Thursday, October 31, 2013

PCC Magazine Monday inspiration

Every week Steph at Papercrafterscorner posts a Monday Magazine inspiration piece. I loved this week's

and immediately had an idea. I cut up this week's Michael's ad and layered it with book text. I stenciled and stamped and painted. I pulled out all those neglected Halloween stamps!


It was just a few minutes of fun. I tend to over think my art journal pages so I tried not to do that. 

Also entering this in Paradeyourcrafts  Halloween project.

Thanks for stopping by. 



The Hunt

We live about 5 miles away from a  gun club and I HATE when they have shooting events. The noise bothers me no end. Ironically, that did not stop my husband from coming home with a pellet gun! I  will admit this gun is quiet. He and my daughter set up an old chair frame with  bottles and a plastic tray. Surprisingly we were all quite good! My daughter's boyfriend came to visit a few days later and the gun got quite a work out.

And , I was sorting my papers to alphabetize them when I found this paper which I never even knew I had. It was perfect!

Entering this in Frosted Designs Tag You're it challenge. I decorated the wood tags and made them a banner. Also used a tag for the journaling.








Wednesday, October 30, 2013

She said yes

Our daughter was home for her best friend's wedding a week ago. He boyfriend flew out later in the week. He had asked if we could go to our little downtown to take photos because he thought it was so pretty. We found a secluded spot and he positioned her looking over the river. Then he got down on one knee and pulled a ring out of his pocket. He asked her to marry him and she said yes. It was so sweet and I am so pleased that he included us and her brother in this special event.

I recently bought a Dylusions journal  and wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it. Well, I turned it into a wedding/planner for her. I added tabs, stamping, a wedding calendar and photos. I titled the first section Us - Our Story and I want her to write the story of how they met - E harmony:) - and the proposal. There is room for her to jot down ideas, add pics from magazines, lists, etc.

Pink is not one of her favorite colors, but I had to do it! I inked, misted, stamped and even used water colors.


Some of the inside pages









Submitting this to the Pink Parade Challenge

Being a breast cancer survivor, not once but TWICE, I want to encourage everyone to get those mammograms. Just because October is almost does not mean we should forget this! It truly can save lives! I am proof!!!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Thank you

Been busy making thank yous!
This one is sweet and simple!


Struggling Artist - No Truer Words

I am not an artist - my twin sister got that gene - but I love playing with paint and paper and canvases. Lately I have been feeling frustrated. I have trouble getting started, trouble choosing colors, trouble layering, etc. It got to the point I just kind of gave up. But then I got a daily update from Ronda's blog. She went though a journal page from start to finish. It was just what I needed!! So I got out my supplies and worked on this while attending Tracy's Mixed Media Monday's U stream ( link to the group, the recorded show is not up yet). Tracy's challenge this week was to use one word so I chose confidence which is my word for the year. Here it is October and I am still struggling with it!

My thank you to each of you for the ongoing inspiration!



Sunday, October 27, 2013

Saturday Night with Gelli

Been trying to finish up some projects and I wanted to experiment more with my Gelli Plate. I just don't seem to  have the layers down. I wanted to play with fall colors and leaves. This is the result. I used silk leaves and watercolor paper. I am happy with how it turned out.



Linking to October's Colorful Gelli Print Party.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Try, Try Again

One day last week while my daughter was here visiting she wanted to paint. We got out some canvases and she got to work copying a picture she had saved on her computer. I decided to play with my Geli plate. I had this brilliant idea to use fall grasses as a mask. And, I tried doing this right on a canvas. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the process. It is quite messy as the seedy parts of the grasses rolled all over the plate and then the canvas. Once I got the background, I made a tissue paper tree. Added fall foliage and a quote. I made the pumpkins from a Gelli background paper.  To be honest, I am not totally in love with this. The colors did not come out as I imagined. I did have fun trying Gelli on canvas and might have to try again.

I am linking this to October's Geli Print Party.


Thursday, October 24, 2013

Letting Go

The October creative Dare over at Tracy's is all about Letting Go. Letting go of those things holding you back, those things stopping you from being all you can.As we all know, I am not a confident artist - in fact, I don't even think aritst and my name should be in the same sentence. However, my word for this year is confidence. In this work I am letting go of those feelings and thoughts which are holding me back!

This is done on a piece of water color paper. And, typical of me, I hand wrote letting go, thought it did not looks good, gessoed it, then cut out the girl and sun and remade another background.

I so need to let it go!!!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Perfect Weekend!

My daughter was home this week for her best friend's wedding. Crazy busy time but so much fun. We ended the week with a family pumpkin hunt. I know they are 29 and 25, but I love these traditions!





After that it was to town for some photos - or so that is what her boyfriend told her! We wandered around the scenic river and then walked up a path. We took some photos then he turned her around so she was overlooking the river and then got to one knee and proposed! He had talked to my husband the day before. My daughter knew this was coming at some point. She just did not expect it then. It was so sweet of him to do it with her parents and brother there.





We finished up with a celebration lunch in town.

Unfortunately they are on their way back to Phoenix this morning.

Let the fun begin!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Published in Creating Keepsakes!!

I was beyond thrilled when I received a notice that I had a layout accepted for publication in Creating Keepsakes. It is bittersweet that this is their last print copy.

I went to 4 places before I was able to find some copies! This is the cover of the Nov./Dec. issue


And my layout is on Page 31. The theme was keeping it real and my layout was about last year's Christmas tree hunt. I love family traditions and try to maintain them even though the kids are 29 and 25 and one lives out of state! Last year we bundled up and headed out to cut our tree only to find the tree farm CLOSED the weekend before Christmas! It was ridiculous!  So instead of traisping through the fields, throwing snow at each other, fighting over the best one, we had to settle for a pre cut one. At least it was a memroable experience!!!


Monday, October 14, 2013

Both Kids are Home!

DS moved back home a few months ago to save some money and will actually be moving out into a house he bought in a few weeks. DD arrived back home for a week of vacation to attend her best friend's wedding. HOW I LOVE HAVING BOTH OF THEM HERE! They may not love it as much as my husband and I do:) Yesterday dh called for a Forced Family Fun time. That is an activity which all must participate in. Sometimes this is fun, sometimes it is work. Yesterday was about the work. It was time to cut up some downed trees to split so we can have fires this winter. With the four of us and the tractor it did not take long at all! You can be sure - these will be scrapped!







Sunday, October 13, 2013

Monday Challenges




Papercrafterscorner  MAgazine Monday inspiration challenge. 


Love the pinks and reds in this cover so I made a little tag.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Road Trip

It is a cold rainy weekend and you are at the cottage. Can't fish, swim or boat. What is the next best thing to do??? Go visit wineries!!The Traverse City area of Michigan is home to many wineries and Mission peninsula is home to some of our favorites! Of course, being the kind of weekend it was, some were even too crowded to get into. But we did enough to bring home a good supply of wine!

Sketch from My scraps and More







Modeling paste and paint made the perfect grapes! I am using this for the texture challenge at Try it on Tuesdays, as well as for the challenge over at Frosted Designs.

I used modeling paste and paint to create clusters of grapes. I painted swirly stems. The background also has stamping and stenciling. I have embossed chipboard, cork , burlap and plaid cotton ribbon also adding to the texture.

We love hanging out with our kids and their significant others!!


Monday, October 7, 2013

World Card Making Day - Wrap Up

Whenever I win a prize I like to use those materials and send a thank you note to the blog or manufacturer. It is my way of telling them how much I appreciate the chances to win! I have been blessed to win a few times in the past months! A new favorite thing of mine is to get more artsy with my cards and use my mixed media skills on them.





Sunday, October 6, 2013

In the Fall

A layout featuring a few photos our recent vacation. This was for a telephone tag over at Memorable Seasons

Here was the original layout

Here is the layout I got

and here is my layout


Love using my older LYB Acorn hollow stash!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

MOnday Challenge

Stephanie over at Papercrafterscorner posts a Monday challenge every week. This week's was this

I love the background color and was inspired to use it for this thank you card


Using a stencil with a piece of dictionary paper, I grabbed my Deco Art paints and got to work!

Paints used - Mustard Seed, Pure Red and Persimmon

World Card Making Day

It is a gorgeous fall day and DH is golfing so how should I spend my time?? Making cards of course!!

It is World Card Making Day so I am completing some challenges while making Thank you Cards!

First up Pink Paislee has this wonderful sketch






Broke into my new Color Wash Collection!!! 

Love that the Petaloo Flora Doodle matched perfectly!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Happy Halloween



This time of year I regret that I don't have any little kids at home. I was nostalgic and thought about this album I had made  in 2011. Weren't they too cute!




I am Back but will be Leaving:):)