A Work in Progress Canvas & a New ScrapFX Challenge for You!

Its been a lot of fun (and work ;) ) creating things I hope people will find delight in looking at and perhaps purchasing for market.  The super thing is I can do this while knocking out some assignments at the same time - bonus!!

This month we have another Mood Board Challenge going at ScrapFX for fans to join in on.  There isn't a need to have ScrapFX product to participate - super cool if you do though!!  The Designers all partake in the challenge as well and post their take on the board as well as the twist given by the board creator - gotta have a twist to make it more interesting, right?  This month's twist is to use stencils, easy peasy except there are so many splendid ScrapFX stencils its hard to narrow down which to choose. 

For my take I was inspired by the rainbow colors, of course, I mean how could I not be??!!  This blog oozes color - ha!  Then I was also inspired by the eye on the board and that spun in to the creation of the girlie on this canvas - from there I let my imagination go wild giving her a little scene.   Since I don't live near the ocean, like the board image shows I went with the country life instead. :D

* I will share this piece isn't fully finished.  Its about 95% done and there are still some finishing details I want to fuss around with to complete it.  Not wanting to force and be unhappy with the finished result I left it as it was for now and will have it complete by the end of the month when I post my personal reveal.

I created my girlie's afro by using the ScrapFX Cogs Stamp with some colored heavy gesso and stamping it onto the canvas.  I then went back in with watercolor once this was completely dry to fill in the rest of the color.  In the background I used the Random Dots stencil to give the sky some texture and I went around the girl's head with some glitter glue to help it stand out against it.  I wish this showed up better....arrrgghh!!

Here you can see the Crosswords Stencil in action.  This was the first time I'd used it and I really am diggin' the effect it gave and the ease of use - I thought perhaps I'd have a struggle controlling where I put the paste, but nope.  Maybe my circle obsession will be shared with squares now - teehee!!  I adore those little chippie apples and kind of wish they were sold on their own....hmmm... maybe I shall suggest that. Some stamping and lots of paint layers make up the grassy areas along with some pen work.  

And that is where I've left off.  Still not exactly sure what details I'm going to add but have been playing with a few things here and there.  Any suggestions of what you think miht just absolutely make this?  I'm thinking I may want to add text or a quote or a ScrapFX wordlet - just can't decide what will fit yet.  The grassy areas need to be broken up more......sky too..... so holla' if you have ideas I'd love to hear them.  :)  I'd also love to see you playing along with the challenge!!!  This is the last one we'll be having for a couple months as we head in to the Christmas and holiday season so get in while you can for your chance to win some great goodies!!!

Until next time, take good care and thanks so much for stopping by!

Mood Board Challenge ScrapFX - Spread Your Wings & Fly Mini Canvas

Happy Friday and November Sweetie Peeps!  Its been a bustling flow of craft activity around my house as I prepare for an upcoming Christmas market.  I've been having oodles of fun creating little delights I hope others will find joy in.  In the meantime though there has also been a wonderful flow of activity on the ScrapFX blog and YOU have the chance to get involved!

From now until Nov. 15 the above Moodboard is being used as inspiration for our current Fan challenge.  All you have to do is create a project based on it and you'll be entered in the running for some ScrapFX goodies and a Guest Spot on the blog.  Of course there is a slight twist - I mean what is a challenge without a little twist, right?

This sketch must also be used in the creation of your project.  Isn't it a fantabulous sketch?  You can use it as a launching pad for your design or follow it straight away - just as long as you share how you used it.  And before you ask, you don't have to use ScrapFX goodies in the creation of your projects.  We understand it may be tough yet for our fans to get their hands on the goods, so create away with what you do have and best of luck!!

 

Now for my 2nd project this month using this board.  I already posted my first here.

 

 

 I went with a cutie lil' mini canvas this time around.  I was highly inspired by the colors of the board and all the textures of the fabrics and the nest.  I also pulled a bit of inspiration for the background from the organic patterns found on those fabrics.  I did indeed use the sketch for my design but in this case I used it as more of a launching pad since my canvas was so small.  I pulled certain elements from the sketch and translated them to where the main items I used on the canvas would be placed.   

 

The background is made up of paint, mist rubbed on, stamping, stenciling with some paste and my fav ScrapFX stencil (Random Dots), a bit of pastels for highlighting certain circles, and gold mica flakes.

 

 

 I left the butterfly bare since there was so much color going on everywhere else and just coated it with some glitter glue.  When the glitter glue was added it actually deepened the color of the bare chipboard a tad and I really like the effect it gave.  The words were painted with some acrylic paint and highlighted with a white pen.  Doilies, sequins, and a rhinestone flower finished everything off.

 

This piece came together really quickly with the longest part being the dry time for the gold mica flakes - which actually don't take too long in the grand scheme of dry times - and yet it packs a punch.  Power to the mini canvases!!  So glad I have a bunch of these stashed away - can't wait to play some more with them.  What do you have stashed away that could be a hidden gem to play with this weekend?  Perhaps you could use it for your entry in to the challenge at ScrapFX.  Hope to see you there!!

 

 

Thankful for You

Hello!  Stopping in quick to share the first of a few cards I'm making for my daughter's softball team fundraiser basket.  They are having a raffle coming up soon and her team was assigned the basket for cooking.  To say we weren't exactly excited in understatement considering some of the other team's basket topics, but we're making the best of it!

One other mom and I decided to take over being in charge of the task and while brainstorming how to approach it I thought of the idea of making our basket Thanksgiving themed since the fundraiser will happen in the beginning of November.  My contribution will be some handmade cards and hopefully a canvas as well.  We shall see how well and quickly the creative juices flow. ;)

 This is the first card I've created and I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking with a design similar to this for at least a few more.  Not sure how many total I'll make yet.  I used a ScrapFX leaf chippie that I altered with my String Gel technique and added it on top of a watercolored base that has a bit of stenciling done with some paste.  The rest is just layers of textiles, embellishments, and paper along with a stamped sentiment.  This came together rather quickly and so I'm totally digging that.  Plus I think having something crafty in our basket will add a unique touch which I hope will draw peeps to wanting to place their tickets in the raffle for it.

Well wish me luck on creating some more and I'm thankful for you, my sweet readers for stopping by to this.  Take care!

Merry Christmas - Preparing for Market

Hi Friends!  I know, I know we haven't even hit Halloween or Thanksgiving and here I am titling a post Merry Christmas.  Alas that is how one must roll when you're preparing for market (I love that my international peeps call it market - much better than craft fairs, etc that we use here so I'm rolling with that too). 

Its especially super when I can double up my creations with DT assignments as was the case with this little hanging decor piece or ornament.  It was created for the new Mood Board Challenge that just went live over at ScrapFX.  What is funny is that upon looking at the board I'd never thought at first I'd wind up with this as my final project - ha!  Really amazing how inspiration can strike at any moment.

These Christmas chippies make it quick and fun to make a variety of joyous projects.  I'm seriously delighting over all I'm making - particularly the process - and love that with just a few alterations I have one of kind creations I hope people will love.  And how about that Instaframe??!  I must admit I was totally tickled when it dawned on me it could be decked out in red and white to mimic a candy cane.  Prior to choosing it I had one with polka dots picked out - this is much better dont'cha think?

 

I do hope you hop on over to the ScrapFX blog here to check out the Mood Board Challenge and join on in with us!!  You have the chance to win a guest spot on the blog and a nice little package of goodies too.  Woot!!  Oh and before you ask, you don't have to use ScrapFX products to participate.  If you have them, fantastic, but we do realize not everyone has access to get these fabulous goodies just yet.  So what are you waiting for??  Head on over to the ScrapFX and play along!  I'd love to see some of peeps there. :D

 

Have great Saturdays and see you soon, Take good care!!

Getting Pinned - Skissedilla #226

Hi There!  Its a new week and that means a new sketch is up at Skissedilla for you to play along with.  This week the lovely Nabon created this beauty for us to work with:

Totally gorgeous, right?  I sat and looked at it for a bit wondering what to do.  I'm not necessarily a flower gal, but I'm warming up to them I must say.  I also have some amazing dies in my stash that could surely use a workout so I figured why not play up the flower angle a little since I had the perfect pictures for it.

 This series of photos of my son 'getting pinned' with his flower before the Snowball Dance (the one where the girl asks the guy) seemed very fitting for a flowery type LO.  Not that I went overboard with heaps of flowers but for me having any type of flower cluster be the main embellishment is huge LOL!  I must say though I had a ton of fun playing with my flower dies again and I need to make some time to just sit and create some flowers so I have them available.  Much more practical then doing it LO by LO.

 Here you can see the background texture and lots of the details in general better.  I used acrylic paints and watercolors to create the various blue tones and then went over that with a Ronda Palazzari Designs stencil and some paste.  This same stenciled design is used in the corners of the LO also.  I brought in the pinks and greens by using some glitter glue and my finger and added some confetti bits and gems.  The chipboard piece was dry embossed, coated sparsely with gesso, and then highlighted with some gold, and outlined.

The dies I used are from My Favorite Things, chipboard is ScrapFX, and the leaves are made from a hand carved stamp and some paint.  The lines that are highlighted in black would be negatives when stamped but the paint smooshed a bit so I highlighted. ;) 

To share the back story on these photos before I go - starting at the top is my son and his date.  She was trying so hard to get the flower on him without poking him and to have it look nice - didn't work.  Then I tried to get the flower on him.  I didn't worry so much about poking him, I just wanted the thing on him.  I got it but it wouldn't stand up straight.  Next his date's mom tried - that is the photo with the doodled border around it.  She couldn't get it either!  Finally one of his buddies came over and said I can do this.  I was all thinking in my head - yeah right - but by golly he did it!  No poking of the skin, the flower stood up straight, and looked great.  Who would've thought.  We all had a good laugh over it and then declared the next time the better option would be a magnet attachment - did you know they make those now??!  Totally cool and much easier - ha!

Well thanks for letting me share that little story, ahh the joys of high school right? I do hope you join us at Skissedilla this week.

Take good care!  

 

 

More Fun with Stamping - A Mixed Media Birdhouse

Happy Friday Peeps!  I've continued on with my stamping frenzy and I must say I'm kind of hooked on these feather stamps from ScrapFX:

If you noticed in my last post I used them on just about every project.  I just can't get enough of them and have oodles of ideas flowing.  In keeping with my play/create everyday theme I decided I'd bust out some fabric and stamp on that.  

I have heaps of muslin cloth in my stash and that seemed like a great place to start.  I began by stiffening the fabric with some spray stiffener only I didn't spray it on I brushed it.  Once that was dry - yes I used my handy dandy heat gun to help it some ;) - I pondered how I was going to stamp on it.  My first thought was to use paint, but then I decided I'd try out embossing.  So I mixed up some Lindy's Magical Micas with clear embossing powder, sprinkled it on my VersaMark stamped image, and heated it up.

Booyah!  A beautiful fabric feather.  The material is super stiff now and ready for whatever my heart desires to do with it.  It also blended right into the fabric making it appear as though it actually was printed on it - kind of neat effect I think.  

I played on and made some glittery feathers too!  These were stamped on the stiffened fabric (I stiffened a bunch right away so I could play a lot) with gel medium on fabric and while the medium was still wet I sprinkled it with glitter.  I set them aside to dry and after what you see above is what I got.  I must say it was a little tricky to stamp with the gel.  Definitely had to do a couple test runs to get the image to come out right.

So now what to do with these pretties?? 

One with a little birdie in a bucket and some other little tidbits is rather cute.  The stiffened fabric really worked to my advantage here allowing the feather to stand up nice and tall on its own.

A cluster of two more looks pretty along with a ScrapFX chipboard flourish and some of the floral pieces I had in my stash from when I got ambitious and thought I'd go on a wreath making frenzy a while back - yeah didn't happen, but hey at least the items were on clearance - ha!

All coming together to create a whimsical mixed media altered birdhouse.  Typically I'm not a birdhouse altering person but I had this in my stash (I actually have a lot of these wooden type things in my stash) and felt inspired to give it some life by the current Moodboard Challenge up on the ScrapFX blog.  Do take some time to check it out and join us in playing along!

I used Liquitex Coarse Texture paste on the base, after it was primed with gesso (white), and then coated it with a variety of paints - both store bought and self mixed with Lindy's Magical Micas.  Then it went back and highlighted the areas I wanted black with some more paint.  This took patience I tell you what.  After it was dry I went in with my white pen and added the doodles and started attaching all my embellishments.  Oh and the roof!  The roof is done with burlap, some glitter, and gold mica flakes.  All sides are altered with paint the same as the front.

Since I stamped on some fabric I'm going to link this up to Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge Blog where the current challenge is to stamp on something other than paper or cardstock - check!

Thanks for joining me on this adventure today.  Don't forget to head on over to ScrapFX, check out the Moodboard and what my fellow DT members made, and play along for your chance to win a guesting spot!!

Take good care!

A Beautiful Mess - Skissedilla #224

Hello, hello!  Happy Monday to you!  Its that time of week when Skissedilla has just put out a new sketch for you to join us in playing along with.  I've been dying to share my page because I was so thankful to finally have some LO mojo back!!  Do you ever get in those slumps?  Where it just seems like no matter what you put together it just doesn't seem to flow right?  Yeah I was there.  Anyhoo, the following sketch helped me get over the hump - YAY!

The lovely Linda created this sketch and whether you're in need of getting over a scrappy slump like I was or just love to use sketches as your starting point ( this is me too!  love me some Skissedilla sketches :D ) I do hope you take some time to hop on over, be inspired by the fantabulous creations from the other DT gals, and join on in!

My page started with some background play to create a rainy day effect.  I had some fun with mists and watercolors over the top of the stenciling I did with my ScrapFX Clouds and Raindrops stencil (after it dried completely - ahh the agony of waiting!).  In my head I had envisioned something bolder turning out but in the end I really like how subtle the effects actually are.  Up close and personal they are a tad more vibrant.

This is the entire top portion of the 'rainy' background.

I then moved on to playing with the new ScrapFX stamps!!  Oh me, oh my they are fantabulous.  More on this soon as I have my reveal coming up for this release, but gosh I'm having a ton of fun with these.  I used a variety of mediums to stamp and emboss with and varied the materials I stamped on also to create a little scene.  What I love is this is very much what the fields around our house look like!

Finally all of it came together with my picture and some paper layers, my ScrapFX chippies, and some additional embellishments to create my page - A Beautiful Mess.  Indeed she was - LOL.  After so many rainy days here throughout June our fields were flooded badly.  My baby girl decided when it was finally a clear day she'd go exploring and check them out.  Well when she walked out in what she thought was a safe area she discovered the mud wasn't so forgiving.  She got stuck and had to really work herself out of it and this is what she came back looking like! O.o  Totally funny.

So there you have it - after the rain, comes a beautiful mess so always weather the storm. 

Have a really terrific Monday friends!

10 Years Strong

Greetings!  So happy to be here.  A few technical glitches have made it frustrating around these parts but thankfully things are better.  My hubs still isn't all too happy with Apple and thinks I should give up using the brand but.......that is a discussion for another day ; )

Instead we'll discuss the anniversary I just celebrated! WooHoo!!  10 years married to my best friend as of August 29 - we've been together 14 and half.  This bunch of sunflowers came home with my hubby as a surprise to kick off our celebration.  They're my favorite flower and came from a little roadside stand around the bend from our house.  I love that he knows just what to bring me to put a smile on my face from ear to ear - and he was so sweet to drive out of his way to get them after a super long day at work.

This is a throwback page from last year's anniversary.  I wanted to include a picture of us in this post and since we've yet to get one together this year..... I resorted to this which is fun because its crafty too! :D

Lots of fun ScrapFX chipboard pieces used on this page, along with some Glitz Design papers, and washi tape.  The glittery word strips were made with a Crafter's Workshop stencil and I should really get a tutorial going for that technique.  Its super easy and fun, fun!

Flash forward to this year and here is the card I created for him.  Kind of funny it has a lot of the same elements going on, huh?  Even right down to the doily! Wow, weird.  

On this card (sorry for the terrible shot) I created my own woodgrain background using the ScrapFX Wood Grain stencil and some paste to start off with the misted it up with a variety of Lindy's Stamp Gang mists.  Once it was all dried I went over it in spots with the ScrapFX Heart Confetti stencil and ink.  Then it was just a matter of playing with layers.  I'm really diggin' PL cards for actual cards right now.  I picked up some Me & My Big Ideas ones from Ms and love them for this!  I'm sure they'll make their way in my PL album too, but for now this is what I've been using them most for and have thoughts of ways to cut them up for LOs, AJ pages and tags too!  LOL

So that is how I've been spending the long weekend - enjoying time with the one I love and our kids.  Hope you've been having a great one too!

Golden Skies - Skissedilla Summer Sketch

Hey Sweetie Peeps!  Its been a bit and I do apologize for that.  Right now I've got some things in the works taking up my time - very exciting, but can't share just yet - and I also am working out some ideas on how I want to change things up here.  There is so much I want to share (tutorials, AJs, tags, altered art, canvases, scrap pages, life moments, cards, PL, etc.) yet always to tend to fail/flop in doing so and my goal is for you to get so much more out of coming here. So yeah as The Brady Bunch would say, "When its time for change, you've got to rearrange...." Does anyone out there remember that song? Ha! 

For today though I'm sharing the Skissedilla Summer Sketch created by the wonder woman of sketches, Nabon.  This sketch has a longer running time than our normal weekly ones so there is plenty of time for you to join in and I do hope to see lots of you joining in!

For my take I did a little rearranging of the photos but other than that I followed along with the sketch fairly well.  Of course I had to use some summer photos and chose some from last year when we were driving home from a family outing.  The sunset was gorgeous and much to my kiddos dismay I had my hubs pull over when I noticed one of my favorite herds close to the road.  I so love cows!!!

My background is made up of some messy painting and stenciling with paste, easy peasy.  Then I layered on a piece of text paper I used for misting over.  This is one of my little tricks - I use text paper in the box I mist in then I have it for later use.  The colors blend themselves as I go along and I always have beautiful pieces at the ready.  The sun up top is a hand-carved stamp stamped on canvas with metallic paint, chipboard is ScrapFX, and the rest of the page is really put together with just bits and pieces.

 

And that my friends is how my summer sketch page came together.  Be sure you head on over to Skissedilla to check out the rest of the team's inspiration and get on creating a page of your own too!!

I'll be back with a ScrapFX share and then there may be a break again while I continue to work on revamps.  Hang in there with me sweetie peeps, good things to come!

Have wonderful days, take good care!!!

Welcoming July with Open Arms!

Hi There!  Its July, can you believe it? Summer is flying by - here in my neck of the woods we're just finally getting the taste of it!! 

Much of June looked this:

Ominous skies looming over head and blowing in quite quickly.  This would happen all throughout the day off and on, day and night.  For the last two throughout June. Boo.

With this to follow:

Sheets of hard rain, along with high winds and hail at times, would come from those skies, lasting in various time frames.  Leaving pools of water and messes everywhere.  Heat and humidity would come after.  Just when you thought it was safe to go and do something - another wave would come in. Sigh.....

To say we've been cooped up would be an understatement.  We've dealt with terrible storms off and on for a couple weeks, horrendous winds, flash flood warnings, and it goes on.  The farm fields around our house did indeed flood - poor farmers, our ceilings sprung leaks, kennels are slop holes - poor dogs, and our basement is flooded as well.  Good thing its really not used since our house is a 100+ year farm house and the floors down there are dirt - yes dirt! - Its a mess. 

But with all messes and yuck - you find the good, right? 

In between storms this happened:

My boy has been holding it down at a new job and really lovin' the fact he is earning his own income.  When we were out strolling around town one day after dropping his sis off at softball practice he surprised me by taking me out for an ice cream!  It was so lovely to spend time with my almost 17 year old on a date. :)

And of course there has been oodles of crafting going on since we haven't been able to get out much!

Lots of ScrapFX chippies were used on this creation along with a stencil on the canvas.  Other than that she is made up of oodles of bits and pieces of found items that had been laying around my space for far too long!

I showed you a sneaky peek of this little Fairy Art Doll creation in my last post and since then the reveal was posted the ScrapFX blog so I can share her here now.  Kind of funky and different - totally fun to create.  To get more details on how she was created you can head on over to the full reveal post by clinking here. 

She shares a post with this creation: 

I cannot tell you how much I love the mini ScrapFX chipboard pieces!!  They really are so versatile for all sorts of crafty projects.  You should seriously put a bug in your favorite crafty store's ear about carrying ScrapFX products!!  Its really very easy for them to get started!

A mixed media canvas based on one of my favorite songs I used to sing to my kiddos when they were itty bits!!  To see the full reveal of this creation I'd love for you to go here and let me know what you think. 

Well that is all for today, I'll be back again soon as I've so much to share now that our internet is up consistently with sunny skies in the forecast for some days!!  Hooray!  Bring on summer please. :)

Take good care and have wonderful Mondays!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!  Yes I know this is coming a day late, but for some reason my blog doesn't like when I schedule posts.  I should know this by now.  The posts either go live late or don't go live at all.  When I try to manually pub them well that is a whole different beast, haha!  Such is life but I've important and beautiful things to share so on we go...

This card is also part of the first ever ScrapFX challenge!!  To check out the details and see how you can win the chance to be featured on the ScrapFX blog see the group post here.  You'll be inspired by plenty of card creations to get your mojo flowing!!

This is the Father's Day card I created for my best friend - my hubs.  He is truly all I could ever ask for and more in a dad for my children.  He has been there through and through and ever will be.  He is a man who knows and loves the Lord, is kind, gentle, compassionate, tough when needed, hard-working, and so much more.  I'm blessed to have him in my life on the daily and so are our teens.

On this day I also wish three other amazing men in my life a Happy Father's Day, yes I said three.  I have quite the unique life story:

This man gave me life.  What a blessing and gift to be here on this Earth instead of other options that could have been chosen.  It took me a long time to find him and he has embraced me with all his heart. I am his daughter.

This man raised me up from the time I was hours old to the time I was a grown woman.  I was his adoptive daughter but never did I feel different than his own - he embraced me with all his heart. I am his daughter.

This man is my biological mom's husband.  From the time he met me he welcomed me in to his family with loving, open arms and treated me like his own - he embraced me with all his heart.  I am his daughter.

I sit and look at these pictures and think how blessed am I?  I feel so grateful knowing that each one of these men has touched my life in someway.  Some people never get the chance to have a father in their lives and I've been given the gift of three. I may not get to connect with them all the way I'd like to but again they've all touched my life, made memories in it that I will cherish forever.  For that I thank each of them.  

No matter how much time passes, I'll always know they love me and I'll always love them!

Thanks for letting me share a piece of my story along with some craft creations today.  I hope your Monday is marvelous one!!  

Happy Easter, a New Sketch, and ScrapFX Chippies

Happy Easter Friends!  What a special day this is.  We'll be heading to my sister-in-laws house in a bit - for now enjoying a peaceful, beautiful start to the day.

After all the eggs are found - kids crashed from sugar - you may want to scrap.  If you do, head over to Skissedilla where Sketch #158 is posted and ready to inspire you. 

Nabon created this sketch and I love all the texture she created just in the sketch alone! 

As I was going through pictures one of my daughter on Cinderella's Carousel in Disney stood out to me - the orientation of the photo didn't go with the sketch's so I flipped the sketch 90 degrees and this is what happened:

Instead of using a large embellie where the car image is on the sketch I went with a photo of the ride sign - the ScrapFX chippies I was sent were perfect for this LO and I had a grand ol' time making them my own!!

I was kind of disappointed I couldn't work in any drips - but alas I couldn't see how they would enhance the look of the LO I had going - I'll be using this sketch again me thinks in order to get a little drippy - its so much to watch ink/paint run down a page - discover where its trail will lead.

This Carriage & Horse (2012034) chippie is so intricate and detailed!!  I was nervous I would wreck all the tremendous laser cut lines - I didn't and it was actually easier to paint up than I thought it'd be - bonus!! - did take a bit of patience though - I used Lumiere paints, watercolors, and gesso - the opening was backed with patterned paper and then filled with some glass beads gel - love how this turned out!

I'm an alphabet fanatic through and through - must be why I decided Early Childhood-First Grade were the levels I wanted to teach when I was still in the classroom - when I received my package from ScrapFX I was thrilled to find so many cool alphas to play with - the kicker is there are sooooo many more I NEED - seriously - you do too - I'm sure of it - not convinced??  Check it:

See what I mean???  Aren't these Freestyle Uppercase chippie alphas (2008006) terrific!!  I've got the lowercase set as well and can't wait to bust those out too!  I painted these pieces with gold Lumiere paint to match the carriage - then coated them with Diamond Glaze so they had a lacquer look to them.

Well, its time to get ready here and I hope you all have a really blessed day with your loved ones! 

A LO and a Card

Happy Monday Peeps.  Hope weekends were enjoyable and time with loved ones abundant.  Half of my weekend was spent watching DD play softball at an indoor tourney and the other was spent relaxing and scrapping, so all around a great weekend.  

 

Two of my favorite sites, MSW and Let's Scrap,  have lots of fun stuff going for the month of February so you'll wanna check them out.  Lots of awesome sketchiness and super fun prizes.... but the best part are all the ladies.  So many wonderful, inspiring friends to hang out with. 

I'm elated that I actually got going on Lucy Lou's Sketch-A-Thon.  Its been soo long since I played along there and it felt so good to knock out one of the 6 sketches that have been posted so far....I'm running a little behind LOL ; )  Here's a card I had a tremendously good time creating:

 

Chipboard, Molding Paste, Modeling Paste, Ink, and Shimmer oh my!  I don't think I'll ever tire grabbing for these supplies or using clouds, raindrops, and rainbows in my creations.

 

The background was created by using a combo of mists and ink to go over the patterned paper and pastes that were applied.  I altered up the chipboard with paint, pastes, shimmer, and glaze. Supplies Used: Sassafras papers and sticker, Maya Road chipboard and doily, Liquitex and Golden pastes, Crater's Workshop stencil, Studio Calico stamp, October Afternoon sticker

Here's the sketch:

Speaking of sketches check out this week's from Let's Scrap:

Suer fun with those strips of paper right?  The minute I saw those cloud shapes I was sold on having to get this one done.

One of my favorite Sassafras lines - Bungle Jungle animals in effect.  I highlighted the papers by brushing metallic paint over some areas and also adding puffy paint.  I heart puffy paint.  Some buttons for the giraffe and it was painted with some orange mist since I didn't seem to have any orange metallic paint.  I NEED to get some. A couple Maya Road pins, a Crate paper brad, and the hot air balloon is a stamp from Studio Calico.   Journaling done of cloud sticker made by Sass.

I've been holding on to this cutie lil helicopter for a long time and am so glad to finally rid it from my stash and onto a page.  I spruced it up a bit with some Perfect Pearls and added the brad so I could attach the twine for the banner.  Here you can also see the stars stamped on with gold paint and some of the mist splatters.

This LO while fun and playful really tugs at my heart strings.  Its all about how my boy (not really so much a boy anymore) finally outgrowing me.  He waited and waited for this moment, so elated when it came.  For me it was exciting to know he was growing up, but bittersweet knowing how quickly he'll be off.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you've found something to make you smile, if not go do so, no time like the present.