SOCIAL MEDIA

Art Canvas

6.30.2009
Art Canvas

A friend recently gave me a blank canvas to play around with and last night I had the chance and felt compelled to give it a go. I first painted the entire canvas with acrylic paint and once dry I used a mask (the floral design) and painted over the canvas again with the monarch colored acrylic paint. After my second coat of paint was dry I went to town using stamps, rub-ons, papers, memorabilia, stickers, etc. and then covered everything with several coats of gel medium. Right after applying the gel medium I stamped into it with a rubber stamp (you can kind of see this in the above photo) I was able to get a slight impression of the stamped image this way. I washed off my stamp immediately after doing this.

Art Canvas

It was fun to do something a little different for a change...I want to do one now using a technique where you use gel medium, masking tape, and pages from a book to get transfers of the pages on to your canvas.

I'm not really sure why I have such a difference in color with the two photos...the true color is the second of the two photos shown.

A New Favorite on a Sunday

6.28.2009

Marks Paper Company : English Garden Collection

6.27.2009
ONE-OF-A-KIND Card

Finally I got to dig into my stash of new papers and embellishments from Marks Paper Company's English Garden Collection! June has been one crazy month for us here, it's nice to see that I'm finally getting into the routine of summer and finding some time to get crafty again! For the card above I used several of the die-cuts from the sheet of Paper Punch Out Patches that are a part of the English Garden Collection. I stitched around my scalloped circle and then popped up the circle with the boy and girl on it using some 3-dimensional adhesive and tucked the die-cut leaves behind the circle so that they were peeking out. I just adore the image of the girl and boy in the tree.

Supplies for card: English Garden Punch Out Paper Patches, Bazzill kraft cardstock + green cardstock, twine, sewing maching stitching, Hero Arts stamps

For the month of June, Cocoa Daisy is having a scraplift contest which entails that participants create a layout base around this sketch:

I decided that because I loved the sketch so much I'd play along and use it for one of my layouts using Mark's Paper Company's papers. This is what I came up with using the above sketch.

Church Shoes

I pretty much stuck to the sketch with the exception of the placement of my title.

Supplies for above layout: English Garden Paper Punch Outs, English Garden Lavender pp, English Garden Lawn pp, English Garden Geranium pp, Bazzill cardstock, Creative Cafe pearls, American Crafts alpha stickers

Be sure to keep checking out the Marks Paper Company blog, there is always something going on over there...it might be a contest, some free digi-downloads, or at the very least you will get some creative inspiration for your next project by viewing the beautiful creations that the other design team members are sharing!

Cocoa Daisy : Summer Mini-Album

6.26.2009
Summer Album

Summer Album

Awhile back Sue posted a link to a really cool pdf. document set of pages that she created that would act as inside pages for a summer album divided into three sections for the months of June, July and August, complete with extra pages for journaling. I went ahead and printed off the pages and decided that I wanted my pages to be in a hardcover type book and chose the Creative Cafe Rectangle Chipboard Binder along with the transparent file page inserts. I painted my book using Making Memories acrylic scrapbook paint in the color Meadow and using my May and June Cocoa Daisy kits and some other little bits from my stash, I came up with this album.

Summer Album

I've completed most of the section for the month of June and basicly picked out what the highlights have been so far and made notes about them and adhered photos to my transparent file pages that went along with the highlights that I journaled.

Summer Album

I'm trying to keep it pretty simple so that the photos remain the highlight and also because I am busy enjoying all this stuff that's going on this summer that I'm now able to quickly record for my family!

Summer Album

What an easy way to journal and record the happenings of a pretty busy few months!

Summer Album

I printed my photos using my Epson home printer and printed them wallet size using Picasa.

Summer Album

I added some zig-zag stitching to my transparent file pages just for fun.

Summer Album

The yellow and white checked fabric in the back of my album will act as an extra pocket for photos and other memorabilia from the summer months that I may not have room for within the album pages themselves.

Summer Album

I love how it worked out that I had just enough photos for every topic that I wanted to share.

Summer Album

I have one more page that I want to add for the month of June which will be comprised of days spent with Ethan's family when they were up visiting and then I'll be looking forward to what July brings! Super fun project...thanks so much Sue and to Cocoa Daisy for sharing it with everyone!

Creative Imaginations: Art Warehouse Dance Collection

6.25.2009
Art Warehouse: Dance

Just thought I'd quick share a layout that I did using the Art Warehouse Dance collection of patterned papers and embellishments for the CI blog. This was a favorite photo of Zoey from her Spring Dance Recital and I knew I wanted to do something special with it. The papers from this collection were just the thing! To check out the list of supplies used on this layout please check out the CI blog here.

A Visit With Dad

For Father's Day this year my little sister drove my Dad up to visit us. This was the first time that he has been able to visit us since we moved as he doesn't like to drive now that he has Parkinsons Disease. It's been pretty hard for me not having had him come here to visit until now as he and I have always been pretty close. I am so very thankful to my little sister for driving him up and also am thankful for my dad's willingness to take a step outside his comfort zone to make the trip. I will now always have the memory of him here spending time with us at some of the area trails, beaches and local hangouts. So very thankful for this.

We mostly did everyday things...Zoey had swimming lessons every morning that they were visiting so he and Bailey (my little sister) spent time with us at the pool cheering Zoey on. Zoey loved having the largest cheering audience I think it's safe to say. We also went to Hoggie Doggie's a couple of times, once for lunch and another time for ice cream. We hiked some on the Bearskin Trail and picked up some little bits of nature for Zoey to later use to create another Fairy House.

Here we all are hiking on the Bearskin Trail...

Family Visit

Family Visit

Family Visit

after our hike we took my Dad and sister out to eat at one of our favorite resaurants, The Island Cafe for some Greek food.

Another day, we had a picnic at the beach and my dad enjoyed watching Zoey play around in the water...

Family Visit

Family Visit

Zoey, Bailey and I also built a sand castle later that afternoon.

Family Visit

Another afternoon we took my Dad out to Clear Lake just so he could see a bit more of the area and where it is that we like to go and spend time together as a family.

Family Visit

Family Visit

This guy came up real nice and close to say hello...

Family Visit

I wanted to do so much while they were here...but it was only a couple of days that they were able to visit so I just planned for a bit knowing that the reality was what it was. I think it was a nice balance of real life and some special outings thrown in here and there though. The best part of the visit was just getting to see one another.

Now, back to real life again. I spent the morning at the dentist's office. Not so pleasant an experience but it could have been worse I guess. I'm working on a fun summer mini album at the moment and am looking forward to getting to work with some of the new papers from Marks Paper Company's English Garden Collection (they've been sitting ever so patiently on my desk for awhile now) and to finish up my CHA assignments for Creative Imaginations. Summer Bible School starts next week already for Zoey and then soccer not too long after that, there are no worries of being bored this summer that's for sure!

Favorite Cosmo Cricket Projects

6.22.2009


Mini-album pictured above to be published in upcoming issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.

You Are Here in This Crazy Life

Snack Leader Day @ Pre-K

little z

Painting

Slumber Party Card

Altered Notebook and Pencil Set

Up North Banner

Girl Time

Family Fold Out Memory Book

A Fairy Birthday Party

6.19.2009
We woke up this morning to thunderstorms and of course had an outdoor birthday party planned...for some crazy reason the rain stopped just for Zoey's party! She had a fairy themed party this year at an area park (complete with a shelter just in case!) and had five little friends over to celebrate her turning five.

First, the decorations. I kept it really low-key and simple this year and just made some tissue paper flowers (see a couple posts down for a link to instructions on how to create) in pink, red and orange.

Birthday Party

Other than those, it was just really functional items that I kept in the same color scheme. A cheap-o red and white gingham checked table cloth found at the dollar store, some bubble fairy wands, brightly colored fairy wings, some favor bags that I made from colored cardstock and then of course I kept the food in check with the theme and with the colors and the idea of fairies by having bright pink, red and orange cupcakes, flower shaped sandwiches (used a cookie cutter for those) and some fairy wand fruit kabobs.

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

When all the girls arrived we passed out the fairy wings and the fairies had some time to play on the playground equipent.

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Then it was storytime with Grannie Annie (Ethan's mom), she read Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane.

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Then the girls made their own little fairy houses by decorating peat pots with little bits of nature that Zoey, Ethan and I had previously collected on a hike in a basket. The basket was filled with twigs, dried pine needles, pine cones, leaves and other little special bits found from the outdoors.

Birthday Party

I also had found some of Martha Stewarts felt animal puppet kits on sale at Wal-Mart awhile back (a pack of 4 for $2.49) and I picked them up for another quick and easy craft. In the book Fairy Houses it talks about not only fairy houses but how the fairies work together with all the animals and all things living in the woods so I thought it was a good little craft to include.

Birthday Party

After out crafts we had a fairy lunch of flower shaped sandwiches, fairy wand kabobs, veggies (where the broccoli could be little trees, grape tomatoes could be stones and mini carrots, logs), fuit punch pouches (these were a splurge as they are something we NEVER get for Zoey here at home).

Birthday Party

And then of course after our fairy luncheon we had to have little cakes!

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Then after singing and cake comes...presents!

Birthday Party

This year it was really neat to see the girls who gave the gifts really proud of what it is that they gave. So special and thoughtful they each were. One of my friend's who was one of the mother's there made a beautiful dress-up and gown for Zoey and I'll have to get some good pictures of Zoey in it to share. It's truly amazing.

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

After gifts, we passed out the fairy bubble wands and it turned out to be a nice way to end the party. We had some special fairy themed games to play if the time allowed for it (like Fairy, Fairy, Toad which is the same as Duck, Duck, Goose) or Cross the Dragon (played like Red Rover, Red Rover only in the middle is a dragon whose tail grows and grows when more children are caught) but the girls were having fun and parents were starting to come so we called it a day.

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

Birthday Party

And, what a special day it was.

Birthday Party

Happy Birthday my sweet little tender-heart, my Zosie posie, Zoe..Zoe, my Zoey girl. I love you more than I ever thought it possible. You amaze me every day and I look forward to what tomorrow brings.