Summer Camp Spotlight--Week 3

Summer Camp is well under way, and we are at Week 3 out of four. The top producer for Week 3 was Cathy Gray, so let's get to know her a bit better!

What is your name on the Coffeehouse Forum Chat? My forum name is cathyjgray.

Which Club Scrap kit was your first? February of 2004

What are your top 3 favorite Club Scrap kits? That's a really tough question! I have different favorites for different reasons. For example, I have favorites I like to use a lot to make tones of creations, like the "blurple" paper from Steppin’ Out, but I also have "don't touch" favorites because I want to treasure the paper forever, like English Garden and Natural Wonders. In general, I guess I'd pick Orient Express, Up, Up and Away and Take Wing.

Best thing you learned from CS so far? The monthly theme has many interpretations, and each month the kit is even better than I thought it would be. The designs and artwork even are more amazing in person, whether in paper or digital.

Favorite kit goodie? Do stamps count? I love the artwork and wonderful sayings!

What motivates you to scrap? I love working with the great designs on the Club Scrap papers and themed kits; it inspires me to make many things.

Select 2-3 of your favorite pages/cards from this week's challenge. Why are these your favorites? I really enjoy mixed media, especially working with stencils, ink sprays and paints. It's so fun not knowing what creation will present itself, so Week Three Summer Camp's “Messy Challenge" was perfect for me. Club Scrap paper provides the perfect first layer. The brilliant colors, textures and images make a great mixed media base, even though it's sometimes hard to cover up the wonderful paper!

For these cards I ended up using five 12 x 12 papers: An Ivory Plain (from my stash), two Navajo prints and two Bon Appetit prints. Using my stencils, I got at least two images from each imprint--one by adding medium through the stencil onto the paper, and a second reverse image by pressing paper onto the "messy" stencil. The pink Bon Appetit card below was one of my favorites because the light script you see in the background was already on the paper.

To get the impressions you see on my cards, lightly mist the stencil with water, then apply ivory and blue acrylic paint (Navajo) or pink and white ink sprays (Bon Appetit) layered onto Geometric stencils. 

To create card panels from these decorated papers, cut each 12 x 12 at 4 and 8". Rotate each 4 x 12" horizontally and trim at 5.25 and 10.5". Trim coordinating 8.5 x 11 card stock in half horizontally to make A2 card bases (cut at 5.5"). 

I was able to create 30 "messy" cards from these panels combined with left over Greetings to Go die cuts and stamps from various past kits. Washi tape is a good layering trick for mixed media projects, too, because it allows colors from underneath to subtly show through. The “What will happen if I spray over this stencil and use this paper?” experience was so much fun!

Congratulations, Cathy!