Throw Back-Play day

Hi and welcome!  Today I'm sharing some 'throw back Thursday' projects that are perfectly named in so many ways!  I am finally caught up on birthday and anniversary cards, so I had some time to just play around in my studio.  I have a tiered basket that holds unfinished projects and various odds & ends.  The idea is that if I see these things all the time, I will be encouraged to use them.  I wish I could say this was a perfect idea, but more often than not, I'm busy making something specific and don't have time to 'treasure hunt' in the baskets.  Today however, I spied two unfinished art journal pages that were begging to be completed.  I started my art journal years ago as a way to experiment with new techniques and it has also become a great place to collect quotes and words of wisdom.  This is the first 'throwback'. Next, I found a baggie of molded clay pieces that I made a very long time ago and had saved for a rainy day-'throwback' number two!  Finally, I pulled out some well loved, but recently uninked stamp sets making the third part of my 'throwback'.

I decided if this was going to be a play day, I was going to get a little messy and inky.  I colored the clay pieces with markers (and ended up with as much ink on my fingers as on the clay pieces), and pulled out an old plastic stamp case. A quick hunt through my reinkers and I was ready to go.  I actually used copy paper instead of watercolor paper this time since the page was already going to be quite lumpy from the clay parts.  It was a little tricky getting the paper out of the ink and took a very long time to dry, but the end result was quite pretty.  A little stamping, doodling, and gluing and I was done!  

This would have been a perfect creative session if my eldest DD (home from college) hadn't interrupted me to ask if I could help her file her taxes... Nothing like waiting til the last minute!  Luckily, it was fairly quick and painless to do hers, but the next time I decide to have a play day, I'm going to lock the door!

I hope I've inspired you to dig through your stash and use some of those forgotten items!  If you're like me, you could do this every day for a year and still have plenty of things left over!  Thank you so much for visiting and have a wonderful day!

Project Recipe: Stamp Sets-Faith in Nature, Gorgeous Grunge, Ink-blushing bride, Baja breeze, crumb cake, garden green, real red, summer sun, early espresso, black fine tip Sharpie, Paper-always artichoke, Accessories- molded clay pieces, Martha Stewart leaf punch

Inspiration and Scrapbooking

Hello and welcome back!  I am so happy to be back on my lil' ol' blog and posting again! I'm still sharing things that I made during the time I was sans computer, but hopefully we will be finishing my crafting room soon and I can get back to making lots of new creations!   

I'm currently working on graduation invitations for DD1. It's a little hard to believe that I used to share photos of her grade school valentines and now I'm finishing up graduation cards... sniff! sniff!

As soon as they are finished, I'll try to remember to share a pic with you!

Today, I'm sharing a couple of pages I've added to my inspiration/quotes journal and a couple of scrapbook pages.

This was made completely from scraps from a 'green' project

I made long ago.  I love all of the different layers on this!

You can see the original project here.

This page was an effort to finish off a packet of dsp

that I've had forever and only had scraps left.  It's 

all gone now!! One down, 5,000 to go... 

This page also uses the last of the scraps. Notice those

teeny tiny tags? Yep, I used every possible piece!! I 

think the embossing folder added a nice 'quilted' touch 

to the patchwork of scraps.

Another 'use it up' page! The green, lacy trim has been in my

stash for a long time and the background page has as well.

I had a lot of fun journaling around the swirling vines!

Thanks so much for visiting again and I hope you were inspired to use up some of your bits and pieces as well! Have a fantastic day!!

Anything But a Card Challenge 49- Anything Goes!!

Hello! I'm so glad you stopped by to visit today!  This month Anything But a Card Challenges has an open theme, so that means ANYTHING GOES! Well, almost anything-no cards please!!

I was in the mood for something inky and messy this time and my quotes journal was the perfect place to do it.  In my mind, I saw all of these muddy, grungy browns working together and while I had a momentary thought of chocolate, it was quickly replaced with coffee.  So I pulled out all of my browns and started smearing and sponging.  We have a small pickers style store in the town next to us and I found some wonderfully used office stamps one day.  You can see the 'special delivery' made it to this page.  I wanted something to represent coffee mug rings and a quick trip to my recycling bags gave me a milk jug cap. Perfect!

I've had the 'two cup day' sentiment for quite a while and thought it would go well with this super caffeinated page, so it finally saw some ink.  I also used the stamp set Perfect Blend (was so super bummed when this hit the retired list...) to make my cups and the rule the world sentiment.  There was this 'hole' in the top right corner of the page.  Hole is in accents because there was so much ink on this page it wasn't really a blank space, but seemed like it needed something more.  I found an old enamel sticker that would work, but when I put it on the page it was too shiny for such a earthy page.  So I pulled out the rock candy crackle paint and aged it a little bit.  Now there's another completed page in my journal, one that shares a bit about my favorite drink!

I truly hope you have been inspired to create something and share it with us!  We would love to see what you've been up to!  Thanks so much again, for visiting!  Have a marvelous week!

Anything But a Card Challenge 44-Friendship

It is week three of ABAC Challenges Friendship theme and my turn to share.  There has been a wonderfully creative showing from the team this month and I hope you stop by and check them out!  I have to admit that while this theme has so many options, I really struggled with coming up with something.  My brain kept going back to a Valentines style of project, but other than cards, I don't make many things for Valentines Day.  My inspiration hit when I was looking for a stamp set for a birthday card and I saw Blooming With Happiness.  I have used this for wedding and shower projects, and actually forgot about the friendship sentiment that came with this set until I saw it.  I decided to make another page for my art/quote journal using the umbrella and the sentiment.

It was a dreary wintry day when I made this and I think this led to my unusually bright color palette.  I must admit that looking at this page makes me long for the beautiful spring colors that will be making their appearance in about a month!

I used a heart and a dot mask to create the background.  The umbrella and sentiment were stamped on a scrap piece of very vanilla card stock, and I colored the image with melon mambo and daffodil delight markers.  Dazzling details and crystal effects were added to the umbrella.  I pulled out a remnant piece of pink organza, cut small square pieces, stacked them together, and randomly snipped the edges to make my tattered bloom.  A green glittery brad holds the layers together.  There is also a bit of the organza behind the panel with the image and sentiment.  I also added some pretty flowers (a gift from Hippie Aud), and a few leaves created with a MS punch.

You still have a few days left to join us in our Friendship challenge; I hope to see your project linked up with us!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Project Recipe: Paper-very vanilla, green from stash bucket, Ink-memento tuxedo black, melon mambo, daffodil delight, Stamp Set-Blooming With Happiness, Accessories-dazzling details, crystal effects, pink organza, paper flowers (Hippie Aud), polka dot and heart masks, MS leaf punch, assorted retired SU brads

Challenge 38 Patterns-Bending the Rules!

Hello! I am so glad you stopped in today!  I am sharing my project for Anything But a Card's Challenge #38 which is to use patterns.  Originally, the plan was to make it Zentangling, but we decided to make it a little more open.  

I love to doodle and have made zentanglesque pieces (new word!) without really knowing what I was doing.  However, I haven't made an actual project where this was the intent and I thought it would be fun to try.  My original plan was to go with the traditional black and white, but after I stamped my flowers, I changed my mind and used three different colors for my patterns.  I also bent the rules of patterns by using my new star mask.  The stars are very random-no pattern there!

 

I've had a pretty stress filled month so far and making all of those dots was very therapeutic!  When I finished, I was looking at all of the white space around the flowers and while I know it doesn't fit the Zentagle design to leave it, I really didn't want to 'over-doodle' this.  The quote was one that I saved from a card I received many years ago and I love the message of hope it delivers.  Is there anything more inspiring than knowing that even in the barest soils, we can grow a garden?  Quite fitting for our return to school too!

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, I am so sorry I haven't been around!  We've had some family medical issues added to my already busy  back-to-school schedule.  Everything is going fine now,but it's going to take me a bit to catch up.  Hope to see your blogs soon!

Project Recipe: Quotes Journal, Stamp Set-Time Well Spent (ret), Ink-Memento Tuxedo Black, Crisp Cantelope, Bermuda Bay, So Saffron, Baked Brown Sugar, Stampin' Write marker, Accessories- Star Mask

Gimme Five- 5th Sunday Challenge at ABAC

Hello! I am so glad you are here!  Today is the fifth Sunday of the month and that means it's time for a special challenge at Anything But a Card Challenges.  Any time a month has five Sundays we do a 'five' challenge.  Your creation can have the number five, five embellishments, five stamps, five anything!  As long as it has something to do with five and is NOT a card, you're good!

I decided to do another page in my quotes journal and used five flower stamps to create my garden.  I found a quote by Hemingway "When you stop doing things for fun you might as well be dead." and I thought this was a great reminder to not take life so seriously.  I also wanted to make a fun page to go with the quote so out came the bright colors and a stamp set that I have not used in a very long time.  I had a lot of fun using the blender pen to 'paint' the flowers and the butterfly.  I also used pastels to create the sky.

I hope that you decide to do something for fun and join us in our Five Challenge!  Have a wonderful week!

Project Recipe: Stamp Set-Time Well Spent, Ink- assorted inks from the brights collection, Tuxedo black (memento), blender pen, pastels

Anything But a Card Challenge 35-Live Simply

Hello! I am so glad you stopped by!  We are in week three of the challenge at Anything But a Card and it is my turn to share!  We are changing things up a bit with a color challenge this month!

The current Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #35 - "Color Challenge"!! Last month was and open theme so this go round we are giving you a gorgeous color palette for your inspiration. Feel free to use one {and go monochromatic}, two or ALL of these colors to create whatever your muse desires... as long as it's anything but a card!

I decided to try using as many colors as I could and ended up with five out of the six offered!  While I loved the subtle shading in the inspiration photo, I ended up with a less 'blended' project.  My quotes journal received a new page and I had a great time playing with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set to create a random background for my dahlia. I thought the three peachy shades worked pretty well for my flower.

I hope you will make the time to play with these colors and link up with us!  We would love to see how you were inspired!

I am preparing for my final week of school and can not wait to stay up late being crafty, without worrying about having to go to work the next morning!  I have some new stamping and coloring supplies that are begging to be used!

Have a wonderful week and I hope you find lots of time to play and be crafty!

Project Recipe: Stamp Sets-gorgeous grunge, trust God, regarding dahlias, Ink-midnight muse, wisteria wonder, crisp cantaloupe, calypso coral, blushing bride, pastels

ABAC Challenge 34-Spring Has Sprung!

Hello and Happy Easter! It is time again for me to share my DT project for Anything But a Card Challenges.  This month's challenge is to 'spring' into spring, and we would love to see your spring inspired creations!!  Be sure to check out all of the other team members wonderful interpretations too!

After what seemed like a never ending winter, it was so nice to see the crocus and daffodils beginning to bloom this month.  The robins have also decided that winter is over and have returned to eat all of the wonderful bugs who have also made their appearance known!  All of this activity inspired me to make a new page in my quotes journal.  I think the quote by Emily Dickenson is so appropriate for the change in seasons.  Spring is full of hope and promise, and I wanted my page to reflect this.  I used pastels for the background and then stamped the flowers and birds.  I also added just a hint of stickles to mimic the frosty dew that is often seen in spring.

 We have a spring tradition in my family.  On Palm Sunday, we receive green palm leaves during our church service.  For as long as I can remember, Palm Sunday meant folding and weaving these leaves into pyramids before they could dry and then placing them around the house as a reminder to celebrate Jesus.  Grandma taught Mom, Mom taught me, and now I'm attempting to teach my girls.  Here are our palms from this year...

I hope you will find time to join us and share your creation! You still have a week!!  Have a wonderful week and thanks so much for stopping by!!

**For my blogging friends- We are in full sport mode with both tennis and softball pulling us in different directions!  I hope to be back to a regular visiting and posting schedule within a month!  Until then, know that I am looking forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations as well!!

Pinterest isn't just for looking!

Hello! Seems like it's been so long since I blogged.  It has been extremely busy around here and I wish I could say I have been crafting up a storm, but sadly that is not the case...  I have been playing taxi driver for both of my girls and attempting to keep a small sense of order in our home-not an easy task when no one seems to be home.  If anyone can explain how a house can get so messy when nobody is there, please share your wisdom!  I did however spend a few late nights browsing my favorite time waster, Pinterest.  I do actually make some of the things I have pinned and have even tried some of the recipes with great success.  But like most people, I will never have enough time to make everything I have pinned to my boards!  I was feeling a bit guilty about this when I decided to print off some of the free downloadable art.  The post card is part of a set that is wonderfully aged, and the water lily is from a cigar box art set.  There were a lot of beautiful images to choose from, but I liked the way the water lily went with the postcard.  You can find both free downloads here.

I was also inspired by some goodies I purchased last weekend during a family shopping trip.  I bought a TH stencil that had all of these fabulous dots on it and thought it would be a fun way to ink the background.  

My oldest DD always has to check out the remnant racks in the fabric department.  She loves to work on sewing projects and probably has about as much fabric as my sister.  Since I don't sew, I often get to be the color coordinating advice giver as she pairs her fabrics for a new project.  While we were digging for a neutral piece of fleece, I came across this wonderful roll of pink organza.  I had a sudden vision of a pretty pink flower and I wondered how well my big shot flower die would do on this material.  I ended up buying not only the pink but also some white organza as well.  DH raised an eyebrow at my purchase but didn't utter a word.  He knows about my lack of sewing skills, but he has also been married to me for almost 20 years.  Such a wise man!

The material cut like a dream and I didn't even have to back it with anything!  The flower looked a little too pretty for my otherwise aged journal page, so I wrinkled it up a bit.  The fabric frayed a little through this process, but I rather liked the effect.  I also did a little touch up on the heart from the SU artisan kit.  I rubbed a little Inka Gold metallic rub over the top to make it a little more 'old' looking.

So now I can proudly say that I used two pins from my Pinterest board and found a wonderful use for fabric that requires zero sewing skills! Not bad for a day's play!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Spring break is this week, so hopefully I will have a little more time to play and share!

Journal Page Recipe:  Digital art printed on white cardstock, lace and heart from Artisan kit, pink organza and fun flowers die, vanilla brad, Trust God stamp set, inks-early espresso, crumb cake, rose red, Inka Gold metallic rub

Anything But a Card Week 3 of Anything Goes

Hello!  It is my turn to share a project for Anything But a Card Challenges.  Our challenge this month is Anything Goes-With a Holiday Twist.  This leaves the creativity door wide open for just about anything!  There have been a lot of wonderful holiday theme creations shared at the challenge site, but that doesn't mean you have to do that.  As a matter of fact, my share is not Christmassy at all (well there is a peek of an evergreen on there, but that's it!).

At the beginning of the challenge, I had decided I was going to get some Christmas and winter scrapbook pages finished.  Then we had a major ice storm followed by a lot of snow and after getting stuck in my driveway three times this week, I did NOT want to think about crafting anything that resembled snow or winter!  So I went in a completely different direction and made a page for my art journal.  It was quite relaxing to pull out some stamps and lots of inks and sponges. I also played with some Inka Gold metallic rub.  It's very pretty, but I need to play with it a little more.  My initial application was more streaky than I wanted, but I love the gilded look it gave my sculpey picture frame.

It hasn't been a bad week, but there have been a lot of cancellations and rescheduling of plans.  It left me feeling out of sorts and annoyed-not at all what I want be. I was debating what the message of my page should be and decided that since art is my therapy, my message should reflect what I want to achieve.  So I decided on 'enjoy the journey', a good reminder that things will happen and I can either get upset or get over it.  I don't have to like ice and below freezing temperatures, but since they're not going away any time soon, I need to enjoy my journey.  Of course, digging my car out of the driveway in the frigid air was no picnic...  Hey, I said it was therapy, not a miracle!

I hope you will find time to join us this week and please stop by the blog and leave some love for my fellow crafty peeps!!

Project Recipe:  Stamp Sets-Lovely as a Tree, World Map, Of the Earth, Wonderful Favorites, Fresh Vintage, Ink-soft suede, crumb cake, early espresso, garden green, poppy parade, very vanilla Accessories-Tim Holtz metal tag, twill ribbon, postage stamp punch, Martha Stewart clay mold, Log Cabin smooch spritz, Inka Gold metallic rub

ABAC Challenge-Hit the books!

I want to start off apologizing to my fellow teamies at ABAC!  I have not even introduced the latest challenge and here I am sharing for it's last week... So, a little late, I am letting you know there's a challenge at Anything But a Card Challenges and it's all about books!  You can alter a book, make art with a page from a book, create something inspired by your favorite book, and any other wonderful things you can think of that relates to books!  The design team has already shared two weeks worth of fabulous inspiration, so I hope you stop by and check them out!

Oh... I can not tell you how hard this challenge was for me!  While I am ever in awe of all of the beautiful altered books that I see, I have never been able to bring myself to actually tear up a book.  My love of reading and books began early in my childhood and has happily continued over the years.  I love finding an old book in an antiques shop, smelling the pages, and wondering how many eyes have poured over the pages.  I've also been known to finish a much loved book or series, and suffer a slight depression that my relationship with the characters has ended.

So you can see how this puts me at a crossroad...love of books or love of creating...  Fortunately, during a recent attempt to purge a few more things from my overcrowded home, I came across an old dictionary and some very neglected books that really were beyond being saved.  Rather than pitching them (which would have helped my cleaning efforts), I moved them onto the shelf with my 'recycle/repurpose' items.  It's probably best that this happened without any witnesses since I had just finished reprimanding the entire household about our need to get rid of all of the 'junk' that doesn't have a purpose anymore... Technically, I'm not deeming myself a hypocrite because they do have a purpose, right??

I had already spend some time on Pinterest looking at book inspired art and was amazed at some of the intricate folding and cutting that made sculptural masterpieces.  I knew that this was well beyond my level, but I did find several other inspirations that I pinned for future use.  One of my favorite techniques is covering all but a few choice words with paint and ink, and then adding artwork to enhance the visible words.  This is what I chose for my design team inspiration piece.

I used a page from a very mistreated Pocahontas book, and as I was painting the base, my DD (former owner of the book) freaked out on me wanting to know WHY I would cut up a book.  Little did she know that Sarcastic Mom was the mode of the day, and I responded without batting an eye "Oh, and on the floor being stepped on and ripped up is more appropriate treatment of a book?". No response to that one...  Which left me sitting in peace to paint around the great quote from the book.  As a tribute to the former owner of the book, I used purple to add a splash of color to an otherwise neutral palette.  I love the ultra subtle leaves on the background, and the glittery butterflies were added to tie into the 'listen with your heart' theme.

I realized a little too late that my initial paint coat was a little too thick in most spots.  I really wanted a few more words gently bleeding through. Live and learn...

I hope I have inspired you to step out of your comfort zone and try something new too, especially if you are a book lover like me.  At least that poor book had a small piece salvaged and treasured!

Project Recipe: vintage white & purple cow acrylic paint, crumb cake & soft suede ink, Lovely as a Tree and Gently Falling stamp sets, heart to heart punch, asst. stickles, purple burlap fibers

ABAC Challenge 26- One Sassy Fairy!

Hello and happy Sunday to you!  I am so glad you are here because I have quite the interesting post today, at least, I hope you find it interesting!

Our current challenge at Anything But A Card Challenges is Fairies or fairy tales.  While I absolutely love this challenge, it was truly a challenge for me.  Now let me clarify that I am not anti-fairy.  I have nothing against the tiny little winged flitters, but my girls never got into the whole fairy themed merchandise and I never bought any fairy images.  I was going online for a digital image, when I stopped by the ABAC site to see the inspiration posted by my incredibly creative teamies.  That is where I found this!  The fairy name generator!!  How fun is this???  So I took a little bunny trail to the website and found my fairy name and background.

My fairy name is

Columbine Cornweb

She creates bounty and harvest. 

She lives in mushroom fields and quiet meadows. 

She can only be seen in the mist of an early morning. 

She wears lilac and purple like columbine flowers and has butterfly wings the colour of yellow corn.

This led me to creating my very own fairy based on the generated information.  The purple was not a problem; I had plenty of that since it's DD #1's favorite color.  I realized I didn't have any columbine images, but I did buy a gorgeous retired SU coneflower and grass stamp recently.  Besides, if I'm truly a fairy that lives among the meadows, wouldn't I love coneflowers just as much?!

I managed to create the background without a glitch when I realized I still needed a fairy... Hmmm... I did have a Sassy Susie stamp that might work.  Yep! She's even sitting in a chair! Hmm...chairs in a meadow? What I needed was a mushroom.  So I punched an oval and rounded the bottom with a circle punch and used the word window punch to make the stem. A little fussy cutting and Sassy Susie, um I mean Columbine was almost ready.  A butterfly punch, vellum, and some elegant eggplant ink created the snazzy wings and now Columbine was ready to perch on her toadstool.  I also found a sentiment from Blooming With Happiness that fit her pesonality.  It wasn't until I posted my picture with the information that I noticed that her wings were supposed to be yellow... Oops! It was a little too late to change them now.  Honestly I'm not completely sold that I would have corn yellow wings anyway.  Growing up on a farm, I am aware that corn is tasty, but it's also very 'hairy' and itchy. I would much rather have lovely eggplant purple wings!

So here is Columbine Coneflowerweb, taking a break from germinating and planting to say 'hello'!  She would love it if you would join us this week with your own fairy or fairy tale creation!  Be sure to check out the fabulous creations shared by the design team as well!

Have a fairy-tastic week and happy crafting!!

Project Recipe: Paper-whisper white, vellum, Ink-wisteria wonder, elegant eggplant, certainly celery, baked brown sugar, blush blossom, basic black, crumb cake, Stamp Set-Sassy Susie, Blooming With Happiness, Inspired by Nature, Accessories-pastels, butterfly punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, large oval punch, word window punch

Anything But a Card Challenge 23: Steampunk- On the right track (I hope...)

Hello! I am so glad you stopped in today!  It is week two of challenge 23 at Anything But a Card.  Our theme is Steampunk and I am bravely sharing my journal page today!

I have absolutely no experience in this genre and hope I'm not too far off mark on this one!  I decided to make a page for my quotes journal and thought that a new art style was fitting of the accompanying sentiment.

I think there is more Victorian influence than industrial, but overall I like it.  I was a mess trying to figure out where I wanted to go with this... I kept moving everything around, trying to find the best placement.  I also had a hard time deciding what to add as far as inks.  I really didn't want to go a step too far and hate the result...

I found the train image at a wonderful free site called From Old Books (what an amazing place to completely lose track of time!), and due to my lack of Steampunk supplies, it was a great starting point!  I printed it on very vanilla cardstock and colored it with a combination of copics, watercolor pencils, and metallic markers.  The distressing and aging came from river rock, soft suede, and crumb cake inks.  I added just a touch of copper glitter glue to the wheels. Of course, I had to do a little shopping for coordinating goodies. Don't you just hate that?!  I found the Tim Holtz metal sentiment tag and the decorative ticket on sale so I had to snag them.  The metal/rhinestone flower was spotted at Big Lots of all places.  I added a bit of copper colored Sharpie to the rhinestone to lessen the bling factor.  You may have spotted another of my metal buttons from my stash, and I even managed to make some of my Stampin' UP goodies work for this project.  The crochet ribbon, vintage brad, metal brad, and doily background stamp all seemed to fit my image of Steampunk accessories.

While I was initially a bit worried about this project, it was fun to research and learn about a new to me style.  I really hope to see some of you join us with your versions of Steampunk!

I hope you have a wonderful week and happy crafting!!

Anything But a Card- Inspiration should be easy right?!

Today begins week two of Challenge #16 at Anything But a Card and oh what a challenge we have this time!

"For Challenge 16 we want to see what are you "INSPIRED BY". Create something inspired by someone you admire... it can be anyone – and it doesn't have to be art related. For example, Carla admires Thomas Merton; and she might make a collage of his quotes. You could do something inspired by Tim Holtz, by techniques or... even the gorgeous view out your window. The possibilities are endless!"


Now you would think that with a challenge as open as this one,  I would have no trouble at all coming up with a project.  Well, you would be wrong! There are so many people and things that inspire me and I really wanted this to be a special tribute to my inspiration.  So, for over two weeks I mulled over different ideas and quite honestly on Friday morning, I still did not have a clue what I was going to do.  Finally I pulled out my quotes journal.  I actually started this as my very first design team project for ABAC.  As I find quotes that inspire me, I write them on post it notes and place them on a page in the journal. Then as I find time or inspiration, I complete a page and write the quote somewhere on the page.  I came across the quote, "Hurry always empties the soul." by Ann Voskamp and thought "Hmm...how appropriate that here I am at the last minute trying to come up with a project and run across this quote."  My soul should be quite full since I waited until the very last second to create my page! :)  

After finishing this, the thought struck me that not only did the quote inspire me to do something, but ABAC inspired me to start the journal in the first place.  So here is my Inspiration Project quite fittingly inspired by ABAC!

As I was looking through my stamps, I came across the Hello, Doily image. The intricate doily struck me as something that would take immense patience to create, especially for someone with no knitting or crochet skills. I decided it would be the perfect background.  After stamping it, I remembered a very special box of goodies I won from my dear blogging sister, Lisa.  Among a wonderful collection of Christmas goodies were some lovely crocheted snowflakes.  I chose one that seemed quite 'doily-like' and proceeded to grunge it up with some inks (hope you don't mind, Lisa!).  I also added a button and some linen thread to complete the whole hand crafted theme.  

I really think this page hints back to a time when people weren't in such a rush to do 500 different things at once.  It also reminds me of evenings that I spent as a little girl learning to do embroidery.  My Mom was always reminding me to take my time and slowly pull my thread tight. Most of the time I followed her advice, but occasionally I would get in a hurry and end up with a big ol' nasty knot.  Nothing empties the embroidering soul faster than a nasty knot!  Amazingly enough, this is the one sewing skill that wasn't completely lost on me! I can cross stitch and embroider almost as well as my sewing Mother and sister. Just don't ask me to do French knots-I hate those things!

I hope you enjoyed my little tribute to inspiration and that no matter what your inspiration is please consider sharing it with us at Anything But a Card!  Happy crafting!

Anything But a Card Challenge 11- Tie it up!

Hello! I am so glad you stopped by to visit and  I hope you had a marvelous weekend! My youngest was not feeling well earlier this week providing me with an additional day at home. So while she rested, I managed to get a little housecleaning done and also squeezed in some crafting time. One of the things I finished was my project for Anything But a Card.  You still have time to join us with your own wonderful creation and the challenge is 'tie it up'.  We really love variety and there are so many different ways to approach this challenge.  I decided to use some bakers twine on my quotes journal page.

The 'tie it up'  portion of my page uses pool party bakers twine.  I braided three strands of twine and then tied that piece around my cardstock.  I also used some of my hand made stamped tiles. I used scupley clay and a stamp to create the tiles and then painted them with acrylic paints after they were baked.  I wanted my 'bling' to match the blues on my page so I colored some clear rhinestones with a blue sharpie.

My quotes journal is slowly being completed thanks to some inspiring challenges, and I am so happy that I will have such a pretty way to display these wonderful quotes when it is finished.

Project Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, Spice Cake DSP (ret), Ink-soft suede, Stamp Set-fabulous phrases, cute by the inch (tile), Accessories-large oval punch, decorative label punch, pool party bakers twine, basic rhinestones, sculpey clay, acrylic paints

Anything But a Card Challenge -Things With Wings

It is time for week two of the 'Things With Wings' challenge at Anything But a Card Challenges and that means that it's my turn to share a project!  If you click on the link above, you will go to the post with Mr. Linky (I'm trying to make it super easy for you to join us-wink!wink!), which is week one. I hope you take a minute to check out all of the wonderful inspiration and projects that have already been linked up!  

I had so many different thoughts running through my head for this challenge, and my dear blogging sister, Lisa did nothing to help!!  One of my first ideas was butterflies with a quote for my journal and it also was the first project I tried -yes...I did more than one!  

I have quite a collection of various brands of glitter glues, and a few bottles of liquid pearls.  Unfortunately, the clear and silver are the two glitters that I use most of the time, leaving all of the other colors feeling quite neglected.  I also realized I have never used my yellow pearls...  Well, I made a promise to myself over the holidays that I was going to play, and so I did!  I found my quote first (in a rather large stack of vellum quotes) and wanted to make a pastel background to be slightly visible behind the vellum. I had shaded the right corner to have the illusion of sunlight and it looked great until I put the vellum over it, then it just looked kind of muddled. I thought the yellow pearls would possibly make a nice sun.  I tried a 'dot' approach, my version of pointillism, but it didn't look right.  So I took my blending tool (aka pointer finger) and smeared the dots together, kind of a funky effect!  Then came the two tone ribbon (new SU goodies!!), a ribbon flower with some felt pieces tucked in for leaves and a punched butterfly to ensure that the whole wings thing was covered!  I didn't like the naked edges of the vellum and pulled out the green glitter glue to frame it.  When I was done, I was thinking maybe I should have bypassed the liquid pearls and just used all green, but oh well!  I have to say that the page is growing on me the more I look at it and it was a lot of fun playing with the different materials.

A few days later, and an unfortunate but necessary trip to Wal-Mart, I found myself in the craft aisle.  My youngest DD had Christmas money to spend and wanted some new art supplies and while she debated her options, my eyes landed on a package of Sculpey Oven Bake Clay. Hmmm... I know that many crafty people out in Blogland use this stuff to make all kinds of wonderful things and I did make that promise to play... (can you see this getting me in hot water with DH?)  So into the cart it went and somehow some metallic acrylics ended up in there too... Don't know how that happened!  I would love to say that the clay came out as soon as I got home, but the truth is it sat there all week taunting me.  Which may have been a good thing because in the mean time, I came across a very retired stamp set called Nature's Wonders.  There is this absolutely beautiful dragonfly stamp in this set and suddenly inspiration hit! I was going to stamp my clay!!  Didn't know if this would work; didn't know if it would clog up the stamp; didn't care! Well... I would have cared if it ruined my stamp, but I really wanted to try this!  So I kneaded the clay until it was really soft, then patted it fairly flat (a little less than 1/4") and then gently pressed the stamp onto the clay.  I had to wiggle it a little to get it to release, but I liked the slightly uneven appearance.  Then I trimmed the edges and set it aside to bake.  I tried this with a few different stamps and it was so much fun!  I followed the baking directions on the package and when they cooled, I painted them with the acrylics.  My girls asked if they could paint them and I selfishly said "Nope, not this time." But I did promise to let them make their own, so everyone was happy!

Here is my dragonfly-not sure it's completely done being painted, but I still like it!

and in keeping with the 'wings' theme, an owl...

Both of these are much smaller than they appear in the picture.  The owl is about 1" and the dragonfly is a little larger.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these yet, but I'm sure that will be fun too!

Have a great week and happy crafting!

Journal Page Recipe:  Cardstock-sahara sand, Stamp Set-Butterfly Prints, Ink-concord crush, Accessories-pastels, basic pearls, very vanilla seam binding, jumbo sticky round, vintage tag and green felt flowers (ret), butterfly punch, green glitter glue, buttercup liquid pearls

Clay Tiles Recipe:  white Sculpey clay, metallic acrylic paints kit, Stamp Sets-Cute By the Inch, Nature's Wonders

Anything But a Card Challenge- 'Time' for Fall...

Hello! It is time for week two of the Stitch in Time Challenge at Anything But a Card .  Here are the details about the challenge...

A Stitch in Time- and you can use any element that represents time- watch, clock, 

clock parts, stopwatch, hour glass, calendar, dates, postage stamps,  etc  

AND/OR stitching- real or faux!

I have to admit that this one took me FOREVER to start.  I kept getting hung up on the word 'time'.  Did I want to do a clock theme, a calendar, a seasonal scrapbook page?  Nothing seemed to spark my creative bug.  Inspiration struck when I was cleaning off my table and came across my quotes journal that I made for my first challenge. Hmmmm... I also had my most recent purchase, the Gently Falling stamp set on the table.  Fall was a 'time' right?  Then I pulled out my ink pads and sponge daubers and began to sponge the page, but I wasn't getting the intensity of fall colors that I wanted.  I recklessly grabbed an ink pad and smeared it on the page. Ohhhh... I think I'm on to something here!  By the time I finished my hands looked like fall exploded all over them, but I loved the inky streaks and smears.

Inspiration hit again as I was stamping the maple leaves and 'helicopters'.  I stamped one of the seed pods and it didn't stamp clearly.  I knew I couldn't 'eyeball' it to line up and didn't feel like pulling out the stamp-a-ma-jig.  So I purposely shifted it slightly and surprise! Double stamping the seed pods gave the impression of fluttering to the ground!  The whole time I was working on this, I kept thinking about an old Byrds song "To every thing, turn, turn, turn, there is a season..." (it was the Time magazine theme song for a while too I think).  I knew the song was based off of a verse in the Bible and after a little hunting I found it in Eccl 3:1.  It seemed like the perfect quote to go along with the time theme.  It wasn't until after I took the picture and started to upload it on the computer when I remembered the 'stitch' part of the challenge. Oops!  Well, there is a little bit of sewing if you count threading the corduroy button... and if you know me at all, you that is pretty much the extent of my sewing skills anyway!!  So without further ado, here is my journaling page...

Unfortunately, I was forced to take the picture inside and the lighting wasn't the best, so the bright fall colors don't appear quite as bright as in real life, but you get the gist of the project!

You still have some time to join us and share your take on 'A stitch in time'.  We would love to see your creations!

Have a wonderful week and happy crafting!!

Project Recipe: Journal (ret), linen thread, pumpkin pie corduroy button (ret), Inks-daffodil delight, cherry cobbler, pumpkin pie, soft suede, Gently Falling stamp set, daffodil delight leaf was cut with the little leaves sizzlit and embossed with the woodgrain folder

ABACC #1 My first project!!

Hello!  It is week two of the bi-weekly Anything Goes challenge at ABACC (anything but a card challenge) and I am one of the featured designers this week!  If you haven't already checked out the other ladies work, you really need to pop in!  I am in awe of the talent coming from this group and feel just a tad bit intimidated!  But only a little!!

I had a chipboard journal in my stash for over a year, from last year's Stampin' UP regional event as a matter of fact!  I kept meaning to get it out and play with it, but never felt inspired until now.  I inked the chipboard with very vanilla craft ink and then proceeded to add lots of different shades of brown from the neutrals collection.  It also got a good dose of early espresso and crumb cake from the color spritzer.  Nice and grungy!!

I used the more mustard and soft suede cardstock, the linen thread, and the mini clothespin which came in the chipboard project kit.  I did not however choose to decorate it like the project page.  I pulled out the daisy from Reason to smile, inked it up with crumb cake and then colored the center with pastels.

I'm planning on using this for a quotes, verses, thoughts, etc. journal... something to make me think and be a better person, which is why I chose the sentiment from Just Believe.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my first creation for ABACC and that you will make time to play along if you haven't already, and if you have, well...play again!!

Project Recipe:  chipboard journal (retired), Cardstock-more mustard, soft suede, naturals ivory, Ink-very vanilla, early espresso, crumb cake, soft suede, Stamp Sets-Reason to Smile (ret), Just Believe, Accessories-linen thread, pear pizzazz seam binding (ret.), color spritzer, pastels, mini clothespin basic pearl, 1 3/4 and 2 1/2" circle punch, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, non SU flower punch