Welcome to the 40's and....more Memory Glass!!!!

Hey, Readers of Blogginess! I hope all is well. I'm tired. The word of the week is PREP. All I've been doing is prepping, prepping, prepping for classes at the end of the month for Sue Gilman in MA. So that I can then spend this weekend getting all my class samples and kitting done for my classes at Absolutely Everything. It will be such a blast, but I have to get soooo much more done. Hey, it keeps me out of trouble, right?

Before I forget, a milestone is going to take place tomorrow. My youngest sister, Stephanie, will be turning 40.......HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE!!!!! This is a picture of my family...I'm the oldest and I must have been maybe...10? So Stephanie, the one in the middle was 4 and my middle sister, on the left, Tracy, 8. Around 1972...yikes!

I love this picture for one reason. Stephanie. She's got one of those detachable jacket hoods on her head...upside down AND backwards. And I think a little bit too proud of it. She is a great mom and wife to my fave Brother-in-Law Chris, who is more like a brother to me. I don't get to see them enough, with my nieces so busy, but I'll be sure to make "the" phone call (as noted in my blog entry for my Mom's birthday) and maybe some flowers. Oh, and of course a bunch of obnoxious email birthday cards via American Greetings.

Okay, enough gloating about my sister...hehehe. I was able to download and tweak the most

recent samples of Memory Glass and Memory Frames. As usual, a lot of Wrinkle Free Distress, new Adirondack(r) Pigment Ink, Bandannaed images with THE Ranger White Pen. I love the blue bird and the addition of a little "bling"-German Scrap from Paper Artsy. I'm having so much fun using old book pages for the backgrounds, and I'm just so into the birdies! I guess it works with my name, huh!? The crown and 1" x 1" Medallion image is also from Hampton, the numbers are from Tim's new collection (love, love them!). The birds in the blooming tree and the "flourish-ey" Bird is Hero Arts, of course.

I hope you enjoy these and I'll be bloggin' soon!

Robin

Through the Looking Glass...with Memory Glass!

Happy Thursday, everyone! While I don't usually provide "official" Ranger information, this was too exciting to not pass on. Inkssentials(tm) Memory Glass(tm) is now back in stock. Yay!!!!! There had been some issues as to the size consistency of the glass so they would always fit into the frames. This has been resolved and the new glass is in. You'll notice that it is a touch smaller than the 1", 1-1/2" and 2" square and 1" x 3" sizes, but that's to accommodate placing your collage/image between the glass and it be able to comfortably fit it into the Memory Frame and close completely.

I tested 'em all out and gave the A-OK! of course, I still have them sitting on my desk, and have not taken pictures of them...I'll try and get that done.

For those not totally familiar with how to use the Memory Glass and Frames, it is microscope quality glass, thinner than "window glass", so lighter. It also has ground sides and corners so no sharp edges! That's one thing I hate about cutting my own glass, because I would always get wonderful cuts from small glass slivers. The frames are pre-fabricated, metal frames that that the glass fits into, with a soldered ring on it (the 1" frames have 2 rings!) for hanging on a necklace as a pendant or for charms; you can also use transparencies, rub-ons, photos, you name it!

If you don't try and make a "Dagwood Sandwich" of paper and embellishments, you can make some wonderful collages to give as gifts or to wear yourself if you're not inclined to learn how to solder. It's definitely a simple way to create wonderful jewelry in no time!

I've provided some great close-up pictures (I lucked out with my camera on this day) of how to open and close the Memory Frames. There's a tab that fits into the slit in the side of the frame. When flipping open the tab, don't go crazy, just a slight flick of the tab is all that's needed. Add in your art, sandwich between the glass, then slide the tab back into the slit and you're done. Sometimes, if you're collage is thicker, just use one piece of glass. The more you work with them, the more you get to "know" what fits and what doesn't.

Close-up of how far to open the tab.
How to replace tab in place after adding artwork and glass.
Close-up of how to close it!

You'll find that the newest 1" size of Memory Glass is thicker than the other sizes. The thought behind that is this size will probably used more in bracelet design and it will be less likely to break...trust me, I'm the poster child for "will that break"? If I can't break it, you know that it probably won't for you.

I'll be sure to share more ideas for uses with Memory Glass. Hmmmm...maybe a contest down the line? I love to spotlight Memory Glass in classes because it's a wonderful way to teach a bunch of techniques on a smaller scale...so you learn more, and then get to show it off! How can you go wrong?

In the next few weeks, check with your local stores and online sites...Memory Glass and Frames are shipping-all sizes!

I'd love to see what you've created-please share!

Inky Hugs, Robin

A little Birdie Told Me...

Happy Wednesday! Thanks to everyone for the lovely thoughts for a Happy New Year. Before I started getting sniffly, I was on quite a roll with creating some collages and soldering some fun things. Some I can't share because they're for CHA, but I had to share some. With my name being that of a bird, I think that I have enough of an excuse to use some cute bird images. I used some cute vintage images from Crafty Secrets and these cool birdies from Cornish Heritage Farms. I love these! I've been collecting a few neat old books and I finally got the courage to rip out the pages...one is a phonetic spelling book, another one on how to speak Italian. I did the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique, stamped with Archival(tm) Ink, and cut out. I then layered stamped images onto watercolor paper that was also "wrinkle free'd". Of course I used Memory Glass(tm) and soldered. The bird charms were from B'sue Boutique...I'm definitely going to make more. I hope you enjoy!