Its Summertime!

While most kids in middle TN are already out on break, my Noah still has 2 days after today left. I love his modified schedule, but now I am worried about how to keep him busy this summer!!

I am a part of a fun group of ATC swappers in a group called, ATC Swap-a-palooza over on facebook. You should check them out! I am gaining quite the collection of art from around the world. Its so great!

The theme for the lastest swap was, Mixed Media Summer. Um, sign this mama up! Fo Sho!! I actually pulled out a "Stampin Up!" set. Can you believe it?!? This set is called, "fishy friends" and it survived the many stamp purges from over the years. It was perfect.

I also knew that, for this mixed media project I wanted to try something a little bit different and add some different texture. I had this pink mesh ribbon and it was perfect! I painted it over with gesso and when it was dry, I painted it with Ken Oliver's Liquid Metal. I LOVE the colors and loved the golden sheen in the green (cut grass). 

For the bubbles I used texture paste and Dylusions Chequred Circles stencil. The words are from a Tim Holtz sticker pack (the seasonal one) and of course, sequins underwater. Dylusions sprays and Ken Oliver's Liquid Metals made the background pop.

In the end, it wasn't exactly what I envisioned but I love it just as much as my original plan. Sometimes you have to go withh the flow. I hope my swap partner loves this as much as I do. I suppose I will find out in about a week! Thanks for stopping by!

SDC #246 Anything But Black

WOW..seriously This challenge was hard. Didn't expect it to be. When I saw the challenge I immediately had an idea and even saw the finished product in my mind, colors and all....this...did not happen. I way overthought the process and tried to rush it which resulted in my spending 2 hours to complete this card. I am thankful for this challenge, however. It gave me  a chance to really hone my skills and step outside the box.

This card is for the Stampotique Originals challenge, SDC#246, "anything but black".

What I ended up doing was using Glacier White Pigment ink from Ranger and Zing white embossing powder from American Crafts to create the white image. The background was created using Dylusions Ink sprays and water. I also used the sprays to create the splatter effect. The sentiment was stamped with Memento Dew Drop, Bermuda Blue.

I am not going to lie. I chose this sentiment on purpose. It is from Dylusions, Dyan Revealy and its tone was exactly how I felt at the moment. WHY do I make my art hard?!?!  Not acceptable.

I am, actually, extremely pleased with the outcome after all of my hard work. I am excited to try more things like this in the future and to continue to grow my list of techniques! Hope you are inspired to challenge yourself as well! 

Make Someone Happy

I don't think that it is any secret that I seriously enjoy working with Julie Nutting's paper dolls, so here I am again, with a prima card. I actually am entering another challenge as well, for the 7 kids college fund. The theme is "anything goes(#152)" which totally works for me!! Especially since they sell ALL kinds of Prima Dolls! Woot!

I decided to make yet another card. I found these tall, skinny cards and knew they were perfect for these dolls. Yes, they need extra postage but that is a small price to pay. No worries!

I found a gorgeous stack of 6 x 6 crate paper (Pretty Party) and bought it specifically for my prima dolls. The prints inside are great for doll clothing!! I got this at Tuesday Morning, FYI.

I also used a couple of papers from other collections as well but the bulk came from this book. The flower is a prima flower (also from Tuesday Morning). Love their distressed look. The pearls were Hobby Lobby brand and the doily was a dollar pack from...maybe Michael's...not sure. 

I love adding dimension to my dolls. I popped out her bangs and parts of her skirt as well. I cut my foam squares in half because I didn't want them sticking out too terribly far. The dimension kinda adds life to the card, I think. 

And here is the lovely prima flower and the quote. I believe the quote was from Cosmo Cricket. 

Hope this makes YOU happy to see today!! Super tired allergy eyes over here today, but I am glad I took the time to create this card. It will be a great one to send to someone special!

So Many Circles!

Had a lot of fun using this little bird from Stampbotique Originals. They are having a fun challenge this week, "circles" so, I thought I could do that. Got my copics out and colored this little guy up. Love him.

 When I saw the challenge for Stampbotique (SDC245) I immediately thought of my Flow Magazine and the sheets of fun circle stickers inside They fit this challenge so well!! Some of the circles even have circles!! This quote from Dyan Revealy's stamp line fit this guy's attitude so well.

The papers used were from the Jubilee My Mind's  Eye pack. Of course, a little bling and some doodling, and this card was done. Fun people fun times! Need to start sending more cards for sure! Hope you are inspired here! Having fun getting back into the swing of entering challenges!!

Blue Belt Promotion

So, once again I am here to show off my martial arts master-in-training. We go to Ernie Reyes up the road and have been there almost a year-and-a-half. In that time, my son has managed to make it to blue belt is already almost half way through it! It took him a bit of time to get through his purple because he wasn't confident enough in a few moves, but he got there, finally!

You can see he is tortured in class...haha

I have posted before about the book I am slowly creating for him so that by the time he gets to black belt he will be able to look back at his journey and see how far he has come. Today I created 2 pages for this book. One, is a bit simple. Noah's teachers send post cards to their students when they see that they are surpassing the expectations of a class and I have been saving as many of these as I can and decided today to cut them up and put them on a page for him. It is so fantastic the way his teachers see each child and not just a group of kids with dollar signs on their backs.

 Here is the page from his ceremony. I have been out of sorts recently so creating this page was way more difficult than it should have been. All in all, though, it turned out just the way it should have.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Tuesday! (I actually thought today was Monday...may be time for a nap? ::yawn:: Happy crafting!

April Showers...May Flowers!

Okay, so technically this card was made in May, but eh....its the idea, right?

So I colored this image from The Greeting Farm like, at least a year ago. Recently I posted about my hoard of images that I found that had been colored using a myriad of things, mainly copic markers, and determined to use them, so here it is! I made a card with this adorable image.

The papers used here are from Some Odd Girl. They no longer only create stamps, but all kinds of amazing "odds and ends" to create the perfect project! I super love this paper. It is so THICK! I can't get over it! The frame is from Heidi Swapp and the words are from Cosmo Cricket.

I love the happy feel of this card. I am going to need a whole lot of happy over the next few months, so there will be much more happy to come!! Happy Monday!!!

More ATC

I have really been into making ATC s lately. They seem to satisfy the need to craft while not taking up as much time or space.

Today I finally got the urge to use my Stampbotique monsters. I water colored them using watercolor pens, and some watercolors I don't remember the brand of. If you recognize them pleas let me know! They are easy to use and so much fun, the palate they chose.

I haven't water colored in a very long time. It was so fun!! Need to do it more!

 I used my faber castell gelatos for the colored background and Balzer Designs stencil for the numbers as well as another color of gelato. The stamped sentiment is from Dylusions and of COURSE the adorable monster guy is from Stampbotique Originals. The sequins are from SomeOdd Girl.

This sentiment always makes me laugh because, it can be so true haha. The personality in this guy's face matches perfectly, I think. It was a blast creating this today. Now to swap! Have a great day!