Art Journal

A friend of mine, Kim Schofield, of eclectic Paperie, inspired me recently with her post about an art journal that she started.  I have had that on my mind since I saw it, and last night, I bought a journal!  I am so excited about the possibilities of this book!  And it's just for me.  I don't have to create something for anyone else!  I know that that's selfish, but, this is a new experience that I want to try and I am so excited to get started!  So, thank you Kim, for your inspiration! 

This afternoon when I opened my journal to the first page, it (obviously) was blank.  I just sat there staring at it, while in my mind, dozens of images and ideas were zooming around!  I decided to choose my background paper as a jumping off point. 

While perusing my paper supply, I found this from Glitz Designs:

 I LOVE how the roses are so soft, yet vibrant!  And the extraordinary colors!!!  I HAD to copy them!
I pulled out my KSS Hearts and Roses and after some trial and error recipes, here's my final design!

 I did my name in calligraphy.  The paper has a coating on it, so it didn't come out like I had practiced on paper!  LOL!  Oh well!  Makes it unique!

So, here are my supplies:
Stamps: Kitchen Sink Stamps Hearts & Roses
Paper: Glitz Designs, white
Ink: LOTS of SU! colors, Green and LeatherTattered Angels Sprays, Green Distress Ink by Tim Holtz, brown distress inks by Tim Holtz
Dies: Royal Leaves (MFT), leaves (PTI)
Other Embellishments: frames, sequins, brown rhinestones, brown ribbon

Have a wonderful day!

A special card for a special friend

Hi there!  Today I made a special card for a friend of mine who had a bad run in w/ her oven earlier this week.  I made this card, and also made cinnamon apple scones and my daughter and I took them over this morning to visit.

 The pleats that you see behind the seam binding is actually washi tape!  The lace on both flaps are doilies that I distressed.  The pins shown below are from a Swirlydoos kit.  The paper and washi tape are from eclectic Paperie.  The stamped flower basket is from Memory of the Heart, a retired Stampin' Up! set.  I embossed it w/ white powder to show up on top of the polka dot paper.

 I wanted to make a different kind of card, so I decided to do a tri-fold card.  I originally thought that I wanted to wrap it up, but I canned that idea, and just created a bow on the front.  This way, the front flaps will keep the card from falling over.

The card and scones were well received!  And we had a wonderful visit!
Now it's back to Christmas cards!

Have a great day!

Birthday cards for teachers

Hi there!  Today I would like to share w/ you several cards that I have made for the kindergarten teachers this week!  The teachers and those of us on the PTO agreed to celebrate the teachers' birthdays in a different way this year.  Instead of a Starbucks gift card and a huge cake for every teacher's actual birthday, we budgeted money from the PTO and have purchased gifts for each teacher's classroom.  Wish lists that the teachers wanted for their classroom, but unable to pay for it.  We granted their wishes!  Lots of games for indoor recess time, play doh, flash cards, etc.  We are giving the teachers their gifts this week, in front of the students, (since it's for them, essentially!).  Then one day, I will give out my cards, and teachers will get to enjoy cake for one day instead of 6 days and go into sugar overload!

Since I'm the crafty one on the board, I was voted to make the cards!  So, without further ado, here we go!

This is a fun, definite birthday themed, criss cross card!  When you pull up on the balloons to see the birthday message, it's like they are floating up and away!  The balloons are from Kitchen Sink Stamps.

Ah!  Polka dots!  They make me smile!  And I love the red, black and white color combo!  And the blingage!  Now, I do have to say that this is a bad picture.  It just didn't want to film nicely for me!  Must be all the sparkles!  ;D  I am just loving all of the layers!  And the polka dots!!!! 

This is another fun, retro birthday card!  This is the first time that I have used all white flowers on a card!  It looks really cool, if I do say so myself!  I used my new Retro Squares border die-namics from My Favorite Things!  The inside squares that popped out of the border are used in an argyle pattern on the right side!  I love making the most out of my supplies!

Mmm, all these layers!  Yummilicious!  The colors are a favorite of mine as well!  Olive and Eggplant just go so well together!  This was a fun one to create!  I was sad when I deemed it finished!  But, wow!  I impressed myself!  LOL!

This is such a cute little card!  I don't make circle cards often enough!!!  The flowers on here are tulips from Kitchen Sink Stamps' Itty Bitty Tulip Bouquet.  The twine for the Happy Birthday banner is threaded through and tied in french knots.

And last, but not least, this was actually the first card that I made!  I subscribe to Swirlydoos, which I have mentioned on here before.  In last month's kit, I received a jar of gesso!  Oooh la la!  That stuff is awesome!  However, if you are not crafty, you might not know what gesso is!  Here's the definition!  I took my large swirl template and applied several layers of gesso.  I heat dried it, which made it look aged, which was totally ok!  Then, I applied green ink to the top of it, but it didn't want to stay.  So, I sealed it w/ a glittery sealer, also from Swirlydoos! 

Here are the general ingredients for all of my cards:
Stamps: My Favorite Things, Kitchen Sink Stamps, Inkadinkado, Recollections, Stampin' Up!
Ink: multiple inks from Stampin' Up!, Memento Black, Purple Copic
Paper: All paper from Stampin' Up!, white paper,vellum
Embellishments: rhinestones - assorted; flowers - Prima,Petaloo; ribbon - Stampin' Up!; twine - My Favorite Things; Dies - My Favorite Things, Spellbinders; assorted blingage - assorted vendors.

Have a fabulous day!