Boy is it dusty in here!

Wow!  February was my last post!  Probably the last time that I did anything of mine.  For a while there, I was caught up in doing things for the store I worked for, and all of my stuff was put to the side.  I have since quit because of that fact, and now have time to create for ME!  Yay!

What shall I show you today?  Well, let's take a look through my camera and see what I've been creating since February!

First up, my oldest daughter's Valentine box!  It's a Lemonade Stand!  Isn't it so cute?!  I had such fun creating that with her!

What's next?!  My son played Minors baseball this spring season and their All Star team won the Regional Championship!!!!  I made ALL STAR stars for all of the players!  It was a fun time!

September brought the beginning of school and with that, new grades and a new child entering school!  Everyone on Pinterest and facebook have their chalkboard signs that their darling little ones hold up.  I decided to be a rebel once again and create something completely different!  When we moved into our house last year, I didn't have a place for my mini Christmas tree that was in my old craft room.  So, I put it in a lonely corner in my kitchen and have decorated it throughout the year.  I decided to decorate it for the beginning of school this season!  I have buses, apples and rulers as ornaments and then each of my kids' grade levels as a topper!

That's it so far!  On to the next post!  Lots more pictures!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hopefully I won't be a stranger to my blog anymore!  I signed up for Lifebook w/ Tamara LaPorte for 2016, and I would like to post my creations on here each week!  We'll see how well I do!  LOL!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I hope you're enjoying your day with your loved ones!  I have a new project that I am sharing that I made for my husband for Valentine's Day.  He LOVES tulips, and I recently discovered impasto painting and decided to try my hand at it for a special gift for him!  He loves it!  I'm so glad!  I feel like the jury is still out, but this IS my very first art piece!  So, with time, I will grow!

To start, I pulled out a piece of drywall.  I mixed beige Liquitex paint with joint compound and scraped it onto the drywall.  With a paint brush, I added hints of dark yellow for contrast and to look like the sun is pouring through the background.
The stems were created with different colors of green Liquitex paints and joint compound and laid onto the drywall with pallet knives.
The tulips were created with different reds, again, Liquitex, and mixed with joint compound and laid onto the drywall.
I took white Liquitex and joint compound and added highlights, as well as the vase outline.
The water is white and blue Liquitex paints mixed together.

Here's a detail shot of one of the tulips:

Here's a detail shot of the depth that I was able to achieve!  I hope to get higher and more depth as I continue to explore this amazing technique!

Have a great day!

Painted Organizer

Hi there!  Today I would like to share a crafty altered project with you!  I have had a fascination with acrylic paints for quite some time.  I don't really know what to do with them, other than what I see on pinterest, and I try to mimic what I see, creating my own canvases and artwork.  I HATE copying and will NEVER copy anyone's work!  But, I like to take different ideas and put my own spin on it.  One of the techniques that I learned from browsing pinterest is impasto painting.  WOW!  What an absolutely COOL technique!  It totally appeals to me because it's 3-D, and it shows movement where there really isn't any.  It's absolutely awesome and I definitely want to stay on this avenue of art!

Back to my project though.  I was given an organizer by my dad to use however I wished.  He didn't need it any longer, and I can ALWAYS use organizational stuff!  I thought it would hold all of my paints and would be strong enough to haul wherever I go!  As I put my paints inside, I thought it would be cool to decorate the outside!  Well, a week later, it's finally finished!  Haha!  I didn't work on it every day, so really maybe 4 days to complete it...  Hey, I have 4 kids and a life!  Unfortunately I can't spend ALL of my time in my craft room!
Here's what it looked like when I got it:

I started by painting a thin layer of gesso over the entire gray surface:

Then, I started to create!  I drew the letters and the tube of paint by hand, and then painted them.

Closeup of the tube:

On the first side, I wanted to do something different and cool with the acrylic paint.  I mixed my pink paint with Liquitex Pouring Medium and turned the organizer upside down and let it drip.  Once it was dry, I turned it right side up again and it looked like little mountain islands in the middle of the ocean!  I added some white paint and tried to make it look like water.  I felt a bit of Bob Ross coming through!  LOL!  Too bad I didn't paint any little trees!

On the back, I drew and painted a painter's palette.  I painted it as if I was in the middle of a fantastic canvas painting!

And, last but not least, my favorite side!  The impasto side!!!!  Ok, can you tell that I painted lilacs?  I REALLY need to learn freakin shading!!!!  Sheesh!  But, oh the fun I had!!!  I literally glopped paint on a palette knife and slapped it on! SO freeing!  The green leaves, stems and grass I put the paint in a ziplock baggie and piped it on!  Absolutely what I LOVE to do!  I used joint compound as my medium to mix with the paint to create the depth that you see.  That's the only thing I have in my arsenal that would be bulky enough to stand up like it does.  I did go to Mike's to look for impasto paste, but God forbid they should have it!  Guess I'll have to go online once I'm better at this new and awesome technique!!!!!

You can KIND of see the height that I was able to get here:

On the top, I went mixed media, as that is my other true love!  I'm still not an expert, but it's so fun to do random stuff and it all turns out looking cool!  You literally cannot mess up!  Just paint over it!  Haha!

That's it!  Now it's back to work on a new project for March for the store and my ongoing Disney album!
Have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by!

Frozen wand

I'm back again with another project that I created for my daughters and one of my daughter's friends!  We initially were going to make fairy wants one afternoon, however, when I went shopping for materials, I found really pretty sparkly turquoise blue snowflake ornaments and thought that they would be perfect for the ends of the wands!  After that, they became Frozen wands!

To create this, I took 4 wooden skewers and glued them together w/ a strong glue.  Then, I took florist tape, and taped them up and down the entire length for added support.  I cut my ribbon, and adhered the ends to the top of the wand, and taped them securely with florist tape.  I added the snowflake, and the ribbon, and toile and it was done!!!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Happy 2015!

Hi there!  I feel like a stranger to my own blog!  It's been so long since I've posted anything!  I'm hoping that with the birth of my 4th child, I will now have my creativity back and I can create again!  It's almost like I had to take a sabbatical from crafting!

Today I wanted to share with you a little gift that I made for my cousin for hosting our annual Christmas family gathering.  She invites Santa to come and hand out gifts, she makes all the food, and it's just a wonderful evening celebrating Christmas with family and friends!

I had stopped in at Scrapbook Station, where I work, and picked up a Prima birdhouse only because it caught my eye!  When I got home, I decided to make it a Christmas themed birdhouse and give it away as a gift!

This is from the Prima site:

And here's my finished product!

The snow is Fiber Paste that I put on w/ a spatula.  The wreath that I hung inside is also fiber paste that I sprayed green and then added red flower soft for the berries because I couldn't find any beads small enough to work!
The cardinal on the top is colored w/ my Copics.  I cut a rug out of fabric from my stash and adhered w/ red line tape.
There really aren't lights inside!  It's just awesome paper that I found!!!

Have a great day!

Dusting off the cobwebs of my blog!

Hi there!  I cannot believe that I have neglected my blog for several months!!!!  That just never happens!  I am currently expecting another girl, so my creativity took a leave of absence!  I didn't want to walk into my craft room, or do any crafting whatsoever!  When I did have to create something, mainly for work, I would ask someone for their opinion to see if it was good enough!  That is SO out of character for me!  For those that know me personally, you know that I NEVER seek anyone's opinion!
Well, hopefully and thankfully, those times are history!  I was able to complete my first layout in over 4 months!  And I like it!  A lot!  LOL!

This was Olivia's second dance recital!  The name of the song was Rockin' Robin.  Get it??????

Here's a close up of the bird.  I drew the bird free hand and then colored him in w/ watercolors on regular cardstock.

Hopefully I'm back for good!  I'm trying to get myself interested again in scrapping!  Hopefully it will work!!!!
Have a great day!

Elephants for the new Baby!

Hi there! Today I would like to share with you a gift that I created for my sister and brother-in-law and their new baby that's due to arrive in early May!  Their baby shower is today, and I wanted to create something that will continue and last far longer than clothes or diapers will!  Plus, art is kind of my thing, so I wanted to create something special for my new nephew to be!

To create this is very easy!  I had a piece of scrap wood and painted the front with white gesso.  Then I took several ink sprays including Dylusions and Heidi Swapp to create the blue.  Before it dried, I dropped large and small droplets of alcohol blending solution  just to see what it would do!  I tilted the wood up and let it all drip!  This is how I achieved this look!  It looks like it's raining and the elephant is reveling in it!

I took a paintbrush and white gesso and free hand drew the elephant.  I wanted the trunk to go up to add more of an abstract look, and to not have a lot of empty space in the middle of the painting.  I drew the letters 'Baby Mine' and a heart with a red copic marker.









Here are some close up pics!

And here is the card that I made!  My clean and simple friends will be shocked!  Lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great day!

It's Baseball Season!!!!!

Hello there, ePer's!  Today is the ePlay challenge on the eclectic Paperie blog and this month is all about wood!  I am sharing my wood project here with you now!  Sherry is back with us, which i am so excited about!  And she is the hostess with the mostess!  You can find the links to all of the team projects HERE!

In other news with eP, we welcomed a brand new team member, Julia Aston! Definitely check out her blog HERE!

Ok, on with the project!

In our house, baseball and softball have officially started!  Yay!!!! That means Spring is here and I am ready for bleacher butt! LOL!

Anyway, when we were presented with the challenge of working with wood, my mind went in a million different directions, but I decided on using Graphic 45's Good ol' Sport and a piece of scrap wood that I chiseled to make into a bat.  I shouldn't have wasted my time though, because you can't even tell with all of the ephemera on top!  Oh well!  That's what happens when you don't know what the end result is going to look like!  Hahaha!

Ok, so the first picture above is the entire bat.  The next one is a closeup.

This last one just shows the dimension.  I have a thing for Tim Holtz's Film Strip!  LOVE that stuff!  Love how it comes out of the jar already curly!  I just glue it in place and call it a day!

All of the paper and everything on the bat are from the G45 Good ol' Sport 12"x12" pack.  I did add a stamped bat and ball to complete the look.  And of course the film strip.  But, you can find the rest in the pack and you can find the pack right HERE!

Have a WONDERFUL day!  We hope that you can come and play in the ePlay challenge this month!!!!  If wood is not your thing, that's ok!  Just wait til May!  Oh my, now I'm rhyming!  It's time to end this post!!!
Bye!

Fairy Cottage!

I have my Fairy Cottage post up on the eclectic Paperie blog today!  Come and check it out!

www.eclecticpaperie.blogspot.com

Swirlydoos Round Robin challenge

Hi there! Today I would like to share with you my Round Robin challenge page that I created for the Swirlydoos forum that I'm a part of!

I was the last week spot for the month, so I followed 3 different scrappers!  From their pages, I took the following: placing the picture in the middle of the page, use of butterflies, pastel color scheme, dripping technique, use of a doily, and having a splotchy background.

I was already late in submitting this, so I didn't add all of the cutsidella that I would normally add.  This is pretty basic for me, and actually FLAT!  What???!!!!  Can you believe it?!  The only thing not flat are the flowers!  Gasp!

But, like I could have done a better job w/ the butterfly trail.  I was trying to use my distress glitter in a different way, and using it with 3 in 1 glue just doesn't cut it.  :(  That's my FAVORITE glue EVER!  But, for some things, it just doesn't work. 

Anyway, another page done!  Whoo hoo!

Ingredients used:
Paper: Floral stack by DCWV, kraft c/s, white c/s
Ink: Sassy Pink Smooch, Blue Ice color smooch, Bubble Gum Pink Dylusions Spray
Stencils: Hexagon 12" x 12", Splatters (TH)
Embellishments: Aqua Dolce & Bubble Gum Gelatos; assorted flowers, LYB flower pins; Sizzix SU!
                            Embosslits Beautiful Wings; Picked Raspberry Distress Glitter, assorted resin
                            swirl, doily

Have a great day!