The Creating Place Blg

Check out our newly listed creative links

I just added a couple of my favorite creative links, enjoy!

(our links are on the left hand column, just scroll down.)

It's a bloggy day

Did I say bloggy I mean foggy. After a week of beautiful blue skies and eye squinting sunshine the fog has returned. I am now looking forward to the next stretch of blazing blue Juneau, there's nothing like it.

So what does a crafty soul do on a foggy day? You could try Anji's image transfer (below) or do some stamping. Maybe you could be impressive and start your holiday cards early! We recently got in a large selection of Alaska and native related stamps that would be perfect for any occasion cards or to add special details to brown bag gift wrap (recycle, reduce, reuse).

The most important thing is to have fun with your craftyness.

Cool Alaska Crafty Thank You

If the idea of putting any image you can find on any thing you can find appeals to you.. .this is the craft for you. I have struggled for a really long time trying to find the perfect way to transfer images to found objects and I am proud to say..YIPPEEE I think I have found the perfect product. I love these Digi Decals by Design Originals. Follow me through this great project for a new spin on image transfers.

Alaska Domino Charm

 
I love working with found and interesting objects. I "found" this object/Domino at JoAnn's. I know we should get them in The Creating Place...but I would buy them all and then end up back at JoAnn's anyway to ge t more.   















Anyway, the great thing about these particular Domino's are they are ready to bead. Their small, have a great color and have predrilled holes to attach a variety of objects to.

 

 

 

 




1- After you've found your object to transfer to, begin working on your images. Your going to be printing on you inkjet printer so you'll want to get images onto your computer. Images that have a high degree of contrast work best. It's also good to adjust the Hue/Saturation on your photo's to create the deepest and most intense colors. Once you've set the size..for these dominoes it's about .75 x 1.5 " get ready to print. You'll want to set your printer to "Mirror Image". That will turn the image in reverse so that when you transfer it to your object the image will come out correctly.










2- This is the magic stuff, Digi Decals by Design Originals. There may be other transfer sheets on the market but so far I really like these because they take print so well. 
Follow the directions to load the sheets into your printer. You are going to be printing on the rough side of the sheet so put the sheet in your printer correctly. You might want to practice on a piece of printer paper first to check your images and the direction the printer takes the paper.





3- Once you've printed your images on the sheet your going to start the transfer process...now it gets fun and a little tricky. Cut a sheet of the adhesive paper and one of the images to about the same size. Your going
 to separate the adhesive from the adhesive paper. This is the one without the images on it.










Your going to want the adhesive to separate from it's sheet in one nice smooth sheet. This works best if you first rub the adhesive sheet with a bone folder or Popsicle stick.
 











4- Pull the adhesive away from the backing. It's important that you make sure the adhesive doesn't start to glump up. It should pull away in a nice smooth strip.
 












5- Lay the adhesive (now stuck to a clear backing onto the top of your image. Once it's on rub to get it smooth and get all the air bubbles out. Rub really well. You want the image to stick to the adhesive. Once you think you have it the clear backing should peel away smoothly.


6- Turn your image over and transfer it to your object/Domino. Be careful with placement because at this stage you can't lift it off and reposition it.
 









7- Once you have the image placed treat it as you would any other rub on..rub it well with a bone folder or Popsicle stick to get it to adhere to the object. Once it is on you can peel away the white backing side.

 
8- You'll be left with some overhang which you can trim away with an exacto knife or scissors.


















9- To provide a sheen and protect the image go over it with a coat of acrylic gel gloss to protect it.

I strung some wire and beads through the holes before soldering it. You could string beads, attach wire or a thousand other things to create a great charm.

-Have Fun....Anji

Beautiful Juneau

Juneau has many moods when it comes to weather and this week has been mostly dry, beautiful, and Spring like. The flowers are blooming which inspires me to be creative. Growing up in Florida the flowers were never a source of inspiration. They were so manicured and uncomfortable (it couldn't be fun spending your days in the middle of a 6 lane highway). Here the flowers seem free. I am loving my walks to and from work. I have been a little late a couple days because I get caught up taking pictures of these beautiful blooming flowers. If you would like to see some of my images check out my flickr sight www.flickr.com/photos/jenyfer and leave comments I would love to get feedback. If you are putting together your spring pages of your 2008 scrap book stop in, we have some great paper that captures spring beautifully! 

There is beauty everywhere, the cracks in the sidewalk, moss growing on anything that stands still long enough, and paint pealing on a white picket fence. If you live here I hope you will take time to notice Juneau's everyday beauty and if you are reading this from afar it is worth a visit.

side note: I took some pictures for the Juneau Empire that made it in the paper on Friday 5.23.08 check out the links below.

http://juneauempire.com/stories/052308/nei_282178498.shtml

http://juneauempire.com/stories/052308/nei_282178745.shtml

Seriously Cool

One of the new things we have for our new store is a window designer (yeah for Tanna Peters!!)  She is the young woman who is part of The Craft Addicts (see previous blogs/ April feature artists) who turns used fabrics into hats/ cup cozies/ aprons.  She is also an expert with an exacto knife, as evident in both our street display and our larger-than-life die-cut that she made for the lobby display...She's Juneau's version of Nikki McClure (if you don't know who she is, come in and ask us about her because we love her as well--she's also mentioned in previous blogs too!!)  Also she has an amazing imagination, as seen in her crow made entirely out of paper--way wicked!!  I only wish I had half of her talent to inspire people with...

Tim Holtz Cruise!!

"Horton Hears a Who" I've said it before..but sometimes we feel like Horton.."We're here, We're here". While we love living in Juneau, admittedly it is a bit isolated and it can get a bit lonely. It was amazing yesterday to meet so many crafters from all over the world on the Tim Holtz cruise. I went home and told my husband, "Look honey I'm not the only one who covets every shard of paper, or searches out old rusty things". We loved meeting all of these unique and creative individuals who graced our store yesterday. We can't believe the ATC's that they brought us and the beautiful charms...hopefully we'll post pics soon. It was more than amazing to meet other people who share our interests...and love the things we love...GLOBAL COMMUNITY!!

And of course we couldn't believe it when TIM HOLTZ walked through our doors. Are you kidding me, TIM HOLTZ!! Oh did I mention TIM HOLTZ came into our store today!! Me at the grocery store picking up milk last night, to the store clerk, "Did I mention, TIM HOLTZ came to Juneau today!!" Me to my 7 year old, "TIM HOLTZ came to our store today!!" 7 year old,"Who?"  Me, "Imagine if Hannah Montana walked into our store in Juneau". 7 year old, "Hannah Montana was in your store" Me, "uhh no". You get the idea. Yes Elton John is coming to Anchorage..but we had TIM HOLTZ. Sorry Tim I think I just compared you to Hannah Montanna and Elton John. You are truely the Hannah Montana of Altered Art, the Elton John of all things crafty.

We were also completly sold on a new line of cool metally things, that we haven't even seen yet. But we hear they will be out soon. Said, cool metally things were introduced to the cruisers but hopefully we'll find them soon and craft away with them. Check out the pic of the cool necklaces these cruisers did. Hopefully we'll get our hands on them soon. Very Steam Punk Tim!!

So thank you passengers of the Norwegian Pearl and Scrapmap Cruise and TIM HOLTZ (did I mention Tim Holtz came to our store, tee he he), you brightened our whole summer and we loved meeting each and every one of you. Thank you for your positive vibes, your songs (Julie, smile) and your willingness to share part of your journey with us. We only wish I could've joined you on this journey..but we do hope to hear about this trip from you soon!!!- Anji, Jen & Amy

PS big thank you to the mystery lady who helped us figure out how to put more price stickers in our pricing gun...you've ended 2 years of our needless suffering trying to figure that stupid thing out.

New location, New items for sale

We have a new assortment of crafty and artsy must haves. Books, journals, art, and craft supplies galore. I want one of everything from the book on Guerilla Art to the pen and ink set. We have locally made Alaska stamps, cards, and hats just to name a few. If I were on a green hilltop I would twirl around and sing a lovely melody, too bad I can't sing...but I sure can craft.

HOORAY FOR MAY!!!

So--we did it!!  We were able to finish the transformation of the fleece-ladened area in the Senate building into our new creative sanctuary in time for a few hour of First Fridays and then for a wonderful Grand Opening on Saturday May 3rd!!  (It also was National Scrapbooking Day--which we found a pretty nice coincidence!)   We were greeted the whole day (and able to greet) by the terrific people who volunteer their time to make Juneau's tourist welcome and by our loyal customers who came by to admire our new home/ space....everyone was very impressed and happy with the new space that we have carved out for ourselves and finally we are able to sigh, sit back and maybe, just maybe, relax a little before the hectic time of summer rolls around...

If you live in Juneau or are planning a visit to the Southeast, come by and see the new digs!!  We are sure that you'll find something new that you haven't seem before, in our fine arts area, art or crafts supplies or scrapbooking--and yes, we have the LARGEST selection of Alaska scrapbook goods that you've ever seen!  Tell us what you think about the changes and we'll look forward to chatting with you about upcoming schedules, goods, etc.  Thanks for all your support and help during our time of upheaval--we're sure you'll agree it was worth it!!