...I thought I'd put a link here to ALL 17 of my youtube videos to date. Just click below:

YouTube Video link

And have fun if you have missed some of these. Bookmark the site, or subscribe to my videos so you don't miss a single thing.

And look at all the product I've used so far.....such enabling!!!

Amaco, After Midnight Stamps, Scraperdashery, Spellbinders, Quickutz, Sizzix, Provo Craft, Lucy McGoo, Luminarte, Ranger...

and I did my first video just 2 months ago! Imagine where we are headed!!!!!

How to make your own diecut embossing template

Last August, I showed you how to make your own template to emboss a diecut with fine details. Torrey and I have put together a video tutorial for this technique because so many of you have sent questions about how to do this. I have broken this down into more than one in order to get each one under you tube's 10 minute limit. So, one per blog. That will give you plenty of time to play and experiment!

You can double click on the video and it will take you to youtube. You might be able to see it a little better/bigger from there. I will also put in the direct link to youtube. We are having just a little too much fun making videos this week before she goes home to Texas!



Youtube link

You can purchase Wonder Goo from me ($4.95 plus shipping) or from After Midnight Stamps

Here is the basic quickutz die assembled:

Here it is compared to the one that we embossed from our template:
A closeup of the embossed diecut:
A closeup comparison:

The original diecut inked (just not the same, is it?)

Glossy accents on the tree trunk (this is 2 layers):

Comparing the embossed die to the inked die:

Close up of the grass where you can see how we sketched the design and then added Glossy Accents on top of our sketch:

A closeup of a leaf with Glossy Accents on it:
  Tomorrow night - a video tutorial showing you what Torrey did with Sizzix flowers!

Lucy McGoo video tutorials

Well, I just thought you might like to see our introduction video....it's worth a few good laughs!!!



Youtube link

OK, we do tend to have a little too much fun when we get together. Imagine what life was like before she moved to Texas!!! We were always in our labora-torrey experimenting!

And we totally forgot to say our little logo poem:

Lucy McGoo is the child in you...she wants to play every day!!!



I guess we are both really getting old because we didn't even mention our TWO diecut manuals that we have available to download for only $2.00 each!!!

Lucy McGoo's Unofficial Wizard Manual

Lucy McGoo's Technique Academy



You can purchase Wonder Goo and/or our Lucy McGoo stamps direct from me, or at After Midnight stamps. Their link for Wonder Goo is here, and the link for our stamps is here.

And we can't thank Susan enough for helping out with our fun videos this week! Susan is a designer for B-Line Designs!

So sit back and stay tuned as there will be a video a day for the next few days! We hope you enjoy them and that you learn a little as we have been having so much fun putting them together just for you!

PS...if you think this video is funny, you ought to see the parts I cut out!!!

Record highs today

it was 83 degrees here......and I believe it!!! A perfect day to work on the back deck experimenting with copper etching.

So, who says you need ferric chloride? Yes, it does a great job, but it was $35.00 for the bottle. Peroxide and Hydrochloric Acid mixed together will do the same thing. I did 3 plates today, 2 were done with FC and 1 with the other mix. See if you can tell the difference!

This first one was done using stamps from A Stamp of Excellence.

Tried to photo this so you could see how it etches away and leaves the inked portions the original thickness so they are raised or embossed on the copper



Using Lucy McGoo stamps from After Midnight Stamps:



And Lucy stamps with seashells from Pugnacious



Just so you know, with either method, you are working with extremely dangerous chemicals. Work outside only. Do not do this inside. And wear gloves and a mask at all times. Even when you are sanding. Use only real copper, not copper painted metal. Read all the labels and warnings on the products. Be careful! Don't even try this if there are kids around! You can see here how it will eat the edge of the copper away where I failed to ink the back good enough.



So, the next step is to patina these. I'm loving the colors on this one. We'll see how they turn out tomorrow.



I will be doing a lot more of these as there are so many different possibilities. I'd like to try the watercolor painting technique after etching.....and do an overnight etch and see if I could get the embossed detail thick enough to emboss into paper using the Wizard....endless possibilities.

I see stamps!

I got tired of playing with alcohol inks and decided to work on the walls in our exercise room. They're done!!!

 

Got an old overhead projector on craigs list and printed out my prototype stamp images on transparency and projected them up on the wall.  OK, I don't like the "s" in the font on the top row and will hae to find a replacement letter for that.  But what a good way to preview stamps!  LOL!

Bigger snacks

Mean bigger slacks

In case you can't make out the phrase on the left.  I love that in the "chub" font!

and stealing the swoosh from Nike - think it will inspire us to move?

And I still think I need to somehow paint more "sweat" around Lucy.  She just doesn't look like she's working hard enough!


Who needs to buy "words on the walls" when you can paint anything you want? LOL!

OK - back to alcohol inks!