Playing with Paint

I like to paint but sometimes I just try too hard. Then I get frustrated and upset with myself. I decided to play in my art journal. I wanted bold and simple. I did not think but just painted. I made these tulips which I then outlined using a sharpie. I wanted the lines to be rough not my usual ruler style. I also wanted to practice large, loose writing so I added words to the flower stems.

In the end, I was quite pleased!

 I wanted to make a spring canvas but again was struggling with trying to draw daffodils. I think they are one of the most difficult things to get right. So I found a design I liked and printed it on tissue paper. I modge podged that on and proceeded to paint. By covering the edges of the tissue paper with the background paper, it totally blends in.

I enjoy the painting process so much when I stress less. How about you? Do you struggle? I hope i have shown you a couple of ideas which can help!!

Paints used - Americana turquoise, Mustard Seed, Bright Orange, Royal Purple, True Red.

CSI Special Investigator

I have had the honor of being a Special Investigator this month for CSI. Color Stories Inspiration is a wonderful site that provides a case to solve each week. This weeks was

And here is my layout

Our 13 1/2 year old Golden Retriever LOVES the lake. he is the first to swim in spring and the last in the fall.
I want to thank Debbi for this wonderful opportunity! I hope you check the cases out!!

Paints used - American Turquoise Blue, Mustard Seed.

7Dots April Challenge

7Dots has an April Challenge . The theme is April showers bring May flowers and this is the mood board.

A few weeks ago we had a storm whip though our area. Although it was not a tornado, the damage was very tornado like. We lost power for 24 hours and luckily we did not have much damage.  Our neighbors were not so lucky. They have several acres of woods in their  front yard and many trees were just toppled. In fact, three trees covered the only road going into and out of our sub division. We had planned on visiting friends but could not because of the blocked road. We had 10 -12 people out helping, 5 chain saws and a tractor. It took about 90 minutes for us to clear our road. The entire time it was raining. Of course, I had brought my camera with me. At one point I turned around and got a glimpse of the sun as it was setting.

our street

the neighbor's yard

massive trees downed

Here is my take for the challenge. I chose to scrap the sunset after the storm.

The Nature Walk collection was perfect for this!

Paints used - American black

End of the Kit

I do believe this is the last project with my Beauty of Nature kit!

I had a wood plaq which had cheesecloth modge podged on it. It was shoved on a closet shelf.So I pulled it out and painted, stamped, etc.

Head on over to Frosted Designs to get your hands on this kit!

Paints used - Americana Turquoise, Sable Brown.

Navy Sailor

The papers from this month's Beauty of Nature kit from Frosted Designs just screamed vintage at me. I am not normally a vintagy person but I went with it.

I knew I had these old photos of my dad from 1954 or so. I wish I knew more of the story - how did he enlist, where did he serve, etc. I know my mom and sisters have that information and now I want to know more about his service too.  I went ahead and scrapped them.

I am entering this in SWAT's Flower challenge
f - flowers
l - lace
o - orbs:)  (Circles)
w - wings of the butterflies
e - edges torn
r - ribbon

Happy Easter

We celebrated Easter a few weeks ago when Jennifer and Shawn were here from AZ. Had no time to get to the mall for photos with the bunny but that did not stop me. Here is this year's photo!

Just love having them all together!

And a family photo!

Earth Day

PCC has an earth day challenge. The idea was to use something that would be otherwise thrown away. Bonus entries for including a world, the word peace and photo  instructions for your project.

I had been hoarding a  wood clementine box for some time now. This seemed like the perfect time to alter it!

I painted it black

Then I began decorating! I painted, stenciled, glued on shapes from paper scraps, old books, etc. I used old packaging from scrap embellies and even the hobby lobby plastic bag was cut apart to make flowers! The best flower of all if one made from the fabric from my bridesmaid dresses which is 39 years old!

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Here are my flowers. I used a running stitch to gather the fabric into a circle.  

 I cut the plastic bag into a strip and then starting in the center glued it onto a circle shape then misted it.

The tags tied to the box are recycled from clothes and scrap products. I even have a feather from the yard.

I found a perfect quote for the inside of this box which I now think I use to store paints!

I have the word peace written on a side, I had the earth stenciled on and I have photos of the process!


Here is the finished box

Thanks for checking this out!

Paints used - American Black, Royal Purple, Mustard Seed, Truse Red

Check me Out

I am up over at the Frosted Designs Blog today!!

Lisa created this wonderful sketch

and in the video I share some ideas on how you can change up a sketch.


Have you seen this month's kit at Frosted Designs??

It is filled with such wonderful goodies!! I think I used almost everything on my album cover!

Here is the photo album cover I made from the sketch and my kit!

I hope you will join the Challenge over at Frosted Design and grab one of these kits!

SWAT

Playing along with Drill 29 Bingo at SWAT.

I had Brads, Stamps, 3 pics, number and Die cuts

CSI

Case 118 is live over at CSI. Here is the file

And here is my layout

Jen got these two coats for an amazing price!! And she wears them a lot including for the engagement photos!!

Dream

Playing with paint for the One little word challenge  at rondapalazzari

Paints used - American Mustard Seed, Turquoise, Royal Purple, Olive Green, White

Beauty of Nature Kit

This month's kit from Frosted Designs is called Beauty of nature and it has some of the prettiest papers, paints, and embellies!

I think you are going to want both the clean and messy kit! 

I was drawn to the 7 Dots paper which looks like barnwood with paint splatters. For some reason my mind went right to the old photos of my twin sister and I. These are original photos from 1954 complete with ragged edges and my mom's handwriting!

I added more splatters and blotches to the background page. Using the Magicals I painted the chipboard swirls and the butterfly. I used the Distress Markers on the edges of the die cuts to make them stand out. I grabbed a couple of punches to make the flowers. I had so much fun with this and can't wait to use more of the kit!

PLEASE stop over at the Frosted Designs Store for this kit or  for your other scrapping needs.

This week the new Heidi Swapp Mini Stencils are 20 % off!

Magazine Monday

It is time for another magazine Monday inspiration over at PCC. Here is the inspiration

And here is my card

As soon as I saw the inspiration, I knew what I was going to do. I have this Thank you stamp which I adore and it was just perfect for adding red to some of the lettering. 

A quick Weekend Together

I love it when both my kids are here! Jennifer and her fiance came home for a quick trip to do wedding planning, engagement photos, food tasting, etc. I decided we should celebrate Easter early and her brother and his fiance came over for all the fun. I love seeing Jen and Rob catching up and sharing. They are both working great jobs, each owns a house and each is engaged. I love knowing that they touch base and chat as needed. I got this picture at the end of the weekend.

This is for thee Black challenge over at Crafty Scrappers.

Thank you

One of things I like to do when I win a prize is to send a thank you note. I had some gelli print paper that I had made, so I used that to make a flower for this card,. I saw this great sketch on Sketchnscrap

Here is my card

It was fun using up some of those prints from my plate!

Creating on Vacation - Faber Castell Challenge

I got a gelli plate and took it up north for my mom and sisters to play with! What fun being outside in the sun and playing with paint!

Adapting

The kids are now at that stage when they are not home for each and every holiday. So what is a mom to do?? ADAPT!!! Jen was home for wedding prep and planning so we had an early Easter complete with our version of pics with the Easter Bunny!! Jen told her brother -- just smile and let her take her pics! Of course, as you can see, the boys have beers in their hands so I am sure that helped them get through it:)

Linking this us to Creative Embellishments April challenge. I was inspired by the circles and pastel colors of the balloons. I used trim, buttons, texture paste and  buttons.

There is a sketchathon over at Myscrapsandmore and I used this sketch.

Also linking this up to ScrapOurStash Spring Color Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by!

CSI

I was beyond thrilled when i was asked to be a Guest Designer over at Colorstoriesinspiration. The challenges are always so inspiring and thought provoking!

Here is the Case - #117

Here is my layout

I hope you will play along!!!

PCC Monday Inspiration

Every week Steph has a Magazine inspiration at PCC. Here is this week's

Here is my take

All of my elements are recycled - old book paper, magazines, used baby wipe (from painting), twine, tag, and the button. I even used a recycled piece of paper to create the background with my gelli plate.